I like...

Oh, I love this boy! He is such a great reminder of the Father's goodness to me. On Friday we went for a walk and all of a sudden he started saying, "I like trucks, I like trucks, I like trucks..." We had just walked by a row of trucks. Then we went under the railroad tracks and the train passed by and he started saying, "I like trains, I like trains, I like trains...", then we walked by the pond and it was "I like water, I like ducks, I like water, I like ducks." Such a great reminder to me to have a thankful heart and remember to list those things I like!

Special Saturdays

I am loving Allen working a 5 day a week job and having our weekends as a family. For the last three plus years our work week and off time have blurred into one. So, it is really great to have Friday come and know that we are about to hit the weekend. Last Saturday morning we got up and I went to a little grocery near our home that makes fresh croissants and all sort of yummy goodness. Ben kept saying, "cake" and "treat" like he knew this was a special morning!!

The chocolate one was heaven! There was also a pecan one that tasted like a pecan pie in a croissant, Papa O, you would love this one!

Then we went to IKEA. Who doesn't love an IKEA trip?!

Package!

One of the awesome things about living here is that our mail comes to our house! We don't have to go to a po box to check it and then to another place to collect the package and see if we will have to pay something to get it! Today we got our first package from Brian, Ashley, and Emma. Here the boys are plundering through to see what is there.

Ben focused on the snacks!

Fun t-shirts for Allen.

He says he is going to wear his McDuffy shirt, which is a highschool he went to, when we go to Scotland!

New Home

So, yesterday I sort of had a melt down over our living situation. I am just really tired of being temporary. Right now we are temporarily living in a home for the next 6 months with temporary furniture until our stuff arrives in the next couple of weeks. I know we just moved here but this month a year ago I started packing up our house and started the string on temporaries. Anyways, as my Heavenly Father is so good to do. Today he blessed me with incredible gifts. We have been looking for a table since we got here but our kitchen/dining area is small so it needed to be a smaller table but we also wanted something that we could make bigger. Some collegues of ours were selling this table for about $45! Of course it didn't have chairs. But today I found 6 very fun chairs for another $45!! YEAH! So, if it doesn't work/last forever I don't have much invested. But I love the chairs!!

We haven't had any living room furniture. We have had Daniel and Lauren's blowup mattress in our living room. But this week, some coworkers were giving away this futon!! Allen went and picked it up today and it is AWESOME! We have a couch coming in our shipment so we didn't want to invest in anything but sitting on folding chairs or laying on a bed was getting old. Plus, we bought this little rocker today too at the store with the chairs. Nate is sick, poor guy! I had been sitting on my bed or on the floor trying to rock him thinking I can't wait for our shipment to get here to have a rocker. Well, then we go to this little store and find this! It is small enough it could go in the boys room or it can stay in the living room. Just had to share how our home is beginning to feel a little less temporary.

The "coffee table" is actually a toy box I bought for $15 and will repaint for the boys.

Our little garden

A yard is called a garden here and this is our little garden. It is wonderful to have grass and an outside area for the boys to play. Our grass had gotten really long so a friend of ours let us use their lawnmower to cut the grass. Allen's brother, Brian, owns a lawn service company. Thought you would get a kick out of our electric lawnmower. It really is like a vacuum machine that cuts grass.

We love you Grandma!

Cowpie Country Show

We have been seeing signs since we got here for the Cowpie Country Show. We decided to celebrate mother's day by going to see what it was all about. As you can see from the picture, we had beautiful weather. It was a fun afternoon outside with a petting zoo, lots of dogs, a little jousting, booths of food and crafts, a bunch of tractors to climb on, good people watching, etc. We had a great time and are so thankful for the fun times we are having here.

Nate has a little tooth coming in! Oh, my sweet baby boy is growing up so fast.

Ben petting a bunny rabit.

Man, I love this guy! We celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary next week. Blessed beyond measure.

Will and Kate's Wedding

To celebrate Will and Kate's wedding, we went to Oxford for the day. Daniel and Lauren are up there this year and we want to take every opportunity to get to spend time with them. They took us to a very fun museum that encourages the kids to touch stuff!! Ben loved it so most of the pictures are blurry because he was on the move!!

We then took a walk along the Thames to eat at a fun little pub. Yes, I said it we walked along the Thames! It was a lot of fun and the Phil and Teds did AWESOME!! I will post about my life changing purchase shortly.