Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 Anthony did an amazing job barbequing our turkey this year (our first of many after tasting it!!), which left me more time for harvest decorating.  We had a wonderful time hosting our dear American friends, but somehow neglected to take any photos of us all together.  Thank you Haymore's and Schwartz's; it was a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yellow Piano!

We thought we'd revive our old piano by giving it a makeover. Here are the before and after shots.

Work in progress. With four workers, the job should go four times faster, right? With these three little helpers it actually took much longer, but was certainly four times more fun. 

The finished masterpiece!

Happy Halloween!

We did Halloween big this year combining it with Andrew and Brooke's 6th Birthday party. 
Pumpkin and skeleton crafts, spooky photo booth, pass the parcel, pumpkin pinata, candy corn Jell-O and a Halloween dance party;  it was a blast!  But by far the best entertainment was Anthony in his mummy costume!  Between this party, our ward trunk-or-treat, then Monday's trick-or-treating we got the most out of it possible!

Brooke and her mummy on the orange carpet

Santorini, Greece

 

Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary to us!

1st anniversary: surprise trip to Carmel, 5th anniversary: surprise trip to Sonoma.  I should have been ready for something for our 10th, but Anthony managed to completely surprise me again.  When a girlfriend asked me to take her to the airport on Friday morning I thought nothing of it, until we arrived and there was my Anthony standing on the curb with our bags packed for a weekend away!

We spent 3 days on Santorini: eating amazing food, relaxing by the pool and taking a private sailboat around the island (thanks to Captain Mike).  The views and sunsets were amazing, and the trip was perfect.

Will, 2 years old

 
 Will's 2nd birthday somehow came and went in a flash.  We did open presents and even light a candle on some fancy cupcakes, but somehow this is the only cute picture I could find to document his day.
Will seems to be happiest with his cars at the moment:  "pay caars" is his daily request.  He carries around Woody, Buzz and the baddie (Zurg) all day (and night) and his favorite thing to watch is Little Einsteins.  He is starting to have a preference what he wears, loves to dance and is still amazing at jumping on the trampoline and kicking a soccer ball.  He is such a fun kid to have around and is becoming more like everyone's buddy than our little baby boy.  Happy Birthday Will-man!    

Imperial War Museum, Duxford

 
With Ashley out of town for the weekend, Anthony took the kids to the manliest museum he could find: the Imperial War Museum near Cambridge

First Day of School

 
All three "big kids" at school all day now.  I still can't believe Matthew is big enough to do this (well, by UK standards anyway).  Just me and Will now, good thing another one is on the way!! 

Goodbye Summer

I really felt like this was our first official summer holiday since it was our first time breaking from school.  It went entirely too fast, in my opinion (a mere 6 weeks here in the UK).  We tried to keep it simple and relaxing with lots of pajama days, but got excited about ticking off our own "Summer Ideas Checklist." 

 

 
We celebrated our last day of summer vacation at Clacton-on-the-Sea, flying kites, collecting shells and playing with friends.  After dark, we had one last late night using up our firework reserve and sending off a lantern.  Goodbye Summer, we already miss you!
 

Our Big News...

 

We thought it about time to reveal why we haven't blogged in almost 4 months.
Baby #5 expected February 12, 2012!

See catch up posts below

Summer Holiday 2011

Breaking up the long drive to Switzerland, we spent Monday and Tuesday at Disneyland Paris

 
Beach and boat playgrounds at the Zurichsee

 

 

Baar Pool

We hit Switzerland right during their end of summer heat wave and spent a little time almost every day (including my birthday) at our favorite pool

 
Knonau (next two collages as well)
Parks, playgrounds, clock tower, the stream, the soccer field and visiting old friends.  We spent more than a few days reliving our old fairy tale life in this little town we loved so much

 
Engelberg
Back to one of our favorite mountain spots.  Funny, I was pregnant with Will the last time we visited this mountain

 
More Knonau:  Pride Rock 
(Added bonuses: Matthew has perfected peeing in the bushes on this trip...that little white bum was too cute not to capture, a few times!)  Also, Will has learned "thumbs up" but only puts his thumb up a quarter of the time)

 
Flying children 

 
Zug & The Zugersee
(Can you tell in the top right I am a little paranoid now when we feed the ducks?  See below post re: Andrew swimming with fish) 

 
Lenzburg Castle

 
Last stop to break up the drive back to England:  Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany

Feeding Ducks

 
We saved our bread scraps for nearly two weeks in preparation to feed the ducks.  We arrived right at dinner time and received quite a gathering (including some new babies), until Andrew decided to fall headfirst into the duck pond and scare them all away.  Initial shock and tears turned into laughter and even boasting the following day.  "I fell into a duck pond and talked to the fish and had to wear Daddy's shirt!"  Luckily, the pond was only a few feet deep and Anthony was quick to fish out our little guy! 

Reptile Day

 

Our neighborhood park hosted lots of summer events this week, including Reptile Day.  I was amazed at how brave Andrew and Brooke were, standing in line over and over again to hold each reptile!  Favorites: Python and "Boa Constructor." 

Slumber Party

 
School is out!  We celebrated by building an enormous den in our living room; the kids slept in it for an entire week before we took it down (pillow fights are mandatory for slumber parties)! 

Sports Day

 
For our stake sports day our family chose to be Team Swiss.  Matthew proved excellent at the egg and spoon race (holding it on with both hands really helped!), and Andrew and Brooke seemed born to be three-legged race partners (being twins having anything to do with it?)! 

Last Day of School

 
Andrew and Brooke's last day of Reception (kindergarten) and Matthew's last day at Rainbow's pre-school.  They seemed to have grown up so much this year!
After our very short summer holiday, Matthew will be joining the older two at Primary school. 

Camping

 
Anthony took the older 3 kids out on their first camp-out (not in our backyard).  They have definitely inherited his Colorado love for camping!   

Silverstone F1

 
A work event gave Anthony a close up look at the world of Formula 1 and Michael Schumacher's car. 

Berry Picking

 

Another repeat event from last summer.  This year we added cherries and plums to our usual strawberries and raspberries, and Matthew made friends with a goat he named Brownie.

Three Foot People Festival

 
The kids loved this festival so much last year that I felt it my motherly duty to take Andrew and Brooke out of school for the last year they could attend.
Face painting (a scorpion, lion and Batman), play-dough cupcakes, enormous sand pit, coloring, crafts, petting zoo, mad-science show, puppet and musical performances.
Another successful year for our little people under 3 Ft!     

Double Pacifier

 
Completely addicted.

Little Golfers

 
The kids love to join Anthony at the driving range.  Andrew is especially showing interest and loves to wear his hat, glove and favorite "woosh" shirt.  His favorite part is playing in the sand. 

Hampstead Heath

 
A fun day at an amazing park in London.