Let it snow!!!

We got almost 10 inches in 6 hours...

Can you see something in the snow?

Making snow angels, when suddenly attacked by the Daddy snow monster and suddenly burried.

Through the livingroom window so blurry, but ready for fun. This is the only picture that proves that Ollie did go out in the snow for about 5 minutes. He doesn't like the cold very much. But Katya was that way last year, so I'm sure Daddy's infectious excitement will catch him in the near future.

Can you believe that fell in 6 hours?

Christmas catch-up!

So this is a quick catch up... just short captions to make sense of the pictures since October!!!! Ahh this new baby is taking the oomph out of me!! Here we are on the really cool model steam engine train to see Santa in the woods. It was REALLY fun!!!
They all look sufficiently awkward!! Santa included...
Grandma, we got a little confused who the outfit was for? We just thought it was great that it fit her too!
Here come the awkward smiles. But they look great don't they. Thanks grandma!!

On the way to town to see the Christmas market. Somehow it was too busy to take pictures in the actual market...
Sleepover pancake morning. I really love Katya's face!!!!
I'm loving these little Halloween dickens!!!
Arg!!!
Too cute to be scary


Does this child have enough Spidermans? Plus he really wants to wear a school uniform!
Everyone sleepy after a hard day at school...
This is from the summer when we were watching Abby. I love how they are all asleep and looking oh so comfortable!

The first day of really being big!

Before we leave posing for mommy in her uniform and with her fancy school hairdo!


Obligatory self portrait!

Outside the school still smiling! And even a sunny day for the occasion. Remember we don't live in California so this was an extra special treat. Oliver has his hood on because he is a crazy child, not because it was cold!


This picture was her own idea. She is the ultimate poser! We dropped her in her class and she just waved us out the door! No tears, no glances back, very very ready to start!

When I went to pick her up she looked at me and said... "It was a bad day!"

Her teacher chimed right in with the whole story. And just to preclude it wasn't an entirely bad day, just one bad thing happened. She was at lunch and a girl told her she was "all nasty and naughty". She cried and cried for a total of 5 minutes and then went off to play. She mentioned it a few times, but survived! It reminds of another story about a little girl in Fountain Valley saying to the new neighbors..."Don't you think I'm pretty?" and the reaction was not favourable. Like mother like daughter!

Sunny Aberdeen?

So it was a fabulously sunny and warm week in Aberdeen and we couldn't believe it! Our dear friend Gisella and her boys Niki and Beni were fabulous hosts and made our stay comfortable and fun. The kids loved having their best friends to play with and it was nice that Gi lived in a place that was so safe and fun for the kids to play at. The picture above is us in Edinburgh on our way home.
This is the way the kids slept. Together in a single bed. They went to sleep with no issues every night, we couldn't believe it. How cute are they?

Ice cream by the beach at sunset. BEAUTIFUL! Katya told me she was tired of taking pictures and it was "boring". So she hid behind me. Boring is her favorite new word. She uses it to describe pretty much anything she doesn't like.

At Crathes Castle they were looking for the secret garden in the main garden. They loved running about like crazies!

Here we are. Crathes Castle was given to the Burnett family by Robert the Bruce in the 15th century. It has amazing painted ceiling from the 16th century. It was a lot of stairs to climb and the monkeys even liked it!

Climbing the sea wall at Aberdeen beach. It provided lots of fun and games! Can you believe how good they are at keeping hats on? I am!
Katya and Niki posing as the Karate Kid. She loved borrowing Beni's wet suit. She could swim in the waves and not get cold. Martin on the other hand had very cold legs. It is the North Sea!

As you can see in the following pictures Katya has decided that posing for pictures is REALLY cool. She comes up with amazing ways of contorting her body to look cool and funny. It makes for hilarious pictures at least!


Posing best friends in downtown Aberdeen.


Hank and Leah will love this. This costume caused yet another holiday spider man melt-down for poor Oliver Cormac. He didn't want to EVER take it off and it is Beni's and Beni wanted a turn. We had to shut him into our room for 45 minutes before he stopped screaming. Gisella put it away so we wouldn't have to freak out anymore. At least it was at home not in the mall like last time. I am seriously wondering if Oliver will stop believing in Santa Claus if he doesn't get a spider man costume for Christmas, because it is ALL HE TALKS ABOUT! And I am not sure that he will ever wear anything else if he gets one?


Ice creams on Stonehaven beach. We had to do the play in your underpants thing because we weren't expecting such a beautiful sunny day. They didn't care and it was really empty on the beach so we didn't either!


View of the coast from Dunnottar Castle! It was the coolest ruined castle I have EVER seen and the kids loved it as much as we did. Only carrying Oliver up the steps was not fun for Martin!

Daddy and Oliver hanging out on the rocks on the beach near Dunnottar castle. Oliver has no fear climbing up anything, its the coming down that he struggles with! I guess that explains his ability to climb into his baby cot, but disability to climb out. Also his love for climbing onto Katya's top bunk and then yelling for someone to help him down. He is hilarious!

Here we are before the descent and then ascent to Dunnottar Castle. It was amazing!

I couldn't picture a more perfect ruined Scottish cliff side castle. It was like movie!

Big School!!!!

Here she is, in her messy room, in her big school uniform. She will also have black or grey tights and black shoes, but thats it for decision. How lovely to wake up every morning and not fight about what she will wear, because thats what we have been doing for the past 2 years. She is so fiercly independent and doesn't like being told what to wear, add to that her wierd fashion sense and that would explain some of her amazing outfits in the past few months. I have also somehow managed to convince her that she is not allowed to wear her hair down because that is the school rule with uniforms. So I will be able to do her hair cute more days than just Sundays now too! So hopefully her scruffy days are over and my mornings will be alot more carefree! I live in hope.

Visits, Easter, birthdays, and other general silliness!

Hank, Leah and Sam arrived the 24th of March and it has been all systems go until they left the 14th of April missing the complete shut down of British air space for ever since and its Monday night and still not a single commercial flight in or out of England. We had such an absolute blast with our family. The kids loved it and hated it. Its funny how kids are slaves to routine and these kids really missed theirs. At times when we were on a train or in the car or he was strapped in his push chair Ollie would say, "I want to go to Inglenook". That's the name of his nursery. So they are glad to return to their schedule and some normalcy, but are still missing their Baby Sam. Here is Oliver in all his silly splendor sitting in the window flying like Superman. Oh the stories I can tell about his ultimate temper tantrums in public places because of Spiderman. He wants a Spiderman muscle costume so bad sometimes it is impossible to control himself. He was running as fast as he could in the mall again and again to return to the toy store and look at the costume. Hanks said it was funny because his face when he first saw it wasn't even happy just worried because he knew what I was going to say when he demanded it. I think I have convinced him that Santa Claus knows he wants it and if he is a very good boy maybe he will bring it to him. Its amazing how many little boys you see wandering around in Spiderman suits when you really don't want to. It makes for some fun times with Ollie!

Can you see home much chocolate Oliver has crammed into his little mouth. It was his favorite word for days after Easter. The Easter bunny doesn't bring baskets in England only GIGANTIC chocolate eggs and lots of cream eggs, oh and mini-eggs too. All Cadbury of course... Though I do prefer a nice Lindt Lindor egg myself!

This was a relatively miserable rainy day, but the misery stopped with the weather and the fun began with Nanny and Grandad meeting Hank, Leah, and Sam, touring some beautiful country homes, and eating a lovely country pub meal. So the best story from this day goes like this... Mommy tells Katya and Ollie to be careful and not fall in the mud because they don't have a change of clothes and they will be muddy all day then...then Mommy goes and fall in the mud and has to walk around all day with muddy trousers.

Katya and Ollie sent to slave in the coal mines of the Black Country(notice Oliver hasn't left Spiderman out of the fun).

Happy Birthday to Katya. I can't believe she is 4! She had 4 Ladybird (Ladybug for the Americans) cupcakes and lots of other silly cupcakes made by all of us. Can you see the Blonde Wario cupcake designed by Uncle Hanky!

Grandma Marty thanks for the awesome Monkey gears set! She thinks its so cool!

Oliver riding on top of the Black Country Fair London Bus.

Katya driving the Titanic before it sunk. She is such sweet and kind girl!

Here are the cousins in their warm jammies playing together. They love each other so much. Ollie still asks every morning where Hanky, Leah, and Baby Sam are.

This is a lovely little seaside town on the south coast of England called Christchurch.

Katya and Oliver looking very American in their super cute Easter outfits from Grandma Marty. Katya loves her dress and everyone says Ollie looks like a mini golfer. I am so thankful for the kindness of my mom!

It was a beautiful, but freezing cold windy day at Stonehenge, but we soldiered on!

Here we are on top of the Liverpool Cathedral Bell tower, 330 feet above Liverpool. Martin got sudden vertigo and I had to carry Ollie up the stairs because he was afraid he would drop him!

These are my favourite pictures at the Liverpool Tate Museum. Katya designed these photos herself. She saw this bench and was OBSESSED with it. She wanted to lay on her side and have her picture taken and then she wanted daddy to do it too and hide behind him. I love her little girl skinny jeans! Hand me downs from her hip cousin Teigan!