Kilconquhar Castle

This year we had to explain that not only would Santa be able to find us in Scotland...but he and his reindeer would also be able to find Emerson and Ward at Kilconquhar Castle, which is a far cry from our little flat. We had a couple of days of luxury while my parents were over visiting. As much as my Mom & Dad would have loved to spend their entire vacation on our bunkbeds, they made the sacrifice for Trey and I. They wanted us to have a few days of "vacation" too. It was really nice to have someone else do the Christmas dinner...and especially the Christmas dinner dishes! Kilconquhar Castle is North of Edinburgh, near St. Andrews. It is an old estate that has been turned into a time-share resort, complete with a fitness center, indoor swimming pool, and equestrian center. Emerson, mom and I went horseback riding on Boxing Day. Emerson got to ride a pony named Pepsi. I think she grinned from ear to ear the entire time. And yes...Santa did manage to deliver a few gifts to our little cuties. Emerson was amazed that she had only asked for a pink camera and paint but Santa brought her a few extra things as well. There are several photos of our little budding photographer below.

Christmas in Edinburgh

Ok for those of you have been waiting on pins and needles...here it is finally! I really have been meaning to update with our Christmas news and photos. We had such a great visit with Nana and Papa and then launched straight into a new family routine with Emerson's new school, ballet, Ward crawling all over the place so my "blog" time has been a little limited lately.

I figured that since it is a month late, I just need to do what ever I need to do to get the update done. So I am going to take the hundreds of photos that my dad took during their nearly 2 week stay and try to whittle them down into some sort of useable fashion so here goes....

Edinburgh is wonderful at Christmas. Downtown there is a quirkly little German village filled with crafts, art, and food. In the area around the Christmas village there are loads of fair rides such as a giant ferris wheel and carousel. There is an outdoor ice skating rink in Princes Street Gardens, live reindeer and a teepee that houses Santa. Yes, you read that correctly...a teepee. I am not really sure why because we didn't go into see Santa, but we did nearly everything else. The festive lights and all of these attractions make it a pretty exciting place to be at Christmas time. Emerson had been looking longingly at the ferris wheel for atleast a month, but we told her she had to wait until Nana & Papa came to ride.

Emerson enjoying the views from the 7-story high ferris wheel. Jenners, Edinburgh's oldest and most famous department store, in the background.A ride on the carosel.

Ward staying warm on a very cold day.Emerson LOVES the Pipers.One of our favorite spots in the city: Hope Park.Emerson and Nana playing at the park.

A view of The Meadows and Arthur's Seat in the background.
Waiting for our bus to church.Our little model- Emerson walking (and posing) on her way to the bus.My boys...looking an awful lot alike!...all we need is a Santa suit for Trey...

Christmas Cuties

This post doesn't have a specific purpose other than to show you some of the cute photos of our kiddies enjoying these weeks leading up to Christmas. We have had a really great time enjoying the spirit of the season.



Ward has joined the bedtime routine so we are loving the family snuggle time. We read part of the Christmas story, a storybook or two and Emerson has become a fan of story-telling in addition to her nightly reading. This is really stretching Mommy & Daddy's creative skills!








We have been baking a lot, Emerson has helped build and decorate a gingerbread house, cut out gingerbread men, make sweet bread for some gifts and tomorrow we are making a birthday cake for Jesus. Some days she bakes up her own concoctions in her kitchen.





This year, we experienced the benefits of an artificial tree for the first time (radiator heat makes a real tree pretty impractical) so we bought one that was pre-lit...our Christmas present to Trey- who HATES wrestling with the lights. This also enabled Emerson to take a very active role in decorating the tree.





And finally Ward, enjoying a day of shopping with Mommy on Princes Street. We were very grateful that PopO and Mylu gave us a new stroller for Christmas so he could nap and enjoy the shopping in style!

Washing Machine

Christmas came early to the Oswald home in the form of a washing machine. For many of you a washing machine may not seem all that exciting, but around here it is pretty big news. Emerson was mesmerized by the fact that she could watch the clothes- this is quite a novelty. Of course this has led to a recently realization that I am going to have to cut back on my daily quotient of sweets now that I am not carrying our laundry (along with Ward) up and down 3 flights of stairs. I guess some sacrifices are worth it!

St Andrews Day at the Castle

Scotland recently celebrated St Andrews Day. While I am not totally sure what this holiday is for, I was quite pleased to learn it means free admission to the National Historic properties. (Trey says it has something to do with church history and the cathedral in St Andrews, but that's not as interesting for our purposes here.) So we headed out for a day at the Edinburgh Castle. For those of you who have never been to Scotland, eventually we will need to get some better Castle pictures up on the blog. As you can see it was a rainy, cold day so the view from the top was not as dazzling as it usually is.

Emerson had already made one trip to see the Castle, but that was before her 2nd birthday. Needless to say, she doesn't remember that visit. Before leaving Atlanta, however, Emerson was given a book called This is Edinburgh. It is a fantastic book that has been teaching her some of the great secrets of of this wonderful city that we live in...including some details about the Castle. While the rain prevented us from enjoying some aspects of our visit, Emerson was very pleased that she got to see the "jewry" translation: jewelry...by which she means the Crown Jewels. We also opted for the other indoor activity- the War Museum. While this would ordinarily be a disaster with a 3 year old...Emerson was shockingly interested. She wanted to know the details of each uniform and why they had different types of helmets (Trey says she is the real future scholar in the family). As I was trying to move her along through the displays she kept asking me to stop and read her the plaques- she never ceases to amaze me (again, Trey says Emerson is way smarter than he is - which, he adds, is not saying a whole lot)!

So despite the fog and rain, it was a great day. We love this city and look forward to exploring it with our children. (Trey says if you want a fairly good description of the view of Princes St from the castle, read the 1960s or 70s novel Marathon Man... And, hopes you are all doing well... whoever you are that reads this. He thinks he's funny.)

Thanksgiving on a smaller scale

Well our Thanksgiving this year was less of an ordeal than the major US celebrations loaded with family, friends, food, and football. We did most of those things- minus the football (which of course is not available here) but on a much smaller scale than we usually do in America. You may notice the absence of the fancy centerpiece complete with pumpkins and autumn leaves. Good thing the decorations and football aren't what Thanksgiving is really about...although some may beg to differ about the football part.

We started by convincing Trey to take the day off from his studies so that we spent the whole day as a family. We invited our friends Ryan and Adrian Weimer and their adorable daughter Annabel (notice those amazing ringlets) to share in our feast. It can be challenging to cook a Thanksgiving dinner in a miniature oven....I honestly think the Pottery Barn kids pretend ovens are the same size as mine. That being said, Adrian and I divided up the cooking and she brought several delicious dishes. Don't think I felt a little bit guilty about this considering that she is 8 months pregnant, has a two year old, that her husband had been out of the country for a week, and oh yeah... just happens to be finishing her PhD dissertation from Harvard!!! Some of you know that Ryan was my sister Tina's Inner Varsity co-leader at Wake Forest so it has been fun to connect with them here.

I have also included a couple of pics of our preparation. Emerson made a very fancy Thanksgiving picture with her markers, glue, scissors and special Thanksgiving stickers that Nana sent her in the mail. She also had a great time making her first pumpkin pie. Ward just joined us for the photo op, and tried to sneak a taste real food whenever he could. We hope all of your celebrations were as fun and laid back as ours!

Growing Boy

In the last week Ward has gone from swaying like a little weeble-wobble to sitting well. He can now reach in about any direction to grab a toy and pull himself back up without toppling over. These milestones are so much fun. He is enjoying a different vantage point. Since his excersaucer has been stuck on a ship for the past few months, he has spent most of his time on a playmat and doing tummy time. He is definitely loving sitting up so he can look around the room.

I am not sure if you can tell from the picture or not, but most of the shelves behind Emerson and Ward are still empty. That is because we still don't have our boxes. We did finally talk to the UK moving company yesterday and they are scheduled to deliver them next Monday. Just in the nick of time since it will be much easier to prepare Thanksgiving dinner with a few mixing bowls and measuring spoons.

I am also including a pic of Emerson's beloved sparkly "high heels" which she calls "clonky shoes" because of the delightful sound that they make. She had been wearing my shoes pretty much on a daily basis until Trey and I decided for the good of our downstairs neighbors, she needed a smaller pair. Thus the very exciting purchase of Emerson's own high heels. So here they are in all of their sparkling glory, which Em thinks is very much like the glass slippers worn by Cinderella! While I am on the topic of our little lady- a quick update on our school situation. We have now interviewed at 3 schools (2 public, 1 private). We are expecting to hear back by the end of the week from St. Leonards, which is our 1st choice. Because it is not the start of a term and most students would have added their name to the waiting list on their 2nd birthdays for a 3 year old spot, we are not entirely hopeful. Nevertheless, we feel this would be a great place for Emerson so we are praying that she will get a place.