Cashing in our coupons

The kids signed up for the summer reading program at our library this summer.  With that, they were given coupons for roller skating and bowling.  They expire tomorrow, so we had to use them!  Bucko had a birthday party at the roller rink on Saturday, so I took all the kids and we had a blast!  Minnie was the only one who had ever been skating before.  We used to have a pair that fit over their shoes. They would wear them around the backyard, but I don't think that counts.  Anyway, they fell down....a lot.  I knew they were going to have bruises, but they kept getting up and kept at it.  Goofy was the one who surprised me the most.  I didn't expect a 2-year-old to be better than his older siblings.  However, this 2-year-old is an observer.  He watched everyone and copied them. It was the cutest thing!  I love that at this skating rink they allow parents to walk around the rink with their little ones, so I didn't have to wear skates and try to catch them and keep myself upright at the same time.

 Then tonight we decided we better cash in our bowling coupon.  Here's Goofy getting ready to bowl.  He's sporting his new sweater and jeans that came in the mail yesterday. 



Minnie with the attitude "That's right I got a strike! You better believe it!"



Bucko all calm after his first strike! And he wasn't even using the ramp!

I didn't bowl, as my wrist can't handle that. Besides, I have to be with Goofy at all times or he will bowl for everyone.  Goofy has been a wonderful 2 year old, but he did push my limits at the end of round 9.  He had lost his patience in waiting his turn and would not sit and wait.  After he bowled his turn, I took off his bowling shoes and he threw the biggest fit of his life.  I have never had this reaction from him.  I hope it is not a precursor to something coming.  I had to have Tink put on his shoes, while I held both his arms down. He kept trying to put his bowling shoes back on because he wanted to stay and bowl more.  He eventually calmed down, but oh my.  Needless to say, I will not take them bowling again if I am the only adult going. But we did have fun until then!

Gloria and Hallelujah!

All our packages made it back to England today!!!  In our mailboxes, they place these lovely bright yellow slips of paper to tell you that you have a package. Then you take your ID up to the window and they go and get it for you.  We always get excited when we have a yellow slip in our box. Can you imagine how giddy I felt when I saw I had 21 yellow slips!!!  It must have been a record!  They loaded all of the boxes on this huge cart and Minnie and Goofy helped me push it out to the van. They filled the entire trunk and backseat!  I had to do about 10 trips from the van to the house when we got home. Luckily, it wasn't raining today. 

Minnie just waiting to open something up!

We tried to wait until Tink and Bucko made it home from school, but we had a rough time of it. So we ended up opening the things that we knew were for us and not them.  Minnie has been waiting for so long for the rest of the fabric for her Belle costume for Halloween to come in.  Now she has to wait on me to finish making it!  She was glad to see that.
When they finally made it home from school, we tore into the rest.  Well, almost all of the rest, there were several boxes that actually were Christmas presents that I kept to the side.  (I know I am crazy for ordering Christmas presents so early, but since I order everything online, I like to do it early. And now I am really grateful I did!)  But it did feel (and look, minus colorful wrapping paper) a bit like Christmas.  This was the damage after we opened it all.

Thank goodness it is recycling week as my recycle bins are completely full of empty boxes and paper now!  One other thing, some of the boxes were held together only by the tape they had to keep applying to them.  I guess that's what happens when they get sent across the ocean three times!!!

SO much!

Moving, bronchitis, single parent, all my mail being sent to Arizona--it has been a long few weeks.  I finally feel like we are settling in to our new house, but still have SO much more to do.  I am, thankfully, getting over the bronchitis that I've been fighting for what feels like forever.  My mail situation has been fixed and all my mail should be here next week. It will be like Christmas as they had about 20 packages there for me.  Bucko learned to ride a bike last week. We were so happy for him and he still likes to show everyone how good he is.  He just needed a smaller bike, and our new neighbors helped out with that.

First Day of School

First day of school! First day of school! Wake up, Dad!
Yes, I am quoting "Finding Nemo."  We all were quoting it this morning as we tried to get back into the morning scramble, I mean routine, of getting ready for school and out the door.  Oh the excitement! The nerves!  Tink started 4th grade today, which just amazes me. She's one of the old kids at school now.  Bucko is in first grade. They were both so excited and had a great day.  I did really well and only teared up a couple times.  The worst was when Goofy asked on the way home, "<Tink>...home?" and I had to tell him, that no she wasn't going home with us.  They had a busy day, though, and it amazed me how much more Goofy talks when there are less kids around to interrupt him!

Their school mascot is the hedgehog, and they had this cute new sign where we HAD to take pictures!

We are really happy with both of their teachers. I think they will be great for them.  Welcome back to school!

Haircuts

Bucko was in need of a haircut before school started, so he let me do that today.  When Goofy walked in and saw Bucko's new do, he hopped up on the stool and asked for a haircut too.  Never passing up an opportunity to cut a willing 2 year-old's hair, I gave him a cut too!  THEN who should ask for a haircut, but little Minnie. She didn't need one, but wanted one, so I consented and gave her a trim. So what started out as one haircut, turned into 3.  This wouldn't have been so bad except that I'm suffering from a cold. I was in bed all morning and didn't have much energy. By the time the third haircut was over, I was cranky! But at least I felt like I accomplished something today. Whew!

Family Pictures

We tried to do a lot of things together as a family this summer, so I thought I'd share some of our family pictures that we took at various places.  Enjoy!  Looking through the pictures, I realized we've been in 8 different countries in the past few months! Wow!

Pisa, Italy

Villefranche, France

Leeds Castle, England

Garden of the Gods, Colorado, USA

La Valletta, Malta

St. Peter's Square, Italy

Legoland Windsor, England

Meet the Fam!

My PC (short for Prince Charming) travels a lot for work. We are very proud of him, and miss him so much when he is gone. So we try to spend as much time with him as we possibly can while he is home.  The other day we had a picnic lunch (in the van b/c it was cold and windy here) with him on his lunch break.  We love it when we get to see him in the middle of the day!  KISA was picking on me for taking pics of everyone, but I can't help it--they are all just so cute!  And I thought it would be a great way to "introduce" us to our blog.  So here are our four cute, adorable, and photogenic children:

Goofy

Minnie

Bucko

Tink