Playgroup

At playgroup on Thursday we had one of the colonels on base come to observe us. Apparently, they are redistributing the buildings here on base and some of the 'higher ups' think that our building could be used for something other than our playgroup. So we sent emails to everyone who has ever stepped foot in playgroup that this was happening. The result was a HUGE amount of moms/dads and kids and a very impressed colonel. I hope we managed to hang onto our building, we really love having that interaction with other kids twice a week. It's pretty therapeutic for the moms and dads as well. These pictures are some I took early on when we were still visiting. As you can see, it was before Molly started walking well. You hardly ever see her crawl anymore now. These pictures are taken in the carpeted "babies" area. Molly started out in this area but has no interest in it anymore, she plays with the 'big kids'.. I think spending so much time with Casey, Collin and Ayden prepared her for their roughness. She hardly even notices when they run her over with their toys.

Kisses

This is my best effort trying to take a picture of Molly giving me a kiss. She loves giving kisses to her stuffed animals and to Bryon and I. We've tried to get her to kiss her playschool leaders and nursery workers but she is not interested. Don't you love those wide open slobbery mouth kisses.

Pickin' Blackberries

The product of our picking adventure


MMMMM.. I am ready to eat my blackberries! Why are you holding me back dad?

My worn out blackberry picker

Molly and I have resumed our daily walks. It took awhile to figure out what routes were safest and how long each route was. (Safest meaning safest terrain, this is the safest/least dangerous place I've ever been). There are tons of blackberry bushes out with beautiful blackberries all ready to be picked. British people plant lots and lots of fruit tress and bushes everywhere and you can stop and pick them whenever you want. Sometimes you can see people pulled over on the side of the road picking fruit off of the trees. Granted, I live in the country, it is probably very different in the bigger cities. Another neat thing is that there are tons of "Public walkways" here. The walkways are protected paths that wander throughout the country. Supposedly they have historical significance and have been in existence for a very long time. So, even if the walkway runs along your property, it is open to public use and protected by the government. It really isn't a big deal, most Brits are very "Green". They enjoy/respect nature, recycle everything, compost, etc. I'll try to take some pictures of the bushes here soon. Apple trees are blooming as well, I can't wait for those to get ripe!

Walking videos

I took this video clip tonight before Molly went to bed. She loves playing in her playroom and it is getting hard to pull her out of it to eat and sleep. It makes it much easier to get to now that she can walk there from anywhere upstairs.




Bryon and I creeped around the corner to see what Molly was up to in her playroom and this is what we saw. Adorable! I love this stage!

The slide

We love the swing set in our back yard. It is where we met our neighbors (family with 7 kids), where Molly swims in her kiddie pool, and where we oftentimes have tea in the afternoons. Yes, we do have tea like the locals and I don't mean the sweet tea from back home. I mean hot tea with a spot of sugar and milk.. yum!

Finger food

I found these old pictures from like a month ago when we were staying at the hotel here on base in the UK. We hadn't found a house at that point and were slammed into a hotel suite, which was nicer by far than the average suite, but still crowded with like 12 suitcases, a pack and play and all the other furniture already there. Anyways, Molly honed here finger food skills while we were at the hotel and is now an expert. She eats anything she can get her hands on nowadays. Bread is her favorite, especially like flavored bagels and such. She also loves frozen peas and blueberries and will hold a raw carrot stick in her hand throughout most meals and naw on it every once in awhile. I think it makes her happy having something in that hand that is available upon her whim. We aren't giving her any meat yet but she really does love most other things. She is even able to eat yogurt now without breaking out. We were afraid that she was allergic, she had it in Shelby before we left once and broke out in a rash. I think the rash must have been from something else or rather she is better able to tolerate it since she's older. She also adores "puffs", I'm sure most of you mom's with young kids know about puffs. That was definately one of her early words: dada, mama, bye bye and puffs.. lol

Swinging on the swing set!

This is the swing set at the back of our house. The best part about it is that it came with the house and we didn't have to assemble it! Molly loves swinging on it, especially when Bryon swings beside her. She's too little for the big slide and climbing bars but that little basket swing is just her size. The rest of the set is perfect for my nephew Casey when he comes to visit in December!

Internet is working!!!

Molly exploring her new house!

Our House

My precious nephew

Diane sent this picture of Brandon kissing Bryon's army picture.. Yes, I'm crying..

And Molly just got 2 more teeth! She's up to 6! Andddd, I got my license today! I passed the test weeks ago but didn't have a sitter so I couldn't take the class portion. So, one of the mom's from playgroup watched Molly today and I was able to go. Wooppee!

Country life..

Hi all,
I hope everyone has a blessed week. I know I'm very thankful that it is Friday. I am feeling blessed right this moment. I just got back from the thrift store where they had FIVE transformers for sale! And no, I don't mean like the movie transformers, I mean the boxes that convert our American stuff to the British stuff. I have been dying to get my coffee maker hooked up but didn't have a transformer big enough.. NOW I DOOO!!!

Other news, the satellite people came yesterday to hook our tv's up which was exciting. The good news is that our bedroom tv is hooked up, the bad news is that they couldn't figure out how to get Bryon's HUGE 52'' lcd flatscreen hooked up. Needless to say, he is very down about the situation. We are praying that somehow we figure out a way to make it work, otherwise, our beautiful new tv (Bryon's favorite toy) will either have to be sold or stored for the length of our stay here. Our internet gets hooked up on Tuesday, another big YAYYY. It feels really weird being so disconnected from the rest of the world. We live out in the country, big time.. a few examples:
1) We have cows across the street that look like they are going to plow into our driveway at any moment
2)There is quite a diverse range of animals live in the field area behind the house (lots of birds, turkeys, deer, peacocks, dogs, rabbits and who knows what else)
3) Horses ride down the road constantly like cars would in the US. There are cars on the road as well but it is not strange whatsoever to drive behind horses or see them on the side of the road.
4) The back roads that you take to gat to our house from base are barely 1.5 lanes wide and not marked..so if you come upon a car, you both have to drive onto the curb to avoid colliding.
5) And of course, while driving those lovely backroads, there is the smell of manure streaming through the opened windows. ahhh, love that smell :)

On a positive note though, there is a local butchery right down the road from our house so we can get super fresh meat and milk.. there is also a free range egg farm and fruit farms where you can go and pick your own fresh fruit if you would like. All of these nice perks charge by the pound vs the dollar though, so we only take advantage of them on very special occasions. The rest of our shopping is done on base where fruit is $2.00 per ib verses 5.00pounds per ib.

Ya'll have a great weekend. I'd love to hear from some of you who read the blog but don't comment often. Several people have emailed me lately saying they are keeping up with us over here and I had no idea they even read our blog!

Have a relaxing weekend,
Haley

Molly's walking!

I realized I have not blogged about Molly's newest accomplishment! She is walking! Not just taking steps but actually walking. She first started taking steps around 9 to 9 1/2 months and then on her 10 month birthday she pulled up onto a chair and just started walking across the room! Now she is starting to prefer walking over crawling and looks for any opportunity to pull up and take off. This is making our move in process pretty interesting. We are going to have to make getting a baby gate our priority thats for sure. Other news, she is in size 3 shoe now and size 12 month clothes. She still adores elmo and the book 'Brown Bear". It is the only book she will sit still and let me read her. She really loves it. She has started coping Bryon and I, for example, I have been condensing the packing paper sothat we can store/recycle it and she will sit beside me and try to fold the paper like I am. Or if I answer the phone and say 'hello', she will say hello in the exact same voice that I used. This is such a cute stage.

We are settling into our house slowly but steadily. All of the furnature is finally assembled and we are able to walk through every room of the house. I'm figuring out the electricity conversion mess without too much trouble, although Bryon might disagree. He is an expert from living in Africa for so long, I'm a slow learner comparitively. We have been visiting churches but have not found one yet that we feel is where God wants us to join. The first church we visited is a real possibility but we aren't 100% sure yet. Please keep this decision in your prayers, it is so important to both Bryon and I that we find a place to worship.

My car is scheduled to arrive here this week, so this weekend we may be taking a trip to the port to pick it up. Who knows what other trouble we may get into on the way :) I've been fighting homesickness this past weekend. My family had their 28th annual Hoke-Out and we missed it. No one misses Hoke-out and it absolutely broke my heart that we were not there. Fortunately, every member of my family called and spoke to us on the phone (thanks to my sweet dad arranging it), so I felt like I was there but it still wasn't quite the same.

Thats it for now. On our way to the grocery store and the thrift shop before heading home. We love you all

xoxoxo,
Haley