24 hour trip to scotland!

Paul's very generous work had their Christmas party at Gleneagles in Scotland. They put on an excellent weekend for the whole family. First Santa on his sleigh with reindeer come up the front entrance to the hotel, then each child gets an age-appropriate present and a photo (or two) with Santa, they also have cookie decorating for kids and soft play for babies. There is high tea at 4 for kids and then babysitters show up at your room at 6:45 and stay until 1 so moms and dads can go to a drinks reception, dinner and further drinks after. Jamie's favorite part was most definitely the reindeer--he was fascinated. I think he thought they were Remmy with antlers! He was very tired when it was his turn to visit Santa so the photos aren't great. He was a perfect angel for the babysitter so Paul and I had a nice evening downstairs. Here are a couple of pics:

Watching Santa and the reindeer arrive:



quick trip to Eastbourne

The three of us went up to Scotland for the weekend for Paul's work Christmas party (post to follow), but Friday night we drove down to Eastbourne to drop off Remmy for the weekend and it was Jamie's first trip to his grandparents' house. Jamie had his first piano lesson from Grandad. See below to see how it went--it will melt your heart! We will definitely be going down a lot more next year! He loved it and can't wait for Grandad to give him an organ lesson next time!



Video can be seen here too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdO93wRg9kw

what to do with snow days...

I nearly forgot! Jamie wasn't really up for playing in the snow so here's something he learned on one of the snow days:



It can be viewed here too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK4jJC7_Wss

snow days!

So Jamie and I apparently made it home in the nick of time. It started snowing in Southeast London on Tuesday morning about 4am. Our flight landed at 6:30. Paul picked us up at the airport and as we drove the 60 miles on the motorway the snow became more and more visible on the ground. By the time we got off at our exit, it was really coming down. We were only 8 miles from home, but it took us 2.5 hours from that point to get home. We literally crawled down the road to get to our house. It snowed all day long and then again the next day. We ended up with 12-14 inches of snow. A first for Jamie and for Remmy. Can you guess who enjoyed it more?

What fun!

Hmm... 

 I love it!

I'm bored...

Our backyard after Day 1:



8 months old!

We've had a busy few weeks, including a visit to the States for Thanksgiving. On the big Turkey Day Jamie turned 8 months. We were in Hilton Head with absolutely perfect weather. We even ate Thanksgiving outside. We spent the entire week with my family. Jamie really enjoyed all the attention and cuddles. This month we've been perfecting our commando crawling, pulling himself to standing when holding on to someones fingers, working on his pincer grasp, eating like a pig and still not sleeping through the night (sigh!). Here are his birthday block photos and outtakes:

Ships Ahoy!

 I think I'm starting to get seasick:

And we're done with the blocks:

Roasted Jamie...

 I mean roasted turkey and Jamie: