Heidi Chronicles

Day Before Labor Day BBQ

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Bday/Anniv/Holiday, Blah Blah Blah, Elena, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 10:09 pm on Sunday, August 31, 2008

We had 27 people over this evening to celebrate Labor Day.

It rained most of the day and I spent the day getting ready, but by the time everyone came over the rain had stopped. It was still wet, but it was warm out and we had a good time anyway.

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The food didn’t all turn out exactly as I’d planned. These are hot dogs that I got at one of the stores on the high street. They are kosher, which is wonderful, but I didn’t exactly follow the directions for boiling them so the casings burst and they curled up like snails. (In my defense, the grilled ones don’t look so hot either.) Fortunately one of the girls brought “real” hot dogs from the base and everyone ate those instead. We did have a good laugh over these, though.

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The same person who brought the hot dogs also brought a grill and the makings for s’mores. Seriously…it wouldn’t have been a party without Kat and Mike.

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The kids spent most of the time running in and out of the back door and tracking grass in everywhere, which is fine because my cleaning person comes on Tuesday, but Ava and Boy Avery stuck to the quiet toy area.

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It was great because everyone brought something to share and I didn’t have to cook like a maniac - or clean up because everyone took their stuff home.

Kat, Mike, Steven, Sarah, and Jamie brought the grill, s’mores stuff, and hot dogs.
Cheryl, Dave, Ava, and Hannah brought a potato salad and dessert.
Noah and Avery brought chips and wine. (Jenn stayed home sick with Jack.)
Grace, Mike and Avery brought dessert.
Kelly, Brad, Marley, Truman, and Grace brought dessert and baked beans
Gigi, Rick, Ralston, and Reagan brought appetizers - a cheese plate to die for.
I made black bean salad and put together the burgers and dogs, a veg plate, and fruit, and completely forgot to get out the fixings for the burgers, so we ate them sans cheese, onion, pickle, and lettuce. I am so smart sometimes.

It didn’t matter…naturally everyone was all over dessert!

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It was a really fun evening. Grace and Gigi and their crews stayed later than everyone else…which I LOVED…and I believe that we were up until almost midnight after waiting for Grace’s mini cab to arrive. That’s the lastest I’ve been up at a party in a LONG time!

I’m so glad that we did this. I got to meet spouses and it made me realize how many people I know here now Plus in the last month or so I’ve met several who will not be leaving in a year!!! Maybe this isn’t such a bad place to stick around for three years.

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“Hey, this looks like underwear!”

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 10:17 pm on Saturday, August 30, 2008

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This was shortly before Aaron and I watched Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay yesterday evening, a movie that’s hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

It’s been really humid here as well - without any wind. And today was beautiful outside, though yesterday sucked. I haven’t been exactly the most productive home maker. But, I have been doing a few things.

Started a Yahoo! group for American Moms in London, so if you know of anyone, send them over that way.
Waited for a package for Aaron that came around 11 and then went to Cheryl’s for 30 minutes to say hello. I’m so glad I have friends. It makes it so much more bearable here.
Debunked Obama myths being sent to me by a mystery emailer from my dad’s office. Thank you very much, Snopes.
Cleaned up the house for the BBQ we’re having tomorrow - 29 people including us.
Took Elena to the grocery store and enjoyed a morning of relative peace when AJ took Liam to see the HMS Belfast. (He’s very proud of his new man bag (a canteen bag).

Liam said the anchor looked like a big slide and greatly enjoyed the tube trip as well. He can name the stops from ours to Kings Cross with just a little bit of help.
Cooked for the BBQ tomorrow.
Saved Macey from a certain death due to playing fetch by locking her in the house. She was on her side panting so hard that she couldn’t drink. I had to hold her up near the water bowl. When I first heard her I thought she was the dryer.
Watched The Bank Job with A this evening. I have to say…the tube NEVER waits that long.
Cleaned out the snail house with Liam’s help. We now have four: Daddy, Doctor, Mama, and Baby. (Liam named them.)

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Habanero’s Revenge

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Elena, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood, Ugh — Heidi at 10:08 pm on Thursday, August 28, 2008

This morning we got up and got ready to go to a mom gathering at my friend Gigi’s house. Cheryl and I trucked the kids to the tube and made our way into the city.

The tube with an umbrella stroller and a walking 4-year old is no picnic…but the tube with a double stroller and two kids 2 and under? nearly impossible. That said, Cheryl was amazing. We managed to get there without losing any of the children and she went on her first escalator ride with the kids in the stroller. I was quite impressed with her.

And, of course, the garden party was lovely (even though it was wet and cold so we couldn’t actually play in the garden) because Gigi is a lovely host. We played and had a fantastic girlie lunch of tea sandwiches (which I love) and pb&j for the kids (which I also love), and then got ready to head out.

Unfortunately it was about that time when Habanero decided to wreak havoc with my intestinal system.
Elena and I spent a good 20 minutes in the bathroom as H worked its way out, in a bathroom that other people had to use.

Honestly…I have never been so happy to see the little bidet-like squirter thing to rinse off. I have no idea if that’s what it was meant for, but that’s what it got used for today.

Of course everyone wanted to know what took so long when I went to ask Gigi for matches to light the candle, so I had to share my Wahaca story publicly. But by that point I didn’t care. I felt so much better having the Evil out of my body that embarrassment wasn’t an issue at all.

Besides, everybody poops, right?

On a lighter, but still rather disgusting note…

Lately Liam has been playing trains. But not necessarily with trains. It’s more like he’s riding the trains and telling me where he’s going. He has tickets that he carries around from his conductor costume. This is how he was holding the tickets today. I don’t know why he can’t just wear the costume.

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Anyway, I’ve since cleaned them and told him that using his underwear as a pocket is not appropriate.

I’m sure he’ll do it again tomorrow.

For some reason he likes to take his pants off when he gets home from school.

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I think smoke came out my ears.

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Elena, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood, Ugh — Heidi at 10:07 pm on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Today was quite exciting on several fronts.

Daria came over this morning and on our way home from picking her up, we walked a different way home. As we were walking, Elena craned her neck and started yelling, “I wan to go ovah dere!” I didn’t realize it, but we were walking right past Cheryl’s house and Elena wanted to go play. So, I did what any good friend does, I called from across the street and asked if we could come say hi. And of course, Cheryl let us in. (I hope you all know you can do this to me at any time…I just might still be in my jammies and the house will inevitably be trashed.)

We played for a bit and then headed back to the house for lunch. The big kids played outside and Elena took a bit of a nap. Yoti came for Daria around 2 and stayed for a chat. I haven’t gotten to chat with her in quite a while so it was nice to sit while Elena was asleep. And we got invited to shabbat dinner! I am quite excited.

Then I got the chance to go out with Grace this evening. We went to Wahaca - a happenin’ mexican restaurant that everyone talks about around these parts. Grace beat me there and got our name on the list after waiting in a loooong line and we went to grab drinks around the corner.

My company and sparkling water were lovely and evidently the woman sitting at the bar thought that all Americans should be having water this evening as she ordered Grace the same thing I ordered. (I think she was a little drunk.)

It was so nice to be out with a friend without the kids.

When we finally got in at the restaurant, I tried to order appropriately for the no sugar land I’m currently living in, and I really did do pretty well, if I do say so myself. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than normal. Unfortunately I nearly blew my head off when I ate an entire habanero pepper.

I have never felt pain like that from something I’ve eaten.

My mouth was hot and I was begging the waiter for soured cream…which he took FOREVER to bring, and I held water in my mouth to stop the pain temporarily, but it hurt in my jawbone and in my ears. I completely lost my focus and became an awful dinner date. It reminded me of those people on the Food Network Challenge who have to eat hot sauce. I’m fairly certain I’d have a heart attack. It would be great for viewership, but not so good for me.

So, anyway, they finally did bring me some sour cream and I got calmed down. My ears finally quit buzzing when I got home, but now I can feel the fire in my stomach. That pepper is going to haunt me tomorrow…I’m sure of it.

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“I got Sawsa!”

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Elena, Food, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 10:06 pm on Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Aaron went to CostCo to get stuff for our party this weekend and he came home with a few other choice items as well.

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In other news….
Elena walked around the house carrying a visor calling it her cowgirl hat. “Dis my cow grl hat. I put it on my wahp, wight hewe.
Liam is sporting his shirt with holes created by the fence in the backyard. He had minor scratches, but couldn’t explain what happened. I think he was playing with Macey.