christmas lights & lord mayor's show

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

every year in London the switching on of Christmas lights in the West End marks the beginning of the Christmas season, various streets turn on their lights along with performers, carolers, and celebrities. between last week and this week it seems like there is a street lighting every night! last week we were able to go to the Regents Street lighting, and it was amazing! there were TONS of people, it was freezing cold, and Hamleys had fake snow blowing off their roof- it really felt like Christmas!

not only were there lights over head, but also many of the stores along Regents and Oxford (two major shopping streets) had lights on their buildings and beautiful window displays.

we had a lot of fun walking around looking at all the lights, hearing Christmas music, and just being together!

LORD MAYOR'S SHOW

on saturday the boys and i went with another family (who we totally adore!) to see the Lord Mayor's parade & fireworks. every year the newly elected Mayor makes his way from the Mansion House to the Royal Courts of Justice to pledge allegiance to the Crown... this tradition has been going on for nearly 800 years!! the parade was awesome, we all loved it! we were planning on going to see the fireworks, but got stuck in traffic on the bus and missed it! so instead we met up with jonathan (which was no small feat--trying to find him on a street with a million people and a wife who is sometimes directionally challenged, made it a little difficult), then we went out for pizza with our friends. it was the best day ever... i could not have done it without the help of Bryn, Nate, and their boys! Thanks guys, we had a blast!!

Lord Mayor Michael Bear

the best morning

we went for a walk this morning and this is what we saw

with the leaves changing and the sun shining the park was the perfect place to be

i had so much fun with these two boys

we ran

we jumped

we played red light/green light

we climbed up and down the big hill

we kicked the soccer ball

we played catch with the soccer ball

we played with sticks

we popped bubbles

we sang songs

we spun until we fell down

we raced

we ate crackers

we laughed- a lot

i am so grateful that i get to be a mom to these two amazing little boys

days like these remind me why i have the best job in the world!

Toy Story Halloween

Halloween isn't a very big deal in London, so there weren't quite as many festivities this year as usual, but the church did put on a Halloween party and trick or treat for the kids! It was a fantastic party, the boys had a great time.... I wish I would've taken more pictures!

Here's WOODY:


and MR. POTATO HEAD:


unfortunately this picture was not taken AFTER the party, but before... on the bus (they were way too hopped up on sugar on the way home to sleep!)


Toy Story fanatics!

they had some cute crafts for the kids, cookie decorating, cake walk, games, gunny sack races, doughnuts on a string, etc, etc....

and the best part... a JUMPY CASTLE!

this was the hit of the party for my kids!

if there is a ball anywhere in the room... adam will find it, he did pretty good throwing it into the net

the trick or treating part was done in the classrooms (since there aren't many cars, and no parking lot.... there was no trunk or treat)... a bunch of doors were decorated and kids could go knock on them and trick or treat! I was too busy taking the boys around to take pictures, but they had fun!