Literally. I was running up and down the stairs trying to find a towel and dry clothes for Wren after an "accident" when I slipped on the stairs. I landed on my right cheek with a thud and slid down half a dozen stairs... My back is sore and there is a black and blue line forming across my tush! I can sit, butt (ha ha) it hurts!!
I'm surprised this is the first time this has happened actually...
Sigh. Now I can really emphasize to the kids, no playing/running on the stairs!
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Ahhhhhh...
That's a sigh of relief. Life is good. Really good in fact. I have to say, I'm rather pleased with London. It was a shaky start, I admit, but life is turning around quite nice,y!
Our house is awesome. It's a house. It feels like a home. (With the exception of still looking for stuff and cursing when I realize it's in storage somewhere!!) Our neighbors ate wonderful. Our next door neighbor has a lovely 16 year old daughter that babysits for us once a week for 2 hours so Greg and I can enjoy a night out. Brilliant, I know!! Parkgate is working out even better than I could've imagined. The kids looooove it. I've lucked into a wonderful group of friends... Life is good.
Today, the family did some gardening. We trimmed hedges and rearranged potted plants. The kids chased a grasshopper and watched huge snails trudge along. We took the time to smell the roses and then took a break and just blew bubbles for an hour or so.
The kids and I wandered over to the local grocery store and then we fired up the borrowed BBQ grill and cooked up some burgers and grilled veggies...we considered grilling a pineapple, but I didn't have the energy to cut up more fruit! Did I mention that Greg won a HUGE fruit basket??? He came home on Friday afternoon with a 25lb fruit basket. No joke. Contents included: a dozen oranges, huge bunches of green and purple grapes, a pineapple, a mango, a papaya, half a dozen plums, four lychee fruits, a canteloupe, a bunch of asparagus, a pomegranate, two mystery citrus-y berry things, one mystery fruit (a friend said mangosteen, but that's still unconfirmed)...I think that's it! Sooo much fruit!
I'm sure there's more to share, but all in due time, right?
Our house is awesome. It's a house. It feels like a home. (With the exception of still looking for stuff and cursing when I realize it's in storage somewhere!!) Our neighbors ate wonderful. Our next door neighbor has a lovely 16 year old daughter that babysits for us once a week for 2 hours so Greg and I can enjoy a night out. Brilliant, I know!! Parkgate is working out even better than I could've imagined. The kids looooove it. I've lucked into a wonderful group of friends... Life is good.
Today, the family did some gardening. We trimmed hedges and rearranged potted plants. The kids chased a grasshopper and watched huge snails trudge along. We took the time to smell the roses and then took a break and just blew bubbles for an hour or so.
The kids and I wandered over to the local grocery store and then we fired up the borrowed BBQ grill and cooked up some burgers and grilled veggies...we considered grilling a pineapple, but I didn't have the energy to cut up more fruit! Did I mention that Greg won a HUGE fruit basket??? He came home on Friday afternoon with a 25lb fruit basket. No joke. Contents included: a dozen oranges, huge bunches of green and purple grapes, a pineapple, a mango, a papaya, half a dozen plums, four lychee fruits, a canteloupe, a bunch of asparagus, a pomegranate, two mystery citrus-y berry things, one mystery fruit (a friend said mangosteen, but that's still unconfirmed)...I think that's it! Sooo much fruit!
I'm sure there's more to share, but all in due time, right?
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Stress Is My Middle Name
Oy. I need a glass of wine and a masseuse.
First - a huge thank you to my brilliant new neighbor and her daughter for coming by last night and putting Atticus to bed and staying with the kids so that Greg and I could enjoy a wonderful dinner out on our 7th anniversary. This was the first time in a few years that we've been together on our actual anniversary - so it was a true treat to have a nice meal and bottle of wine on our anniversary.
Now... as to the reason of the lingering stress? Primary and Nursery school. OY VEY. Granted, it's not quite as bad (or as expensive) as it is in New York, but still.... moving countries just prior to the school year is no fun.
Once we had the neighborhood and house figured out - I began the in earnest search for the local primary schools. The terminology here is different from home. Public school in the States is "state school" here in London and private school in the States is "public school" here. Sometimes private is also called private. Sometimes Pre-Prep. Just to add to the fun...
So, now we have an address and we're just a wee bit outside the "catchment" area for the closest state school. But - based on prior years, we still had a good shot of getting in. We filled out the paperwork and sent it into the "council". Then we heard back that we needed to prove our address before we could be added to any existing wait lists. G'ahhh. So, now that we'd been in the house for a whole week -- I packed up the kids and grabbed as much proof as I could find and headed over to the council office.
Then we wait.
And now it's a few days before school is due to start and we haven't heard a THING. I started leaving messages like a crazy woman everywhere I possibly could. I actually got the direct line to the really nice bloke at the council who never could tell me where we were on the Honeywell list... We were up to 18th on the wait list for Belleville (which is further away as the crow flies from our house) but Honeywell apparently maintains their own list and their offices only reopened 48 hours prior to the start of school????? For Pete's sake... that's just nuts. But anyways ---
I got ahold of two private (public) schools and arranged for two tours. As it turned out both were full for Year 1 (based on Atticus's date of birth he should be in in Year 1) but were able to offer spots in their Reception classes for Atticus. I couldn't have dreamed up a more perfect solution. Yes, he's the oldest one in his class - but coming from the States, Reception is a much closer match to our "Kindergarten". There were a bunch of pros to each school and it came down to several small but key things that made the difference.
Parkgate House School is the chosen school. To be honest, it's probably my top choice from before we even moved to London. I really enjoyed what I'd read online and it does seem to be a great choice and even more important a better choice for Atticus than drowning in a Year 1 class at a state school where there are 30 kids instead of 20. These are small classes inside a small school where he gets to do really awesome things. Like learn violin. And have swim lessons every Friday. And start taking French. And karate. And if we stay more than two years -- horseback riding! In true Atti fashion, when we arrived to tour the school, we first met up with the Headmaster. Atticus said hello, sort of shook his hand and then asked where they kept the horse. :)
Now that we'd accepted the position, it's been a scramble to get all our ducks in a row for the start of school. The kids missed the "official" first day, but they both attended today. Atticus did smashingly well at drop off and had a great day even earning two star stickers. He was quite pleased. I returned at mid day to drop off Wren who also was a champ! She put her wooby in her cubby, gave me a scowl and a hug and off I went. With both of them in class, I scooted as quickly as possible over to Harrods to purchase school uniforms! OUCH. Yes, our uniforms come from Harrods. But, I suppose on the upside it really does make mornings go smoother when there's no choice in what to wear!!
Tomorrow is Atticus's first swim lesson. I mean, really? They get to go swimming each Friday? Wren has ballet each Monday. Love it. This school does a great job with academics and yet also really encourages sports, arts and team building. I hope it lives up to my expectations!!
First - a huge thank you to my brilliant new neighbor and her daughter for coming by last night and putting Atticus to bed and staying with the kids so that Greg and I could enjoy a wonderful dinner out on our 7th anniversary. This was the first time in a few years that we've been together on our actual anniversary - so it was a true treat to have a nice meal and bottle of wine on our anniversary.
Now... as to the reason of the lingering stress? Primary and Nursery school. OY VEY. Granted, it's not quite as bad (or as expensive) as it is in New York, but still.... moving countries just prior to the school year is no fun.
Once we had the neighborhood and house figured out - I began the in earnest search for the local primary schools. The terminology here is different from home. Public school in the States is "state school" here in London and private school in the States is "public school" here. Sometimes private is also called private. Sometimes Pre-Prep. Just to add to the fun...
So, now we have an address and we're just a wee bit outside the "catchment" area for the closest state school. But - based on prior years, we still had a good shot of getting in. We filled out the paperwork and sent it into the "council". Then we heard back that we needed to prove our address before we could be added to any existing wait lists. G'ahhh. So, now that we'd been in the house for a whole week -- I packed up the kids and grabbed as much proof as I could find and headed over to the council office.
Then we wait.
And now it's a few days before school is due to start and we haven't heard a THING. I started leaving messages like a crazy woman everywhere I possibly could. I actually got the direct line to the really nice bloke at the council who never could tell me where we were on the Honeywell list... We were up to 18th on the wait list for Belleville (which is further away as the crow flies from our house) but Honeywell apparently maintains their own list and their offices only reopened 48 hours prior to the start of school????? For Pete's sake... that's just nuts. But anyways ---
I got ahold of two private (public) schools and arranged for two tours. As it turned out both were full for Year 1 (based on Atticus's date of birth he should be in in Year 1) but were able to offer spots in their Reception classes for Atticus. I couldn't have dreamed up a more perfect solution. Yes, he's the oldest one in his class - but coming from the States, Reception is a much closer match to our "Kindergarten". There were a bunch of pros to each school and it came down to several small but key things that made the difference.
Parkgate House School is the chosen school. To be honest, it's probably my top choice from before we even moved to London. I really enjoyed what I'd read online and it does seem to be a great choice and even more important a better choice for Atticus than drowning in a Year 1 class at a state school where there are 30 kids instead of 20. These are small classes inside a small school where he gets to do really awesome things. Like learn violin. And have swim lessons every Friday. And start taking French. And karate. And if we stay more than two years -- horseback riding! In true Atti fashion, when we arrived to tour the school, we first met up with the Headmaster. Atticus said hello, sort of shook his hand and then asked where they kept the horse. :)
Now that we'd accepted the position, it's been a scramble to get all our ducks in a row for the start of school. The kids missed the "official" first day, but they both attended today. Atticus did smashingly well at drop off and had a great day even earning two star stickers. He was quite pleased. I returned at mid day to drop off Wren who also was a champ! She put her wooby in her cubby, gave me a scowl and a hug and off I went. With both of them in class, I scooted as quickly as possible over to Harrods to purchase school uniforms! OUCH. Yes, our uniforms come from Harrods. But, I suppose on the upside it really does make mornings go smoother when there's no choice in what to wear!!
Tomorrow is Atticus's first swim lesson. I mean, really? They get to go swimming each Friday? Wren has ballet each Monday. Love it. This school does a great job with academics and yet also really encourages sports, arts and team building. I hope it lives up to my expectations!!
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