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

about time too!

Having just written a very quick post for the 'vis de copil' (a child's dream) blog out of shame at having left it so long since updating, I then glanced at this one to see that it's been even longer since I updated it ... much longer! Shame on me and apologies to anyone daft enough to want to read my ramblings ... What can I say in my defense? Not a lot really, other that we really have been so busy that we are unaware of time passing. We were in the UK for a visit in late August/early September and then again in October to meet with our Scottish support group and trustees. I also was away for a conference sometime between then and Christmas and Kenneth was away doing eye testing in another city ... then Christmas was the usual blur of frantic activity with parties and shoebox gifts. I will make a New Year's resolution right now to update more regularly and to post more photos ... watch this space!