Wardy Family

Merry Merry!!

2012-01-07T00:55:00.001-08:00

We opened stockings and had Santa gifts before church!! At least they are happy!

Ollie with the Legoman torch (flashlight for you yanks!) . He loves it!!

The cuteness of sitting baby Ella is great. She got several really fun toys and was equally excited with the wrapping paper!

Ella's happy! Somehow I convinced the kids that Santa sometimes comes into your attic and recycles toys for younger brothers and sisters because they don't need 2 giant rocking toys, for example. They bought it, so weren't worried that Santa gave Ella a toy we already had in the attic!

The full legoman invasion. Tell me I am a cool mom. He also got a note from Santa that said if he started to dismember the legomen, that mommy would have to take the away. He has not removed one body part. Well done me!

She has played with it maybe 2 times, but she has her Barbie.

Christmas Eve Arab chidren. Katya was unsure of the coolness...

Being reverent for the Christmas Eve program. They are certainly sweet!!!

In bed before 11 and not up unitl after 8am Christmas morning. It was all ready for them!!!!

And a Happy New Year...

2012-01-07T00:27:00.000-08:00

With Nanny and Grandad at Baddesley Clinton for a brisk winter walk!

Lovely moated Baddesley Clinton...

Cute superimposed children, not really, but it kind of looks like it!

Swinging in the new year. How cute are those two?

We love this swing/see-saw, sometimes even Daddy and Grandad have a go!

New Year's Eve ice cream sundaes. Notice Oliver's love of his new pajama bottoms. He wants to wear them whenever he is home, despite the time of day!

Hope you all had a happy one!!!

The new camera!! Hooray!!

2011-12-12T03:44:00.001-08:00

I will use it as an excuse, but it isn't a very good one, that our camera broke back in October as the reason I haven't posted very many blogs recently! But we got a new camera last week and managed to take some adorable photos of the kids on the weekend at a friend's wedding. How sweet are they? How cheeky does Ollie look? So I hope this finds everyone insanely busy preparing for weddings and Christmas, but happy and full of the right spirit for this time of year. We hope you all have safe and peaceful car journeys and spend wonderful times together as families!!!

Why is it so much harder?

2011-10-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

Ollie's First day of school!!!

It seems that the third child tips the balances in more ways than one. You need a bigger car, a bigger house, a big washing machine...now why couldn't that all come with a 28 hour day and an 8 day week to get everything done. Life is good, but I feel like anytime there is a second free I need to lie in a darkened corner and be quiet! Still at the same time I love it and wouldn't want it to be any other way. So I am going to post quite a few pictures, working backwards, representing all the fun we have had since July!!! Hope this post finds you all happy and well...
Ollie's first day---He doesn't look happy at all.

Katya's first day of Year 1

She's a cute serious baby!Notice the wet chin, its a recurring theme.

Trying to smile while Oliver looms.

She finally managed it!

One more of Katya's first day. In line with all her chums. The little girl in the pink polkadot coat is her best friend Hannah.

I can't claim to be the phtographer of this series of photos. That would be the magnificent Martin. We had a lovely day in Lincoln on our way home from an awesome visit to Uncle Richard in Grimsby!

More in Lincoln

Best friends in Lincoln

This is the cathedral in Lincoln. It is truly awesome and well worth the stop!

More cute siblings. Ella really is the perfect blend of Ollie and Katya. She has Oliver's face shape, but Katya's eyes and mouth.

At the National fishing museum with Richard. They make lovely fishermen!

On the open top bus in Grimsby. The weather was AMAZING!

At the seaside in Cleethorpes.

Again at the seaside, except did you notice what is missing... the sea! You have to walk at least a half a mile to find it at low tide!

Ollie at the Safari park. Pleased with the yellow vehicle.

Brave Katya let the giraffe eat right out of her hand at the Safari Park. If you have never fed a giraffe let me tell you their tongues are so rough and strong!!! It worried even me.

Annoying people at the Safari park with our melody pops.

These kids have the coolest dad. He drove them all the way to one of the highest points in Birmingham and let them stay up until the sun set at about 9:15. They loved watching it slip below the horizon.

Its Ella!

2011-07-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

You gotta love the baby mugshot. The point of this photo is to demonstrate the similarities! Am I the only one who sees it? Even the haircut!!

How can you not love this. Ollie was SOOOO happy because Ella is laying in bed with him. I tell you that boy LOVES his sister. He kisses her at least 10 times an hour. So we have made some new kissing rules, but he seldom follows them! Stinker!!! They include no kissing when she is sleeping, no hard kissing, and no kissing if your nose is running!

Martin took these in the past few days and the just demonstrate the cuteness. She is smiling, but our camera is too slow to catch it. And they are only beginning smiles. There are a few hints in the following photos.

Can you see the beginning of a smile?

Just displaying the general chubby cuteness of Ella. He nicknames have started to develop. I call her "bean" from jelly bean, it modulated from "ellie bean" to "Ella bean" finally just to bean.

I love the floating asleep hand. She makes some pretty awesome moves in her sleep. Ollie says to me all the time, "Mommy she's so cute I have to hold her". Sometimes we are crossing the road when he says this. It is sweet!

You can definitely see the smile here!!!

Why is it so impossible to take a cute picture of three little kids. This is the closest we got last Sunday. I included the failure that makes me the saddest at the bottom if only Ollie hadn't pulled such a "sad" face.

Sisters!!!
This one of Mom trying to give her a baby mohawke! Behold the arm chub!

If only Ollie could smile at the appropriate moment. It reminds me of Trevor!!!

Ella Margaret Ward

2011-05-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

That smile says it all! I know someone who is really smitten. Katya turned to me today and just said, "Mommy I really love Ella!". It is very sweet!

Just behold that chub!!!

The legs are very munchable!!! 10lbs 3oz 20.5 inches.

He is pretty sweet with her too. He worries when she cries and is a bit afraid to hold her, thank heavens. We are encouraging softness.

So the short of it is...being induced is not wonderful. Labour was still short at 1 1/2 hours, but it was so intense and painful. I will share the whole birth story at a later date, but for today we are glad to be home, safe, and well!

The Malvern HIlls with Daddy!

2011-05-14T12:36:00.001-07:00

Daddy was kind to Mommy and took the kids along on the Aaronic Priesthood commemorative walk early this morning. I had the morning and afternoon off and it was LOVELY! It looks like they all had fun too! Here's Ollie getting a little help from some friends.

He doesn't look so sure!

Hold on!

She walked the whole 2 hours with NO help. Go 5 year old power! She also got her 25 meter swimming badge this week!

This face describes Oliver Cormac Ward's attitude to life about now! He is such a funny monkey!

Spring happenings!

2011-04-13T08:59:00.001-07:00

I laugh when I notice the lack of blog updates this year! It is so indicative of a pregnant belly and feeling so tired all the time. But besides that I have been feeling good. We have had many exciting happenings in the Ward household. The weather has been quite lovely recently so we have had many adventures in the outdoors. I am sure that once Wardy #3 appears on the scene we will have many more and hopefully more frequent updates for all of you!

This was Katya's choice for dressing up for National Book Day. She and 3 of her friends dressed up like Dalmations. She made a mighty cute puppy!

The pictures got a bit mixed up, but this is one of many photos from Katya's party. We had gorgeous weather and luckily it could all be in the garden. I love how most of the photos the children are yelling and screaming!

Katya and Ollie preparing for a Sunday afternoon spring wellie walk with Daddy!

They had 5 minutes to decorate one of their team members as a mummy. Katya was quite pleased with the wrapping she received. Next to her is one of her best friends, Aleeha.

Oliver, unable to stay on his feet, in the giant silly trousers. They loved this dress-up relay!

More silly dress up antics!

More screaming group shots!

The other mummy!

Katya playing dress up on a day out with Daddy to the university botanical gardens.

I don't recognize these 2 do you?

Looking sweet, especially Katya's graffiti hat that she insisted on wearing. But still sweet!

The last of the daffodils, and Oliver's tongue!

Katya looks way too grown up in this picture. We made her M&M rainbow cake together. She was very proud of it. She blew her candles out halfway through the song. She had a great day!

Serious Catch-up!!!

2011-02-06T08:49:00.001-08:00

It seems every year around this time of year I realize I haven't posted since before Christmas. But I made a few minutes to give you all a photo catch-up. I will try to write a brief caption for each photo and let you all know what we are up to!!! This is Katya and one of her good friends from Reception Aliha and her little sister, Aliza. Their family moved here from Pakistan last May and were excited to spend their first christian Christmas in England, so we invited them to our house for Christmas Eve celebrations!

Many of you will understand the significance of this picture. Finally the Spiderman suit was acquired. There was much happiness that Christmas morn!!! Nice that the kids slept in until 8:00 am. We couldn't believe it!

Katya on her snazzy purple bike! Thanks Father Christmas! She has ridden it about 3 times. The weather has been too cold and snowy/rainy. Can't wait for some better weather!

Katya loved it but Ollie was really not sure! He just doesn't like being cold so it never lasted longer than 5 minutes for him. While Katya would go for hours!

Mush Mush Daddy!

Not too impressed. We have some video footage of Katya's wild rides! She loved it!

We were lucky enough to have Uncle Tommy come and stay with us shortly after the New Year! We all went to Warwick castle. It was fun for everyone! Despite being bitterly cold.

Sometimes I might really enjoy some of these in my own backyard, but alas I think social services would have something to say about it!

Ollie loved crazy Uncle Tommy! He talked about him for days after he left and still asks when he will come again!

The old sword in the stone!

Ollie's birthday was fun, but difficult to photograph. I find 3 year olds impossible to get to stand still for more than 3 seconds. We have an old digital camera that you have to hold the button down for like 5 seconds before it takes the picture so you can imagine the difficulty! The cake was not one of my finest, but I had limited supplies!

I'm pretty sure he was singing Happy Birthday to himself!

Opening presents with cousins and friends, oh and Katya too!

This picture is the epitome of Oliver Ward. Martin call him a Coo-coo!!

This was on his actual birthday morning with his hand me down plastic, sort of broken castle, but he LOVES it. Can't wait to Grandma brings him his real birthday castle when she comes in June!

At least now you all know that we haven't forgotten to photograph our children and will try to be better about posting! I can't imagine it will be easier when number 3 comes along!

Let it snow!!!

2010-12-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-19T02:09:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-09-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-08-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2010-07-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

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!

Ollie's 2nd Birthday...Hooray!

2010-01-28T08:18:00.001-08:00

Thank you Nanny and Grandad for the star present. Oliver and his big sister Katya LOVE this gift. Its a big indoor toy, but this time of year when there isn't too much outdoor play possible it is wonderful. They really use their imagination too. I asked Oliver where he was driving to yesterday and without a second thought he said " to Disneyland". Of course where else would you go if you had such a cool foot pedal car?

Here is the dude himself! I love this picture because this is really what he looks like right now. He is such a generally happy chappy. Ok so he does like to scream on public transport, Oh and he does frequently wake up at 4:30 am repeatedly uttering the phrase, "I don't like to go to bed.", in a happy sweet voice in my ear as I try to get him to go back to sleep in bed with us. That is actually sweet just not at 4:30 am.

Ollie, Katya, and Teigan opening the cool legos from Gramma and Bampa! Katya's eagerness to help Ollie open his gifts faster reminds of a story I once heard about a big sister that couldn't control herself and had to "help" her younger brothers and sisters open their presents faster. I don't know who that big sister could have been? Any ideas?

"Superman", sung in a sweet raspy voice. He is truly a boy

How are their eyes so blue? I'm pretty sure Oliver is telling Katya something very important in this picture. I just don't know what!

I was impressed with my Superman cake and Spiderman cupcakes, but not as impressed as Ollie and Katya. Ok so the cupcakes are more pink than they are red, but no matter how much food colouring I added they stayed pink. So I couldn't have a pink "S" for Superman so I used the tube of writing icing and filled it in that way. It took a REALLY long time, but it was worth it!

Happy Birthday my big boy!

Unusually cold...

2010-01-08T09:09:00.001-08:00

Snow suits are courtesty of Callum and Teigan. They kept them warm and dry and they played outside for nearly an hour. Last year Katya lasted a grand total of about 10 minutes in the cold!

Hey its a lot for us!

I added a little Christmas. Here is Katya with her Giant Castle puzzle from Grandma, she loves it and we do it at least once a day!

Stocking Carnage , also admire the "mation", as Ollie calls them, jammas!!

Spider man helicopter need I say more. Also cute Thomas jammies that he got on Christmas Eve!

This little video sums up Katya and Ollie's excitement with Katya's ministry of silly walks scissor run into the fresh snow and Ollie's "WEEEE" as he walks down the path! This was their first release into the white stuff so it is genuine excitement!

Blog Neglect!

2009-12-20T04:59:00.000-08:00

A long long overdue update. The story of why we have been so out of it is at the end of the pictures.
Innkeeper #3 grooving in the hay!

She's a natural!

Oliver being very serious about his stage debut!

Katya with Innkeeper 1 and 2

Oliver with the angels.

Katya getting a present from Santa! She had her face painted and when they asked what she wanted to be she said "a pink leopard of course".

Can you see the little boy excitement on his sweet face?

Waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the man...

I think pictures says it all, a little too much chocolate!

Decorating fairy cakes with Daddy and Nanny!

Christmas Shopping with Noddy and Makka Pakka

All bundled up, Oliver is sporting his mega black eye!

We have had a pretty eventful last two months. We have made 5 trips to the emergency room at the children's hospital with Oliver! He has been diagnosed with asthma and 4 of those trips were for oxygen and nebeulizer treatments. Twice they hospitalized him for 3 days. The extra trip was to get his face glued together after he ran straight into the edge of the coffee table. The brits say, "he's been in the wars". It seems we finally have treatment on a daily basis that is helping and he hasn't been in the hospital for almost 3 weeks. We are aiming for a hospital free Christmas. I guess this is my explanation for being sparse on the updates.

The kids have, amidst the insanity, been to see Santa and starred in their nursery school nativity play as a Shepherd and Innkeeper #3. You might not have known, but apparently there were 3 innkeepers and they all wore pink outfits, also the boy shepherds seem to be pretty in purple and pink! Hope the pictures make you as happy as me. Oliver is ENAMOURED with Christmas. He loves the decorations, Santa Claus, the Nativities, you name it he is so happy with it. I think being 2 at Christmas is amazing I wish I could remember it!

The Smartest

2009-11-11T03:10:00.000-08:00

I know every mom thinks her child is the smartest in the world, but Katya really might be ; )
She can now write her name all by herself. I am so impressed. She is getting more and more confident. Sometimes the letters are in the wrong order, but she gets it right most of the time!

All her own doing, except the example name written by me!

She signed this card for Ollie that they helped her make at nursery!

She even tried Ollie's name! Plus you got to love his hair and the fact that he is apparently suffering from gangrene!

Halloween Party Fun!

2009-10-31T13:19:00.001-07:00

We have been meeting up with some other moms from our ward on Friday mornings, so we decided to host a Halloween party. Teigan came to sleep over Thursday night and we had so much fun getting things ready. This lot is such a bunch of characters. It amazes me how little 2 and 3 year olds can already have such distinct personalities!

Eating the vegetable kitty!! Can you believe that the little girl sitting next to Katya is only 2?!

The carved pumpkin madness! In the garage with the light off. Good thing Martin is a quick thinker, I couldn't work out how to show them off properly to the kids in the middle of the day!

Teigan, Poppy, Katya, Ollie, and Eliza

Martin helping Joel to carve his pumpkin. Joel is so cute and such a little individual. He kept poking me in tummy to get my attention the whole day!

Teigan and Katya posing as witch princesses.

Oliver looks like he has a bad case of acne, it is supposed to be a pirate beard. Here he is a witch pirate. He wasn't really into dressing up! He mostly just wanted to wear his pirate wellie boots.

The proud creators of the scary vegetable cat! I would like to take credit for the creativity behind it, but alas I found it online!

Hello Vegetable Crudite Cat with a hummus head!

Teigand and Katya assembling the critter!

Oliver mostly chewed up pieces of veg and then spit them out, he didn't really want to eat them, but they looked so pretty and he knows you're supposed to eat them. Yes, Hank, he still has his dummy in his mouth. He doesn't need it, I need him to have it! Someone gave me a really good idea to cure him of it though. Collect all your dummies, I think we have 5 on the go now, and have your child put them into a build-a-bear stuffed toy themselves and they will have a "dummy toy" to sleep with. I am worried Ollie would find a way to tear through to his beloved "ummie" if he knew it was actually inside. I promise we will be done with dummies before Hank, Leah, and Sammy come to visit, you can hold me to it!

Conkers Conkers Conkers!!!

2009-10-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

Autumn in England means cool weather, leaves falling, Hallow's Eve, and Bonfire night to many. But to Katya and Ollie Ward it mainly means CONKERS! Yes thanks to Nanny and Daddan we have exactly 239 conkers, 4 pine cones and a few acorns. What do we do with them you say? We count them, arrange them in geometrical shapes, pour them from container to container, throw them, attempt to eat them (if we are Oliver), and even do dances around them (thanks to Katya's friend Joel for the inspiration!). They are really called Horsechestnuts and are not the edible "roasting on a fire" type. But nevertheless they provide hours of free fun!

Ollie sitting in the ring of conkers! He mostly destroys Katya's careful creations!

All 239 of them!

Thumbs up for conkers!!!

Family Family Family!

2009-09-01T04:56:00.001-07:00

No one can truly represent in words the maddness, volume, and wonderfulness of the month of August in Sam and Mary Florence's home on 580 North Loop Drive. Friendships were forged (Oliver and Olivia), rivalries created (Katya and Alicey, though a very loving friendly rivalry, but their was competition wasn't there!), and adoration oblated (especially to Hanky, Leah, and Baby Sam). We spent the first week of August having an activity packed lovefest with all the immediate family and their monkeys (children). One thing is for sure, NO ONE went hungry. There was yummy food, lots of beach time, swimming, and even an unbirthday party for the cousins, who don't usually get to spend their birthdays together. It was gratuitous, but heaven for little ones. We even went to Disneyland with all the siblings and their kids. I will do a seperate blog entry for our 2 Disneyland excursions, but it was tiring and wonderful. We had a fabulous reunion with the Bradshaws and once again ate very well. The next 2 days Mandy and Trevor and Lindsay and family left. Hank and Leah struck camp in the way backyard, they had been sleeping in a tent back there during the whole week, and returned to their bed in Thousand Oaks. That left Heather and Cesar and their girls who stayed for a whole extra week. We had park dates, library fun, and tons of swimming and beaching. The day they left Dado, Grandma, Ashley (my cousin Andrew's fiancee), and Aunt Debbie arrived for a weeks visit. It was great to see them and spend quality time. The same day Martin's brother Matthew along with Trudy, Callum, and Teigan arrived for their weeks stay in Carpenteria. So we spent that week playing with Martin's family in the day and evenings with everyone else at home until Dad's 61st birthday when we returned to Disneyland! Another exhausting, but fun filled day. After everyone left Thursday we finally got to chill a little bit, with just my parents and Summer at home, but with Hank and Leah and Sam joining us most days. It was joyous and long and relaxing and manic all at the same time! Despite nightime trauma with Katya and Oliver, they were great and had a magical time. Though on the taxi ride home from the bus station in Birmingham to our house Katya turned to me and said, "Mommy, I love England!"
Sam, Oliver, and Calvin in their matching dungarees!

Katya, Alicey, Oliver, and Olivia cooking up something good in the backyard.

Cuties!! Olivia and Oliver

Katya, Sam and Oliver in the pink bath. (Katya really liked that it was pink!)

Alicey and Katya loving Bampa... he is pretty loveable!

Olivia and Oliver playing with their presents from the cousin Unbirthday party.

Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets and chips at the party!

Bampa and his Oliver playing on the rocks at the beach!

All the girl cousins of Marty and Carol! How can we be so grown up?!

I love this picture of Pa and many of his great-grandies especially their varying degrees of happiness and sadness!
Oliver really loved his Pa!

Four Bradshaw generations. Pa, Mom, Me, and Katya and Ollie
The Florence Family (its funny to me how we look too small without all the spouses and kids)

Ah this is more like it, the whole Florence Family - I'm sure someone has a better one than me!

It will take a really long time...

2009-08-29T01:16:00.000-07:00

Love/Hate with Katya and Alicey

Beachtime fun

Matchy Matchy cousins courtesy of Heather

Too many presents...

Happy Unbirthday party to you!

Crying babies with Pa

Family reunions rock

Disneyland Madness

Wagon trips with Bampa

Fun with Hanky and Leah

We had the most wonderful trip to California. It seemed to go on forever and yet it was too short. We saw family and friends and loved hanging out and playing. During the next few weeks I will try to add lots of blog entries with different themes of our trip. The captions to the pictures above are some of the possibilities.

Rolly-Polly!!!!!!

2009-07-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here are Katya and Oliver in their matching red PJ's! Are they not the sweetest?

As you can see Ralph definitely visits Katya in the night.

So this is Katya and Oliver's favourite bedtime game! ROLLY-POLLY! You have to say it long and sing songy for it to have its full effect. It amazes me how daddies all over the world create weird and wonderful games involving beds, pillows, blankets and smooshing their small children!

Summer Days of Love

2009-07-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

For those uneducated Americans out there yes Katya is having lessons in Cricket from her Nanny and Grandad. She loves bowling the best. And when she isn't too tired she is really good at hitting the ball too!

Good action shot of Katya's bowling ability!

Oliver and Katya playing this evening at Cannon Hill Park. It was so warm and so fun. They were happy with their mommy, daddy, nanny and grandad!

Oliver the wet one.

Oliver running from his splashy sister.

Don't you love his swimming trunks? They don't make 'em like that in America!

This is why he runs from his splashy sister. If he isn't fast he gets very wet! Go Ollie!

I am always amazed at how brave and sure Katya is in everything she does. Watch her tear through the park on her beloved bicycle.

And Ollie, of course wants to be just like his big sister!

Dancing and Choo-Choo trains!

2009-06-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Oliver is the best dancer ever!They just crack me up! The things they decide to do together are hillarious!

Katya and Ollie, best buds...

2009-06-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Nanny and Grandad bought these swords and knight masks for Katya and Ollie while they were on holiday. Ollie is afraid of his mask still, so no photos with him, but he still enjoys jousting with his big sister. And if you can't tell from this photo, I had to convince Katya that she couldn't sleep in the mask last night. She loves it!

They love to take naps together. They always start on opposite sides of the bed, but always at some point mid-nap they end up cuddling up and both wake up with super warm with bright red cheeks. They love each other so much!

This picture frightens me for many reasons. First, they look almost the same size! Second, they are so white, with Oliver a little less white, but still I look black compared to them. Plus this is a shot of our new hand me down couches. Not to shabby eh?

Watching the ever favorite Dora. They love to sit on their chairs and partake in the Dora experience. I have to admit it is nice to know I can just put a 30 minute DVD on and they will sit quietly and watch. Oliver loves Dora even more than Katya now. Its so funny!

It's a sunny day!!!!

2009-05-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

We belive this may be the smallest blow up pool ever created. We laughed so hard when we blew it up and realized there wouldn't be much swimming. Well what could we expect for a pound. The still had fun and I guess thats what matters. We have been finally having glorious weather. We are such Brits... I think it was 75 degrees and we were all sunning and swimming.

Yes, Martin convinced Katya to dump freezing cold water on her own head!

Here are 2 short clips of Katya and Ollie playing. I have to say that they amaze me. They really get along and play together. I am thankful and pray that they will stay that way.

Happy Mother's Day Grandma!

2009-05-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

Oliver and his beloved ball!!! I can't wait to play with you Grandma.

And a special rendition of "Popcorn Popping!"

We love you Grandma Marty! You amaze us...

Oliver the boy

2009-05-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

I am highly impressed with myself! I was talking to 2 of my friends at church yesterday about cutting Oliver's hair. They said I was daft not to cut it myself. So I used my handy dandy clippers and just did a 6 on the top and a 3 straight up the sides and it didn't turn out too shabby! Its a bit of a mom cut my hair job, but as soon as he can sit still better I don't think it will be too awful! Hooray for saving money!

Katya the singer song writer!

2009-05-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

Here is our first attempt at a video on our blog! Katya is a hillarious spontaneous performer. Hope you enjoy!

Katya the artist, new medium

2009-05-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you remember the post I posted several months ago about Katya being artistic. She drew a picture of her family that was really good all on her own. Well this is what she produced today again flying solo. She at first told me it was a rainbow and then changed her mind. She said it was lots of cookies in a row. I tell you the girl is artistic and she definitely doesn't get it from either her mom or her dad. It must come from her Gramma Marty!

Saturday is a special day...

2009-05-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

Oliver conquering the green slide! He loves to play outside. It is a sure way to guarantee his constant happiness. If he is inside he is pressing his face up to the glass of the back door waiting for someone to open it for him!

Daddy and Katya (she dressed herself, shorts and white knee high socks would not be my first choice) mowing the lawn today. Note the ancient push mower Martin is using, originally owned by his grandfather.

Shots demonstrating Oliver's prowess in the walking department. Along with the new skill comes the bumps and bruises. He has a huge one in the middle of his forhead presently! I always say happy children have skinned knees and at least a few bumps and bruises.

Best Friends!

2009-04-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here is Katya and her best friend Niki! I stole this photo off of Niki's mom's blog. She took these photos on a playdate at the park in early March when the spring flowers were just starting to blossom. They don't get much cuter than these two! Thanks Max and Gi for being such great friends and having such sweet children to be friends with my children. We love you.

Birthday money spent!

2009-04-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

So we went to the toy store and this is what we came back with! Katya the rock star! Thank you Grandma and Bampa! Plus a new umbrella and a crazy spikey ball! She had so much fun having the freedom to choose what she wanted! Plus Oliver getting cute and big. He is finally taking steps and getting braver. We bought him new shoes and I think they will help!

Hello Spring and Katya's 3rd!!!

2009-04-04T11:39:00.001-07:00

Here are Katya and Ollie a few Sundays ago. It was the first sunny spring Sunday and they got out their summer gear for church. Oliver kept putting his hat backwards like that on purpose, we kept calling him "Ollie G" in respect of the funny, if not slightly irreverent Sasha Baren Cohen of Borat fame, his original comic character was "Ali G" a gansta from Stains, a suburb of London. Anyway Borat aside, the kids are cute in these shots and as shown in the photos Katya is FINALLY allowing me to do her hair sometimes. She will wear "tails" and " 'rella bands" now and that makes mommy very happy.

I am very proud of my silly little cake! But it took some thought and action. Her party, as you can see, was a roaring success. There are no pictures of the cool games, but they played pin the wheels on the car, and other wonderful car themed games. There are pictures of them colouring and designing their own cars. We are all a little sunburned and a lot happy!

I can't believe Katya is already 3. Not because she doesn't seem 3, but where did 3 years go? She is clever, obedient, and imaginative. We love her immensely and pray that she will continue to be such a joy to us always!

We love Thursdays!

2009-03-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

We really do love Thursdays. Katya and Ollie are such good friends. I grabbed the pictures of the sitting together because they just naturally were sitting like that! I love it. Katya is very patient, especially since Oliver is starting to overpower her and knock her around a bit, just because he can. As I write he is pulling my hair as hard as he can and laughing because he knows I will say no and that is a seriously funny word to him at the moment. He says it to every question you ask him! He doesn't really say it, he yells it! But Thursday ans Fridays are fun days at the park and the Library and long walks and all good things!

Sunday Morning

2009-03-08T08:27:00.001-07:00

It has been a dramatic few weeks in the Ward home. Katya had minor surgery on her thumb. I got to spend the day with her in a hospital bed and watch her go under general anesthetic. I don't recommend it to any parent. But she survived, her strange infection is gone and as she says, "I'm all better mommy!".

We then contracted a very strange and mysterious stomach virus that knocked us all out. The worst hit was Martin, who missed 4 days of work last week. I think, knock on all the wood around me, we are reasonably healthy now. We are just waiting to see if Ollie gets chicken pox which is going around the nursery he and Katya go to Monday to Wednesdays.

Oliver is struggling with walking. He is so wimpy. He is afraid of balancing. He cries if you try to make him let go of whatever he is holding on to, to force him to try to walk. So he spends much of his time feeling frustrated, especially if we are outside. I can't let him crawl around everything is still to damp and cold here, and he can't bear to be held. He gets really angry. I keep trying to tell him, because you know 14 month old children can understand so very well, that he just needs to buck up and learn to walk, but he doesn't listen. He spends most of his life with some kind of self inflicted injury such as a big bruise on his head or face, a black eye, or some kind of cut on his face. He is all boy! He pushes cars around and loves to bang on his drum. He is a bully to Katya and knocks her over and pulls her hair. Still I don't think I'd have him any other way than how he is! All this moaning aside he is really generally a happy guy. As you can see in these photos he had his first real hair cut this week. Wow he was not impressed. He WOULD NOT sit still. I applaud the hairdresser for not making an absolute mess of it. There a couple of shorter pieces, but on the whole she did a remarkable job. It makes him look even more boy than he already is!

Watching TV on a Thursday Nite!

2009-02-15T10:40:00.001-08:00

Nothing like a little tellie on a Thurday night with Katya and Daddy!

SNOW!!!

2009-02-05T23:04:00.001-08:00

Just call him bannana mouth. Snow isn't so fun to someone who can't walk yet, mostly just cold and wet. So Ollie has been a bit house bound, but he doesn't mind as long as he has food! He is looking so much less like a baby and more like a little boy. AHHHH!

I like this shot it shows you that it was a lot of snow for us. Everytime Katya goes out to play in it she comes in crying after about 10 minutes becuase she is so cold!

Thank heavens for wellies! (rain boots for you ignorant Americans)

I love all the white roofs!

We have never had this much snow in our garden! Probably 4 or 5 inches!

We have had a snow filled week!

Here's Katya, Esme, and Harriet building a snowman! Mostly it was the daddys!

Guinnea Pigs Ahoy!

2009-01-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

We would like to introduce the two newest members of our family, Upsy Daisy and Iggle Piggle Ward-Giles. Ward-Giles because we are pet sharing with our good friends across the road so we have them one week on and one week off. We can watch over them during our holidays and when things are crowded at one house we can pass things over. We got them from Katya and Ollie's nursery and the kids LOVE them. Oliver wants to pull their hair out, poke their eyes in, and in general squeeze the air out of them. Katya is gentle and lovely with them. She and Harriet, the other little girl in the photos, are very sweet with them. We want the kids to have pets, but its hard when we go away for the entire summer, so this seems to be a good solution. I don't feel too bad leaving guinea pigs, where as it would be hard to leave a dog. So those of you who have seen our house know we have plenty of room for a 4 x 2 foot cage, hahaha! But small is small and they can be outside most of the time as long as it isn't too cold! Hope you enjoy the the scruffy little critters!

Oliver Cormac Ward 1 year on

2009-01-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

We can't believe it, but Oliver is now officially 1! He had a fun family birthday on Sunday night. Nanny and Grandad, Uncle Matty, Trudy, Callum, and Teigan came to celebrate with us. We had presents galore and the favorite one by far was the bouncy trampoline with the handy handle for him to hold on to, he LOVES it, thanks Nanny and Grandad. He boings on it first thing and last thing of everyday and lots of times in between! He also enjoys making far too much noise with his drum, maraccas, jingle stick, and super loud clacker, thanks Grandma and Bampa!! Then we all enjoyed a big piece of carrot cake, and Oliver mostly smeared his all over everything and licked the frosting a bit. We were sad that all of Oliver's american family couldn't be here, but we are looking forward to our trip this summer and also looking forward to the cousin un-birthday party to celebrate all together the birthdays we miss being so far away from each other!

Katya the artist

2009-01-04T11:44:00.001-08:00

We can't believe it! Katya has drawn this picture in 10 minutes, just before she is banished to bed. She sat by herself with her 'new pens' and created it.
The people in the picture are: large blue - daddy, smaller blue - mummy, brown - ollie, red - nanny and pink - Katya. The remaining characters are unknown - they may children we are yet to have! Who knows?

We hope you like it.

Ward family

Hindu Temple in Dudley?

2009-01-03T07:08:00.001-08:00

We have been meaning to visit this Hindu temple since it was completed a few years ago. Its in the Black Country about 10 miles from where we live. It is the biggest Hindu temple in the UK. One of the largest outside India. We were definitely in the minority here! It was very interesting and cultural and cold! Katya liked the elephants everywhere!

Cold Weather!

2009-01-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

So since New Year's Eve it hasn't gotten much above freezing and been spending most of its time far below! We've had hoar frost and have spent lots of our time cuddling up and watching movies. Except for this morning we decided to boldly face the cold and went for a walk in the Clent Hills, Katya calls them mountains, silly British baby, she'll die when she goes to Utah! Sadly we are back to work and school and the old routine Monday. But it has been a wonderful, restful, and much to our pleasant surprise, healthy break!

Katya and Poppy!

2008-12-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

These two really are best friends. Sadly Poppy graduates to primary next week while Katya sticks around another year. But she'll be there to greet Ollie this summer! How much do you love Katya and Poppy's outfits. Classic British Christmas fancy dress!

Katya and Ollie's nursery Christmas party!

2008-12-26T14:07:00.001-08:00

Here are a few photos of Katya and Oliver at their nursery Christmas party. I wasn't supposed to take pictures of the other kids, so they are not too exciting, but you get a feel for how much they love it. And a reminder of how much Oliver hates Santa!

The happiest day of the year!!!

2008-12-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

I think you can pretty much tell by the expression on Katya's face in most of the following pictures that it was a pretty good Christmas! She was happy ALL day. Probably the most exciting thing was the fact that Father Christmas took a bite of his mince pie and the deer (she's too lazy to call them reindeer) nibbled on his carrot! It is definite toy madness at our house and everyone, including Oliver, is enjoying the fun! We had a quiet day at home, then headed over to Martin's brother Matthew's house for Christmas evening goodness. Katya basically had Christmas 3 times and is feeling good about it all. Martin had turkey for the first time and liked it. Oliver's grandmothers must both have great minds that think alike because they bought him the exact same toy even though they are oceans apart. We exchanged the one here in England and got him a tool bench and some cool giant foam blocks! We are looking forward to relaxing and playing Settler's of Catan thanks to Mom and Dad Florence! Hooray!

Crazy hair

2008-12-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus gave Katya a present of lots of purple hair stuff, a purple comb, and a purple mirror. That afternoon she opened up the Katya ward hair salon. It only cost 20 pence a style. She did nanny, grandad, and my hair. She had SOOO much fun and it is basically the best thing in the world to her right now. I should by all of her chrismas presents for under a pound and she would still be happy! We used all of the hair ties and clips in our hair for these glamour shots!

Father Christmas!

2008-12-14T11:06:00.001-08:00

For some it is a jubilant joyous time, for others it is downright scary. You can guess in our family who fit into what category. Nanny and Grandad took us to see Santa on Saturday. The kids got all dolled up in their Grandma Florence special Christmas outfits and were so excited for the day. We almost washed away getting there. It has been raining TONS and we had to drive through rivers of water to get to the garden center we always go to to see the man in the red suit. They enjoyed the white wolves and other many lights. Then the ride to the north pole began. I think Katya really believed we were in a dog sled on our way there. Oliver was wary from the outset. But Katya kept encouraging him and showing him the way. She sat very quietly next to Santa and whispered her answers to his questions. She was VERY serious about the whole affair. No smiling, no crying, just down to business. Ollie just cried and wanted me to hold him, no sitting on Santa's knee for him! Katya is so sweet with him, she wants him to do everything that she does. She mothers him like a proper oldest sister! She is learning from a pro though wouldn't you say younger siblings of mine? It was overall a really nice morning!

just runnin' around...

2008-12-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy with multiple school concerts, church concerts, and weddings that it has been nice for the past 2 days just to hang around with my kids. Martin isn't feeling brilliant after a mega week of concerts he is taking it easy with us tonight! We are so looking forward to Christmas break and 2 weeks of cuddling up in a warm house and eating mince pies and the like. We miss you our family, but are glad you will all be together and we're not far behind this summer! Also notice that my children love to watch Hanky on the computer! Even Oliver tries to get a look in! You can also see wonderful examples of Ollie's favorite past time pulling things (like tissues) out! Such a fun stage!

Cheeky Mucky Puppies! (could they be more british?)

2008-11-14T09:49:00.001-08:00

The first picture is actually from Halloween and I didn't realize what a great picture of Katya it is was until I really looked at it!

The others are from this morning and shows the cute cheekiness of my lovely monkeys! I don't think they get much nicer than these two. Especially since Oliver has decided sleeping through the night is a good idea. Enough sleep makes everthing happier!

TGIF!!!

2008-11-14T09:40:00.001-08:00

Imagine the soundtrack to this dance...

Bicycle Race by Queen

We often boogie on Fridays because we have nothing better to do! Friday is our completely stress free fun day and today we did alot of colouring and dancing! Katya's FAVORITE CD is Queen's Best Hits and her favourite is Bicycle! She loves it!

Also notice the panpipes. She is a multicultural baby too! Got to love it!

2008-11-14T09:39:00.001-08:00

Spooky!

2008-11-05T12:10:00.001-08:00

So "Hallowe'en", as it is correctly spelled, all you uneducated Americans, is a much darker and spoookier affair here in England. You have to dress up like something scary, no princesses, superheros, or characters, just good old fashioned witches, ghosts, and all things black. So we had a scary spider and a little skeleton. Katya would correct you if you said she was a little spider, "No, I'm big and Ollie is little. He's just a baby". We spent the day with our Austrian friends Max and Gisella and their two kids Niki and Beni. They were all so cute together. We didn't trick or treat, because it isn't really done like it is in America, but I think Katya ate more candy on Thursday and Friday nights then she has eaten in her whole life combined. So she was in no means deprived. We carved pumpkin, ate pumpkin soup, and in general ate too many chocolates and sweets. The night ended in the parents sitting in the front room having a second round of chocolate fondue, while the children took out every toy, puzzle, and game and dumped them in the middle of the room. We thought it was suspiciously quiet and payed the price for our indulgence. But everyone had fun!

A Royal Message from Across the Pond

2008-10-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Now please take this for what it is meant... simply funny!

Message from Her Majesty the Queen

To: the citizens of the United States of America

From: Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

1. Look up ‘aluminium,’ and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour', 'favour', 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise'. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'voca bulary').

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as 'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.
Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

8. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $13/US gallon. Get used to it.

9. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

10. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

11. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

12. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

13. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

14. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

15. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

16. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

Cuties

2008-10-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

We love them and so should you....

Nap Time!

2008-10-09T03:43:00.001-07:00

My monkeys get so tired during the week that sometimes they fall asleep like this before mid-day. They are such good friends. I am so grateful for how much they play together and help each other!

New Shoes!

2008-10-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Oliver has his first pair of shoes since his arrival in January. The nursery have guilted us into buying him footwear because they say he plays outside a lot and shoes are necessary. On three consecutive days, nursery staff asked Leah to purchase him shoes. So, feeling a little guilty we purchased him cheap, waste-of-money shoes which are too small for his broad feet. Thankfully, a week later Nanny Ward stepped in and bought him red Clark's shoes. They were an absolute bargain at only £20 ($40)!!!!!

Our life...

2008-10-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Life is busy. I thought it would be interesting to some to have an outline of a typical work day. It kind of has to start the night before actually, because without preparation we would never get out the door before 8:00am. I lay out Katya and Ollie's clothes, which is two sets because the nursery want an extra set in case of disater. So I actually lay out one set and pack the other in their bags. Then I get breakfast layed out and ready. Oliver's bottles ready, snacks for the train ride home, and my lunch. I then take a shower and lay out my clothes. Now Martin does help me with this if he is home, but he is often not. Katya is a mega-early riser, sometime between 4-5am. I usually give her a bottle (I know I know 2 and a half and still having a bottle, it is purely for an extra couple hours of sleep and sanity)and either she gets in bed with us, or if Ollie is already there, I get in bed with her and she 9 times out of 10 goes back to sleep until 6:00am. So we are up and getting ready by 6:00am. Breakfast (for the adults, the kids have breakfast at Nursery), load the car with the double push chair, 400 bags and coats for the journey. We are on our way to the station at 6:50am. We get their unload the 400 bags and coats, kiss Daddy good-bye and just make the 7:02 train, usually running only stopping so Katya can get her paper (free Metro) to read on the way. We arrive at Duddeston station around 7:20 and walk to my school, unload my bag, have a glass of water, a wee-wee, and sometimes I can start getting set up for the day. Then out the door around 7:50 to get to Katya and Ollie's Nursery. Leave them there happy warm and eating breakfast. Off to my school to have a crazy mad busy day teaching the inner-city children of Birmingham how to drum, keyboard, and sing like real pros (that is at least my aim, it doesn't always happen, but there are moments). The last bell goes at 3:05 and I tidy up and try to get as much done as I can until about 3:40, when I leave to get the monkeys. They are always happy to see me and it is wonderful to see them worn out buy doing well. Ollie always falls asleep on the walk to the station and Katya and I discuss the finer points to their day. We usually catch the 4:06 train back to Selly Oak. Arrive there around 4:30 and weather permitting we walk the mile and a half home, if it is awful weather or I am really tired we get the bus. Home between 5:00 and 5:30, Ollie wakes up and fusses, Katya is so tired she is grouchy. Usually the TV goes on so I can make the dinner. Martin is usually home around 6:00. Then dinner and a bit of family time. In the bath for the kiddos around 6:45-7:00. Katya in bed before 7:30 and Ollie has some mommy time a bottle and is asleep and in bed around 8:00. Then its from the beginning again! Pretty exciting huh? I relish my Thursday and Fridays off with the kids when the pace is MUCH slower, but still there is lots to do to keep on top of things ie laundry, cleaning, bill paying, and shopping. We are blessed with mostly patient and active kids who like having a busy schedule, although Katya does have days where she says she doesn't want to go to school today, but we all have those days don't we?

Autumn Morning

2008-09-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Katya and Daddy got up really early this morning, well Katya gets up early EVERY morning. Daddy let mommy lie in with Oliver and they went to the beautiful pond and took some pictures. They were taken at 7:00 am and show how magical the weather is right now. We have cold morning and nights, but beautiful warm sunny days. We have to soak it up because the big long dull cloudy winter is swiftly on its way!

The Grim Reaper

2008-09-06T08:31:00.001-07:00

Be afraid be very afraid. But I couldn't think of a nicer reaper to greet me!

Chocolate Face Swimmer

2008-08-30T03:05:00.001-07:00

Katya amazed us yesterday when we went swimming. We went with her beloved Callum and Tiegan and it was like we weren't even there. She had her arm bands and she was off. Every other time we have gone she clings to us, but with those two swimming away she had to be 'like Tiegan'! She was floating on her back, her tummy, kicking her legs to move around, jumping in the pool like a maniac, doing belly flops, it was incredible. She is a real fish and her brother is close behind. Oliver kept trying to get away from whoever was holding him like a wind-up bath toy. Splashing and jumping and kicking the whole time. Smiling and loving it!

That evening we had a barbeque with Matt and Trudy and the kids and followed it with chocolate dipped ice creams for dessert. Katya was sooooo tired and her eyes were so red from a ridiculously long and active day, but still she managed to almost polished off an entire one herself. Isn't she 'sweet'.

We are mourning the end of our summer holidays, but have to report that they have been fabulous and we treasure the constant contact with the munchkins as the maddness of real life settles in over the next few weeks.

The train to Hereford!

2008-08-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

So we woke up last Saturday and it was a beautiful sunny day and we thought its probably one of the last so lets go somewhere! We dashed from the house and made it to the train station just in time to catch the train to Hereford. The kids, especially Katya, loved the train journey. She saw lots of 'rella castles and baa-baas. So she was extremely happy. Oliver just spent most of his time flirting with every lady on the train and making them all melt! He has a way with women, it must be that inherited Sam Florence charm! These photos are us at the Selly Oak train station. ALL ABOARD!

2008-08-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

This week we had a few days of welcome break from our lovely English summer where we actually saw the sunshine so we went to a lovely park that has an urban farm. Katya had so much fun in her "wellies" jumping in "muddles". She got really frightened by the mean goat that snorted at her every time she tried to pet it. Oliver just hung out in his normal happy manner and loved seeing all of the animals and watching Katya slide down the cool slide. We are, despite some yucky weather, having a really fun family summer.

Big Girl!

2008-08-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Katya has been spending alot of time with Martin's brother's girlfriend's children. Tiegan is 6 years old and Katya thinks she is possible a real princess and definitely the coolest and best person that she knows right now. Tiegan is really patient and really plays with her, hence the adoration. Tiegan likes to do cartwheels and crab walking, so Katya was trying it out and was SOOOOO excited that she could do it "like Tiegan".

2008-08-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone was wondering what the cutest baby in the world looks like lately here you go. He now has 2 teeth (yes, the are equally as crooked and British as Katya's) and he is about a week away from really tearing up the carpet. He can move quickly backwards and is up on all fours rocking and rolling.

Bye-bye Dummy!!!

2008-08-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know who has cried more, me or Katya?

Today Katya exchanged her dummy at the new Disney Store in the Bullring for Nemo and Squirt. She has had some sad moments, but on the whole is doing very well. I keep telling her its OK to be sad and that Nemo and Squirt will keep her company. I feel very mommyish and sad that she is growing up so much and so fast. But we have to let them don't we! If I am sad I only need to look at Ollie he is little and still a baby and needs me all the time. When he gets bigger I don't know what I will do!

Camping is fun...

2008-08-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

We were truly brave and took our little monkeys camping for 2 whole days and nights this week. We went with Matthew and his girlfriend Trudy and Trudy's children Callum and Teigan. We camped near Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. It was a lovely camp site and the weather was great until the morning we left(raining cats and dogs). I managed to step in a whole and sprain my ankle within hours of arrival, but didn't let it stop me. We cooked in true camping style and even introduced the family to s'mores a truly American camp tradition with an English twist, chocolate covered digestive biscuits in place of graham crackers and chocolate. They were yummy! Katya and Ollie love Trudy's kids and are so kind to them. Katya thinks Teigan is a real princess. Oliver seems to have made the executive decision that he wants real people food and mushed up food is for sissies. He even likes chocolate chip cookies. Funny for a little boy with no teeth! Both the kids slept well and were great the whole time. I admit I was a little concerned, but they really were good. We will be camping more in the future, cheap fun holiday!!!

More London pics...

2008-08-06T04:07:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Katya discussing the bloody history that is the Tower of London...

Katya getting brave on the tube train!

Ollie on the Underground!

London is London

2008-08-06T03:35:00.001-07:00

Early Tuesday morning, approximately 5:45AM our time, we began our long adventure to London to make Katya and Oliver officially Americans. We caught the train from Dorridge Station, near Martin's work, at 6:30 and were on our way. We made it to Marylebone station in central London around 8:15.

We walked through Westminster, the poshest most expensive area we have ever seen in a big city, to arrive at the American embassy around 9:00. Our appointments were for 10:30 and 11:00, but there was a line of people in the pouring rain, so we decided to get in it and go inside. I have to say I lost a little of my love for the old US of A. The embassy was like a fort with extra chain link fences and soldiers with machine guns all around. None of the other embassy's in the area had anything of the like. I guess not everyone doesn't love the US as much as we think they should as US citizens. After going through very strict and exhaustive security they let us into the very outdated 70's style embassy. Much to my surprise everything went VERY smoothly and every person we talked with was helpful and nice. So we finished everything we had to do and 300 US dollars later our kids have US passports, birth certificates, and social security cards.

Now the walking fun begins. We walked from the embassy to Buckingham palace in the absolute pouring rain. Oh to mention the kids were fabulous. And now were fast asleep in the double buggy of love safe under their rain cover. We were meeting our friend Dan, from our time in Russia, for lunch. He asked us to come to Kensington High Street Station for 12:15. We had to get day passes on the Underground, let me tell you it was NEVER intended for wheelchairs or strollers. We carried those monkey's up and down stairs ALL DAY. We got so tired.

We had a lovely lunch with Dan and it was nice to catch up. We can't believe it has been nearly 8 years since we say him last. Lots of fun memories of crazy times in the foreign student dorm with smelly trash chutes and disgusting shower rooms and crazy lipstick ladies giving unwanted advice at the front desk.

After left Dan I think we walked close to 10 miles before we left to go home at 8:30 that night. We saw the Tower of London, London bridge, the millennium bridge, St. Paul's cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and much much more. We walked on the Thames river walk most of the way. Katya truly has her fill of 'Rella castles! The kids were great and we made it home tired buy happy around 11:30 that night! Quite the adventure.

Super Katya!!!

2008-08-06T03:29:00.000-07:00

We were getting ready to go swimming on Monday and this was how Katya presented herself. She has her swimming suit on, but Ollie's swimming trunks on her head! I think she looks like a special needs super hero, but she though she was the coolest thing ever! Katya and Ollie both LOVE swimming. We have been going on Monday mornings for the past few weeks. Katya is getting very confident with her water wings on and will even kick along on her own as long as a big person is close beside her. Oliver is a natural in the water and would be happy to stay all day long!

Ollie dooh dooh dooh dooh dooh

2008-08-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Is he a cutie or what? Getting chubbier every single day!

School's Out for the Summer!

2008-08-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

We are finally having wonderful summer weather in England. Martin and I are off for our 6 week summer holiday and are loving it. We are spending most of our time lying in, going for long walks, playing at the park, and going swimming. Katya and Ollie love having their daddy and their mommy all to themselves for so long. We are so grateful for jobs that allow us to spend so much quality time together so often. When we are working it is often chaotic, but worth the quiet times together. We try to go on a bigger outing about once a week. We went to Gadfield Elm this past week. You Church History buffs will know that was the first LDS chapel in the world, donated by the entire congregation of the nearly 1000 United Brethren who were all baptised in central England. It was really cool and in an absolutely gorgeous part of the world. Katya is growing fast and talking even more! I am happy to announce that she is officially a "Gilda Radner" child. She sings whenever she does anything on her own and it is so entertaining. I often wonder what she would do if she didn't live in England. She prides herself on discovering at least 1 new 'Rella castle everyday. She thinks Cinderella personally owns any building (church, cathedral, old government building) that is built of stone and has any decorated turrets on it! I am surprised she doesn't demand to meet with Cinderella when she enters any such building, but she is happy to believe that 'rella is somewhere close. Oliver is a growing boy and already eats more that Katya, not difficult, but surprising. Ollie is sitting and rolling and scooting around. He enjoys blowing rasperries (Katya calls them strawberries). He is a happy cute baby Buddha boy! Martin has finally succumbed to the "balding man doo", but it actually quite suits him and will save us in hair cuts. We bought a handy dandy pair of hair clippers on Amazon! Hooray. I am happy and loving be a wife and mom.

Eventide walk!

2008-05-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

A lovely Tuesday evening walk to get some yummy ice cream! Hope you enjoy!

The cuties!

2008-05-16T01:47:00.000-07:00

The Ward Family extraordinaire!

2008-05-16T01:27:00.000-07:00

So I am really making it a goal to do this properly. I really enjoy all of the rest of my families blog and hope to make ours equally as happy and informative. Life for us is pretty great right now. I still have 2 months of maternity leave left and then back to work for 2 weeks before the 6 week summer holiday. We are looking forward to making lost of small day trips instead of a longer, more expensive, summer trip. We will go to the seaside for a few days for sure!

Martin is working so hard at his school, thank heavens he really enjoys it. Its hard to miss seeing the kids because they are often in bed before he makes it home, but we are just focusing on the long summer holiday all together.

Katya is talking for England. She is also one of the newest members of the planet in "big girl pants" and going on the potty. She had done really well and has very few accidents. She loves her little brother and plays with him so well. She loves to help mommy cook and clean. She can sing "Eensy Weensy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle", and a large portion of "I am a Child of God". She likes getting up early (5:00 am) and watching Teletubbies!

Ollie is a dream child. He is happy and growing fast. He can turn over now and grab toys. He is the absolute apple of my eye!

So thats us and we promise to update with fun photos and information as they arrive!