I'm Dreaming of a White Easter...

Statistically, one is more likely to see snow on Easter than on Christmas Day in the UK, according to an article I read on the BBC website.

Today proved the point, as we got about 3 wonderful inches of snow in the morning. The following pictures are Easter basket discovery (D. is now in-the-know about The Bunny, but keeping the secret very nicely), the kids heading out to play in the snow after church, and our small but glorious snowman, Mr. Snowie. Note that David is wearing MY wellies!! His feet are not that big yet, but I can wear his socks in a pinch, so fair is fair.

I hope your Easter is as great as ours has been. The next week is going to be busy, with the kids off school and lots to get done. We've got 5 more days until David comes home, home, home and 6 more days until my friend Susie arrives, too!

All about the Ballet

Here she is - the girl who's been pretending to be a ballerina for over half her life. Lily has started real ballet lessons with Miss Ashley-Emile and is love-love-loving it. It doesn't hurt that her very best buddy is in the class as well :) So sweet.

One Doctor Who fan to another...

David's friend turned 9 the other day, so we wrapped his present specially to reflect the party's theme. Cute, no? Doctor Who is BIG big big over here in England, among kids and adults alike...

School's Back in Session!!

Check out these stylin' kiddoes. Lily was smiling like a maniac in the two shots before it, but they were both blurry. This one's a bit blurred too but only when you click and enlarge it. Aren't they fetching? When I got back into the archives and look at last year's school start pictures I can see how much they've grown. Despite this growth, Lily's uniform skirts and shirts were all sliding off her. They were steroid-enhanced size 3/4. I had to do a little extra shopping this week and look for smaller makes, as well as add more elastic to her skirt waistbands to hold them up.

They've had a super first week, David really likes his new teacher (same kids, new room), and Lily loves her same old teacher and has adjusted easily to full days. Whew.

If you look closely, you can see the World's Most Expensive School Shoes on David's feet. Forty-seven pounds at a specialty kids' shoe shop in Norwich. That G-width foot is impossible to fit locally. We have a Clark's but the school shoes in his width are limited to three pairs, either steel-toed woorkbootesque or black sneakers. I am not paying over 40 pounds for sneakers.

Lily has equally wide feet but I got hers in advance at the StartRight outlet before it closed this past spring. They had none in David's size then. Sob.

Suffice to say that both pairs of shoes, particularly David's, will be treated with loving care, and polished weekly. I myself have NEVER owned a pair of shoes that cost that much.

Summer Children and a Hello

Hello, everyone...just a couple of pictures of the kiddoes doing their summer thing. David getting used to his bigger bike (20-incher) and Lily wearing summer uniform. She too has a new bike - hers is a Tigger bike, with 12-inch wheels, and she's really figuring it out quickly, but the batteries died before I got any shots. I promise to get some before she grows out of the bike.

It's been tough to post happy-family stuff since mom died. I miss her so very much. We do still have fun, it's just hard to keep the mood going long enough to commemorate it, if you know what I mean.

The kids are enjoying summer break, David goes into Year 5 this fall (that's 4th grade to us Americans) and Lily starts full-day reception (or prekindergarten, I think). School is still wonderful for both of them, which is a blessing.

The summer seems to be peeking its head around the clouds now that August is here. We've had a lot of cold rainy days. The past 2 weeks have been balmier, and sunnier. The garden looks great - green and lush.

To those of you we were able to see when we came home for mom's memorial - I am sooo glad to have seen you and touch base, and remember how wonderful it is to see friends and family. To everyone we couldn't squeeze in, I apologize - know that we miss you all, and the hardest thing about being here is just that. Missing all of you. We're in a wonderful, wonderful place, but I wish we could just bring you all over to make it perfect! Our doors are always open for visitors, remember.

Visitin'

Lily's got a buddy in town - our friends Jill and Norm, and their daughter Amelia, are in town this week. Amelia is mere weeks younger than Lily and they've been thick as thieves. Check it out!!

We've been to see the castle, and it was a lovely day to run around the stones without any other pesky visitors. Jill and Norm took the girls up to see the beach but it was a tad windy for going down to the water.

They've enjoyed dressing up as twin princesses, and even had a slumber party twice (fallen asleep in the same bed). Young David's pretty much out of the action, but I think he's not too shattered...

Some Pictures of the Gang

This weekend, we attended a formal dinner/dance put on by David's unit - a really nice time was had by all. Don't we clean up well?




















This was The Grog, or penalty drinking box, or Toilets of Doom. We behaved with decorum and were not sent to The Grog. The results for those who didn't - not pretty. There were leaded and unleaded grogs - even the nonalcoholic one was pretty nasty, I think.















There was babysitting offered, and the ratio of kids to sitters was 2:1, which rocked. Kids had a grand time, we stayed overnight in the rooms on base so we didn't have to drive home at midnight, and following a leisurely morning, we enjoyed the really cool playground outside the billeting. And today is the British Mothering Sunday, so I got breakfast in bed and gifts made by the kids. Lucky, lucky, lucky me!!