Boxing Day

bundled
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj.

Is the day after christmas in the U.K. The traditions that gave rise to the day are varied but connected -- the church opened it's collection box to the poor, landlords gave out food and supplies to their tennants (who collected them in boxes) and the servants who had to work on Christmas day got the day off, taking the leftovers to their families in boxes.

Today it means lots of shopping (President's day for the parlimentary set I guess) and an additional day off from work. You've gotta love people who 'work to live' instead of the other way around.

At any rate, with the extra day off we messed around with the video camera. Here's our result: (I think you'll have to right click and download the file manually to view it)


SMILE TRIAL

Enjoy!

Toga...Toga...Toga!

Toga...Toga...Toga!
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj.

We headed to London this weekend to enjoy the shops and the sights. Got to visit Apsley House (the Duke of Wellington's place -- his address is #1, London), the Natural History Museum (where they had a Wildlife Photography exhibit), Fortnum and Mason's (posh department store), Harrod's (THE posh department store, where Ollie got us kicked out of the pub with the explanation that "This is a pub...there are people smoking in here....and DRINKING!"), Westminster Abbey (where Ollie attempted to raise the dead with a nice crying spell), and of course, the RAF Club, our favorite haunt. Everyone there was very taken with Oliver, even if his overalls didn't quite meet the dress code for the dining room. Oh well. He did look good in his toga though.

Happy Christmas!

Sugar Smoke

Sugar Smoke
Originally uploaded by spauldingtj.

One of the major industries in Bury is the Sugar Refinery. It is harvesting time around here, so there has been smoke rising from the factory all week.

Pillow Talk

The only relation between the picture and the story is Ollie man, but its so much more fun to post around a picture. Ollie has really begun to talk to us with all kinds of inflections and several consonant/vowel sounds. Its been amazing to have a "conversation" with him...he responds in his own way. Its so amazing that I enjoyed our 3 am conversation after his middle of the night snack. Normally he goes back to sleep easily, but Tim had an early flight this morning which means an early departure from the house. Ollie man babbled until about 4 am, with a very excited set of sounds. Its so nice to have a happy baby!

Money Shot

We got one! Tim and I are lucky enough to see a few shows a day. We are very proud to present one of Ollie man's cute smiles for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Shake what ol' blighty gave ya

So I had never heard of Morris dancing before, but last weekend we got to see it in action. Apparently it is old-school English folk dancing. Like most things that you think of as 'english,' it has medieval roots but was reborn and modified in the Victorian era. I can't tell you a whole lot about it (these people can http://www.eastsuffolkmorris.org.uk/ESMM/8%20-%20FAQs/FAQs%20Frameset.htm) but I will say that it makes both amateur radio and triathlons look like downright normal uses of time.

Tim

Back on the wagon

Both pictures were artfully taken by our friend Jim Gingrass. We had a great Thanksgiving with Jim and Anna in town. A turkey breast, by the way, takes out half of the stress of cooking the feast. It only takes two hours and the white meat is my favorite part anyway. Our fridge and oven are European standard, so there wasn't much room for a huge thawing bird or a place to cook a full size turkey. My favorite part of T-day food this year was the sweet potatoe casserole...BOTH marshmallows and pecans topped the dish making a truly delicious favorite. I've found the recipe we'll use for years to come.

Back to the pictures, the bagpipers were raising funds for charity by playing on Abbeygate Street in downtown Bury. The crowd was full of smiles as people bopped in time with the lively music. We followed the unexpected concert the best way we knew how, by enjoying a pint of Guiness at a nearby pub. Does life get better than that?

Smile Killer

No, its not gas. Okay, well maybe it is but Ollie has begun to flirt and smile socially. Nothing melts your heart faster than your kid's smiles, especially after those middle of the night crying sessions! We've had a hard time getting his grins on camera...he'll be in the middle of a smilefest, but as soon as the camera comes out the show is over. That's okay, capturing the perfect smile
will keep me busy making silly faces...smarter than he looks that kid.

Sad Dog!

Well, I already posted this on Flickr, but its just too funny. Here's the Riz with a walking cast on her leg. Whilst walking around Rede and Hawkedon, we noticed that the Riz was limping. It took us a quarter of a mile or so to notice that she was bleeding. What a trooper! She was much more upset that half of the group left than she was about the open wound.

3,000,004

Welcome to the World Harry Mark Crawford and Kyle William Mills! These two little guys were both born on November 22nd.

Congrats Brian, Katie, and Nathan on the healthy arrival of Kyle

born at 8:28 am
6 pounds 11.3 ounces
20 inches long



Congrats to Mark and Nicola as well for their handsome son Harry, an Englishman born in North Carolina!

born at 7 pm
7 pounds 7 ounces
22 inches long



Ollie can't wait to meet you!

Carbon Copy

Which baby is a Spaulding and which baby is a Laney? We ran across this picture of Dori's nephew Alex and thought that it was uncanny, especially after the inevitable question of, "Who do you think Ollie looks like?"

3,000,002

Please welcome to the world Isabella Grace Houston!
She was born on Sunday afternoon to our good friends Jason and Mary up on the frozen tundra of Anchorage, Alaska. What a beautiful baby!

Young Dog, New Tricks

Risby is very good with Ollie, even though she is not quite a year old. Whenever he is on the ground she'll come over and lay down so she can be right next to him. In my mind this is the first step toward the new command I am teaching her, which is:

"Risby....CHANGE DIAPER"

I'll let you know when she's got that one down.

Tim

PS> I never thought this would happen but I have now become the guy who chases his pets and kids around to get them in pictures together. Actually, even worse than that I am the guy who chases his pets and kids around to get them in pictures together in order to post them on the internet.

Old Man Winter

We had an awesome lingering summer this year in England, but the seasons have finally changed now. With the time change we are starting to have the very early evenings as well - that's the price you pay for having 18 hours of sunlight in June!

Some of our flowers in the garden have survived the first couple of frosts, but the spiders packed up and left after the first hint of cold. The picture is of one of the abandoned webs that they left behind.

I must admit that I have a bit of Holden Caulfield-esqe naivete about where they go in the wintertime (does a man in a truck come and pick them up?) but I have to say that I am happy to have a break from them.

They have all made such a rapid departure that the only spider I see around regularly is the one that lives behind my driver's side-view mirror. He makes a web from the mirror to the door every night which gets torn off in the wind every morning when I drive to work. This has been going on for about 6 months. Nobody said spiders were smart.

Tim

Nearly useless

Is is just me or is this the most useless bit of baby equipment ever? It is not that I disagree with the concept of putting socks on oliver, it is just that it is impossible to get them to stay on. Somehow one of them falls off immediately, but then the other one stays on all afternoon.... how is that even possible??

tim

Flickr Pitch

If you click the "Spaulding Pictures" link to the right, you'll be taken to

http://www.flickr.com

For those that don't know, Flickr is a really cool photo sharing program that is completely free. If you've got a Yahoo account you can even use that account on Flickr. Once you have an account you can upload pictures to your site, organize them in groups, post notes about them, etc. It is a pretty good way to get digital pictures out to everyone.

You can also set up contacts, so you can be updated realtime as your contacts upload new pictures or make comments on yours. Anyone interested in joining up? If you do, drop us a line...

tim and dori and ollie

Its Cold Outside

Here's a pic of Ollie dressed and ready to take Ris for a walk around the field. Remind anyone of the kid from the Christmas Story?

This is Isabel Wood and Ollie at Lisa's house. Isabel was born two just two days after Ollie. We're excited to have a playmate so close in age.

300,000,001.

300,000,001.


The US population is now one bigger that William (Liam) Daniel Nobles has joined the madding crowd. Welcome and congratulations to Bill and Erin!

As previously posted on the baby update page, there has been a bumper crop this year. Here is the rundown:










Adam Drake Segal

Thaxton Paul Falco

Tyler Howard Zarybnisky

Samuel Chandler Laney

Maggie Grace Teel

John Richard Ganske

Isabel Soledad Wood


Due to arrive soon are:
Brian and Katie Mills' new offering,
Chris and Becky Laney's third (and final?) offspring
and Jason and Mary Houston's inagural effort

Good luck to all!

Birth Record

We headed to downtown Bury St. Edmunds today to get Ollie all setup officially with a birth certificate. It was a great British civil service experience all around:

The Registrar's office is in the Lady Margaret building of Old Shire Hall (awesome name!) which is part of the city government offices that connect to the ruins of the Abbey. To get to the office you pass through one of the stone archways that pre dates the Norman era.

Once inside, the Registrar was classically British--polite to the point of awkwardnesss, yet firm when it came to the way paperwork must be handled. The Bury St. Edmunds birth register is a large record book, which has to be filled out and signed with a fountain pen (there are blotters between each record page to make this work). The registrar fills out the information and then passes the fountain pen over for one of the parents to sign.

After all that you get a computer copy of that entry in the book (the registrar made a mistake on the first copy of this she printed, at which point she said 'Oh, this form's all wonky, let me get you another one!') and a packet of information for new parents (which the registrar described as 'a load of bumpf').

So, for the bargain price of 3 pound 50 we learned two new words and got Oliver's details down in the big book.

Sappy Alert!

Who knew having a baby was this much fun? No, its not the percocet talking...despite the poopy diapers and the middle of the night feedings, we LOVE our new role as parents. I can't explain how great it is to be a Mom or how much I enjoy watching Tim thrive as a new Dad. Okay, enough sappy stuff. Here's a picture that I took this morning. We'll keep them coming between feedings and diaper changes.
Love,
Dori

Oliver Thomas

Welcome to the Spaulding's new running account of life here in the U.K. For those that have been reading the updates from the baby webpage, we're going to discontinue that in favor of this format. We'll still be posting a bunch of photos to Flickr, so if you just want to browse the images, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/spauldingtj/

At any rate, our first post is about Oliver Thomas Spaulding, the new addition to the family. We all arrived back here at the house this afternoon and are getting adjusted to our new lives. Dori is feeling pretty good despite recovering from the C-section, and Ollie is getting the hang of life at home.

Here's a picture of the little man yawning away.