An Offical Member

It was a rough start.  Actually, that is an understatement.  It was a horrific start.  There was kicking, screaming, tears, shouting "I hate this place" in front of all, an attempted escape back to the car, tearful "don't leave me"s, on and on it went for 5 mornings.  Thankfully for everyone involved it was short lived!
 

A few weeks ago the school had a French day and AJ was asked if he would like to stay until 3 so he could partake in all of the activities.  He has now been asking to stay until 3 everyday.  What a difference!  So it is 4 down and 0 to go at the Smith house. 
 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

In The Blink Of An Eye

I know everyone says it, they grow up too fast, but I tend to be a bit pig headed and am all about learning things the hard way.  It is true though, they really do grow up in the blink of an eye.  It seems like only yesterday we were driving in the median with the hazard lights on trying to get to John Muir at rush hour.  Now he is the 5th grade and winking at me when someone says an inappropriate word or someone tells a mature joke on television.


This year Spencer and a friend from his class went together and had a quad bike party.  They had a great time and all of the parents got a laugh seeing them in their sanitary hats:

Spencer is an avid reader, so I did a Wimpy Kid cake for him. He is also always up for a good joke, so I got some of those trick candles...

He's a good sport and can be a bit zany from time to time.  Not long ago he made everyone facial hair (Laney excepted, thankfully) and enlisted them in a band. Crazy kid! 

He is such a good brother to his siblings - so kind, caring and an amazing help.  

It is hard to imagine that in less than another blink he will be off to college... Nope, not true - not gonna happen...wink, wink.

Adorable Laney

October 17th Laney turned 6, although sometimes it feels more like 16...

Her day started with presents and ended with cake - not a bad day!

Being the social butterfly that she is, Laney chose to have a party - make your own pizza at Pizza Hut. We made all of the kids personalized Italian chef t-shirts as party favors:

Laney’s husband was in attendance.  His name is Josh and he is utterly devoted to Laney - he showers her with gifts, love letters and calls her “wife“. In fact, he was momentarily devastated recently when Laney accepted another proposal. Not to worry though, by the end of the day, she said, “Mom, I think I’m starting to come back around to Josh”. Okay Laney...

Oh to have that amazing balance of bathroom humor, knowledge of all things Star Wars, the ability to be a total goof ball, femininity and dimples!

In addition to be adored, Laney loves dancing and takes street dance and ballet.

She spends most of her free time drawing and mothering AJ. 

She is kind, thoughtful, loves to laugh and really is adored!

Owen's Eighth

For his birthday, Owen wanted something low key, so Saturday his friend from school came over and we took them bowling and out to dinner.  The actual day was just as he wanted.  Waffles for breakfast, presents, a Taco Bell feast (he put away 4 bean tacos, a bean burrito, a cup of rice and a cup of beans), put together his new Lego sets, a 10 mile bike ride with Sam and Spencer to test out some of his new bike gear, a fish finger dinner and cake - a taco cake, of course. 

Presents

Biking this summer

The taco cake - cookie shell with chocolate cake, chocolate covered peanuts for the beans, melted marshmallow for the sour cream,sour apple candy cut into strips for lettuce, strawberry licorice for tomatoes and orange Starburst for the shredded cheese.

Cake time

Owen is such a great kid - he is kind, loving and empathetic.  That said, he is, and will always be, our little frat boy.  He is a great little guitar player and a fantastic bike rider.  In school, he likes facts and figures, but it also quite artistic.  He loves animals and chooses not to eat beef even though he think it tastes great.  He still can't get enough beans, but since moving to England he has developed a love for fish fingers.  In fact, the cook at school continues to be amazed by how much he eats on Fish Finger Fridays - I think his record is fourths!  I think we had better start saving now, as those teenage years are yet another year closer. 

The Tooth Fairy Will Be A Little Poorer This Evening...

Pause

Can someone please tell me where the time goes?

Today was the first day of term and the kids were back to school again (with a swollen eye - Laney, a bruised cheek - Spencer, but what can you do?). 


It is just hard for me to believe that only a year ago they looked like this:

They have grown so much!  The change is most noticeable in AJ, of course.  Not just in his physical appearance, but demeanour as well.  For example, he looked like this for most of the day:

Why you ask?  He wants to be grown up too.  He so wants to go to school.  It doesn't help that Laney has been playing it up - AJ I will sit next to you at lunch, AJ you can see your best friend Peyton, AJ it will be so much fun...  Ugh!  I told him today that if he went to school he would have to go alone and wouldn't be able to see me - he said that was okay because he really wanted to see "his kids".  

While potty training, when AJ felt like he was going to miss out on something while he was in the bathroom he would ask people to "pause" the game, puzzle, show, etc.  so he was sure he didn't miss anything.  So, I would like to adopt AJ's methodology and "pause". Hear that life?  PAUSE please! 

Madness

We have all gone mad around here.  Some more than others...

For science day at school, the kids dressed as mad scientists. Owen decided to go all out with his hair, while Laney and Spencer went for a more reserved look.  AJ's hair, well, his hair always looks crazy but we are so thankful that he finally has some we just aren't bothered.  

They had a great day at school with a mobile planetarium and experiments galore. 

I, on the other hand, have progressed way beyond madness.  I have lost my mind.  While rushing to modify shirts into lab coats, I plugged the the sewing machine into the little white converter and flipped the switch.  The loud "boooo-haa" sound that followed was my first clue that I had done something horribly wrong.  The smell that followed confirmed it.  Unfortunately, it was only after I sent the 220V through my poor little 110V machine that I remembered the last time I used the sewing machine in the kitchen I hauled in the big yellow converter (a step down transformer) rather than the little white one.  

R.I.P. dear sewing machine. 

Christmas Eve

Tree - check.

Kids in jammies - check.

Stockings - check.

Gingie Men (AJ's newest obsession - "not da gum dwop butens") for Santa/Father Christmas - check.

Monkey bread for the morning - check.

A good nights sleep - hopeful.

Snow

It was fun the first time around.

      

The kids were off school for 4 days - we built snowmen, drank hot chocolate and threw snowballs.

The children were so excited to see the snow they went out before the sun even came up.
 

This time, however, there is no school to be missed and the snow has lost much of its appeal.  We are supposed to be in Spain right now warming ourselves, eating tapas, drinking Sherry and touring the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, but instead we are trapped in a "Frozen Britain". 

One plus (of many - like, we are not stuck at an airport somewhere), we were able to try out the sleds I bought after the last snow!

Not Messing Around

A lot of people asked if we celebrated Thanksgiving this year and the answer is "yes", kind of.  Obviously Thanksgiving is not observed here so Sam still went to work and the children still went to school, but we did have a turkey dinner complete with cranberries imported from the USA.  It was certainly not the same as being at home with family, but we made it work. 


It just so happens that one of the bigger English celebrations, Guy Fawkes Day, is celebrated at the beginning of November.  The day is to commemorate the day that King James 1 survived an assassination attempt.  Long story short November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes, a participant of the Gunpowder Plot, attempted to blow up Parliament to rid England of the Protestant king and replace him with a Catholic head of state.  He was caught guarding barrels of gun powder, captured, questioned, tortured, tried, sentenced and ultimately jumped from the scaffolding from where he was to have been hanged, drawn and quartered (yuck).  Because the English don't mess around he was still drawn, quartered and distributed to the four corners of the kingdom. 


Like many of our American celebrations it is celebrated today with a lighter tone - many elaborate fireworks displays, massive bonfires (sometimes with an effigy of Guy Fawkes in the middle) and lots of food. 


Our house happens to back up to a golf course and they were having a big party to celebrate the day.  Not really knowing what to expect we decided to hang back this year and see what was what, but once we saw what was going on the kids and I grabbed our wellies and headed outside. 

Here is a what we saw:

Seriously, they do not mess around with this bonfire stuff.

No that is not a rope to keep people away, just something to mark the footpath at the back of the yard!

The fireworks were impressive (and close) and as a finale they set of floating lanterns that were so beautiful in the night sky.  The best part is unlike the 4th of July when you have to wait so long for it to get dark, it gets dark at 4:00 PM in November, so all the festivities are over by 8:00 PM.  At the end of the day, I'm not sure I would trade my 4th of July apple pie or Thanksgiving turkey dinner, but it is definitely nice to enjoy while we are here.