Back in to routine

It has been so nice to be home.....

Monday, Isaac was back at school. Oliver and I took Seb to Gymboree, as Mondays usual routine.  It got very cold on Monday, to the point that Greenville school district put a delay on schools starting 2 hours later on the Tuesday.  Oliver's wise headmaster sent an email Monday afternoon saying that school would begin as usual on Tuesday.  The school district encompasses such a large area......Isaac's however decided to start 3 hours later on the Tuesday.  Monday night the temperature went down to -13 centigrade.  It was cold, very cold.  The water in the boys water table froze solid, 3 inches thick

Tuesday, I took Oliver to school.  It was most noticeably icy on the roads near the house, but once you go on to the main highways it wasn't too bad.  Traffic was fairly light, and he got to school early.  Isaac, Seb and I returned home and played till it was time to take Isaac to school.  If Isaac had not been doing lunch and learn, he would not have been going in.  It was cold again on Tuesday night, but only about -7....

Wednesday Oliver had an ENT appointment at Greenville Hospital.  This is the first time we have been to one of the main hospital buildings, and it went well.  We were seen fairly quickly by Dr Cooter. Turns out he has 3 kids in the upper school of Oliver's school, he recognized the uniform straight away.  He took a swab from Oliver's recurring ear infection to send away to be cultured.  He then proceeded to vacuum Oliver's ear.  All is can say is yuck, there were some big chunks of disgustingness coming out. How it has not been causing him pain, I do not know. He has been given drops and an oral antibiotic (it tastes disgusting), to try and fight the infection. Dr Cooter wanted Oliver to get his hearing checked ASAP, but we were only able to get an appointment over in Greer next week.  We also have to see Dr Cooter again in 10 days time.  I dropped Oliver back at school, and headed home.  The afternoon was spent with Isaac not really knowing what to do with himself....

Thursday morning, I went and looked at a preschool for Seb.  I have spent the week sending emails and arranging visits to local day care/ preschools.  I started with a list of about 8, whittled it down to about 5 using their websites.  Only 3 got back to me, 1 I called and left a message, the other I called and arranged a visit for Monday.  One didn't do a half day program for Sebs age.  

So the first one I saw on Thursday I quite liked.  It is convenient, the room is nice and spacious, they have a good out door area and water play area.  Seb freaked when he first went in, but settled eventually.  We took a little tour to the gym, where Soccer Shots was taking place.  Seb went and joined in, with no instruction from anyone.  He loved it!!!  I took him back to what would be his room, and he was fine, and even went off to play.  We spent longer than anticipated here, and were late for a meet up group.  We met at Acrosmiths Gymnastics.  This is a cheerleading/gym place where they had a big springy mat, a running trampoline, beams and lots of other equipment laid out for kids to play.  Seb loved it.  It was good fun, and there were loads of mums with kids all different ages.  I spoke to lots of different people, which was nice.

Friday I checked out another day care.  This one is located on Woodruff Road, so a little further than I would like to travel.  It was laid out quite similar to the preschool the boys went to in England.  The rooms are all open, and they also have a play area, half of which Sebs age is not allowed on.  They make all their meals on site, and there were plenty of staff.  But it just didn't feel right......  From there we went to Rachel's house.  So nice to catch up with a good friend, while the kids played nicely.  

As it was the second Friday of the month, it was Free Community Zumba at the Kroc Centre in Greenville.  I was supposed to be meeting some friends, but I was the only one from our group who showed up.  Didn't matter, I love these sessions, it is a good work out and lots of fun, just how zumba should be.

Today we did the costco shop (ouch), then went to the mall for some lunch, and to return some Christmas presents.   The rest of the day had been spent at home relaxing, and enjoying our time together.

I have decided to take January off from drinking.  I had my last alcohol on Sunday night, and have not touched a drop since.  I am proud of myself.  My drinking was not out of hand, but after a heavy trip back to England, and the run up to Christmas, I think my body needed a break.  So far so good.  One thing I am noticing is how tired I am, but I am putting this down to recovering from travelling, and sorting out things here.  I feel like I have done so much paper work and general family up keep this week.  I have also made a start on my course, which doesn't start till next month.

So that's the catch up..... Sorry for the lack of photos, but we have not taken any this week!  

Next week will be spent seeing friends, getting Oliver's hearing tested (the culture grew a bacterial infection, just in case you were wondering), and doing at least 2 maybe even 3 Zumba sessions.....

Update

Good golly, it has been 10 days since i last blogged, this could be epic.....

Ok, so last Sunday we went to Lake Greenwood State Park for a picnic

 

It is a beautiful place, lots of walks, and you can swim in the lake (once it gets a bit warmer of course).  The boys had fun walking and playing in the park.

We met up with some English friends on the monday.  That was fun.  They are currently on their first visit back to the UK since moving over here, so I hope it is going well for them.

Oliver in Chapel

Tuesday we went to Roper Mountain Science Centers butterfly garden with our friends.  There were not many butterflies yet, but we were able to walk around.  They have a good sized pond, with lots of turtles, who were ever so friendly.

Hmmmm

Then on the Wednesday (cant believe it was a week ago....) I went in to the Chapel at Oliver's school to hear him read.  Paul had managed to get the whole day off, which was handy.  He read beautifully.  I saw hime practicing first, and I must say the main event was much better than the practice.   In the afternoon I headed to Greenville Technical College to resit my exam.  I think it went well.  I wrote for 2 hours and 45 minutes of a 3 hour exam.  I even filled my answer book, for the first time ever in an Open University exam.  Fingers crossed, I have nailed it, I am hoping  I might even get above 55%, which would give me a grade 3 pass, which equates to a 2:2 in this module for my degree classification.  It would certainly help to bump up my average....  Oliver had another baseball game that night, which we all went along to.  saw something on the field we are not used to seeing....

Thursday we met up with a new friend Christy, and her boy.  Turns out Edmund is only 2 days older than Isaac.  They all played very well in the park, with each other and the other kids who were there.  Oliver had yet another baseball game, but with a later start, so I went on my own.

Friday I met up with a friend for coffee in the morning.  She is a baseball mum, English, but has been over here for 22 years and is married to American.  It was nice to chat and Seb was good as gold.  Seb and I then headed to the park to meet up with our friday morning group.  This was fun, they are a lovely bunch of ladies.  We collected Isaac from school, headed home to have lunch, but Seb was a nightmare.  He still really needs his morning sleeps.  He didn't eat his lunch, so I put him up for a sleep.  Isaac and I spent the afternoon playing.

We did not do much over the weekend.  The big Costco shop was required (ouch, but we haven't been there in 2 months).  Then some lunch.  The afternoon was spent with the boys doing their activity book, coloring and playing.  It started raining at some point in the afternoon, and did not stop till 10pm Sunday night.  Sunday was a pajama day, which everyone enjoyed!!!  Apart from Seb.  I had intended to try and keep him up all day, but he had other ideas.  He ended up going for a sleep about 2, and I had to wake him at 4.30.  We had a yummy roast which again, everyone enjoyed.

Monday, Seb was not well.  He was burning up and very lethargic.  I have not seen him be that ill for a while.  We cancelled our plans for Monday.  He seemed a bit better on Tuesday morning, but still not himself, so we cancelled our plans again.  I kinda wish we hadn't, as by the afternoon he was much brighter almost back to his usual self.  Oliver had another late baseball game last night, his team lost for the first time (at his age, they do not keep score, as 'everyone is a winner', but his team mates always score the games).

Sebastian only woke up this morning when the other 2 went up to brush their teeth at 7.15.  He is definitely on the mend, and we have kept our plans for this afternoon, as long as it doesn't rain....

It seems to be school activity week this week.  Tomorrow Oliver has a play at school.  Friday is Isaacs International day.  This would appear to be a day where the school celebrates everything international.  The kids are welcome to go in traditional dress from their countries.  We do not have anything like this, so I think Isaac is going in his Liverpool football kit!  They also welcome you to bring a national dish, so I may attempt to make some scones on thursday night.

Big news..... Sebastian is going to be starting at Isaacs school in the Autumn, well, August.  He will do Monday and Tuesday mornings.  As he is not 3 yet, we will have to pay for him ourselves, but it is actually cheaper than Isaac's preschool was in the UK.  It is also the time he would have started in the UK.  At the same time as Seb doing these 2 mornings, Isaac is going to start doing 'lunch and learn', where he stays till 2.45 on the same days, and gets to do fun things like Spanish!  I am going to have some time just me......  It is going to be weird.....

Sebastians Birthday

Oh no, it been a full week since I last posted......  Prepare yourselves for the essay.....

So my plans that I mentioned at the end of my last post went completely awry due to rain.  It rained pretty much non stop monday to thursday.  By thursday the driving conditions were treacherous.  The ground was saturated, and the water was running in little rivers down to the storm drains.  these work a treat over here, good planning for extreme circumstances....

When the weather is as bad as it has been there is only one thing for it, shopping.  I took Isaac and Seb to Toys r Us, and got most things.  Did my Walmart trip, and also did Target for last minute bits and pieces.

Needless to say Seb got a bit spoilt on Saturday.  After Christmas, where he was so overwhelmed by the presents, and the boys over enthusiasm resulting in him not wanting to open anything, it was a relief to see him joyously ripping off paper, and enjoying his gifts.  Oliver and Isaac were awesome, they sat back and let him get on with it, only when most were open did they come and investigate.

Typical Oliver

We made a quick exit, and headed to Columbia for the zoo.  As we have membership of Greenville Zoo, we were able to get in half price, so just over $20.  It is a good zoo, much bigger than Greenville.  They had some animals we had not seen in zoos before like grizzly bears and a king Cobra.  the boys were most taken with the aquarium.  Usually they hate these places, but Isaac really wanted to see a shark.  He was not disappointed!  The giraffe feeding area is good too, similar to what they have at La Palmyre Zoo in France (we go there every time we are in France, know it like the back of my hand!!!). We even had lunch in the zoo, reasonable food, not too expensive.   Oliver was a bit of a pain going round.  He doesn't like zoos, and doesn't like it when other people (except Isaac) are  the centre of attention.  We were thoroughly annoyed with him by the time we left.  We went for a drive round Columbia after, Isaac was asleep before we left the car park.  It is a nice town, but not much going on.  It is a university town, the University of South Carolina are based there, and we ended up driving through a bit of the campus, almost like being back in Oxford, except the buildings aren't as old.  We spotted the Gamecocks Stadium whilst driving, so we had to go and have a little nose.  It is very impressive.  After this we headed home.  Seb had his birthday cake.  note to self:  do not put green icing on a cake again until Seb is out of nappies, not pleasant......

Seb's birthday cake

Sunday we pottered around the house.  It was warm enough to move the boys water table outside, and for them to play in it.  Isaac and Seb loved it.  Our landlord came to inspect the property, he is happy with the condition, they even chortled over Oliver's handy work in the boys bedroom, and gave us the paint can so we can sort it out. It would appear they are moving to Phoenix.  This wont affect us in any way, it just means they wont be able to come and fix any problems.  We can still call them, and they can arrange to have any problems sorted.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day, and President Obamas inauguration.  We watched a bit, then toddled off to Costco.  It would appear to be the cheapest place I have found (so far) to buy meat.  And seeing as I am experimenting a bit at the moment (see here), thought I better get the best value.  Be prepared for lots more recipes coming soon!!!!

Yesterday we trundled off to the zoo in the morning, only Greenville this time, to meet up with some more friends.  Today we went for a nice walk in the park, again near the zoo, with a friend.  The kids have been really good on the last two days.  Isaac is still being fab at school.  When I pulled up today there was a teacher bent down near Isaac.  My instant thought was 'what has he done?'.  Turns out the girl sitting next to him was hitting him, the teacher saw and came to talk to her about it.  Isaac did not retaliate, he waited for the teacher.  Never nice to hear of your kid getting hit, but I am so glad he is learning to deal with it in a non aggressive way.




Also had Oliver's school report, again it is very good.  A few things he need to work at in PE, and he needs to get better at asking for help in religious education, bit other than that he is doing really well.  I just wish his teacher wouldn't let him choose his own books, he keeps coming home with the most basic books.  A note is going in his homework book tonight....