a new address!

Tired of living in two rooms and having no hope of the military changing our living arrangements, we decided to move off base and just pay out of pocket for our rent and utilities. We are so happy to have a place of our own. I have had fun buying antiques to furnish the house and trying to get the necessities as inexpensive as I can--since most will not be coming back to the states with us.

The house is in Brackley--5 miles from the base and a little over a mile to the girls' schools. It is a 'British-sized' mid-terrace. It has three bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, one reception room and a kitchen/diner. There is a small garden in the back and a one car garage. It is small in American standards but it is enough space for us and we feel like we are in a 'home' for the first time in a while.

We have also FINALLY gotten Internet and cell phones. It has been an adventure to get something so simple, but the British do like to make things more complicated than they need to be. Gotta love it!

We have no t.v. because there is a $300.00 t.v tax required (BBC's way of making money without commercials) and tv is not that important to us!! So internet will be great--a piece of the outside world!

Time to go eat dinner--I never thought I would be so happy to actually COOK--but after a month in a hotel with no kitchen, it is great to be able to eat a homecooked meal aound a table!!

More later

happy halloween

Halloween has come and gone--and we have too much candy!

We were not sure how popular Halloween was in the village, so we opted to head to the base and trick or treat.


Michaela was not sure what she wanted to be (this her last year of trick or treating) so she dressed up as a housewife! She looks soooo pretty!!!


Emma Shea wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, so Ms. Renea gave her a costume while we were in Alabama. Unfortunantly,I mailed it Parcel Post and it still had not arrived. So...Emma had dance class last night before we left,so after class, we put thick tights on her legs and found her old ballet shoes and she was a ballerina.

Michaela offered to take our friend's children, Sabrina and David, around so she could hand out candy (Their dad is in Iraq).

Along the way we saw Mr. Javier, aka Evil Kenivel

Also, Michael and Mason

And Princess Megan.
And all of our friends.

It took about 50 minutes to hit all of the houses on base and we were done!!!

Now to donate ALOT of candy to Security Forces at the front gate!!!

a new edition to the family

While (or WHILST since we are in England!) we were in Kentucky, Emma was so excited to explore Build a Bear at the Mall (She has been there several times in her life but does not remember it.) We walked through all the steps, she watched two girls make a dog, and then she spotted the MONKEY. Of course we had to have the cheeky monkey!! She went through the building process, found him a pair of knickers, and named him Brackley (pronounced, by Emma Shea, Bra-ko-ley) Brackley is the village she goes to school in and where we just moved into a house.

Brackley is always with us.