Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Butterflies
We released our butterflies today. A friend of ours home schools her 4 children (and as a home school graduate myself I remember all the unique opportunities I had growing up having school at home) she ordered us some caterpillars (larvae) to watch grow and change into butterflies. The day we arrived June 2nd they started to build their cocoons so we missed them as caterpillars but we got our little silk-spunned friends and dove into learning about butterflies. They hatched a week later and we had 4 Painted Lady butterflies fluttering around our little cage in the kitchen we watched them eat and fly for a few days then released them into the Autumnwood butterfly garden. It was such a fun thing to do with the girls and for those of you with small kids the waiting period is just perfect for a 3 and 4 year old :)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Eden Louise
My little Spunky, crazy, cuddly, horse, Pirate and tool loving little girl turned 3 last week. We flew over to America the day of her 3rd birthday making it literally the longest birthday of any one's life. After 20+ hours of flying, driving, traveling we got to America at noon to start June 2nd all over again :) 2 days later we celebrated Eden's 3rd birthday My Little Pony style. Complete with Aunt Ashley, Grandma, Grandpa, both Great Grandmother's and Grandad we ate hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, pickles and a very wobbly (melting) rainbow cake. All requests of our little Eden.
We had ponies hanging from the ceiling, on the plates, napkins, table, crowns, cake and table. We had Pony crowns, snacks and whistles. We blew bubbles, sang, open lots of Pony presents and had a tea party. What a wonderful afternoon celebrating Eden. Happy Birthday little Edy-crazy-Lou, I cannot believe you are another year older and old enough to start Kindergarten now. I am blessed to be a part of your life, and I love being your mommy. You are hilarious and unpredictable!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Walmart
So, as Andy and I got closer to America we started talking about all the people we would see, food we would get to eat, places we would visit, stores we would browse, and items we needed to purchase to prepare for the next 2 years in Hungary (mostly shoes and winter items).
The car ride to our new "home" for the next month was over 2hrs from the airport and in order to keep us all awake we decided to hit Walmart to get out and walk (and truthfully I was excited since it's been 2 years since I've perused Walmart) yeah, I had forgotten about Walmart. Andy and I were so overwhelmed with the CHEAP!!! prices and countless options for one item that we actually started to get dizzy and sick. I just wanted to get out of there! How weird is that! We were also exhausted and beyond the limit any normal body should be pushed to which added to it, but what a surreal moment not what I had anticipated.
Also the gas prices here are so cheap as well, $4.20 per gallon! It's over $8 in Europe. Again, we were shocked and surprised. Didn't think we would be saying, "everything is so cheap!" every 2 seconds :)
Put things into perspective... and Walmart you really live up to your slogan.
Flying with kids
As we anticipated leaving for furlough we always forgot one small thing that has to happen before we actually arrive and see our family and friends. The trapped in a flying, metal, claustrophobic non-kid friendly plane thing. The girls were awakened at 3am and stayed awake for the next 20hours straight. Eden slept 2 whole hours the whole trip and Novie slept a whopping 20min. The first 10 were actually quite a breeze, they had new games, toys, snacks we never allow them to indulge in, and a wonderful perfectly timed layover, giving them the chance to run around. But man those last 4hrs. on the plane felt like a whole day in itself. We were seated right in front of the "grumpy" passenger who was asking the girls every few minutes to be quiet. First off they were not screaming or crying just playing. Lots of laughing, giggling and being different animals yes, there were some toys that were loud, and I understand that. When you don't have kids you have no idea, when you've never flown with a 3 and 4 year you have no idea. I thought they were amazing! Now we did have a meltdown and of course he didn't say anything during that time..kinda inconsistent...didn't make sense..I was waiting to see his head pop around or his head so I could pop it, either way...kinda surprised he didn't chime in during the meltdown (someone had lost a sock) amazing what spurs on a meltdown :)
The Lord blessed me with patience any other time I would have given him a piece of my mind for speaking to us that way. :) But again inexperience and naivete was his worse enemy and the fact he kept forgetting it was 9am-5pm, that's typically when kids are wide awake and playing right? :) But anyways I was proud of Novie and Eden kinda impressed how well they did, and kinda disappointed in myself for expecting the worse from them, I keep forgetting I can trust them now. We took several walks, found out a lady sitting in front of Novie was also celebrating her birthday just like Eden, 50+ she said and Novie said, " you're five!" I'm going to be 5 this year like you!" when she held her hands and pumped them by 5, Novie hasn't learned multiplication yet :) also 2 rows back we met a man also celebrating his birthday! it's like they seated them all together to celebrate together, we thought it was pretty funny! Eden sported her felt crown and told the stewardess it was her birthday. (I was kinda sad to hear Delta does not have anything for kids anymore, no wings, tours to meet the captain or have him come back, no one would sing or do anything special for her, no crayons, coloring books or lids for cups) it's been 2 years since we last flown and we did that whole list last time. Amazing how non-kid friendly Delta became in 2 years..seems they would improve in this area not minimize it. But we celebrated her 3rd birthday the best we could, we have special prizes, games, a crown and new outfit! Also I think we sang to her about 10 times :) I was so excited to be able to have such an exciting birthday for her, how often do you fly on your birthday!
Here's a funny story, but how would you respond if it happened to you?! especially if you had kid's in tow!!
At the airport for a business trip, Maureen settled down to wait for the boarding announcement at Gate 35. Then she heard the voice on the public address system saying, 'We apologise for the inconvenience, but BOAC Flight 937 will board from Gate 41.'
Maureen picked up her luggage and carried it over to Gate 41. Not ten minutes later the public address voice told her that Flight 937 would in fact be boarding from Gate 35.
So, again, Maureen gathered her carry-on luggage and returned to the original gate. Just as she was settling down, the public address voice spoke again, 'We would like to thank all passengers for participating in BOAC's physical fitness programme.'
and lastly, Brian sums flying up in a nutshell, again, it's always exaggerated with children :) but when flying you have to laugh or it would be torture :) watch this before you leave on your overseas trip, it lightens the mood greatly.
As we were flying I knew people were praying what a blessing to know people love and care for us on BOTH sides of the Atlantic! The girls did well, the flights were quick, smooth and they served PIZZA and ICE CREAM for dinner (of course it was our opportunity to again celebrate Eden's special day!) we got to load first, had many people help, we got to skip lines to board and get through customs, which is always a huge blessing! Overall it was a successful day of flying and now we are Stateside ready for furlough, family and friends!! See you soon!
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