A Boy, His Elephant, an Unexpected Nap, and His Wellies (post from Jon)

This is Graham's friend, "El-phant." El-phant sleeps in his bed, but sometimes they like to go for walks together.








One day, Mommy was tired (the new baby "shot her with a tranq") so she let Isaac play Wii and let Graham watch while she curled up on the couch to nap. When she got up, she went looking for Graham. This is where she found him...


On our bed!

It's been snowy and rainy so much lately that there has been a lot of "Wellies"-wearing going on. Graham felt particularly drawn to wear his around the flat one afternoon. Too cute.

I wouldn't be surprised if all these were taken on the same day. Day in and day out, that kid keeps us smiling!

I'm Such An American!

Last week when Isaac and I were walking to the hospital to get my sonogram, a line of cars was waiting to get into the parking lot. A car pulled up next to us (on our right--remember, we are in England) and a woman got out of the left side of her car and walked past us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her car rolling. I started yelling at her, "Your car is rolling! Your car is rolling down the hill!!!"

She looked at me funny. It was then I realized that she was the...

passenger--not the driver.

I had an "I'm so American" moment because when I saw someone get out of what I'm used to as the drivers side and saw the car rolling backwards I freaked out that she forgot to put her car in gear and set the brake.

As soon as I realized my mistake I quickly apologized and hastily made it the last 20 yards to the hospital entrance. Apparently I still think like an American driver when I fear there is car chaos happening around me. I forgot all about it until tonight when I told Jon what happened and we had a nice big laugh about it. Good times, good times.

***Tonight we celebrated Jon finishing his first term. He has worked non-stop at writing papers and they were due today. These papers, known as Formatives, are very important for his admittance into the PhD program. We went out to a restaurant called Slug and Lettuce for dinner celebration. (It was our first time eating there on the recommendation of some friends.) When we first moved here I saw the restaurant and thought it must serve gross food--I mean SLUGS? Blech. Actually as far as restaurants go in England, I'd give it an A+! Mondays are 50% off EVERY meal night. Our whole family ate for 20Pounds and Jon even ordered a beer and I had dessert. Had we not ordered the beer and dessert it would have cost the same as our whole family going to McDonalds! So, we got healthy, TASTY food for an awesome price. We will definitely be going back there. I can't tell you how nice it is to find a GOOD food restaurant. It was a good night--especially after the past few weeks --which I'll write about soon.

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About the blog.....

So, I realized that in the last several months I have lost a purpose/focus about my blog. At one point I wanted to write about birthy things but I feel like so many other bloggers do that better than me. I've thought about writing about parenting but I did that for The Mom Crowd and didn't want to add it to my own blog. I used to tell a lot more funny stories about the kids--but either they stopped being funny, I lost my sense of humor, or I just couldn't muster up the energy to write anything. I think I feel a little more self conscious about what I write now--plus I find that Facebook is a pleasant distraction and way to connect with people.

Because we are living overseas now the blog is a good place to update family and friends with photos but honestly, that feels boring to me. My blog has lost its spice. I've thought about closing it down several times because I'm not sure who even checks in on it anymore and if it is worth it. I've been asking myself WHY do I have a blog in the first place? It feels like my reasons are different now than when I first started blogging.

There are many things I enjoy writing about--cooking, knitting, parenting, birth junkie topics-but so many are much more experienced than I am, better writers, and more interesting.

Grandma--I know you are checking in and I promise I will keep posting pictures of your great-grandbabies so you can see them! I'm just trying to figure out what else I want my blog to be about :)

Out of Graham's Mouth

Jon and I were in the kitchen cooking dinner and rearranging foodstuffs for the icemaker we are buying from somone in our building. In comes Graham.

He says, "Grahammy poo-poo!" and points to his behind.

Mommy says, "Oh thanks for telling us Graham! That is a very big boy thing to do!" and gives him a kiss.

Graham says, "Daddy poo-poo? Daddy change poo-poo?" and runs off.

My heart melts because he asked Daddy (and not me-heh heh) to change his poop. I can tell that Jon doesn't think this is as cute as I do even though it is the first time he's told us he pooped and asked for a change. As Jon was working to get to a stopping place Graham runs back in the kitchen.

He says, "Come on daddy. Change poo-poo." And then went to lay down in the hall to wait for him.

Come on, that is cute!

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall is a wall that was built by Romans almost 2000 years ago when the Roman spread. It is very close to the border between England and Scotland. It is over 70 miles long and there are several stops along the wall that you can visit. Due to the weather (as you can tell from the pictures) we only made one stop and we made it at the perfect part of the day. It was pretty cold when we arrived but when we left a front blew in along with some very cold wind. We stopped at the fort of Housesteads that at one point housed many soldiers. Of course it was mostly covered in snow but we got to climb around on the fort and look at all the views. (England lets you climb on everything--so fun!)

Here our group (our family + Jon's parents) is going up hill toward the wall and fort. The pathway was very slippery.

Papa and Isaac standing on top of the wall. You can't tell because of the snow but there is a drop off into a valley in front of them. I think it must be beautiful in the summer.

Graham had to be carried on someone's shoulders or carried to get around. He wasn't too keen on walking on the slippery pathways. Plus, he was turning in to an icicle.

Ewan, doing his favorite thing: running around in the snow and making snowballs to throw at his favorite people.

Nice shot of Isaac and I.

Jon explaining the fort and wall to the boys.

I think I'd like to go back in the summer because the view was outstanding even with seeing hills and fields covered with snow. The boys will enjoy climbing on the fort and coming up with some sort of game to play.

For My Grandma (short post from our Scotland trip)

Graham trying to catch fish on the floor.

Funny mirror self portrait.

Ewan and Isaac by one of the many cannons at Edinburgh Castle.

Jon, Isaac, and Ewan in front of the Edinburgh Castle.