Our new home

I can't believe it's almost been a month, but we moved into our new house on May 1 and we love it! After cleaning, organizing, and finding a place for everything (almost!), we feel settled and it already feels like home. We LOVE being right in town (we were living about 6 miles out of St Andrews... now we can walk pretty much anywhere we want to go!). It's just a 5 minute walk to take Justus to 'school', Trav rides his bike into the office, and it's only about a 15 minute walk into the center of town. 

Our house is about 100 years old and used to be the servant's quarters which are attached to the main (huge) part of the house where our landlords currently live. But the house is great and big enough for us - 3 bedrooms + a playroom and a nice back garden which Travis doesn't have to take care of!!

Our property is back off of the road a little ways and our landlords own a huge amount of land. It is quaint and quiet.

We definitely have a 'retro' kitchen! Home of the "toaster mouse" which greeted me at 6:00am on our first morning here... AAAH!!! I haven't seen him since, only some evidence of him a few days later, but he seems to be staying away for the moment. (And in case you are wondering, we did throw away the toaster!)

No dishwasher, but at least I have a nice view from the sink :)

SO thankful for the playroom... otherwise where would I put all this stuff??!

 Our sweet back garden - perfect size for us.

We can't wait to host our first guests at the new place - Kay Kay and Mia & Papa Chop Chop!!!! So excited! xoxo

Little Piper Girl

Just one question: Why is she so cute??!!

Just keeping her hands free for other things...

Looking out the window at Pitscottie, one last time...

Love her!!

So Happy Together

Okay so it's not quite this cute ALL of the time, but for the most part Justus and Piper are pretty happy together (that is, when Justus is not stealing Piper's toys from her - which she actually doesn't seem to mind as much as I do - and when she is not knocking down his Star Wars bases that he builds!). The fact is that he really likes to have her 'nearby' when he's playing (he's always calling her into whatever room he's in), and she absolutely ADORES him. :)

We Love the Fishers!

Our good family friends, the Fishers, all came to visit us for 8 days and it was so good to see them! They are a big golfing family and they surprised their dad, Howie, with the trip for his 60th birthday (I mean really surprised him...he didn't find out he was coming until he was at the airport...he thought he was just dropping off a friend!). There was lots of golf played, lots of candy consumed, lots of cokes/diet cokes drank, lots of late-night games, and lots of fun new memories made. "Well you're gonna so that's awesome."

One nice thing about having visitors is that we can actually get a photo of our whole family!

Another nice thing is that we actually get out of the house and do something adventurous, even if it is a little chilly outside!!

On one of our 'fish n chips' outings, we discovered Piper's love for peas. She pretty much drank this entire bowl down to the dregs.

Piper reminded us of Ralphie's little brother from A Christmas Story all bundled up, keeping cozy.

Walking around the abbey ruins at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.

Justus started doing a new thing: requesting that pictures be taken of him and posing for them. He has never done this before and normally it is like pulling teeth to try to get him to smile for a picture. So I was snapping away and he kept asking for more!!

Trying to lift the old cannon balls at Edinburgh Castle.

Making a call.

Looking like a Scottish Viking - or whatever this is supposed to be.

Showing off. Being awesome.

Looking cute. Go Broncos.

Showing off some more. This one is my fave. Gotta love him.

We miss our friends already. Now someone else get out here and come see us!!!

Happy Valentime's Day!

Well, that is how Justus says it (and Aunt Peeps, by the way!).

Justus had school that day and took his teachers and his friend Luke some Star Wars valentine's that we printed online ("Yoda one for me" - they were awesome). He also thought I was putting Piper's shirt on him (ha!) but he grew into the idea of wearing a 'pink' shirt. (Trav preferred to call it 'salmon' - okay, Ross Gellar! Ha!)

 

 We love you!! XOXOXO

Now I've Gone & Done It...

...let's face it, people. I am WAAAAY too far behind on this blog. Only some minor milestones missed - our trip back to the States, Piper's 1st Birthday, Christmas, our 8 year Anniversary, meeting my new niece for the first time, getting to see our families, coming back to Scotland, Justus starting school, Piper starting to walk. I think that's it. Not bad. And now I'm having a dilemma...try to post something about it or not. AAH! Why do I do this to myself? Well, here is a VERY BRIEF rundown of all the fun we've been having for the past two months for those of you, besides me, who care :)

Piper turned one. We were in Colorado and still a little jet-lagged maybe. It was two days before Christmas and a little crazy. But she turned one and we celebrated, Hello Kitty style. Nothing major. Homemade (and, as always, hand-decorated) cupcakes and mini-bundt cakes. She didn't even eat one bite of the cake, I don't think. She did try the frosting but that's about it. But she got to celebrate with my mom, Trav's parents and her great-Nanny too, so that was special :)

Then came Christmas. We had actually already celebrated our own family Christmas in Pitscottie before leaving for the States. It was small, sweet and fun.

But Christmas at the Buchanan's is a whole other matter...it is BIG. They go all out. Then add Kay Kay to the mix. Needless to say, the kids (and us too!) were spoiled! We were opening presents from 8am-1pm. INSANE! Then a big Christmas dinner with more family. It was a full, fun day.

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Then just when you think the celebrating is over, Trav and I had our 8 year Anniversary on December 27th. 8 years??!!! Crazy. We had a nice dinner out thanks to the 'rents and then were spoiled yet again with tickets to a Broncos game (in a heated suite, nonetheless)! It was amazing. Too bad they lost...but when you're eating freshly sliced prime rib, you care less. :)

And I can't say enough about our families...we got three weeks in Colorado with Pops & GiGi, and Kay Kay came and met us for a week! Plus Nanny came for a few days. Then Piper and I got to go meet my newest niece, Iris, in Salt Lake City and see Anna & Chris. Then we were off to Alabama to stay with Leah & Justin and their family, and Peeps & Tom came up to spend five days with all of us. It was seriously the best. I LOVE OUR FAMILY!!! I miss everyone like CRAZY being over here, so just seeing everyone and spending time with them was definitely the highlight of the trip (for me)!

Pops & GiGi

Nanny

Kay Kay

Uncle Chris

Aunt Anna

Iris

Aunt Peeps

Uncle Tom

Aunt Leah

Uncle Justin

Evan

Kiley & Reese

Believe it or not, that is all for now. More on Justus in school and Piper walking later. I think this is enough. :)