Aidan's New School

On Monday, Aidan started at his new school - finally! The neighborhood that we moved into on Ft. Campbell is brand new and really big. Because they added so many houses, they needed to build a school to deal with all the kids. The school wasn't ready in time for school to start this fall so they split up the classes and scattered them throughout the other elementary schools for the first half of the year. Aidan's classroom has been a converted art room up until now.
The new school is beautiful! Every classroom has a Smart Board, new furniture, art supplies, toys, books - everything NEW! It's amazing how much money, time and effort went into building this gorgeous school. Aidan and all the other students were so excited to move it. They've been homeless for the past 5 months and now they have their own school! On Monday morning there was a ribbon cutting and open house in the morning. We rode our bikes to school and stayed for the open house. It was cold but sunny at least!
Here's Aidan before the ribbon cutting:In the entrance hall there are pictures of all of the kids' service member parents. It is really a special way to honor them! There's Brendan with the kids on the first day of school:Brendan and Aidan walking through the cafeteria into the gym:Aidan in his classroom - everything was new and so exciting!

Before and After

Those of you who know me, know that housekeeping is not my biggest talent. Don't get me wrong - I don't like things untidy but I just don't put enough effort in to keep things as they should be. My mom is a tidy person and unfortunately that didn't get passed on to me - maybe it will skip a generation. In general my house is CLEAN but messy - if that makes sense. Under all the toys, the floor is clean. The laundry is mostly done most of the time and dishes are not in the sink. My pantry was one of the messiest things in my house and it was getting so bad that it was hard to find anything. Here's what it looked like at the beginning of the evening tonight:Doesn't that just give you hives just looking at it? Believe me - it was worse too because you can't see most of it. The closet extends both to the left and right beyond the door frame and it was just as bad there. It didn't actually take me that long to organize it and here is the final product:Yeah! Now I have room, can see everything and don't have to be humiliated when the babysitter looks for more paper towels! Now I jut have to tackle the rest of the laundry room...

New Trampoline

Brendan's parents got the kids a trampoline for Christmas. I would like to thank them for everything - including covering the entire backyard - I will never have to mow again! The kids LOVE it. Brendan put it together yesterday and it was so warm - 67 degrees! - that the kids could jump all afternoon! They slept very well last night!

A Look Back at 2010

We started off 2010 in Scotland. We got a big snowstorm in Watchfield and the kids didn't go to school for AGES! In February, Aidan turned 5 and Aoife started to crawl. In March we went to Athens and visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Acropolis. It was the trip of a lifetime. In April we visited Paris and Ireland. Brendan's parents came to England and we did lots of sightseeing! At the end of April Aoife turned 1 and enjoyed a cupcake. The Bluebells bloomed in May and Aidan lost his first tooth! We stayed at Gill and Pete's house in Cornwall with them and their kids. We had great fun digging in the sand and eating Cornish pasties. In June, Aoife started walking behind her walker and Emmy turned 3. We had a weekend away and visited Puzzlewood, Raglan Castle and Tinturn Abbey. In July, Aoife took her first real steps and we moved from Watchfield to Fort Campbell, KY. In August we moved into our new house and Aidan and Emmy started school. In September it was still really hot but we enjoyed the Nashville Zoo and Riverview Mounds Farm. In October, Aoife had surgery on her mouth and we were very happy to have Brendan back for Halloween. In November, Emmy started ballet and Aidan started gymnastics. We went to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving. In December I had my Christmas Tree trauma, baked lots of cookies, we moved Aoife to a big bed, and had a very Merry Christmas! Thanks so much for spending 2010 with us. Here's to a great 2011!

New Years Morning

We had some neighbors over for an informal open house last night. There weren't too many of us - just enough to have fun! We let Aidan and Emmy stay up until the first guests arrived around 8 pm. That's really late for them - especially Emmy. This morning they're pretty much racked out on the couch. Emmy and Aidan are curled up together under a blanket - when they get along they are so cute - just like little puppies! Aoife alternates between copying them and running around - she went to bed at the normal time so she's not that tired.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year - ours was quieter than last year and we missed being in Scotland but it was better than next year's will be.

Happy New Years!

Tradewind Tiaras

I found this wonderful blog and she has a super easy tutorial on making these gorgeous flowers - you could use them on anything - headband, hairbow, napkin ring, purse! Anything!
Click here!
Tradewind Tiaras Blog