Plane Tickets have been purchased!!

We are heading back home (for good) on May 20th. This is sooner than we had intended but Kyle has to be back for a one day meeting in the states. We originally thought I would be taking on all 4 kids on my own the following weekend but this is really a blessing that I won't have to do it alone. Kyle will fly back a couple of days later to England and then be back (for good) on May 31st. This means Kyle will be handling the last minute details and the movers plus getting the house cleaned and ready. I have to admit, I am happy I won't have to deal with this while trying to take care of our 4 children. The kids are off school the whole last week of May for 1/2 term break and I had feared having to keep them all entertained in an empty house, or worse, a hotel. We have been ill for the last two weeks. Faith, Sawyer and Eden have all been out of school Mon. and Tues. this week. Faith had missed two day last week with Tonsillitis and she now has the flu. Sawyer and Eden both have fevers and Eden possibly has a UTI. Beckett had a fever Fri. and Sat. and I had one Fri. to Sun. with a horrible sore throat. Kyle had both Strep and the flu within two weeks. I will be happy when we are all recovered. With all the kids home and sick, I feel like our house is a sick ward in a hospital. Unfortunately, Eden and Sawyer feel just well enough to harass each other.

We are very excited to be going home. Going home a little earlier will allow me to be a little more hands-on with the last 5-6 weeks of construction on our home, which I am very happy about. While I am excited about going back, I have to add that I will miss my friends here a ton. I am dreading saying good-bye!! I will write more about that later. It is definitely bittersweet. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends here and at home. My poor parents will have to house myself and 4 children until early July. I am actually looking forward to it but I hope we don't drive them insane. Thanks mom and dad for letting us disrupt your peace and quiet. I told them that at least it isn't permanent-for now anyways.

Happy Birthday Kyle!!

Kyle turned 36 yesterday!! It is hard to believe but I have known Kyle for 20 years!!! Boy are we getting old. We celebrated with the kids on Thurs. night (the 17th) with brownies. The kids all made him cards and took such pride in them. They love their daddy so much. For his birthday he got some new swim trunks and a matching fisherman hat that he is wearing in the picture. Eden picked out the hat - it actually coordinates with the trunks-she is soooo my daughter! Kyle is achieving his long awaited dream of owning a boat in a couple of months when we return to the states so we thought some new swim trunks would be appropriate. On Fri. night Kyle, Beckett and I went to eat at a place called Imperial Bento in Peterborough. It is an Asian all-you-can-eat restaurant. Our babysitter, Chloe, watched the other three. Happy Birthday, Kyle. We love you!

BECKETT IS 3 MONTHS OLD!!!

Our baby is already 3 months old. How time flies. He had to go in for immunizations this morning and did pretty well. He had to have one in each thigh. He actually didn't cry for the first one. No band-aids this time either-not in the NHS budget, I guess-or weighing, listening to their chest or heartbeat-just the shots. At three months Beckett is talking and smiling. He is very attentive if someone is speaking or singing to him. He loves to stand up on your lap and bob his little head around. He also loves bath time. He pretty much catnaps during the day but is sleeping well at night. He actually slept 6 hours straight in his own bed two nights ago. He is very loved by his siblings. Here are some photos and video I took today after his appointment.

I will miss the school uniforms

Some of you might be very surprised that I have even uttered the above "title". Yes, I will totally miss the school uniforms. Moving over here I thought I would miss the everyday fun of coordinating Faith's outfits for school (okay, dressing Sawyer isn't quite as fun) but thinking of going back to "normal" clothes this fall is making me a bit panicky. I now have a nine year old daughter who has become opinionated about her clothing. I took Faith shopping last weekend to pick out some summer clothing and I found that everything she likes, I don't like. I did my best to keep my mouth shut and let her get what she wants. It was hard. She has never cared what she has worn and was always so easy to dress. Eden is extremely opinionated and wants to wear a dress or skirt everywhere with only short sleeves. She loves headbands (even sleeps in them) and likes to wear them right where her hair and forehead meet-UGH!!! Oh, it is so hard for me. She also demands to be called "Sharpay" (from H.S. Musical). Sawyer will wear anything but loves his crocs and wears them year round. I am now wishing that in the U.S. all the schools would go to uniforms. It is soooo much cheaper and no morning arguments about clothing. At the village school last year they could have some variety. Faith could wear skirts, trousers or a pinafore (jumper) only in gray. She could have a variety of tops as long as they were the school colors of red, gray or white. Sawyer wore gray trousers or shorts and a variety of tops. Sawyer's uniforms were the least expensive. I could purchase two trousers for 8 pounds ($16) and three shirts for 6 pounds ($12). Everything was polyester so it could be washed and dried and no ironing. At their private school this year the uniforms are much stricter and way more expensive but still less expensive than what I would spend in a school year. There is only one uniform-no variations-so easy! Also, only black shoes. My kids have never in their lives gotten more use out of shoes. At private school this year they all have matching coats and can only have school issued or black, very plain school bags. The first photo is of Faith and Sawyer with our very good English friends, Jacob and Jessica, on their first day of school in England, Sept. 2006. The second is of the kids a month later on Eden's first day of pre-school. The last was just taken yesterday morning (yes, I realize the girls collars are a bit large and yes, Sawyer is wearing knickers (they are actually called "breeches" here and knickers are actually underwear). At private school this year, even Eden wears a uniform (she is my hardest to dress, so I am thankful!).

House

Just wanted to share some some pictures that our builder took yesterday. It is coming along very nicely. I spent some time yesterday on the phone with the kitchen designer and lighting guy. We have already upgraded our kitchen cabinets so I am trying to come in under budget on lighting. You always hear that it is very difficult to stay on budget while building a home and it is so true. I go to bed thinking about the house and I wake up thinking about it as well. I am happy to report that it hasn't been stressful-yet! I am hoping when all of this is over that it will have been a wonderful experience for us. Thanks, Jenny Camp, for leading us in this direction!

My Week

Well, my kids are still out on spring break and will be until April 16th. I have another week and a half to keep them entertained before heading back to school. Kyle was gone this week-back in the states to work. He was able to go by our home (under construction) and check things out. He actually admitted that he was a bit excited. By Tues. they had the whole first floor framed. I am VERY excited about all of this and not afraid to admit it. By the way, Kyle was not interested in the floor plan of the house and I picked it out all by myself. His interests include the basement and garage. Mine is the kitchen and laundry room. Anyways, I hope he likes it when its complete!! All is going well and I think they might have it done earlier than planned. Picking things for the house online is proving more difficult than I expected and, with Kyle gone all week, I spent some late nights researching stuff online. Kyle got back last night and we are SO happy to have him home-we miss him when he is away from us. I was very nervous about him leaving me with four kids on my own. I am used to three but Beckett is just over 11 weeks old so I didn't know what to expect. I am happy to report all went very well and we did fine. I have wonderful children and I love them so much.

On Wednesday, my very generous friend Holli, had all of us over who participate in book club for a play date and lunch. The weather was very nice so we took the kids behind her home into an open field of lambs and their babies. All the kids wore their wellies (rain boots) and had a wonderful time! It was so much fun. Anyways, the kids and I stayed at her house until 6:30 pm. -we arrived at 10:30 am. The kids played so well all day we didn't want to mess a good thing up. Thanks Holli for inviting us to stay. I learned and saw some things that day that I will never forget. Never a dull moment! Above are some pics. from this week. Check out the sheep and glowing green grass-Ah, only in England.