I ♥ London. Especially London trips with the hubby.

We have some awesome friends who were willing to watch Luke and Ella overnight (thanks Logan and Stacy!!), so Jake and I went to London this weekend.  We sped off as soon as Jake got off work on Friday.  The drive there was a little stressful since traffic was bad and we needed to make our 7:30 showing of Wicked!  Driving into and out of the city is crazy on the weekends.  With no traffic it's about an hour fifteen min, but with weekend traffic it's quite a bit longer.  When people go to London from here they usually just ride the train in.  Makes things easier when you don't have to park a car and drive on the crazy London streets, but since we were staying overnight, we were able to leave the car at our hotel.  We ended up taking a cab to get to the Apollo Victoria Theatre from the hotel (The Crown Moran) and got there about 5 minutes late.  We had to watch the first ten minutes of the show from the back of the theatre until they could escort us to our seats.  Wicked was really fun though!  Jake liked it too.  I think the next musical I want to see here is Billy Elliot.   Here we are after the show.  The lighting was really weird in this pic, hence the black and white.  Crappy picture= better then no picture though, right?  Maybe not.    

It was too late after the show to really sit down and eat, so we grabbed some sandwiches at little place before jumping on the tube and got back to the hotel around midnight.  The Crown Moran has free breakfast in the morning, so after eating there we went out to see the city.   Jake and I had some company on our trip.  Our nephew sent us a flat Caden to take around England for a bit for his class at school.  We took him the next day with us sightseeing.  I think he liked riding the tube.  Haha.  Thought this picture was plain. 

(smith def. of plain acc to Jake for all of you non-smiths:  pleasantly funny in its own way.)

We wanted to go to the National Gallery since it's something we'd rather not do with kids in tow.  Pretty amazing seeing so many well-known paintings in person!  (Van Gogh, Monet, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rousseau, Seurat, etc.) 

View of Trafalgar Square from the steps of the National Gallery...

Making sure flat Caden got a picture with a double decker bus.  My kids think they are cool. 

Can you find Jake in this next pic?  He's the only guy in the city wearing red so it should be easy :)

Looking down at Big Ben from Trafalgar Square...

Flat Caden met the Household Calvary and got a token phone booth shot...

House of Parliament...

It was exactly noon when we walked by Big Ben.

River Thames and the London Eye. 

Westminster Abbey.  William and Kate tie the knot in a couple of months here.  April 29th has been declared a national holiday for it.   

Caden and I went to Hogwarts for a bit.

Jake at King's Cross station

My favorite London food:  Crepes.  At the Kensington Creperie.  It was Jake's first time there and he's a fan now too.  Delish!  Come visit and we'll take you :)

It was fun just walking around and relaxing in the city with each other.  Thanks Jake for a fun weekend!

Another Year ♥ Another Valentines Post

                                                       2010 Valentines Day/Week highlights...

♥ I wasn't sure if kids passed around valentines at the British schools or not, but Luke took packages of Bubblicious bubble gum to his classmates with a Happy Valentines Day note on them.  Only Luke and one other American kid in his class passed out valentines.  It's just not a big thing here.  Trading valentines that is.  His school had a Valentines disco later that night but we didn't go.  A dance for 4-10 year olds? 
Christmas is the big card exchange here.  Anyway, it was kind of humorous hearing the British moms talking about the gum today when I went to pick Luke up from school.  Their kids had never had bubble gum.   I'm learning that even though England has an edge on the chocolate sphere of the candy universe, America is much better when it comes to other types of candy (gummies, sour things, licorice, gum, etc.).  You can't find anything like a sour patch kid here.  Sure, the candy might look like it may taste like a sour patch kid, but you soon find out it's nasty.  Actually, I don't think they have anything that's sour here.  It's more like sugar sprinkled on gummies.   I just remembered though, their Skittles are better then the ones in the states.  The colors aren't as bright in their Skittles, but the flavors are different and better.  Anyway, back to valentines stuff... Here's Ella after being caught with 3/4 of a new package of bubble gum gone.  I asked her where it went and she told me she ate it.  Nice.  I guess we have proof that it's ok if you eat your gum.   This was last week and she's swallowed much, much more since.  Crazy girl. 

♥We had a park play date with Linda, Stacy, and kiddos.

♥My mom sent a Valentines package the week before with some pink and red clothes for the kids to wear.  They looked pretty cute!  Here' s Ella, Luke, and their buddy Liberty.

♥Had friends over for a lasagna dinner!

♥The Friday before we made and decorated some Valentines sugar cookies with one of Ella's little friends.  Most of the cookies ended up with more sprinkles then cookie.  I wish I would have taken some pictures! 

♥ I'm glad Jake is my Valentine.  Love him.  He always does a good job at remembering Valentines Day.  This year he brought flowers and treats home from work for me and planned a London getaway for us this weekend.  We're going to see Wicked.  I'm excited! 

I got Jake a GPS.  We've been relying on our phone GPSs and they aren't doing their job lately.  Can't wait to actually know where we're driving on our next trip!  This place isn't the easiest to navigate.  I forgot to get a picture of us... he gets home and I forget to get the camera out, but here's one of my flowers I took today instead! 

Happy Valentines Week!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

That song has beens stuck in my head while looking at these pics!  Anyway, we had our first sunny (and semi-warm!) afternoon in a while a few days ago, so we decided to bust out the bikes!  If we were real British people we'd be out on bikes rain or shine, but this mom doesn't really like biking in the rain.  I don't mind the rain really, but I miss all the sunny winter Vegas days when we'd play outside!  Luke picked this bike out at the BX a couple of weeks ago.  He has loved his mini glider, but it's starting to look super small for him!  Plus, he has been wanting pedals. 

Anyway, here's my boy!  First day on his new wheels.  

The next day when we were out he wanted a 'movie' of himself riding.  So Luke, here you go you speed demon you.  :)

I'll have to post pictures of Ella on her new bike another time.  

She wasn't feeling good and just chilled in the stroller.   

One task near the top of my 2011 'to do' list is GRADUATE.

FINALLY.  School has been a thorn in my side for the last couple of years.  I've been almost done for forever it seems, but not able to finish the job.  Pretty frustrating.  So, Rockstar and I have become good friends lately.  Totally not healthy, full of caffeine and other junky stuff, and probably habit forming... but the orange one tastes pretty good and helps me stay AWAKE to study after long days of  playing with kids, running errands, and chores.  Good stuff.   

Oh, and Ella, this next picture is for you.  I'm thinking you will enjoy seeing artwork from your toddler days when you are older.  Here's one of many drawings I have found in my textbooks lately.  Little stinker.

So that I can look back and see what a typical weekday was like a la' January 2011 for our family, it has looked something like this...

6:30 AMish... Wake up to Ella yelling, Mama I need some bwekfas!!  Get Ella's breakfast. Mine too. Usually she requests Wogurt. Her favorite is the apricot Froop.  Jake has usually left for work by now.  He starts seeing patients at the clinic at 7.
7 AMish...  Get dressed for the gym and get the kids clothes for the day together while Ella watches one of her shows.  Dora is a favorite in the TV dept. now.  Pack Luke's lunch for school.  His 'usual' is a plain cheese sandwich (wheat bread with a big slice of cheddar or monterrey jack inside or that nasty processed Kraft singles stuff... he loves that.), fruit, and some crackers. 
7:30 AMish...  First attempt to wake up Luke.  He likes to roll over and go back to sleep for a while.  Usually he wakes up for good on his own terms about 15 min. later.  In the meantime I make sure his backpack is ready to go to school with the stuff he needs. 
8 AMish... Make sure Luke has his clothes on for the day.  Help him do his hair.  Go downstairs for his breakfast.  Unlike his sis, he hates yogurt.  90% of the time he requests Eggos.  Large meltdowns occur when we're out of them. 
8:30 AMish... clean up breakfast mess, unload dishwasher from night before.  Brush teeth.  Try to find missing shoe/sock/hat/whatever is lost that we need to leave the house.  Seems like we always have to find something.
8:45 AMish....  In the car heading to school.  El and I Walk Luke to his classroom and then by  
 9 AMish...  we're headed over to the gym on base.  Try to beat other gym rats to the treadmills in the 'parent and kid' area of the gym. 
10:30 AMish... leave the gym.  Pick up mail on the way home.  On Wednesdays Ella has had gymnastics at 10.  We're taking a break from gymnastics for a few months starting in Feb. 
11 AMish... Home again.  Find something for Ella to do while I get ready for the day.
12 ish... Eat lunch with my girl.  leave at
12:45 PM to pick up Luke.
1PMish... Carry a sleeping Ella from the car to Luke's classroom.  Go home with the kiddos (Ella is still sleeping 95% of the time) and Luke and I find something to do.
2 PMish... After El wakes up (she'll usually sleep for an hour or so)  time for running errands, playing, friends, cleaning, and other everyday things. 
4 PMish.  Start thinking about dinner.  Thinking that is.  Most of the time I procrastinate for another hour, maybe two, before actually starting to make something.  Usually Jake is home by
6 PM ish and we eat then.  Trying to be better at eating early this year.  And at eating healthier.  Jake has been trying new recipes and cooking for us every now and then.  He's a good chef.  One of his recent creations...

Don't remember what this one was called.  It was super good and involved feta, bacon, and lots of parsley.  Here's my chef:

7 PMish... Clean up dinner mess. 
7:30 PMish... plop kiddos in the tub.  Get PJs on.
8 PMish... family scriptures.  Then Luke gets his reading practice time in for a bit.
8:30 PMish... Kids in bed.  Err.. um... try to have the kids in bed.  We've been trying to get them in bed at a normal early time lately.  Our kids have never been good sleepers so we are working on that.  Things are slowly improving in that department :)
9 PMish... my free time.  Ahhh.  Time to bust out the caffeine and hit the books until my brain turns to mush. 
Sometime hopefully before midnight it's time for sleep. 

Next day: repeat.

What we've been up to so far this January...

* School!  Luke went back to school last week.  Now, he's in reception (British kindergarten).  Until now he had been going to the nursery school which is like preschool at the primary school.  All the kids that turn 5 in the next six and a half months start reception now.  He's got a new teacher (Mrs. Chilestone) and a new class, has to wear the school uniform, and stays longer during the day.  I like that they let the kids adjust gradually to staying at school all day.  For now he eats lunch at school and then I pick him up at 1:00.  After Easter holiday he will stay until 3:15.  He really enjoys school.  Some mornings he doesn't want to physically GO, but once he's there he has a great time.  Here he is modeling his awesome uniform on his first day.  At Great Heath Primary school, they have to wear navy polo shirts with the school emblem on them and then grey or black trousers.   I think it's funny people call pants trousers in England.  And I thought wearing a navy shirt with black pants was a no-no?!  Guess it isn't here.  If it's chilly they wear these tealish green sweatshirts with the school name on them. 

This next picture was taken the last day of school in his 'apple' class before the Christmas holiday.  Luke with Mrs. Dootson and Mrs. Ashworth.  They were really great wtih him.

 

*StarWars!  When he's home,  Luke has been going crazy lately with his legos and other StarWars Christmas toys.  They have taken over the dining room table.  Trying to figure out where to store and play with these things!  He doesn't like taking them apart once they are put together.
   

*Luke gave his first talk in primary today.  He did awesome.

*Jake has been busy working.  Top producer at the dental clinic lately (I don't brag about him enough so I'm going to do it now), so he's working hard! 

*Ella is loving dressing herself.  She entertains me during the day with the crazy things she wants to put on.  If she isn't putting something on, she's taking off something that I had put on her.  Her clothes, her hair accessories, shoes, etc.  Not only does she want to pick it out, but she insists that she dress herself a lot of the time.  Took some pictures of her the other morning in one of her fabulous outfits.  She wanted all of those flowers on her headband.  So stylish :)

 *Trying to get Ella interested in going potty in the toilet.  She just doesn't really care if she has a dirty bum though.  Whoever said potty training girls was easier is totally wrong.  haha.  Luke was so much more interested at this point then her.  Actually, he was just about potty trained by now.  Oh well.

*I've been trying to get our family on a better schedule.  With sleeping, how Ella and I spend time during the day, etc.  Still trying to nail down what exactly my new years resolutions are going to be.  It's looking like 2011 will  be a busy but fun year!

*Kristen and Aaron had their baby girl this past week.  She's adorable!  Another fun thing about Jan. so far!  Hope we get to meet baby Emmy before she's too big! 

Christmas! 2010 Edition

We got home Christmas Eve from our little getaway.  We had planned to cook some fun things with friends that evening, but since we left Bath later then expected,  ended up at RAF Croughton in Northhamptonshire at dinner time.  To be more specific, the Croughton bowling alley of all places.  Haha.  It was the ONLY place open on that little base when we stopped to fill up with gas around 4:30.  We still had a couple of hours before home and the kids needed a break from the car.  The bowling alley burgers were actually pretty good though!  I'm glad there are so many military bases in England.  We've spent money at British petrol stations (as they call gas stations) once so far.  That's just because the car was running on fumes one night.  We just put in £5 that time.  Totally worth filling up on military bases since gas is so much cheaper.  It's around $55 to fill up on base (for around 65 liters).  Off base gas is £1.30 per liter... around £84 to fill up the Highlander  (like $130).  Yikes.  Anyway, enough talk about gas.  We ate our burgers and then headed home.  Oh, and we are glad we didn't end up being stationed at Croughton.  It was one of the possibilities for us.  Not only is it teeny tiny, it's in the middle of nowhere.

* I tried to convince Jake that we should go see the royal family walk to church at Sandringham Christmas morning.  It's close to where we live, and the children there get to hand the queen a flower.  I guess it ended up being a good thing that Jake wasn't up to going though.  With Luke being sick it probably would have been miserable.  One of these years before we move I want to go!

*Here are the kids in their Christmas PJs before bed.  We read lots of the kids' Christmas books, the Christmas story from the bible, and watched the Nativity movie.  Luke was feeling sick.   Sick + Christmas Eve excitement + being scared that he would wake up to see Santa or that Santa wouldn't come because he was awake with D on the toilet made for a very VERY long night.  The kids were pretty cute in their PJs though!   

*Santa came!  He did it.  Somehow he snuck in without Luke seeing him.  Luke was up around 6 to open presents.  We had to wake Ella so we could go downstairs and check it out.  All of us were pretty lucky and got what we asked for this year.  We scored Star Wars stuff, lots of babies, toys, a camera lens, a kindle, clothes, and other fun things.  Thank you Santa!  And grandmas and grandpas!  Another Christmas morning surprise was snow.  It melted a little before Christmas, but was back Christmas morning. 

*Ate a tasty breakfast casserole and some orange rolls for breakfast.  Jake made some meatballs that night.
 

*Ella eating some of her stocking loot...

*Christmas day was spent vegging out.  We talked to family in the states on Skype and watched new movies.  Luke didn't really leave the couch since he still wasn't feeling well.  Poor kid!  Ella was in heaven taking care of all her new babies.

 

                                                

It was the first Christmas with just the four of us.  We missed our extended family, but had a fun day at home.

A few other Christmas related things I want in the blog book...

*We made a gingerbread house again this year.  Luke just couldn't wait to put it together, so we did this the first week of November.  Jake and Luke did the decorating. 

*Christmas cards are a huge thing here.  Kids at school pass them around, so Luke would bring home a bunch every day.  It's kind of like passing valentines in the states.  You get tons of them, and most have candy attached.  It's fun.  A few that Luke got...

*Luke gave  Lego Christmas cards to his classmates.  I asked him to show the camera the cards he picked out and he decided to make a silly face.  Reminded me so much of the squishy face he used to make as a baby.  (click here to see the old squishy)  haha

*I didn't send out half as many Christmas cards this year as we have in the past.  I was a slacker.  Jake and I have a million aunts, uncles, and cousins between the two of us.  (So many people in our extended family that we love!  We're lucky that way....)  I only sent cards to immediate fam this year.  Call me lazy. 

Think I'm going to do a big send out every other year from now on.   For the record, here's what this year's card looked like!  We used a family picture I posted on here already.  (Ely post) Luke designed the card at school and I think they turned out cutie.

front and back:

The inside was blank.  Ok, so I think that's all the Christmas stuff I was going to include!  

*I should mention New Years on this post too.  We got together with the Smiths and did fondue!    Also watched movies and played games.   

*Another fun thing about New Years Eve 2010... my dad turned 50! Happy Birthday dad!! :)