Playing Catch-up for July

Though it's already August, I need to play catch-up on all of July's events before I launch into what's been going on lately. Here we go:

Ellie's school
July brought the good news of a school place for our Ellie girl. It's at a nearby Church of England school and we've been very pleased with it so far. She's slotted to start Year 1 in September and the school let Ellie participate in the last week or so of school activities just to get a feel of things. I even took her along on a school field trip... and I'll just say teachers are my HEROES. I wasn't even an "official" helper and I slept well that night!

Yes, they have uniforms - Hooray!

Ellie's first day of visiting

"Hot" weather
It's been hot (you know... for England) and so we've tried to spend lots of time outdoors. Our 1st floor (or 2nd floor in US terms) flat can get a little steamy without AC in the afternoon sun - but 80 degrees and sunny with a breeze feels pretty nice outside!

I found the poor girls sweating in their beds at night! 

Sweet Little Sweaty Sleeper

Nana & Grandbud
Robert's parents came for a visit and it was oh so wonderful to have them.

They held babies...

... played at the park ...

... rode the tube in for some city sight-seeing ...

... went shopping and venturing with us ...

... and told stories at bedtime every night!

We did many more things together also - lots of talking and praying and playing. It was such a sweet, memorable time. Our only disappointment was their departure.

Date Nights
At the top of the short list of things we miss from our "old lives" is Date Night. As in, I think we've been on 2 this year... that is, before parents came to visit! We enjoyed a lovely long date (to a local pub and then dessert at an Italian place) while my mom was here. Then we squeezed in 2 more dates while Nana & Grandbud were here. For one we went back to that same Italian place for dinner and the next we pounded some Baskin & Robbins... mmmmm...

Date-starved dreamy faces at Zizzi's Restaurant

Meg's Early Birthday
Birthdays are always better with family, right? Well, our sweet Nana brought all the trimmings for a fun early birthday party for our Meg who turns 4 at the end of September.

We made & decorated cupcakes!

Birthday Dinner

Birthday girl about to blow out her candles

Opening presents

Church picnic
We had a blast this month at our church's annual picnic in Hyde Park.

We all played tug-of-war, even the kiddos!

Looks like someone's down for the count... and I think Robert is about to stomp on him!

Ellie became a butterfly

It's always a successful event when this happens!

July 4th
I'm not going to even try to sugar coat our July 4th... it was pretty sad. I spent most of the day envious of our friends BBQing, Beaching and Fireworking. I don't recommend this approach :) I would recommend an event more like our friends Erin & Nate in Guatemala - read about it here! We ended up with a bucket of KFC and some National Anthem ala Whitney Houston (her version is just TOUGH to beat! Girl's got some pipes.)

It's no secret... we love KFC.

Grocery delivery
If you've made it this far on this long post, I have to tell you about what has truly kept me going the past 2 months. 2 words: Grocery. Delivery. Y'all, where has Grocery Delivery been all of my mothering life??? In the quiet of the evening I order exactly what I want online and they bring it to my house at a time of my choosing... !!! Though Ellie & Meg are pretty super these days in the grocery, I acutely remember those baby days when Ellie was OVER sitting the cart, Meg had blown straight through her diaper, and I just - oops - dropped 5 cans of tomatoes out of my overflowing cart, and we need to leave NOW because Meg was hungry 30 minutes ago and the lady in front of me has 5,000 coupons... !!! I'm so glad I haven't had to survive the grocery now that little Samantha is here. Grocery Delivery, I love you dearly.


Hopefully I'll get a post up soon of all that's been happening this week (Taster: we're away from London in a beautiful part of the country while Robert's on a preaching assignment...).