Halloween & Family Pics

Funny, these pictures are cute, but they give a very false sense of contentment in our house of three small children. What you don't see most days consists of yelling, whining, crying, NOT sleeping, eating, exercising, trying not to yell, arts and crafts, cleaning, complaining, fighting, more whining, wishing we had more family around, day dreaming about a live-in nanny, day dreaming about getting a job, drinking, and a lot of TV. I hate to admit it, but we are just barely making it through most days, don't let the pictures fool you... raising three kids is no joke.

I often ask myself "what were you thinking?" Having three small children in a foreign country with no family around and few visitors has been really hard. We don't travel much because it's just so difficult to carry two tons of shit with us, which is basically what we have to take when we go anywhere. My only solace comes from hearing that others with large families can identify with our struggles. But nevertheless the kids are wonderful in their own ways and we have our health and a great life, so I'm going to try and focus on the positive and eat less chocolate.

Trick or Treating

The only picture where everyone is looking at the camera and NOT crying

Family Pictures in Primrose Hill Park,

they actually went pretty well, all things considered.

I'm Squeezing in October

Well, right before I run out of days I guess I should blog a little more about September and October. London has been beautiful. After a few rainy and cold weeks in September the weather got its act together and I have no complaints. Especially when I read that many of our CT friends are once again without power and covered in snow. Could we have picked a better couple of years NOT to be living there?

The kids on the other hand have been a real handful. Lots of transitioning, with sleeping being the biggest struggling for everyone. Chris seems to need a nap but won't take one and then stays up until 9pm every night with some kind of 'second wind', Maddie takes naps and is still whiny and tired all the time, and Josephine wants to sleep late daily. We're finally entering the alarm clock stage of life during the week and the cartoons in the morning stage of life on the weekends. It has positives and negatives.

Fall Highlights:

- Josephine's trip to New York to see her Olmstead extended family

- My Spartan Race here in London, I'm plotting several races next year! I highly recommend them, VERY fun!

- My yoga retreat

- Josephine's extracurricular activities, which include soccer, Tae Kwon Doe & violin

- Chris Jr. LOVING his school and especially the girls he's been meeting! Rhett is his "special best friend." Very cute.

- Booking our trip for Chris' 40th birthday to the Canery Islands this December, thank goodness for Grammy Lee and Grampa Boutwell, who will be on duty while we are away.

- Lots of fun play dates with friends during Chris' half term from school. Not sure I get this whole British school schedule thing, every time you turn around these kids have 2/4 weeks off! Complete nightmare!

- Rihanna Concert here in London... we were 22 again for the night! I danced my a** off!

- Maddie crawling and pulling up on everything! Dangerous AND adorable, all at the same time!

- Chris going to the NFL game here in London, even though the Bucs lost.

Not So Highlights:

- four new teeth for Maddie, which makes for some long sleepless nights for us all.

- Chris traveling back and forth to New York too often. He's leaving again soon, but this time Chris Jr. will be visiting the Olmstead family in New York so that will be a highlight! :)

- Josephine missed her bus for the first time... ugh. Thankfully I called the school and they took pity on me and came back to get her.

- Having my name disparaged by my daughter while she was back in New York. Olmsteads, you know what I'm talking about!

Here are a few pics to give you an idea of what we've been up to:

On Our Way to School

Such a Big Boy

Canon's Park Celebration for Josephine's School

Hiking Azure Mtn at St. Regis with Aunt Katie

She was SO proud of Herself

This was Josephine's unsupervised craft time result, an amazing self portrait that is now framed over our bed.

This was Chris Jr.'s unsupervised craft time result, coloring himself like a tiger! I was equally proud of him! :)

Spartan Race Rope Wall, took me like four tries, but I finally made it!

Just one arm of bruises, I was COVERED from head to toe!

Our Naked Cowboy!

(He's wearing like half of his Halloween costume)

Cecilia's son Alex's 7th Birthday Celebration

Josephine at her school's Halloween Parade

Yes, that's right, she was a hammer and a nail!

I have to admit, it sounds weird, but it really is a great costume.

My new outfit after shopping with a friend who works in fashion. I felt very good for our night out! Yes people, that IS a black biker jacket! Can you believe it?? :)

School's In!

Well, Fall is in the air. And when I say 'Fall' in London this simply means 'rain' is in the air. But, you can't have it all. Last year at this time we had just arrived and I remember saying many times how beautiful the weather was. I guess THIS is the real London Fall. Lots of wind, light drizzle, grey or quickly changing skies and temperatures hovering around 60 degrees. I admit, it's not the greatest, but we've had some beautiful days too. My biggest complaint is how fast the weather changes, walk out to blue sunny skies, return in pouring rain, all in the space of an hour or two. But despite the cold start to the new school year we are all very happy.

Josephine started FIRST grade on August 31st! It's hard to believe how fast the time is beginning to fly by. She simply LOVES school. And I can tell, not because she says this, (ie. "How was school today?"..."Fine." silence...) but because she is just so happy when she gets home. It's only when the mother's nagging begins (ie. brush your teeth, pick up your clothes, put away your toys, do you have homework?, etc.) that she ever shows any signs of irritation. But we're getting through it! Her first day she was very cute with her new haircut and her pretty Chinese dress that Chris brought her from one of his business trips.

Chris Jr. also started preschool last week and he's never seemed happier. I am SO relieved that we decided to switch his school. The new nursery, 'Ready, Steady, Go' is like a breath of fresh air. It's a beautiful converted church with amazing space for the kids to explore. He is in his element there, and after three days last week, this morning he didn't hesitate to walk right in. It's a totally different experience from our separation struggles last year. Crossing my fingers that it lasts! :)

We've also had some great London adventures as well, including exploring the Golden Hinde, a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, where two 'pirates' entertained a small group of lucky children, ours included, with stories, games, hide and seek, treasure chocolate coins, and a lesson on firing a cannon. What good fortune we had visiting the ship that day! And yes that's Chris Jr. above FLEXING his muscles at the pirate, which is something he does for most people he encounters these days. Very funny.

Josephine and Chris Sr. also sewed Maddie a very nice new baby blanket and are hoping to get back into that hobby. They've also gotten a beginner knitting set, so we'll see what comes of it all. I'm just hoping she'll learn to groom herself a little better so that she doesn't look like a homeless child in all the new clothes she's going to be making (see picture below).

Speaking of Maddie, she's adorable. A little whiny these days with new teeth coming in, but she's so happy and healthy (ie. fat, fat, fat). I call her 'chubalicious'. He thighs are seriously a site to behold! lol If she'd just get her act together and start crawling maybe she'd begin working off some of the 1000s of calories she seems to be eating non-stop! She fits right in with our family! ha!

As for the adults in the family, I'm busy training for the Spartan Race London, which is on October 16th. It's a 5k with 25 obstacles, done by the same people that organize the Death Race. Should be fun! Or at least let's hope it's more fun than painful! My guess is that it will be a mix of both, maybe 50/50 or 40/60, we'll see. I'm also getting into yoga and am going on a yoga retreat at the end of the month, mostly to get away from the kids, with a little exercise/organized relaxation as a bonus!

Chris will be traveling a bit for work this month and maybe next month as well, which isn't fun, but we do like that he'll be seeing some family in New York and bringing home some much needed supplies from the U.S. We've also booked a family ski trip to Switzerland for next February and are still hoping to have our first trip without the kids this December to Costa Rica to celebrate Chris' 40th birthday!! Wow... he's old!

Also, I would like to share that my Grandfather, Ted Boutwell, passed away this week, in fact on September 11th. Although we were not close, he was a great patriot, a career Marine that fought bravely for our country during World War II. He and my father remained very close over the last 20 years. He was loved and he will be missed.

Much Love, Mere

Summer Highlights

Well, there was too much to report in detail, so here's the basics:

Highlights:

- A great party at the Primmer's in Darien and seeing so many of our old friends

- Chris' brother Tim and sister Katie and her husband Matt hiking with him during the Death Race

- Relaxing at Beth's house

- July 4th at the lake, two words... fireworks & margaritas, need I say more? :)

- Seeing the kids with all of our family. They could not have been happier to see all of their cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.

- Our visit to Atlanta, including a nice trip to the Georgia Aquarium and a VERY late night of dinner and dancing for me with Ang and CC, ahhhh... to be young again.

- Josephine wake boarding at 6 years old! She was amazing!

- Trip with Josephine and Maddie to Darien and my girls night out. We had such inappropriate conversation... it was great!

- Beth and Colin coming back to London with us

- Our trip to Scotland with Beth, Colin and Grammy & Grampa Boutwell. Hiking to the top of one of the old volcanoes in the city was truly one of the most amazing things we've ever done as a family.

'Low'lights:

- The weather in VT for the Death Race, hard rain for three days straight! Yuck!

- Packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking... you get the idea

- Dirt in many forms, including lots of dirty children and dirty clothes

- Flying with the kids, although it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but really nothing ever is! :)

- Not having my regular gym and regular babysitters, but with so much help from family we did the best that we could.

- Saying goodbye to so many people that we love :(