Christmas 2017

Hard to believe that Christmas is already over.  It  has been a good Christmas break, Christmas on Monday is perfect I think because it means a 4 day weekend for Brad since here boxing day (December 26) is also a holiday. 

Here's a brief rundown of the Christmas events we did this year:

Santa's Grotto at Chessington Garden Centre (not Chessington World of Adventure as I thought!).  It was quite a palova.....one the walk there, Lauren fell as ripped open the knee of her jeans and then we were late because the garden centre is about 10 minute further walk from World of Adventures.  The grotto was pretty cool, you walk through all different areas and then you end at Santa.  Santa knew their names! Lauren asked for a sewing machine, Alison a magic set, and Drew Cars 3.  They each received a gift as well. 

After Santa, we met our friends in the city for Polish Christmas.  It was a bit of a disaster: Alison cried because she wanted to sit next to someone in the family, Lauren wasn't feeling well.  Brad and I enjoyed trying some different types of vodka and the food was AMAZING!!  After dinner, the group decided to go to Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and the kids perked up after that, thankfully!  Jane took 5 of the girls (Lauren, Alison, Florence, Rosalind and Sophie) on a big roller coaster.

  The rest of us enjoyed some mulled wine.  It was a busy day and lesson learned: one big activity per day is probably better!

We got about 1.5 cm of icy snow and the kids got out all their snow gear and played (ate) the snow....

The kids had Christmas jumper day. 

Brad and I did some shopping together on Oxford Street, which was MANIC but nice to shop together rather than me doing most of the shopping myself or with my best friend, Amazon Prime!  We had a fab Thai dinner at Rosa's on Carnaby Street.

Brad, Lauren and I did a Harry Potter walking tour around London, which was very interesting.  Our tour guide was great, her name was Ellie and she knew a lot about Harry Potter and about London landmarks in general.  I saw Downing Street for the first time and learned that the Prime Minister first was elected in 1732.  We had dinner at Honest Burger and then walked around in Covent Garden where we saw some amazing musicians playing Christmas carols. 

I love London at Christmas time!

Drew had his Christmas play at school.  It was cute; Drew was a narrator and he had lots of lines that he memorized.  They sang several songs as well.  The school had a carol concert on the last day of school as well (I was lucky enough to be invited as a member of the PTA!).  It was well done; they told the entire Christmas story, and each class sang a song to go along with the story.  Drew's class sang "Little Donkey," Alison's class sang "Away in the Manger," and Lauren's class "While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night."  (You can guess where in the story they sang!)  At the end, all the teachers sang "Do they know it's Christmas," which was a surprise to all the children!  It was a great way to end the school term, reflecting on the real meaning of Christmas.  I am so thankful that in this country they are able to celebrate the first Christmas!

The final thing before Christmas weekend was Brad and I went to see the Messiah at Royal Albert Hall.  It was AMAZING!!!  I was having great memories of being there with my mom one year ago to the day.  It was Brad's first visit to Royal Albert Hall, and it was cool because our friend Jane's cousin was singing in the choir!

Friday before Christmas, Brad's company had their big family Christmas celebration!  They had a huge bouncy castle, ball pit, emoji balloons and all sorts of sweets.  Then, there was a pantomime followed by lunch and a visit from Santa, who was very generous: Lauren received a £15 Claire's gift card, Alison received a Jenga vibrate game, and Drew received  a remote control robot.  I always enjoy seeing Brad's office and his colleagues.  Then, in the evening, we went ice skating at Hampton Court Palace, which was beautiful all lit up at night!  The kids all did great ice skating, the girls were able to go on their own by the end of the 45 minute time slot; Drew was doing well with the penguin.  We had a nice dinner at Pizza Express afterwards.

Since Christmas Eve eve was a Saturday, we decided to have a few friends over, which was a great way to start the true Christmas celebrations.  The girls wrapped gifts for each child who came over, as well as a pass the parcel which had about 20 layers (needless to say, I am almost out of Christmas wrapping paper!)  Brad  made some yummy sliders, and I made buffalo chicken dip, 9 layer taco dip and chocolate chip cake to share some American faves with our friends.  (And I forgot to take any pictures....)

Christmas Eve was a low-key day, (Alison and I did make some gluten free egg free sugar cookies) which ended with a church service.  To me, Christmas eve means the candlelight service at church ending with candles and Silent Night.  This year was close, but not quite what I had envisioned.  We went to that All Saints Church not too far from home, and we did sing "Silent Night", however, the words were completely different.  I had no idea there was a different version of Silent Night.  We also sang "Once in Royal David's City," "Away in a Manger"(different tune), "The Christingle Song," and ended with "O Come all Ye Faithful."  The most unique part of the service however, was the Christingle.  Apparently a British tradition, it is an orange, wrapped in a red ribbon, with a candle and 4 toothpicks sticking out of the orange.

The orange represents the world, the red ribbon represents the blood of Christ, the toothpicks represent the 4 seasons and the candle represents Christ as the light of the world.  Each child received a Christingle, and all the candles were lit, and then the congregation circled around the church and sang a song.  It was all very interesting.  My friend Gwen said they when she was in school, they used to make them at school.  I am always learning something new in this country.  We came home and had dinner and then got ready for bed.  The kids left cookies, mince pies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

Christmas was a good day! 

The kids got up around 7 AM, which is not too bad, actually!  Everyone was very happy with their gifts and we had a low-key day again, although everyone did get dressed for Christmas dinner.  WE had a good time playing "What you talking about?"  We watched most of the new movies we received (Cars 3, Despicable Me 3 and Christmas Vacation, which had a few more curse words that we realised.)  Lauren got a start on her sewing machine, Brad and I worked a good portion of the Harry Potter puzzle that Lauren received, and we chatted/FaceTimed our family from far away.  All in all, a great day!  I also tried Christmas pudding for the first time; it was a very small portion from Fortnum & Mason....it was pretty good.

We did all venture out on boxing day.  The kids spent a bit of their Christmas money and Brad and I did a couple of exchanges and then we went to see the Ferdinand movie.  It was ok; a bit slow at the beginning.  And I can't believe that none of the kids have read the book! It was a classic when I was little.  And Brad and I finished the Harry Potter puzzle!

I am so thankful to celebrate in some many ways with friends and as our family of 5.  We did miss seeing our extended family, but we celebrate God sending his son to us!

October Week 2.. the stomach flu

From secondary school applications to the dreaded stomach flu.  This bug has to be the worst so far, as now 4 of the 5 of us have been bitten.  Mom has the immune system of steel and I am determined NOT TO GET THE STOMACH BUG!

It started with Alison on Friday after stagecoach.  She is so unaffected by puking, that she puked a couple times in the middle of the night and didn't even make a peep about it.  I didn't know until I woke up the next morning. (poor girl and all the ice cream she ate that I had eggs in it before we were saavy enough to check...).  She slept pretty much all day on Saturday and was totally fine on Sunday morning.

Then, Drew and Brad both got violently ill on Sunday late afternoon (after we had just finished our lovely family photos thank goodness).  They both slept all day on Monday (or should I say Brad slept all day, but Drew watched TV all day and has developed an appreciation for Tom and Jerry.)  Drew tried to eat a piece of toast a bit too early and it came right back up, along with anything he ingested for the rest of the day.  Today (Tuesday), he was very dehydrated and lethargic, so I took him to the GP and as she was examining him, he vomited!  So, we went to the hospital, where they gave him some fluids and my silly boy finally perked up.

Then, when Brad went to collect the girls at school and Lauren came out and vomited everywhere (a friend actually told me it was pink and orange!)  So that is where we are now.

Tomorrow will be Day 3 of staying home with a kid with the stomach bug.  AHHHHHH!!  I can honestly say I think this is the first time all three kids have been affected by the same illness.

I luckily was the only one who didn't get it!

October 2017...Bring on Secondary School!

So it has been a while, but it is hard to find the time to blog.  I need to blog instead of spending so much time on Facebook, but I find that Facebook feels like a lifeline to my US family and friends!  It seems a bit like turning back the clock to go back and write about the summer holidays which now feel like EONS ago, so I will start with a short recap of the school year so far and then hopefully be able to get a regular blogging time into my schedule.

The kids have all three settled beautifully back into school, which is so great.  It is the last year they will all be at the same school.  In the US, this year would have been the first and ONLY year they were all at the same school, so I am thankful for the British school system that they have all been in the same school for the entire time we have lived here.  Lauren is in Year 6 (5th grade) and has Mrs. Herselman, who was the other Year 5 teacher last year.  I still cannot believe this is her final year of primary school; she has really grown up so much over the past 6 years and I am so proud of her journey so far.  She excels at math and she is a super speller and writes great stories with lots of detail.

Alison is in Year 4 (3rd grade), which is a year older than she would have been if we had stayed in the US.  She has completely amazed us with her schooling!  Her teacher this year is Mrs. Daniels, who is very generous with golden tickets, but Alison really thrives on that.  She has read every night since the school year started to make sure she gets on gold for reading.  She has developed a love for hula hooping and she is actually REALLY good at it!  She definitely didn't get it from me, but I feel like she could hula hoop for 10 minutes without stopping.

Drew in Year 1 (Kindergarten), and his teacher is Miss Lowton.  The first day of school he said "I just want to see how complicated Year 1 is going to be."  He decided after the first day that it wasn't that complicated, and he seems to be enjoying it.  He is wearing a white button down shirt and a tie every day, so he definitely looks more grown up now and he seems to have gotten really tall.  He is reading really well, and he is learning about Medieval times, which he finds fascinating.

This year was the first year they have all started school on the same day.

Our days for the past few weeks have been filled with secondary school visits and tests and will culminate in our Common Application Form being completed and submitted at the end of this month.  Wow, the school process here is so complicated!  Here is a brief rundown from my POV for all you non-Brits.  Secondary School starts in Year 7 (much like middle school in the US), and you can select to go to any school that you can get yourself to in a reasonable amount of time.  There are several different types of schools:

• Grammar schools- I liken them to magnet schools in the US.  All students are admitted based on performance on a two part test.  If you pass the first part, then you are asked back to take the second part and you can put the school on your application form as your top choice.  Many students are tutored from as early as Year 4 to prepare for this test and it is very competitive.  Lauren did some Bond books at home, and was really structured in the last month.  We were of the opinion that if she couldn't get in on her own that she would probably not thrive there.  She took one grammar school test this week and it was AMAZING the amount of girls there to take the test.  The queue was MASSIVE, and as we were queing up to collect the girls, there was a second queue of girls to take the test in the afternoon.  Lauren felt pretty good about the test; I was so grateful to see a smile on her face when she came out of the school.  We will find out the results in a couple of weeks.  The school is about 5 miles away, so she will have to take the train if she goes to that school, and there is no guarantee that Alison would go there unless she also took and passed the test.
• State schools -  Public schools, which are assigned based on proximity to the school (being in the cachement area, which is similar to the primary schools.)  The difference in the primary school and the secondary school is that for primary school, you can only apply for schools in your council, but for secondary school, you can apply to any school (as long as you can get there each day).  We live in Merton, but we are on the border between Merton and Wandsworth, and there are several schools in Wandsworth that we like.  A few of the Wandsworth schools give selective spots based on the score on the Wandsworth test, which the children in Wandsworth school take, but Lauren took that on a Saturday.
• Church schools - These schools are the same as state schools, but there are spots that are given to church goers first.  Most of the schools are Church of England, but a few are catholic.
• Independent Schools - Private schools, which we are not looking into because the state schools options are all very good.

The other factor to consider is all girls vs co-ed.  There are not as many co-ed schools, but there are a couple that we are considering.  The one good thing about the co-ed schools is that there is a higher chance that Drew and Alison could both go to school there as well based on the sibling policy.

So, after you have done all the open mornings and evenings and tests, then you complete the Common Application Form, listing out your top 6 school choices.  It is due on 31 October, and then the results are received on 1 March.  If you get your first choice, then that is it; if you get anything lower than your first choice, you are out on the waiting list for all the higher choices.  Suffice to say that I will be so happy when 31 October comes and I don't have to think about secondary schools again until MARCH!

Feburary 2017

Today is the first day of February.   Alison is home from school with an ear infection and Lauren walked to school on her own this morning.  She said she was going to get a headstart, but she was so far ahead, I didn't see her until we got to the school gates, and then she didn't need me to get out her lunch and she barely said good-bye.  Part of me is happy, but the bigger part of me is sad because it means she is growing up and getting independent.  She walked home part of the way on her own yesterday because she had Choir, and she was in the best mood when she got home: she told me all about her day.  It was astonishing how the independence made such a difference.

5 February: we had a nice family day.  We went to church, then had a nice lunch at Al Forno and then went to see the movie "Sing."  A really cute movie with great music.  We all enjoyed it!!  And then we had a small Super Bowl spread in honor of the Superbowl.  I watched the first 2 drives, and Brad watched the first quarter.  It was amazing to watch Lady Gaga's performance the day after, especially knowing that Laura was there to support her cousin!  What an incredible experience!!!

The kids have a renewed excitement for Marbleworks.   We built a track and then they named all the marbles and made up a racing game to determine the true winner!

I have eaten many full english breakfasts, but it took 2 years of living here before I prepared one: poached eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans.  YUM!!  We didn't need much more food to eat that day.

Lauren got a really nasty stomach virus and was home from school for 4 days!  I took her to a GI doctor, but it seems that thankfully nothing major is amiss.

HALF TERM: we decided to have a staycation for Half Term this February.  Drew was very confused that we weren't going anywhere!  Monday, we stayed home in the morning and then went to the mall to pick up Lauren's new glasses and then go to swimming.  Tuesday was Valentine's Day, so I took the kids to FlipOut where they had a great time bouncing!  And then we went to Wandsworth Southside for lunch and a bit of shopping.  Drew and Alison had McDonald's, and Lauren and I had KFC (convenient that they are right across from each other!).  And we all tried the new KFC zinger fries, which are very tasty but SPICY!  Lauren spent the rest of her birthday money at Smiggle and she was very nice and purchased a nail polish rubber for Alison and a "D" keychain for Drew.  Such a thoughtful big sister!

Thursday the kids went to a local sports camp and they LOVED it!!!  They played basketball, dodgeball, a star wars game, colored pictures, did crafts.  It was great fun.  And Lauren of course made a new friend.  While they were at camp, I went into the city to meet up with some AWC ladies to explore Spitalfields Market, and wow was it amazing!!!  Such a cool little place.

Friday, the kids went back to camp for a half day so I could get my run in, and they were bummed they couldn't stay all day.

Saturday morning, Brad and I both participated in our first ever Parkrun in Wimbledon Common.  Parkruns are a big thing in the UK; every Saturday, there is a 5k in Wimbledon Common.  You just have to show up with your Parkrun number, do the run and then at the end, you receive a barcode, which they scan along with your Parkrun number to calculate your time.  The course was marked with white flour.  I think there were about 450 runners or so, and we finished in the middle of the pack.  It was kind of chilly and muddy but not raining.  And then we went and had a proper breakfast!

Then, Drew went to 2 back-to-back birthday parties for two of his classmates.  The first was for Maria, whose mom is from Bulgaria.  All the moms brought flowers for her, and she said it was to give a gift to the mom for planning the party.  What a great tradition!  The second party was at Wacky Warehouse for Elsie, which Drew always loves!

Sunday, I taught Sunday school and then we all went into the city and went up into the Shard to see the view!  Wow, what amazing views of the city from up there!  Much better even than the London Eye.  They had a deal for half-term that kids go free, so it was perfect.  They had written a book about a fox who got stuck up in the Shard while they were building it, and a guy read the story and then asked a question for a chance to win a stuffed Romeo the fox and guess who won...ALISON!  And then Drew and Lauren decided they needed one as well, so we came home with 3 Romeo stuffed foxes.

Lauren has been having some major stomach issues, so we took her to a GI doctor, and he did a celiac blood test which came back positive, so later this month she will have a endoscopy.

Tuesday 21 Feb, Lauren and her class went to the science museum.  I thought I was going as well, but they didn't get the form that I had said I could go, so I had a found day which is always good!

Wednesday 22 Feb, I finally redeemed my birthday gift of a cheese tasting at Neal's Yard in Borough Market.  It was quite cool to go into the city during the week and meet up with Brad.  We had a beer close at a pub just around the corner first.  The pubs were hopping!!  The cheese tasting was quite interesting.  They had paired the cheeses with white wine, red wine and beer.  We were able to taste 10 different kinds of cheese: 3 goats cheese and 7 cows milk cheese.  I really enjoyed all of them with the exception of one that was a bit strong for me.  At the end, we were able to make our own cheese board of our 3 favorites.  I learned a bit about cheese making.  Cheese is aged much like wine.  The first cheese that we tasted had been made the week prior.

23 Feb, I did a tour of Westminster Abbey with AWC.  We had our own private tour guide, Robert, who told us all sorts of interesting tidbits about the Abbey.  It doesn't receive funding from the church or the government, which is why they have to charge for entrance.  The Abbey has held 39 coronations, and is the only place where coronations take place.  Royal weddings are not required to be held there, but all instructions for the coronations are contained in the library at the Abbey.  It was built in 1000 and has the oldest door in London.  It is quite spectacular inside.  And there are so many tombs and memorials for so many different types of people.  There is a very interesting sculpture of Newton.  And the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is a soldier from WWI.  The gold letters of the script are made from old shell casings from the battlefield where the body was recovered.

26 Feb, the girls and I went to the Science Museum to meet a new friend I made and her 8 year old son.  He had brought an old phone with him, and so he and Lauren immediately clicked!  And she added him to my contacts!  Oh dear. point proven why she doesn't have her own phone.  We did this really cool exhibit called the WonderLab, where they had all sorts of hands on experiments.

28 Feb, Lauren had her gastropy.  She was quite nervous.  The doctor does the procedures in the evening at  Kings College, in SE London, so we took the train to the hospital.  We arrived at 4:45, but we didn't even go down to the pre-op until after 6:30!!  She had to fast from 4 PM.  Once we got down to the surgery center, Lauren was really, really upset at the anesthesia.  The anesthesiologist came and spoke to her, and that seemed to calm her down a bit.  And then she realized she was going to get to go for a ride in the hospital bed and that seemed to help as well.  They took her back around 7:20, and I was able to hold her hand while they gave her the gas, and then they took her in to do the procedure and then she was out by around 8:00.  She was a bit groggy and tired and hungry.  And very curious about the IV in her hand, which they had put in after she fell asleep!  The doctor said he could see evidence of celiacs disease, but we won't know for sure until the biopsy results come back next week.

January 2017

1 January was a very lazy day, which was perfect.  It was a bit odd not to watch football all day, so instead we booked our travel for the first few trips of the year including Copenhagen for the marathon (eek!)

2 January was the last day of the break as well as the final day of Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.  It was pretty busy, and we had a good time!  The kids each did a couple of rides, and Brad was able to win another oversized stuffed toy in tin can alley (thank goodness he got one extra try...).  And it was the 10 year anniversary, so it is the same age as Lauren!

3 January was back to school for the kids!  I think they were excited to get back.  Mum Mum was still here, so we took the train to Kingston.  What a fun place!!  And I found out there is a huge mall in Kingston that I didn't even know was there, and it has Smiggle that is even bigger than the one in Wandsworth.  We had a nice lunch at Patesserie Valerie.  I took Alison to the optician, and she is far sighted and her eyes are getting better!

4 January Mum Mum and I ventured into London and went to St Paul's Cathedral.  It was SO amazing!!!  It was built in 35 years by Sir Christopher Wren, and it is astonishing to me that it was built so long ago and it is so amazing!!!  We had a very nice tour by Liz, and she told us quite a few interesting stories about the cathedral.  We had lunch at the cafe, and then we took the stairs up into the dome.  Mum Mum went up two stories, and I ventured all the way to the top.  There were some AMAZING views from up there.

5 January was Mum Mum's last day here......so we went into Wimbledon to a pub for lunch.

13 January....Friday the 13th was a good day for the Scheiner family.  Lauren received the achievement award in her class for challenging herself and others.

 Drew and Alison both decided that they would like to try Stagecoach.  Brad reluctantly said that Drew could try.  They both LOVED it.  Drew even received the "Performer of the Week" award!!!!  His teacher, Rosie, said he just came right in and was engaged and enjoying it the whole time.  And Alison came home and said she made a new friend called Anna.  SO happy!

14 January...Drew had football and Lauren auditioned for Dance Troupe with Stagecoach, which she really enjoyed.

21 January...I met up with some friends in London to attend the Women's March.  It was so powerful to see so many people together for a common cause.  We saw lots of great signs.  I think one of my favorites was "Making Trump president is like making Voldemort the Minister of Magic."

Alison got some new glasses, which help her far-sightedness.  The opitician actually said her eyes are getting better, and eventually she might not need glasses.  Alison has also been obsessed with the Furbys from McDonald's and one of her friends was nice enough to give her the colors she didn't have.

Drew's teacher said he loves to write and anytime he sees a piece of lined paper, he asks if he can write on it.  He brought home this paper last week!

Lauren is learning about space at school now, and one of her homework choices was to make a space cake, so we did!  We used jawbreakers as the planets and Smarties as the sun.  It was a hit at school, especially since everyone in her class was able to take a slice home.

25-27 January-Alison went on her PGL trip to Sayers Croft.

 Different schools in the area do the trips at different times, but at Garfield they do Year 3 and Year 6.  She left on Wednesday morning and they returned around 3 on Friday, so they had about 2 days of fun doing different team building and outdoor activities.   She was SO excited about going, and she had a great time!  The first thing she told me about when I picked her up was the campfire and the s'mores  (however, here they use digestive biscuits, which are like graham crackers with chocolate on one side.)  Her bunkmate was her friend Freya, and Alison got to sleep on the top bunk.  They did a night walk one evening, and they did shelter building and a blindfold walk.  She said the food was pretty good.  I will be honest and say that I was very nervous about the food, but the facility is a nut free facility and they have a process in place to handle food allergies.  She told me after the fact that she didn't have an extra socks the whole time because she didn't realise I had packed them in a separate pocket in her suitcase, and after they unpacked, they put their cases away.  It was SO cold on Thursday when they were there, her poor toes must have been like icecubes!  We definitely missed her around her; it was strange to only have 2 kids at home.  I was so thankful to see her big smiles when I picked her up on Friday.

28 January- Brad and I participated in the American Women's Club pub quiz at a pub in Hammersmith.  I have been to a couple of them in the past, but this quiz was Brad's first one.  He enjoyed it more than he expected I think.  It is very different from the pub quiz they have in the US with the electonic keyboard.  This pub quiz is on a piece of paper and they are strict about no use of mobile phones.  We were on a team with 2 other couples who just recently moved to London, so it was interesting being the more experienced Londoners!











TFL is having a competition to design a new tube station for the Elizabeth Line.  Construction has just begun, and it due to open in something like 4-6 years or something.  But it is going through Wimbledon (which has caused lots of controversy.)  The girls both did a design.  Lauren's theme is based on the world being equal for all skin colors.  Pretty amazing!

Our very own house!!!

So, last summer Brad and I decided that we love London enough to stick around for a few more years, and that we just couldn't keep renting.  We were basically paying someone else's mortgage and getting nothing out of it.  There were several things we would have loved to do do our rental house that we did not because it wasn't ours to change.

We started looking at houses, and we had a very small area of consideration because we knew we wanted the kids to stay at Garfield and Brad still needed to have easy access to the Wimbledon train station on a daily basis.  We viewed about 8-10 houses, and some were discounted immediately due to location, or layout.  It was different than the other two times we were looking for houses, as we had to make all the appointments on our own this time and there are SO many different estate agents in  London!  But rightmove was amazing at helping to find houses with all our wants/needs.

The first house that Brad looked at is the house that we one we decided to make an offer.  The location is great on a quiet street, the storage in the house is amazing, the kitchen extension is great, and it's a tad bit bigger than our rental house.  We made the offer on the 24 June, the day before Brexit, which was good time for us as the pound dropped, which meant that our dollar would go further than before Brexit!  So, began the process.  We were finally able to agree a completion date of early November, and once the contracts were exchanged in early October, at that point we were legally bound and half of the money was in the hands of the solicitor! (The estate agent for the seller said this process was super easy comparatively.  I think we were lucky because the house the sellers were buying was the end of the chain because it was an older man moving out..)

The keys were finally ours on 4 November!  Hooray!  We are on the property ladder.  We had some painting done on the house and then we were ready to move in.  I will say this move of about .3 miles was so much less stressful than any other move we have made, especially the move to London.  And I (and my dad) did all of the packing, which forced me to purge a lot of stuff, which is a great feeling!

We are finally feeling very settled, so here are some photos of our new home, which feels more like home than our other house ever did!

The front door/walkway.  A house with the door number easily identifiable on the outside!

The front garden.  The shed contains the bikes.  And it is nice to have 3 trash bins.
And yes that is our Christmas tree...

The front entrance.  Note the British flag mat (a gift from Brads co-workers.)

The reception room, which contains the carpet that had been in storage for 5 years.  We didn't intend to bring
it to London, but I am thankful it did because it's perfect!

The other side of the reception room.

The downstairs powder room, with an actual coat closet on the left!

The Kitchen.  On the far left hand side of the photo is the desk.

The eating and cooking areas.

The patio is an extension of the kitchen when it actually warm enough to open the doors!

The door is to the very small, but amazing laundry room.  So glad it's not in the middle of my kitchen anymore!

The kids/guest bath

Thank you Granddaddy for hanging the shower curtain rod from the ceiling!

Drew's room, note the absence of the train table, replaced by the Pottery Barn chair that was in the eaves of our last house.

Drew's room

The box room/ craft room/study/linen closet

The girls room, also with enough space for pottery barn chairs!

Finally some new bedding

Thank you Mum Mum for the amazing wall decal!  "Sisters make the best friends."

Master bedroom

Actual built-in wardrobes, AMAZING!!!

Master bathroom with a shower that has great pressure and consistent hot water.