This is the kids' (and mine) favorite music lately for bed time. This album puts them to sleep within one or two songs. **Love!**
Saturday, March 17, 2012
An early Mother's Day
Mother's Day in the UK is tomorrow. Caden simply couldn't wait to give me the Mother's Day gift he made for me at school. (Well, that and the cookie he donated to me for the special occasion.)
What a sweet little boy...
Friday, March 16, 2012
The thought for the day
What I hope the kids remember each and every day of their lives:
They are well on their way. Keali wears striped pants with a different striped shirt with pink socks and whatever the most obnoxious shoes she can find are at that moment, if not her rain boots ("Wellies" for the nice British people...). She hates to comb her hair, so she doesn't. She has a pink elephant (named Pink) that she carries around and sniffs its tail. We aren't sure why, but we tease her, and she smiles and sniffs the tail.
Caden hates football ("soccer"), so he simply refuses to play, seemingly unconcerned that his friends are all playing. He loves the maths, and hates writing. He doesn't care that his lovely is a pink blanket (also conveniently referred to as Pink). He seems unaware that he is a solid head shorter than his classmates who are 6 months younger than him. He is confident and outspoken and friendly and challenging and... him.
I hope they continue to be them and not someone they think they are supposed to be. And most importantly, I hope they are proud of who they are. They should be. They have seen more and experienced more in their 5 and 6 year lifespans than I did in my first 38 years. They are smart, funny, beautiful, healthy, and loving kids. I hope it continues.
They are well on their way. Keali wears striped pants with a different striped shirt with pink socks and whatever the most obnoxious shoes she can find are at that moment, if not her rain boots ("Wellies" for the nice British people...). She hates to comb her hair, so she doesn't. She has a pink elephant (named Pink) that she carries around and sniffs its tail. We aren't sure why, but we tease her, and she smiles and sniffs the tail.
Caden hates football ("soccer"), so he simply refuses to play, seemingly unconcerned that his friends are all playing. He loves the maths, and hates writing. He doesn't care that his lovely is a pink blanket (also conveniently referred to as Pink). He seems unaware that he is a solid head shorter than his classmates who are 6 months younger than him. He is confident and outspoken and friendly and challenging and... him.
I hope they continue to be them and not someone they think they are supposed to be. And most importantly, I hope they are proud of who they are. They should be. They have seen more and experienced more in their 5 and 6 year lifespans than I did in my first 38 years. They are smart, funny, beautiful, healthy, and loving kids. I hope it continues.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Waiting, waiting, thinking...
So we are 10 days into Scott being gone. So far, so good. The kids and I had a great Sunday after a not great Saturday. Sunday included beautiful weather, a scooter trip into Kew, a trip to the bookstore for gifts for their friends, and cooking. The most fun part of the day though without question was Extreme Uno. It is by far the most fun kids' game I have ever played. I was literally begging the kids to play again and again. Uno has long been there favorite card game (insert **snoooooooze** here). But Extreme Uno has only one descriptor: FUN.
The last 10 days or so have included less work for me (back to a pseudo-normal 40-50 hour work week), more time with the kids, and lots of sleep.
The extra sleep has given me time for musings...
I've been so proud of the little kids recently. Caden is now reading like a champ, and while he hates doing homework, his levels have so drastically improved that it is amazing. His report card included phrases like "quite a character", "very talkative", "always contributing", and the all-telling "filled with mischievousness". They have him pegged. No lack of confidence with Caden. We don't have the normal conversation at home about not talking to strangers. With Caden, we have the conversation about which strangers are safer than others and what to watch out for. No sense in trying to change this leopard's spots.
Keali is also doing very well. She is in the equivalent of PK4 here and can already read. She's doing math and loves going to school where she is learning ballet. She is now in swimming class at school as well which serves as a close second for favorites, next only to ballet. For Easter break, the kids are out for 3.5 weeks. Caden's all boy school has a camp for four days of the break where they take the boys to "boy activities". Keali went to the camp over Christmas, and (after crying the first day at drop off since she was the only girl) she absolutely loved it. They are both excited about Easter camp week. We absolutely love the schools the kids are in. Regis School in Houston is the only other place we have seen that is as great as their current schools.
I also realized that I have been underestimating my recent adventures. The UK is a beautiful country. It has some fun (and somewhat odd) corners to it. Last week I was in Wales. All the public signs, road signs, parking, etc are written in English as well as in Welsh. It was like being back in Holland with the multiple consonants and too few vowels. The pronunciation is just as difficult too. The country is beautiful, even if the language is impossible. Thankfully, English is widely accepted and all Welsh speak English. Whew.
The kids and I may venture out into England and away from London next weekend to explore. We'll see what the need is for a pajama day by time Saturday rolls around! In the mean time, we'll be counting the days for trial in the US to be over. Opening statements are tomorrow, so we're on the downhill slide.
The last 10 days or so have included less work for me (back to a pseudo-normal 40-50 hour work week), more time with the kids, and lots of sleep.
The extra sleep has given me time for musings...
I've been so proud of the little kids recently. Caden is now reading like a champ, and while he hates doing homework, his levels have so drastically improved that it is amazing. His report card included phrases like "quite a character", "very talkative", "always contributing", and the all-telling "filled with mischievousness". They have him pegged. No lack of confidence with Caden. We don't have the normal conversation at home about not talking to strangers. With Caden, we have the conversation about which strangers are safer than others and what to watch out for. No sense in trying to change this leopard's spots.
Keali is also doing very well. She is in the equivalent of PK4 here and can already read. She's doing math and loves going to school where she is learning ballet. She is now in swimming class at school as well which serves as a close second for favorites, next only to ballet. For Easter break, the kids are out for 3.5 weeks. Caden's all boy school has a camp for four days of the break where they take the boys to "boy activities". Keali went to the camp over Christmas, and (after crying the first day at drop off since she was the only girl) she absolutely loved it. They are both excited about Easter camp week. We absolutely love the schools the kids are in. Regis School in Houston is the only other place we have seen that is as great as their current schools.
I also realized that I have been underestimating my recent adventures. The UK is a beautiful country. It has some fun (and somewhat odd) corners to it. Last week I was in Wales. All the public signs, road signs, parking, etc are written in English as well as in Welsh. It was like being back in Holland with the multiple consonants and too few vowels. The pronunciation is just as difficult too. The country is beautiful, even if the language is impossible. Thankfully, English is widely accepted and all Welsh speak English. Whew.
The kids and I may venture out into England and away from London next weekend to explore. We'll see what the need is for a pajama day by time Saturday rolls around! In the mean time, we'll be counting the days for trial in the US to be over. Opening statements are tomorrow, so we're on the downhill slide.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
The beginning of the month...
The day finally arrived. The kids and I took Scott to the airport yesterday for his month-plus long work trip to the States. He's been working towards this month for the last six years. All of us have. All the time and energy he and others have spent preparing for this trial hopefully will be proven to be well invested. So that there is no jinxing, I won't wish him luck.
The kids and I are on day 2 without him. In honesty, I feel the least worried about being alone on this trip than any other trial he went over for. The kids' behavior has been great, Mary Poppins has been great, and the house seems to be in a pretty good rhythm. I say all this now, but let's see what the sentiments are 3 weeks in...
Completely unrelated, this morning I listened to a presentation from a Ted Talks episode. While the discussion focuses on vulnerability as it relates to connecting with others, the presentation seemed so much bigger to me. It was a good reminder of the times where I (or we as a family) have succeeded or benefited the most was when we took a chance. My nature is to control as much as possible, but my very success at work has been reliant on learning as much as possible, researching as much as possible, and then taking a leap of faith that the outcome of the chance (with preparation) would work out. Of course there have been times when things didn't "work out" as I had hoped they would, but even those occasions have proven to be building blocks of me, of my future decisions, of my experience, of my thought processes. Recognizing the risk or vulnerability (or chance of failure) has been important in my connections with others of course. It has has also been the mechanism for success in relationships, professional goals, and even personal awareness. With the good of course comes the bad. The success from the bad comes from using the bad to make future good such as learning from mistakes, not giving up because the last risk didn't work out, etc. Probably most of the readers will have already figured this out long ago. For me this was a pretty enlightening morning!
After my little digression, I am hoping that the next month goes happily, easily, and with many successes for Scott and his client. And in a poor attempt to tie my rant into the current family situation, I completely admit my vulnerabilities in facing the next 4-5 weeks! (-;
The kids and I are on day 2 without him. In honesty, I feel the least worried about being alone on this trip than any other trial he went over for. The kids' behavior has been great, Mary Poppins has been great, and the house seems to be in a pretty good rhythm. I say all this now, but let's see what the sentiments are 3 weeks in...
Completely unrelated, this morning I listened to a presentation from a Ted Talks episode. While the discussion focuses on vulnerability as it relates to connecting with others, the presentation seemed so much bigger to me. It was a good reminder of the times where I (or we as a family) have succeeded or benefited the most was when we took a chance. My nature is to control as much as possible, but my very success at work has been reliant on learning as much as possible, researching as much as possible, and then taking a leap of faith that the outcome of the chance (with preparation) would work out. Of course there have been times when things didn't "work out" as I had hoped they would, but even those occasions have proven to be building blocks of me, of my future decisions, of my experience, of my thought processes. Recognizing the risk or vulnerability (or chance of failure) has been important in my connections with others of course. It has has also been the mechanism for success in relationships, professional goals, and even personal awareness. With the good of course comes the bad. The success from the bad comes from using the bad to make future good such as learning from mistakes, not giving up because the last risk didn't work out, etc. Probably most of the readers will have already figured this out long ago. For me this was a pretty enlightening morning!
After my little digression, I am hoping that the next month goes happily, easily, and with many successes for Scott and his client. And in a poor attempt to tie my rant into the current family situation, I completely admit my vulnerabilities in facing the next 4-5 weeks! (-;
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sun and snow all in a day...
We were fortunate enough to have another family holiday this week. I had my annual company meeting in Lanzarote, so left the snowy cold London to head to the Canaries. Before leaving the airport though, I sat with 4 of my work colleagues on a plane for 5 hours. On the tarmac. Fun. Turns out the snow (which didn't prevent the very full plane full of passengers from getting to the airport) kept the de-icing machine workers from getting to the airport. Seriously. Fun was being had at home however as Scott and the kids built a great snowman.
So after the plane finally left, we arrived to Lanzarote safely. The meeting went fine and then the family arrived. We rented a house again which ended up being really big and fantastic for the week. The weather was unseasonable cool which made the heated swimming pool necessary. The kids swam at least two times every day but one. The one day we had a pajama day. Love those! We of course made it down to the beach several times. Now, some of you are wondering where the bikini clad beach pictures are. To you, I would simply say HA!
The other exceptionally cool thing was that Scott was able to secure a babysitter for the evenings while we were there. Kirstee ended up being GREAT! She came over several nights so Scott and I could go out. The kids liked her so much! One afternoon she brought over her two kids and the four kids all played together (while Scott and I went and had a cocktail beachside). A big shout out and thanks to Kirstee!
This was one of our best holidays...
We all were able to catch up on sleep (yep, the kids let us sleep in virtually every morning). Caden declared himself big enough for "wake up duty". He was able to get them both breakfast bars and water and turn on the cartoons. LOVE THAT! The kids had a blast and fussed when it was time to leave. We are looking forward to our next vacations in April once Scott has returned from his month trip to the States for trial. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....
Video highlights:
Saturday, February 4, 2012
39 years young
I had my birthday in January. For the first time in four years, I wasn't at a company meeting for it. My lovely work friends got me a birthday cake and took me out for cocktails and dinner. My sweet husband gave me a birthweek. Forever, I have wanted to stay in a castle. Check.
We spent a great night in Amberley Castle. What a beautiful and amazing place. Scott arranged for us to have a seven course tasting menu dinner. In a private room. With a roaring fireplace. And our own waiter and sommelier. Talk about spoiling me! Happy birthday me!
The week was awesome. (The gift-per-day was a nice touch too!) One of the other cool things I was treated to for my birthday was going to see Amos Lee in concert here in London.
He was amazing!
I have had an unforgettable year. Lucky beyond all expectations, we live a dream life. Some people worry about getting older, and I am thankful for continuing to get older. Every year has gotten better and I look forward to this year and hope to get many more.
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