Cork

The boys and I flew in on Monday to Cork, andthe same day we headed over to Dunne's and some other shops for school uniform shopping. The new school requires British style school uniforms, and parents can either order them through the school from the UK, or can go and buy theirs if they happen to travel to the more rainy and gloomy parts of the world. The fun thing about such shopping is guestimating how much the kids will grow during the year. I was thinking ahead, as Noa will be attending school one day a week (for the ESL and choir classes) starting September and then eventually going full time, I grabbed some of the clothes I just bought her in California to measure against some of the clothes. So I t hink we got everything for everyone as far as clothes and shoes for school go. 

As most of the other supplies I bought in the States for the kids, we have very little of anything else to buy in Ireland, other than a few copy books (and even more will have to be bought in Israel to satisfy the school's requirements, plus there are all the actual textbooks).  Those we will buy today as we go downtown to search through the little second hand bookstore by the Tesco, plus get some "stuff" at the Other World (Sci-fi and fantasy store). I also want to grab some clothes at the Enable Ireland charity shop: they usually have great stuff. I'll look through a few more charity shops. 

Now, as my kids were super compliant and we got done with the shopping at the first stop, ( suspect that might change with two girls added to the family) I took them to Kinsale to the sea yesterday. Actually it was my auntie who took all of us. We spent some time on the beach, having a picnic lunch, then Auntie and the boys were taken out on a boat by one of auntie's friends we accidentally ran into. The boys took a dip, and  they realized the Celtic Sea is not nearly as swimming friendly as the beaches of Tel Aviv. 

They loved loved loved it though. They are my little beach bums. With actual tans. :)

Papers! And Paper Dreams (nostalgia rocks my socks or: going off in tangents)

All the paperwork we needed to do in California is now DONE! Wonderful people went the extra mile to make sure that we don't get stranded here indefinitely. With all that done, we are heading out to New Jersey early Wednesday. Thursday we are attending Auntie Jordan's wedding (she is Janice's sister), and I'm super excited about the music of the event. It will be someone whose voice I adore, who will be singing for the party! Yay!

The boys are back to Budapest after camp. They had a great time, but they are now ready to be home. I'll pick them up on Monday, when we fly over to Ireland, and then we meet Kevin and the other three kids in London on next Thursday... and then we will be home with about two weeks left of our summer to enjoy together and start being a family of 10. As nice as the house here is, it's not home, and it's not where we will really start our family life. The boys are really excited about meeting their new siblings, and Noa can't wait to meet her brothers in 3D for the first time! They love talking on Skype! I have no clue how they understand each other, but they do!

I just bought two books I loved reading to the older twins and Craig but are kinda worn. One is Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince", a sad but absolutely lovely story, beautifully written. The other one is Max Lucado's "Just the Way You Are".  I am particularly fond of Oscar Wilde - my only non-musical acting credit was in a community production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" as Jack Worthing. Now that was fun. 

I also had a chance to sing two great roles in high school. One was in Jesus Christ Superstar and my only regret is that I never had the right voice for Judas, which happens to be a great role. I think the role I got to sing was a lot les sinteresting, especially when you are 17 and trying to find out what motivates people.

The other one was in a local stake production of Saturday's Warrior. I got to play two different roles in that, and I still have the sheet music somewhere. This one song embedded below was one that I sang during the first year (I played Tod that year)  and really, I love this song still.I love the part when it lists the things Tod wants to be ("...who's tall and straigh/best of all he's free..."). I love it, because... because I came to the point in my life when I'm not only tall, but best of all, I'm free.