Our Boy comes home today!

I think that pretty much says it all! He's been back in the States since July 26th. He is bringing his girlfriend on this trip. It's "her" first flight ever- so what does our son do? He takes her on a 9 hour flight, ooh that's brutal! But I hope that the flight goes well and that there aren't any delays.

Now to nail down that shopping list and pick up some groceries, get those stockings finished and get the guest room set up.

Loads to do and a limited amount of time to get it all done in. I'm one busy Elf today!

Prayers needed

Please pray for my friend Laura. I woke up this morning to find out that her daughter Jennifer died yesterday. To suffer the loss of a child, I know of no greater pain a mother could suffer. Please hug your children a little tighter today and keep Laura in your prayers.

My latest observations

Some days I feel like Erma Bombeck- seeing things how they really are and able to write about them in a manner which makes people laugh at the obvious. I loved her writing style and her witty sense of humor just makes you smile. Was her wit based on sarcasm? To a certain degree sure, but it was focused on the obvious.

As many of us with children are looking at this time of year as "back to school" there are those of us (myself included) that are saying "finally, a break from the kids- woo hoo!". I've always wondered why so many mothers are sad at seeing their children grow up and start that new part of their lives, in their gaining their independence we get ours back! Me? I'm doing the happy dance! I've got one off in a state side University and one here at home- perfect!

No more hen pecking my eldest to clean up his pigsty- it's clean, smells fresh and is loaded with beautiful fabrics and all kids of creative things! I've taken time to turn our son's old room into our new guest room/sewing room. I've chosen an Americana theme and I hope that the guests don't get too cosy because I plan on sewing even with guest staying here-HA!

Seriously though, I know so many mothers that make their kids old room into some sort of shrine once they leave the house (my own old bedroom at my parents house is pretty much just that). Do you really want them back? I don't think so! It's YOUR space, turn it into something that YOU can use! Get rid of that crap that your teen had on the walls, paint the walls, ring up your kids and give them the opportunity to take the stuff with then that they want and just donate the rest to a charity shop (or simply toss the rubbish into a wheelie bin). Granted with our son living in America and us living here in England, well his stuff just gets boxed up and put into storage until we move state side ourselves in a few months. But seriously- empower yourself! Take over that empty space and make it over into a room that you'll be proud to show off to your friends! I'll let our son stay in that room for his holiday break but only after he signs an agreement not to make it a pigsty while he is here "visiting".

Room Transformation

I back only a few days and I'm ready to get back to work in our sons "old" bedroom (old being a relative term). He's off to college now and his room is now our "new" guest room. I started tackeling his room the day he left (July 26th) but as you know I had to leave suddenly myself on the 28th-which meant the bulk of the cleaning out of our son's pigstye of a room was left to my husband. I'm happy to say that my husband got the rest of the rubbish cleared out of there, got things cleaned up leaving me a blank canvas in which to work with. So, after airing out the room for 3 weeks, it's time to dress it up!

Now where to start? Hmmmm...

♥I started with the decorator table, put a floor length tale cloth on it- looks fab!

♥Lets move on to the windows- took down the room darkening drapes and out up these new Waverly window treatments that I bought while out in California, they're a pretty blue check and they are floor length. If you want to get some great looking window treatmens try Lowe's. I can't make window treatments for less than what I can get them for at Lowe's. I'll pull them back with the ivory colored curtain tie backs that I bought at the Laura Ashely store last year (Laura Ashely has awesome sales).

♥Now to the bed- remember that Americana quilt that I made for the guest room for our house in South Dakota? Well it's now got a bed to call home. Fresh clean sheets, pillows, some fancy handmade pillow cases by yours truly and now an awesome quilt! The bed looks great!

♥The walls- being that our son chose not to hang anything on them for his time here I've decided to change that! I'm going to hang a few things up and make it a real guest room.

♥Additional closet space- oh yeah! Now this is a real treat! I'm storing all of our extra bed linens on the shelves in his closet along with a few other items and maybe some of our clothes, LOL!!!

Look for pictures soon!

A fine ending...almost

Yesterday was another one of those days where I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen. Once again I was wrangled into cooking big for a function, but not a military one, this one was for a school party. I jumped at the opportunity to help out.

The "Leavers Party"- obviously this is a British wording and not American as we would have worded it quite differently but it gets the point across none the less. This is not only a party for those that are graduating from Kingham Hill but also for those US students that are moving away this summer. What a wonderful tribute to pay to those US students that work so hard to fit in, to adjust to something new and foreign to them and all supported by their British friends and teachers. Even our Andrew had a special speech said about him- and it pretty much summed up what he had gone through- I had to hold myself back from crying because there it was out in the open-All of the things he thought that his Senior Year in High School would have been and we move him right before all of that. Everyone applauded him when he stood up, the journey was over, he survived and he even made a handful of great friends along the way. It was nice way to start the final days of school.

Although Andrew is technically done with school, Speech Day is July 3rd and we will ALL be in attendance then! He's off to South Dakota soon (yes again) but this time it's for University orientation. He'll spend 4 or 5 days there then he'll be back here, then he goes back to South Dakota at the end of July . We won't see him again until December.

I took about a gazillion pictures (of which I need to upload to my computer), now to find out where my camera had gone off to...it's around here somewhere. Now for some coffee and working on finding that camera!

Happy Campers

What do you get when you mix... warm weather, a week long term break from British School, a big backyard and a bunch of teenage boys?


It's Camping out in the backyard in a tent!
We've been blessed with quite the backyard here and if our teen son wants to have a camp out what the heck- go for broke! Our camping equipment is (yes you guessed it) it's stateside in storage-ugh! Our son's friends came over with this large tent trust me when I say that they were quite "happy" with having a place to pitch this tent. If it's the normal crew of guys that our son usually hangs out with, then there's got to be at least 5 or 6 of them in there...now that's got to be crowded! They were up talking and laughing until wee hours but that's okay- they were having fun and that's what counts!

For the most part these teen boys stay in a tight-knit group, not letting others really into "the fold" so to speak. I consider myself to be blessed that they brought our son into this group. He was having such a rough go of it with this move here to the UK. It's not easy moving away from everyone and everything you know- especially the summer before your Senior year of High School. These kids have gone through quite a lot, probably even more so than their military and state department parents realize. They too go through that roller coaster of emotions but feel them more deeply. They quite often leave behind the best friends they've ever known, their first loves and quite frankly we pull this all away from them. This group of young men have helped my son to get over that "painful" part and have opened up a new world of adventures to him. Even at his worst they still came and made him go out- to the Lord I am forever thankful!


There are ways of "surviving it" with your teen and how to get them to love you again. It's not an easy path and there were many times when all I could do was to cry with him when he felt so lonely- but I want to say that they have passed. Our son has racked up the frequent flier miles that's for sure! He's now surpassed his mother in overseas flights! Letting go and trusting your child is the key. Let them vent, and buy them an airline ticket to visit their friends. If possible, arrange for your child's friends to come out for a visit. Between flying 2 of his friends out here to England and then flying him state side a handful of times...I should be able to get a free airline ticket soon, LOL! Andrew flies to SD again this month for his college orientation, he'll be there for 5 days and then it's back here to Bicester until Graduation day or as it's called here "Speech Day". Then he flies back to SD later on in the summer. We've not traveled as much as we would have liked but then again our boy's happiness means more to us than anything. With him back in the USA this Autumn being among his old friends at South Dakota State University, we ALL will embark on a new chapter in our lives.

I ♥ my daughter

I think that I have just about the most thoughtful and fun loving daughter anyone could ever wish to have. This is a wonderful child that I thank the Lord for (on most days). She continues to amaze me with her quirky sense of humor, her thoughtfulness, her generosity and her unconditional love of her friends and of course her dork brother.This is a person that will find happiness wherever life takes her and will strive to make a difference in the world around her.

Yesterday as we are on our mother/daughter trip to Maidenhead to pick up my latest e-bay find and then to Windsor Castle she says to me "Mom, I want to pay for the tureen, I want it to be a gift from me to you". As feelings rushed through me all I could think was Oh my goodness what a truly wonderful, loving thoughtful and generous child I have been blessed with!

So here it is, my gift from my daughter...a Portmeirion Soup Tureen, pattern is Pomona. I know that this kind of thing isn't for everyone and some people are happy serving their store bought soup right out of the cook-pot. As for me, I like to make soup from scratch and now I can serve it up right! My many thanks go to my loving daughter Hannah! Now her Momma can have luncheons and dinner parties in style!

It's a Monday need I say more?

Mondays tend to get a bad rap, being that they are the start of the work/school week et-all. For me, I woke up quite early, got a start on making worm soup (that's kids speak for French Onion Soup). Slicing 5 pounds of onions goes rather quickly when one uses a mandolin slicer :-) And I found the secret to not crying when slicing so many juicy onions- do it on your stove top with the vent fan on high! I didn't cry one single tear drop! I put the slicer on a large sheet pan, put the pan on the stove top and turned on the vent and sliced away! Now the onions have caramelized and now are simmering in beef stock. My house smells delicious!

So here I am with a funny story to tell about the other part of my morning.... Basically it's this- my kids wait for the bus in the rain for an hour and it never shows up. I have an appointment here at the house with maintenance at 9am so I can't possibly take my kids to school and be back here in time to meet my appointment (it's a 2 hour round trip to school and back). So, for my kids it's an early kick off to their Spring Break from school. can you say Ferris Bueller's day off?

vermin, illness and disease

If you haven't guessed it, sickness is back here at our house. My daughter was violently ill last night for many hours and this morning my son is sick- this is not good, not good at all. I'm a sympathetic vomiter, meaning is, if they are puking wretchedly so will I. This really is not good. So once the shops open up I am out of here- off to buy Lysol, bleach and those disinfecting wipes.

This illness is making it's way through our children's school and through our neighborhood. I brought a meal to a neighbor yesterday as she and her entire family of 5 were all ill with this same thing. I didn't touch a door knob or a person, I simply brought a meal over, gave my condolences and left. My heart goes out to our friends as it can be rather rough when the caregivers aka Mom and Dad are sick too.

On a brighter note- I managed to get all of the fabric pieces cut for my quilted table runner project and have plans to sew some on it today.

I'm a Mom- that's my job

Being a Mom to 2 teenagers who attend school in a foreign country isn't easy. Rules for testing and so forth are different here although it does remind me greatly of when we lived state of Virginia. Way Virginia? Because that's a state that teaches their state test just like England teaches the stuff that's on their GCSE tests.

It's the national testing of students and the GCSE testing. It's done at the same time all across England and even with the given current conditions across the country with many schools being closed because of the snow on the roads (which they won't plow) they won't postpone this testing- INSANE!!!! Thousands of schools are closed and the testing still goes on. Where am I going with this you wonder? Our school Kingham Hill out in Chipping Norton realizes the importance of this testing and doesn't want our kids to miss out on this. Can they take the test again in June? Well yes BUT and there is a rather large BUT in all of this. You see, the test given in June is;
1- not the same test
2- they can not prep for this test again with another mock test
3- if they fail the test in June they are screwed!

So it's best if they all take the test now and if any one of them fails for it, they have that 2nd chance to pass it.

The school organized a convoy of 4x4 vehicles, called parents to see if they were interested in having their children picked up in this unconventional manner and be boarded at school for a couple of days while they administered the tests. Only the children having testing on Thursday or Friday would be picked up (year 10 students). My Hannah being a year 10 student was part of that group. I was very impressed with the fact that the schools' headmaster was in that convoy, organizing the pick ups and so forth. Granted we American parents were only given a couple hours notice of this event, we for the most part got our teens packed and ready to go. Only a small handful decided not to send in their children via the convoy due to the poor road conditions. I don't blame those parents for making that decision, I was at a crossroads myself with making my decision to send in our daughter.

Being a mom whose daughter may be spending one or maybe a few nights at boarding school, well I decided to do something special for my daughter. I sent her in with tons of American snack foods...to share with the other girls in the dorm where she is staying. I figure that she's a visitor and those girls have been cooped up there at the school while the Day Boarders got to stay home because of the snow. I sent in my entire secret stash of Girl Scout cookies, Microwave Popcorn the Movie Theater Butter variety, Fig Newtons cookies - apparently the British Kids at this school are crazy about these cookies and we haven't the faintest clue as to why, LOL! Instant lemonade packets- just drop it into a water bottle (with water of course) and Voila! It's the little things that make kids happy. If I had more time I would have made brownies and chocolate chip cookies for Hannah to bring with her to share. From an American view, I have made an awkward last minute boarding situation into a fun loving slumber party...Life is Good! Although I miss my daughter, I hope that she enjoys her time with her bunk mates, that she gains a new perspective on things and sees things through the eyes of the boarding students and how life is for them.

I'm off to wake up our son who doesn't have school today (because of the buses not running due to the poor roads conditions) and then to organize my quilting fabrics.

Kids made it back home!

The report from my teens is that the roads are total crap, roads in Chippy are horrendous and cars were stuck everywhere out there. There's no grit or salt for the roads. Bus driver had to dig the bus out of snow, then backed up until he could find a place to turn around then it took him and hour to drive back here.

Kids now doing work sent via e-mail from school.

Snow has become a 4 letter word!

I'm going to say it- I am tired of the snow here in my little part of England! There are no snow plows, no one shovels the sidewalks or walk ways, never mind shoveling out their cars and driveways. The roads are a total mess out here! I'm not going to go on about how America is better- BUT... there are some simple things that need to be improved upon out here.

I had a sinking feeling when I sent my teens out the door to catch the bus today. Received text messages- they are stuck in the snow, yes in the bus in the snow. I'm just sick about this! The school let us know that they are going to send the kids back home, so they must not be all that close to the school. I can only wonder how long it's going to take. Now to wait...

Our Boy

Several of my readers have e-mailed me in regards to how my son is doing in South Dakota. Apparently they got over 49 inches of snow out there in this last blizzard. My friend Mary is up to her eyeballs in teenage boys all playing video and/or computer games not to mention eating her out of house and home. To be honest, as much as I would complain about the boys staying with me for days on end and eating everything in the house- I miss them all ever so much! I'm sure that our son is having the time of his life having fun with his friends and enjoying a true white Christmas.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Just the story of my boy and his adventure to get to South Dakota. He left here yesterday around 10am with his Dad to pick up a couple of things then off to the Airport to make his 2 pm flight to the USA. Meanwhile there was an accident on the highway which delayed things and the traffic was so backed up (over 20 miles) that it took close to 3 hours to clear up. What a nightmare! He finally gets to the airport only to learn that his was flight was cancelled 2 hours before he got there. I can only imagine what this poor child must be thinking at this point. Good thing that his Dad was there, because they ended up staying the night in a hotel (provided by the airline) and Andrew got some meal vouchers (thank the Lord because we know how our boy can eat). What an ordeal to go through on your first solo flight. He's never experienced this level of stress with flying (we his parents have always dealt with this kind of stuff).

It's funny how a little bit of snow really puts a whammy on this country. From roads and driving to airline departures. I was reading an news article on this very topic and even the Brit's are fed up with how unprepared their local government is when it comes to dealing with snow removal. Now having just spend 6 years in winter hell I know how to drive in freezing rain, blowing snow and even on black ice. I'm not worried about myself and driving in bad conditions, I'm worried about the other driver who doesn't have my experience in driving in these kinds of weather conditions. Just another reason why I had my Honda minivan shipped here- I know how it handles in these kinds of weather conditions plus it's got traction control- love that feature! Okay so the heated seats and mirrors are another added bonus to the winter package. Even the kids seats in the middle are heated- yes it's a sweet ride to say the least!

So please everyone, if you do not need to be out on the road in this crazy winter weather, please stay home! Stay home and be safe! Stay home and do something fun with your kids like baking cookies and listening to Christmas music.

PS- Please keep us in your prayers as we have to go out in this weather later on as my daughter is having oral surgery today. My husband is driving back from London this morning- I hope that the roads are clear and everyone is not in a hurry.

Be Ye all warned...

The TODDLER years were NOTHING as compared to the TEENAGE YEARS!!! The terrible twos and trying three's, those were a piece of cake as compared to what you will go through with your kids when they are in their teens!!!

Our son does not want to be here, he argues with me near daily about leaving here. Telling me how it's a waste to time to have to ride a bus a hour each way, how school here is a waste of time and so forth. Meanwhile I know that my children are getting a top notch education at this school- much better than what they could have received in South Dakota.

I tell you, this child of mine is stubborn and believe me when I say that we are not about to give in to him and send him back to South Dakota (although at times were are tempted). Unlike the laws here in the UK, in America we are responsible for our children until they turn 18 tears old and they are required to be in school until the age of 18. I could not for the life of me see him being "done" with school at the age of 16, not at all!!! Now I do see in his future that he would be great in politics because he can argue his point like the best of them!

Now for Hannah it's "other" stuff...I see this girl going on to get her PhD in either Mathematics,Physics or Engineering...but she'll drive me crazy with her perfectionism in the process. And lets not forget about teenage girl hair issues...dear Lord what I go through in the morning around here, ugh! I thank the Lord daily for those school uniforms here in the UK, because we've knocked out "I have nothing to wear" go around in the morning before school...no to work some more on the "hair issues".

I'm, not complaining, I do lead a full and interesting life, just not one that I thought that I would have had over 20 years ago. Truly, If it wasn't for my kids and husband I would have had earned my PhD in Archeology/Forensic Anthropology, my ultimate goal was to be involved in a great dig and to be a museum curator. It would have been a deeply rewarding career but a lonely one at the same time. Instead, the Lord chose a different path for me to take and I went on to develop my talents in designing things such as window treatments, counted cross stitching patterns, scrapbooking layouts, greeting cards, tote bags and garden landscaping. There's my gourmet cookery (I love cooking) that I use to make meals for our young Airmen who live in the dorms on base, the Hearts Apart monthly dinners for the spouses and families of our deployed service members, there's all of that training that I took so I could counsel the spouses of our deployed military members, and lets not forget my talents at interior design because of all of those moves me do with my husbands military career. Over the years I have taken classes to enrich MY life and now it's time for me to share what I have learned with others.

The 3 R's

Readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmatic- got to love that old US mid-western slang, LOL! You know when school is in session around here...because that stupid ice cream truck is no longer rolling through the neighborhood with it's music blaring. I could have thrown a brick at that truck every time it came through the neighborhood- the over the top loud music HAD to go! Sure we have ice cream trucks back in the US but they never played their music that stinking loud. It was simply over the top!

So now the kids are (for the most part) getting into a routine (and so am I). Getting up early used to not be a problem for me when we lived in South Dakota. Heck, I used to be able to get up early when we lived anywhere in the USA. After the time change (7 hours) and jumping right into things as soon as we landed my waking up early on my own just seemed to stop dead in it's tracks. I have to use an alarm clock these days- which is odd for me.

Homework hasn't been an issue- yet. It all seems to be nothing but a rehash of what my children have learned in previous years at their US schools. If the math course does not get more challenging for Hannah then we will have to request her to be moved up another level. I'm getting tired of hearing I learned this when I was in the 5th grade or I learned this when I was in the 6th or 7th grade (which for the British schools would be year 6, 7 and 8). Sad but true, I have a math genius daughter who has been at college level for years. Lets see if Kingham Hill is up to HER standards-Ha!

Now it seems that our son is being challenged with his courses and they are at the level he needs to keep him challenged. I like that!

I've been shoving Hannah's swimsuit in her gym bag (kit bag) ever since she had to start bringing her "kit" to school. And yesterday she finally got to go swimming! When she got home from school and walked into the house she instantly hugged me and thanked me for continually shoving it in her bag (because she kept taking it and the towel out). She told me that they got to go swimming yesterday-woohoo! And that she was VERY happy that I put her swimsuit in her gym bag (mom's do know best). Apparently the kids in her class will be swimming every Wednesday. Life is good!

Andrew is loving his Life Guard classes. Little does he know that Kingham Hill will probably be putting his new learned skills to use later on in the school year, LOL!

They're both still trying to get used to the school food. You see, back in the US we don't put things like tuna, baked beans or prawn salad in a "jacket" or what we call a "baked" potato. So, for our kids it's just butter and cheese inside of their jacket potato. Bacon here in the UK is different from bacon in the US- simply put it's a different type of bacon and they don't cook it crispy here. The first time we ordered a baked potato with bacon here we about died- imagine if you will 2 rather large raw looking strips of bacon the size of a cow tongue draped over the potato with grease dripping off of it- not very appetizing. We've learned NOT to order the bacon, LOL!!! There are other little things that they (our children) also have to get used to- butter on sandwiches, squash (a concentrated fruit juice) over cooked oily pasta -then again depending where you are, you can get that in the US too, LOL! Slow but sure they are adapting. Not every child had a parent who is a gourmet cook....needless to say my children are a bit spoiled when it comes to dining. But they are adapting to school food. Apparently Friday's fish and chips was a hit with the kids and they look forward to it again this week!

Now for me to get some things done around here...there's always something that needs to be done around here. And after yesterday's debilitating sinus headache, I really do need to get some things done around here.

First 'Official" Day of School

My children left this morning for school wearing their new school clothes...Andrew was in a 3 piece suit with an oxford shirt and a spiffy looking striped tie and
Miss Hannah wore her new school uniform. which consists of a black-watch plaid skirt, white blouse, dark blue jumper (that's a long sleeve pull over sweater for us Americans) and her school blazer.

This is our son Andrew's last year and our daughter Hannah's first year of high school.

Now if blogger would stop acting up I could add in these great pictures I've taken over the past couple of days!

Their first day at school went so much better than their orientation event the night before. I hope that today goes even better for them. I know how much they are missing their friends back in South Dakota. It's hardest on our son who won't be going to Home Coming or going to the school football games with his friends or hanging out at BK after going to a movie in town. I've got to stop beating myself up about this and think about how this is such a wonderful opportunity for him learning about foreign relations.

Now for me to finish getting ready to go to a retirement ceremony this afternoon.

First day of school...for newcomers

Until our move to the UK, we've always had our children attend public school. There are things that you can count on being pretty much the same no matter what part of the country (USA) you lived in. Now British schools are a bit different- there's no separation of Church and State out here- meaning that ALL schools have a daily church service and the religion is The Church of England aka Protestant.

We're also new to the fact that there are 2 separate "first day of school" events. Today is the first day of school for all newcomers- this is a first for us. Back in the US the "first day of school" was for everyone, there weren't 2 separate days...one for new comers and then a 2nd first day of school with all the pupils. At least today the kids get to wear "casual" clothing. Well I suppose that really only applies to Andrew since he is upper 6th form and he gets to wear his regular clothes, Hannah on the other hand being lower 5th form has to wear the casual school uniform which consists of a polo-shirt with school crest, sweat-shirt with school crest and dark blue/black denim jeans. Tomorrow's first day of school has the pupils in full school uniform.

Last night's school social event did not go too well for either of our children. Basically, it sucked. It's hard being the new kid in a new school, compound that with having been in your last school system for 6 years, going to school with all the same kids for that amount of time and your school being 4 miles away...well it's rough! Last night's event made them feel more out of place than ever- it's got to be really rough for them, trying to figure out all over again where they fit in. My heart truly goes out to my children more than anyone can ever know. And there's the fact that they are so far away from everything that they were comfortable with, suddenly thrust into a new education system, a new social group- one that has students from 32 different countries and now they have to ride a bus (Andrew used to drive them to school in his own car) and that bus ride takes a minimum of 45 minutes. It's especially hard on our son who had his own car back in South Dakota, he had his piece of independence there and here...he's back to riding the bus with dweebs all over again. It's simply too much for him to drive to and from school every day, not to mention that we really couldn't afford the insurance costs here for our 17 year old to drive, and add on top of that the gas prices-ugh!

To quote an old Jewish saying "A mother is only as happy as her saddest child"- this is oh so very true! And today I have a heavy heart. I'll have a favorite meal of theirs ready for when they walk through the door this evening, eager to listen to them talk about their day at school.

Autumn

Autumn is in the air. It's the chill in the morning air, the smell of wood being burned in fireplaces and leaves that have been raked into piles with children jumping into them. It's got me thinking about apples being made into yummy things such as apple pie, apple sauce, apple butter and apple cider. I love the rich colors of fall- although I've yet to see those colors here in England.

Soon my children will be starting at their new school here in England. I wonder if mothers here have the same feeling as mothers in the United States. Feeling sad that summer vacation is over but happy that their children will be starting new adventures. I've never felt more nervous about my children starting school than I do now. They have an hour long bus ride each way and school doesn't get out until 5 pm-ugh! I'm trying not to think about it. My wish for them is for them to be able to adjust to the new school quickly, to take every opportunity to make new friends and to just be themselves. There are only 6 more days until school starts!

Getting Ready

Here at the Grisé household it's back to school time.

For our son it's his last year of High School, 12th grade or better known as his Senior Year or as it is here in England it's year 13. He'll be wearing a real men's 2 or 3 piece suit, dress shirt with tie and dress shoes to school every day-WOW! What a difference from his school wardrobe of last year of t-shirts, polo shirts a couple of pairs of Dockers and 6 pairs of jeans, LOL! Last year I think that I spent a total of $350 on his clothes and this year lets say that I've spent considerably more. The school does not carry these items at it's clothing shop- all of this had to be bought out on the economy. I'm so glad that I had the good sense to get those suits before we left Rapid City. I ordered his Oxford shirts online from LL Bean. Everything else has been bought here in England.

For our daughter, she's starting the 9th grade or what is better known as her Freshman Year , here in the UK it's 10th year and the 5th form. For her, it's school uniforms during the day and in the afternoon it's dark blue jeans with the school polo shirt and sweat shirt. The school has a specific uniform and you can only get those items for the uniform at their uniform shop- minus the navy blue tights, the back dress shoes, the dark blue denim trousers/jeans and headbands.

Now for the other things...dental appointments for, check ups, mouth guards and teeth cleanings. Hair cuts for the kids- my boy especially needs his mop trimmed up! I'm going to take before and after pictures of him...this will be fun to see.

I miss having my scrapbooking supplies and picture printer here with me. I'm going to have a virtual TON of photographs to scrap in November!