Three More?

So today we had the 2 week check-up for Kierstin's wrist. She was so excited. At the last appointment, they told her if all was going well (& healing nicely) the doctor might be inclined to switch the cast out for a splint to make things easier for her. It's all I've heard about for days - how she wasn't going to have to wear her cast anymore. She still hadn't complained a bit but the novelty of a cast had definitely worn off. Lol

So we got to the clinic and got new x-rays done and headed over to see the orthopedist. And all I heard was "going to get my cast off...going to get my cast off." She even asked the radiologist if he thought the cast was coming off. (Honestly, it was pretty cute how excited she was.)

And then we saw the doctor. And, yes, the pink cast came off & she spent the next 5 minutes begging the doctor to let her keep it (it is currently sitting in my trunk...as far away from me as possible....it stinks!!). And then a new one was put on. She has to keep this one on for at least three more weeks. ((What?!)) She is not excited anymore. She handled the news pretty well but she is definitely counting down the days. (So am I!)

You Have to Commit to the Journey

So I had this whole blog post planned out the other day about our weekend and never got around to writing it. (I hate when that happens.) School has started back so my free time is gone again and I'm just now sitting down and doing something other than studying. 

But. We had a fabulously amazing weekend! First off, the weather has been so gorgeous! At night, it's still cold as....well, I don't know what. I was going to say cold as all hell but I don't think hell is actually cold. Well, it's really cold at night. That's what I was getting at. During the day though, the sun has been out (most of the time) and we are finally getting up into the 60s during the day. Spring is here, y'all. And I love it! The daffodils and tulips are blooming, the butterflies are coming out - so amazing, right? 

The girls are loving it because warmer weather means front yard picnics with their friends. (Which I should go ahead and tell you that they are single-handedly introducing the Brit kids to corn dogs. The Brits are quite fond of the corn dog now - who knew.) 

The trade-off to the warmer weather is that it smells....really smells. Spring time means prime farming time which translates into time to fertilize. And since we are surrounded by farms, it smells like manure everywhere. But enough about stinkiness and back to our weekend.

Like I said it was great! We went with some friends to a mall in London. Now, I do have to tell you that getting there was utter blasphemy!! See, I've decided that GPS's out here have a very twisted sense of humor. If you're planning on going to London - even if where you're headed is technically on the outskirts of London - it's going to make you drive through London. Like, straight into it. That GPS is going to make you commit to the journey. You're going to drive through the ghetto...you're going to see downtown. You have no choice in this.

Since I was doing the driving (and not by choice, mind you), our friends assured us that I would not (as in absolutely not) have to drive in London. That the mall was just off the motorway and we could go straight there. Ha! That is not what happened at all. That ridiculous GPS drove us in circles for an extra hour through the ghetto of London. That was not awesome. I was white-knuckling it the whole time to the point of losing circulation in my hands. (Driving in London is terrifying y'all.)

But we did finally make it to the mall. I survived the driving (with all my fingers intact) and managed not to kill us all. (Go me!) I wish I hadn't forgotten my phone at home - I have no pictures of the kids faces when they walked in. They had never seen a mall so big - hundreds upon hundreds of stores...and 3 food courts, which is really what they were interested in because every single one had about 4 different ice cream stores. Lol The girls found a new store that they're in love with called Smiggle. And crazy names aside, it was pure girlie heaven! Kind of like the Sanrio store, only without Sanrio. Everything was brightly colored and had cute little pictures of animals or cupcakes or whatever on them. The girls were mesmerized and I practically had to physically drag them out of there.

Hayden found the Lego store within minutes of us walking in and begged us for an eternity to go see the legos. All we heard was "Mom...mom...legos...mom, lego store...can I please have lego store...mom! Do it!....Mom please! Please lego store! Do it!" Lol! We did give in and then I didn't think we'd ever get him out of there either. I'm not normally a "mall" person - the chaos kinda drives me crazy. But the kids had an absolute blast so that made it great fun for me. They're already trying to convince us to go back again very soon. And every time they bring it up, I assure them we will go back...as long as I don't have to drive.

So that was our weekend. I hope yours was fabulous as well, and that you're having a wonderful week! But sadly, my slacker time is over and I must get back to studying.

Much love! <3

Never Again, Please

When we found out we were moving over here, I spent months researching everything I could - school info, driving, housing, etc. You name it, I wanted to know about it. And during all of that I started paying attention to the weather so that I would have an idea of what to expect...even though I was still convinced that we weren't really moving. I remember there was a day when I checked to see what the weather was looking like and saw a forecast for "frozen fog". I just sat there thinking "how in the world does fog freeze??" I mean, seriously. Does it become a solid? Isn't that what happens when something freezes? Am I going to walk outside and run into a wall of fog? I was so confused.

Here we are a year and some months later and I have officially experienced the frozen fog. (And I can't even type that without smiling because it just sounds ridiculous!) 

It is the strangest thing ever, though. Not to mention, kind of creepy. (Like horror movie creepy.) And honestly, it is something I would like to avoid from here on out. Like, til the end of time. Driving in it is....well, there's no word for it. Visibility is really limited and on British roads, visibility is a must. People ride their bikes in the road here all the time. Plus there's the ditches! Ohmygeeze, the ditches! 

Some of the smaller roads here run through farm land, which really is gorgeous. The thing is, they have drainage ditches on the side of the road. And I really wish I had a picture of one, but I don't. But imagine the edge of the road, and then about a few feet over is like a 30 foot drop into a ditch full of water. Yeah. Visibility is absolutely necessary. And the frozen fog just took all of that away. (Boo on that!) Every time I checked the rear window I automatically reached for the wipers because it looked like condensation all over the glass. But it wasn't. It was just frozen fog and no amount of wiping was going to make it go away. 

Do you remember about 2 or 3 blog posts ago, I showed you the picture of the ice cream truck? It was parked in a field? Ok. Here's the same field this morning...

Yeah. Just yeah. So now you can kind of guess what the roads were like. And again, I'd really like to not ever have to drive through that again. Like ever. Thankfully though, the sun finally came out and the temperature warmed up. I guess the fog thawed (that just sounds ridiculous!) and now it's gorgeous outside! Yay! Hopefully we're done with frozen fog. Cross your fingers for me!

In other news, I have to say that Kierstin is a rockstar! She is rocking that cast like it's nobodies business. Lol! She's on day 3 now and I have not heard a single complaint come out of her mouth once. The most she's said is "Well, you know, it's kind of uncomfortable when I sleep. But I just put some extra pillows on the bed so it's ok." Every day she practices writing with her left hand so that she can still do her homework and her teacher can read it. She's even come up with genius ways of scratching her arm using a system of straws. And the other two make me so proud as well! They have stepped in to help her anytime she needs it - you know, like with tying her shoes or making her breakfast. I have some amazing kids, y'all. Seriously!

Ok, well, I think that's it for today. I do hope you have awesome weekend plans! I have no idea what we're doing. It's more exciting that way sometimes. Either way, happy Friday & happy soon-to-be weekend!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Finding out you’re going to have kids is an amazing thing. You spend so much time wondering about everything - like who they're going to look like and what does their future hold. And sometimes there's this tiny voice in the back of your head that starts thinking back on all the stupid things you did as a kid and wondering if your new child is going to do that to. (Wait...do you have tiny voices too?? Or am I the only one? Maybe we shouldn't talk about this on the internet.)

When Kierstin was born, I could see both Brian and I in her but the older she gets the more I realize just how much like me she is. (That's kind of scary, huh?) She makes a lot of Brian's facial expressions and has a lot of his mannerisms but some of the.....weirder (??) aspects of her personality are definitely from me. She was so gracious as to remind me of this again a few days ago.

But let me back up a second. Way back in 2004, I had an unfortunate run in with some stairs.

See my arm there? Yeahhhh. That's what happened when I tried to go upstairs (quickly) in flip flops. Explaining to the doctors that I tripped going up the stairs - because, yes, I am that clumsy - was really interesting.


Fastforward back to now. 

So Sunday afternoon the girls had a Girl Scout party at the base skating rink. Brian and I dropped them off and then took Hayden for some parent-son shopping time. When we got back, I found out that Kierstin had fallen earlier but they gave her an ice pack for her wrist and she seemed ok. I kind of brushed it off because she did look ok and falls happen, especially when skating. But over the last 2 days her wrist wasn't getting any better so I got her in to see her pediatrician, completely convinced that I was probably overreacting.

After the 3rd time I had to explain that she fell while playing limbo on rollerblades, I was starting to get flashbacks. And for good reason...

She has almost the same break I did 9 years ago. Like mother, like daughter, huh? Of all the things she could have inherited from me, my clumsiness was one I could have done without. She's probably thinking the same thing right about now. For the moment though, the only thing she's worried about is how she's going to wear her jacket, which, in the grand scheme of life, isn't too bad. :) And she is super excited that they could make her cast pink so that was a huge plus!

We'll see how she feels about it in a couple days. Lol 

I hope you're having a wonderful day! I'm going to go enjoy the last hour before the other kids come home and I actually have to be a productive adult. Happy Wednesday! Much love!

Freedom Week

Today is the first day of my spring break from school. Woo hoo! I guess, technically, Saturday was the first day since I was finished with all of my assignments by Friday. But today is my first official day to realize it's spring break. Lol I got the kids off to school, went to check what assignments I needed to work on and then realized "oh yeah. I have a whole week off!!!" ((insert me dancing around here))

Here's the issue: I have no idea what to do. Normally my days are busy busy busy. Between cleaning the house, and doing my homework, cooking, and then helping small(ish) children with their homework, I don't really get too many moments to just sit and do nothing. I'm cool with that. I enjoy not being bored. But this morning, the kids left, and I had breakfast, and then I just sat here. What the crap am I going to do for a whole week?!

There is of course the responsible adult option.

I have a to do list that seriously needs attention. It's not big stuff really. Just a bunch of little things that tends to get ignored or pushed to the side when I'm in school because it's not as important as something else. So yes. I could be the responsible adult and actually work on that. And probably knock every single thing off of it.

Oooorrrrrr.....

I could totally veg out and read and catch up on the 50 bajillion tv shows I've recorded and not gotten around to watching. (As long as everyone pinkie promises not to tell Brian that I'm being totally lazy.)

Is it bad that I'm leaning towards the sloth option? I do have some "mom guilt" about that. But we're supposed to be getting some really pretty weather this week and I kind of want to enjoy it. You know, by laying around outside and reading or something. Not being productive out there. That negates the whole sloth thing. I don't know. Maybe I'll come up with some kind of hybrid option - half sloth, half adult. Lol

You know what's really going to happen though? I'll be bored out of my mind by tomorrow and start reading ahead in my textbooks for next term. I'm just like that. It's sad, I know, but that's what's going to end up happening. I'm sure of it.

Well, in the spirit of not being a sloth, I think I should at least go to the grocery store. My family would probably appreciate some food. :) I do hope your Monday is starting off very well. Much love my sweeties!

Yes, We Are From America

When Brian and I found this house a year ago, the fact that it's not in any of the towns around the base was a huge check in the plus column. We fell in love with the area before we even made it to the house. It's the whole English countryside thing.

It's gorgeous! There are definitely some drawbacks (like how long it takes us to get to the bases) but it kind of just evens itself out. Not to mention, we really liked how small the village is - small = quiet. We just didn't realize exactly how small it is until last night.

This couple was driving down the road (which is really more like a highway), doing their little British thing, and see a dog that's gotten out. They don't want it to get hit by a car (because it was getting pretty dark at this point) so they stop to get it. Apparently someone in the village told them it belonged to the American family. So what did they do? They came straight to our house. (What???) 

For all our talk about "blending in" we might as well have a neon sign outside that says "Hey Y'all! Americans live here!!" I mean, I know it's pretty obvious sometimes. Like when we talk. Lol There's no hiding that we're not British the moment we open our mouths. Plus, there's the whole van thing. Every time I drive around here, people stop to look at the van because I'm sitting on the wrong side of the car. Oh, and because the van might as well be a tank compared with their cars. (It's just huge over here!) But seriously, I didn't realize they knew where we lived. Like they've for serious been paying attention. To be honest, it's kind of creepy. I kind of feel like a circus attraction....."what are the crazy Americans gonna do next? Find out tomorrow!" (Ha!)

In other news, (before I freak myself out even more), I thought I'd share some pictures with you really quickly.

Apparently, 50 degree weather is perfect for ice cream here. I was a bit shocked to see the ice cream man at the park yesterday. But there he was. I just laughed and laughed. The temperature hit 50 and people were coming out of their houses in shorts and heading to get ice cream. (Sometimes I just don't understand things here. lol)

So that's it for now I think. Happy Friday y'all! I hope you have an awesome weekend in store. I think we're going to try to take the kids to the Space Center - they are super excited! Hayden and I may have to leave the others there because I just can't see them ever wanting to leave. It should be quite an adventure. 

Much love!!

I've Said it Before, But...

I know I've said this before but there are so many times I am pretty much 100% certain that the universe is laughing at me. It's just sitting back with a huge bowl of snacks and having a great big laugh at my expense. 

I'm the girl who drives an hour to the base before I realize that I left my purse (with all forms of ID) at home & has a 4-pack of beer explode on me on the way back to the house. The one who has ended up on crutches after a case of sodas broke and all of them came crashing down on my foot. I'm also the one who ended up with my arm in a sling for about a month after I partially tore my rotator cuff when I made the silly mistake of adjusting the shower head from kid-height to Dondi-height. (And let's not talk about what happens when I try to use stairs. That's just not kosher.)

I've been chased down my stairs by spiders, and out of my storage room by a rat. Had a frog fall out of my umbrella onto my shoulder and another that jumped on my arm and then peed on me. (How rude was that?!) And then there was the time I pulled back the blinds on our back door to find a 400+ pound bear staring back at me. (That was a really fun heart attack.)

So yeah. The universe finds my life entertaining. I'm really ok with it. Really. Well, most of the time. It keeps things interesting & I do hate to be bored. 

But see today. Well. The universe and I apparently need to have a talk about what is appropriate and what is not. 

I am in the last week of this school term - finals week. (Ugh!) But I had everything planned perfectly. I studied my butt off for my Victimology final so that I could knock it out today & spend the rest of the week studying for my American Lit final on Friday. Really, I just wanted Victimology out of the way. It is the hardest test I've ever taken (except Bio. Those sucked!) and I wanted it over with. I was three questions away from the end....THREE. Starting to breath a deep sigh of "I'm almost done with this sh*t!" 

And then my internet shut off. 

Now I have to start all over. 

I guess I should just be glad the kids weren't home when it happened. I'll go ahead and tell you that what came out of my mouth was not even a little appropriate for children's ears. It might not have been appropriate for my ears. But really? 3 questions?? That was just rude. Lol

So thank you, dear universe-people, for letting me entertain you once again. But really, next time I'd like to just finish the damn test. And then I promise you can shut off the power and the internet and whatever else you like (knock on wood!!).