We Got the Love - Happy Valentine's Day

We've kind of gotten used to the UK not getting as indulgent into holidays (except Christmas) as the States so we don't get as hyped up, but Valentine's Day was very special this year. First of all we received two awesome packages from Grandma Sally and Grandma Sue full of Valentine's goodies and treats. It's really not Valentine's Day unless you get to eat some candy hearts with little love sayings on them. Since V-Day fell on a Saturday we got to spend the entire day together as a family. I made everyone heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, which are Addison and Kevin's favorite Saturday morning treats.

Then we went up to the park in Glinton and had the whole space to ourselves to swing and run around. The weather was beautiful but we loaded Addison up in the snow gear since it was still a bit muddy. Addison loves getting "under doggies" and squeals out "g-in, g-in" (again) so Kevin and I both got good workouts.







For lunch we went to one of my favorite pubs called the Cuckoo. It has some of the best atmosphere for a real "English" feel and the food is amazing as well. I told Kevin that I wanted the same picture of this cow that they have hanging up because I just thought it was so cool. I took this adorable picture of Addison and Kevin and happened to catch the cow in the back so I could remember it. The picture also has some other significance in that marks the same table where Kevin and I had our first meal at the Cuckoo on our house hunting trip.

Next we went to Ferry Meadows to walk around and feed the ducks. We always seem to forget to bring bread with us to feed the ducks and geese but this time I was going to be prepared. When we got to the park all we saw was snow and iced over ponds. The only ducks we saw were "waterlocked" in the middle so I thought for a while that I was jinxed to have cut up all this bread and we can't even get to the ducks. But then we kept on walking and found a spot that loads of geese were out of the banks of the River Nene so Kevin pushed the stroller through 2 inches of snow to get us close enough.
Addison and Kevin had a great time throwing out bread crumbs and found that some of the geese were pretty aggressive and mean to some of the other geese. Kevin was trying to get Addie to only through crumbs to the "nice" geese. I was pretty surprised that she did really well by being surrounded by 50+ big geese. The really freaked me out, but maybe because as I was trying to take close up pictures of Addie they would sneak up on me without me knowing. Harrison really seemed to like the birds as well. He hung out in the stroller and just watched these crazy things pecking at each other.

That evening Kevin and I went out for the first time by ourselves for more than 3 hours since before Harry was born. Addison was a wreck when we left because she didn't take a nap so we were frazzled by that and felt awful for Katie our babysitter. Also I happened to drop the SatNav on the way out of the house so I had guess where this place was that we were going for dinner. We went to a pub call The Rose in Frognall for a special Valentine's Dinner. I think the best thing about the evening was the bottle of wine we shared...it was great and helped loosen the worry wort mother in me. After dinner we stopped at the Blue Bell pub in Glinton for another glass of wine before we headed home so I was feeling pretty good by the time we got home. And to top off the evening we fell asleep on separate couches watching TV....ahhh...a wonderful Valentine's day...who needs flowers, jewelery and such things when you can have this.

Super Snow Day

Today we woke up to a "beautiful" site....6 inches of snow! This amount of snow is unheard of in England and it literally shut down the country when a storm hit London on Monday and it was crazy around here today. One hundred and eighty two schools in the Peterborough area where shut down and people just didn't go into work because transportation was horribly dangerous. Imagine six inches of snow and no way to remove it. The cities here don't own snow removal equipment like plows because it's a waste of money when it never snows like this. Well my wonderful husband didn't think anything of the snow as his driven through worse so he braved off to work this morning. Our friend Danny Wong did as well and took an amazing picture of the roads on the drive in. Kevin called about an hour later and said he finally made it to work and was walking through 6 inches of snow through the car park and sidewalks because no one had been out to clear them yet...he wasn't sure if they were going to either.
At 8 AM I called my neighbor boy, Yi Hong and told him to call us back when he was ready to go out and play in the snow and I would get us all dressed up. He said that maybe around 9 or 10 or maybe 11 he would be ready to go. Five minutes later I get a call from Min saying he was ready to go now. So I bundled up the kids and myself in all the garb I could. Addie is really getting good use out of the snow suit my mom and dad got her from Cabela's. I bundled Harrison up in the cutest sweater and thick pants my Aunt Tammy and Uncle Kevin sent him and got him to sit in his car seat for awhile as I got to play with all the kids. I dug out my big yellow ski jacket that I've had since a sophmore in college and found some slicky pants to go over some fleece pants since I didn't have my own proper snow pants.
By the time we finally got outside, Robert and Matthew had already rolled a huge snow ball into our front yard to start our snowman quartet. Kevin gave us homework to build our family out of snow and all the kids were a big help in getting it done.

Mei Mei and Molly were so helpful in playing with Harrison a bit when he got really fussy. He wanted to join in the fun, but I told him he had to wait until next year.

The girls also helped Addison learn how to make snow angels. I tried it myself and didn't realize how hard it is to do with really packy snow. But I totally felt like I was 10 years old again.

Me and Harrison all bundled up!

Addison loved throwing snowballs.  It was a little tough for her but Mei Mei and Yi Hong showed her how to do it.

In England, for some reason, they call this "sledging."  I call it cute!!!  We don't have any hills around to go "sledding" but a short ride around the cul de sac works just fine for this duo.

Danny got sent home early from work so he joined in the fun.  Poor Kevin was stuck at work catching up on things and since he still had to coordinate with the States he had meetings until 6 PM tonight.

There were so many people outside.  I have never seen more people out on the green the whole year and a half we've been here.

Loads of people stopped by to see our snow men.  Our two babysitters, Emily B and Katie G and Katie's mum, Sue, all stopped by.

Our house looked so pretty with all the snow and our jolly snow men out front.

And the biggest thing that brought me back to my childhood was when I hung up our wet clothes on the radiators to dry.  I remember unloading all out clothes in the basement after several house of snow playing bliss.  Things have come full circle now that I am now doing it with my kiddos!!!

Birthday "Baking" Party

For Addison's second birthday, I thought a "baking" party would be so much for her and her little friends.  Addie has really been having fun helping me and Kevin out in the kitchen plus we got her a children's baking set for her birthday.

We invited 11 of Addison's friends from our ISE group who are all pretty close to her age (2-4 years old that all happen to be little girls).  I found a cake store that sold cake boxes that I used for the "goodie" box.   When they got to the party, they had a sheet of fairy, princess, and unicorn stickers to decorate it.  Then inside the box they found their very own aprons to where during the party.  I got the idea from the apron that Sally made for Addison for Christmas.  They were super easy and fast to make.  Then they all had a little rolling pin that Kevin helped me make by cutting up a long dowel I bought at B&Q and sanded smooth.

We started out by rolling out sugar cookies.

Me and Addison

Amy with Kameron and Kendall

Lana with Emily

Laurie and Kylie

Emily with Madeline

Look how Addison is putting her cookies on the baking stone...I didn't even have to show her how.

While the cookies baked, we rolled out mini pizzas to eat for lunch.   The girls made their own pizzas and then Lana and Emily made our "mommy" pizzas. Everyone seemed to really enjoyed their creations!!!

Elise

Alana

After lunch we sang Happy Birthday to Addison and enjoyed some ice cream cone cupcakes.  I have always seen this done in magazines and wanted to try it...they looked sooooo cute.  But not as cute as the birthday girl blowing out her candle.

Addie and I enjoying our cupcake ice cream cones.

Next we got out all different colors of frosting and sprinkles to decorate our cookies.  I think the girls more more interested in eating the cookies right away than letting them dry. 

Kylie is so meticulous with her sprinkles.

Holli with Gwen decorating cookies

 

Lastly, Addison got to open her presents.  After opening each gift she was ready to play with it and it was hard to get her to open all the rest of her gifts.  She loved them all so much...her friends are way too kind.

Thank you all who came to celebrate with us.  Addison had so much fun with you all and so did I.  I know my friends here think I am absolutely crazy and they call me Martha Stewart all the time, but honestly I love to do this kind of stuff.  I was telling my mom that it is hard not to have fun with something you are passionate about.  I really think I missed my calling to go into party planning or catering...it is so much fun to think up activities people can enjoy doing together and having great food to go along with it.

Thank you Lana for helping me out by mixing up the pizza dough and thanks Emily for entertaining Addison while I got everything ready to go.

Addison Marie Turns 2

Today our baby girl turned 2 years old. I don't know why but it's hitting me harder knowing that she turned two than when her first birthday came around.  She's just changed so much and such a little girl now versus a little baby.

Right now she is very much into doing things just like mommy and daddy and always wants to help in making meals, putting away groceries, doing laundry, sweeping the floors, and more.  So for her birthday we got her a little broom and dust pan set and a children's baking set.  I guess I was dually motivated by getting her this because, unlike her toy vacuum cleaner, she can actually help clean up with the broom and dust pan.  We let her open this present early so that she could help me clean up the house for our party that evening.

The characters she loves are Shrek, Cinderella (Lella), Dora ("Do-wa")the Explorer, Fifi Forget-me-Not, and Strawberry Shortcake ("strawbry cake").   She has been going off on her own a lot lately and playing by herself.  She loooovvvees the Little People that Cathy Duffy brought over for her.  She loves going over to Min's house and playing dress up with all of Mei Mei's princess dresses.  

Addie is a pretty picky eater as well.  She won't eat any meat except for hotdogs ("dock-dog") with lots of ketcup ("che-pa").  She will really only eat plain pasta, strawberries, corn, apples, yogurt, toast with jam, pretzels, raisins, sometimes rice, cheese sticks, and carrots.  She does unfortunately love every kind of sweet and chips imaginable so she knows "cook-ee", chips, fruit flakes, and more.

She is very emotional but very caring as well.  She actually recognizes when people are sad or hurt. When Harry makes any noise (but usually when he cries) she says "baby sad" and if anyone looks sad or says ouch, she asks "you okay mommy?"  She loves to give hugs to everyone even total strangers (that freaks me out a bit), but she is very, very friendly. I always feel bad for her little friend Madeline Hardy because she loves giving Madeline hugs but some how they both end up falling on the floor when she does it. Love hurts I guess.

Addie's birthday day schedule was pretty hectic. Kevin had to go into work early because he was in Black Belt training again, so he woke Addie up so she could open one of her presents early.

Then we all had to get ready to go the ISE tea so that we could spend time with our friends, Amy, Kendall, Kameron, and Tina before they move back to the States in a couple of weeks.

After tea we rushed home so that we could Skype  Grandma and Grandpa Schafbuch and open up the gifts that they sent to Addison.  She has been talking about "Backpack" since she discovered that Dora wore a backpack at Christmas time.  So my mom found a backpack and super cute purse which she loves.  She also got a Dora ball, Dora fruit snacks, and Strawberry Shortcake coloring book.

On the evening of her birthday we had over our neighbors who all have grown to love our little Addie, so we had to have them be part of her special day.  

We finally got to display the Birthday banner that Grandma Sally made for her.  Last year Sally sent the package in plenty of time but UK customs held it up for 6 weeks and it missed Addie's first birthday, but Sally sent candle number two for me to attach to it this year.

Addison loves chocolate so of course we had to have chocolate cake with loads of sprinkles.

Here is our little chocolate cake face at 2!!

Here she is when she was 1 !!!

Simon helps Addie play with some of her new gifts. She got a new shopping cart from the Beales' and of course in good British fun they had to pick on us for it being called a cart when they call them trollies.

Mei Mei is one of Addison's closest friends no party would be complete without her. Unfortunately Min and Yi Hong, couldn't make it to the party because they both were quite poorly with a really nasty virus.

Simon and Sarah got her a cute little pup tent from IKEA and the Wong's got her a beautiful summer dress and new shoes.  ( I guess Min tried them on her one day last week to make sure they fit before giving them to her - silly goose).  Grandma and Grandpa Dea sent Addison some money for her college account (she'll be very thankful in 16 years for that gift).  Addie also got a package from Uncle Ryan, Aunt Lindsay, and little cousin Emma for her birthday.  She got some great books and some Dora coloring books...Thank you!!!

It's 'Nowing Mommy!!!

This morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow which was so awesome. It hardly ever snows in England and this was a real treat. This might be our one opportunity to get to play in the white stuff.  Grandma and Grandpa Schafbuch got Addison some really nice fleece snow pants with matching hat and gloves from Cabela's for Christmas. I was worried she wouldn't get to use them much but today she did.  In the morning there were some flakes lightly came down so I bundled Addison up and let her play around in the back garden.    She got really bothered that there was snow on her slide so she immediately started wiping it off.In the afternoon we ventured back outside when Harrison looked to be asleep. Our neighbor boy, Leo, was having a snowball fight with his mom and Addison tried joining in. To avoid a major snowball fight with all the kids when they got home from school, I started trying to make a snowman. We didn't have much snow but we got Yi Xuen to come outside and help Addie and I make a small snowman. Matthew and Jessica, other neighbor kids, came over to help as well and brought Addison a carrot to put in her snow man. Min showed her how to put stones in the face for eyes.
We had such a wonderful time playing but after a while Harrison woke up and I tried letting him be outside with us, but even being all bundled up he got a bit fussy. Addison got pretty upset with me for having to come in from her winter wonderland, but a DVD and a Fruit Shoot enticed her enough to calm down. I hung up all of our wet things on the radiators to dry and had flash backs the days when my brother, sister and I would spend hours outside in the snow digging forts in the road ditch and when we came inside we would unload all of our wet clothes down in the basement in front of the heat registers.

My parents Skyped us that afternoon to see if we had gotten any snow because they heard on the news back home that London was getting over 6 inches. They did get a lot more than us.... about a foot I guess which is just unheard of. What I think is really crazy is that they were letting school out around here and there was barely an inch of snow on the ground. I have been told that because it snows so rarely here that the whole country just shuts down with a light dusting. It was a great day and I hope we get lots more!!!!

Our Neighbor's Car Got Nicked

This afternoon I got a notice in our mail slot from our neighbor's that their car had been stolen this morning right out of his own drive way. It has been quite chilly the past couple of weeks so everyone has been going out to start their cars to warm them up...pretty typical thing to even do in the States. Well he went into the house for 1-2 minutes and when he came back his car was gone. What a total bummer for them. This totally freaked me out because Kevin has been going out to start his car every morning for the past two weeks...guess I'll make him sit in it and fight of the cold like a real man.

I told Kevin about the car when he got home and now he is totally paranoid. He's talking about hooking up a web cam outside and taping the street now...he's so silly. We do plan on locking up things a little better and being more cautious but in talking with a few of our neighbors, it's just unheard of to have something like this happen in our neighborhood. Kevin has been picking our babysitter Emily because her dad is a police office and jabbing at her about the lack of safety in a neighborhood with a cop living next door...

Maybe a remote starter would be a good thing now days...