I looked out the window

and what did I see?...

(I didn't take that picture, I got it online.  I'll try and post one of ours if I can soon.)

SNOW!  It only snows 3 or 4 times a year in London and when it does there's not much that sticks.  As I type this there is a dusting about an inch think.  The news keeps talking about all the preparations they are doing for the 3-4 inches.  I can't help think about NYC and how after a blizzard of 12-18 inches, Dave still walked to work the next day.  I got a letter from Aubrey's school saying that I need to call to make sure the school will be open.  Should be an interesting week.

No room to complain though.  Much of Europe is literally FREEZING and thousands of people are trapped in remote places etc.  I guess I always associated horrible weather with London but it has milder winters and summers than the East Coast.  Very gray for now but I'll take it over New York Februarys any day.

Nursery School

Pictures of Aubrey on her first day of school, outside the entrance to her nursery school:

We were able to get Aubrey into a nursery school in our neighborhood. Nursery school here is a combination of preschool and daycare. They have age appropriate lessons, tons of playtime and creative time etc.  Some kids, like Aubrey, just come for a few hours, others stay all day.  The British government provides that all kids her age get 15 hours of nursery school free of cost -- maybe there are some good things about more socialist governments.  Aubrey LOVES going and asks about it all morning.  

There are about 15 kids in the school.  Most are British but with heritage from all sorts of countries and ethnicities.  Her best friend thus far is a cute Nigerian girl. They have 4 teachers, 1 admin and an assistant that makes the meals.  Just before I pick her up each day she has 'tea time', which is sort of a mini meal.  While she is at school I take Chelsea home, she takes a nap and I do...whatever I want!  Its a great set up!  

They have terms that make the school year more of a year-round set up.  The 'summer' is only about 8 weeks but they have 10-20 days off between terms.  Its interesting to be a part of the school system and start getting to know the other mums. :)

The First Week in London

(Quick side note: I REALLY miss my computer -- blogging on Dave's work laptop is no fun.)

Highlights of week 1:

Red eye flight to London -- not as bad as we feared it would be.  Girls slept most of the flight (Chelsea was in and out but out more than awake). 

Spent two full days looking at flats.  We saw about 20 different places and found one that we think we'll really love.  Its on a BEAUTIFUL mansion block street (I'll get a picture when I can), Dave has a great commute (15 mins on the tube, no transfers), big, bright windows in the living room, Hyde Park right across the street, etc.  I'll get some pictures up when I can. London has so many more housing options than NYC.  While New York only has apartment high-rises, London has the high-rises as well as townhomes, maisonettes, mews (like converted carriage houses) and mansion blocks. It was fun to have a little more diversity in our housing search.

My friend Christy came with us to London (months ago she volunteered to come and watch the girls while we looked for housing and got settled).  We don't know what we would have done without her help.  She has always been amazing with our girls but watching her on the plane and during that week, I'm convinced she is one of the most intuitive mothers I know.  

We were excited to squeeze in some fun too (I've never been to London and Dave has only been here once):

First night here we went to see BIG BEN and WESTMINSTER ABBEY

TOWER OF LONDON

 

This shot below is my favorite, in classic Chelsea style she is confidently strolling along, blanket in tow.

 

Aubrey has been really into the idea of meeting the Queen and seeing the palace so  BUCKINGHAM PALACE was a big hit!

HYDE PARK: There are tons of swans there and, no joke, a fox ran right in front of us.  Somehow that seems very British.

 

Looking forward to getting to know our new hometown even better!

Merry Christmas

(you should be able to click on this to see it bigger)

Preschool

Aubrey has been in a little co-op preschool for the past few months.  She's LOVED it.  

I didn't teach until the very end and was amazed at how much more they picked up on and how much more than knew compared to last year.  I'm sad to see her leave such cute friends.

This is from the last class.  Can you guess which one's Mary? Aubrey is conducing the choir in this shot.

The Help

The Help

and yes, as she helped me clean up we had yet another discussion about where we do and do NOT color. 

(Something she knew before the Utah debacle but we're just wanting to really reinforce :)

Winter's Eve

Last year, Winter's Eve was freezing!  This year the weather was perfect but even still I was debating hauling out into the crowds by myself, with the girlies.  I actually like crowds in general but w/ 2 girls, at night & alone I was not really feeling up to it.  Just as I was deciding Dave called and said he could leave early and was on his way home.  Love it!  We kept it simple, only hit a few places and came home before any serious meltdowns.  

(Elle and Aubrey had the most adorable little conversation about how they were each moving far away  and would make new friends etc. (Elle's fam is headed to Singapore for 8 mos!) All the while holding hands and happy as could be.  As though this were a totally normal conversation for two 3 yr olds)

(a great little kid concert.  She did one song that was just choruses from classic Rock n Roll songs.  It was awesome.  kids danced, parents sang)

(While Chels and I enjoyed the music Dave & Aubrey got her face painted.  We then stopped by the bank for a free 'Jingle' hat.)

(En route to the church/Ice Sculpting we saw Buddy from Dinosaur Train!!!  Aubrey was, no surprise, excited then her timidity kicked in and she ran away :)

(Hot Chocolate from the missionaries while we watched the Ice Sculpting, then home.)

An overall fun night in the neighborhood -- so glad the UWS does this.

One for the books

Since moving even further away from family means we will see even less of them for the next few years I squeezed in a trip to Utah.  With five siblings (and their families), a sister in law (and her family), great-grandparents and my parents all in Utah our trips to Utah are always a little crazy.  This one however was especially crazy! 

First some highlights, we'll save the crazy stuff for the end:

I was able to spend at least a little time one-on-one with each of our siblings which meant Aubrey and Chelsea got some great cousin time (including meeting 3 new baby cousins: Lincoln Millet, Ivory Millet and Korbin Bitner).

The sky and mountains showed off for us a little (I miss those mountains and canyons!!!):

We stayed with my parents so we got some great time with them.  And we even made it up to great-grandma Southwick's house.  These moments are precious for me!  I love seeing my kids be able to play with my parents and grandma.

 We had a fabulous faux Thanksgiving complete with my Aunt Amy's hot drink and rye bread appetizers:

The highlights were great!  

Now onto my one horrific day:

It started off with my parents car being stolen.
Yup, stolen.  I'd driven their car to Fashion Place mall to meet my brother Quinn, his wife Lindsey and their new baby Ivory for lunch.  When we walked back out to the parking lot Lindsey's car was where we'd parked it, but my parents' wasn't (we'd parked them right next to each other).  It was 1:30 in the afternoon!?!

Course who wouldn't want to steal this hot 1996 Honda Accord?

(ok, so that's not actually my parents but that's what it looks like)

Aubrey followed that by throwing up twice at my brother's house.
Which is bad enough, but my brother has a 10 day old baby and 5 other kids so adding extra laundry to their house was not really my plan.

THEN, Aubrey and her cousin Thayne (5 days apart in age) turned into trouble 1 and trouble 2 

They colored on themselves, the floor, the wall, the fan, and the COUCH!?!!!  Did I mention they have a 10 day old baby?!?  Yea, busting out the professional fabric cleaning vacuum was also not in my plans. Uggh.

Not my favorite day of the trip.  Its starting be a little bit funny but still mostly makes me cringe to think about all the havoc we reeked.

On the 'upside' the car was found:


click HERE for the story

Can you believe this!?!

 A 'funny' side note, this car has been stolen before.    Its true.  When my sister had it in Virginia it was stolen and the thieves took out the airbags and stole her CDs (all except John Denver, which they kindly left on the seat for her.  haha)

This time around it looks like the thieves were just looking for a free ride.  They 'replaced' all our family's things with loads of empty beer bottles.  My Dad had to drive it back to Orem smelling foully of beer.
They apparently didn't look in the trunk though b/c my coat & my girls' coats were there.

So that was my fabulous and decidedly crazy trip to Utah.

Marne'

This is David.  Marne' and the girls are currently in Utah visiting the family one last time before we leave New York and aren't close enough to visit them for a while (I had to work -- lame).  I was just looking through some pictures on our computer and realized how seldom Marne' posts pics of herself.  So this post is to share some wonderful shots of the usual author of this blog and share five of the many reasons why I love her:

5.  I love Marne's fun side.

4.  How can you not love these green eyes?

3.   What a photographer!  Some recent favorites of mine (these are unedited, since I don't know how to use all that editing software anyway):

2. She inspires me (she goes running almost every morning before I even wake up).

1. She does such an amazing job raising these two beautiful girls who absolutely adore their momma.  Everyone who comes to visit is in awe of Marne's daily energy and enthusiasm for life in the city despite a very small apartment, no car or suburban amenities and an at-times negligent husband.

CAN'T WAIT FOR MY GIRLS TO GET HOME!!!