More Halloween....

We've had a busy few days, primarily because Henry has been poorly and I have got nothing done, I realise I need not one but two extra pairs of hands over the next 48 hours to get everything done before I disappear to Scotland for the week!

Martha had her Halloween party at school on Thursday, I didn't manage to get any really good photo's of her as she was being her stubborn self and wouldn't pose for me. But its the parade at school tomorrow which I'm taking her in for, even though she doesn't go on Monday, so hopefully I'll get some good ones of both girls. Here's one for now though.

The buzzy bumble bee

Yesterday (Saturday) we took the girls to a place called Oil Ranch, which is basically a farm with lots of things for the girls to do, like pony rides, a maze made of hay bales, a hay barn to play in, sheep to feed, a small train ride, tractor and trailer ride, bouncy castle and lots of little park areas.

Fearne and Martha had their first ever rides on ponies, and yes that might sound rather tame, but for Fearne who has always screamed and suddenly got very scared of anything remotely animal based this was an amazing feat, and she looked so happy and relaxed.....so she has a very happy granny who is already planning in her head pony club camps and rides over dartmoor with her when she's older!!!

Lasso practice...I don't think Martha really understood why she was throwing rope over a metal bullock!

Henry looking rather confused!

Sunning herself on the swing!

Martha happily digging in the sandpit.


Martha and Henry in the pumpkin patch

Henry is far more interested in eating the dirt around him than the pumpkins!

So as well as all this yesterday we finally got round to carving some pumpkins too. The girls went for scary faces and this year since I had a template and tools which made carving so much easier I attempted something different!

Martha's friendly pumpkin

Fearne's pumpkin

and my pumpkin.....I'm very pleased with myself.... haha!

And just to fully embrace the Halloween spirit here I have been roasting pumpkin seeds while uploading all these photos.....sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, yum yum, I'm off to make a coffee to go with them before I start the dreaded task of packing!

Halloween continued.....

Ok, so maybe I was being rather optimistic that i would manage to add things we've been doing every day, so instead it'll just have to be every few days. I'm also trying to organise going back to Scotland on Tuesday with Martha and Henry and my brain is full of lists....must start packing tomorrow....or at least finding any warm clothes thatI can wear!

Anyway.........

I found a bag of mini pumpkins and squashes in the supermarket last night which are actually sold as decor and I have in fact seen them in a few houses on coffee tables, so I thought I'd buy them use them as decoration and then find some recipes I could use them in.....however Martha has other ideas! Today we have spent a lot of time counting, sorting, describing and then hiding them round the house in a game of hide and seek. I took a few pictures of her as she totally absorbed for ages.

All lined up....and counted

Sorted out.....smooth orange baby pumpkins

Funny bumpy colourful pumpkins....I'm going to have to look these up as I have no idea what they are.

And this one is like an umbrella!

Martha has her Halloween party tomorrow morning which she is very excited about, so I'll come back with a picture of her in full costume in the morning.

......and I still haven't managed to take many photos of houses decorated either, mainly because Houston has no pavements and its a bit difficult to subtly take photos from the car without feeling like you're spying on someones house!

ummmm....anything else I've done in the last few days....pumpkin beer was actually surprisingly drinkable. I thought it might be one of those things where I would enjoy a few sips before the novelty wore off but no, I'd happily have another bottle!

Halloween....

So, I thought instead of doing an update with everything we've done...(which this month is not a lot that's remotely interesting!) I thought I'd update daily with Halloween festivities and decorations that I've spotted or that we're doing between now and the 31st October.

October and the run up to Halloween in school seems to be one long arts and craft festival....We have so far had home glittery pumpkin paintings, pumpkin rhymes, autumn themed show and tell and this week the long awaited Halloween party for Martha. On the 31st October the children all go into school in their fancy dress costumes, there is a parade at 9.30 in the morning followed by a class party. School finishes for the day at lunch time ready for Halloween festivities in the evening!

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first one said, "Oh my, its getting late!!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air"

The third one said "We don't care!"

The fourth one said "Lets run, lets run, lets run"

The fifth one said, "Its only Halloween fun"

Then OOOOOOOOOOOOO went the wind

And OUT went the lights

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

(Martha's favourite rhyme at the moment!)

Both girls have their costumes ready to wear to the various parades we're going to, I have my pumpkin carving kit and stencils to create an elaborate designed 'Jack O Lantern' and just because I'm trying to fully embrace Halloween, I've bought Pumpkin beer which is currently cooling in the fridge to be sampled later! Fearne even insisted we buy a freaky looking skeleton to hang on the front door so that we're not the odd ones out who have no decorations what so ever.

Which brings me to my first picture of things we've spotted around Green Trails! This house is round the corner from us and is truly fantastic.....if they put this much thought and effort into Halloween I can't wait to see their Christmas lights!

With and with out the flash...

I need to go back during the day time and take some pictures as the photos don't show all the decorations, including the rather scary ghouls and ghosts hanging from the trees. This is unusual though, most houses aren't decorated to the same extent!

With the amount of Halloween 'stuff' in the shops you could easily be forgiven for forgetting that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner too...however I have begun to spot baby clothing with turkeys on and pyjamas with penguins and elves so I don't suppose the shops are going to let us forget. No sooner will we have we removed all evidence of skeletons and pumpkins it'll be time to redecorate the house with Thanksgiving stuff.....I have no idea what that'll be!

No more visitors booked to come.......everyone is welcome!!!

So, the last of our visitors from the UK have gone back and I suddenly realised the other day (when Fearne was busy listing to her grandma who else was coming to stay!!) that we have no one else's visits to look forward to at the moment, or maybe more importantly no one to bring out those last minute supplies and cravings we occasionally have. The Cadbury's fruit and nut is going to have to be rationed to a couple of squares at a time rather than rows, since Chris and I gobbled a rather large amount last night!!...and before anyone offers to send us any please don't as it will sit in the mail box round the corner rapidly melting and will resemble something more like one of those heat gel things you put in your pocket to keep you warm on a cold day....more liquid than solid!

Chris' parents have been here for the last 2 weeks and we've managed to fit quite a lot in including trips to the Zoo, Nasa, Joes Crab Shack, lots of shopping (mostly Sheila and I!) swimming, eating, drinking....and more eating and drinking, so all in all I think and I hope they had a good holiday. The weather has dropped down to an average of 32 most days which occasional peaks of 36, which weirdly enough has made a huge difference. Its still very hot, but no longer life zapping! I even took Martha and Henry to the park one day last week and nobody got a burnt bum on the slide or swings, woo-hoo.

I finally seem to have got into more of a routine now that school has started, although I still need to make sure I make the most of the days where I only have Henry, currently those days are spent cleaning, shopping, tidying, washing and putting clothes away.....none of which I would class as any kind of fun! I've joined the swimming club near to the girls school and where Chris goes during the day, I can't wait, swimming lengths in an outdoor pool....simple pleasures. So on the days where I only have Henry, he can go to the creche for an hour while I get some exercise and peace and quiet!

The girls school is lovely and they love going, but there are some things I don't think I'll ever get used to or even be able to stop myself smirking at....

So far this term we have been to a fast food restaurant which was a cross between a pier amusement arcade for toddlers and pizza hut all in the aid of fundraising for schools, we have had to send money in for a teacher appreciation fund (why they can't just add money to the school fees at the beginning of the year I just don't know!) , we've had letters home telling us that when we buy coca cola to save the coupons on the box as they can be used by the school to buy sports equipment, art supplies and educational resources??!!! and then to top it all off, Fearne giving me a rendition of the song she sings in music class just makes me chuckle and cringe! This is the best one so far!

A-M-E-R-I-C-A,

I love America everyday,

If you love America like I do

You can sing the song and I'll sing with you.

America America............

Pfft....how am I supposed to keep a straight face when I hear this!! ;-)

(I've come back at the end of the school year and read through everything I've written and the above paragraph is the only thing I'm kind of embarrassed about writing. Whilst as Brits we may not be patriotic I think it something the Americans do very well, these kind of songs have made the girls feel very welcome and included within the school.)

Not much else happening here, Fearne has a far busier social life than Chris and I though. Patrick's birthday party last weekend at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Cara's birthday party tomorrow at Pump it Up soft play and then Audrey's next weekend at a different soft play. There are only 14 in her class and already 3 parties.....she's going to be sorely disappointed when she realises there aren't parties every weekend.

Martha seems to be going through a rebellious 3 year old stage and has taken to screeching very loudly when something doesn't go her way, shouting 'no' at everything and everyone and generally being a little monster. However, if we can actually get her to eat something she does seem to revert to the normal smiley girl fairly quickly.....it's just getting her to eat something without screaming no and having a tantrum is the hard bit.

Henry has learnt to sit up this week and can commando crawl if he spots something he really wants on the other side of the rug....like a remote control, a set of keys, the computer....everything we'd really rather he didn't suck and slobber on! He had immunisations about 4 weeks ago including the flu jab, which knocked him for 6 and he has been pretty grumpy and not himself. Then he caught a cold which I think he's almost over....just in time to have the second dose of the flu jab in a few weeks. Thankfully we are then done with immunisations until he is 1. I'm ignoring the fact (and firmly sticking my head in the sand!) that the girls need to go back next month for the second doses of their ones!

My trip back to Scotland is booked for the 1st to 9th November. I'm bringing Martha and Henry with me but leaving Fearne behind as she's settled in school. She sort of knows I'm going with the other 2, but hasn't really questioned it too much, thankfully. The promise of ice skating with daddy at Galleria Mall while we're gone is just too much of a lure for her!

So, as I previously said we have no visitors booked to come........anyone fancy a warm holiday????

Oh and I nearly forgot, to the parents of those two very important little girls who have birthdays on the 1st and 3rd October, their presents are on the way. They have been bought back to the UK by Chris' parents and are being sent from there! It was the only way I could guarantee they'd actually get there on time!

Henry is very pleased that finally he can sit at the table with us all....and grab our food!

I love this picture!

Fearne on the carousel at the Zoo

Martha climbing at the zoo - maybe we should swap her for a monkey?!

Martha looking like she's having a refusing to do something moment!

Fearne and daddy doing homework.

The upright boy!

Mmm steak or corn on the cob.....or both at once!

September already!

Lots seems to have happened in August and I can hardly believe its suddenly September. Usually at this time of year I would be feeling rather disappointed that the summer is technically and most likely over, whereas as this year I'm thinking, yesssss, thank goodness for that, maybe, just maybe the weather may start to get a bit cooler now! Actually I think we still have a couple of months of hot weather, but I'm beginning to get desperate for cold weather, I soooo want to wear my jeans again, long sleeve tops....just a bit of variety would be nice!

Well, 2nd of September today, we have a forecast of possible thunderstorms for about 5 days (still no sign of them :-( ), and a tropical storm forming out in the gulf of Mexico which we are waiting to see what it develops into and where it goes. But its looking more and more likely to miss drought stricken Texas. This is rather unfortunate for our grass, as, since we turned off our sprinklers outside it is beginning to resemble the texture of crispy seaweed!

Anyway....

We went out to Fredericksburg a few weeks ago, for a long weekend and stayed in a rustic cabin on a ranch. The cabin was fully air conditioned, very basic but perfect for a short weekend with children. Our cabin backed onto peach, fig and apricot vines/trees which we were free to pick at our pleasure. Even though it was the end of the season and not much fruit left the girls still loved picking the different fruit and actually trying it.....they are not known for their adventurous side when it comes to food! There was also a lovely park in the shade of the trees for them to play on which they thought was fantastic since its been a good 4 months since they've been able to play in a park in Houston (weather and equipment is too hot).

Fredericksburg was lovely, there was very much a western cowboy feel to the place, great shops with lots of cowboy boots, hats, antiques, gifts and some great pastry shops...oh and LOTS of vineyards and peach shops. Definitely a place to go back to when its a bit cooler, me for shopping, Chris for road biking....hmmmmm what to do with 3 small children...any takers?! While in Fredericksburg we also visited the Pioneer museum and drove around the Lyndon B Johnson Ranch. The ranch feels very much like a normal ranch until you realise you are driving alongside a full length runway and then get close to the house and see the Private Jet parked outside!

On the 17th August Fearne turned 5!!!!..........where has 5 years gone. We went to the same restaurant that we had taken Martha too about 3 weeks before (at Fearne's request) and then had a pink princess tea party with my parents. I made a cake carefully to Fearne's precise requirements...white sponge cake with jam in the middle, pink icing with icing flowers......then she wanted her name and then at the last minute she also wanted a number 5....it must have been ok, judging by the grin on her face when she saw it.

Fearne has also started school, thankfully she absolutely loves her teacher and happily goes in every morning. I'd love to tell all my family what she's been learning about, but to be honest I'm not entirely sure as she tells me everyday that she can't remember! She had show and tell last week and had to take in 3 things to talk about. She took in a book about Deeside to tell everyone where she has come from and where her home is and a picture of her best friend Charlotte in Banchory. Funny to think that a year ago there is no way she would have got up and spoken to anyone out loud, let alone to a group of children she barely knows. She's grown up and matured so much in the last year :-).

Martha has started preschool at the same school as Fearne, although poor thing obviously thought that when we said she was starting preschool, she thought she would be starting at the preschool in Banchory. Its taking her a little while to settle in but hopefully she'll get there soon.

As for Henry, he just loves to roll everywhere! Its funny because the girls were never like this as babies so it's all a bit new to me. I could put them somewhere and they'd move around but never more than a foot in each direction. Henry on the other hand moves across the room at speed, yet I never seem to see him do it. He also eats everything in sight and the girls haven't quite cottoned on to not leaving their things on the floor.....so today Henry ate Fearne's picture from school and had a good chew on her wind paper pinwheel.

Most of August has been good, but there has been downs too. Most fairly minor but when they seem to happen on a regular basis, it tends to get you down a bit. The worst was taking the girls to be immunised. Now, I've been taking them to the doctors for 5 years and while its not nice having injections I've never had a problem with it and never come away distressed. Here, however it's another matter. I just don't get the paediatric medical system in the States. Its unfriendly, over medicalised and frankly, totally over the top and unnecessary. A quick visit to the doctors for Hep A and Hep B immunisations for the girls (Texas school requirement) turned into a 2 and a half ordeal with eye tests, ear tests, trying to take blood pressure......this was all before any injections and understandably Fearne was absolutely petrified by the time the nurses got round to doing what we'd come in for. The nurse was rude and unfriendly and I will NEVER put them through that again. In the end both girls had 4 injections, 2 flu sprays up the nose, ear tests, eye tests and full medicals. I don't think I have ever moaned about the NHS, but I now love that when it comes to dealing with children, everyone does everything they can to make it as stress free and quick. Can you tell I still haven't got over the trauma of it?!

Anyway, I still (just about!) have a glimmer of hope that things will improve...but I am slowly losing patience....

Looking forward to coming back to the UK for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year and I'm currently looking into a short trip back at the beginning of November for a little bit of respite and catch up with my lovely friends in Scotland.....oh and to go and look at some wedding venues too!

Busy few weeks

We've had a busy few weeks since mum arrived, trying to get lots of things done that I've been trying to do for months but just haven't managed to, or haven't wanted to with 3 children in tow. I'd forgotten how easy it is to get anything done without having children traipsing around behind and wingeing....let alone getting them into and out of the car each time! At the same time when we have gone anywhere it is 10 times easier having an extra pair of hands and someone else to cajoule them into hurrying up! Although, I do feel like all I have done is shop for things!

We've spent a lot of time by the pool too, Fearne has grown in confidence so much that she no longer ever needs her swim vest on and I don't feel at all anxious about her swimming around on her own. She's even quite fast when she's trying to get to to lilo before granny!

We decided to venture to the zoo last week on Tuesday afternoon as after 2pm on the first Tuesday of every month it is free, however so did all of Houston and we drove around and around and around the car park for about 40 minutes and decided to give up! But we went back the following day first thing in the morning and had a great time. Mum bought us an annual family and friends membership so that we can now go whenever we want, which is fantastic. I can't wait for the weather to get cooler and just go during the week for a wander round with Martha and Henry while Fearne is at school. It just gives us somewhere to go when we need to get out the house. There's also a really good kids park, and a children's area where there is often painting and various activities going on. Thank you very much mum!!

It was Martha's birthday on 29th July, so we had our very own pirate tea party at her request. I made a chocolate cake treasure chest and filled it with chocolate coins and edible necklaces, she seemed impressed. We also took her out to lunch at a restaurant I came across in a local mums magazine, which had a small petting zoo, a sandpit and we got to eat in a room with a huge oak tree growing in the middle of it...it was good fun, so much so that Fearne has asked to go back for her birthday lunch next week. http://www.claysrestaurant.com/

Chris has spent the last two afternoons kiteboarding down in an area called Texas City, which is (I think!) on the estuary south east of Houston. He's very pleased with himself as he learnt to gybe in both directions and even managed a little jump yesterday....although a jellyfish swum up his shorts and stung him (:-s) and then when he got out he stood in an ants nest and got furiously bitten by the little buggers. But he didn't seem to care too much, he was just rather happy to have had 2 days of fun.....so thank you again mum for keeping me company so he could go off kitesurfing 2 days in a row!

We've also been and got both girls kitted out in their new school uniforms, I've organised their immunisations which they both need before they can enter a Texas school (Hep A and Hep B), they're both going to be seriously unimpressed when they realise whats happening, but thankfully mum and dad will both be here so there will be 1 adult per child on the day! I've also ordered their school bags from school, Martha's is a lovely sensible red book bag with her name on, Fearne's is a suitcase on wheels with a metal handle.....its compulsory! She could take enough clothes in her bag for a week!

Fearne has her ballet and tap recital this Thursday which she's very excited about, and so am I as I haven't seen anything she's done in her classes. She loves the dance class but we've decided we need to find an earlier one for her to go to as its at 5.30pm during the week. I think starting school full time is going to be tiring enough for her at the moment without adding early evening activities into the mix.....and besides I don't think I can juggle doing a ballet run, tea, homework and bedtime with children all at the same time and on my own!!!

I can't believe its the end of the summer holidays here, yippeeee dippy doo!!!! They both start school on the 22nd August. I'm going to a new parents coffee morning on Friday and then taking Fearne into school at 10 to meet her teacher and her classmates and it's a chance for me to meet other parents. I'm really excited at the prospect of actually meeting the other parents, since it won't happen much during term time due to the car drop off routine.

and finally....my dad arrives this week, which we're all excited about. I've just booked 2 nights in a ranch b&b/cabin near Fredericksburg. We're planning on spending 3 days visiting some vineyards, going into Austin, maybe a State Park and we may even get the chance to try a little Western style horse riding. http://www.grapecreekranch.com

I'll come back next week and update all that we have done....oh and I'd better start thinking about Fearne's birthday too. Can't believe she's going to be 5 and starting school 2 weeks today....let alone Martha now being 3 and starting Pre-school too!

bye

Freya xxxxx

In a years time I'm sure I'll find this all rather amusing...

So, things happen in 3's...or maybe more in the case of this house we are living in. The only reason I'm am bothering to write any of this down is because right now I am not seeing the funny side of any of it, but I'm sure in a year or more I will and I really don't want to remember the first few months as being as terrible as it sometimes feels like! (It really isn't as bad as this is going to sound, and I am smiling as I write it!)

Firstly, we have really really old splintering decking at the back of the house, the girls have stubbed their toes a couple of times, but nothing too serious. Then for some reason, I managed to scuff the bottom of my foot on this decking and embed large splinters of wood deep under the skin. After hobbling around in agony for a few hours and really thinking I was being a bit of a wuss, I decided hospital it was...they couldn't see anything, so the only option was to cut my foot open and have a proper look. The benefit of medical care in the USA is turning up to A&E, being seen straight away and not being surrounded by drunk people who have injured themselves. An hour and a half later, 2 stitches, splinters removed and a hefty bill I was all set to go.

Secondly, the house we live in, could be lovely, but the owners seem to have rather neglected to a) repair anything and b) consider that these kind of things should have been checked that they are full working order before tenants move in! We have had no air conditioning downstairs since we moved in, daily visits by air conditioning 'specialists' for the past 2 weeks, sometime 2/3 times a day...although fingers crossed this morning they have finally replaced a valve so hopefully it'll stay working for more than an hour today. But in the process of failing to work out what the problem was we had a massive leak in the attic which soaked through the ceiling....and now the owners need to replace an area of the ceiling upstairs too.

The dishwasher is like something out of the middle ages - when we first moved in it leaked all over the floor, so someone came round said it was just the seal....anyway it is old, rusty and dirty so we asked to landlords to replace it.....and they've replaced it with an identical model...its clean.....but still out of the middle ages. Anyway, that's beside the point, Chris offered to do them a favour by installing it (SHOULD be simple), but guess what, when he pulled the old one out last night, a shallow pit of stagnant dirty water was sitting there...its obviously been leaking since we moved in. Rahhhhhhh! The solid wood kitchen units on wither side of the dishwasher have been sitting in water for 6 weeks and they too may now be damaged.....

So that's technically 3 things, bad things happen in 3's so here's hoping nothing else happens!

My mum is currently en-route to Houston, she'll be here in about 4 hours, we can't wait to see her. The girls are very excited, particularly the prospect of getting to stay up slightly later to see her.

No other plans for the rest of the week other than to get organised for Martha's 3rd birthday on Friday. I need to make a birthday cake and I promised I'd make some biscuits for her to take into summer school with her in the morning , so I'd better get on with trying to decide what to do.

Well, I've got to the end of writing this latest blog post and can already see the funny side to everything going wrong, well mostly anyway!

Maine and Boston holiday

We got back last weekend after a wonderful holiday visiting the Zolper's up in Maine, Chris managed to fit in lots of wakeboarding with Ben at their camp, I completely relaxed being surrounded my good friends who were more than happy to jiggle Henry around and rock him to sleep and the girls loved being centre of attention.

The weather was also perfect as far as we were concerned, about 25 degrees, sunny and cloudy, slight breeze and the occasional rain shower. Henry decided to start sleeping properly and only woke up once a night, so I came back having caught up on lots of sleep.....however back in Houston, and the heat is obviously bothering him because he's back to being up 3 times a night, aaaaaargh!!!!

We spent the second half of the week in Boston as we wanted to spend some time with Carey, Joe and Benjamin, and we wanted to treat ourselves to doing a few touristy things. We all went on the Boston Duck tour on Thursday, which was fun and then the following day went to the aquarium. It'll be fun when the children are older to do a trolley tour in Boston, more like an old tram where you can get on and off and explore different areas. I would have loved doing it this time but the mere thought of getting on and off a bus with 3 children, 2 pushchairs and our bags repeatedly sends my head into a spin! Maybe in 10 years time!

We met Carey at a Boston splashpad on one day too, which was lovely, its obviously the place where mums meet up with each other. I love the fact that Boston and its surrounding suburbs are so walkable and village like, something I really miss when we're here in Houston. Carey also showed us an amazing child friendly restaurant which I would highly recommend to anyone if they go to Boston on holiday. The food was fantastic, the kids play area was brilliant and they even had individual buckets of toys for the children to play with at the table if they were too small for the play area. No one minded children walking around, making a bit of noise...so perfect we ate lunch and dinner there on one day. http://www.fullmoonrestaurant.com/menu.html

I also managed to fit in a tiny bit of shopping and came away from Freeport (retail outlet heaven!) with a lovely dress and 2 tops, although shopping with children is impossible, and I came away slightly disappointed I hadn't got a chance to properly shop. So I'm planning on going back in October with just Henry and spending a weekend shopping with Carey, yay!

Here are a few pictures from the week away:

We've come back here with a bump, but I'll start another post for this weeks events, rather than ruin this entry where nothing went wrong!