Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Two little cuties

Bathing in the tub!

Yes, that is a toilet seat on S's head. I'm half-heartedly trying to potty train our little firecracker as it has to be done before he starts school in September.

It is not going well. Not well at all. He enjoys the potty on his head much more than on his bottom!

My sister just posted photos of our precious nephew as a potty training champ at http://www.emilyandmattsmith.blogspot.com/, complete with a reward of hermit crabs. You, Emily, are a good mom!

S gets rewarded with half-melted M&M's that I have to pry out of his screaming brothers' hands and 3 days a week at school when his potty training is complete!

Hampton Court

We spent Saturday at Hampton Court Palace. This is one of only two surviving palaces built for King Henry VIII.

Thomas Wolsey, the king's chief advisor, who later became Archbishop of York and then cardinal, lavishly rebuilt the 14th century manor house to become the finest palace in England. He was later forced to give Hampton Court to Henry as he began to fall from favour.

The famous clock tower:

Fountain Court:

One of the king's staterooms:

The boys found a cozy nook to look through their guide books:

The Tudor kitchens:

On our way to the gardens passing the world's oldest tennis court just beyond this wall:

The formal gardens:

My little monkey fearlessly climbing:

Here is G navigating his way through the hedge maze:

Baby B is working on his balance as he takes just a couple of steps at a time:

Here are our little princes, tuckered out after a day at the palace:

More Catching Up

Little G jumped right into sports in London. He played up in a 9 and 10 year old baseball league and was the very youngest player in the league, a fact we chose to share with him only when the season was over!

He seems to be taking after his father as his favorite position was that of pitcher. This was his first season on the mound, and these photos are of the first pitches he threw:

G pitched over 10 innings throughout the sesason without giving up an earned run. Not too bad, huh! When he was not pitching, he enjoyed playing 2nd base.

And on a funny side note, we also learned at the end of the season that G had set a London Sports batting record with his 10 consecutive walks. Being the youngest league player had its benefit of a very small strikezone!

I love this last photo of our sweet little G!

Never Thought I Would See This Day

We met the Brewer family almost 3 years ago. Our sons were in Kindergarten together at Trinity, and a mutual friend put us in contact with each other as big G was putting together a basketball team for some of the boys at school. I instantly knew Alice would become a dear friend of mine. I was drawn to her kind, thoughtful and honest nature, her down to earth, no pretenses kind of character, her intelligence, her confidence, and her visibly strong faith. Added to all of this were these 3 amazing sons that she and her husband had raised to be self-assured, polite and well mannered young gentlemen. I wanted to know the name of the handbook that they were using!

Little G and Alice's youngest son, David, became great friends, as did Alice and I. The boys shared many of the same interests outside of school and as it turned out, we found out that we attended the same church and lived maybe just a mile or two apart.

The boys grew in their friendship, and we began to see more and more of David. The boys enjoyed playing together after basketball games and after church on Sundays.

Remember that this was almost 3 years ago. S and B were not in the picture yet as we were just a family of 3 at that point. We were not holding out much hope for expanding in those days. This fact made David's stories about his brothers all the more fascinating not only to little G, but to G and I, too! I can remember on more than one occasion sitting around our big farmhouse kitchen table , wide eyed and mesmerized by stories that David would share about made-up games that he played with his brothers. They would hide in the back of their mother's closet and play King. They dressed up, had their own language, had defined ranks, it sounded like quite a game! From David's point of view, he never got the fair end of the deal with him being the youngest. Seems like he was always at the King's beck and call!

Little G could not get enough of these stories, and to be honest, neither could I. There was such a longing in my heart for this sort of sibling bond and relationship. It was almost palpable. I wanted so much for little G to have those experiences and my heart was just breaking listening to that which I thought I could never give him.

Little did I know that I was barely pregnant at that very moment, listening to tales of brotherhood, praying desperately for the same. It was too early to know, and I had all but given up hope.

Fast forward 3 years and here we are with 3 boys of our own now. I still pinch myself!

And would you believe that at supper tonight, our boys were just like those Brewer boys, making up their own unique brother game that involved a new language. One that only they understood. Nobody else knew what was being said, even if they pretended they could. Rules were made. Unintelligible words were spoken, shared, and understood only between the boys. Even baby B was in on this one.

I sat at the table with tears streaming down my face. I never thought I would see this day.

I think that's what makes me appreciate these seemingly unimportant moments in our everyday life all the more.

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced
Psalm 105

Catching Up

Since this blog seems to be serving as our family photo album, I'm including some school activities that were special to G this year.

These photos are from KS Sports Day, which is like field day in the states. It took place at the end of the school year at Battersea Park, which has a full track and field area for each of the events. G received 2 bronze medals, one for the shot put and the other for the discus throw.

These photos are from the junior school play performed during Environment Week. People here are serious about being green, I mean serious!

Case in point . . . G's report card came in the post this week. It is a narrative type format with a detailed description of what was mastered in each subject area, including language, maths, science, sport, religious education, etc. Included in the religious education report was a brief summary of what was learned this year about our environment and the importance of being good stewards of our planet. It struck big G and I as quite funny that being green was the focus of their religious studies this year. That seems to be the way it is here!

,

Another Reason I Love This City

Is that for almost the same price as 2 movie tickets, you can find yourself enjoying a lovely night out at the theater in the West End.

Maya Poppins took good care of our little monkeys on Saturday night so that G and I could take in some much needed adult time and conversation. G had been out of town all week, so I was beginning to speak in toddler. It was not pretty!

I left the planning to G, and he arranged for us to take in a production of Blood Brothers. I was envisioning Band of Brothers type war scenes, so I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a moving story about twin boys that were separated shortly after birth, the drama that unfolds as their lives are unknowingly intertwined, and the events that ultimately lead to their death. It was a gripping story, and probably the best show that I have seen. It was a wonderful night out!

Windsor Castle

Here are some photos of our day trip to Windsor:

This is G and a sweet little girl from his class that joined us on our excursion:

I have yet to see architecture here that does not impress:

And I'm just struck by the beauty of this long road. It stretches from the back of Windsor Castle for as far as the eye can see. I know it sounds silly, but it moved me.

It's Happening

Little G's accent hasn't changed, but the inflections in his voice sure have.

I started noticing it last week. At the end of a question or statement, I hear a slight rise in his inflection. I don't think he realizes he is doing it, and I am a bit surprised that it has continued with him no longer in school listening to those most proper English accents.

It's pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!

Things Seem to Fall Apart

I just had to add a little note to my post from earlier today . . .

Yes, the post where I was telling you just how much I was enjoying our summer days thus far. Well, things seem to fall apart just when you note how smoothly they are going, right? Seems to work that way for me, anyway.

Just like the time I was watching a child lose it over being removed from a kiddie playarea. Kicking, screaming, flailing, the whole nine yards. I remember watching the frightening episode for awhile, with wide eyes and my jaw on the ground, and a big ol' chip on my shoulder no less! Then, as this child was obviously not able to pull himself together, I managed to regain my composure enough so that I could look down my nose and make mental notes of how my child had never thrown a tantrum, ever.

And then I had S.

I'm absolutely convinced that his number of tantrums, barely at age 2 mind you, is ever increasing due to the fact that he is making up for his brother never pitching a fit, and due to the fact that I needed a good lesson in being humble!

I'm learning that motherhood is the great equalizer, thank you Mrs. Anderson.

That lesson was felt yet again today. Yes, our day was going so well. Until dinner.

I had the witching hour somewhat under control, carefully planning a few choice activities for that tough part of the day. Then G started snooping in the kitchen and asking too many questions about what I was cooking, what the ingredients were, and would he have to eat it. That was the way our supper started, and it ended with all of us in tears right there at the table. G was choking himself on tiny bits of tomato in his best effort to boycott the dreaded supper, S was throwing his dinner, probably for the very same reason, and B was blowing raspberries with baby food in his mouth, his protests over the fact that he no longer wants the baby food and is ready for what his big brothers were discarding.

There was this other mother there with the boys that I hardly recognize, or maybe just don't want to claim. She was short tempered, impatient and cross, and she was making empty threats to con her children into eating their supper. I am not proud of any of this behavior and have already been on my knees, believe me!

Everyone finally gave up, we got out of the house as fast as we could to get some fresh air at the park, and then we called it a day. I tucked the little ones in first, and then little G and I had some time to visit and talk about how we could make things better tomorrow. We both offered our apologies, and then we prayed for each other, for ourselves, and for our family. I immediately felt better.

I tucked him in and walked down the hall and heard 3 little words that seemed to melt away any leftover hurt that was there from our day. In that sweetest little S voice came, "luh-you, mama"

I went back and forth with S several times saying "Love you, S" and then I just sat on the steps to listen to his little cherub voice. I want to remember just how he sounds right now so that when he is a teenager, bedroom door closed with music blaring through the house, I will not forget these precious moments. I have a feeling those days will be here before I know it.

That makes the lesson I learned today that much tougher!

Ahhh, Summer

We are certainly enjoying the unhurried, unscheduled pace of summertime! Although I have to admit that I always get this crazy panicky feeling right before the start of this glorious season. I think part of it is my apprehension about being able to fill our days with quality, non-TV/video game/Wii/PS2/etc. type activities. I think the other part is the fact that this type-A gal is suddenly thrown into the deep end without the schedule and routine life-preserver that she so desperately holds onto, which causes much internal chaos to say the least!


Nevertheless, we have been coping, no, make that enjoying, open days and endless hours with the many offerings of this great city! Here are a few photos from our first day of summer vacation which we spent at Princess Di's Memorial Playground:





These boys can certainly cope with the lazy days of summer, can't you tell?

In the Middle of Another Good Book

My thoughtful and precious and talented gift-selecting sister-in-law sent 2 new books for my birthday last week. One is titled What Would Audrey Do? and the other is titled Same Kind of Different As Me. Cyn, you did good, very, very good. Thank you!

I'm not sure if there is any other person on this earth that loves Audrey Hepburn's (and Jackie O's for that matter, too) sense of style and elegance and grace more than I do. These are two ladies that were ladies. The first book's tag line is "Timeless Lessons for Living with Grace and Style". Can I just keep this as my own personal everyday handbook? I already love it and haven't yet cracked a page!

The other is the one that I am already in the middle of, and it is one I have not been able to put down. I took little G and one of his friends from school to Windsor Castle today. I'm not quite sure if I was more excited to see this beautiful piece of history through G's sweet brown eyes, or if my excitement was from the short train ride to get there which allowed me to put my nose right back in the middle of my new novel. It's a toss-up!

Instead of downloading the photos from our excursion and sharing them tonight, I'm being pulled back to my novel . . .

G's Last Day of School

Thursday was G's last day of school. KS held an awards ceremony to recognize outstanding achievement and effort this year. Here is G with his class before the celebration:


Mr. Magoo, the famed and illustrious headmaster:


Here is G receiving an achievement award:


This is a photo of G receiving the ICT cup for this academic year:

And here is G receiving his very own dictionary from Ms. Emma, his J3 teacher, as a gift for completing his time in the Junior School at KS:

And this is Ms. Olivia, the senior school head, welcoming G into year S4:

Here are the children back in the classroom celebrating their awards:

I cannot let this moment pass without sharing a few thoughts that are in my heart just for G:

To say that I am proud of you is an understatement! You began not only a new school this year, but a new school in a new country with new customs, new traditions, and in some respects, a new language as well. You have adjusted to new teachers, new ways of doing things and new foods, which just may have been the toughest on you! You have done all of this with grace and confidence and poise that would rival just about any adult in these circumstances. You truly amaze me and continue to make me proud. You have adjusted beautifully to life in London, you have opened yourself up and made many new friends, you have worked diligently to bridge the gap in your academic work, and most importantly, you have learned to handle yourself with thoughtfulness and ease in a completely new and unknown situation. I hope that you will always remember this special time in your life, and that you will feel confident and secure knowing that you can handle anything that comes your way.

You have learned much about "real life" this year, just from the nature of living in a big city. We have had many adult conversations about many adult topics, none of which we were quite prepared for! I am both proud and humbled that you feel comfortable and confident in coming to me and daddy with your questions, and I hope that you will come to us first always. You can feel confident and secure knowing that we will answer you in an open and honest manner, no matter what the topic.

You have grown in so many ways this year. Your pants are shorter, your mind is sharper, your sense of self is flourishing, your confidence is soaring, and as a young boy, you are maturing right before our very eyes. What a year this has been for you! I hope that you will look back on it fondly and always remember the new challenges that you faced and the new situations that you braved, each with unwavering self-assurance, strength and confidence. You are one amazing boy, and I love you very, very much!