Im terrible at this ;)

Obviously I am terrible at this.  I promise to do better :)

Things since my last post have been CrAzY.  We went to Scotland at the beginning of April and had an absolutely amazing time.  We spent about 4 days there and took a tour of the city, visited Edinburgh Castle, the Museum of Scotland and Loch Ness.  We had a wonderful time as a family and were completely wore out by the time we got home.

Once we got home, Caleb got very ill.  He came down with a sinus infection, throat infection, ear infection and eventually developed pneumonia.  Anyone who thinks socialized medicine is a good idea needs to come and live in the UK.  I will not bore you with my rant but needless to say I have one....
After 10+ visits to the doctor and a little over two weeks off of work ( which nearly killed both of us for different reasons) Caleb went back to work and hit the ground running.

After a little bit of normal, which for us is slightly organized chaos, I got a call from school that Stephen needed to go to the A&E after a football ( soccer)  injury.  This, of course, happens the day I had actually made plans to go shopping and have lunch with some wonderful ladies I had met.  I do NOT panic when my kids get hurt.  I have three boys two of which are 300% boy and one who is so accident prone he gets hurt sitting down.  When I arrived at the school, however, I was greeted to the sight of my youngest head wrapped up like a civil war veteran.  I may have blanched at the sight slightly.  So I dutifully took him the the A&E ( ER) and waited for an hour for them to take off the bandage and reveal and injury that looked more like a very slight paper cut.  I will be honest here and say that had that injury happened at home it would not have even received an ice pack. Oh, well!! I learned a valuable lesson.  I will ALWAYS  check the bandages BEFORE going anywhere.

We are currently in the process of planning a trip to Paris in August.  This is the one place all the boys wanted to go when we told them we were moving to the UK.  Why?  To go to the Eiffel Tower, though none of them were sure where it was.  This trip is also a reward for all of us for surviving Caleb getting his MBA ( with a 4.0).  I could not be prouder of him.  He has worked full time, traveled, done his best to be home for dinner and bedtime, moved across the ocean to  start a new job and has finished the last three classes long distance with one class requiring him to call in from 2-5:30 pm our time every Saturday for 10 weeks.  Thrilled for all of us that he is done!!!  We are planning to spend about 3 1/2 days in the city of Paris and  about 3 1/2 days at Disneyland Paris.

The boys have about 6 weeks or so left of school and will be off from July 20th until the 3rd of September.  Looking forward to being able to take some day and weekend trips now that we heading into our summer and Caleb will be done with school!!

Let It Begin

Well, after about 6 weeks I'm finally able to sit and write a little.  We left the states on the 8th of January, about 10 days later than we thought we would due to Visa problems.  The boys were excellent troopers throughout the whole ordeal and a big source of entertainment on the plane for those sitting around us, as I'm sure you can imagine.

We spen our first week here is a hotel and then moved into our home away from home.  Even with no furniture and no TV, it was a breath of fresh air after being in a hotel with 3 boys for a week.  We immediately went and bought some essentials- air mattresses, bedding, coffee pot, toaster, TV, etc.

Our air shipment came about 10 days after moving into the house and while Caleb was in Istanbul for the week.  I was very thankful for the clothing that came as I had been wearing the same 4 shirts and 3 pairs of pants for over two weeks.  It has amazed me how much my life is the same on this side of the ocean.  I still get up and get everyone out the door every morning, clean, get laundry done, go to the gym, fix meals and all the wonderful things that make up bein a mom and wife here that I did there.  Go figure... where is the Mary Poppins that was suppose to come with this move?? Our sea shipment arrived last Monday and we have already got everything put in its place and pictures hung.  It feels more and more like home.

We haven't yet done any traveling, and am a little afraid we are not going to get in as much as I hoped we would.  Stupid school and stupid job.  But we are planning a weekend getaway to London this weekend and a trip to Scotland in April.  Hoping to hit Paris this summer and Greece at Christmas, assuming the riots and burning are over by then.

The boys are loving school and Caleb is enjoying the work here, although the corporate culture is much more laid back here than in the states which is a little bit of an adjustment for my straight laced hubby.  Ive found a group of women that are from North America that get together several times a month and have joined a gym.  I have actually started driving and even though its different and still a little scary it does give me a lot more freedom to get out and about.  We are ready for company any time and look forward to sharing our adventure with you!!

New Adventures

Now that Thanksgiving is over and the house is clean, laundry is done, and the food is put away I get to start my to-do list with all of the bazillion things that need to get done before we begin our adventure in England.  This week I have to start pairing things down and sorting what to keep, what to donate, what we will need immediately and what we can live without for 6 weeks.  A daunting task, but I have plenty of help ;) All three boys have generously volunteered to help with whatever I need....not sure how to tell them I don't think I need that kind of help.  Will keep you posted as we move along.  Remember us in your prayers as we begin this journey.