It’s high time I start writing the date the way the UK does it. :)
The way you know lots has happened is that I haven’t had time to write it all down!! I’m so sad. Don’t want to forget anything! Here are the best of my memories:
• Alice turned ONE! WAHOO! I don’t know if there’s ever been a better party for a one year old. To be fair, I didn’t actually have a party with friends her age, but I was DETERMINED to make a cake and celebrate somehow. (Naomi loaned me a pan, scale, and candle, and I miraculously didn’t completely ruin the cake. I’ve decided a mother’s love is in no way proportional or represented by her birthday cake making abilities.) We ended up having a Sunday dinner at our house for the Maces, Beasleys, and some surprise guests-the Hale family who we know from Nauvoo happened to be in town and surprised us! Haha! Everybody brought food, and we had a miracle of the loaves and fishes. So I think we had 19 adults and two babies squashed in our tiny home, and it’s never been more fun! We told everyone not to bring presents, so of course, they all did. Sillies. The best part was just sitting and chatting, and I loved seeing everyone love my kids! The entire room sang a rousing rendition of “Alice in the Palace” and “Happy Birthday”, and Alice had us all clapping, making faces, waving, and doing whatever tricks she wanted. What a great celebration for a great little girl!
• On Alice’s actual birthday, I took the girls to Wacky Warehouse, which is like a giant McDonald’s play place connected to a pub. I bought us a month long pass for Alice’s birthday present, so we’ve been several times since. It’s been a blast to have a warm place for the girls to get out their energy, and we like to play together in the ball pit or on the soft play things. I love our bonding time!
• The next day, in honor of the Alice Celebrations, we took the girls downtown to the National Sea Life Center, which was brilliant! They have really low windows on most of the exhibits, so the girls could literally walk through and see everything! They loved the penguins and the little tunnel of “Nemo’s” they got to walk through. We also went to eat at Jimmy Spice and spent the afternoon walking around this side of Birmingham.
• Halloween: We spent the day in Stratford-on-Avon with some of our dear Maces, visiting Shakespeare’s home, walking to the cathedral where he’s buried, taking some family photos, and enjoying the sunniest English weather I think I’ve ever experienced! It was delightful to sit and watch some actors performing Shakespeare on demand! And Bev was a brilliant tour guide as always-pointing out the architecture and all of the history she can. I love it!
o We then went to the Ward’s home for some snacks, a donut eating contest (which the Bishop won), and trick-or-treating! It was so nice to be with friends and to let the girls have a somewhat “normal” Halloween. (Rachel was Elsa/Anna, and Alice was the cutest witch of all time.) We didn’t really put much effort into dressing up or even finding a bucket to collect candy, but Rachel didn’t care. She thought it was so cool that when you knock on someone’s door, they give you candy! Ha! She was pretty scared of a little boy dressed as a skeleton. He tried to help her get some candy, but it freaked her out pretty badly until he took off his mask. Over the course of the evening, she decided she wants to be a skeleton man for Halloween next year! The highlight of the night was when one woman ran out of candy. (There were about 15 kids in our group) She had already turned away several children, and I tried to pull Rachel away, but she didn’t understand what was happening. She approached the woman and held out her bag saying “Trick or treat” and the cute woman just melted. She ran into her house, grabbed her personal stache of Frerroche chocolates and gave some to Rachel saying “Don’t tell the other kids!” Haha! I thanked her profusely, and she said “I just couldn’t ignore that look in her eyes.” So sweet. Rachel has been so obedient and only eaten one piece of candy per day. What a good girl!
• WARD PARTY: We had an awesome “fall activity” which is NOT a Halloween Party, because some people in England are offended by the pagan holiday. So it turned into a bit of a barn dance theme, and Paul and I were in charge of entertainment. It stressed me out, but I was eventually able to find all the sheet music we needed, and Paul’s friend (Ian) played for us. He plays for the university, and he’s fantastic! We discovered he lives around the corner as well! Anyway, Paul couldn’t be there until 8 because of class, so we hardly even got to rehearse, but I taught some line dances, and we sang a few songs: “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”, “Anything You Can Do”, “Home on the Range”, “Oklahoma”, and Paul sang a song called “Just One Second and a Million Miles”. It was a blast, and Rachel’s been singing the songs around the house for weeks now.
• Neighbors: We’ve made friends with a few of our neighbors. (About time…) One family is from Czech Republic. They have a toy boys and a little girl who come riding bikes and knock on our door every now and then. They don’t speak English very well, but we brought them cookies one night, and they brought us treats a few days later. We also made friends with an Indian family next door. The wife has lived around the corner her whole life, but he came over a few years ago. They have an adorable little girl, and we’ve been helping each other with some of the rubbish collection issues. It’s nice to feel safe on our street and know that I could knock on their doors if I ever got in a jam. I’m so grateful! It was hard to go through a year without knowing one person on my street, but I’m learning that English people take a long time to open up. No one would even make eye contact with me a year ago, so this is great progress!
• ACX: Paul found an opportunity to do some voice over work for audio books, recording at a little studio on campus between classes. It was a great learning experience, and we’ve discovered that while he can do the work, editing is not as fun as recording. Poor guy kept getting corrections from the contractor as well, so the project kept dragging on and on. We’ve decided to put that work on hold until he either graduates or has a little more free time during a term/term break.
• LONDON: Rachael Pratt secured an audition for me in London. It was for a student in a Snickers commercial, and she came down to watch the girls for the day while I trained into the city. It was a big adventure for me! I’ve only ever taken the train once, and I’d never been to the audition location, but I did it all by myself. :) Read some books on the train, then decided to walk instead of tube to Leicester Square. It was such a nice day, and I absolutely love the streets of London. I did alright in the audition considering that it’s been 2 years since my last audition, I’ve never really done film, and they told me to read for a different part than I’d been called for! Ha! I’m really proud of myself for just going and trying. I felt brave! Rachael was amazing-did the shopping, took the girls swimming, cut a new key for our house (I’d misplaced mine), made the dinner, picked me up from the station, and kept the place tidy! She’s superwoman! Dillon and Erin came with her, which meant the girls had the best day ever. Rachel keeps asking when they’re coming back!?
• Church has kept us busy. I’ve been working hard on coordinating lots of upcoming music opportunities, we’ve had several baptisms in the ward including a family of 5! So awesome! And Elder Ballard came to speak to our stake today!! It was pretty awesome. I don’t know why our stake was so lucky, but we got to hear from the London temple President and his wife, the Area President and his wife (The Kearons), as well as our own stake President and Elder Ballard. It was a spiritual feast, and I was reminded of the importance of repentance, missionary work, having faith during trials, and feasting upon the scriptures in order to keep a broad perspective on all that happens in our lives.
• German Market is in town, and we went for a family outing on Friday! Loved riding the Carousel, eating yummy brats, marshmallows, and roasted nuts, and seeing all of the trinkets for sale. I want to buy them all!
• Spa Day: Carol and Becca took me to a lovely spa for the day on Saturday in honor of my birthday… which was in February. Better late than never, right? It just took some planning. Ha! We had the best day just chatting and relaxing in all the pools, saunas, and the snug room. We got aqua bed massages, drank delicious hot chocolate, had an infrared treatment, and left feeling absolutely relaxed and refreshed. Ahhhh! Thanks Bleasleys!
• I’ve had several moments over the last few weeks where I’ve been feeling happy and suddenly recognized that I LOVE my life. It happened once at Wacky Warehouse while playing with my girls, again doing dishes one night while Paul worked on his homework, and several spurratic times throughout the week. I can’t say I know exactly why I feel so happy-nothing is any better or worse than it was a few months or weeks ago. In fact, I have been more aware of some of my weaknesses lately than I was back then! But I have been reading my scriptures, praying more fervently, and trying to use my time wisely. I guess it’s working. :)
ALL ABOUT ALICE:
• This girl is becoming a feisty little thing! She is getting pickier every day with her food, and we’re trying desperately to keep her from throwing everything on the floor. She loves fruit and carbs, and she’ll point at what she wants to eat, grunting and yelling until you give it to her.
• She is an EXCELLENT climber. Loves to climb up and down the slide and stairs. Scares me to death.
• Has a weird shoe-eating fettish. But she knows where the shoes go, and she’ll put them back if you tell her to.
• Blows the best kisses
• She waves “hi” and “bye” and she can say both words too!
• Knows the cow says “moo”, duck says “quack quack”, horse says “neigh”, and elephant makes a funny “toot” through pursed lips
• She is a groovy dancer! Loves a good beat-even when passing cars play loud music, she is ON!
• Really a Daddy’s girl these days. She LOVES her daddy.
• Thinning out a little? Wears size 18-24 usually.
• Biggest obsession? BOOKS. All day every day. Book books books.
RACHEL’S CORNER:
• Becoming quite the artist. She drew the Stinky Cheese Man all by herself on her dry erase board.
• Loves Mr. Rogers and the short film “The Gruffalo”
• ALWAYS pretending to be a princess with a blanket wrapped around her as a ball gown
• When she’s not a princess, she’s either putting dolly to sleep or pretending to be a kitty
• We THINK we’ve sorted out her stomach problems for now. Poor thing.
• Really amazing at sharing. Hardly ever has a problem. Loves to give Alice food and toys. Loves to tank Alice too.
• A few funny phrases:
o When riding in the stroller, Alice HATES the weather cover. Rachel was eating raisins in the back while I was sprinting to get us all home out of the rain, and Alice was screaming. Rachel said calmly, “Just relax, Muff. Just relax.”
o Alice was doing something Rachel didn’t like. Rachel asked her several times to stop, and it wasn’t working. Finally she said “Say ‘yes Rachel’ so I know you hear me.” HAHAHA!
o Carol’s car window made some awful shrieking noise when it rolled down, and we were suggesting a mouse lived inside. Suddenly, Carol ran over the curb, so there was a large “bump” and Rachel said “There was a mouse.” HA! I think I cried I laughed so hard.
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