Christmas Holiday

I know it has been quite awhile since I've updated ... so please bear with me as I update with several entries. ;o)

The children and I flew back to Peoria on December 13. I was very naive in thinking the children would actually sleep on the 9-hour flight to Chicago. What was I thinking?! They were too interested in playing video games and watching movies and television shows on the screens in front of them to even think about sleeping. Finally, they slept for 30 minutes on the flight from Chicago to Peoria (as that plane was boring and didn't have any of the fancy gadgets that the big planes have). We made it safe and sound but thoroughly exhausted!

We spent the next week or so going to doctor and dentist appointments and visiting with friends and family. Besides the snow and major ice storms, everything went very well.

Mike joined us on December 23 right in time for Christmas. We questioned his arrival a bit as there were horrible ice/snow storms that day and many flight delays and cancellations, but thankfully he arrived without any issues. We had a fabulous time spending the holidays with our family and are now anxiously awaiting our return to Peoria (post on this new adventure in just a bit).

Christmas Eve -- making reindeer food for Santa's reindeer


Photos from holiday visits with our family (sorted in date order)

Dinner with Holli and Stacey -- wonderful friends I made in England (Stacey lives in Bloomington and Holli still lives in England)

New Year's Eve -- 3 party animals (that were in bed by 9:15 p.m.) ;o)

Photos from January 3 when we returned to England ... gifts from Santa (notice the robes and slippers that the children had on -- it was freezing in our house as we had NO hot water and NO heat)! (Update -- the AGA was fixed on January 5 so we were able to get hot water and the pump on the boiler was fixed on January 6 so we now have a warm house ... YAHOO!!!)