It's a....!

GIRL!!!! Mika (pronouced "Micah") Amy (YEAH!!) Stewart was born a week ago (I know...I'm a bit late on the announcement...) and my sister will never be pregnant again! (So she claims!) I thought for sure it was going to be a boy, but a boy with the middle name "Amy" might get made fun of so this is definitely what was supposed to happen. Congratulations Erin, Jason and your three kids under 2 1/2 years old!!!! I am definitely proud Aunt Amy!

I haven't blogged because I have been really, really busy. We had our school's inspection this week and I had a big looming lurch of a man lurking around my art room and breathing down my back for a class... There were only 9 lessons among all sorts of other things being observed and of course, mine just happens to be one of them. But, I hope that my little lesson on Paul Gauguin aided slightly to the "Outstanding" rating (and the best our head teacher has ever seen!) our school received. It was a bit of a stressful week because on top of preparing for the inspection I have reports due tomorrow morning. They are done and signed now (literally, just before I started blogging!) but I've been working my tush off to get them done! I guess I still have time to breathe because I'm not still at school at 9pm frantically writing away. My work is pretty much done now until Christmas. I can relax. After tomorrow I have only two and half weeks before we break up for holidays and once we get into December it will all be Christmas madness!!

Oh remember that show, "Kids say the darnedest things"? Well, yes, they do... Let me tell you a little story that occurred during one of my design and technology classes. In year 3 we are designing and building our own picture frames. Before we can get messy and start building there is a lot of planning involved, of course. We were talking about making structures stable, so started talking about structures around the world. The Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China sure...then we get to the Taj Mahal. I say "house point to anyone who can tell me what religious group worships at the Taj Mahal". Hands all go up - "Christians" "Catholics" "Jews"... and on and on. Finally, I say "ok, last guess" and I choose a little boy named Alex. With a serious a face as anyone can make, Alex says..."ummmm, Lesbians?" !!!!!! My response..."well, Alex, perhaps some...but the Taj Mahal is not reserved fully for Lesbians. Okay class, that question will be your homework". OH MY GOODNESS. How do you keep your composure, you might ask... You just do.

As far as wedding plans go, well they've been put on the back burner for a little while...just until I get news on the location which will be really soon. I bought my first wedding magazine actually. It was rubbish and a waste of money. Anyway, wedding plans are in my head and that's how far they've gotten.

We've been having fun in the new flat. A putting course has developed and the other day Blairret and I played. Final score: Blair - 3, Amy - 3, and Barret - 2. I got Barret really good on the toe with a chip shot when he wasn't paying attention so I think that's worth another point, so I guess I won. As much as it's two against one in many aspects, I don't mind. Those guys make me laugh and keep me sane. They also do they dishes after I cook dinner and regular put the toilet seat down (most of the time...)

Barret bought me flowers today. It was really sweet after the mad week I've had with inspections and reports and other random stresses. He takes care of me and I'm so thankful!

I hope everyone is doing well and is happy and healthy. I miss you all and hope you're not freezing. It's gotten really chilly here so I imagine back home the temperature is dropping...

Stay warm!

All my love,

Amy

The Planning Begins!

Time sure is flying by! I have so much to think about and do that I don't even know where to start. Work is in full swing! We don't have the same sort of inspections as I went through last year (Ofsted) but we do have the equivalent...which is happening next week. Not only do we have to prepare for that, reports are due next Friday and it seems every spare moment I have is filled with other things (Christmas decorations, year 6 carols, covering classes for people who are off ill...the list goes on!) Needless to say, my work days are filled to the brim. AND somehow people still have the nerve to ask "so how's the wedding planning coming?" Sheesh!

I'm just kidding... it's starting to form and a location and date have NEARLY been picked, but I'll let you all know that when it happens. You can all count on it being a non-traditional, casual wedding with plenty of cheesy music, good food, lotsa dancing, and easy going fun! Georjean, I'd love to have a romantic wedding in Scottish castle but I don't think 99% of our family would make it! The thought did cross my mind however and it would be picturesque! All I know for sure at this point is that I want my hair out of my face.... needless to say there's a lot of other more important things I've yet to work out (or even realize they need working out!)

Since softball has been done for a few months now, a couple guys from our softball team have gotten us involved in another sport - dodgeball! Alright, well the last time I played dodgeball I was in elementary school and I was wearing sweatpants that were inside out and backwards... I'm a bit rusty I suppose and the competition is a lot steeper than my days in gym class! However, we are currently tied for first place among quite a few teams so that's a good thing! We play Thursday nights and have a really great time. Speaking of sporting activities, Blairret are out watching a football game tonight (in the horrible cold...) so I have the flat to myself. It's quite nice to have control of the tv and just eat soup and sandwiches while doing my school work in peace and quiet. I love having them around but I take advantage of "amy time"!

I'm still waiting to blog about a new little niece or nephew. I think my sister is nearly a week late for baby #3 which I'm not really surprised about since he/she is just following the trend of her previous two! Sorry Erin, I hope that things happen soon!!

Thanks to everyone for their lovely comments and congratulations. We are very thankful and couldn't be happier - will keep you posted on the confirmation of the location and date - FYI it will likely be in Ontario and the last weekend in July/first week of August of next summer. Keep it open until I give you all further details!

All my love,

amy

What a week!

I know I’ve been back from holiday for a few days, but I have had neither the time nor the internet to get an appropriate blog out for you all to read! Some of my most loyal readers (heh hem…Mallory) have made it clear a blog is long past due. So, I am writing this one at work while I am supposed to be doing reports, but it can’t wait any longer!

I’ll tell you the happenings as of late in reverse chronological order since I want to save the best for last. Last night despite being exhausted, cranky, not unpacked from the move, AND there being a tube strike, Barret took me to see Mamma Mia on stage for my birthday. I loved it! My favourite stage presentation has to be Les Miserables, but Mamma Mia is a very close second, nearly tied for first! I even think Barret enjoyed himself because he didn’t fall asleep and I felt his toes tapping the whole way through. Thank you for taking me B (oh, and don’t worry as soon as we have our internet up and running I will be downloading ALL the ABBA songs so you can sing along!).

The reason Barret got tickets for last night rather than Tuesday, my actual birthday, was because of the move from the ghetto to our new flat. I had to work Tuesday afternoon, Blair had to work the whole day, and we didn’t get our keys until 10am, so guess who did most of the work, carrying bags on the tube…Barret. We moved as much as we could together and while I was at work he moved even more AND cleaned our old flat! Vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the kitchen, just went all out! I am so impressed by him and thankful for his hard work and I want him to know how sweet he is. Thank you Barret. The new flat is nowhere near unpacked still – all of us have been working or singing ABBA songs that we haven’t gotten to it yet. Tonight we are going to play dodgeball with some people from our softball team, so again, nothing is going to get done! This weekend is dedicated to unpacking!

Sunday night we made it back from our AMAZING trip to the Canary Islands. Barely, however, as our flight into Madrid from Tenerife was delayed and our connecting flight was due to take off 15 minutes after we landed and we still had to go through passport control… but shockingly, Iberia Airlines figured out a system to get all the Brits back to London by having the planes next to each other at the gates and setting up passport control right there! We were so thankful for that…otherwise we would have likely spent the night in Madrid and with the hectic week we’ve already had that was the last thing we needed. Anyway, our trip was fantastic! It was incredibly relaxing. The scenery was stunning, the weather was beautiful, and the company was ideal. I have never had a vacation that was so posh! We didn’t do too much, other than getting a massage at the spa, swimming, reading in the sun, playing Frisbee, going for walks, bike riding, or just enjoying our posh hotel! I really didn’t know what Tenerife looked like and to be honest I was expecting something quite like the Caribbean. Most definitely not – Tenerife is based on a dormant volcano so it’s quite rocky and very mountainous. The sand on the beaches blows in across the sea from the Sahara desert and mixes with the volcanic sand. That dormant volcano is located in Teide National Park and I really wanted to go up! We had missed out on tours; however, we decided that renting a car was a good option. Well – I know Barret is a good driver, but I trusted my life in his hands while we were driving up those steep, narrow, windy roads with cliff edges dropping off the side! It was quite scary to be honest – but somehow we made it to the top without an accident or without me barfing! (which I thought was imminent!). When we got as far as we could by car we took a cable car up to the top of the volcano and got to get out and walk around. I have never seen anything like that on earth in my entire life! I felt like I was either on Mars or in Mordor (from the Lord of the Rings). It was so crazy! Also, the temperature at our resort on the water was 27 degrees, however, up 3700 meters the temperature had dropped considerably to 5 degrees! I wouldn’t have been surprised to see snow. I froze my self nearly to death and a nice French lady let me borrow her scarf. I felt like the most unseasoned tourist known to man… live and learn I guess.

I guess that covers just about everything over the last week or so! Oh wait… one more thing I nearly forgot to tell you all.

BARRET PROPOSED!

The answer was YES! I could write an entire blog about this but I know I don’t have the time…so I will just do my best to give you the romantic details! Firstly, Barret booked the whole trip himself through an agent so that everything went smoothly (which it did!) and had been planning it for two months! Even the girl from the travel agency knew… Anyway, I’d sort of recognized that his head was in the clouds all day on ithe second day of our trip. He seemed very distracted but I thought he was just tired of laying around reading and relaxing (which is very possible since I think he has ADD sometimes). He wanted to go for a walk around sunset, maybe find somewhere nice to eat. As the sun was setting we went out onto a rocky pier and he told me how much I meant to him and he got down on one knee and opened a beautiful box with a STUNNING diamond ring inside! I don’t think I answered properly at all; I was too excited and shaky! He didn’t put the ring on my finger because we were both shaking too much it likely would have fallen to the sea through the rocks and we’d spend the rest of our vacation snorkeling…! However, we got off the pier and I slipped on the perfectly fitting 1.22 karat diamond ring and off we went – newly engaged! WELL – that little sneak – he has had that ring since we left Canada! We had sort of been looking in NB and he took me to a shop that custom makes rings and saw all kinds of beautiful, unique rings. I saw one immediately that I loved, but could picture it with a few adjustments. We left the shop never to return, but I had a glimmer of hope he might have been listening to me and would go back to get it. WELL – again, that little sneak – once we had left NB and were in Halifax about to fly back to London he said something about me never finding a ring I liked and how I’d be impossible to please – I looked at him and said “whaaaaaaat? But, that ring…that we saw…at that shop…you know the one…” and he said “what shop? Really? You liked that one? Oh Amy, I’m sorry…I didn’t know you liked it that much”. On the outside I had played it cool – on the inside I though “you IDIOT! Was I supposed to write it on your forehead!?” Look who the idiot is now! Anyway, well played Barret. Another sneaky move was the way he got it back to London without me having the SLIGHTEST clue. His great Aunt and Uncle had picked up the ring for him on the day before we left. They had WRAPPED it in a box in Christmas paper saying we couldn’t open it until Christmas day! I was so excited for a Christmas present… I had NO CLUE. Completely and utterly clueless. Again, well played Barret.

We are hoping we can have this wedding next August – but obviously that is so dependent on the venue. THAT is the problem. Barret being from New Brunswick and me being from Ontario doesn’t really help for picking a place that’s convenient for everyone and since we don’t really have a lot of history in Canada we don’t have any places that are special…SO - any ideas are welcome!!

Well, since I’ve spent my report writing time on blogging I’d better get going! Thanks to all of you who already know for the congrats and good wishes – we appreciate it so much!

My love to you all

Amy (future surname: Williams)