Isn't it great to be a kid!

Before I get to explaining why Ms. Keira was here for a visit, I thought 'What a great photo' for any company to use as advertising!

It is sad that for the most part our families rarely are all together unless it is for a wedding or a funeral, but we try to make the most of it whenever the occassion occurs. One of my Uncles passed away last week. He was my fathers brother (Aidan) and had been long suffering with lung cancer. The wake and funeraling took place over 3 days (Thurs.Fri.Sat).

Shane flew in Thursday morning and brought a little surprise with him - my gorgeous niece Keira. She stayed with Granny on Thursday night and on Friday went to each of the kids schools to pick up my two! Needless to say, they were more than overjoyed to see their cousin.

On Friday afternoon we took them to the home of my late Uncle to pay our respects and I would venture to say it was the first time all 3 of them had ever seen a corpse. They had no real feelings on the matter. I thought it would get a little more chatter out of them, but they seemed indifferent to the fact that someone was dead in the living room and more concerned about the Apple Pie in the kitchen.

When Jack walked into the living room where my Uncle was laid out, he proclaimed loudly (in a room full of the mourning families) - "theres my Grandfather!" I had to do a quick look around myself as I was focused on my uncle in his coffin who did not resemble my Dad in the slightest and then noticed that Jack had spied a photo of my Dad nearby.

It is funny how the things children say can have a strange effect on people. I was a little mortified that Jack was being his usual loud and 3 yearish self blurting out the first thing that comes into his little head but later found out from my Mum that my cousin Raymond (eldest son of my uncle that just passed away) was shocked and happy to see Jack behave as if he knew exactly who my Dad was even though he has been dead 9 years this Christmas.

I know, I feel proud. I love that the children who have never met Dad, do have a great sense of his presence. It is awful that he never lived to walk me down the aisle, or be around to watch the kids grow, to have seen our lovely restaurant, to have partied with our friends, to help us build a chicken coop (see upcoming blog) and so much more. But he is forever in our hearts and apparently his image & essence is engrained in the little minds & hearts of my babies.

Now - on to a lighter subject! Whilst Keira Leira Loo was here with us (and this is where I have to THANK my brother Shane for allowing us to keep her for the weekend!!) we felt the need to spoil them all rotten and cram as much junk food and crap into their little bellies as possible.
This is soooooo unlike my behaviour (I know - shocking) but it was such a joy!

Keira has this really cool way of wrapping her french fries around her chicken nuggets then dipping them in ketchup. Usually 3 french fries and always the same size ones!

As most places like Supermacs (Irish equivalent of McDonalds) give a little gift, the kids left with a toy, balloons, ice cream and very full tummies. This photo is a little blurry but I thought it was a true image of the way they actually were all hyped up on sugar!

That is all the WiseWords for today,

WiseMóna