Sherwood Forest- Part 3

We came back to our camp site for afternoon naps which we all took. Then we explored the camp site.

Started our fire for hotdogs and smores. They have really stricked rules here about fires. Check out this lighter fluid that was a gel! See the white stuff.

Eating some hummy hotdogs- just for you mom!

Ben enjoying the goodness of smores

Me enjoying the yumminess of smores, mine was a little bit of a mess and Allen enjoyed every minute of my mess!

Then Allen and I cleaned up from dinner and the boys went on a walk to the ducks with Daniel and Lauren

Ben trying to escape to the playground....

Sherwood Forest- Part 2

As a mother of two little children I have decided that I don't go away for the rest but for the memories. However, the boys did do better than I expected them to do in the tent Friday night. The great thing about this tent is that it is big enough to have fit a pack and play into one of the smaller compartments. We thought that we would give it a try and see if the boys would sleep in the pack and play together...it worked for a little bit but about 1, Nate woke up and did not like being that close to Ben. So, we pulled Nate out for a while but decided that it would be best to put Nate in the pack and play and have Ben sleep on a mate next to us. That worked and we all slept off and on the rest of the night. Here we are Saturday morning in our "room". It rained all Friday night but thankfully did not rain the rest of the weekend!

Heating up water for our coffee and oatmeal.

We visited Sherwood Forest Saturday morning. Nate was out for most of it. Again, let me just tell you how awesome a Phil and Teds is!

Buffing up on all the Robin Hood movies out there.

The sweet couple that lived through two nights in a tent with our little guys. Pretty sure they went home and crashed! I have to just say, that Daniel and Lauren are pretty awesome to travel with. As a parent you know there are people who just see how they can help and do it without having to ask if it they should or can help. It is pretty great how they just enjoy serving and loving our boys! And I am in mourning about them leaving next month.

We all thought we would try our hand at the long bow.

Sherwood Forest Part 1

We went camping with Daniel and Lauren this past weekend in Sherwood Forest. We originally were going to take our two person tent for all four of us and Daniel and Lauren would have their tent. Well, after thinking about it and talking about it we decided to buy a tent. Camping is very popular here and people have huge tents! We realized why this past weekend. At some point during the weekend it is going to rain and you are going to spend time in your tent. So, we bought a tent called "The Buckingham 6". It is a large tent with 3 inner smaller compartments for 2 people each.

Traffic in England is crazy and I have just come to realize that if you plan on traveling on this Island you are going to sit in traffic. So, we didn't get to Sherwood Forest until almost 8. Fortunately, the sun does not go down till 10 here right now. And of course it was raining when we arrived!

Lauren stayed in the car and entertained Ben and Nate while the guys set up the tent and I took pictures.

Ben exploring the van.

Here she is! The Buckinham 6. You set up this outer shell (rain fly) and then set up the smaller compartments inside.

The Golden Arches

This weekend we went camping in Sherwood Forest! How cool does that sound? Anyways, we have not had McDonalds since we left the states and we thought it would be a fun, festive way to start the weekend off. Nate had his first McDonalds this weekend! Here Ben is offering him a fry with ketchup because the one he had was just plain.

Happy Birthday Nate!

My little guy is 1! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by. We celebrated Wednesday night with a little pound cake, strawberries and whipped cream. Ben now calls whipped cream "birthday yogurt." Too cute!

Eyeing the goodness coming his way.

Squealing with delight!

Ben enjoying his birthday yogurt.

Nate is one! On his birthday he only had two teeth on the bottom, but now has one more on top that just broke through. He is crawling, pulling up on stuff and walking holding on to things. He occasionally will stand independently for a couple of seconds. He says, Mama, Dada, and Thank you. He is signing "all done" and occasionally "more". He is drinking milk from a sippy cup and was almost weaned until he got sick this weekend and I felt so bad for him with a sore throat that I started feeding him again. He loves to watch Ben and play with him. He is a lot like his daddy, very laid back and enjoys watching those around him. I am realizing how much of an extrovert Ben is because Ben would never play in a room by himself. However, Nate loves to just sit and play with a few toys by himself. Nate is so easy going and I love him TOO much, as they would say in Jordan.

Reality Check

Isn't he the cutest EVER! So, I thought I should probably right a blog about how life really is...I tend to blog when I am doing great and life is wonderful, which it is most of the time. HOWEVER, there are moments where I think, "what in the world are we doing?!" "Who moves around the world with 2 little children?!" "Why don't we live down the street from our parents?!" So, let me give you a little glimpse of why I might say these things to myself, ever so briefly on days that just seem to fall apart. Yesterday, Nates birthday was wonderful. We had a great day and fun with new friends here. But you all know that being and making new friends takes a lot of energy. So, I was trying to be prepared and get life together ahead of time. In the morning, I put some macaroni and cheese in the crockpot, put together a meatloaf to cook for dinner, and made a pound cake for Nates b-day celebration as a family. Well, I have a new crockpot because of course, we are new here and the macaroni was totally burnt around the edges by dinner time. The meatloaf was way too peppery, somehow i did not convert the 2.2 lbs to a kilo right, and the pound cake was raw on the inside and overdone on the outside and is currently in the trash. Now, you might say all these things could happen if I lived in the states in the same house for the last however many years, but at the moment it feels like it is ALL BECAUSE WE MOVED here!!

However, it is ok, because Nate did not care about any of it and was just delighted to have strawberried and whipped cream! Today was a new day and we had a great time going to a toddler group and then exploring a new mall with a friend. I also had a new friend stop by yesterday with a card for Nate. You know you are making sweet friends when they recognize your babies b-day! Anyways, just thought you should know, the whole two of you that read, that life is not always GREAT and FUN, but it is life.

Nate's B-day Party...

So, for Nate's birthday we had friends over for a little play date and cookie decorating. This was more a party for Ben and his friend, who is also named, Ben. Here are the two Bens very excited about the cookies!

Little Hannah who is 18 months and enjoyed it too.

Ben and Ben are quickly becoming fast friends!

I think this picture is hilarious! He is obviously wondering why he is not part of the cookie decorating party! Don't worry, he did get a cookie!

14 and a half months

Ben and Nate are 14 and a half months apart in age. And most of the time their worlds are like this picture below, going in opposite directions.

However, more and more they are like this picture, arms around each other, hugging, playing, giggling, laughing, wrestling, etc.

Nate turns 1 tomorrow and I can not believe it! I remember when I first found out/realized that I was probably pregnant again. I got out my calendar to see just how far apart they were going to be. I was more worried about what everyone else would think than about them being so close. Yes, we do know how babies happen and no we weren't really planning for them to be that close but the Father had different plans. The last year has been busy and a lot of work having two little ones so close together but I would not trade it for the world. Some say having two like this is harder than having twins, I don't know because I haven't had twins. I have come to think/believe that being a parent is a lot of work whether your children are close in age or not. I love having my boys 14 and a half months a part. I cannot wait for the coming years as I see their worlds coming closer and closer. Since Nate started crawling, they are interacting more and more. Nate loves to watch Ben. They sit in their high chairs making sounds to each other. Ben is helping me teach Nate how to sign and is quick on the correction and adding the please. It is just so much fun to see them interact with each other and be friends! I love it!

The best 35 p!

Every time we go to IKEA Allen makes a comment about wanting to get an ice cream. So last Thursday we had to go that way to get Allen a part for his desk and we finally tried the ice cream machine! It was worth every pence for the joy it brought to out little guys faces.

"Who wants to take a picture when you are holding an ice cream cone right in front of my face?"

"Ok, I will smile now that I have tasted the goodness!"

"Maybe Nate wants some too..."