After Easter

Trey looked at our sad little blog this week and said "Easter, really Rachael, Easter?!" So I guess now that it is July I should probably get moving on some updates. So here is a quick overview of some of the Spring happenings Oswald style.
The children and I flew back into Edinburgh just in time to enjoy some amazing spring weather and celebrate Trey's birthday. The joy of our family reunion was quick as I boarded a plane for Atlanta less than a week after our return. My mom (aka Nana) and I did a quick switchero as I went to Atlanta for a work trip and she flew here to spend the week helping out around the house and most importantly with Emerson and Ward. For those of you who know my mom, you will not be surprised that in her week here she not only maintained the daily schedule but managed to squeeze in loads of sight seeing and outings with the kids. Their day at East Links farm is pictured below.
I am also very happy to report that the Scottish Spring was sunny and mild and provided us with so many opportunities to be outside enjoying friends and good weather. We had several barbeques with friends, unfortunately a few of them were farewells to North American families who have finished their work here. We wish them all well and a huge congratulations for finishing their time here, but will miss our friends.

Emerson in Princes Street Gardens.

2 little kiddos very happy to be home and playing with Daddy.

Ward and Mommy in Princes Street Gardens.

Celebrating Trey's birthday.

This photo was taken at East Links Farm with Nana & Trey while Rachael was in Atlanta for work. Please notice the cute little baby bunny on the left....she will reappear.

That's right- the familiar little bunny, only now she is on my kitchen floor! Her name is Isabel and Nana bought her for Emerson and Ward.

Nana with Ward and Emerson at the farm.

The day I flew in from Atlanta Emerson welcomed me home with a head injury. She crashed her scooter (without a helmet on) so we headed to the Children's hospital for a clean up and steri-strips.

One of Ward's favorite things- football. Portobello Beach in the background.

Love this shot of the kids at Portobello Beach. Emerson and Ward on a grey Scottish day.

Enjoying the time to play in the sand even though that water was freezing.

The view from our kitchen window after a Spring rain shower.

Emerson with her friend Hannah a few weeks before her family moved away.

Ward with two of his pals, Hannah and Titus. While this was a goodbye party, we are so grateful Wardie's little friends are sticking around.

Easter

We had such a beautiful Easter this year. Amazing weather, great service at a chapel in the woods, beautiful Easter clothes from MyLu, egg hunt with the cousins, food, family, and fun. The only thing that would have made it perfect is if Trey could have been with us.

Papa followed in the footsteps of his own father (my Papaw) and dyed dozens of Easter eggs with the kids. Beautiful dark colors. We were very pleased with our end result. And Nana was particularly pleased that it was warm enough outside for us to take our project out on the patio instead of in her kitchen.

Dad was preaching at the chapel up in the mountains at the Cliffs of Glassy. We went to the service and Ward called to Papa (from the back) through the whole service - he wasn't quite sure why Papa was up front and unable to talk to him. As soon as the service was over, both children joined Papa at the door to shake hands and Emerson told everyone as the left "Thanks for coming, have a Happy Easter" as if she was the host of this little party. Following church we had a beautiful brunch complete with Vanilla French toast , blueberry scones, real American bacon, and loads of other choices- but I could have stopped with the French toast and been perfectly happy.

After a little nap our afternoon was filled with food, family, and fun. We invited all of the cousins that live in the Greenville area over for an Easter egg hunt, cook out, and marshmallow roast. It was a great treat to have my Aunt Dot and Uncle Bill drive down from North Carolina for the day. We don't have opportunities to see them very often so it was wonderful to have them with us. Such a beautiful and fun-filled day.

Spring Wrap up

I have a huge collection of pictures from our Spring Break in South Carolina, but as you know if you have been checking the blog- it has taken me ages to post them. So here is a random sampling so that you can catch a glimpse of our fun and I can move on to more current happenings in the Oswald house.

Emerson driving the golf cart on her outing.

This is one happy little girl- a day with BOTH grandfathers all to herself!

My cousin Sarah who took care of Em and Ward while I was working. This is Emerson's sad farwell.

Little Wardie can always make Papa laugh.

Swimming with Nana and Papa.

The swingset at Nana & Papa's broke and we had to replace it. Emerson and Ward pitched in to help build the new swings.

Emerson showing off the new and improved swing set.

So sweet.

Ward helping Papa wash his "fast car".

Emerson cuddling with Aunt Kylie.

MyLu taking Ward and Beckett for a ride in the wagon.

Emerson and Oliver playing.

My favorite picture of my adorable blue eyed boy.

My sisters and I used to ride on my dad's feet like this. It was pretty fun to see my little ones doing it too.

Blowing bubbles in Granny's garden with Nathan and Mallory.

Soaking in Nana's giant bath tub.

Ward loves a good bubble bath.

The jets in the bathtub made the bubbles go a little crazy. It got so deep they could barely keep their heads out of the water.

Giving PopO some love.

Sorry for the wait....

Ok, well I have been making a real effort to post more frequently and I have been carrying my camera more often. So now I have loads of good pics to post- they are even already on my computer (which is a bit shocking for me)...but no time to post them to the blog. A quick overview of why we have been so busy- I flew back to the UK with the kids in April, to get them back on UK time and Emerson back in school, just to turn around and fly back to Atlanta for the Orange Conference and a full week of work with the reThink Group. So now that I am finally back home in Scotland and our whole family is happily under one roof again, we are trying desperatly to get back in a routine. So many international flights in such a short span of time has proven to be more difficult than expected and I can not seem to knock the jet lag.
So, all that to say...more posts and pictures are coming. For those of you not on facebook, the Easter pictures are pretty cute, so I will put some here. We also have some great pics from Nana & Papa's house, time with PopO and MyLu, Trey's birthday, and our day at the seaside so stay tuned...

Happy Cows

One of the greatest days we have had here was our day at the Happy Cow Creamery, a local dairy farm here in SC. If you know Ward, then you know that he has an obsession with tractors (and fast cars... but more on that later) so he was in pure heaven! It was a beautiful day, there were cows everywhere, Katie Storey came up for a visit from Atlanta, their cousins came along, we saw a baby calf born just hours before our arrival AND the day ended with a milk and ice cream tasting- it doesn't get much better than this!

This farm really is amazing. They use natural, hormone free, "Old timey" farming and pasteurization methods and their milk is not homogenized. Farmer Tom and his family that run the farm believe that these natural farming methods lead to happier cows and therefore better milk production. The USDA agrees and awarded Tom the national winner of the Award for Sustainable Farmer of the Year. We had a great time on the tractor tour of the grazing pastures, learning what kind of music the cows like to listen to while they are milked and seeing their one of a kind bottling factory built inside their silo. Now that they have their cows grazing naturally all year round, they no longer need this giant silo to store hay, so they had it repurposed by an innovative team of engineers as a bottling room! Such a fun day.

Ward face to face with a cow.

Ward loving this.

Checking out the mommy cows (there were 4 pregnant mommy cows up front).

Emerson so cool in her sun hat.

Nana with Emerson and Ward.

Ward and Beckett having a "chat" while on our tractor ride.

Farmer Tom explaining how they keep these cows happy by letting them roam and graze year-round on sweet April grass- they have 12 "Aprils" at this farm by rotating the cows through different pastures.

Emerson in the milking barn learning about how they milk the cows.

Auntie Rachael with Ward, Beckett, Emerson & Oliver- sitting in the wheel of the giant tractor

Ward up close and personal with a real John Deere!

Ward enjoying his homemade chocolate ice cream at the end of the tour.

Katie and Ward sharing a sweet moment.

Ward and Emerson getting some tickles and cuddles from Katie.

Emerson and Katie have a very serious discussion... actually I think they were blowing dandelions, but they did have their fare share of serious conversations during the weekend.

Little Monkies

Our second stop was South Carolina. Emerson didn't waste anytime making plans to get together with her cousin Oliver. I learned from my mistake at Katie's and decided I better have my camera ready to go every time these cute cousins got together. Here are a few pictures from our first week together.
The first time we got together Kylie brought the boys out to Nana & Papa's where we are staying. My kids are so excited to have so much outdoor space to roam. Nana & Papa have a great garden that is perfect for playing. Whether they are in the backyard or at Monkey Joe's indoor play place on a rainy Saturday, these kiddos have a ball together.

Such cute kids...I love this picture.

Monkies on the swingset.


Oliver giving Ward a push.

Emerson was all smiles.

Ward's not-so graceful landing.

Oliver on his way down the big slide.

Aunt Kylie helping Beckett down the slide.

Emerson and Oliver

The boys wrestling at home with Uncle Jake.

Silly faces.

Emerson getting some cuddle time with baby Asher.

1st stop- Memphis, TN

In planning this little last minute trip I was very grateful that we were able to coordinate an entire week in Memphis with my younger sister Katie and her family. Because our family is so spread out, I usually get together with my sisters at my parents' house or on a family vacation so it was a rare treat to visit Kate in her own home. Also, for those of you who don't know Katie, she and her husband Daniel recently bought a beautiful new house and had their second baby girl at Christmas, so it seemed like an ideal time for a visit.
Our first few days were low key to allow us to get over jet lag and we wanted to be schedule free for a little while. We had quiet mornings and lounged around Katie's bedroom letting the kids watch cartoons. My kids were totally overwhelmed by the t.v. and the fact that you could change the channels (our tv is just an empty box that is used to play dvds) and they both decided they like colored Cheerios more than those boring multigrain ones that I usually give them.

We tried to keep things laid back and low key so we went to the park, took walks around the neighborhood, played in Aubrey's fun playroom. The big events of the week were Uncle Daniel's soccer game and the Memphis Zoo. We used Katie's camera at the soccer game so to see pictures of our trip to the game you will have to check out the Banks family blog. I have a few pics of the zoo.
We didn't maximize our "photo opportunities" and neither Katie nor I realized this until after the visit was over. Ward is currently sitting on my lap and helping me choose photos for this post. He is fairly insistent about a few of these...particularly the one of he and Aubrey in the wagon and the one of "Aubrey's Daddy" (aka: Uncle Daniel).

Ward was mesmorized by the t.v.

Aubrey wasn't quite awake yet for this picture and wasn't entirely sure she like Ward taking over her favorite chair.

Emerson was always eager to hold baby Sloane.

Aubrey and Ward at the zoo...totally impossible to get a picture with them both looking at me.

Ward was looking at the horses wondering why he couldn't touch them.

Uncle Daniel and Aubrey

Emerson and Ward loving the zoo and Em exhibiting some of her excellent Big Sister qualities

Emerson was totally disgusted by the hippos...she is way to girlie for this.

Just a reminder to check out www.danielandkatie.blogspot.com for more pictures. It is Katie's post from March 26th. She has much better pics from the visit.