Our stuff is in London!!!! Now where are we going to put it all???

Our much anticipated "sea shipment" arrived on Wednesday, February 18.   It has been quite a journey for our "household goods."  They travelled from KY to Cincinnati and then from Cincinnati to Norfolk and then a LONG trip on a boat across the Atlantic and into London.  There were two trucks, and 4 guys in the crew.  All very nice and amazed at the amount of stuff we had I think!

Let it be recorded here that Brad was skeptical that all the furniture would fit into its designated room.  I was pretty confident that it would all be ok!

The guys came at 8:00 to remove all the temporary furnishings, and the crew arrived with our containers around 8:45, but it all worked out fine.  Yum had arranged for a "parking suspension" to ensure the trucks would have a place to park without blocking the road.

 The unpacking took until about 2:00, with two coffee breaks!  I was furiously unpacking boxes as they were bringing them in in order to get as much of the "debris" out as I could.  The kitchen counters were completely covered in all the contents of the boxes.

 The girls helped with about 2 boxes before they decided it wasn't exciting enough for them.  But they were able to find some long lost toys to keep themselves out the way of the crew.

All of the furniture fit, with the exception of the toy shelf that was too tall to fit up the stairs.  But it is an Ikea shelf that was easy to disassemble....Reassembling proved to be somewhat of a problem since when Brad went to put it back together about 15 of the dowels snapped in half.  Oops.  Thank goodness there is an Ikea about a 15 minute tram ride away and Ikea is open until 10 PM (unusual around here since most places are only open until 7!)  And there was one other minor casualty....they broke our bedroom door frame whilst getting one of the dressers in...oops!  But it has already been repaired!

The girls were so excited when they finally brought the bunk beds in; they had been waiting for those for a long time!  And I am so thankful there are here and there is actually space in their room for something other than beds.

Of all the rooms, our room was (and still is) definitely the most disorganized.  It literally looked like our closet, dresser and bedside tables exploded.  Which they kind of did.  The movers unpacked several boxes in the kids' rooms and just placed all the items on their beds, just to get the boxes out so that made for some mess in their room as well.  But it forced me to get it put away so they had a place to sleep!  Our room will be in a bit of chaos for a few more days until our wardrobes (that we will be assembling....) arrive and are functional.  They wardrobes are due to arrive on Thursday, and then Brad will hopefully be able to assemble over the weekend.

There are a few items I wish we had either put in storage or not brought with us like the kids Pottery Barn chairs and a lot of movies, but all in all, I think we did a pretty good job of streamlining.  The rooms are somewhat cramped, but to be expected downsizing by 2/3!!!  And I have already donated 6 bags of stuff to the Leukemia society, with many more to follow am I am sure.

I am most thankful to have my good sharp kitchen knives, my non-stick pans (although I did set off the smoke detectors making pancakes the other night), my comfy bed with lots of storage underneath, and our VERY comfortable couch and chairs in the reception room.  I am patting myself on the back for bringing all the storage bins and shelves that we did because I have utilized the majority of them.

We shall see what opinions Brad has about the placement of things when he gets home!

Half Term

Half term is over, and it went very quickly!  The weather has been nice here, sunny and in the 40s.  (Not like all our friends in KY and NJ who have been out of school for snow!!!)
Monday, the girls were up by 6:30 (even Lauren!!), which is an hour before they need to be up on school days!  We walked over (Drew ran) to the park by their school, and they had a great time playing on the playground.  There are all sorts of different things to do there.  There is an obstacle course made out of logs and ropes, as well as a see-saw and a huge slide with a fireman pole and several other climbing apparatuses.  The afternoon was pretty low-key, as it was very rainy!  And we discovered "Charlie and Lola" on Netflix.  The TV series is based on some books written by a British author, and we have checked out several of the books from the library.

Tuesday, we were invited to go to this play place called Eddie Catz by one of the mom's of the kids in Lauren's class.  We headed out around 9:00 to catch the bus, and of course we just missed the bus, but we didn't have to wait too long.  Once we got off the bus, I went completely the wrong way and had no way to figure out where I was going, so I asked a nice lady who was able to point us in the right direction!  We weren't too late, and our friends had also just arrived.  It was a pretty cool place (and the kids have heard about it from friends at school), so I was happy to check it out.  They had a huge climbing place (similar to Chick-Fil-A), but much bigger.  They also had a small soft play area for the younger kids, several ride-on toys, a football pitch with futballs, and a disco room!!  Once an hour, Eddie Cat would come out and lead the kids in dancing.  I gave each of the girls £1 for the rides.  Alison decided to save hers, and Lauren lost hers so she got really upset and then she accused these two girls of taking it, but hopefully she learned her lesson about keeping her money safe!  After playing, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch.  The kids all ate their entire pizza!  It was a really nice Pizza Hut.

It was such a nice day out when we came home!  They went out in the back garden and found a worm, which they adopted as a pet and then decided he needed a home.  (I was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it long since Drew had stepped on him a couple times....).  Then they found this big stack of paper money, which they were throwing up in the air and collecting for at least 25 minutes!!  What a day!

Wednesday, our stuff came.... More on that in a separate post!

Thursday, mum mum arrived!!  We were all very happy to see her.  She kept the kids entertained so I could get things somewhat organized in my room.  It looked like our closet and dressers exploded!  We had a tea party with Mum Mum of course!

Friday, I took the kids to see the nurse at the doctors office to check their vaccines.  Mum mum was able to bring the records from the pediatrician's office!  Turns out, they need one shot each hep c and meningitis, which is two vaccines in one jab.  They were very anxious once we got back to see the nurse because we were in the waiting room for about 35 minutes!!  Mum mum, Lauren and I made Lauren's Anglo-Saxon helmet for her project for school.

 I think Lauren's will be the best one of them all!  It was definitely a joint effort.  We then walked down to the park by the girl's school, and the kids just love that park but it was REALLY muddy!  (That's London for you.)

Friday night, Brad and I had our first date night in London, which was much needed.  We got a later start than anticipated because Drew was not too excited about anyone but Daddy putting him to bed.  So, we took the bus up to Wimbledon village to get a bite at a Thai restaurant.  It was definitely different taking the bus as transportation on date night.  (Its not that far of a walk, but it's up a pretty steep hill....)  Dinner was yummy, and then we decided we needed to find our local pub, so date night turned into a pub crawl! The first one we went to is the Alexandra, and it was a nice vibe with lots of beers on tap.  We were watching a cricket match on TV, and I am not sure I can really get into cricket, it seems like it could go on for days and days and days.....  The one thing about pubs is that the beer is not as cold as we are accustomed to, but each different beer has it's own glass.  Pretty fancy!

Next, we went to the Prince of Wales, which is a big pub close to the train station.  It was ok, but they were playing dance music, so it was kind of not really the scene we were looking for at that moment. Around midnight, a lot of the pubs close, but we found one more to close out the night...O'Neills which was smaller but still good.  I would say my favorite of the three was probably the Alexandra.

Saturday, Brad left to go to Australia.  And I was left with all the boxes and stuff everywhere, feeling very overwhelmed, so Mum Mum told me at lunch time to go out and stay gone until after dinner.  Which was exactly what I needed!!!  I took the train to Sloane Square and walked all the way down Kings Road, which is more upscale shopping, but also discovered Peter Jones, which is a MASSIVE store, with everything from drapes to sewing machines to clothes to toys.  Pretty much anything you could ever want.  I stopped at Starbucks and had a coffee and hopped the bus to Fulham Broadway, which unbeknownst to me is where the Chelsea football match was just ending!!!  It was pretty crazy!!!  There were fans everywhere in their blue Chelsea scarfs and hats.  And several bars with bouncers and signs that said "Home Fans Only.  Tickets required."  I had a burger at a local place and took the train back home.  It was a much, much needed afternoon to myself!!!!

Lauren has learned how to do several things over half-term: shuffle cards, braid, and play Spite and Malice.

He-He-Hello there!

I'm so happy right now! I am doing the New Annie- It came out in 2014. We are doing it as a play! Guess what? Me and Ali MEMORIZED THE WHOLE ENTIRE HARD KNOCK LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT MEANS WE CAN DO ANNIE HAPPINESS O HAPPINESS :)) I can't wait to do it in April!

WOO WHO!!! I've been waiting DAYS to do this! I have had so many good times with my Good ol' cousin Annabelle! 

Valentine's weekend

Finally a weekend with decent weather and no injuries!  We were able to spend some time together exploring!!

Saturday, we went to see Peter Pan at a local children's theatre.  It was very well done, and there were only 6 cast members!  Each cast member other than Wendy and Peter Pan had several parts.  Drew got a little bored towards the end of the first act, but he was pretty good for most of the second act after the interval.  The kids were all very enamored by one of the lost boys who was in the audience in the beginning of the second act looking for Peter Pan.

Saturday night, Brad and I had a (not very) romantic dinner of Indian takeout (which was very good!) amongst the kids dinner plates, drawings and toys.  But at least we were together, and he did get me some flowers (which are currently in my french press as I don't have a vase!)

We will have a belated valentine's dinner on Friday when Mum Mum is here.  Very much looking forward to that!   We are trying to decide where to go.  So many options....do we go into London, do we stay in Wimbledon, do we take the train one or two stops to the next town over.....so nice to have choices!

Today, we FINALLY made it to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.  The girls and Drew rode the tube for the first time.  The girls insisted on taking their backpacks of stuff (very typical in the states for trips so they would have activities for the car ride), and we had to talk Lauren into leaving a few things at home because her bag was pretty heavy!!  They played Mad Libs and drew pictures on the fairly short train ride and Drew had a great time watching all the other trains pass by.

It was VERY crowded at the Palace

and the queen was in because we saw the flag flying on top!  We got there around 11:00 and it all starts around 11:15, so we had a decent spot, but across the street from the palace.  We made a great decision at the last minute to take the stroller.  Not so fun in the train station, but it was perfect so Drew had a spot to sit for the palace.  There were two different groups of guards who came out.  The first group had on grey coats and the black furry hats, and the second group had on red coats with red and gold pointy hats.  Not sure of the difference, but both were accompanied by bands playing music.

We should have walked down in front of the palace to see it closer, but we will have to do that another time when it's not so crowded!  The kids of course wanted to go into the gift shop and get a souvenir so we gave them a budget, and Drew picked out (what else) a car; Alison selected a small purse that looks like the British flag, and Lauren selected a London snow globe and a keychain that says "Keep Calm Lauren."  (Good advice for her!!  And they had one that said Alison that was spelled correctly, which is nearly impossible to find in the states.)  Lauren was very interested in a shirt she found that said " F*ck, All I need is U."  She was appalled to think that someone would actually buy a shirt that said that!  They call it "the really , really, really bad word."  There are all sorts of things in the gift shops around here that could pose interesting questions now that they can read!!

Half-Term

Shoo, what a week it has been!!  I am thankful for the weekend.  And next week is half-term for the girls, which will be a good break I think.  Over here, the school year is broken into three terms, and in the middle of each term, there is a half-term break where the kids get a week off, and then at the end of the term, there is a 2 week break (Christmas and Easter), and then about 6 weeks off in the summer.  It seems like a  good schedule to me!!  6 weeks is a perfect summer break I think.

A lot of people are going on holiday for the half-term break, but we are not because OUR SEA SHIPMENT IS ARRIVING next week.  I hope the kids can be helpful when the movers are here; however I think it's going to quite interesting.  The temporary furniture is being picked up first before our goods get moved in.  We are hopeful that are the furniture will fit up the stairs to its intended location. They had to get a parking permit to enable to truck to park on our street, since it's basically a one lane street!

And Mum Mum is arriving on Thursday!!!  Woo Hoo, we are all excited for our first visitor.  And I am sure I will have plenty for her to do to help get organized!  Brad is leaving for a week-long trip next Saturday, so I figured it would be nice to have some company (and help) whilst he is away.

We had parents night (read: parent-teacher conferences) at the girls' school last night and we are so proud of what their teachers said about them.  The first thing Lauren's teacher said when we sat down was "Lovely Lauren!" (can't start much better than that!).  She said Lauren instantly settled with the class and made friends, and it seems like she has been a part of their class forever, which is no surprise to us.  She said she tries really hard and she is a "bright button."  We are so glad she is excelling so much, and that she has made friends.  She is doing division in her head, which is amazing!  Her teacher sent home a packet of information for them to do over half-term, and Lauren has already completed most of it....now to find something to keep her busy over the break.  Oh yeah, we have to make a three-dimensional Anglo-Saxon helmet!!  (I really have no clue how we are going to manage that, but thank goodness for google.)

Alison's teacher said great things as well.  She said Alison has really improved on her reading and her writing and she is starting to use her "big voice" as part of classroom discussions.  She said she can tell that she thinks and tries really hard, and she is willing to work with anyone in the class, and she has a nice little circle of friends.  She was also shocked when we asked if she sucked her thumb, so I guess she doesn't suck her thumb at school...(that explains why she immediately puts her thumb in her mouth as soon as she walks out of her school room at the end of the day!)

We could not be more proud of them.  I am so thankful for their school and their teachers and the friends they have made.  The diversity at their school just completely blows me away, and I am so grateful for this experience for them.  The different languages that I hear in the school yard each afternoon when I pick them up are a daily reminder!

The PTA (of which I am the secretary....nothing like jumping in with both feet!) held a bake sale today for Valentine's Day, so I made rice krispie treats to ensure that Drew and Alison would have a treat to eat.  However, I was met with another measurement issue when I discovered that the butter I purchased was a 150g block of butter and the recipe calls for 3 Tbsp.  I can't even use my convert app to convert that!!  So I had to google rice krispie treats on the All Recipes UK site (did you know that pretty much every site has uk site, and rather than type ".com," you type "'.co.uk" and it always reminds you that they use cookies on their site), and I was able to find that I needed to use 50g of butter.  Thank goodness they had those same little ticks for 50g like they have on the butter sticks that I accustomed to in the US; however they did taste very buttery, which is not a bad thing!!

Lauren had a playdate after school today with a girl in the other Year 3 class who moved to London from the US in July of last year.  They had a great time, and included Alison in their games, which made me happy!  And I loved that Lauren's friend has a full-on English accent.  If I didn't know that she was from the US, I would think she's British!  There's hope for the girls after being here for 6 months!

Good news this week is that Drew is #1 on the waiting list for nursery at the girl's school!!!  So as soon as a spot is available, he will be in school.  And I know for sure of a family with a child in nursery who's moving after Easter.

Here's hoping for a good weekend with no trips to the ER and no falling out of bed.  (Drew now has a bed rail!)

More NHS research

I totally jinxed myself with that last entry!  Saturday night, Drew fell out of bed.  He cried for a minute after I put him back in bed and then he was complaining that his neck hurt when he woke up Sunday morning.  We just figured he landed on his shoulder funny because it wasn't swollen or bruised, and he continued to use it.  Monday, he seemed better during the day, but then Monday night he woke up in the middle of the night and was uncomfortable, so we decided we should go see the GP on Tuesday.  (for day of appointments, you have to call starting at half past 8, and it is typically busy the first 25 times I cal!l!)  But, I got an appointment for 10:50.  We saw the doctor and he suspected a broken clavicle, so he wrote something on a piece of paper, sealed it up and gave it to me with instructions to go to St. George's A&E (where I had just been with Lauren on Saturday!!!!).  Side note: I am still not sure what the note said...

I had to come home first because the guys were coming to pick up our oversized wardrobes (yeah, I get my kitchen back!), and I was having a grocery delivery as well as a cleaning lady.  We were not able to leave here until about 12:40.  We arrived at the hospital at 1:00 via the bus since it was not an ambulatory injury.  Since I had already done my research about A&E (ambulance and emergency) on Saturday, I knew just what to do.  Once we got to triage, the doctor immediately ordered x-rays.  Drew did an awesome job with that, and then we had to wait for quite some time to see a doctor.

The doctor showed me the X-ray showing the break in his right clavicle, and she informed that because of the "delayed presentation," (aka we didn't bring him in straightaway), we would receive a phone call from the health visitors (kind of social services I think), but she assured me she didn't have any issues, it was just protocol.  A nurse brought a "sling," and I use that term very loosely, as it was simply a piece of muslin and a few safety pins.  And she wasn't even sure how to get it on!!  And Drew was NOT happy at all with having that on, and he proceeded to scream about it until we got home around 4:15.  (thankfully, Brad was able to leave work early and get the girls!!) He also pulled it right off as soon as he could.

This picture is from last night, he was NOT happy about it!

A little happier this morning.

They made an appointment for me with oath this morning, so back to the hospital for the third time in 5 days.  Thankfully, it's a quick bus ride.  They were having some issues with their computers, but we were out of there in about an hour, and Drew now has a cuff and collar, which is much more comfortable for him and he has more mobility.  He will need to wear this for 2 weeks, and it will heal on it's own.

This cuff and collar is much better!

What an adventure!  And a note on the bus...of the four bus rides we took to and from the hospital, there was only one bus that didn't switch bus drivers on the route.  It just struck me as funny because one bus driver gets off and another gets on at one of the bus stops.  I don't know why that's funny, it just is!

Can't wait to get a smartphone that I can use without WiFi!

So, I am hopeful that this week will be the week that I will be able to get a cell phone contract.  It's frustrating not to be able to use my iPhone apps that would really helpful in navigating around.  Right now, I use the app to figure out where I am going, and then either take a picture of the directions on my phone, or write it down on a piece of paper.  It's like the old school days of map quest, where you would print out directions how to get somewhere.  Oh how dependent we have become on the GPS!! But here it's even more relevant because there are apps to help figure out what public transportation to use to get from point A to Point B.

A second reason is so I can text with a full keyboard, rather than having to push the 6 key three times for "O."  It makes for some pretty slow texts!

Also, check out these great photos that I captured with my phone.  And I can't even send them to anyone, I have to put the memory card in an SD card adapter that I can put into my computer to retrieve the photos.  But there are so poor quality, there are not really worth sharing so much. Here's a picture of Lauren using her crutches to get to school, that was a SLOW walk to school this morning!!

A picture of the french braid Alison requested....needs a little work, but pretty good I think!

And Drew having fun at the park!

Ok, um hi!

So I have gotten injured when I was on the steps. I fell down them! My crutches are purple. The best way for it to get better is to put my foot up and ice it. Me and my class are doing Hansel And Gretel, Only scene 1 and 3. Everyone related to me- there's something at the bottom for you. (Only if you're going to papa's retirement party) ❤️ the rest of you can read the rest of this. Me and my cousin Annabelle love doing plays, so we do lots of them. Our first one was called 2 Queens and a princess. We were only like 6 1/2. So I was a queen, Annabelle was a queen, and Alison was the princess. Our 2nd one was Frozen. Our 3rd was a play about thanksgiving. Our 4th play- well not exactly- we were gonna do the Lego movie- We were to busy playing in the pool! That house had an elavator, 5 balconys, a pool, and bunk beds. Awesome! So that's about it for now. Bye!

LCS

PS- comment please!

Hey guys!! 

So as a lot of you know me and Annabelle love doing plays. Me and her are  doing a comedy play, kea undercover. Well we needed some parent helpers. I'm picking them now, but we're doing this thing is August, I think. So if one of you volunteer, let me know in the comments. Me and her were thinking about Nana being one of them. Well sure yeah Nana's one of them. We need 2 more. We are also doing a Disney Channel Movie (once Annabelle watches it) called Zapped. Uncle Ian and my dad will help with carrying Ali, we need 2 strong guys. They'll count as parent helpers backstage. And then we'll have Nana. ❤️❤️ Hope you guys enjoy our plays!! - LCS

Our first (and hopefully last) trip to the ER in London

We had planned to go to Buckingham Palace and see the changing of the guard this morning; however, last night, Lauren slid down the steps and hurt her ankle on the shoe cabinet at the bottom of the stairs.  It was pretty swollen this morning and it was really painful to put pressure on it, so we decided we should go to the hospital.

First task: find a way to get there with minimal walking.  We called a cab using the Hail-o app, and we were there in about 12 minutes.

It's not far and it is a HUGE hospital!!  When you walk into A&E (ambulance and emergency), there is a queue for triage; however, if you are under 18, you are to proceed to reception.  From reception we were directed to paediatrics (notice the odd spelling!).  We waited for about 2 1/2 hours to see a doctor, who was very nice, and who recommended an x-ray.  So Lauren hopped her way down to x-ray, and then we waited for about 20 minutes and the doctor said it was just a sprain, thank goodness!  She said Lauren needs to use her fancy new purple crutches for 24-48 hours and keep her foot elevated.  I am so thankful it's not broken....that would have been an interesting period of time "walking" to school.  The doctor also said she would put a letter in the post to our GP, which is funny to me.  I would have assumed that the NHS would have been all interconnected and paperless.

Overall, it was a positive experience, although it was a long wait.  We got spoiled by Kosair with the TV in the room while you waited and the "patient life nurse" whose sole job was to make sure the patient was happy.  I guess that's the difference in living in a city population 1 million vs 8 million!!  The adult waiting room was very crowded when we left, so I am thankful for the separate queue for under 18's.

Hopefully we will be able to have an adventure next weekend......

Nice day! (2.2.15)

Sorry I haven't wrote a blog post in a while folks! I've been grounded from electronics for a while. Right now, mommy was almost gonna blow up the laminator. Ali made a big book of collages, about 5,000 of them. Sorry! There's just a lot of them! Today I had my first play date, with Kayla. We opened the shed, (yay!!) and discovered something on the floor. Our clues? Pieces of granite, broken, a pick that said 'Buckly' on it, some clay, a skeleton made out of paper, and pieces of wood. This  was taken after school. Well bye!

As we realize how narrow our stairs are....

Here is what I sit amongst as I type this post....

Two large boxes containing the two very nice wardrobes that we purchased for our bedroom that will not make it further than the top of the first staircase (our room is on the top floor.)  Ugh, what a costly mistake and very disappointing because they are much better than the assemble yourself ones we will have to use now.  Here's hoping that the dressers we had shipped will fit up the stairs.

We had some snow today, just a little bit, so we trudged to school in the snow, thank goodness for rain boots!  And pushing the stroller through the snow is a different experience, but it all worked out.

Another interesting thing we have discovered here is Surprise Eggs.  The kids go crazy for them!!!  Somehow, they discovered them on YouTube and then the spotted them when we went to the toy store a couple weeks ago.  

Here is what it looks like with the wrapper on.  The yellow
part is what is inside with the toy.

Once you open the foil, here is the chocolate egg.  Alison says
it's the best chocolate she has ever had. (It's pretty good, but
I have had better!)

And here is the toy that comes in the generic "Kinder Surpise Eggs."
The ones are YouTUbe are characters like Cars, Frozen,
Thomas, Despicable Me.  I am wondering if those are just
around Easter time.

Here's the toy assembled, along with the instructions.

Brad did some research about them, and he said all candy with toys embedded are illegal in the US (and they have been since 1938!!!), which would explain why we have never seen them before.  And Apparently, if you are caught trying to smuggle them in, you are fined $2500 per egg.  So, sorry US friends, you will have to come visit it you want to have the best chocolate ever and have one of these high quality, highly exciting toys!!

And last night, I had the privilege of seeing my first familiar face from the US.  My friend Jen Kuhle is in town for the week with her husband, so we had a proper pub dinner at Lamb and Flag, one of the oldest pubs in London.  The sign said Circa 1623!  That's really old!