A Child's Prayer

Both girls said their prayers today by themselves without me asking them to do so.

It started at dinner after I said a blessing on the food, Natalie chimed in after me and said,

"Heavenly Fathers,
thank you,
dinner,
fork."

Then, before bed, Marisa finally had the courage to do it herself and with much confidence shouted, "My turn to say the prayer!" and without a pause just started praying. (And yes, I believe this was very much instigated by seeing my reaction to Natalie's prayer earlier in the day.)

"Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for this day,
thank you for ponies,
thank you for flowers
thank you for rainbows,
thank you for pink cars, purple cars, red cars,
thank you for mermaids.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Then of course, Natalie had to follow suite.

"Heavenly Fathers,
Pink cars,
Alice,
Georgie,
Minnie,
Binkie,
Mommy,
Isa (Marisa),
Daddy,
Daladee (Natalie),
Daddy,
Isa,
Daladee."

So sweet.

Lefty?

Since she was old enough to pick up a pencil she would write with her left. If you try to switch to her right, she will try and write for a little bit that way, but then switch it back herself.

She even puts glue with her left, brushes her teeth with her left, and probably hits Marisa with her left...


She cracks me up. Of course Natalie would be a lefty! She is determined to be different in all aspects and make sure to all that she has her own way of doing things. :)

Crappy Customer Service {revisited}

Wanna hear a joke?

Tim and I finally have our UK bank cards. Yay! But, only after they had shipped them to the U.S. first even though Tim had spoken with them here, in London. Oh yeah, my in-laws are shipping our bank checks to us because they shipped those to the U.S. too. Really, people!!

Anyways, we can finally set up our utilities in our flat with our U.K. bank cards and the first one we did was, yes, internet and phone. :) We were able to do it all online, thankfully, because we still have no cell phones, and once we filled out all the proper information and clicked the button 'submit order', the date for them to come and install it pops up.


Here is the joke...

We set this up online on May 8th and they come.....MAY 26th!!!
Tim and I just laughed. I mean, really. What else can we do?


So, this 4th of July as you celebrate our independence from Britain, think of me will you? Think of this story and the following crappy customer service stories as well...

-I called John Lewis to find out where the rest of our bedding is. It has been 2 weeks, remember? It took at least 5 minutes on the phone going back forth with a heavy Irish accent guy saying, "I see we have refunded you for the missing items." "What is the order number again?" "What items are you missing?" "What is the item number?" "What items are you missing again?" "I see we have refunded you for the fitted sheets." "Oh, you are missing cotbed sheets and cotbed pillow cases?" "We have refunded you for the fitted sheets." "What items are you missing again?"

Me: "I'M MISSING THE COTBED SHEETS AND COTBED PILLOWCASES!" "WHERE ARE THEY!?" (I made sure to emphasize the T everytime.)

-I called John Lewis again about where my really big refund was for our double mattress and base returned 2 1/2 weeks ago.
"Oh sorry I don't know why it doesn't show up that you refused the order. Sorry."

-Nicole and I at the local library...
Me: "When do you have children's storytime/singing time?"
Librarian: "I'm not sure. Is there a paper displayed somewhere?"
(I don't know, you tell me.)
Me: "Well, obviously today, but anything else during the week?"
Librarian: "I think Tuesdays and Thursdays."

(Awkward pause. I'm waiting for her to tell me the times, etc. You know, the information you would normally get from a librarian.)

Librarian: "You can check online, but it isn't always accurate. You should ring us first."

(Awkward pause, again.)

Then I'm suddenly just staring at two librarians staring at each other awkwardly with nothing else to say. I'm not sure what I was waiting for, but I think I was searching for helpful information, anything that made sense, really ... Anyone?, Anyone?, Bueler?, Bueler?...

Me: "Alright...I'll ring before I come."

Then Nicole and I walk away laughing with her saying, "See what I mean?"

-Lastly, took my mobile phone to get questions answered for the 3rd time by me, (Tim had gone a separate 2 other times), because it wasn't working again or I should say we weren't getting what we paid for. Long story short, don't go with Vodafone, they have no idea what they are doing, they tell you something different everytime, they suck.
In fact, one of the times Tim went in, before they could help him with anything they wanted him to pay first. Obviously, Tim wasn't going to do that so they told him, "call customer service."
Tim just grabbed his things and walked out!

Well, there you go. Go Britain.

Mothers Who Know

One of my dear friends recently sent an email for Mother's Day that contained a great little reminder for me as I reflect on my eternal role today. It is one of my favourite talks from General Conference. I highly recommend reading it. Especially on those seemingly endless days.

Mothers Who Know

In honour of my own mother and the many women and mothers in my life "who know", Happy Mother's Day to you all! I am so lucky to have surrounded myself with such amazing, spiritually strong examples.

Hampton Court Palace

One of the nice things about not having a tv, or even having a couch yet, or anything really for that matter...., is that it forces us to get out. Not that we need much of a push anyways...

Yesterday, we went to Hampton Court Palace. Absolutely beautiful. The gardens are the most breathtaking. I've officially decided that pictures just don't do these amazing places we have seen any justice.






There is just so much history in London that it is really overwhelming. One man I want and need to know more about is Henry VIII. We got to see his apartments and his kitchens and learn more of his story, again.

Oh, and what do you know, the King himself.

We also got to see real artifacts like paintings and beds from centuries ago. I can't believe some things are still around!








The palaces are magnificent and massive for even our day in age and I can't wrap my mind around how amazing it must have been back in the days of King Henry.

The Fountain Court.


According to Wikipedia, this gatehouse above is also known today as Anne Boleyn's gate, after Henry's second wife. Work was still underway on Anne Boleyn's apartments above the gate when the King, having tired of her, had her executed!

Like I said, the grounds were just gorgeous. So lovely. One of my favorite European traditions here is to eat icecream out on the lawn, on walks, in the plazas. So, strawberry icecream near The East Front and Gardens today!


We also did the famous Maze within the gardens of Hampton Court Palace. We found the centre! It was actually not easy... I read that on average it takes 20 minutes to find the centre.




Right before we moved here we found out that Mother's Day in the UK just happened and of course, U.S. Mother's Day is today. Tim thought he could actually get away with no Mother's Day for this year. Good thing he is a smart man. ;)
So in celebration of Mother's Day we went to South Bank and ate at a restaurant called Giraffe. Totally fun place. Very colourful and way fun for the kids. The girls had bright coloured giraffes stuck into their straws and bright orange balloons to take home afterwards. Balloons just brighten their day always.
Because we were so close to a few things we haven't seen yet we strolled on over to see Big Ben and Parliament up close.




FYI: Did you know, that Big Ben does not refer to the clock it actually refers to the biggest bell in the chime, weighing close to 14 tons? A little food for thought.

en la granja...

del tio juan...
ia ia o.

The girls are going to have to learn a new language if they want to join in for singing time at the local library.
I'm so excited for them. I get to brush up on my Spanish too. And it's beautiful Spanish. Not the Mexican/Cholo spanish. ;)

In fact, I probably hear at least 5 different languages on a normal outing to the park or something like that. Cool!

new way to shop

I've completely had to change the way I shop here. Everything here is done online. Even my groceries.
In the states, I rarely ordered online because I didn't want to pay for shipping. Plus, I'd rather go to the store and see for myself.
Here, shipping rates are so low and almost always free because it is easy to reach the required amount to have it delivered for free.

I believe the reason for all the shopping online here is because it is just flat out easier to shop that way. Parking and traffic is a nightmare here. Narrow roads, very limited parking, limited free parking that is, it's crazy. You can't just drive up to a store, expect a huge parking lot like the U.S, push a shopping cart the size of a golf cart to shop, and load up your groceries in you car trunk. That doesn't really exist here. It is SO common, I mean, I see it on a daily basis, to see people with personal trolleys, or even buggies if you're a mum with young children, with groceries in it, and even people carrying bags on each arm and hand to carry them home via walking, bus, train, etc. If you live close by to a grocery store like I did in Canary Wharf I noticed people went to the store every other day or so to pick up items because you can't do it all at once and expect to carry it somewhere.

To be honest though, I think this is the one thing London does right. Online grocery shopping.

Some of the most common or popular grocery stores here are Waitrose/Ocado, Sainsbury, Tesco, or ASDA. I like Waitrose the best.

This is what I do:
I go online and the website is set up to be so easily navigated. Since I'm new, I at first just typed the item I was looking for and up pops rows and rows of what I am looking for.


On each item there is a box that tells you the price, the weight/quantity, expiration date, even a tab for nutritional information. Literally everything you need to know about purchasing an item just like you were in the actual store.


Side note: Food here does not last long. For example, bread usually lasts just a few days. Shannon said that at first it was annoying, but then you realize how much food additives and perservatives and crap the U.S. puts in their food to make it last longer. So disgusting. So the items online will have a little box on the side that tells you the shelf life of the items. Almost always just 3 days. Can you see it in the picture above?
I actually love that the food here is soo fresh. It doesn't bother me a bit. Right up my alley. Plus, you don't have room to fit a lot of food anyways so you have to shop often.

Anyways, once I fill my trolley with my items I am ready to check out. This is the cool part. I pick the day and time I want my groceries delivered to my door, essentially free.


The girls' favourite thing about this new way to shop is when the delivery man rings my flat. They scream with excitement as I buzz him in and a minute later he is knocking at our door. The delivery man can barely get through my door with two girls so anxiously staring at him. I'm handed my receipt, Marisa shows him to the kitchen, and then he takes my bags to my kitchen counter.
Yes, you read that right.
Right to my kitchen counter. See!


And voila! Done.

After a couple more shopping "trips" online the website is soon customizable to my liking. I have a favourties tab which keeps track of what I order often. It makes it easier for me to shop the next time around because I just look here and click what I normally get instead of having to search for it all over again. There is a tab for offers (sale items), tab to make the same exact purchase as my last, tab for recipes, tab to set up delivery on the same day and time every week so I don't have to do it manually everytime, I mean the options seems endless.
Best. thing. ever. Oh yeah, no tipping is involved in this either. And no more dragging kids to store.
And it is always fun to receive packages at your door and now I get it at least once a week!

It is has taken me awhile to get used to grocery shopping online mainly because measurements here are in grams, liters, mililiters, etc. Also, things come in small packages. No super size in anything here! For example...I ordered flour, sugar, and orange juice and this is what I got.




(I used Pocahontas to give you a frame of reference. And the sugar is a little inaccurate because the flap is totally open.)

I went back and ordered a bigger size of flour, but trust me when I say that big here is considered pretty small in the states. And you will never see milk by the gallons here. This is how big the biggest size of milk you can buy.


(Thank you, Snow White.)

Fridges here are so small so that is why things are so small. They won't fit if they aren't! My fridge is actually considered big here.


Seems big, right? Guess again.


Top half fridge, bottom freezer.
To give you a frame of reference. Notice my water picture I brought from the U.S. on the top shelf? It is slightly at an angle because the fridge door won't shut if I have put it straight in. In the states, my fridge can hold my water pitcher and two gallons of milk plus some juice cartons easily.
Notice that my bottom shelf of the fridge only holds my fruit. An entire shelf, not a drawer like my fridge in the states.
Notice my drawer on the bottom left hand side? Only cheese and sandwich meat fits there.
Notice the shelves on the side?
Only ketchup and jam and 3 bottles of salad dressings.

Small.

It is a very good thing that I have a small family and that the portion sizes are kinda perfect. I just have to shop often which I don't mind because of the freshness of the food.
And to my OC friends: The organic sections here are unreal. Every item, literally, has an organic version. There is no organic section like the stores we are used to. Every item has their organic version right next to it. Name it, it comes organic.

Few fun facts:
ice lollies = popsicles
biscuit = cookie
chips = fries
crisps = chips
bangers and mash = sausage and mashed potatoes
sweets = candy
porridge = oatmeal

I know there are plenty more, but I can't remember them right now...