Easter Madness and Spring Break

Plastic egg shells, nasty candy, crappy toys, elbows out - its Easter Egg hunt time again!  Of course we did one and it was lots of fun (now we know what to expect!)  And of course parties at school.  Real rabbits for T courtesy of Phoenix!

Easter day was spent with the Greenes - Mexican food, strawberry daiquiris and swimming pool fun for the kids on a glorious day.  Great.

Then the long awaited week off school, Spring Break, came along as did Granny.  In her typical way she bought a day of rain with her so she has now seen all the winter rain this year :) but we had lots of fun anyway.  Beach and ice-cream in Capitola, organizing the garden, multi-cultural faire at Los Alamitos and trip to Berkeley and the Lawrence Hall of Science.  Oh, and 3 movies (this is what Sophia wrote about in her 'what I did for Spring Break essay'!) Frozen, Mr Peabody and Sherman and Turbo.  Enjoyed by all.

The month ended with record breaking temperatures - 95F on the 30th April.  Its cooled down a bit now but is set to be 100F next week.  Crikey, its going to be a long hot summer!  Summer 2013-summer 2014 is officially the year I never had to put my flip flops away!!

3 years last Monday

Whenever I write posts about how long we've been here it always makes me think of the very first post I made 'week one - tick'!  We have come such a very long way since then 3 years ago. American life is now normal life.  I have stopped noticing things like the palm trees, the 6 lanes of traffic I'm sitting in, people jumping on me in 'grocery store'.  I have to admit I have changed the way I speak slightly too.  I can't remember the last time I said supermarket or trolley.  Part of me has forgotten things too - who knew that saying 'fever' instead of 'temperature' was an Americanism??  Of course, there's only so far I will go.  I refused, point blank, to say ZEE instead of ZED.  This causes no end of confusion in my job as Americans really do not understand when someone says ZED.  But still, I'm not changing :)

Its been heatwave hot here the last few days.  I'm going to stop remarking on the weather as its obviously going to be a crazy year weather wise.  But we've been sleeping with the windows open and all the crickets have come out to play.  Listening to the chirping (is mildly irritating it has to be said) but also makes you feel like you're in Spain.  I think with our 3 year anniversary having just past it also makes me feel a very long way from home.  Its funny how small things can still get to you like that.

But anyway, life is fine.  Jobs and school eat up all our time and day to day is as normal as anyone elses.  We have been spending time sorting the garden out, buying new chairs and spraying the fence, and putting the finishing touches to the house.  The kids only have 6 weeks of school left!  We have been booking holidays left right and centre.  We're going to Hawaii again for week in the summer, a long weekend to Tahoe with Mum and Rich and a camping weekend with the Greenes.  Lorraine, Gillian and I are also going on a spa weekend (yay!) in May whilst the boys take the kids camping again.  Hurray for holidays!!

Last week was Ste's birthday.  He managed to bag himself a lot of stuff (hoping it will be coming my way next week too!) and a doughnut cake.  All good :)

Manic March

Its been a hectic month so far.  Primarily to my new job!!  I am now officially not looking for new jobs anymore as I seem to have found the perfect one!!  I am now a Relocation Consultant - helping people to move into the country from abroad - exactly like us nearly 3 years ago.  It's the perfect job for me as I can fit it round the kids and its also decent money.

However things never run as smoothly as you think.  Its been a real baptism of fire.  The moment I finished training I was offered work and I already have 9 clients on my list.  All of whom what apiece of me.  Its been a real education in time management and setting realistic expectations.  But I'm already getting better - I will make a business woman out of myself yet :)

So aside from trying to cram two part time jobs (as I'm still working for Google too!) whilst still being on the clock for all mummy duties too there really hasn't been time for much else.  I'm having a catch up day today top try and cross some stuff off my to do list (this blog being one of them!).  Its the first day of Spring although quite frankly it may as well be the first day of summer.  We did have rain - and lots of it.  In fact while mum was here we seeming had all the rain that California had to offer (sorry mum!).  However it was much needed.  I can't actually think it will have gone anywhere to helping with the drought though.  The dry and dusty weather has returned - its going to be 25c today.  Its a bit weird really as it feels like the school holidays are around the corner when in reality they are still a couple of months away.

Speaking of holidays this week as been America's favourite holiday - St Patrick's day.  Don't know whether its because my best friend is Irish or that I can't bear the way the American's have pinched the holiday as their own but it really winds me up.  The kids came home from school, their faces smeared with green frosting, having spent the day catching leprechauns and other pointless activities.  St Patrick's days is for drinking green beer Americans!!  Leave it alone with your stupid leprechaun catchers!!

So what's left of Manic March?  Lots more work, for both me and Ste (who has offically started in his new role).  I've a girly night out next week and we have Ste's birthday to celebrate - more cake!!  The kids lives at full of art shows, sciences fairs, movie nights, birthday parties, sleepovers, soccer, swimming, karate (!!).  I'm hoping for a slightly quieter April :)

Fifa is 7!

How did that happen?!  Time is flying.  In the same vein as T's birthday she had 3 friends for a day out.  We went to Color me Mine (a pottery painting place)  I nearly got into a fight with someone who pinched our reserved table (this seems to becoming a habit!) but other than that it was great and everyone had fun.  Then back to our house for pizza and Nightmare Before Christmas birthday cake!

The birthday celebrations continued with a trip to a very wet San Francisco and a Magic Show.  When the magician asked if anyone with a birthday wanted to come on the stage Sophia's hand shot straight into the air and danced about.  It I was so surprised.  And even more surprised when she was chosen.  When she got on the stage she bounced around like Tigger on steroids - one happy little girl!

So my babies are 5 and 7.  Doesn't seem two minutes ago T was calling Sophia Fifa and she didn't mind :)

Terrific Tahoe!

So we set out for 5 days of fun in the snow in a cabin in Tahoe with the Greenes and the Somerfields.  To be honest there wasn't much snow (apart from on the mountains) but there was a lot of fun!  I managed to overcome my fear of skiing and be the second day was whizzing down the nursery slopes with Lorraine and Clare.  So Ste encouraged me to do the green run and powered by adrenalin (and perhaps stupidity!) I did. Waiting to get off the chairlift was perhaps the most scary moment of my life. But I did it (and landed on my arse!) and managed to get down to the bottom in one piece.  So proud of myself.  But my feat was nothing compared to Sophia who came down 5 times and thought the whole thing was 'epic'!  Little T stayed on the magic carpet - still a bit small for the chair lift - but he was fantastic.  I love the way kids ski without any fear.  Although I also have a big boy who skis without fear - coming down the double black run without a care.

The house we stayed in was plenty big enough for the 12 of us and had a games room with a pool table much to the men and kids delight. The kids were in their element. Hannah and Sophia were their usual raucous selves and T loved sharing the boys room with Ben and Alex and playing boys games :)

The weather was perfect, glorious blue skies (I have the sun burnt lips to prove it!)  Sledding was lots of fun. Lake Tahoe was beautiful, we spent a morning playing on the beach with the barely snow covered mountains in the background. Perfect.  We all returned absolutely wiped out.

The kids went back to school and the week ended nicely with movie kids for the kids and so a meal and a pint in the Brit with Shay and Lorraine for us.  Now waiting for a birthday, the arrival of granny and the arrival of the biggest storm in 14 months!  Its like summer today so the change is going to be dramatic.  Watch this space!

Little T just keeps getting bigger

So our baby is 5.  How did that happen??  Instead of having a big party this year T decided on a day out with a few friends and a big present instead :)  He chose Chuck e Cheese accompanied by Phoenix, Ben and Alex, finished off by a Minion cake.  A fab day all round.
The only sad bit is that he's growing up.  Ste said he started to loose his blonde hair around 5.  I will wail when that happens to T.  My main wish for this year is that he gets to keep his a bit longer!