We're In!

We are finally in our house. Two of our loads showed up on Thursday--one a surprise. The day was crazy with me directing 5 movers and trying to take care of Lizzie (who had a fever) and keep the others out of the way.
This list of complaints will show you the mood I'm in: (Maybe someday my first response will be one of instant gratitude and happiness, but not today.)
-Broken things (so far--bookcase, entertainment center, clock, baby monitor, credenza and COMPUTER!!!!! You might be wondering: If I don't have a computer, then how am I doing this post? All I can say is thank goodness for work laptops and unsecured internet lines.)
-Trying to figure out how to work things in a new house (I LOVE my house, but everything comes with a thick owner's manual--even the bathrooms!!) And our phones don't work in this house!
-Boxes packed by those not thinking about the person who is unpacking it. Why are my pots and pans in the bathroom box?
-4 children who complain about being ignored and not fed
-Looking for toilet paper at 2 am

Friends

I have good friends--really good friends! I missed them--a lot--after I moved. I was so excited to be back in America because I knew I'd be able to see some friends and talk to others on the phone at normal hours of the day. My first week back was fun and showed me again why they are such good friends. Whether at the park or on the phone or eating yummy food together I have loved being surrounded by them once again. Let me tell you about them. They are great moms! They adore their husbands. They are intelligent. I'm inspired to be a better person and try a little harder after talking to them and being with them. I would love to get them all together (they're spread out everywhere) for a big book club because I like hearing their thoughts. They let me talk and talk when I just need to talk and talk! They like my kids and I like theirs. They have a vision for their future, and even if life goes a different direction, they remain positive. They make me laugh! They are fantastic people!
I like Emily's dilemma--can't we just take all the people we like with us whenever we move? I would live in the best neighborhood (one that's overpriced and with small houses, but who cares if my friends are my neighbors!)

Thoughts about Adjusting

It's the little things that are making me realize that I am back in America: driving, the plethora of choices of stores and restaurants, easily pulling into parking spaces and walking around in big stores with anything I could possibly think of right at my fingertips. England is feeling very, very far away right now. It feels like I took a long trip, and I'm wondering-did I really set up life there only to disassemble it so quickly? I read some books about repatriating before we left, so I feel somewhat prepared for this adjustment period. In my book reading I learned that friends/family have about a 20 minute attention span when talking about the overseas experience. (Thankfully, I have friends and family whose attention span lasts longer--must be a sign of higher intelligence.) I'm not a very sentimental person (much too practical for sentiments), so though I am missing some things about England, I'm seeing that I can incorporate "a bit" our British lifestyle here. I am missing my cute reusable bags that are sitting in a box somewhere. I am carrying things I buy instead of bagging them. (Every time Em sees a plastic bag she says, "Did you know that when plastic bags rot there's a chemical that comes out and it can give us cancer?")
I am missing my walking community. Walking around town gave me a purpose or a reward for my walking. I could walk to the grocery store, post office, clothing store, book store, gift shop, Blockbuster, library, bakery, toy store, dry cleaners, model village and be gone for just a short time. I know where the walking communities are in our CA area and I'm excited to explore them. The school is within walking distance and new bikes for the whole family are on the list of things to purchase soon.
We ate healthier and I definitely would like to continue that and here's why:
-food prices are up so why not spend our money on food that gives us the best nutrients?
-I started thinking about where our food comes from and trying to make responsible choices--free range eggs and meat
-I'm excited to find our local CA farmer's markets and support food that's grown closer to home and start a garden of our own
I also have thoughts about gas prices. Some positive things have come because of rising gas prices. So what if the motivating factor is money and not really wanting to save the earth? People are changing habits to use less gas, including me, and that's a good thing.
I have a lot of other thoughts as I begin my settling in process. I'm sure they will continue and most of them will be private, but these are ones that I'm excited about because it makes me feel like our experience isn't over.

We've Returned!

Just a quick post about our return to America. The girls did well on the plane, though not much sleeping ocurred due to excitement. We received plenty of positive comments from passengers and the flight attendants and the girls were proud (righteously proud, of course) of themselves.

Morning started early today (3 am) and we enjoyed a good American breakfast thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. The girls have had fun going down memory lane--playing with Grandma's toys, watching missed PBS shows and visiting with cousins.

Here's what our list of things to do looked like in England:
-get rid of lots of food (one mover had to rip open one box when he realized he had packed some food items , everything was taken out until he found the culprits--a bottle of corn syrup, a bottle of vanilla and a tiny bottle of almond extract. I thought our whole shipment was done for!
-try to rent vans and end up quoting lines from Seinfeld to help us through the experience (It took two vans to get our family and luggage to the London airport; it took one American-size van to pick everything up from the Chicago airport.)
-sell van (4 day process)
-take loose change in to bank (1 hour before we left for the airport Jon took a big ziploc bag full of our UK coins to the bank, parked illegally and went in to find long queues. A bank manager came over to Jon to speed up the line, saw his big bag of change and said, "What do you want to do with that?" Jon's reply: "I want to deposit this." "You can't do that here! You'll have to seperate each denomination into these little bags." Apparently the automated coin counting machines have not yet made it to the UK. Jon survived the ordeal laughing.)
-try not to get kicked out of hotel (Hannah reached a breaking point very late at night which was loud enough for her to be quickly removed from the hotel by Jon--he took her on a drive. Sadly, the move has been hard for her to understand.)
-Forward our mail to the US (it costs $15 a month versus our free year from the US)

Here's what our list of things to do looks like in Chicago:
-See friends!!!!
-Pack up house
-Enjoy driving our very missed van
-Go to Wildberrys (a great place for breakfast)
-Go to Portillos (a great place for lunch)
-Go to Giordano's (a great place for dinner)
-Go to Target!
-Go outlet shopping
-Go see Wall-e
-And some boring stuff thrown in there about selling a house, closing on a house, coordinating shipping cars, finding out when all of our stuff arrives--but who cares, 'cuz we're home!!!

Goodbye London

The movers show up tomorrow (which means I lose my computer!), and even though I feel that life is hectic and chaotic right now, it's only going to get more so. The three things that are keeping me from totally breaking down are: hugs from Jon, saying to myself, "You chose to do all of this" (though to be fair, who really ever knows what 'all of this' ever entails?) and thoughts of my new house in California--which will be filled with boxes as our things trickle in from Chicago and England, but it will be my house for more than a year!

Here are the last little things we're doing before the movers come tomorrow:

*Filling out inventory forms of all of our things and the replacement costs. The forms were sent to us late. At this point I fill like saying, "Just sink the ship if I don't have to fill this out!"

*Figuring out who can take all of our food. Many of you know I was able to bring over many food storage items that helped out greatly in this expensive place. Our movers in America were 'happy' to pack 100 pounds of flour, 75 pounds of sugar, 50 pounds of rice, 40 pounds of oats, lots of peanut butter, chocolate chips, 50 boxes of mac n cheese, 6 big bottles of syrup and other really important foods. A few days ago we were informed of some Bioterrorism Act by the US Food and Drug Administration. Darn those terrorists! Because of them all of our food stays--well, "all" I should say.

*Laughing at how complicated little things are like: selling our van, closing down UK accounts (Jon finds it helpful to quote lines from this comedy bit after dealing with someone), finding hotels in the UK, Chicago and San Jose for our family, getting rental cars for the size of our family (we're renting 2 vans to get our 12 suitcases, 5 carry-ons, 4 car seats and one stroller to the airport) dealing with the people who are paid to help us find hotels, rental cars, airplane tickets (which were booked on the wrong day) and set up moving details.

Amidst all of this, here's what we did yesterday (which I'm sooo happy we did!):

America, here we come!

Snapshots (with words) of My Week

Awkward moment: A health visitor from the local health centre came to check up on Lizzie. After the nurse weighed her (she's a few pounds shy of Hannah's weight) I took her off the scale only to have her pee all over me and the carpet. Not wanting to interrupt the appointment, we carried on with me drenched in pee. Awkard!
Sad things: A teething Lizzie. A teacher telling me she's seeing the effects of moving on my child at school--negative effects. Kids who are going through a lot of emotions right now due to moving. The tooth fairy didn't come for 2 nights to pick up Emily's tooth!

Funny things: The tooth fairy came while 'everyone' was at church--she had to leave a little extra to make up for the missed nights. Her note said she's been very busy picking up so many teeth all over the UK--she must be short-staffed.
Yesterday a light came on in the van telling me to fill up my washer fluid.
Questions Jon and I recently asked: Did you notice if there's a microwave in the new house? Where was the dishwasher? Was there a dishwasher? I wonder what the garage looks like. I wonder if the washer and dryer come with the house (they don't.)
Waking up at 7:30 am, 15 minutes after the bus had already come to pick up the girls.

Worrying things: One of my kids said: "Every time I touch someone I just want to bite them!"

Sickening things: Looking up registered sex offenders to see their proximity to our new house.

Things that cause headaches: Crying kids. When does our air shipment arrive? When does the ship freight arrive? What do they mean we're over our weight limit? When does the moving van arrive? When do the cars arrive? When does the rental furniture arrive? Trying to reserve rooms for 6 people at three different hotels in three different cities during summer. Dealing with 3 houses. Packing. Reading house inspection reports. Deadlines. Trying not to complain, but wanting to everyday.

Happy things: My kids saying 'I love you' even after long days of putting up with an ornery mom. Having all of our things in one house. Thinking about seeing great friends!

What's Been Going On?

The past few weeks have been filled with great memories. We had a very fun and very much appreciated visit from my Mom and sister. Here are some highlights of their time with us.

My sister (the self-proclaimed Queen of Everything) attracts royalty wherever she goes!

We visited Hampton Court (home of King Henry VIII) and Windsor Castle. Ashley hoped to have a personal tour from the Queen, but she was away that day.

We played 'Who's that Statue of?'.

Mom learned how to make collect calls.

We took a tour of the Houses of Parliament.

We took 3 kinds of tours through London: by car (we survived my driving!), on foot (with me as an amateur tour guide), and by boat (I happily let the professional take over).

I had fun showing off some great sites to Mom and Ashley. Good memories were made!

But, the best memories were made while Jon, Lizzie and I were in California and Mom and Ashley took care of the girls.

The week could not have gone better and I've had fun talking to the girls about all the fun they had with Granma and Aunt Ashley! Not only did my Mom clean my house (thanks!), make meals, get the girls ready for school, get them ready for bed, do the laundry, help with homework, and dry lots of tears, there were also: sleepovers, homemade cookies, movie night, special treats brought from America, walks, visits to the Model Village, picnics, reading books and playing with impossibly small Polly Pockets! No wonder they're looking forward to visiting Granma in August!

And what did Jon, Lizzie and I do in California?

Well, we enjoyed the sunshine while looking at close to 100 houses. And although 99% of them did not make it to the final list, we only needed one. We close on our new house the middle of July!

A few hours after we flew back to England we went to Family Fun Day at the girls' school, where Ray got her face painted like a cat.

But wait! There's more! We still have to celebrate Hannah's birthday! Hannah's been talking about Granma coming for her birthday for at least 3 months! Hannah was ready for her cake and presents as soon as Granma walked through the door her first day here. After much patience, her big day finally arrived.

For her birthday, we visited a Safari drive-through park where the animals roam free.

She made it almost all the way through the park before getting sick. Totally, completely, utterly SICK. It was a long one hour drive home with a lot of clean up afterwards. She barely held her head up while we showed her the birthday cake and all the presents that had to wait until the next day (the day that Granma and Ashley flew home!)

Thank you, Mom and Ashley, for helping make a big task possible! Thanks for everyone's prayers, especially my sister's whose faith is as big as her heart.