NOVEMBER 2016

3 November...Happy 5th birthday to Drew!  I can't believe he is a whole hand old.  He was SO excited for his birthday, he was telling every person he saw that it was his birthday.  Our neighbors Kayla, Ella and Anna sang for him on the way to school and then his friend Reuben and his dad sang after school.  We celebrated with dinner at Pizza Express and Brad got back home from Paris just in time for dinner.  Our waitress was celebrating her birthday the next day and she sang to Drew as well. So proud of the confident, sweet, funny boy he is becoming.  He still loves his Daddy, but he will come and say to me quite often "I love you, Mommy."  He comes into our room every once in a while, but he brings his pillow and blanket and sleeps on the floor!

I was also lucky enough to go to the HMS Belfast with Lauren and all the other Year 5 students.  It was a really cool ship that was used in WWII.  The size of the bullets was amazing, as well as the torpedos they had on the boat.  The highlight was using morse code to type their name and they received a certificate that said their name was transmitted from the HMS Belfast.  The views of Tower Bridge were amazing.

4 November...THE BIG DAY, we completed on our new house!!!   WOO HOO!!!!!!  So very exciting.  All in all, the purchase of a house in London was fairly smooth for us from what I have heard.  We started looking in late May/early June.  We looked at about 8 houses, and the first house that Brad saw was the best, so we decided to make an offer, as it was the best location and the most similar to our current rental.  A few of the other houses were a bit closer to town, but were missing some major conveniences like a powder room, or a dryer.  The offer was accepted the day before Brexit, and the wait began for the dreaded chain.  (I am still not completely sure what a chain is exactly, but I do know that we had no chain meaning nothing to sell which made us attractive buyers.)  The sellers needed to find a house, and depending on the chain on that house, it could take a while to get to completion and exchange (aka closing.)  They were moving further out, and they found a house pretty quickly as I think they were motivated to find a place quickly, so once we returned from the US, we were a bit nervous that we were going to move before October.  But the timing worked out absolutely perfectly.  We exchanged contracts just before half-term, at which point we were legally bound to purchase the house as we paid 50% of the down payment and we agreed upon an exchange date of 4 November.  And all this time, we had a solicitor (aka lawyer) doing all the paperwork with the seller's solicitor.  We never met the solicitor or the seller face to face.  We received the keys from the estate agent (aka real estate agent).  It was the first time we have bought a house without the assistance of a real estate agent and the first time we have purchased a house for a local move.  I would say it wasn't as brutal as I expected.  It definitely helped that we had a very specific, very small area in which we were looking since we wanted to stay close to the school and not add too much time to Brad's walk to the train station.

5 November....our first time to the new house as the owners!  We needed to measure and discuss placement of the furniture.  And we ordered KFC.  So our first meal in the new house was KFC, which is the reason we are buying a house in London anyways.  The kids are all very excited for the new house.  The sellers were very sweet and left us a bottle of Prosecco and a really nice note.  We are looking forward to meeting our new neighbors.  And then that evening, Brad and I went to the most posh wedding I have ever seen.  It was a franchisee from KFC who is Indian, as well as his wife.  It was held at the Grovesnor House Hotel, right near Hyde Park, which is THE place to hold  a wedding in Central London.  We took an Uber to get there, which took almost an hour because there was a football match in Chelsea but it was SO COLD I was thankful to be in the car, although I don't know that I could ever drive in Central London.  We walked into the venue, and there was someone directing us to the coat check, and then we walked into the room where there were placecards in alphabetical order (750 of them) and Indian music being played live.   Then we walked towards the ballroom, which was lined by people holding trays of drinks (Virgin pina colada, virgin mojito and various fruit juice.)  The balcony was overlooking the ballroom, which was very elegantly decorated and set up for the reception.  We stayed up there and chatted with a few of Brad's co-workers and had some yummy starters that were being passed for about an hour and then we were directed to the floor.  We found our table, no 57, and sat down.  Brad knew a couple of the people at our table.  They presented the bride and groom and then they did several traditional Indian ceremonies to ensure a healthy, prosperous life.  They were all performed by the mother of the groom and the brother of the bride explained each one to the crowd.   Then the starter was served, which was really good.  The main was served a little past 10, and it was served on a silver platter with four little small bowls of curry.  It was pretty good; the funniest moment was when Brad ate an entire chili!!!  His eyes were watering and he was sweating it for a few minutes, but he recovered quickly.  I am glad he warned me because it looked like a green bean.  After dinner, the best man and the groom each gave a speech and then they cut the cake that was about 8 tiers tall.  And then the served dessert, which was NOT the cake.  By this time, it was nearly midnight, so we decided we needed to head home.  And on the way out, we spotted the dessert bar which looked AMAZING!!!!!  Another Uber home, but only about 25 minutes this time thankfully.

5 November....Lauren went to a fancy dress disco for her friend Lalima's 10th birthday.  She had a really good time I think.  I arrived early to pick her up, and it was fun to watch her interacting with her friends.

9 November...Drew's birthday party at Eddie Catz.  It was so much fun!!  We ended up inviting all 29 children from his class because when I asked him if he wanted to invite someone, he said "yes" to every person.  I am thankful that is inclusive of everyone.  And almost everyone came.  This age is perfect because they are big enough to go and play on their own, but not so big that they are bored.  Drew had a blast!  He was so happy when we got home, and all the kids in his class had a blast as well.  It was a great opportunity to chat with some of the other parents as well.

10 November,,,,I got to eat a super yummy Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Whole Foods, organzied by the American Women's Club.  It was amazing!!  My favorite was the roasted brussel sprouts with hazelnuts and the pecan pie.  Yum, yum yum!!!

13 November...Drew's special birthday outing with Mommy and Daddy to see "The Gruffalo" in London.  What a super cute show!!  The entire show was put on my three actors, and there was singing, audience participation and lines from the well-known book.  It was just the right length, and Drew was engaged the whole time.  Afterwards, we grabbed a bite to eat at the Jamie Oliver restaurant.

15 November...Granddaddy arrived!!  The kids were all so happy to see him when we collected them from school!!

17 November...Garfield's Got Talent at school.  What an amazing show!  We were completely amazed at the amount of students that participated, but also the number of kids who came to support their friends.  It was truly amazing.  The girls and their friend Freya did a dance to "Black Magic," and they did such a good job.  The best act of the night was Ethan, a year one little boy, who danced to "Smooth Criminal."

18 November....MOVING DAY!!!  The movers arrived around 8:45 AM, and we took the kids to school and then watched Alison receive her achievement award in assembly.  The movers made quick work and the van was packed up by around 12:45.  There were finished unpacking around 4:00 and our house was boxes everywhere!!!  I took Alison to the allergist to be tested for sunflower seeds, lentils and chickpeas and it looks like she is ready to be food challenged for sunflower seeds, which is amazing news!!

20 November....I taught Sunday school and then Granddaddy, Alison and I did some shopping.  Then, later that afternoon, Lauren has a stagecoach Gala in which all the Stage 2 and Stage 3 students in all the 5 Wimbledon classes performed.  I continue to be amazed by what they do in Stagecoach.  Lauren's class did a song from the TV show "Smash," and it was great!  At the end, all the Stage 2 students performed and then all the Stage 3 students performed.  There are so many of them!  Lauren requested dinner at Jimmy's World Kitchen, so we all stuffed ourselves silly and regretted it the next day, but it was fun!

21 November....Dad and I did some work at the old house.

23 November....Granddaddy and I were able to assist in the Year 3 class trip to the Museum of London.  It was quite a short trip, as we didn't leave school until 10 and got back around 2:45.  The Otters class ate lunch first, then had time to look at the Anglo-Saxon exhibit followed by the Roman exhibit.  Alison had a great time drawing pictures of all the things  she saw and she even won an award for the best drawings.

24 November....Happy Thanksgiving!!! I did an abbreviated meal this year, including just a turkey crown rather than a whole turkey.  The sides: dressing, twice baked potatoes, corn pudding, roasted brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce and rolls.  I only made chocolate chip cake for dessert but it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without that!  Trying out my new oven for cooking a Thanksgiving meal was like being thrown to the fire. literally.  But I managed ok.  I am so thankful that Granddaddy was here to celebrate with us.  Poor Drew went to bed without dinner and then was sick later that night.....
And all the boxes were collected, hip hip hooray!!  The box room is still a bit of a mess, but at least all the stuff has been removed from the boxes.

25 November....Granddaddy and I had planned to go to Buckingham Palace today, but Drew stayed home sick, so Granddaddy worked on hanging the shower curtain rail in the first floor bath and I spent time getting the kitchen organized.

26 November....Lauren's birthday party!!!  She had 6 of her friends over and they made bags.  First the selected the fabric, then they decorated with all sorts of different decorations like sequins, ribbons, felt, and then they did some hand sewing for some the of the decorations and then the party planners helped them use a sewing machine to sew up the sides of the bags and then attach handles.  They all enjoyed it, especially Lauren.  It was great because she had a few friends from school, and then a couple of other friends from Stagecoach.
And then it was THE game.....Michigan at Ohio State.  Both teams with the same record, Ohio State ranked No 2 and Michigan ranked No 3.  It was a VERY intense game with double overtime, with unfortunately not the right ending.

27 November...LAUREN IS 10!!!!  And what an amazing girl she is.  Drew was not feeling great, so the girls and Granddaddy and I went to church, and then we did some shopping, had some lunch at Ely's so Granddaddy could get his fish and chips and then headed back home.  It was Winter Wonderland in Wimbledon, so Brad, the girls and Granddaddy went up to ride a couple rides and watch the fireworks.  We ended up ordering dinner in since Drew wasn't up for going out to eat.  And the weekend of celebrating Lauren drew to a close.  I know that she enjoyed all the celebrations and I am glad that Granddaddy was here to celebrate as well.

28 November...we said good-bye to Granddady.  He was very productive when he was here and we are so grateful for all his help.  He hung a shower curtain from the ceiling, put in a dryer vent, fixed a couple of doors, filled a few holes, repaired stair spindles and much more.  Next time, we will do more sight seeing!!