So I Thought This Was My Biggest Problem

I mean really... I thought this was going to be the challenge for the day. I took these pictures early in the morning last Friday (March 5th) because even I was amazed at Sophie's hair. We are used to crazy hair in the mornings here, but this was spectacular! I was gearing up for detangler, several brushes and determining my distraction method for the 20 minutes I was going to need to get through that rat's nest.

Little did I know that this would be the least of my problems! As soon as I got the kids dressed for the day, teeth brushed and, of course, hair tamed we set out for Sainsbury's. I had the car that day and so I wanted to take full advantage and drive there so I could get a good amound of groceries. It is always best to stay out of the grocery stores over the weekend and it is my personal rule to limit my trips during the week as well, since everyone knows that going shopping with two kids is akin to going to the dentist.

So we were off. I had a plan. I was going to bribe the children with sugar (a lolly from Starbuck's) and get in and out in 45 minutes. I wanted to buy things that were annoying (yet, unfortunately, not impossible, as I know too well) to get home while pushing a stroller such as toilet paper, paper towels, cat litter, cat food, a giant package of diapers. At the entrance to Sainsbury's we ran into a neighbor and a classmate of Abby's: Joe and his mom and brother. (As a sidenote, Abby mentioned to Tim last weekend that Joe was officially her boyfriend at school.) Naturally Joe and Abby wanted to hang out and Sophie was placated by the sweet fruitiness of the sucker slime drooling out of her mouth so I quickly (and calmly) shopped as fast as I could with a sticky 2 year old and two four year olds running somewhat under control through the isles. In no time I was done, found Joe's mom and dropped him off and got in the line to check out. This is where my day changed. I was bagging my groceries, listening to my kids being good, entertaining themselves (but not seeing them) and putting in my PIN for my debit card when suddenly I heard the worst noise I have ever heard: a giant crash and both my girls screaming and crying hysterically. I turned around to see that the metal and full cart had tipped over on its side and had landed on Abby's face. Sophie was also in the cart but was relatively unhurt (later we found some nasty bruises on the top of her thighs) but was completely tramatized. A woman from behind me in the line helped be lift up the cart off of Abby and I think another person helped Abby off the ground. I looked down to see blood pouring from her face. She had the beginnins of a black eye and a gash that went down to the bone. The paramedics were called, paper towels were handed to me to me to press onto Abby's face, Joe's mom took Sophie from the cart and it was all I could do to figure out how to get ahold of Tim (which I did poorly, since I wasn't fully functioning - sorry Tim!). Two sets of paramedics cleared Abby at the store to travel to the hospital by way of car versus ambulance so we decided that would be the least traumatic. After getting sorted out and my brain working again, the girls and I made it out to the car to grab Tim from work and head to the hospital. Another mom/aquaintance that was at Sainsbury's helped me get the postcode for the hospital into the navigation system while I was buckling in the girls in. After the mom went on her way, I realized that the gps had drained our severely shoddy car battery and the car was dead! The stress of the situation overcame me and I finally started crying while I called Tim to get someone to drive over to jump the car. About 30 minutes later we were soon on the way after dropping Sophie and Tim off at the house.

Abby and I went to West Middlesex Hospital in Islesworth Twickenham (West London) and were able to see a pediatric emergency doctor in a fairly short amount of time. Luckily, he agreed that a shot to numb her in the face wouldn't go over very well, so he opted to order glue and steri strips. Abby was a brave girl and only cried when the glue stung her. This is a picture of her while she was waiting to get x-rayed. No broken facial bones and it could have been substantially worse, should she have gotten hit and inch higher. Each day the bruise gets a little more nasty and the cut looks better. Sophie still talks about the trauma and hopefully will forget it someday. Probably only to be undug at some future therapy session, right?

Abby was so excited to go back to school today to see her friends that she missed on Friday (and get a new library book!) but they sent her back home with me because they didn't want to have to worry about her reinjuring herself. Oh, she was sad (I wasn't, is that bad?). I was worried too. Now her next trauma is that we have big plans to go to Disneyland in Paris this weekend and she is disturbed that the princesses will see her like this. I tell her, they'll be just glad she is ok.

London Fox Week

Here is what happens when Tim is in charge of getting the girls dressed. Pretty foxy!

Whoa! No other comment needed. Besides that I was not responsible for the posing in this picture. She thought that up on her own.

Abby is on a fox-like roll this week. Channeling her inner Elton.

Oh wait. Sophie channeled a better inner Elton.

Sorry. This one is the best Elton John. I'm telling you - its been a foxy week.

Can you spot the fox on the fence? We had two (real) foxes trotting about in our back garden. If you are around Chiswick at night, they are pretty easy to spot, but not normally during the day.

Here is a better picture. However, I was having camera issues and so its not as good as it could have been. They came right up to our windows and were sniffing around. That is, until, Charlie (our cat) can flying out of nowhere and threw himself against the glass.

There it goes. End of Fox Week!

Christmas Trip to the Midwest

One of the things the girls looked forward to most (Abby remembered this from the last two winters) was sledding! Luckily, Minnesota got snow for us just in time and we were able to go a couple of times. Sophie had never been before and she loved it too. It was nice to have the time to do something as a family of four that we all enjoyed.

Here is Hero Daddy with his girls. He was a good sport and did a lot of carrying and pulling up the hill with his girls in tow. I wasn't as generous. Typical. :) Cute picture, though!

Here we stayed closer to our house for a quick little of the snow. Thanks to Chois for some snow gear for Abby and thanks to Noni and Papa for storing the snow gear that fit Sophie, Tim and me. We have winter jackets and fleece hats and mittens for the winter here in London, but that's it. Boots and waterproof winter gear isn't needed (except for the last week, if you have been watching international weather - we have experienced the worst winter weather in 30 years here).

Two days after we arrived in MN we had a birthday party scheduled for Sophie. It wouldn't be her actual birthday for another week, but I was afraid that it is too close to Christmas for us to have a big party on her day. I am more of a planner for these events than just one giant shopping trip to Target the day before, but this time we pulled it together quickly! Here Sophie was a bit overwhelmed by the group standing around her singing "Happy Birthday" or maybe she was nervous about getting both candles out on the first try.

Our friends and family have experienced a baby boom recently: Karla has a brand new baby girl, Aliza, Julia and 8 month old Colin and Pam with almost two year old Avery!

Daddy and the birthday girl in the living room at my parents' house. They were kind enough to provide the house for several get togethers during our time in MN.

You'd think since I write this blog I might be a bit more discerning with the pictures I choose of myself. Anyway, Sophie really enjoyed opening presents this year and got pretty good at it by the end of all the birthday and Christmas festivities. Abby and Liam are helping her out here.

We were so happy that the Sieberts were able to join us from Hudson. Last year many people weren't able to make it due to a snow storm - not this year! We always love seeing Molly, Derek, Aidan and Liam. Hopefully this year their drive was a bit shorter - just to Maplewood instead of Eagan. What cute boys!

Uncles Hyung and Tones (with Baby Aliza) hanging out by the food.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus paid a visit to the girls at Noni and Papa's house. They were fantastic and gave Abby and Sophie tasty candy canes and awesome golden reindeer antlers headbands that they wore through the rest of the holidays (including a doctor office visit). We took a picture of the Claus' with the girls, but it magically disappeared from the blog posting. Apparently the someone wanted the evidence to be minimal.

Due to the snow, we had to completely reschedule the Iowa part of the trip. Instead of traveling down to Ames late on Christmas Eve and continuing down to the Quad Cities on Christmas Day, we made the entire trip down on the 23rd. This long trip made us nervous both because of the age of the girls and the fact that Sophie gets carsick. We loaded her up with her medicine and off we went! By the way, my family couldn't have been more wonderful about us completely skipping Christmas with them. We felt like if we didn't leave when we did, we may not have gotten down to Iowa at all and my sister, Hyung and my parents were very understanding.

Sophie enjoyed playing with Mommy's winter hat as a form of entertainment for awhile.

Eventually both girls were talked into a nap and Tim and I got a little peace and quiet for awhile. However, it is important to point out that they were fantastic the whole trip. In fact, as we were nearing the exit for Davenport Tim and I both praise the girls for being so nice to each other during the 6 hour car ride (Abby had just shared her beloved Baby with Sophie) and Abby piped up, with matching hand motions: "It IS a Christmas miracle!" Yes, yes it was...

The not-getting-carsick-Sophie with her beloved Otter, aka "Ah-Ya". Her only complaint throughout the day was her left ear. She'd stick her teeny finger in her ear and say "A yittle bit hurt". I brought her to urgent care that evening and she had a nasty double ear infection. Poor little monkey. Thank goodness for travel insurance!

Jennifer, Julia and Tim plus their families all went to visit Grandpa Mike on Christmas Eve. We did a few things around the house for him and opened presents too.

There was a dogpile on Grandpa Mike's couch. Sophie decided it was a good idea to stick close to Uncle Ray through the entire visit. Abby, as usual, liked Ben's lap and Ben was happy to oblige.

Grandma Anne and her grandkids: Ben (11), Sophie (2), Colin (8 mos), Katherine (8) and Abby (4)

I brought a giant box of Christmas crackers in our luggage from England and forgot to do them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I finally remembered them on the 26 so we kept the Christmas spirit alive one more day! Auntie Jennifer and Abby thought they looked pretty cute in their crowns and so did I so I snapped a picture of the buddies.

When we returned back to MN after our time in IA/IL we were able to spend more time with Maya and Henry because they were still off school. It was cold and nasty out so the best idea was to hit the pool. Papa played dolphin and gave rides in the deeper water and I played with the kids in the shallow water.

The Chois and my parents were flexible enough to reschedule Christmas. The day before we left to go back to London Kristin and Hyung left work a bit early to come to my parent's for dinner and presents. It was a great time!

Maya and her favorite, umm... only, Auntie! Me and my favorite present from my cute niece!

Sophie was busy showing Papa her new dress from the Chois - although the little bloomers that came with it were being used for pure silliness. Oh my goodness!

Because of the snow the week before, we also had to reschedule our annual Christmas celebration with the Selbitschka family. They were kind enough to come over and have yummy Chipotle with us for our Christmas meal. Yum yum yum!

The Farrell and Selbitschka girls. Weren't Tones and Karla brave with little 3 month old Aliza? I think so!

Sophie with possibly her favorite think she received. A little baby care center with all sorts of little baby things like wipes, bottles, fake shampoo, etc. As you can see, she uses it for her otter nursery instead of a baby. We think this makes sense.

Auntie Sarah and gorgeous little Aliza. I love her hair.

Tony and Greta! Thanks for taking one of your precious days off to spend part of it with us and say good-bye. Thanks to everyone elso - all our fantastic family and friends who rearranged their schedule to spend time with us. We feel so loved. See you all soon!

T'was the Week before Christmas

Although we are just about ready to fly home to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends tomorrow, I wanted to share with you some things we have done recently to get into the Christmas spirit in London. It finally is beginning to feel a bit like Christmas here as it is snowing as I type this. Of course the temperature is a bit different than what its been in MN and IA - its 32 degrees today and the Londoners are whining! I hope you enjoy the pictures and little stories. See you soon!

A couple of Sundays ago, we make the little trek to Regent Street (the famous shopping street in central London). We got off the tube at Oxford Circus and walked down to Piccadilly Circus with a stop on the way at McDonalds for dinner. It was busy, cold and cool to be in the London hustle and bustle at Christmas. The lights were pretty great too.
Some of the lights on Regent Street.

Sophie has a self-imposed restricted diet. Anytime she will try anything new is a major accomplishment. Here was the mess after the first time she devoured a chocolate covered coookie (how is she possibly related to me?).

Another Christmas treat: her first sucker (a lollipop here). We went to a little Street fair in Chiswick one Saturday afternoon. It is near where the girls take their dance classes, so we popped in to look at all the fairy princess gear pictured in the background.

Southfield Primary had their Infant Nativity (Christmas Program) last week. All the classes had a song to sing and the older kids had a few speaking parts to reinact the birth of Jesus. Yes, Abby goes to a public school. No, there is no separation of church and state here. I would estimate that about 40% of the kids there are not Christian. It doesn't upset me at all, since we obviously celebrate Christmas, but as a former social studies teacher I take issue with the principle. Anyway, I know this isn't a great picture, but its with my night vision feature on my camera. I wanted to show you how Abby looked the ENTIRE time of the Christmas program, although usually she was actually waving to me and Sophie instead of just looking to make sure I was watching. See the bottom of this post for a video of her class' performance.

Here is Abby just after her triumphant 2nd ever stage performance. She loves the attention and was so proud! Also on the docket at Southfield Primary that week was the famed Christmas Bazaar where all the kids get to go shopping for presents for their family and see Santa as well. They bring pocket change and the proceeds go to the PTA. I was able to help out (as I have joined the PTA) and see Abby with her 6th grade "elves" helping her shop for us. It was fantastic. It is important to note that she did buy presents for all of us, but found a My Pretty Pony that she couldn't resist getting for herself without any guiding presence of a parent! She's played with it everyday since. :)

Here we are at our family Christmas. Sophie had been sick all weekend but perked up long enough to open a few larger presents that we aren't packing to bring to MN/IA. She also loved the jingle bells the most she stole off the front door. As you can see, we all dressed up for the occasion!

Some of the highlights were a set of exciting and motorized kitchen appliances to be added to the gourmet restaurant in the playroom. Even when Sophie was too tired or weak to sit from her being sick, she still wanted to play with the blender while she was laying down! That takes dedication - good job Auntie Kristin on the gift! Abby also got an electronic piano she had been eyeing that has several different sounds, beats, a working microphone and a record feature. I'll post from video of that perhaps on my next post. Sophie got a pretty cool ladybug play tent from Ikea. The rest has to wait until Christmas!

I think the picture of me next to Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace now falls to second place for bad pictures I am somehow willing to post of myself. I just wanted to show the "Sunday Roast" I was able to pull off for our mini-Christmas celebration. It included a pork loin in a brown sugar glaze, roast parsips (which I constantly called turnips), peas, gravy and yummy Yorkshire puddings!

On December 3rd, Tim had his first of two work holiday parties. I had only met a couple of people that work with Tim, so I was the sole spouse invited to come along. The party was in nearby Ealing at a Polish restaurant. Not surprisingly, it was more raucus than the Christmas parties I have attended for work. Of course its been a long time since I have done group shots of vodka too.

No, that's not Polish Santa. That's Ian. He took a bet that he could change clothes with the server before the end of the night. We accepted the candy-pelting Santa instead. By the way, the server got all the wagered money for being a great sport.

No, that's not a Polish Grandma. That's Ian. This has to do with the first bet. And no, this wasn't the server's outfit either.

Tim's team near the beginning of the night!

Here is a little video of Abby singing at her "Infant Nativity" at school. Forgive me. This is the first time that I have both edited a video and uploaded it onto Blogger successfully. Its not difficult, but its my first time regardless!