Sibéal received this 8 piece painting set from Auntie Orla for Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed completing it.

It is a simple kit that contains 3 bowls, 2 candle sticks and 3 vases, all unpainted. 12 mini pots of paint and 2 paint brushes are also included and are then used to apply whatever designs you want to the various plain porcelain pieces. They are left to dry and then can be oven baked to ensure the colours are water and wipe proof.

She had great fun deciding what patterns and figures she wanted to paint on each piece. She took her time them painting each one over many days. Available from Smyths, good value at €14.99, would recommend for children in and about her age of 6 years old.

This is by far the best television documentary series that I’ve seen in ages. It follows 14 different people from the 600 or so who are awaiting organ transplants in Ireland. In the first episode a lady awaiting and eventually receiving a heart transplant, a spouse to spouse kidney transplant, a young man awaiting his second kidney transplant for over 3 and a half year and a young girl from Enniscorthy who undergoes a liver transplant were shown.

The second episode concerned, for the most part, cystic fibrosis patients. It is Ireland’s most common life-threatening inherited disease. I was unaware that many cf patients may need a liver transplant as well as lungs transplant. This episode detailed Luke’s liver transplant in Dublin, Orla’s efforts to get on to the Newcastle lung transplant waiting list, the effect of cystic fibrosis on 6 year old Hannah’s day to day life and  Jacinta from Knock suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, awaiting and eventually receiving a single lung transplant in the Mater hospital.

I am humbled by the courage, resilence and hope of these admirable people and their families. To know that their health has to deteriorate to such an extent before they’ll even be accepted on to the organ donation waiting list and to be aware of the numbers that pass away whilst on these lists. For many there are years of waiting, helpless, their lives put on hold as they wait for the misfortune of some other person and some other  family to enable them to receive a new lease on life.

I doubt whether I would be as strong. This programme makes me acutely aware of how very fortunate I am that my family is healthy and of how important it is to carry an organ donation card and to make your next of kin aware of your organ donation wishes.

If you missed the first couple of episodes you can catch up on the TV3 website. Congrats to TV3 for making such a gripping, must-see, excellent and ultimately life affirming series. Less imported crappy reality tv and more of this type high standard documentaries please.

I spotted this box of chalk a few weeks before Christmas whilst toy shopping in Smyths. My children love it. They’ve gotten hours of fun out of drawing on the driveway and footpaths outside the house. From huge monstrous pictures to pictures of each other and treasure maps.

Top value at €4.99 for the box which contains 20 assorted coloured pieces of chunky chalk. Its been well used by the children aged 10, 8, 6, 4 and 3 years old. Let’s face it, there are not too many toys or pastimes that suit them all at once. I love it because it gets them outside in the fresh air having fun together.

Would definitely recommend.

This is what infuriated, challenged and entertained Oscar on Christmas day, a 240 piece 3D jigsaw. He loved completing it, though it took him longer than he anticipated and it now is displayed proudly in his bedroom. Great fun. He’s looking forward to trying more complex and intricate puzzleballs.

Would definitely recommend as an alternative to straightforward normal jigsaws for children aged 8 and older. Excellent entertainment.

My kids are loving this at the moment. You build your media monster by selecting four different recording media. You are then given a choice of monster composed of different arrangements of these parts. You name your monster and you can then enter it in the championship and can challenge other monsters to duels. Its incredibly easy to use and great fun. I love the way the monsters are assembled.  The children are loving creating the different monsters, naming them and seeing how they get on in the championship. If you have a blog you can place your monster widget on it. Clever marketing.

Here’s mine Whatcha think?

Last Saturday, myself, Oisín and Sibéal headed to Clonakilty for a few hours. We were on a mission to get knitting needles and wool for Sibéal and a new book for Oisín. Whilst there, it started to rain and the kids declared they were hungry so we decided to have lunch in the Aubergine Cafe. This cafe used to be The Organic Shop as far as I recall and it is located on Rossa Street, just off the main street.

Once seated the waitress promptly brought crayons and colouring pages for the kids and left us to peruse the menu. I was impressed.  A range of salads, sandwiches, quiche, baked potato, bagels, lasagne, soup or afternoon tea and a good selection of breakfast choices: fry, cereal, croissant,  porridge, waffles, scones and more. Specifically for children: plain sandwich, soup, pasta bowl or baby bowl. Smoothies, babycinos, coffees were also on offer.

As my pair love lasagne, I asked if an adult portion could be divided between them. No problem. I wasn’t hungry so just opted for a latte. My latte and their small hot chocolates arrived quickly and they set about doing their colouring.

The food arrived not long after. The lasagnes were declared to be the second best in the world, just pipped at the post by Nana’s version which is a high standard to beat.

We had a lovely relaxed lunch. The bill was €16 which I thought was reasonable as I have often paid more for food they haven’t liked or eaten. They loved this food, the service was friendly and very helpful. As result I will definitely return there the next time I’m in Clonakilty. Looking forward to trying one of the specials from the blackboard on my return visit.

Would recommend if you’re in Clon and looking for somewhere to eat which is family friendly and serves good food.