Back to School

So now that the school year has officially started, I was thinking it would be appropriate to fill in what we've been doing since I last bothered to update our blog:

Today was the first day of the new school year. Isabelle is now in Year 3 and Chase in Year 1. They must have been excited because they asked me to make routine charts for them again (which we haven't done since we lived in Texas) and this morning when the alarm went off, I opened my eyes to Chase standing right next to my side of the bed fully dressed in his school uniform. "Are you excited to start school today?" "Yeah..."

By the way, Chase did his own hair...it's a faux-hawk:

Shortly after the last entry, we travelled to New York for Drew & Polina's wedding. All the guests were dressed in white as well as the bridal party. The event took place on a beach in Brooklyn, with a light breeze and blue sky (despite the several days it had been forcasting rain). The men sang Iz's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow as they escorted the women in. Then the two Dads walked together, followed shortly by the bride escorted by her mother. Polina was dressed in a flowing gown the color of sunshine, which was beautifully backdropped by the blue and white of the sky, sand, bridal party and guests. It was a joyous occasion and hopefully, everything Drew & Polina had hoped for.

So, if Isabelle's eyes were open this would be a nice family photo:

Anne & Aunt Katie:

The weekend went much too quickly with not nearly enough time to spend with family, but the time we did get to spend together was memorable and a lot of fun. Katie had never been to NYC before, so on the last day some of us went sight seeing together and then branched off; Uncle Mark, Aunt Katie, Isabelle & I enjoyed roasted nuts from a street vendor and walking down 5th Ave and through Rockefeller Center. Uncle Carson took Chase to Central Park and Lincoln Center and enjoyed authentic NYC hotdogs for dinner. It was a fun day and a great way to end the trip.

Uncle Mark & Isabelle near Central Park NYC:

A couple of weeks after we got home, Isabelle and I had a "girls day out" and saw the stage production of "High School Musical." We speculated before it started about whether or not it would be with American or English accents - they were American. It was a lot of fun and Isabelle got a notebook that looks like a letterman's jacket.

To make things fair (of course), Daddy and Chase also got an outing: they saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. It was many days after that we heard Grandpa would be in our neck of the woods, so (at Isabelle's suggestion) Daddy and Chase took the train to Paris to spend a couple of days with Grandpa. (As generous as Isabelle may sound, I think it was a self-serving motive so she could have some Grandma-time all to herself!) The report we got upon their return home was that Chase loved Paris and wants me and Isabelle to go, and we got several etiquette lessons and reminders - esp when it comes to table manners. One of the highlights of the trip - aside from seeing Grandpa, of course - was trying escargot for the first time. "So how was it?" I asked. "It's only my favorite food in the whole world!" was Chase's response. How weird is that? Isabelle's favorite food is shrimp and Chase's is snails!

Coincidentally, Grandma Colleen arrived in London for a two-week visit around the same time Grandpa arrived in Paris. The children planned most of the places they wanted her to see and highlights included the Butterfly Exhibit at the Natural History Museum, the chocolate room and sweet shop at Harrods, and of course Hamley's Toy Shop. Grandma and I also worked on Redwork embroidery squares for a quilt for the baby. We found an alphabet by British illustrator Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) which has little children playing around each of the letters. The quilt is turning out to be even cuter than I was hoping! Just have to get to work on piecing it together.

Butterfly Exhibit, Natural History Museum:

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Open Air Theatre, Regents Park:

Inside the Secret Garden, Regents Park:

Picadilly Circus:

Inside the London Eye:Redwork letter for baby quilt:

Which leads us to the present: I am scheduled to be induced, unless she decides to show up even earlier, the baby will be born 09/09/08, which means we are down to the very last few days! We spent last weekend getting the house cleaned and everything washed and put away, and today Chris took the kids to a "Helping Hands" service project at a park in North London. Our church has challenged all the members living in London to do 10 hours of community service this year, with an overall goal of 10,000 hours of service, so they spent two hours today pulling weeds, pruning trees, planting blue bells and primroses, and raking and bagging up leaves. When they got back, Chase announced to Mom "yeah, Dad wore me out today..."

...which is what you probably all are with how long we go between blog posts - we'll try to do better. Chris will post photos and news of our new arrival next week when she arrives, so stay tuned!

April and May

Number Three

Okay, so I admit it. And here it is in writing: I was wrong. I've been anxiously awaiting my 21st week of pregnancy so that I could go to my ultrasound and find out for certain whether baby Taber is a boy or a girl. I have been convinced for a number of reasons that it is a boy, but evidently child number 3 is a stinker and has a cunning sense of humor. For over a month now, I have tried to look at both boy and girl clothes, and the second I look at girl clothes I've felt this child say, "Nope. Not gonna wear that." For over a month now, I've been testing out a name (one that cannot go either way, i.e. is stricly a boy's name) and this little spirit keeps telling me, "Yup, that's it!" So, today I went in for my long-awaited ultrasound and was shown (and it was quite clear) that it is a little girl. I even made the sonographer check again. She's a girl. Don't get me wrong, I am quite happy to have another girl. I am just stumped by her choice of practical joke. It isn't even April Fool's (or maybe that's when this all started and I just didn't get it). Is this a telling sign? Will all of my historically successful parenting tactics blow up in my face? I am almost certain that the answer is a resounding YES! Great. Just what I was hoping for. (Spoken in a monotone voice:) I am so pleased to be faced with this new challenge.

Anyway, here's a photo of the little stinker:

I may still call her "Hulk" - just to get back at her.

Living in London

As for the last few weeks, I am finally able to say I am enjoying living in London. I am at a good place in my pregnancy, and the sun has been shining everyday for over a week now, so as a result I have been out on more outings lately and visiting with more friends.

Primary trip with Isabelle and Chase to the London Temple:

Visiting the "secret garden" and Queen Mary's Gardens at Regents Park:

Family Reunions

We will eventually post some photos and video from Alan's 60th Birthday weekend, but until then suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time with family and friends. DeeDee was a wonderful hostess. Auntie Lynn (Alan's 1st cousin) and Uncle Russ visiting from Australia brought yummy sweets and flattered us with flip flops. Aunt Katie coutured our coiffs and Aunt Polina helped Isabelle host the First Annual Taber-Extended-Family Olympic Obstacle Course. Participants inlcuded Daddy (Chris), all the Uncles (Mark, Drew & Carson), Aunt Katie, Grandpa (Alan) and surprise couple-contestants Uncle John and Aunt Pam (Alan's sis). Video highlights to be posted...well, eventually.

Before the rest of the family flew in Chris, Isabelle and Chase and I spent a day in Morgan Hill and Gilroy shopping at the outlets, eating Mexican food and visiting with old friends - all luxuries we miss when we're in London. We definitely have some very fond memories of the time we lived in Morgan Hill.

And before traveling up to the Bay Area, the children and I enjoyed visiting with family on the Turner side. We stayed with Uncle Eric and Aunt Cindy and their children (Spenser, Corbin, Chandler & Kadyn) and enjoyed sunny weather and family fun with them (and Mexican food and A&W rootbeer - another luxury we just can't get in London for under $40!). Grandma Colleen joined us for a few days and we also enjoyed an afternoon of food and fun with Uncle Craig and Aunt Robin and their four boys (Nathan, Evan, Ryan, and Darren). Aunt Robin delighted the nieces with girly gifts. Eric and I learned some creative parenting tricks from Craig* , I enjoyed catching up with everyone (Althea was there too and Aunt Esther phoned).

*Parenting by Craig and Robin

• Behavioral consequence: "You owe me two squares." Craig showed us a two foot square he'd made of PVC to be placed in the garden and said, "That's how much he has to weed." Brilliant!


• Friendly reminder or warning: "Wanna owe me another square?"

• And, "Go sit in the tub." No angry tone. No water. Fully dressed. Just "go sit in the tub until we're ready to talk to you."

If only I could get my kids to hear me when I speak with a soft tone...

Newest Thread

So clearly, I'm not the best blogger on the internet, or rather consistent blogging has not yet risen to the top ten of my priority list. We have had, however, some fun things happen over the last few weeks;

Chris's brother, Mark and his fiance Katie were married on the Carnival Triumph on January 19 and then kindly allowed the entire Taber Clan to join them on their honeymoon cruise in the Eastern Carribean. We all had a lot of fun and I especially enjoyed having new sisters-in-law to pal around with. Andrew (another Taber brother) is engaged to Polina and their wedding is set for June 22 in New York. 9-10 hours on an airplane with a 5 hour time change is a lot on either end of such a trip, so we all spent a day and half sleeping before we sent the children back to school - what's one more day in the life of a kindergartener or a 2nd grader? So the next day Chris went back to work, the children went back to school, and I went back to bed...for hours. For some reason, I could not keep my eyes open. As it turns out, there was a very good reason. The newest thread in the Taber Tapestry is child number 3!

So I've heard number 3 is the hardest. So far this seems to be true as far as the pregnancy is concerned; I have had to sleep more, and whoever named it "morning sickness" probably was never actually pregnant. The nausea seems to be all day long and the hormones have turned me into crazy person. Fortunately, my family still likes me and Chris says they already new I was crazy, and we've made it through the first 12 weeks. And we are all looking forward to the middle trimester. Not that anyone's asked my opinion, but I think aside from the first time 'round, pregnancy should only consist of the middle trimester. The time when you are typically past the morning sickness, have grown enough to start wearing clothes that are meant for a pregnant body (rather than just making due with what you've got), and are past the narcolepsy and generally you are feeling pretty good and enjoy that new Mommy glow.

Anyway, I recently had my first ultrasound and met with my new health care team (midwife, endocrinologist, etc) at the hospital where the baby will be delivered, and everything seems to be developing as it should.

It's been fun involving the children now that they're really old enough to understand what's going on. When we first sat them down to tell them why mommy had such a short fuse and was taking 3 hour naps everyday, they were both really excited. Isabelle's immediate response was,

"I knew that's what you were going to say!"

"Oh really? How did you know?"

"I prayed about it," she responded matter-of-factly. Ahh, the faith of a child... Since then Isabelle has kept us updated on the weekly developments as outlined in Your Pregnancy Week By Week and Chase has recommendations for names on a daily basis. The first he came up with (supposing it might be twins) was "Batman and Robin." One might think he was just being a cute 4-year-old, but those of us who know Chase recognize that he already has a quick wit! Daddy and I added, "or Kate and Duplicate if it's girls! Or Pete and Repeat!" (in honor of Pete from the cruise) All in all, he actually has come up with some nice names as well, but I think we will wait until we have more of an idea of whether it's going to be a boy or a girl.

Speaking of Batman, Chase just turned 5 on Monday and we threw him a Batman/Superheros party yesterday. He came up with his own guest list including, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, a teenager and some grown ups. We played musical chairs (to the Batman TV show theme), pin the mask on Batman, decorated and ate cupcakes and Chris led the procession outside for some Superhero poses and poppers that shoot streamers. Oh, and Chris had printed out several choices of Superhero symbols for the children to wear - hence the need for Superhero poses. We all had a great time and I am grateful that Chase is 5!

Our next adventure will be another trip to the States in April to celebrate Grandpa's (Alan's) 60th birthday? (Think I should bring the pin the mask on Batman game?)

Merry Christmas! 2007

Merry Christmas to you all with a bright and cheerful call
Merry Christmas to you all with a bright and cheerful call
High Ho, let it bring an echo ring
High Ho, Merry Christmas to you all!

So we’ve officially become jet setters and have most recently landed in London. We will be here for two years and just enjoyed our first Christmas "across the pond." We've only been in our new place a short time, but we all worked hard to make it home before Christmas. Christmas Eve Isabelle and Chase got to play Mary and Joseph for the play put on by the kids at a friends' party. Christmas Day was filled with nothing but family togetherness, eating a big breakfast, and playing with our new toys, and of course, listening (and singing along to) Handel's Messiah:

"For unto us a child is born,
a son is given,
and His name shall be called,
"Wonderful,
Counselor,
the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace."

May we all find peace and joy throughout the coming year.
We love and miss you and hope you'll keep in touch.

"In London, Baby!"
Chris has been on a project in the UK for several months now working in Oliver Wyman’s retail practice (formerly Mercer Management Consulting) so when the opportunity for the rest of us presented itself, we jumped at it. So the travelogue for 2007 includes (in chronological order - if you have a short attention span, scroll to the bottom of this post for the most current info):

Denver, Colorado USA - February
Visited Uncle Mark and fiancé Katie and took the children skiing and sledding at friend Shane’s B&B. Anne tried out snowboarding and did pretty well on the first day, but after a boring lesson of nothingness taught by a pot-smoking 50 yr old, on day 2 she broke her wrist (will she ever play the piano again?... dun dun dun!). Uncle Carson also joined us for the fun.

Spamalot Weekend in London - March

Chris was unable to fly home for one of his weekends, so Anne flew out to join him in London for a few days. While there, they went to the original Hard Rock Cafe, took in a show (Spamalot - funniest show ever and includes "19.5 songs not in any other show in the West End"). Only regret was that we didn't purchase the Black Knight, complete with detachable bloody limbs.

New York, New York USA - June
Anne and friend Becky spent a week staying in the Big Apple for a week. For some of the time we also enjoyed the company of friend Chris and friend Malissa. Highlights include seeing show after show after show, seeing the Site of the World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Times Square and of course shopping. Did you know there’s a giant karaoke jumbotron in Times Square? We went, but apparently you have to be drunk to have the nerve to perform so we just watched the show.

Kauai, Hawaii - June / July
Chris flew from London to LAX and met up with the rest of us for a trip to the Islands with Eric & Cindy and their children. Did you know that if you challenge a 13 year old to run across a place where there’s potential to fall into the muddy water that she will in fact try it - even without a swim suit, towel, or change of clothes!? Especially when challenged by fun loving Uncle Chris? Yep. Will try it and succeed (at getting wet and muddy with no towel or change of clothes). Trip highlights include outings with extended family, Anne’s first SCUBA experience, Kemps with the cousins (new card game courtesy of friends from Chris & Anne’s 10th anniversary cruise last year), and of course, lots & lots of Hawaii shave ice.

Cupertino, California - July

On our way back from Hawaii, we went to see DeeDee & Grandpa, the Taber grandparents, in Cupertino for the Fourth of July. We enjoyed fireworks and lots of swimming. Isabelle earned money by swimming laps (her first laps in a full length pool) and also taught herself to dive. Chase is also doing very well with swimming - very independent. We celebrated DeeDee & Grandpa's wedding anniversary at the Melting Pot - great fun for the whole family - thanks for getting married DeeDee & Grandpa!

Moab, Utah - July

Anne flew to Utah to drive back to Texas with friend Becky. Though they both grew up in Utah, neither one had ever been to Arches. So they hiked up to Delicate Arch in time to catch the sunset, camped overnight in Moab and spent the next day hiking and climbing around more of the arches. Why have we never done this before!? It was amazing. Highlights of the trip include the iPod Karaoke Game. To play, choose a song for your friend to sing, give her (or him) the earphones, turn it way up and enjoy the comedy and or entertainment of your own live show! Tip: You must sing what is chosen, and you must sing as though you were by yourself, i.e., no inhibitions. Almost as much fun as playing Guitar Hero (which was also one of the highlights of the trip).

London, England UK - August
Anne, Isabelle and Chase took the 9 hour flight to meet up with Chris for two weeks in the UK. (Break into Clash song: London Calling…) We stayed at Le Meridian in Piccadilly Circus. While Chris was at work Anne and the children spent the first day at Hamley’s. It is a giant FAO Schwartz-style toy store in London including 5 stories of toys and its own kid-friendly eatery and sweet shop. Mary Poppins (the musical) was playing in the West End so we took the children. One of our favorite things was seeing all the street performers in Covent Garden. Chase recently asked how all the statues were able to move. I explained that they were street performers with a really good paint job (light bulb moment!).
This trip is when we introduced to Isabelle and Chase the idea of moving to London. When asked where they wanted to live, Isabelle said Piccadilly Circus and Chase wanted to go up to Leeds – probably because there’s a talking elevator in Chris’ building there. Other highlights of the trip included seeing Leeds Castle and getting lost in the giant hedge maze on the grounds. We also went on the London Eye and saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (or at least saw the backs of all 10,000 people watching the Changing of the Guard!)

Princeton, New Jersey & NYC, New York - November
Once we decided to move to London, and before the kids got started in British schools, we decided to stop and spend a few days visiting our friends in our first home in Princeton, NJ. Friends Derick & Malissa generously allowed us to stay with them. Chase and Gibson had fun playing cars, K’Nex and Dress-up while Isabelle had fun playing big sister or babysitter to Delaney (note: a seven year-old is not old enough to independently babysit an 18-month old!). On our last day we packed up all the children and spent the day in New York. We rode the Ferris Wheel in Toys R Us in Times Square, enjoyed hotdogs and roasted nuts from street vendors, and hit the Build-a-Bear and American Girl stores.

Chiswick, London, England UK - Present Day
We began our stay in London staying in corporate housing while waiting for our overseas shipment to arrive. After two day's worth of searching, this is the place we chose and tried to rent. But we don't live there. We had such difficulties negotiating the contract that we decided to begin the search again.
So here it is. Our new home for the next two years! I've haven't captured a photo on a sunny day yet, but you can see it's a converted Victorian flat. It has two bedrooms and an open kitchen/dining room/living room with two sets of French doors that open onto the back garden. So far, it has been very comfortable. After living out of suitcases for over a month it is nice to have our own things, and to make a home for ourselves.