Jacee's favourites!

On Jacee's birthday I asked her a list of 20 questions. I want to do it every year until she refuses! Haha. Here are her answers! 1) favourite Color: pink......no blue! 2) favourite toy: Princess book 3) favourite fruit: grapes 4) favourite tv show: Tom and jerry 5) favourite lunch: chicken nuggets 6) favourite outfit: Boise state shirt 7) favourite game: toy story game on her mobigo 8) favourite snack: grapes 9) favourite animal: frog 10) favourite song: twinkle little star 11) favourite book: princess book 12) best friend: Winter 13) favourite cereal: cookie crisp 14) favourite thing to do outside: feed pet snail 15) favourite drink: chocolate milk 16) favourite holiday: Christmas and Easter 17) favourite thing the sleep with: cuddle bear and princess blankie 18) favourite breakfast: pancakes and syrup 19) what she wants for bday dinner: cake 20) what she wants to be when she grows up: just like mom and dad It was really cute and sometimes surprising what her answers were. Some I knew and others it was fun to learn about her. This will be a great birthday tradition!

Oskar is ONE!

I love this little boy and I can't believe he is one!!! The past year has been so amazing and I am excited for the future!

Nils had his ALS graduation on Oskar's bday too. My family is so cute! Love them :) 

Where have you been all my life?

I finally got into pinterest! I have heard about it for awhile, but just hadn't looked into it. But I decided to check it out and I fell in love!!! I have gotten so many fun and crafty ideas! I am so excited to try some things out, and hopefully I can post some of the things I accomplish on here. I have already made the kids names out of wooden letters, scrapbook paper, and modpodge! I also reused a lysol wipe container to store plastic bags! It has been hard moving from a large American house to a small British house, so it has been cool to see all the storage ideas! I hope to be doing some more projects soon, it's just hard knowing where to buy all the supplies I need!

Has it really been four years?!

 January 5, 2008

January 5, 2009

January 5, 2010

January 5, 2011

January 5, 2012

My beautiful Jacee Lou turned 4 years old yesterday. I cannot believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were rushing to the hospital to have her! It has been such an amazing 4 years....It has been so great watching her crawl, walk, talk, run, sing, dance, and all the other silly things she has done along the way. One of my favorite things I have watched her learn is how to be a big sister. She loves Oskar so much and is always giving him hugs and kisses.

We had a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Christmas was so different this year with being so far from home. We still had a good time though!! We let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve. The Air Force had given the kids presents and those are the ones they opened. Jacee got a baby doll and Oskar got some clothes. We didn't get to bed until after midnight, and we got up at 6 am so my parents could watch us open presents over skype. It was early but the kids were excited. Present opening lasted for about 20 mins....haha. The kids had fun playing with their toys all day. I was nervous to cook dinner because we got a lamb roast...I have never cooked lamb. But it turned out great!!! It was nice day and we even got to skype most of our family!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morn

Jacee

Jacee got a princess ball and Oskar got a Spiderman ball, so Nils took them outside to kick em around!

Our FIRST trip to London!

Yesterday (Dec. 17) we made our very first trip to London! We were all so excited to get out and explore this great city! To start off the day we drove to Newmarket to meet Nils's friends Tim and Andrew. They came with us and Tim acted as our tour guide since he had been there already. From Newmarket we drove to Epping to catch the tube (like a subway.) It was my first expierence riding a subway and I was a little nervous...I am clausterphobic, but it wasn't bad at all. Jacee loved it and wanted to stand the whole time and hold on to the bar.

 It was about an hour ride to the center of London. We had to transfer a few times and it was a little crazy because there were people everywhere! But we got off the tube and walked up the stairs, and BANG there was Big Ben.

 Jacee freaked out and was so happy to see the clock. She had been talking about Big Ben since we knew we were moving here. After taking a few pics we walked down and looked at the London Eye.

 It is ginormous! It would be so amazing to ride but I am deathly afraid of heights! Jacee wanted to go so bad...maybe next time! It would be cool to see everything from so high. There were street vendors everywhere and we got two huge donuts and they were so dang good! Oskar quite enjoyed them! From there we walked to a little Italian restaurant. And when I say little, I mean TINY!!! It was crowded of course...I had lasagna and it was pretty good. I do have to say not as good as my momma's! From there we decided to make our way down to Buckingham Palace. There were so many cool and interesting buildings, I had no clue what they were but I was snapping pictures!

As we got closer to the palace the buildings got more and more grand! I loved the Admirality Arch. And the way the sun was shining it made it glow!

We finally got to the Buckingham Palace and it was very cool to see! I loved the big golden gates!

While we were here it started to rain really lightly so we decided it was time to head for the tube and go home. As we were walking to the station we walked down this really cool street with some pretty expensive stores. It was neat looking in all the display windows.

It was a long ride back to Epping and Newmarket but we were all satisfied with the trip! There is still so much that I want to see and I can't wait to go back.

Hoarders?

Haha....NO. We got our household goods yesterday!!! My house is FULL of boxes! We have started unpacking most of the boxes and getting stuff put away. I think it will take atleast a week to get everything out of boxes. It has been fun seeing Jacee freak out every time she finds a toy, movie, or a book that she hasn't seen in awhile!

Friday Market

Today the kids and I walked to the town center for the Friday market. It is believed to have been held in the same spot every Friday since the 15th century! We walked around and browsed the shops. There were people selling flowers, seafood, fruit and veggies, cakes and cookies, clothes, and all sorts of other things. We ended up getting some carrots, apples,strawberries, oranges, and 2 bags of candy. It was a fun little adventure for the kids and I! It's nice knowing that it's just a short walk to all the shops!

Not a very good pic with all the dumpsters...but the stand on the right is where we got our fruit and veggies.

16th Century hexogonal cross in the town center.

My sweet kiddos fell asleep on the way home.

What we got at the market!

Finally!

Yay...we FINALLY have internet! I've been a little depressed lately since I haven't been able to skype any of my family. Since my last post we:
1. Moved into our house. We are still getting settled into our house, and are hoping that our own stuff gets here soon. Right now we have loaner furniture from base...and well...it's nice, I guess. HAHA. It basically looks like hospital furniture. I've been worried that none of our stuff will fit in the house, so I just want it to get here already so I can stop!
2. We bought a car. It's nothing fancy, but it will hopefully work for the three years we are here. It is a 1999 Rover. It took us awhile to find a car because we needed an automatic and it seems like all the cars here are manual. We are hoping to buy another cheap car before the new year.
3. We also had a nice little Thanksgiving celebration. One of Nils's friends (they were stationed in Korea together) came over too. We had a good time, and I was happy because all the food turned out!
4. We found a pre-school for Jacee! It is called Busy Bees, and it is wonderful. They have alpacas, mini horses, ducks, and goats. The kids help feed the animals and learn about them. The kids also plant gardens and help tend to them through out the year. The school also has a swimming pool, so the kids can take swimming lessons. It costs extra and we haven't decided if we are going to put Jacee in them. She won't be able to start until Jan. 3rd, but that's only a few weeks away. She will go Mon-Fri from 12:45-3:45. And the best part......!? IT'S FREE! The government allows 15 hours a week free! WAHOO!
5. Osakr started crawling! He just up and went one day! It's so cute to watch him figure new stuff out. I am still adjusting to him being on the move, and I really have to watch what's on the floor. He also pulled himself up for the first time the other day. He crawls over to the stairs and then pulls himself up. Then he likes to hold on to the railing. I'm sure it won't be too long until he tries to climb up the stairs. Can you say BABY GATE!? He has also started waving. I have tried and tried to get a video of him doing it, but of course he always stops right when I get the camera out. I will keep trying though.

Well, this has been quite the update! We have been trying to get out and explore, but it has been hard with the kids, the short amount of daylight, and still getting used to the roads and everything. But we have some fun Christmas activites coming up!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

I guess that's the motto I will have to use for the next 3 years! Haha :) We have been in England for almost 2 weeks, and already I'm missing some of the comforts from home. Don't get me wrong, I have been enjoying our time here, but here's a list of some things I miss!

1. My family....obviously!
2. 1% milk! They only have skim, 2% and whole over here and only 2 liter jugs!
3. American TV. I know I can watch it on the internet, but it's just not the same.
4. Fred Meyer. I miss my one stop shop!! We haven't found a store like that over here.

St. Mary's Church

We finally got to get out and explore a little bit of Mildenhall, the city we will be living in soon. We drove by St. Mary's once before and it was so amazing, so I really wanted to get a closer look. I was so happy when we got there and the church was open for visitors! I didn't think we would get a look inside. the grounds surrounding it was covered in gravestones. There were also big stone slabs inside the church that were people's gravestones. It was kind of wierd to see them inside a church but still cool. The church was built in sections and the earliest part of the church (the vestry) was built in 1220. The main body and tower were built in 1420. The church was restored from 1851-1853.

St. Mary's Church, regarded by many as the most beautiful in Suffolk.

The tower which now has 10 bells!

Jacee loved the 'castle'! haha.

So many head stones inside and outside the church.

Inside! So beautiful.

There were a few stained glass windows! Simply amazing!

Ornate woodwork! All the ends of the rows looked like this! Can you imagine how long that would take?

Nils and the kids outside the church.

Across the street.

Walking around Mildenall.

Our House!

Well it doesn't look like much now, but soon we will move in and set it up all cute! I will post more pics while we are in that process!

Front

Half bathroom off the front door. Washer and dryer hook ups on the right. Kind of weird having them in the bathroom, but it's better than the kitchen like a lot of British houses have them!

Living room.

Spare room. We are thinking of using this for guests and also the kids' play room. It is very small!

This would be Oskar's room

Master

Master bath. Kind of small, but I'm just happy to have it!

Miss Jacee's room

Breakfast bar in the kitchen.

More of the kitchen. There is also a door off to the right that leads outside to the garage.

Dining room and door to the back yard.

Our 'garden' as the Brits call it.

The garage...I think we will mostly use this for storage, since it is SO tiny!

The neighborhood from our front yard.

 There is another bathroom upstairs but I guess I forgot to take a picture of it! haha :)