April’s Wrap Up
28 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Family Time
So here are some pics of the children and some of the things we’ve been doing for the past month.
The kids got some magazines and asked if they could go outside and play. Next thing I know I look out there and they've set up shop and are reading away. So cute!
We also had a little nail party. Gracie and I wanted clear polish and of course Porter wanted "Rock Star Black"
Gracie got her hair braided and mommy put in some awesome rainbow beads for her.
I apparently forgot how to pour a beer. Too much wine drinking I guess.
Porter did a diagram of how awesome he and other things are.
Gracie hunkered down to do some serious colouring.
Porter's bike from the States was damaged and wasn't worth repairing so he got his birthday present a few months early, a new 7 speed dirt bike!
I took like my 100th pictures of the moon in our rear garden. I'm a bit obsessed with it..
Then the kids had a London Dance Off.
Easter 2012
24 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Family Time Tags: easter 2012
We had a pretty low key Easter this year as our first one here in the UK. We had our first little hiccup when we tried to dye easter eggs. I couldn’t find any white eggs here as the one you buy in our little down are all brown. I did, however, find some online at the grocery store that delivers so I ordered them. When they got here I realised, as probably anyone from the UK would already know, that they are duck eggs. We used all natural dyes and were able to makes some really pretty eggs.
Pretty colours!
After they dried the kids wanted to paint them.
Grandma made us the table runner the egg is sitting on!
Then we made some Easter cupcakes.
We used sunflower oil to colour the icing.
Heading out to find the eggs
SCORE!
NOMNOMNOM
OMG CHOCOLATE!
Then Eric fired up the Big Green Egg and we had a lovely chicken. While that cooked I made mashed potatoes and a broccoli salad. It was a delicious meal.
Happy Easter!
Eric’s Naga Pepper Incident
28 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Family Time, Funny Tags: bhut jolokia chili pepper, eating hot peppers, ghost pepper, naga pepper, the hottest peppers
For those of you who have heard this story, it’s 1 part horrifying to 1 part hilarious. A co-worker of Eric’s decided to bring in some Bhut Jolokia chili pepper – Wikipedia also called the Naga or Ghost pepper into work he had grown in his garden. Eric is well known for liking obnoxiously hot things (see; wife – ha ha) and this seemed like quite the challenge. Did he cut off a tiny slice? No, he bit the entire pepper off in his mouth. What proceeded was about five minutes of blinding heat followed by half a day of stomach cramps that were so bad he thought at one time about heading to the hospital. Needless to say he survived the ordeal although you’d have to ask him if he’d ever eat a whole Naga pepper raw again.
Gracie is reading!
23 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Family Time Tags: children reading, learning to read
When we moved to London at the very end of last year, Gracie was barely writing her name. The school’s here start school at 3 years of age and when they start Year One *five years old* they are already reading and writing long sentences. Needless to say, she was quite behind. I considered putting her in Reception, which is the preschool they have before Year One but decided that she likes to be challenged and I knew she could do it. Honestly I cannot believe how much she has progressed in the short three and a half months but I know that her teachers are really working hard with her as well as the reading we do at home and the site words we work on as well. She also has an online site that she goes to each day for fifteen minutes to help promote her reading. As you can see from this video, she is amazing!
Elliott’s Most Interesting 21st Birthday Party
22 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Family Time, Funny Tags: 21st birthday party ideas, birthday themes, funny birthday parties, most interesting man, most interesting man in the world party
My awesome and most favourite Aunt (snicker!) Tina put together an amazing 21st birthday party for her son Elliott in the theme of The Most Interesting Man in the World – (Wikipedia). So over the next few months Elliott’s friends and family all videotaped themselves talking about how Elliott is the most interesting man in the world. Then they put together a series of videos and showed it to him on the day of the party. From all over the US and even Europe (that was us) we sent videos for his special day. I just saw the final cut last night and had to post it all here. It’s a fantastic idea for a birthday party and wish we could have been there!
First off, this is the cake Tina and Elliott’s sister, Haley made for him. It wasn’t until Tina emailed me saying “That was a cake” that I realised that!
Awesome!
If I had been there I probably would have grabbed the beer and ruined the cake!
Now on to the videos!
And no video would be complete without outtakes!
Porter remembers his Kindergarten teacher
19 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Family Time Tags: kindergarten, kindergarten teachers, remembering teachers, teachers
My son LOVES to read. He reads constantly. In fact he reads so much that his teacher in Year Two at Primary School (About 2nd grade in the states) told me in his parent/teacher conference that he read so much that he was starting to influence the other kids with his enthusiasm. Now realise that since kindergarten Porter has changed schools in the states and then moved across the country to Europe for his father’s career. Recently Porter was reading a book and used a book mark to mark his place then handed me the book. Imagine my surprise when I look at the book mark and see this on the front:
Good Work!
and then this on the back:
In Porter's handwriting
Now maybe this isn’t apparent but Porter kept this book mark, given to him by his kindergarten teacher and has kept it not only in pristine condition but also wrote who gave it to him on it. It was so special to him that he has kept it all this time, including a move to another country! I immediately emailed his kindergarten teacher to let her know how special it was that he kept it all this time. It just goes to show you that as teachers you can influence children in ways that maybe aren’t even apparent at the time. So sending my thanks to all the teachers have spent and are now spending time with my children and the ways they help us create these amazing children.
French Onion Casserole
17 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Recipe Tags: chicken casserole with french onion soup, french onion, french onion casserole, french onion soup casserole, lipton's french onion soup
We had some left over fresh chicken the other day and since we get our meat fresh from a butcher I had to cook it one afternoon even though we already had plans for dinner. I also had left over FRENCH’S® French Fried Onions from the holidays as well. I decided to throw together casserole similar to my Poppy-seed Chicken Casserole recipe. It turned out really good, especially if you’re a fan of french onion soup. So here’s the recipe!
4 Chicken breasts boiled until done and cut into bits sized chunks.
1 Cup of Whole Grain Rice cooked and then season as you desire. (I started this while the chicken was boiling)
1 large head of broccoli steamed until done but still crisp
Mix together:
8 oz of sour cream
1 can of cream of mushroom OR cream of chicken soup
I packet of French Onion Soup Mix (I used Lipton’s)
In a 9×13 casserole dish, add the rice then the broccoli, on top of the broccoli spread out the chicken bite sized chunks and top with the sourcream/creamed soup/Lipton mixture and spread evenly.
Bake until the casserole is cooked through out and then in the last five minutes add the French’s French Fried Onions and allow to brown.
Enjoy
All sorts of yummy!
Daddy/Daughter and Mommy/Son night
15 Mar 2012 2 Comments
in Family Time Tags: activities with kids, children, london, Number 22, pizza express, restaurants in Herne Hill
So recently we split up the kids and decided to have some one-on-one time with each child. Eric and Grace decided to head down to a lovely Tapas dinner at Number 22. They both got dressed up and I did a little bit of makeup on Grace and she stuffed her purse full of chapsticks and dolls and off they went. They had a wonderful evening and really enjoyed their special time together.
Daddy and baby girl!
Headed out for dinner (Gracie has her special coat Grandma made for her on!)
Porter and I decided to have a much lower key evening. Porter got dressed up and then insisted that I put on jeans (I had to talk him down from a dress and high heels!) and a dressy shirt and even jewellery. Eric and Grace has already left so I could only take a picture of Porter.
Snazzy duds man!
We went to The Half Moon Pub, again Porter’s suggestion, and to quote him “Mommy, we can go to Half Moon and I can have hot chocolate and you can have a beer and we can play Uno. Now that is a child after my own heart.
YAY! UNO
Afterwards Porter and I decided to go to Pizza Express and have a slice before we headed home. It was a really a special night and glad that we were able to do it with the kids. One-on-one time is really important for kids to make them remember that they are all uniquely special.
My brilliant boy!
13 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Family Time Tags: gifted children, poems by children, seven year old, seven year old poetry, smart kids
So my son woke up this past Saturday and said, “Mommy, can I get on power point?” Um…. sure honey. So, we fire up the computer and becomes very enthralled for the next hour or so. Meanwhile I’m cooking breakfast and going about my business. Finally, he calls me over and shows me this:
Cue the tears from Mom!
He is a #1 DAD!
"that's all I need..." So SWEET!
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