Our year with cancer

New family hobby - gymnastics!

Nina just starting on the bar

can she make it up to the higher bar? It's a long way!

Still so small she needs a little help!

Would anyone bother to read this blog?

I know, it's quite ridiculous ... why have a blog if you never update it? Well, I have two and neither has been updated for a good while. If you are one of the strange people who thinks this blog is even worth visiting, then sincere apologies for the lack of updates! Since last posting life has been its usual chaotic, busy, at times frantic self ... the day centre has been pretty busy especially in the colder months, Johanna and Philip have had their second baby, Nadia May and "spare time" is something of a rarity.

We have had a fair number of visitors and volunteers staying with us over the past few months and renovation work in progress in the downstairs part of out house which has meant quite a lot of hard work and mess. Among our visitors we have had my auntie Janet (my godmother) out for a visit,though she slept at my mum's apartment, and also my uncle Bill came for another visit - I will post some of his lovely photos just as soon as I work out how to do it from my new computer!

My laptop has broken down several times and thanks to an insurance policy we took on it when we bought it has been repaired several times. The most recent time, however, the shop gave us a voucher to replace it instead ... which means I now how a lovely Asus notebook (or is it netbook?) which converts to a tablet! (or is it a pad?) I like it a lot and it works with Android technology so will be very flexible ... now to learn how to use it and post on my blogs more often!

Rafaela's Second Birthday!

Unbelievably our wee grand daughter Rafaela was two on 7th September ... where did those two years go? She is a wee treasure, a total bundle of mischief, strong willed (like her mummy!) and incredibly cute (and I'm not at all biased!) Although we see Philip in her, she really is a lot like Johanna at that age but much fairer, she has very pale white almost transparent skin like Amy and photos of Amy at the same age get mistaken for Rafaela she's so similar though Rafaela has a really cheeky look!

our girls!

kids everywhere ... Gabi, Daniela, Rosanna, Rafaela and Yasmina

Easter in Romania 2011

We had a lovely family Easter, we missed Amy who came out for a surprise visit just before Easter but sadly had to leave before Easter weekend. As you can see, we painted eggs, we made our own chocolate eggs, we had dyed eggs on Easter day at Nelu and Mariana's. Both in Timisoara and Arad there are lovely markets set up at Easter with real bunnies in an enclosure for the children (and adults) to admire and coo over!

Alba Iulia

Took a weekend away to take my mum and our volunteer, Abby for a wee break. My mum hasn't been very well recently and Abby has worked very hard at the day centre for the past three months so I felt they deserved a break.

Our original plan to go to Sighisoara was shelved as I had not been well and felt that the drive would be too long for me just for a weekend. We decided instead to go to Alba Iulia, a city four hours from Arad with a fascinating history. As you can see from the photos, there were some pretty amazing sights - the old citadel was very impressive and we all enjoyed walking around the walls.

Kenny and Alina engaged!

After almost three years going out together, Kenny and Alina got engaged. We are all delighted, Alina is already part of the family, none of us could imagine her not being around, so its great news for us all.

Lovely song by an old friend

Revelion at the Primaria

my pal Conor's Jacobite shield ... fab!

This is 10 year old Conor MacLeod's Jacobite shield ... all made by him with only a tiny bit of guidance from my dear husband ... isn't it great? Check out Conor's new blog on www.conormacleod-thereisonlyone.blogspot.com