Christmas 2011 and Sophie's 3rd Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sophie! Its so strange to think about our life here her perspective - she doesn't know any other home. We just can't believe how big she's gotten over the past 2 years.

Christmas Dinner!

Opening presents! The girls loved the little gifts they got from each other.

Dad really wanted to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum and so off we went! Sophie and I joined Noni and Papa and we had a great time at this little attraction. Good suggestion Papa!

No time like the present to get writing about events from 7 months ago!!

Because of our extended holiday over the 2010 summer to MN/IA we asked around to see if anyone was interested in visiting us this Christmas instead of us staying here by ourselves. To our surprise, my parents were happy to make the flight and stay for Sophie's big day too. Record snowfall and ice nearly sidetracked them on their way here and definitely changed their plans to go north for a few days to York. One thing I should make clear is that when I say "record snowfall and ice", I mean one or two inches of snow that melts right away and refreezes - nearly a daily occurence in MN 6 months out of the year. The difference is that there are no snowplows and NO ONE owns a snow shovel in London. So 1 inch here equals about 18 inches in MN. I am not exaggerating when I say this place shuts down.

Regardless, my parents were able to see the charm of London at Christmastime and Sophie had a little party with some important people in her life! The girls got a dollhouse from Tim and I, college money from my parents (yay!) and barbies, polly pockets, dress-up clothes and books from many generous friends and family. We had a lovely time!

Grandma Anne's visit

Once again we were able to talk a few family members into visiting us later in 2010. She came alone this time - without her boyfriend Pat. We missed Pat but he didn't have to deal with crazy girls swirling around the house playing Barbies and the hubbub to get out of the house in the morning. He stayed in Peace-And-Quiet-Iowa...maybe I should have joined him there!

Anne was able to be here for a week and Tim even took a day or two off of work. Anne is always looking forward to spending lots of quality time with the girls which they love. Anne helped walk them to school, had tea parties, played dollies and read a lot of books to the girls. We were also able to have some adult time with her and went to WICKED which was AMAZING, dinner and tea at Harrod's. Tim took some time to go to Windsor with his mom and it happened to be the day that Kate and Wills got engaged. The Queen was at Windsor that day and the news crews flocked to the castle. Tim and Anne dodged an interview but were excited by the hubbub!

Uhhh... Where Did the Last Six Months Go?

So somehow it is May and my last post is from November. I am definitely failing at posting on this blog. Its not hard and I often have things to write about, so I really have no excuse. I'm not impressed with myself. No wonder I only have 11 followers. Good thing I'm doing doing this for pay. I've even had people ask me to blog about certain things we've done, and still... nothing.
OK - enough of the hairshirting (is that even a word?).
Let me travel back in time and search through photos...
Cue the wavy screen and crazy hypnotic music.

Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night = Fireworks!

On the 4th and 5th of November in Great Britain, there is a big celebration called Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night. It all started about 400 years ago when Guy Fawkes tried to kill everyone in Parliament and he was caught as a traitor. Now they celebrate that event here by having community celebrations with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy. Last year we saw fireworks from our window and this year we decided to get in on the action (though no burning effigies for us)! There is a fireworks display near our house so Tim got home early and we packed a picnic dinner and went to watch. It gets dark here already by 4:30 so the fireworks were able to start in the pitch black by 7.

Abby got a glowy necklace at the party and also ate dinner with Tim. Two rare events!

Abby and I enjoyed the mild evening in Chiswick Business Park - waiting for the show! There were plenty of food stalls, beer and wine for sale, glow necklaces to buy and giant white fairies walking about in the crowd. We're putting this on our list to do again.

This being our first time at this event, of course we chose and obstructed view! It wasn't so bad though because Sophie was not into the loud booms that go along with the bright lights... maybe she'll like it better next year!

With our busy schedules, this was one of the best family events that we've been to in awhile. We were even home by 7:40! :-)

Fall in London

The big change for us this fall is that Sophie is participating in more of her own activities rather than following Abby to all of hers and watching. Sophie attends a music class on Monday mornings and a ballet class on Tuesdays. She loves them both and really enjoys feeling like a big girl!

In other news, most of you may already know that I chopped off my hair that was well-below my shoulders in the midst of a moment of insanity. I rarely put a picture of me on the blog, particularly one of JUST me. But, here you go.

Once in awhile I will find myself in a good enough mood as I roll out of bed to admire a sunrise. Of course it needs to be a sunny morning - which takes a little luck in London as well. When the two conditions occur, its time to take a snapshot!

Look at how big she is. Look at how much she looks like her daddy. Not an ounce of me in her looks! Here she is modeling her favorite sweater, I mean "jumper", from Noni.

Everyday I pick up Abby from school at 3:15 and we walk back to Sophie's school near our house and the park to pick up Sophie at 4. We always have a bit of time to wait. Sometimes we work on homework, sometimes we go to the playground. On this day we spotted Sophie out for a walk with her friends!

Happy Halloween!

Eek! Our neighbor, the Witch Baby! Actually, its just Vivienne from next door. She is wearing Sophie's costume from her first Halloween. I think she's just as cute too!

Decorating Halloween cookies over half term: way more fun for the girls if I would have let them go just nuts. I must learn to let them instead of being so controlling! They had fun decorating two cookies and eating lots and lots more that were hygenically frosted by me. :-)

Abby had lots of fun carving the pumpkin this year with Tim. She also likes roasted pumpkin seeds. I think most of the things she likes are because Tim likes them. They would do anything for each other!

There's my lover of all objects she can personify: Sophie!

On the 30th we went to a Halloween party at Chiswick House, an historic estate in Chiswick near the Thames. Although my general attitude about living in England is quite good, I have to say when it comes to Halloween, there is much work to do here! Party was lame. It would have been better if Sophie hadn't been napping in her stroller and Abby had a couple of friends to play the English yard games with. And maybe some wine. Wine or beer might have made the party less lame. ;-)

My very own kooky goblins.

Here we are the next night - Halloween! Kind of a bust last year, but it went better this year. The key, we discovered, is to leave Montgomery Road. The willingness to participate in trick-or-treating is severely lacking in England. However over one street (Antrobus Road) we had a bit more success. We ended the night with finding about 10 houses, which is about right for a 2 and 5 year old.

Abby's 5th Birthday

I remember Abby's 4th birthday last year as a low point for me. Of course it was lovely because my parent's were generous enough to time their visit to be here and we also had a few new family friends come for a party, but it was the first realization (after Easter and 4th of July) that things will never be the same while we are in London. Our normal big birthday parties we have for the girls can never be like we had them in Eagan. Not this year! While it was smaller than other parties she has had, Abby had her first friend party. She did not have to rely on family friends to fill the spots allotted - she had plenty on her list and I had to limit the number of people we asked. What a difference a year makes. Above are two of Abby's greatest friends in London: Ailish and (her future husband according to Abby) Joe.

Abby was excited to open her presents from her friends - most of them lined up on the sofa to watch.

Joe had to have a more sauve position for himself as the official "ladies man" of the event. He made most of the adults giggle!

Here is Abby on her real birthday getting ready to go to school. It was a busy time of day, as usual, but we made the time to let her open a present or two before rushing off for the day!