That Time Again Already?

Is it seriously December 1st? Please someone tell me I'm dreaming, and it's not. That November isn't really over already. But it is, isn't it?? (Sad!) But, we did have a pretty awesome November. And if I could go back and hit repeat on it, I totally would. 

We celebrated the little man's birthday. I do kind of have sad face about that tho -- he's growing up so much, and I'm just not ready. But it's one of his favorite days of the year because he loves getting to blow out his candles so that kind of evens out the sad mama moments. (And if you haven't seen him with his new Iron Man mask, you should. It's a permanent fixture on his face now.)

Oh! And we had Thanksgiving too. (Duh! lol) But I don't have pictures of that. I actually never take pictures of Thanksgiving. Maybe it's the exhaustion from the cooking. Maybe it's the trauma from violating a dead bird. Who knows. But it's the one holiday that never gets photographed. Hmm... It was wonderful tho. Take my word for it.

But now, we have made it to December. And I am just remembering that I need to go to the garage and find our Christmas decorations and dig out our Elf on the Shelf. ((Dammit!)) I'm really not sure how I could ever forget him. It's not like the kids haven't asked me about 800 times today when he's going to get here. (Because, you know, he was supposed to be here last night. But it seems he might be a little confused by Heathrow Airport because he didn't make it.)

Oh December! I'm just now sure how it crept up on me so fast! I suppose I should get to work on all that Christmasy stuff soon. (Man, I'm slacking this year! Didn't I learn my lesson last year?? Guess not.)

Well, anyway. I hope things are good for you, where ever you are! And that December's arrival isn't as shocking for you as it was for me. :) Much love sweets!

The White Cliffs of Dover

More Scotland Pictures

Edingburgh Castle

The Scottish Wool Center in Aberfoyle where we ate breakfast almost every morning

A giant game of checkers

Walking around the hotel grounds

Stopping for snacks

Walking the 246 steps of the Wallace Monument

William Wallace's sword

Loch Ness

Highland cattle.....furry cows!!

The view from our hotel room

Scottish Adventures

Hi!! It's been like, what...six weeks or something? Holy cheese! Well, it's been a very crazy, and very busy six weeks. And in case you haven't talked to me (or Brian) recently, we just got back from our first ever, for serious family vacation. We took the kids up to Scotland for a week - what?! 

Yes. It was amazing! 

So let me tell you! First. We stayed up in the lower part of the mountains, near the Trossachs. (You have no idea what that is, do you? Well, it's about an hour north of Glasgow.) And it's gorgeous there! The downside of it was that we got to our hotel at about 9 at night...and the road going to our hotel is tiny. T.I.N.Y. And runs right along Loch Lomond. At night it is super creepy. At one point I looked at Brian and said "ok really...if you see anyone standing in the road, don't stop. Seriously." 

During the day it was amazingly pretty. Ferns and trees and moss everywhere. But that road was still tiny and we have a minivan.

Yeah. Just yeah.

Our van took up a good portion of the road. And that tiny little rock "wall" is the only thing that kept you from going off the road and into the loch. (We drove very slowly.) So that was the downside. The only downside.......We fell in love with Scotland.

Our first day there was really spent just relaxing and checking everything out at the hotel. When we went to Bath, we only had 1 day to see as much as we could and everything felt rushed. This time we wanted to relax and just *be*. So that's what we did.

We watched TV...

...And played games. I taught Kierstin how to play backgammon, which she is now addicted to

And when the kids discovered a cupboard of crystal stemware, I taught them how to make music with them

We even explored the grounds of the hotel and found some really fun stuff!

And when we did go out exploring, it was amazing! Although I did realize that any time we go on vacation there is going to be some kind of hiking involved. Apparently we don't vacation in flat places. Lol We went over to Edinburgh Castle, which I was super excited to see. And I (foolishly) assumed it would be like going to Windsor Castle...just walk up and go in. But no. Those Scots make you work for it. 

We got over there and a string of expletives ran through my mind when I realized we had to hike all the way up there to get to the castle. (It took forever, in case you were wondering.)

The kids had a great time though, and that's what matters, right? Ok. We all had a great time. Lol Edinburgh Castle is a fabulous place! There's so much to see there - we even got to see the crown jewels. But I don't have any pictures of them for you (or for us). There are no cameras allowed in that room. Will you settle for cute pictures of the kids instead?

Anyway, if the climbing up to the castle wasn't enough torture...we went to the William Wallace Monument. And again, I thought of something like the presidential monuments in D.C. -- walk up and go "oh pretty!" and then be on your way. (Bahahahahaha!!) No. 

They went and made this gorgeous monument, right? And then said oh, we filled it with so much amazing stuff....and if you want to see it all, you have to climb 246 steps all the way to the top. (And again, the string of expletives in my head.) For the record - our next vacation will not involve staircases, or castles with hiking. I'm putting in my request for a flat vacation now! Lol!!

Anyway, after all that climbing, we decided we needed a day of no climbing and off we drove up to the Highlands. (Eek! Super excited!) We drove through Trossachs National Park, up through Glencoe and eventually found our way to Loch Ness. We found roads even scarier than the one going to our hotel - ones that were mountain on one side and huge drop off on the other. But! It was GORGEOUS!! There are really no words for it.

Honestly, me showing you this isn't even good enough. It's so much better when you're there. It just takes your breath away. 

Unfortunately for me, up there in the Highlands, I could not escape the reaches of the universe that has an unending desire to laugh at me whenever possible. There was one point when we stopped to take pictures (because yes, they have areas where you can pull over for "prime picture taking spots")...and it was muddy...and I didn't have the right shoes. And I should probably mention there was also a boulder. This boulder and I had a small disagreement. I slipped. And now I have a damaged tailbone. (Or as my sweet Kenzie-bug calls it - a broken booty.)

Broken booties aside, it was a great trip! We had so much fun and enjoyed everything. And it was really awesome to show all of that to the kids. Great places, beautiful scenery, and amazing food! (Seriously, the Scots can do wonderful thing with the potato.) And if you ever find yourself on this side of the pond, with time to spare, make your way up to Scotland. You'll thank me!! (Promise!)

So, I hope all is going well in your neck of the woods. Hopefully things won't be so crazy that I take another six week hiatus. Until next time....

Yes, We're from Texas

It's been a crazy 2 weeks! Has it been for you? It's been kind of an adjustment for us - all the new things that go along with having the girls in the Brit school. I'm getting there though. I haven't forgotten to send them with lunch yet so I think I'm doing good. I came close once, but I don't count that.

Anyway. I came across this thing a while back on Facebook about what Brits think of us Americans and I wanted to show you...but then I forgot. (Because, you know, I have the attention span of a squirrel.) I would love to give credit where credit is due and tell you who posted it, but I forgot that too. (And I'm far too lazy to go sift through everyone's stuff to find out.)

Typically, when we're out places...usually places further away from the bases...we get a lot of "oh you're from America!" (Gee, what gave it away?) And then comes the "where are you from" questions. And if the person has spent any kind of time in the States, for whatever reason they can usually guess that I am from Texas pretty quickly. (I haven't figured out why. I don't acknowledge that I have an accent at all.) If they haven't been to the States, and know absolute zero about it, once they learn that we are in fact from the great state of Texas I get the really fun questions: do you own horses, why don't you wear those big hats...or those big boots, do you drive a truck, so you really like guns. {{Please insert deadpan silence here}}

No. A resounding no to all questions. Lol I'm from a city...a pretty big one actually, own a dog who (to be fair) could probably be mistaken for a horse, drive a minivan, detest hats, don't discuss gun control, footwear is a personal thing but I prefer flip flops or converse...and no, I don't own any of those big belt buckles either. I mean, c'mon y'all! (lol!!) 

So, yes, it seems the Brits have some very interesting opinions about us. (I blame TV...and YouTube.) Are you curious about what they think?

Honestly, I got a pretty good laugh from this. But it does explain some of the weird questions I've gotten in the last year and a half. 

Anywho! It is morning so I should probably stop playing on the computer and go get to all that parenting stuff. Like making sure my girls have lunches for school. (That might be good.)

Much love my sweets! <3

A Big Bag of Excited

Good morning! I can't believe it's already Thursday. Did you have an awesome Labor Day weekend? We had a very lazy one. Like, I spent a good part of Saturday afternoon laying in my living room floor listening to the Eagles station on Pandora. It was a little slice of heaven. And just what this mama needed after Hayden's first week of school. To say it didn't go so well would be an understatement. Lol

For all of our prepping, there was just nothing we could do to get him ready for his schedule changes. Not only his he supposed to be spending more time in regular classrooms this year, but it's block scheduling - weird block scheduling. Every day his schedule is different. And for a kid like him, that is a recipe for absolute disaster. Hayden thrives on routine. He needs to know what's going to happen. Crazy schedules and mixed up routines makes him a little...upset. (That's a really nice way of putting it.)

But! He's getting there. We're working together with his teachers and coming up with plans and trying to figure out what's going to work and what isn't so that's awesome. We're going to get there. (Please cross your fingers for me. Lol)

In other news though....today is a really big day for the girls. And I am way excited!

Kierstin's 1st day of 6th Year (a.k.a. 5th grade)

Makenzie's 1st day of 4th year (a.k.a 3rd grade)

It's their first day at the British school. =) Eeek! I'm excited. Their excited! It's a big bag of excited around here! They've been waiting for so long for this. (And truth be told, I am really glad I won't have to hear "How many more days until school" anymore.)

And as a word of advice for anyone who ever has to buy uniforms. Something I wish I had known about 2 weeks ago. *Buy no-iron uniforms* Trust me. You'll thank me for it. You'll love me for it. You'll bake me cookies that I can't eat because you'll be so happy about not having to iron uniforms. Lol!! (Can you tell that I spent a very long time ironing uniforms last night? I did.)

But! They're off doing their British school thing. And Mr. Hayden is off doing his school thing. And this mama is going to enjoy her first day of quiet in 3 months. 

Ahhh, the sounds of silence! (Yay!!) I love my kids to pieces and having more time with them in the summer is awesome. But they are loud! =) And I am going to enjoy every single second of quiet, argument-free, lego-cities-all-over-my-floor-free moment I have.

I do hope all is well for you, wherever you are. Much love my sweeties! <3

Growing Up

I remember having a conversation with my brother a few years ago about how we couldn't believe how old our kids were getting. And, back then, it hit me that in about 2 or 3 years I would have a kid in middle school. ((Gasp!)) 

See, I don't know if it's like this for every parent who has a kid with Downs. But for me, I don't always think about how old Hayden actually is. Maybe it's because he's physically one age, and developmentally another. But, he's just Hayden. And every once in a while it'll hit me that he's ___ years old and I'm just sitting there like "Omg! In *this many years* he's going to be _____". (Did that make sense at all??)

Well, anyway. We've been prepping for this whole middle school thing for about 6 months, so I've known it was coming. We've tried to make this transition for him as smooth as possible. Last week we even went up to the school and were able to walk around it while there weren't any students so he could kind of take it all in. Partially because it is a new school, which means new teachers and staff, and he doesn't always handle change well. But also because this school is huge - a lot bigger than any other school he's ever attended. 

So yeah, I've *known* this was coming. But I was not(!) ready for it. Not at all.

He is officially in middle school. And I can't believe it.

How did that happen?

This morning I went in to get him up and he was not having it. =) I rubbed his back and told him Good Morning and his response was a very upset groan and "What do you want?! Too early!" Lol And I told him he had to get up for school and after about 5 more minutes of prodding he finally gave up and told me "Oh fine, mom!" and got out of bed. (And I couldn't help but laugh...those teenage years with all their grouchiness are definitely coming.)

Once he was up and had breakfast, he insisted that I help him fix his hair for school. (What is that???) And then his driver came to get him, and off he went....while I stood in the kitchen and tried not to cry.

My baby has left me for middle school. He is definitely not a baby anymore.

Visiting Windsor Castle

Bath Time

So, in case you haven't seen my last few Instagram posts we've been on a mini vacation. Brian suggested the trip a few weeks ago but I was convinced it wouldn't happen when we realized that, oh yeah, we're not in the States. Hotels here aren't as big and don't always accommodate a family of 5 (vs. a family of 4 or less) as easily as ones in the States can. But he made it happen. And off we went...to Bath. (Yay!!)

And as I'm typing this, I'm sitting in bed with the world's most achy muscles. Everything south of my jaw feels like putty. Painful, achy putty. ((What a visual.)) Word of advice: if you ever find yourself on this side of the pond, and in Bath, bring really good shoes. And prep for a good, solid month. Like, hop on a treadmill, put the incline all the way up, and walk on it until it doesn't hurt anymore. Lol

We were not prepared.

We have walked up and down those streets a lot. We parked the car when we got here and then didn't use it again. We walked. And then walked some more. And the icing on the cake was where we've been staying. It was kind of an "off-site" apartment for a B&B. But it was basement level. 

Those stairs terrified me. And after the 4th time we went up and down them, after walking around the entire city, I really thought my legs were just going to fall off. I was exhausted. So were the kids.

Poor Hayden was nodding off while we were ordering our lunch!!

But!! Exhaustion aside...because it has been well worth it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat...

Our trip has been AMAZING!

We drove out and saw Stonehenge. It's kind of a drive (like 3+ hours) from where we live so we've always hesitated to do it on some random day. But since we were in the area, we figured why not.

Here's the thing about Stonehenge...in case you were wondering. It's cool. It is. You drive out to the site, get your tickets, and ride a tram out to the stones. And you stand there like 'oh wow!' And you take 500 pictures, from every angle, thinking 'I'm really seeing this...like right in front of me'. And that takes maybe 30 minutes. And then you're like 'Ok. Soooo.....Stonehenge.....big rocks......really old.'

The mystery is all gone because they tell you everything you could want to know while you're there (which is super cool). But once you've seen it, you've seen it. 

When we were done with looking & taking pictures, we boarded the tram to go back, and some Buddhist monks got on with us. One sat down next to Hayden. (Do you know where this is going yet?) Hayden sat there the whole ride back, just chatting him up. It was just about the cutest thing ever! (Just about as fabulous as seeing Stonehenge.)

The next day we decided to do the city of Bath in one day. One. (We're courageous like that.) There are no words for Bath. It's so beautiful. Just absolutely, breathtakingly, beautiful! Probably the most gorgeous place I've ever seen.

We've seen so much! There was a lot that we didn't get to see because there just wasn't enough time, but we still accomplished a lot in one day. 

The Pulteney Bridge

The Bath Abbey

The park in the middle of the Crescent

The Royal Victoria Park

The Circus

The Old Roman Bath House

When we weren't off walking around looking at everything we could, we were off walking and looking for food. =) We told the kids that we enforcing a strict rule of "step out of the box" while we were on this trip. We were going to eat something new at every restaurant. They did not take this well at all! Especially when we took them to a Nepalese place for dinner. Or when we had Thai but told them they couldn't have their normal dishes. But they suffered through (ha!) and actually enjoyed themselves.

And when we weren't off doing any of that?? Well...

Do you see Makenzie?? She's hiding behind the pillows that Kierstin is laying next to.

Kierstin didn't know she was there. She thought I was taking pictures of her being silly.

So yes, fabulous trip! And I am super sad to have to get back to the real world. The one where I have to do dishes and wash laundry and all that boring stuff. 

But! Now, I am off to bed. Because I am really tired and we still have more to do on the way back to the east side of the island. (Read that as: more walking. Send up prayers for me and my putty-filled legs.)

So much love my sweets! I hope your weekend is kicking off to a wonderful start! <3

I've Been Waiting for this Day

So right about now you're probably like "hang on, she's already posting something again?" I know. I'm sporadic. But I like to keep people guessing. (That's not really why.)

Actually. We had a big day in the world 'o Hayden yesterday. Like big. Huge. And I am excited. (Hence my use of underlining everything!!!!)

But before I tell you all about it, you have to know something first - you may not think it's a big deal. I'm ok with that. Really, I am. Because, for me, it was a really BIG deal.

10 years ago (like maybe 10 years ago right about now I think) we took Hayden and Kierstin to get their picture taken.

Cute right?

Well, that day was the last time he ever stepped foot inside a barber shop. He couldn't handle the noise or the feeling of getting his hair cut or something. ((It goes along with his problems with fireworks and other noises...which is really a story for another day.)) But, anyway, after that, he couldn't handle it. For better or worse (and sometimes a lot worse), we started cutting his hair at home. 

Until now. <---------

A few weeks ago, Brian found out that the barber shop he goes to also works with a local special needs school to cut hair for people with Downs and Autism. (Yay!!!!) So we talked to Hayden about it over and over and over again to get him ready. And then we took him. (Sink or swim time!!)

He did so good!!! There aren't words to express how well he did. He kept still. He didn't cry or scream. He just let her cut his hair. We did get a running commentary of "ohmygod!...that feels weird...". Lol But he just did so so so good! 

And it looks good! (Way better than anything Brian or I could do...because you know, for all the great things about YouTube, it just can't really teach you to cut hair)

I can't believe he starts middle school soon!! :(

But he does look so nice!!

I am one proud mama y'all! 

And again, I know it's hard for me to explain sometimes exactly why this is a big deal - taking my kid to the barber. But believe me, it is. I wasn't sure that day would ever come. I wasn't sure that he would ever be ok with the noise, or that he'd ever be able to stop fidgeting. But he did. He's growing up and we're learning how to help him through the hard stuff. 

It was a big day!