It’s been a busy week since returning from our house swap in Cotswolds, England.

We spent most of it back up at our cottage, so our daughters could attend On The Edge, the teen evening programme at New Horizon Christian conference in Coleraine.

I was able to attend on Friday evening – it was challenging and inspiring, and maybe next year we will manage to attend more of the conference!

Also during the week we met up with some friends for coffee/ice-cream in Portstewart

On another evening friends from England who were over on hcoliday met up with us for a trip to Barry’s.  All 6 kids had a great – all (ages 15 to 7) went together on the Cyclone.

Tonight is the start of REFRESH, a kids club at our church this week – the primary school kids come for an hour of games, craft and story, then the older kids come for coffee bar, sport and dance.

 We will end the Refresh week with a family BBQ.

Yesterday my father-in-law visited and brought his very cute dog Pippi with him.

There are now FOUR of us in our family who would love a dog, but my husband is remaining the sensible, practical one……for now!  How could you resist such a cute dog?

She is a Miniature Schnauzer ….. and very adorable….and tolerant all the attention she was receiving!

What is happening in your world this week?

Please share in the comments below.

Inspired by Elizabeth I am planning to start of my bloggy week with a roundup of what’s been happening.

I have already blogged about our great day on St Patrick’s Day with our friends from USA.

Yesterday we had a quieter but still enjoyable day. It was Mothers Day here, so it started with breakfast in bed with the help of my 7 year old – tea and toast (with LOTS of butter and jam!)

I received some lovely cards and gifts from my kids – a plant, a book, a Reese peanut butter bar (love them), and some homemade gifts too.

My 7 year old brought this home from school:

All About My Mum

“What is she like?
She has brown hair
She wirs wundfull cloos
I love them
Things she likes doing?
She makes jullery every day
Why do you love her?
She dos lots of stuff for me
She heps me wif my homwerk
and thats all about my Mum”

 This is the poem (which my 7 year old said he was made to copy, and he assured me that is WAS NOT his words!!!)

“M is for the many times you have hugged me
U is for the unbelievable things you do
M is for all our memories together

Mum I am so glad I have you”
Before church I had a wee walk in Wallace Park – it was a beautiful spring morning.

Did you spot the butterfly?

In church all the ladies (not just the mums) receive a wee posy of flowers – here is a pic from my iphone (hence the poor quality) of the front of our church will all the flowers.

What did you do yesterday? Care to share?

I know Mother’s Day is over for another year, but for my daily photo for Project 365, I wanted to photograph some of the cards and the little posy of flowers from church I received yesterday.

I have 3 kids, but so far have received 7 cards, and counting! (There is an unfinished one apparently somewhere in the house, which is not yet ready to be delivered).

Every year in church all the ladies are given a small posy of flowers – usually a daffodil, some heather, a little greenery and whatever else has been donated from gardens. The kids hand them out at the end of the service, and I like that all ladies are included.

So here is today’s pic.

And a close up of some of the cards.

I came across a number of great posts today, and wanted to link to them immediately. I often save links on Tumblr with the intention of sharing them with you, my bloggy friends at a later date…..but I never do!

Today, however, I will :

20 tips for finding routine with kids – Simple Mom

The Generosity Experiment

Advice from Shannon (Rocks in My Dryer) at Start Your Family

Whittaker Woman Heather asks a quick question about our identities as women, and opens up a great discussion.

If you would like to discover some of the other items I have found useful, inspirational or inspiring, you can check out my Tumblr links HERE.

I warn you now, there are many! Most of the photo links relate to my kitchen/family room redesign.

I find Tumblr very useful for remembering anything that catches my eye, without the need to categorise it or tag it.