Aloe Vera

Today we decided it was time to take off some of the shoots of our aloe vera plant. My next door neighbour gave me a very nice shoot a few years back. I asked her what do I need to do with it? she said leave it alone! So I did.... and today it was taking over the dining room table!

We tried to catch the soil that was spilling using the canopy off the patio heater! not a great idea. The girls used lots of tissue to clean the pots BEFORE they started....lovely mess!

We needed lots of pots. There was so many shoots big and small. I reckon we will see lots of shoots growing through the decking!

this one is for Rosie

I love this picture the rays of sun just shining

down on my little gardeners

lots of hands busy busy busy...

Caoimhe was busy getting all the

potting compost we needed

this one is for elaine

and last but not least
these are for Tia...I just know she has extra pots!

One of the thicker stems of the aloe vera plant

broke off and the girls snapped it open to see

the gel. Aloe Vera is so good for any type of burn.

This plant is known as the first aid plant.

It has anti inflammatory properties and is

used in lots of different products.

This is a great book I always refer to it for uses with aloe vera, from creams, soaps and food.

Here is our baby plant...hopefully it will

grow successfully and we can take more shoots

Here is our Mommy Aloe Vera, alot

smaller than it was.

While we were busy repotting our lovely Aloe Vera, I spotted this green leafy stem! whoo hoo....our carrots are growing

and here are more.

Ok nothing to write a gardeners book on but they are growing...I really thought they had found their way down under!

All about Ireland by Caoimhe

this is my project on Ireland.
It was fun to do this project.
I learned lots of things and I had a great time doing it too.
Ireland is im Europe and Europe is in the northern hemisphere.

Ireland has four provinces but htere used to be five.

Leinster flag

Ulster flag

Munster flag

Connaught flag

Mide is another word for Meath because it was the fifth province. and this was the flag. But we dont have a fifth province anymore.

The sugar loaf is an extinct volcano in Ireland.

Irelands flag was first used in 1937. but before that we had a flag that was green with a harp on it.

The flag means green means the the republic the white means peace and the orange means the supporters of william of orange. We put white in the middle because it means peace between these two groups of people.

Ireland looks like a teddy bear I know thats funny but it is shaped liked that.

We dont have wild animals like snakes and bears. they are in the zoo.

The weather is always raining but sometimes we have sunny days.

There are 32 counties in Ireland.

Dublin is the capital city.

this is my project on Ireland

hi ho hi ho its off to the library we go....

Before we collect the girls homeschool friend Aideen, they play in their room while I gather all the books and dvds to be brought back to the library.
Finally we head off and collect Aideen and go to Leixlip Library. Although it was raining and I thought it would ruin their trip, it didnt, the girls didnt seem to see or hear the rain they were too busy chatting and singing!




Once we got home it was straight down to business...food and upstairs to play!
This is a great picture....















......and this one is not! They got really annoyed with me, ok guys I know when Im not wanted...










This was the attraction, a box load of dolls. Oh to be young again (very young) No wise cracks Sean!











After all the play the girls came down and decided to look through some books. Sadhbh was discussing her project on habitats with Aideen. They chatted about the deep ocean which inspired some research on the anlger fish and ugly fish from the deep.








They didnt even know I was taking this
picture. I love camera phones.
Arent Homeschooled kids great, they
love to learn new things its so enjoyable
for them without any pressure.









They read about the different zones in the ocean and where sunlight does not penetrate.













Sharks from the deep... they use their baleen to strain the zooplankton.





this is a great book with lots of pictures.
A great investment


Aideen thought this fish looked like an owl...and that it could be going through the next stage of evolution...clever girl.

Only another homeschooling mother would think of giving you funsheets for your kids to do when the weather is wet.

thanks Tia. We plan on making the wands when we decorate some newspapers and stiffen them up.

I got great post today...a picture of Mrs Mumpers(Daisy) with her pressie cleaning the house...everybody better MOVE!

I love my angels, the fancy envelop and the prayer.

I love my memories

My Angels.

I had planned lots for the girls, just to make sure they had a good day especially with the rainy weather, but I need not have bothered. They were delighted just being together.

While thinking back on this I realise sometimes less is definitely more.

The Vikings are here!

Well what a day we had. Something that was planned with such short notice turned out great.
We went to the Dvblinia experience at Christchurch. It wasnt as expensive as some tours it cost 17euro. For all four of us, we stayed until closing. We took lots of pics.

For the very few that dont know this is Christchurch in Dublin. It also has tours and there are some ruins in the grounds.

I dont think Frank couldnt get his

WHOLE head through hes gagging....
These medieval cutouts are just

outside on the way in to Dvblinia

the girls loved this.

This is a typical bed! and below is the loo! Moss was used as toilet paper. In viking age Dublin local trade with the rural area around the town was important to obtain crucial supplies....the raw material moss was theViking equivalent of toilet paper!

you wouldnt guess what these are used for...for the fashion concious Viking, in muddy weather they could protect their leather shoes by wearing these high wooden heels!

Because they didnt have zips or buttons the Vikings made these loops that had a little gap that would allow a long type of pin to go through and then they would turn the loop to lock the pin in place.. its true necessity is the mother of invention.

These are samples of viking weapons and mail. Viking weapons are easy to find as they are always buried with them.

they buried their dead with their swords. their graves were pretty shallow.

this is the skeleton of a woman. the girls had lots of questions

these are of a male viking

and these are of a wolf and cat

This is the runes. We tried to get the

best picture we could. We had great

fun making up messages with the runes.

Caoimhe is still leaving messages around

the place. She will soon be fluent in Viking!

Caoimhes runes

Guess who??

ye olde spice shoppe and fresh too! plus they would have had entertainment. They also had displays of a stock with some poor guy stuck in it, he took some white bread! and the medicine stall had lots of cures including teeth extractions!

this man was fantastic. He showed the girls how money was made. He also had made beautiful silver chains and bracelets. He gave a great history lesson on silver. The vikings would wear silver and it meant they could spend it if they needed to! They would also cut the coins in quarters (a halpenny).

He was asked how long he was there his reply was since c800s!

He actually makes coins here and here is a picture of the tools he uses.

Girls thought he was cool.

a satchal of coins

A Viking, did you know they didnt have horns on their helmets.

these are pictures that we thougt were worth taking because the girls read them it encouraged them to find out more.

Sadhbh and Caoimhe thought the chain mail was very heavy and couldnt believe that vikings could wear this.

Oh yes viking Caoimhe!

This display is of the protestant reformation...not the next top model!

this is the scribes stall. In viking times if you had money you could get certificates made. The girls are doing rubbings of certificate plates.

this stained glass window is beautiful. its at the end of the viking experience.

the photo doesnt do it justice.

Im so glad we went on this trip. there is so much more to see.

The girls rate this one as ten out of ten! because their was lots to do not just the reading.