A to Zed

On Sunday's I teach a class at church with a small group of kids between 5 and 7. Today I decided to do a review of topics from the year. I made puzzles and then asked them different questions about the topic of the puzzle. At the end we played Hangman again with topics from the year. It was a very strange, unexpected experience.

As we played Hangman and they were guessing letters, they pronounced all their letters in the soft form. 'ah', 'eh', 'kuh', 'puh'...what?! A few of the letters they said were in hard form, I don't remember which ones. Almost every time they made a guess, I had to look at them for a second before I realized what they were saying. It was so weird.

The only real difference in our alphabets that I knew of before this is that Z is pronounced 'zed' instead of 'zee'. That one is weird, instead of A to Z, it is A to 'Zed'. People get really confused when I pronounce it 'zee'.

The weirdest part was when I finally stopped and explained why I was looking at them so funny every time they guessed a letter, I told them that in America we pronounce our alphabet differently. I gave them some examples and they stared at me blankly until one of them said "that's what we say here". I just looked at her utterly confused, then moved on with the game speechless. I think these kids are more clever than they let on and are messing with my head:)

Oh yeah tonight Brent called my cooking a curse! Only he could mean that as a compliment. (He meant a curse for his middle, awww)

Our First English Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so much fun because this year Zariah was aware of what was going on. There were presents under the tree that she knew could not be opened until Christmas Day. We also found this really cool website with a huge list of classic Christmas movies as well as certain Christmas episodes that you could view online for free. She watched the Smurfs, Garfield, Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Mickey, Donald Duck, and quite a few other characters enjoy Christmas and she knew it was coming for her too. These Christmas videos taught her all about Santa without us ever having to say a word. One night when she was looking at the presents under the tree and pointing out who they belonged to. She looked up at Brent and I and got a smile on her face and said "Santa's coming to my house." I was honestly somewhat relieved. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the idea of actually teaching her about a fictional character and convincing her to believe in him. This way I'm just letting her believe in something for a while instead of dispelling it right away. I'm sure that's what happens for most people I just never realized it before.

We did a chocolate and a scripture advent this year. It was very nice and a tradition I would definitely like to continue. Each night after dinner, we all took a chocolate and a scripture from an advent calendar and then enjoyed our chocolate while reading about the Savior's birth. It was nice to have that reminder each evening of what the Christmas Season is all about.

Zoe really hit the jackpot this year. One of the mother-toddler groups we go to gave all the mothers at least 30 quid worth of stuff. Then the Relief Society President rang up and told me that her daughter had been clearing out all the clothes and toys her daughter had outgrown to make room for the new ones. She had all this stuff that was just right for Zoe and asked us if we wanted it for Zoe's Christmas. I of course said yes, and she brought over two big bags filled with clothes, a bunch of puzzles, legos, books, a fairy princess outfit, a stuffed puppy with a grooming kit, a bike with training wheels and a bunch of other miscellaneous toys. It was all used, but in great condition! I couldn't believe it. We hardly bought Zoe anything and yet on Christmas Eve we had so much stuff for her that we ended up putting some of it in a trash bag and hiding it under the bed for later!

Christmas morning was awesome!

A 3-D picture of girraffes (Zoe's favorite) from Great Grandma.

Zoe's new "plilano".

Her new fairy princess outfit.

She's a fairy princess about to go out in the snow.

We convinced her to stay in and have some hot chocolate.

Then we watched some new movies.



After hanging out and playing with Zoe, we went to dinner with a family in our ward. It was so nice to be in a house full of people and experience a traditional British Christmas dinner. Wow, it was fun and very good. After the appetizers, everyone broke open their Christmas Crackers, put on their paper crowns, and told their joke. For dinner they had Turkey, Beef, Lamb, sausages, bacon wrapped dates, brussel sprouts with chestnuts, yorkshire pudding, stuffing balls, whole roasted red onions, and then of course mash, roast potatoes, and a few other vegetables.

The next day was Boxing day. Traditionally Christmas is spent with family, then on Boxing day everyone boxes up treats and presents and goes visiting friends, neighbors and extended family. It was actually really nice to break up the holiday celebrations into two days. After all the craziness that goes along with getting ready for Christmas day, it's almost like you get a little more time to enjoy the fruits of your labors. Not to mention a little more time to rest.

For Boxing day we went to Avril and John's for dinner. Below is Brent, the Missionaries and John.

This is Avril.

We all got some lovely presents. Among my favorite however is this;

Bethany got it for us. I had told her over a month ago that I really wanted to find a British ornament. We get a new ornament every year and I thought it would be nice to have one as a remembrance of our first English Christmas. I looked everywhere and couldn't find a single ornament I liked. I finally gave up. But honestly, I couldn't have picked out a better one myself. This was EXACTLY what I was looking for!

Answers

Okay, I know I've been promising the answer to my 'Seven truths and a Lie' Post for a while. Here it is.

1. My first appearance on television was on the Ricki Lake Show. TRUE

I was with a friend walking around in Manhattan and ran into some other friends who were on their way to the show. One of them knew the producer and insisted that we come with them. We got prime seats with lots of face time and interaction with the men. That particular show was "Ricki's International Hunt for the Worlds Hottest Man!" It was beyond ridiculous, but that was part of the fun.

2. I have been through an automatic car wash with out a car. TRUE

Several times. I used to do this with friends in the summer when I was bored.

3. I once scared off a bear when I was hiking alone. TRUE

I was hiking in Shenandoah and Ran into a bear cub on the trail. I was about twenty feet away from it and turned to retreat as quietly as possible. It didn't see me at first but then without knowing it began following me. When it finally did notice me it got scared and ran away. Thank goodness. I have heard bears in Shenandoah are pretty friendly, but I've also heard that they are never far from their cubs and they can be really aggressive when their cubs are involved. I'm just glad it ran away, when it first started following me I was nervous that it might be sniffing out the trail mix in my backpack.

4. My first anniversary was spent doped up in the ER. TRUE

Yeah, I was pregnant and was having a REALLY hard time with extreme headaches. Loratabs couldn't even touch the pain. The pain was so bad it was also accompanied by an intense nausea to the point that a sip of water would throw me into violent heaves. It just so happened that on my Anniversary, it got really bad and it was a Sunday, so we called the on-call nurse at my doctor's office for help. She just told us to go to the ER. It was awful.

5. I have been bungee jumping, hang gliding and sky diving. False

I have been bungee jumping and hang gliding, but not sky diving yet.

6. I lived in my tent for two months. TRUE

7. I spent a summer as a counselor at a youth 'fat camp'. TRUE

8. I am a descendant of Katrina Van Tassel on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. TRUE

The Author Washington Irving lived in the old Van Tassel home and was very interested in the Van Tassel family history. He named some of his characters after the family. I'm pretty sure everything else was entirely fictional.

So there you have it. Hooray for Summer and Alison for getting it right!

Seven Truths and a Lie

I got tagged a while ago to write a blog with six things you may not know about me. I have decided however to make things a little more interesting and combine this blog with a game of seven truths and a lie

You get to guess what the lie is:

1. My first appearance on television was on the Ricki Lake Show.

2. I have been through an automatic car wash with out a car.

3. I once scared off a bear when I was hiking alone.

4. My first anniversary was spent doped up in the ER.

5. I have been bungee jumping, hang gliding and sky diving.

6. I lived in my tent for two months.

7. I spent a summer as a counselor at a youth 'fat camp'.

8. I am a descendant of Katrina Van Tassel on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Have fun! I changed the settings so that anyone reading this can leave comments, just please leave you name so I know who you are.


P.S. I decided to modify this post a little. If you noticed, then I guess that just means you get a freebee.

The Look

I have recently noticed a look reoccurring in photographs of Zoe.



This ones just funny.

No matter how fast she grows she'll always be my baby girl.

Getting up to date

It's been a little while. Let me fill you in...

Thanksgiving was nice. It was my first time being the sole cook for a Thanksgiving dinner. We had all the basics, but chicken instead of turkey and pumpkin pie made from carrots because you can't get pumpkin here. We invited over a family from Afghanistan that lives in our building. When I was making the dinner, the thought came to mind and struck me as almost funny, that these classic traditional foods like mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, roasted vegetables and possibly even the rolls were just foreign to them. At least in the way we prepare them. When they came it was as I expected. They were a little hesitant with many of the foods, but they LOVED my carrot-pumpkin pie. It was a very nice Thanksgiving and we had a lovely time visiting with them and enjoying a "full house".

I have been called to teach in the primary at church. The last two weeks have provided at least one child sobbing over something before the end. We'll see how next week goes.

I went to a book club with Bethany. As I was sitting there in a room full of British women who love to read, it came out that I've never read anything by Jane Austen! They all gasped and then stared at me in a moment of silence and disbelief. Then broke the silence with resolve to remedy that quite quickly.

Brent trimmed his beard! Brenda and I had decided he looked like a mixture of Paul Bunion and an Orthodox Jew (he wears his scarf over his head when it's raining like a lot of people do here, but for some reason on him, it looks like a prayer shawl). He always gets so excited when he is in a position that doesn't restrict facial hair. It was getting a bit too long though. I don't really mind him getting it out of his system, but it just doesn't look good when it gets past a certain length. So he finally trimmed it and I'm happy that my husband looks like himself again.

Zoe went to a Christmas party at one of the mother-toddler groups we go to. They had Father Christmas come in. At first she was terrified of him. We were sitting across the room at a considerable distance. I kept asking her if she wanted to go say hello. She couldn't take her eyes off him, but shook her head and quietly said "no". This of course started to wear off as she saw him pulling out presents.

Her present came second to last out of twenty children. The anticipation was killing her and I was worried maybe they had forgotten her. She literally screamed in delight when they called out her name and I put her down with permission to go get her present. She got down and giggled all the way over to some kid, grabbed his toy and started bringing it back to me. She was protested when I took it away, but then she noticed that I was directing her toward a wrapped present in Santa's outstretched hand. When she unwrapped it she discovered a Little Mermaid Ariel doll. She recognized Ariel from one of her books. From that moment on, she talked to this doll like it was a celebrity. It wasn't just "Are you cold?" like it is with the rest of her dolls, but now it was "Are you cold Ariel? Do you hear that Ariel? We're almost home Ariel." And a bunch of other conversations with her that I couldn't make out.

For some reason she kept referring to Santa as a she. Finally I said "Look he has a beard like papa". She chewed on that for a while. Then later at home she kept proclaiming "Santa's my papa!" She is of course right on the money, but if she keeps it up everyone is gonna think we're poor sports.

Oh I just remembered that tomorrow we are going to another Christmas party where they are having Mother Christmas instead of Father Christmas. Now she's really gonna be confused.

We have a very small Christmas tree up in the living room that I love. It's our only Christmas decoration, but it is enough. We got a chocolate advent calendar and I also found a scripture advent calendar. So each night after dinner we have a small chocolate and read a scripture about the Savior's birth. It's been really nice and a tradition I would definitely like to keep.

I have discovered that my daughter is developing a great sense of humor. Up until now I have mostly just laughed at her because she is so funny, but more and more I find myself giggling with her like I would with one of my close friends. Each day she becomes more playful and more talkative.

British differences of the week:

I had a package of something that said "No little Nasties" written on it as an enticement to buy it. I don't know exactly what it meant, but I found it amusing. They don't really have marshmallows here. They have them, but they are flavored and marketed as candy. No Rice Crispies this year:(

Cheers