Oh my word, I have a 10 year old

So the little baby in the picture turned 10 last week.

10. Double digits.  3 years away from teenage angst.  

Loved majorly by his brothers.  They adore him so much, even if he can me a meanie with very little compassion.  This boy finds it hard to say sorry......  Doesn't stop us from loving him.

As kids get older, their presents get smaller and more expensive.  Oliver got lots of Lego, mainly the Lego Speed Racers.  And a 2x2 Rubix cube (thanks Jen, it was his most coveted present.)

As his birthday treat on the day, he chose to go to Frankie's Fun Park to play mini golf.  This should have been fun.  Unfortunately mean mummy has started keeping score.  When someone was not doing well, yet the 7 year old was, we had major paddy.  Sometimes I wonder if he is turing 10..... We then had dinner at Johnny Rockets before coming home for cake.  Oliver ummmeddd and aadddded for so long over what kind of cake he wanted, mummy took things into her own hands.

(Don't ask why Alfa Romeo is his favorite manufacturer of cars.  I blame Jeremy Clarkson.  We can't always guide our children in the right direction.  Sometimes we have to accept their bad choices and move on as graciously as possible)

Oliver got a special birthday treat from Nanny and Granddad.  They paid for him to get his license at a local Karting track, Le Mans Karting.

Needless to say he loved this.  It led to discussions about taking up karting when we return to the UK (Our bank balance has been wincing ever since).  Oliver loves racing, as does Seb, so we are seriously considering it.  If anyone had any advice hints or tips about karting in the south of England let me know.  I love insider knowledge.

My boys love a good podium!

Can't believe he is 10.  Where is the time going?  He has always been a good boy, a hard worker.  Academically he is flying, doing awesome in reading and math.  He can be conscientious (when he thinks no one is looking).  He loves his family and his brothers.  He likes to be the best, he likes to win.  But understands it is not always possible.  He tries.  And we love him.  He is our first attempt, and I think we are doing pretty well so far! 

Summer general catch up.

OK, so we are about half way through Oliver and Isaacs looooonnnnngggggg summer holiday.  Worked out that if we were on UK schedule, the boys would be going back next week.  Instead, they still have another 5 weeks of fun! Seeing as I have not blogged properly since Kiawah, I thought it was time for a catch up.  Cocktail Friday doesn't really count, as I tend to do those in advance.  It will probably be taking a vacation shortly too!

Thought I would do a photo drop with what we have been doing.  For those who care, I post a daily photo on my Instagram account, using the hashtag #CGis33.  Look it up!

So in no particular order.... We have been to the zoo twice so far.  First time Seb and I went after dropping the older 2 at camp.  Then I took the older 2 when Seb was at school.  Seb always loves it, but the older 2 really enjoyed it as well.  In the summer, they open at 9am, so we try and get there for just after that.  This normally means that most of the animals are active.  With all our visits so far this year, we have paid for our yearly membership, and some!

We finally made it to the BMW family fun day this year.  3rd chance, and we finally made it!  BMW hire out Carrowinds, a local theme park, for exclusive use for BMW employees.  Although our boys are still a little small for the roller coasters, they took full advantage of Snoopy Land, where they rode pretty much everything over the course of the day.  We also utilized the water park.  We put most of our stuff, other than shoes and googles in lockers.  We left these under a lounger by one of the kids pools.  The boys had fun in the wave pools and lazy river.  Unfortunately someone stole Isaacs shoes and all the googles, which put a bit of a dampener on our day.  BMW organized food in the form of buffet lunch, but the queues were horrendous, and nothing really to our boys palate.  They ate cookies and crisps......It was a good day out, better that we didn't have to pay for it too!!!!  We would not have gone if we had to pay for it.....

We met our good friend Liz at the splash area in Greenville a couple of weeks ago.  The kids had fun playing in the water, before it got too hot.  We  all walked down to Linky Stone Park to have a play.  By then it was super hot! We recently had a heat wave, where it was over 90 degrees every day.  Just how I like it.

As well as our trips out, of which there have not been many, we have been doing very mundane stuff too.  Given that Seb is still in school in the mornings, it gives Isaac and Oliver the chance to do things that are more appropriate for them.  Finding things for all 3 of them at the same time is HARD, and they are not even that different in age.  Thank goodness for the community pool.  We tend to be there at least every other afternoon, when the weather allows us!

So mundane things....... Oliver and Isaac have both been shown/ taught how to do the dishes.  Since Isaac was a baby, we have always had a dishwasher, and they will probably grow up knowing no different.  Unlike me!  I don't think we got one till I was about 12, and even after I moved out, my mum didn't get one....  My dad is a different story however!

 Ahh, school work.  Both the boys have a good amount of work required of them by school this year.  Admittedly, Oliver has a lot more than Isaac.  Isaac has only 1 math sheet left to do, Oliver has about 10.  They have been doing their school work and reading every morning before computer time when Seb is at school.  It has worked quite well.  They both also read for 10 minutes a night, while Seb is going to bed.  I think it has helped, I don't think they will have much of a learning slump because of the summer.  They both still have one more camp to do.  Jump start 1st Grade for Isaac, and Jump Start 4th Grade Math for Oliver.  Hopefully that will show them how much working over the summer has helped them. Hopefully.......

They have had fun baking cakes, making jelly and making freezer pops.  Isaac has also been a resident bug catcher.  So far we have kept cabbage white caterpillars and tomato horned caterpillars (I think thats what they were called).  The last ones grew to over 10cm.  We had to let them go.  They were just too big.  I was having to take tomato leaves off my plants twice a day to keep up with their appetites.

They do have fun though.  Paul bought some new golf clubs, and they came in a big box.  I had the idea to make a space ship out of it.  I started it, Paul ran with it, the boys loved it.  They played with it for a couple of hours, before repurposing it into a monster jam track.  Still obsessed with Monster Jam here.  Man, they are in for such a shock when we return to the UK.....

We have had a visitor in the form of slapped cheek.  Can't believe all 3 have managed to avoid this delightful virus until now.  So Seb woke up one Sunday with this rash on his face.  Over the next few days, we watched it spread to the outer reaches of his body.  I did my research, and saw that once the rash had spread he was no longer contagious.  School still wanted a doctors note, so I took him to the local MD360 ( like a drop in doctors clinic).  We were in and out within an hour, and the note was ready for school the next day.  It didn't really itch, but I gave him an antihistamine, and used some calamine lotion to help calm the red down.  It passed after about 5 days.  Isaac got it about 7 days later.  His face wasn't pretty, but the rash on his body was not too bad.  He was also very tired and grumpy with it, and feel asleep on the sofa at 4pm 2 days before the rash appeared.  It is pretty much gone now.  So on past experiences, Oliver should get it this weekend.  Hopefully it won't affect him too badly, as he is older.  The worst thing is, it is most contagious before they get the rash.  So who knows where Seb got it.  Could be school, could be the pool, who knows!

We also had 4th July the weekend just gone.  Because it was on a saturday, Paul had the Friday off.  3 day weekends rock!  Especially when all 3 kids are home!!!!!

We enjoyed a nice weekend at home, watching the neighbors fireworks.  It was great.  Even got the boys to watch Independence Day, so they can know the real reason why America celebrates the holiday (thats a joke....).  They really enjoyed it.  We stayed home all weekend, as we are off to Florida this weekend, for our holiday of beach and pool, beach and pool, restaurant, cocktail, beach pool, donuts, tacos and all the other great things about holidays............

General catch up, Oliver is 9

Ok, so this is going to be more of a photo drop than anything else.  It's been a while.....

Here are 3 monkeys looking lovely in their 80 cent hats.  Yes, 80 cents.  Thats about 50 pence in English terms.  They are Angry Bird Star Wars baseball caps, and brand spanking new.  Thanks K-Mart!

The fair came to Heritage Park in Simpsonville. It was there for like 10 days.  Of course, the boys wanted to go.  They had special offers running pretty much every day, but we didn't really take any notice of them.  We chose to go one saturday morning, just as it opened.  We were fortunate, all the rides were FREE for the first hour. Couldn't have done that any better.... What could have been exceedingly expensive ended up being really good value.  Typically Isaac wanted to feed the butterflies, and that cost money ($4 for him and me), but he loved it.

The pool opened a couple of weekends ago, hurrah!!!!  We have already had Isaac swimming without his armbands.  Think he surprised himself as to how well he did.  Sebastian also wanted to try.  He sank a lot, but we gave him an A* for his efforts.  He has been having swimming lessons 2 times a week, which he loves.  Not sure his teacher does though..... We have not been given a form for re enrollment.  Wonder if it has got something to do with him wanting to jump in consistently.....

Look at my adorable boys.  Their school has been clearing out all their bookstore clothing, so I managed to pick these t-shirts up for $5 each.  So lovely.  Ignore the fact thats this posing session turned into a fight 20 seconds later....

Oliver has been in a school play! Isaac got to see it in the day, and I went a long in the evening.  He had to audition and everything.  He ended up being chosen to play a Furman football (Thats a college American Football team, for those in Europe) fan, and had lines too!  He did very well.  The play was entitled 'A Salute to South Caroliona' and was very informative to an outsider like me, I would highly recommend it!

It was Oliver's birthday on saturday just gone.  Can't believe he is 9..... So scary, and so big.  We were initially going to throw him a party, but his ENT doc said no to bouncing, so that idea went out of the window.  But we wanted to do something.  Last year we went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  He wanted to do that again, but we said no.  There is a local NASCAR race on at Charlotte over his birthday weekend, but it was the Coca-Cola 600, a 4 hour evening race. The younger 2 just wouldn't have had the stamina.  Instead, we decided to go to the NASCAR Xfinity series race.  This is the second tier of the NASCAR sport, and has many up and coming drivers, plus a few of the pros take part too.  It was in the afternoon, and was called the Hisense 300. It was even on the day of his birthday, and half the distance of the full race.  

Because it was a full racing weekend at Charlotte, NASCAR had set up camp.  The fan zone out the front was tremendous, and because it was the Xfinity race, the crowds were less, and there was a more laid back environment.  The seats cost us less also, and were pretty good, on the start finish straight.

Because I am the best mum ever, I emailed Charlotte Motor Speedway and informed them it was my sons birthday.  During the race they text me to ask where we were sitting.  They managed to get the people behind us on the big screen.  They then asked who his favorite driver was.  Unfortunately he picked a Sprint driver, not an Xfinity driver!!! Not to worry though, as they came and presented him with an American Football.  So awesome!!!

We all really enjoyed the day.  The seats started in the sun, then went into the shade which helped a lot.  Charlotte is an awesome speedway.

We travelled home, and enjoyed some cake.  The rest of Memorial Day weekend was spent relaxing.  We are fortunate to have our kids birthdays fall over American holidays.  Isaacs is the day before Thanksgiving this year, and Seb's fell on Martin Luthur King Day!

Now the fun begins..... I wanted to get this done now, as Oliver and Isaac have a half day tomorrow, and then they are done for the summer.  Yes that's right, for the SUMMER.....

Luckily we are going away this weekend, and again in July, and hopefully in August.  They have 3 weeks of camp each too, though those are half days and 1 week of full days.  They are in for lots of fun with all the school work and chores I have planned.  I am going to let them get as bored as possible, so they relish the thought of going back to school next year....Their orientation for 1st and 4th grade respectively is 21st August. 

Only 86 days to go.......

General update/ photo drop

Oh my gosh, how long has it been since I did one of these?!?!  

About 6 weeks. I seem to be writing more on topics than general ramblings.  Better change that quick smart.  Try and keep up, while I bombard you with photos of our lives.  I apologize if I repeat myself in any way shape or form.

So a couple weekends ago we went to Lake Conastee Nature Park.  We have been to Conastee Park before, they have loads of play equipment and plenty of baseball pitches.  This is the other side of the Lake.  It is more of a bird watching / nature reserve place.  It was a beautiful day, and we had lots of fun walking / running on the paths.  They form part of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which they are constantly updating and maintaining here in Greenville.

This is an adorable picture of two of my favorite people. They both look so happy here.  Notice the garden furniture is out?  It is finally getting warm here.  Although it is rainy today, it is still 76 degrees......

We recently took a trip to Helen in Georgia.  You can read more about that here.

Th boys had a great time hunting for eggs on Easter Sunday.  Even if they were in their pajamas still

Sebastian was more inclined to eat what he found straight away, rather than hunt for more.....

I have been doing a shed load of baking.  We have stopped buying bread, as it just wasn't very nice.  I am now making a loaf a day to keep up with what we all eat.  At least this way we know the majority of what goes into our food.

I am also making a batch of about 40 cookies each week.  I found an awesome recipe on the choc chip pack from Costco.  A slight tweak on the time and temperature, and they make awesome snacks.  Not sure I have bought any packs of cookies or biscuits for about 6 weeks.  I am also making my own rice crispie treats, with decorations, which the boys love.  Next up is fruit jelly snacks.  I have tried one recipe, but they end up as jelly blocks, rather that gummy sweets.  Again, a slight tweak on the ingredients will probably do it, but we have to eat what we have first!

Isaacs behavior had been better for 6 weeks.  Until yesterday.  Funny, he started eating a certain snack type yogurt over the weekend, after not having it for six weeks.  We introduce it, and boom, email home about behavior.  Think we will be knocking them on the head for good.

Do you like my painting?  I went out on a Friday night with some ladies form a local Facebook group to Corks and Colours at Southern Galleries in Simpsonville.  It was a bring your own bottle painting evening.  It was great. I am really pleased with my picture!

Cocktail Friday is still going strong.  Don't forget to check back here every friday to see what concoctions we have been drinking recently!

This is a screen shot of a photo I pasted on Instagram.  See those likes???  They are all Monster Jam drivers!!!!!  If only they could know how truly OBSESSED Sebastian is with monster jam. We have a few recorded, and that is all he wants to watch.  He plays with the monster trucks when he is not watching them.  He thinks he is a monster truck and uses the sofa as his course.... 

This is my friend Amber.  She is another Zumba instructor.  We recently got together and choreographed 'Chica Practica'.  You can check it out here on her YouTube Chanel.

Check out the flower on my strawberry plant!  I got these in the ground too late last year to fruit, though they did send off tones of runners.  I have so many flowers this year it is ridiculous.  There are load of little strawberries coming along.  Yaaaaayyyyyy!!!  Think I will do a full post on my veggies patch soon, it is certainly coming along.

And in case you missed it, Oliver had the titanium plates laced in his ear recently.  You can read more about it here.

I did my Zumba Gold training this weekend.  It was awesome.  Ali the trainer was really good, I had a lot of fun, and learnt a few more rhythms.  

                                          

I am so enjoying my Zumba at the moment, and am looking out for a subbing opportunity very soon.  I am leading a song at a Zumbathon this weekend.  It is a charity event for the Make a Wish SC, so if you are in the area, please come along

Thats all for now! 

Boy update

Ok, sorry, this has been a long time coming.  An update on the boys.

Oliver

Oliver had his operation on the 28th March.  This was to replace the ear bones that were removed last February due to cholesteatoma.  He was called in for 8am, the earliest ever.  He was through to the waiting area by 10am, and under the knife by 10.30.

As I say, the earliest ever.  We had Seb home that day, so Seb and I went home for lunch while Paul waited.  I took Seb back to the hospital after lunch, and Paul took him to get Isaac.  I was called through to recovery just after, so about 3pm.  The doctor was more than pleased that there was no more cholesteatoma.  He was able to put this titanium prosthetics in to replace the bones, and finish up some other things.  Oliver came round fairly quickly, and we refrained from giving him too much morphine.  We had the same nursing staff as last february, they remembered us!  This was one of the smoothest operations.  Hopefully it will be the last.  We were home by 4.30, the earliest ever.

Oliver is recovering well.  He has antibiotics, which will stop today.  He has been in some pain, so has been taking some strong pain medicine.  Since we started the ear drops to dissolve the packing around the new 'bones' he has been complaining of more pain.

It could be the drops making everything move a bit.  Or it could be the fact he is returning to school tomorrow, after his follow up appointment first thing.  He is not to do any physical activity or recess at school.  He is not to run around, jump around, or anything like that for 2 months.  2 MONTHS.  Very hard for a 8 year old.  We were going to do him a birthday party at the end of next month at a local trampoline place.  We will have to see what the doctor says......

Isaac

Ok so those who follow the blog will know that we have had some issues with Isaacs behavior at school.  It got so bad before spring break, that Isaacs teacher requested a meeting with us.  This took place in the second week in March. Isaac general behaviour was discussed, and it was agreed by all that he is a lovely boy who needs help managing his emotions.  We agreed to some form of parent coaching/training/therapy.  I asked for Isaac to be assessed for any learning difficulties there maybe, as I had noticed some things in his reading.  I also told school that I had given Isaac an incentive that if he behaved at school that week I would take everyone out for donuts.

Here he is eating that donut.

School assessed his learning, and everything seemed fine.  In conversation in the meeting and between the teacher and the learning assessor person, it was though that Isaac may have some sensory issues.  He chews a LOT, he does not like crowded places, loud noises or new things.  I have strategies to deal with these things at home, but school do not.  One of the coaching/training/therapy people they recommended was an occupational therapist (OT), and after Isaacs assessment, his teacher was very keen that we get in touch with this OT.  To be honest, we had no idea who we would use, and how we would even make that decision.  Its hard to be told your son most likely needs therapy.  Any whoo, long and short of it, Isaac has an assessment at the OT's office later this month.  This gent actually goes into school, so would be able to assist both Isaac and his teacher in finding ways to deal with his issues.

His behavior has been exemplary since spring break.......

Sebastian

Ah the monster.......

He has been assessed again for his speech, this time by a company his school uses.  They say he does not make his early sounds, the 'm', 'p' and 'b' sounds.  These need to be sorted first. He does not move his lips when he talks, and makes his sounds from the back of his throat. I am awaiting a call back from them to arrange speech therapy sessions.  They will do them in school time though, which is much better for all concerned.  he is a chatter box, full of life.  He thinks he is a monster truck, and our sofa is the course.  His most clear words are 'I want'.  His speech is so much clearer than it has been ever.  He is coming along nicely, but is a little behind on most things.

In the summer I shall be taking him to the doctors to find out how I go about getting him assessed for developmental delays.  I think this will make the transition into English education easier when we return home next year.  If we were in the UK, Seb should be starting school this September. 

So there you have it.  That is the boys, pretty much.  They are hard work, but can be very rewarding.  They are growing into these little people, I have no idea how they are going to turn out, but I hope they are going to be good......

My birthday and other musings

Hey!

So I am now a 33 year old. I got nicely spoilt with lots of cool presents.  We went for a very adult breakfast once we had taken the kids to school.  It was delicious

First time I Have had eggs Benedict, it was delicious.  From there we went to the fabric shop, the perfect place for me on my birthday! Then to the mall for a bit of retail therapy, before picking the small one up from School.  I was even able to get some peace and quiet while paul took Seb on the school run. 

I may have gone a bit nuts at the children on occasion for more silly pointless arguing on my birthday, how dare they!  This seems a constant thing in out house at the moment (more on that another time).  

We had arranged for the babysitter, and paul had booked us a table at Rick Erwin's West End Grille.  My word the place was heaving for a Thursday night.  I completely understand why.  The food was out of this world.  The service was exquisite.  Well worth the amount of money it cost....  

Two days later, paul left for Europe.  Luckily I have great friends.  We went to the Barton's on Sunday evening for dinner, with plenty of other families, and lots of children.  And all the children actually ate their pizza dinner.  

Monday was a usual day.  To be honest, it's been a fairly quiet week.  Oliver has had basketball twice.  I took all the children once, the second time the babysitter looked after Seb and Isaac.  Just makes it easier.  Here is Seb at basketball. He was most insistent on the ear defenders, but he behaved, so I was fine with it.

Oliver has a knockout tournament starting Monday.  His team have only won a quarter of their games, so I don't think they will advance very far.  Bit of a shame, but he has really enjoyed it, and wants to play again.

Isaac has been doing well. Not getting so many emails about his behavior, about once every 2 weeks now.  His teachers think he is learning to control his emotions better, which is great.  His reading and writing are going from strength to strength.  So proud of him, on many levels.

Sebastian is turning into a righ chatter box, and a general pain in the butt.  Ok, still no proper words, but we can make out what he is saying.  And the frequency is ridiculous! Honestly, think he is going to be more of a chatter box than Oliver, help us! Please some one, help us.......

First week back!

School did not come soon enough for me.....  Last Friday the boys had their hour induction.  Paul had taken the day off to look after Seb, which was awesome for all involved.

We dropped Isaac first and he went in really well. Then I dropped Oliver.  Again no problems.  I headed of to Chapel for the service, and got talking to a delightful German lady who had only been here 3 weeks.  Brought back some memories.....

                                 

I then headed to Isaac's classroom to pick him up, only for him to rebuff me and tell me to get Oliver first! So I did.  I then got talking to another German mum in Oliver's classroom, who also has a child in Isaac's class.  To make it even spookier:  her youngest went to Isaac's old school, but was in the other primary class, they have also just extended their contract, and I bought our Quinny buggy from her when we first got here.  Weird........

We got back home about 10.30, and decided to do something to celebrate the end of the holiday.  We jumped in the car after lunch and headed to Greenville.  

Someone's first morning really took it out of them.....

                                  

Some of my blogging friends and other local websites had mentioned that the Upcountry History Museum were running a special exhibit about medieval times, so we went to check it out.  Entry was less than $20 for all of us, and as it was a Friday afternoon and all the Greenville school were in session, we basically had the run of the place. 

                                   

The boys had great fun exploring all the hands on interactive exhibits.  They planted vegetables, cooked up a royal feast, dressed up and built castles and chairs.  Really good fun.

                                    

The rest of the museum seems really interesting, all about the history of Greenville. I would like to return one day sans kids and take my time to read it.

It has been so hot here, so we decided on the Saturday to go exploring. Paul had a car from work, so we jumped in and headed towards Stumphouse Tunnel, about 90 minutes form here.  It was much cooler in the woods, and in the tunnel in particular.  The tunnel was originally started in 1852 to connect Charleston to Knoxville, then eventually to Cincinnati.  Construction was halted due to the Civil War, then a lack of funds.  To read more on the history, click here

Isaac freaked a little bit, and refused to go in, but we dragged him.  We should really have brought a flash light, as the light on our iPhones wasn't quite adequate....

We also explored nearby Isaaquenna Falls, a short walk from the tunnel.  It was pretty over grown, so we couldn't see much.  Plus it was pretty high up, and with 3 chimps in tow, a little prequarious.  We headed towards home, stopping in an Outback restaurant for a late lunch on the way.

Then we drove into one of the worst thunderstorm I have encountered while being in a car.  The rain was coming in sideways, you could barely see in front of you as the window wipers were working full pelt.  It was so bad the boys couldn't hear their movie over the rain on the car.  We ended up pulling off the road to a petrol station and sheltering behind a building as rubbish bins rolled around the forecourt.  Scary stuff.

Monday came, and I walked Isaac in for the first day.  Here he is with his grade.  I love the way school gives them a bag for the kindergarten year.  Isaac's school calls it primer instead of kindergarten, don't ask me why.  Maybe they are 'priming' the kids ready for school....

I also walked him in for the second day, as Oliver had a follow up at the ENT department at the same time school started.  He was a little wobbly, but fine once one of the teacherscame and talked to him.  He seems to be really enjoying it and settling in.

Oliver's ear is healing well.  The doc said he is fine to do physical activity again this week, but he is still not allowed to get water near his ear.  He has another appointment in 2 weeks time to check the progress, then we take it from there

Here isaac is on Friday in his casual dress.  The shirt was provided by the school, as a kinda welcome gift.

As I said earlier, it has been really hot here.  Paul got this temperature as he sat waiting for the boys on Friday afternoon.  

We have hid in the house a lot, due to the temperature.  We did go to the pool of Friday afternoon, but it seems so unfair on Oliver having to sit on the side.  We have started allowing him to go up to his waist, but he has to be so careful to not get any water on his ear.  If Seb goes splashing near him, he knows he has to move away, and quickly!

**********************************

I am about a week behind on my blogging, so please bare with me.  Despite the fact the kids have gone back to school, I have about 3000 words to write for my final OU module.  My degree is slowly coming to the end, with only 2 short lever 1 10-point courses left to do.  This blog post has taken me 3 sittings to complete, as I don't have much time right now.  As well as the OU work, there are various school coffee mornings and doctors/diabetic/ENT/IRS appointments in the next few weeks, so apologies if things take a while!!!!

Thanks for your understanding!!!!!