Well hello everyone! Just thought since I am the worst blogger in history I would try to catch everyone up on things that you probably already know :). I am presently snuggling with my beautiful daughter on the couch as she watches her new favorite show "Peppa Pig". It is a wonderfully freezing day here in the East of England so we are under our favorite snuggly green blanket from Nana. Charley has stolen it from me lately & left me with the Princess blanket :). I am not ignoring Colin, my wonderful boy is asleep. I successfully built my first fire by myself yesterday :) I cant believe I lived with Daddy Gee for so many years & never mastered his art of fire tending, then again I definitely CAN believe it because he always took such good care of us that we never had to worry about doing the fire ourselves, it never crossed our minds that it wouldnt be done. He truly is the best!) We have 5 fireplaces in our house & usually have a fire every evening which is my very favorite thing about our new life - sitting by the fire with the family, drinking a mug of hot chocolate, & watching horrible British television :).
Last week was a big one for our family. As most everyone knows my little ones have always stayed home with Mommy but Charley started preschool last week. I was completely unprepared for this. Coming from the states we all assume our kids will start school at age 5 & maybe preschool at 4 to get them use to a schedule, sitting down, & listening to someone other than Mommy & Daddy. Well, here in Great Britain kids start big school at age 4 so Charley will actually be in "kindergarten" even though that is not what it is called next September! AHHHH! They are taking my baby away! To help families out the British government pays for a 3 year old to go 5 sessions a week. For us that works out to 2 full days (9-3:15) a week. She goes each Tuesday & Friday. It is a wonderful school & Charley loves it. On her first day I was nervous all night the night before & didnt sleep one wink. Got up early to pack her lunch & never stopped shaking all the way in the front door of her classroom. The teacher started talking to me & I LOST IT! Of course they understood but I didnt want Charley to see me upset because she worries about Mommy & Daddy if we are hurt or upset & I knew it would ruin her first day! So I got out of there before she saw. As a matter of fact she couldnt have cared any less that we were leaving which did make me feel good about leaving her. If she had cried we would have been out of there & never looked back! I took my little buddy home & he looked for her all day. Running upstairs to her room & back down yelling "CHARLEY!" That of course made me cry even worse but I got lots of Colin kisses that got me through the day! When we picked her up she was SO HAPPY to see the 2 of us but still didnt want to leave. She told me when we got in the car that she had missed me a lot & cried because she wanted me earlier. Now this is where the bad part comes in... I was SO happy that she had missed me & so glad that she had been upset about our first day apart too. I know good mom's would have been upset that their child cried BUT thats what separates me from them :)! Anyways, now everything is fine & I have until next September until I lose her everyday & until next January until Colin starts preschool twice a week. Oh goodness I will need lots of prayers around that time!
Another GREAT part of last week was realizing that since there is no Thanksgiving in England they start celebrating Christmas when I do every year...the day after Halloween! We put our tree up last weekend & of course I am LOVING walking down the stairs every morning to a Christmas tree. Having a Christmas tree up is one of my biggest joys in life! It makes me so happy to have it up & brings a smile to my face each time I walk past. We were driving home that night & I noticed other families putting their tree up through their windows & realized that I am among "My People". The Town Square & High Street in each village are already decorated & each shop window is flocked with spectacular Christmas delights! We were in the British version of Home Depot the other night & as we left the man said "Merry Christmas" I almost fell over I was so happy! No one in the states would dare say that until after Thanksgiving! I have already been to a couple of Holiday Markets but the real Christmas markets start this weekend! On Friday vendors from all over the UK & Europe are coming to Mildenhall for a Holiday Bazaar then on Saturday we are traveling to Birmingham (Not Alabama) to go to the only authentic German Christmas market outside Germany & Austria. I absolutely cannot wait!!! We also have a military celebration dinner Friday night in honor of the 60th Anniversary of RAF Lakenheath so I think I might have a real date :)
We are also having a big Thanksgiving dinner here at our new house for the single Airmen from Daniel's Squadron that live in the dorms. Otherwise they would have to eat in the mess hall & that is no way to spend Thanksgiving! Hopefully they wont mind a Thanksgiving with a Christmas Tree??? I am missing doing all of this with Heidi since our families combined & spent Thanksgiving together with the Airmen last year. Our British kitchen is not equipped to handle an American Thanksgiving so we are having to get a little creative. A turkey will not fit in our oven & the 2 hams we need wont fit at the same time but none of it will fit in our frig after we cook it so our timing will be critical! The Major & his wife are coming & doing the turkey since they have an American size oven in their house on base. I will keep everyone posted on how it turns out...hopefully not a disaster! We will be traveling to 2 different Christmas markets each weekend until my Mom & Priya arrive just before Christmas.
The English word meaning "Have great day" or "Thank you or goodbye" (really just any salutation) is Cheers! It is so sweet & everyone says it. Daniel has tried to say it on a couple of occasions without sounding funny but has failed miserably. Anytime he tries to use the word he always says it with a British accent..(insert my laughter here)...which always sounds so funny & almost like he is making fun of them because his accent is so bad. I just burst out in laughter everytime I think about it & so does Daniel for that matter :).
So.........................................CHEERS (said with a bad British accent)!
Last week was a big one for our family. As most everyone knows my little ones have always stayed home with Mommy but Charley started preschool last week. I was completely unprepared for this. Coming from the states we all assume our kids will start school at age 5 & maybe preschool at 4 to get them use to a schedule, sitting down, & listening to someone other than Mommy & Daddy. Well, here in Great Britain kids start big school at age 4 so Charley will actually be in "kindergarten" even though that is not what it is called next September! AHHHH! They are taking my baby away! To help families out the British government pays for a 3 year old to go 5 sessions a week. For us that works out to 2 full days (9-3:15) a week. She goes each Tuesday & Friday. It is a wonderful school & Charley loves it. On her first day I was nervous all night the night before & didnt sleep one wink. Got up early to pack her lunch & never stopped shaking all the way in the front door of her classroom. The teacher started talking to me & I LOST IT! Of course they understood but I didnt want Charley to see me upset because she worries about Mommy & Daddy if we are hurt or upset & I knew it would ruin her first day! So I got out of there before she saw. As a matter of fact she couldnt have cared any less that we were leaving which did make me feel good about leaving her. If she had cried we would have been out of there & never looked back! I took my little buddy home & he looked for her all day. Running upstairs to her room & back down yelling "CHARLEY!" That of course made me cry even worse but I got lots of Colin kisses that got me through the day! When we picked her up she was SO HAPPY to see the 2 of us but still didnt want to leave. She told me when we got in the car that she had missed me a lot & cried because she wanted me earlier. Now this is where the bad part comes in... I was SO happy that she had missed me & so glad that she had been upset about our first day apart too. I know good mom's would have been upset that their child cried BUT thats what separates me from them :)! Anyways, now everything is fine & I have until next September until I lose her everyday & until next January until Colin starts preschool twice a week. Oh goodness I will need lots of prayers around that time!
Another GREAT part of last week was realizing that since there is no Thanksgiving in England they start celebrating Christmas when I do every year...the day after Halloween! We put our tree up last weekend & of course I am LOVING walking down the stairs every morning to a Christmas tree. Having a Christmas tree up is one of my biggest joys in life! It makes me so happy to have it up & brings a smile to my face each time I walk past. We were driving home that night & I noticed other families putting their tree up through their windows & realized that I am among "My People". The Town Square & High Street in each village are already decorated & each shop window is flocked with spectacular Christmas delights! We were in the British version of Home Depot the other night & as we left the man said "Merry Christmas" I almost fell over I was so happy! No one in the states would dare say that until after Thanksgiving! I have already been to a couple of Holiday Markets but the real Christmas markets start this weekend! On Friday vendors from all over the UK & Europe are coming to Mildenhall for a Holiday Bazaar then on Saturday we are traveling to Birmingham (Not Alabama) to go to the only authentic German Christmas market outside Germany & Austria. I absolutely cannot wait!!! We also have a military celebration dinner Friday night in honor of the 60th Anniversary of RAF Lakenheath so I think I might have a real date :)
We are also having a big Thanksgiving dinner here at our new house for the single Airmen from Daniel's Squadron that live in the dorms. Otherwise they would have to eat in the mess hall & that is no way to spend Thanksgiving! Hopefully they wont mind a Thanksgiving with a Christmas Tree??? I am missing doing all of this with Heidi since our families combined & spent Thanksgiving together with the Airmen last year. Our British kitchen is not equipped to handle an American Thanksgiving so we are having to get a little creative. A turkey will not fit in our oven & the 2 hams we need wont fit at the same time but none of it will fit in our frig after we cook it so our timing will be critical! The Major & his wife are coming & doing the turkey since they have an American size oven in their house on base. I will keep everyone posted on how it turns out...hopefully not a disaster! We will be traveling to 2 different Christmas markets each weekend until my Mom & Priya arrive just before Christmas.
The English word meaning "Have great day" or "Thank you or goodbye" (really just any salutation) is Cheers! It is so sweet & everyone says it. Daniel has tried to say it on a couple of occasions without sounding funny but has failed miserably. Anytime he tries to use the word he always says it with a British accent..(insert my laughter here)...which always sounds so funny & almost like he is making fun of them because his accent is so bad. I just burst out in laughter everytime I think about it & so does Daniel for that matter :).
So.........................................CHEERS (said with a bad British accent)!
3 comments:
I love hearing about how you all are doing! You are among 'your people' for sure! Thanksgiving sounds like it might be a little wild, but fun nontheless :) Have a great weekend!
I can't wait to hear how Thanksgiving turns out!!! I know the airmen will just be happy to eat off base though probably!!! I love that they...and you....are already celebrating Christmas!!! If I could, I would already have my Christmas tree up too!! :) Love ya!!
I absolutely can not wait to hear about it...and too bad I have a boyfriend now or I could've found me a airman over in England!! =) Just kidding I love Nathan!! (And I think Charley would be heart broken if anything ever happened to him!! Because as previously stated...she loves him best! =)) Ok i love you...i'll be talking to you soon!! =)
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