Here we are together!

The kids and I finally got on a plane last month and joined Chris in England. 

It was a long awaited reunion! Chris had been job hunting every day for two months here in England while the kids and I waited in Las Vegas. Our plan was to not arrive until I had obtained a Visa that would allow me to stay in the UK more permanently, but we had to prove a certain level of income before I could qualify for one. After eight weeks of waiting and still no job, we decided to go to plan b: I can stay in England for 6 months at a time on my passport and that might buy us enough time to sort out something more permenant. 

  It is so wonderful to be back together! The blessing of Chris being unemployed at the moment is that he gets to spend his days playing at home with the kids, so we have quickly begun to catch up on all the time we missed with him!

 

The kids- playing in their new room.

There are few things in life more fun than being buried in a tub full of stuffed animals!

When we arrived we experienced the shock of winter all over again. The kids and I had been enjoying 70 degree sunny days in Las Vegas, spending all day playing at parks. I was not excited about going back to frigid snowy winter!

We've been taking exploring walks when the sun peeks out long enough to leave the house. We live just outside the main city of Bradford, up on a bit of a hill. There is a nice park and playground with 'allotments' or community garden plots and a wood full of walking trails just behind our house. We can't wait for summer to thaw everything out and experience warm days here!

One of the trails leading down to the woods.

Uncle James and his fiancee Myrra live about an hour away. They drove out to visit us last weekend and we enjoyed some playground time together.

After a few weeks of cooking everything in one tiny saucepan we branched out and got a couple of dishes so I celebrated by cooking a roast dinner! 

This was our Easter Sunday dinner, and even though we are sitting on half broken patio furniture to eat right now, it felt like a fancy feast!

Grandma bought Stella a beautiful Easter dress to wear to church. 

She was more than happy to model it for the camera! 

Baked stuffed apples with custard for dessert- YUM!

The view of the city from our top floor windows. 

I snapped a few pictures of the house on a whim and then regretted not cleaning first! Oh well, no better time like the present I guess. So here is a sneak preview of or semi messy and not yet finished house. 

The kitchen- I love the big sunny window here that looks out on the back yard. I also love having a big pantry!

Part of the living room that seems like just our coat room at the moment. Without furniture a living room becomes sort of useless except for dumping coats and shoes. I love the wall paper throughout the house and someday when we get furniture it will look even more cozy I'm sure!

The house is three floors. The bottom floor is made up of the kitchen and living room. This is the first set of stairs that go up to the middle floor where the two bedrooms and bathroom are. 

The kids room. The angle of the room makes it hard to get a good picture of it, but you can at least see the bunk bed!

The top floor is just one big open space semi separated by the staircase that comes up through the middle of the room. So one side will be the play room, the other the 'work' space. 

 

We have a vision, but it will all come together in the tiniest pieces over time I'm sure. So, until then, we are just enjoying having room to stretch out and play!