40 Days!!!!

40 Days!!!  39 days, 12 hours, 49 minutes and 46 seconds from this moment to be exact!

The Girls and I are heading home for a visit!! WE CANNOT WAIT!!  I am already making a list of everything I need to take back to Iowa with me as well as list of things I need to bring back to England from Iowa and another list of all of the food I want to eat and restaurants I want to eat at when we get there and they are listed in the order of how I want to go to them!!  FOOD!!!  Isn't that ridiculous? Outside of family and friends the only other thing on my mind is FOOD!  Not shopping, not laying out by mom and dads pool or driving on the correct side of the road for a change or using the U.S. dollar for a change...None of that matters to me as much as Family, Friends and FOOD!!!! Culvers, Happy Joes, Shot Tower, Los Aztecas, Arby's....I could go on and on for days!! However to get to this glorious food I have to endure a 8(ish) hour flight home with 2 babies, 3 suitcases, 3 carry on's, a stroller, and a 6 hour time change ALL BY MYSELF!!!!!  You see, in order to make this trip REALLY worth our while the girlies and I are going back home for an entire month. However, E is only coming home for the last 2 weeks of the trip because of work and vacation time.  SO for anyone out there who reads these posts that are oh so few and far between (sorry about that, time gets away from me!), please, PLEASE, I BEG YOU, SAY SOME PRAYERS FOR ME!!!  I am really trying to avoid thinking about that part until the day of, why cause stress that is not needed...Right?!?!?!  Once we arrive in Chicago and get to the pick up spot where my dad will be picking us up, vacation for this mama starts!!

Do we need this vacation?! Oh let me count the ways...AJ has learned how to say no and she uses it quite often, potty training has become interesting now that she takes her pull-ups off all by herself, but only when they are full of poo, and her new favorite place to play is in the dog kennel!  Today AL informed me that she hates me for naming her what I did because her name is stupid and I should have named her Elsa (a friend of mine just had a baby girl and named her Elsa, that is where this came from, not just the movie Frozen) Because Elsa is a great name but her name is stupid and from now on she is no longer going to answer to us unless we call her Elsa...Speaking of the movie Frozen, have you seen it? If not, let me know and you can have our copy! If I have to hear that *stinking* song "Let It Go" one more time I think I may go INSANE! Send me to the nut house because this mama is really, REALLY tired of going to bed at night and waking up at 1am to that song being stuck in my head!!! UUHHGGHH!!!  When the movie isn't in the DVD Player, AL is running around in the dress that I made her (yes made her because all of the stores have sold out of the darn thing!) singing the song at the top of her lungs!! As if that isn't bad enough AJ has started to sing it as well but since she has the vocabulary of an 18 month old, "GOOOOOOOO" is about all you hear and understand from her! Does this movie make any of you other moms out there crazy?!?!

On a side note AL has started cheerleading! Competitive Cheerleading!!!  OH MY GOODNESS I cannot stand the cuteness of these little girls! Cheer shoes, and uniforms and bows and 4 year olds throwing stunts! SO CUTE!!  She has an event in Liverpool next Monday so I will try to post a small blurb about the day with some pictures...if I remember to...

Other than that we are counting down the days until we can come see everyone, eat some good food, do a bit of relaxing by mom and dads pool, a bit of shopping and who knows what else!

39 days, 12 hours, 23 minutes and 1 second...

Until then,
A xx

Time. Its a funny little thing isn't it? When we want it to speed up, like during the workday, it seems to slow down and the exact opposite happens over the weekends or on our days off.  When we lose someone we love we wish for more time.

Or when you decide to do something for two years, it doesn't seem like that long until you dive into it. On some days it seems like we have forever left to go on our English adventure and other days I cannot believe that we have been here for almost a year already!
So many things have changed over the last 9 months. AL has started school, tumbling and she is now in cheerleading as well. Our little 4 year old is not such a little girl anymore.  The phrase, "they are growing up to fast" is more true than I ever imagined. Makes me want to slow time down a little bit. 

(AL during Cheerleading practice)

 

AJ is talking more than ever and she has grown over 2 inches since we have been here which makes me wonder where the last 2 years have gone. Her favorite phrase is, "Oh poop!"

(AJ smelling the flowers out front of our house)

 

We have had several visitors over the last couple of weeks. My Aunt C came over from the states and at the same time my Mom and little sister B came as well. I took B to London for a couple days and together we had a great time. We visited all of the Harry Potter film sites, hit all the tourist sites and shopped tons! It was wonderful having my family here but again, time went way to quickly and now I feel like I am more homesick than I have been for a long while.

(Big Ben at night, photo taken by me)

 

So for now, I am wishing time away, at least until June when I get to travel back to the states with both of my babies for  a whole month! E will be joining us about 2 weeks into our visit. Until June we are wishing for warm weather like we had over this last lovely weekend, and for time to go somewhat quickly until we arrive at home, then it can slow down or even stand still throughout the month of June!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

So its the middle of February already and I don't know how we got here!  Time flies when you are having fun! We had E's mum and dad visit us in January, unfortunately AJ ended up getting sick the morning that they arrived which put a bit of a damper on a lot of our plans but we still enjoyed having them here! We visited Chester, Manchester and Liverpool with them. Hit many museums, Castles and they even too AL to the aquarium! She had a blast!!

Alberts Dock, Liverpool.

My cousin came over at the beginning of January to study abroad in Bangor, Wales. She came over about a week early and we had a great time having her here as well! We toured a few places, shopped a ton and even sang some karaoke! Its nice having family only about an hour away! We even bought tickets last night to see the Backstreet Boys in concert this March!!!

Inside the Chester Cathedral



We are now getting ready to have more visitors! My Aunt, Mum and Sister are all visiting at the beginning of March. In April another cousin who is studying as an exchange student in Belgium is planning on spending a portion of her spring break with us! Is almost as if we are bank with a revolving door and I LOVE IT!!! 

Not only do we have several visitors coming and going this spring I am busily planning some holidays for us to go on as well.  We will be coming back to the States mid June and staying until after the July 4th holiday and we are also planning a trip up to Loch Ness to spend a long weekend trying to find Nessie!

Not much else to share, the weather here has been extremely rainy and cold although not as cold here as it is back in Dubuque. It is a different cold though, that damp cold that chills you to the bone. We get to see the sun only about once every 7-10 days which is very frustrating when you have little ones who want to play outside.

Happy Valentines Day week!!
~A

Tis the Season...Remember what its all about!

A lot of people think that E and I have got it made. Living in England for two years, how awesome right?! Well, let me assure you, it isn't all roses and daisy's! More like thorns and weeds! Now don't get me wrong, the day to day life is great and visiting all of these little towns on the weekends is fun but I would trade ALL of that to be home for Christmas with my family! I see people complaining all the time on facebook because this person ticked them off or they don't have enough money to buy their 18 month old daughter the $200 Disney play castle she wants for Christmas or that their iPhone broke and they can't live without it...WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! This is the most wonderful time of year and you are with your FAMILY!!! No matter how much they piss you off, buy you the wrong thing, or don't buy you anything at all they are still YOUR FAMILY and there are some people out there, me included, that would give up MANY things to be in your position right now!

Your life is hard because you didn't get that new iPad? Try telling your 3 year old on a biweekly basis that she doesn't get to see her grandparents for Christmas because the airlines think its fair to charge you your first born for a flight home. Angry because you have to spend Christmas running between 4 different houses? Try sitting by yourself, in a country where you don't know anyone so you will be spending Christmas alone! I have a new found respect for ALL of the young men and women serving our country because this is not easy, and we are not fighting a war. All we are doing is living the life that we have chosen. So yes, I understand that this is partially our fault, and I do take responsibility for that. However, when you think your life is bad because your phone is broken, or because you are forced to spend 1 day of the year with your family, all I ask is that you stop and think about the fact that you are BLESSED to have family to spend that day with! I would trade every gift from all of my 27 Christmases just to be able to spend that 1 day, running from place to place, spending time with my family.

So this year, don't spend money you don't have. If you cant buy a gift, make one. Don't worry about the commercial piece of junk that this once lovely holiday has become. Instead cherish the time you have with the ones you love. Because someone you know may not be able to have that opportunity this year but would love to have it.

Remember that Christmas isn't about getting everything you wanted, Christmas is not YOUR birthday and it certainly is not a day all about YOU. Christmas became what it is because of a birth of someone long ago, before any of this commercialization crap was even invented. So get back to the spirit of CHRISTMAS and spend time with those you love. You never know where you may be tomorrow, next week, or next year.

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Love to all!
~A

Halloween, London, Toilet Training and Dinner 50's style...

So, for those of you who know me, I am the creative Mom. I love to cook and bake, I make lots of hair bows, clothing, home décor and other things. I have even started a shop on Etsy called "Coffee Needed" So this year, like Halloweens past, I made my girls their costumes...AL wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and AJ was Rainbow Brite. So I spent a good amount of hours making these costumes, I even purchased a new sewing machine to do so! Come Halloween morning, AL informed me that she no longer wanted to be a Ninja Turtle and that she was going to be Rapunzel instead! This, my friends, was the first time since having her that I was really sad, I actually had my feelings hurt by my 3 year old. Now, I know that this is not going to be the last time that this happens in our lifetime together but I didn't expect it to, #1 start so early and #2 hurt that bad! When she told me that she didn't like the costume I made because it was stupid, I was crushed!  Anyways, once I got over the whole, "you are wearing it" attitude and realized that it was a 3 year old that I was arguing with, we proceeded to enjoy our first British Trick or Treat, and let me tell you it was AWESOME! (insert sarcastic font here) There were a total of 10 houses that the girls even went to and out of the 10 houses the people at the door said that our girls and their friend Alice were #'s 3,4 and 5 of the amount of kids they had this year...Now, the locals thought this was a great haul and AL didn't know the difference, and the "mom" side of me thinking about the cavities thought it was great! However, what is the point of having Halloween if no one participates?

The next adventure we experienced was a child free trip to London!! Yes!! I said CHILD FREE!!!  WHOOO HOOO!!!!  E and I celebrated 5 years of marriage by spending the weekend in London, we ate Indian food for the first time, on a street called Brick Street where there were more Indian restaurants than I have ever seen! They had guys walking the streets and heckling you to get you to come to their restaurant! We (2 of our friends included) ended up with a deal that altogether consisted of 2 free beers, a free bottle of wine, 4 free appetizers and 4 entrées for $10 each! The 4 of us ate for just over 40GBP!!!!  What a deal!

Prior to the Indian dinner we spent 4 hours on a bike tour through London seeing the sites, including Kensington Palace (yes, I was INSIDE Kensington Palace!!! Where Kate, Will and George live!!!!), Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The London Clock Tower (the home of Big Ben), Westminster Abbey and a few other places that I can't remember the names of...however we did the majority of the tour in the rain so I may have mentally blocked some of the history of what I was seeing! Later in the evening we continued our tour of the city on foot and I cannot wait to get back to see more!

 (Big Ben)

 (Kensington Palace)

(Westminster Abbey)

 

 



Toilet Training is another portion of my title, now some of you may think I am crazy or insane for trying to toilet train a 17 month old....but in my opinion, when a kid starts to hide when the poop or can tell you when they need to be changed, they are smart enough to learn to use the toilet. AJ is and has been doing all of the afore mentioned things for about a month now. So we purchased a Mickey Mouse potty chair that says "hip, hip hooray!" when she pee's in the toilet and I have stocked up on lots of candy to keep in the bathroom. She is doing pretty good so far, she love wearing underwear but prefers to run around the house naked, and she has yet to poo on the potty but we are getting there. Hopefully the next time I blog I will be able to tell you that we are all finished. (Hey, I can hope right?!)

Friday night we went to this cute little diner in Runcorn, where E works called Rockwell's. Because we were heading to this 50's themed diner I decided to get out the sewing machine once again and make the girls poodle skirts to wear. Oh my goodness were they cute! They LOVED the music and the milkshakes, the food however was less than satisfying. The bathroom doors however were an American flag and a Confederate Flag, not sure how that comes into play but, whatever works I guess.

(AL and AJ at Rockwell's)

 

 

Have a great week everyone! For now I will leave you with a few of AL's British-ism's (must read these in a 3 year old British accent!)

 

1. Daddy, may could you please consider playing hide and seek with me?

2. Mummy, may I play with Ol-li-va (Oliver) in the ga-den (garden)?

3. Daddy, that looks like fun! May I have a go? (when she wanted to crack an egg)

 

Until next time...

A.



AMERICAAAAA....and then some!!!

Hey all!!!  I know, I know, I have been slacking on the blog entries...sorry! Life has just been so busy around here lately! Where did October go?! Well, here is how it went for us...

October 3rd (which just happens to be my dad's birthday) we set off on our trip home to America. We were all up at 6am to get to the airport and wait to board the plane at 9. After eight hours on a plane, where none of the kids slept, we FINALLY arrived in Chicago at 1:30 CST (which just happened to be 7:30 GBT which we are used to). After going to the hotel to clean up we headed over to the Outback Steakhouse with E's mom and dad to get one of the BEST steaks I think I have EVER tasted!!!  Friday morning we started our trek cross-country to Rising Sun, Indiana where we were blessed to be a part of the wedding of E's cousin. The wedding was beautiful and seeing our extended family was a great treat too. Little Miss AL was the flower girl and she was VERY cheeky while walking down the isle, everyone loved her!

On Sunday we spent 8 more hours in the truck and finally at 6:00pm with Happy Joes Pizza in hand we arrived at my parents house in Peosta, Iowa.  Home, sweet home!!! We had a fantastic time watching my youngest sister cheer for her high school, visiting my second youngest sister at her job for lunch at Culvers and spending LOTS of time with the grandparents, great-grandparents as well as aunts, uncles and cousins!!  We took the girls, along with E's sister, her husband, our niece and E's parents to the pumpkin patch which had an adorable petting zoo! All kinds of animals, AJ couldn't get enough!!

E also got to get in a bit of racing while we were home, he didn't do to shabby either, he actually got a win his first night out! While he and my dad were racing I was able to get in some much needed girls time with my Mom, Grandma and all of my sisters at a great Mexican restaurant! (did I mention we don't have those in England?!) The food was good but the company was even better!

On our last night in the states I had the great pleasure of doing my baby sister's hair for her very first homecoming dance and let me tell you, she was a knock-out! After taking her to dinner and seeing her off my parents kept the babies while E and I went to watch my old band play at a bar in town. It was great seeing everyone and the boys even pulled me up on stage with them for a few songs which brought me to tears more than once.

The next morning it was off to Chicago to the airport so we could come back home. Two weeks goes by entirely too fast! There were many people I was not able to see and many things I was not able to do on this short trip home, and if you were one of the people I missed, I am sorry.

Since we have been back we have been submerging ourselves in all things England, we are here so we might as well embrace it right?! Over this past weekend we went to a Carnival/bonfire/fireworks festival that celebrates a man named Guy Fawkes failing at the assassination of King James the first...I have searched and read about this on Wikipedia and I still don't quite understand why they use fireworks to celebrate this but it is interesting to read about, if you are into historical things.

Other than that there really isn't much to tell other than I miss you all and that I am starting to potty train AJ...this should bring a good post or two in the future!! 

~A.

Really?!

I really didn't know what to title this post, so after thinking about it I decided to name it what I was thinking during the events that I am about to share with you...and "Really?!" is the only thing that was going through my mind.  Here is why...

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in England so Eric and I decided to take the girls into Chester and meet some friends of ours who are also here from the US for two years, at the Chester Horse Races. The day started out wonderful! Blue Sky, sun shining, awesome view of the racecourse, great company and the picnic we brought wasn't to bad either!

Our view at the races!

That is where the fun started to end and the "Really?!" started to begin...At the end of the races AL said she needed to go potty, I did as well so I got up to take her and as I was standing up she started to pee...right there, in the middle of everyone!!!  REALLY?!?!  She is 3 years old and has not had an accident in over a year!! Why in the heck did that happen?  Being the AWESOME mom that I am, I didn't have a back up change of clothing with me for her so instead I removed her underwear, and tights and ripped the shorts out of the inside of her skirt, threw all of that away, put a diaper on her (which didn't go over well, but what else was I supposed to do) and put her skirt and shoes back on. Thinking that this was the end, we walked to our favorite BBQ place and had dinner.  During dinner, AL, still being pissed off at me for putting a diaper on her in the first place, decided to "get back at Mommy" by pooping her pants! REALLY?!?!?!  Worst part, the supply of diapers I brought with us to the track was gone!!! (there we more in the car but we weren't close to the car at this time) So we asked out waiter for the bill, paid and walked to the car.  AL was walking funny and so, again being the AWESOME parents that we are we decided to pick on her a bit for pooping! When we got back to the car I changed AL, putting yet another diaper on her since that is all I had available I then decided to change AJ. While pulling the diaper off of AJ she decided to pee all over mommy...REALLY?! By this time I was laughing but wanting to cry about the whole thing...come on kids give mommy a little break here please!!!  That was the end, or least I thought it was going to be the end of our great day in Chester, until we go the girls home and asleep. At 3:00 this morning AL calls from her room...MOM...DAD...COME IN HERE PLEASE!!!!!  Eric grabbed his glasses and walked over to her room to discover she had puked...all over her "night-night" blanket...REALLY?!?! She wasn't running a fever and didn't look sick so we asked her what happened. She simply stated that she was coughing really, really hard and then it simply, "just came up!"

So far today has been a much better day...no exploding poops, peeing on Mommy or any other crazy things. Lets keep fingers crossed that we don't end up with another "Really?!" type of day!!


On a side note, our tickets are booked and we get to spend some time back home in the US soon!!!

~Abbey