Merry Christmas 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
We want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year. We sit here breathing a sigh of relief as 2009 ends and 2010 starts. It has been a very busy year in the England household as usual. Here's how our year played out...
Our year started out with Rachael 8 months pregnant, and we packed up our house, shipped off our belongings, and Chris left for Raleigh NC to start his new job and close on our new home. Rachael spent most of January and February nervous that she would have the baby while Chris was gone. However... Oliver decided to show up late and so we were fine. Oliver Cyril England was born February 24th 2009. He was a huge 11lb 9oz and a head full of dark hair. He was a handsome little man and we were so excited that he had finally arrived. Once he arrived it was all systems go. We had to get to London and get his US certificate of birth and passport when he was only a few days old. March saw the final preparations of our move to North Carolina. It was a tough and emotional month. We all left our amazing family, friends, school, ward, and England itself behind. So many people that we love that we missed already before we even moved. We blessed Oliver on the Sunday before we left and had a lovely family get together. We flew out on March 24th, Oliver being just 4 weeks old. We had lots of crazy looks at the airport with our 10 bags, 4 car seats, and 4 kids! We eventually made it here and things haven't slowed down ever since.
We arrived and started to set up our new home. In April Phoebe started her new school. It was a bit of a rocky start and we were a little worried, but she soon settled in. We eventually potty trained Clark, not long after we moved here. He has done so well. May saw the start of the Strawberry picking season. We had lots of sweet strawberries and fun picking them. We really started to see the weather start to heat up. We also had Chris' sister Julie and nephew Corrigan come out and visit. It was so nice for the kids to catch up. It has been a while! In June, Phoebe turned 7. We took our first trip to the beach for her birthday. It's so fun to live so close to the beach. Phoebe also learned to ride her bike and Oliver started to roll over. In July Rachael's niece Kelly came to visit. We loved having her here and it helped to have her over to make the kids realise that they would see everyone again! We also had our 1st 4th July back in the states. We had a fun time. Brent, Sarah-Jane, and Eleanor, Rachael's sister and her family came to visit from Australia for 6 weeks. We had such an amazing time having the kids spend so much time together. Annie-Mae had her second 1st day of school as she started Kindergarten and Phoebe moved into 2nd grade. Both of them are having an amazing year at school and doing really well. August saw the arrival of Rachael's Mum and Dad. We were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa come and see us. We were missing living next door to them so much, so it was great to spend some time with them and show them our new spot in the world. August also brought our families first trip to the ER for stitches. Annie-Mae had a bad cut on her arm and had it stitched. September brought Clark's 3rd birthday and Oliver's 1st haircut. He also started standing up and cruising and trying to climb the stairs. In October at still only 7 months old he took his 1st steps. He is now running around with the other kids like he's a big kid too! October was fun to be able to go to the pumpkin patch and have a real American Halloween. The kids loved Trick or Treating and it was fun to see our neighbourhood come alive for the night! Chris' Mom and Harry came out in October and we have been able to have them stay in NC for 3 months. It has been so much fun having them around and having the kids have Grandparents around again. We are going to miss them when they go home. We also had the attack of the swine flu which was followed up by Clark cutting his head open. No stitches were needed this time, the doctor was able to just glue his head back together. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas. We are excited to be able to spend it with Chris' family this year. In December Annie-Mae lost her 1st tooth and became an official daisy girl scout.
We have had an action packed year and feel so blessed to have been able to make it through it and come out the other side and to have actually enjoyed the ride! We feel blessed to be in our wonderful new home and really love our new little spot in the world and are grateful for all of you for your constant love and support and for keeping in touch with us and making us feel like we don't live too far away from family wherever we live.
We love you all and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May the Lord bless you all as he indeed has continually blessed us this year.
With love Chris, Rachael, Phoebe, Annie-Mae, Clark, and Oliver xxxx
