Tarrers in St. Andrews

NEWS

Hey there, those few (very few, I imagine) who still check this blog for news from us. This news is so big that I had to post it even though it has been nearly 8 months (8 months! Boy has time been flying!) since I have updated this. So here you go...

SETH PASSED HIS VIVA TODAY!!!! That means that he successfully defended his PhD dissertation. I sure am proud to be married to Dr. Tarrer:) God has truly blessed us with the time, resources, and opportunity to spend time overseas and for Seth to complete this degree.

We're doing well . . . no promises to update this again anytime soon. Our internet at home is super slow and takes forever to upload pictures. I'm working part-time and the boys are 5, 3, and 1 now and require so much energy that I am often to tired to want to spend time at the computer. Not to mention that I realize that the blog name is pretty out of date. "Tarrers in Birmingham" doesn't seem nearly as exciting.

But while I am at it I thought I would post a couple of somewhat-recent pictures of the little guys (if I can get them to load)...

Costume Fun

Here's my three little guys dressed up a few weeks ago. You can tell from his chin that JP enjoyed his Halloween candy! Owen was a monkey but he didn't really like wearing the hood with the ears. Sam was Buzz Lightyear. They had a blast at our church's Fall Festival, and even got to ride a horse.

Meet Faith and Benjamin

Our newest family members, hermit crabs from Destin, complements of the grandparents. Sam named his Faith, after a friend at school, and Owen named his Benjamin, after a friend at church. Not the most exciting pets in the world, but certainly lower maintenance than a cat or dog. And they can get pretty feisty at times.

My baby turns 1!

In case anyone is still reading this...

Well, it's October and I'm finally getting around to putting up a few pictures from June and July. We had a very full summer and have really enjoyed being close to family again. It's been a wild month and to catch everyone up, Seth left his job last month and is now working part time at our church. His other job was requiring more time than had been anticipated and his PhD work was suffering. We didn't see any way for him to ever finish the degree that way, so here we are. His job at church was a true blessing... only about 15 hours a week, at least half of which are times when we would be there anyway. I am working more than I am used to but I do like my job and am done by lunchtime so I still have lots of time with my little guys. Seth's back to nearly full time work on his thesis/dissertation and is planning to finish up early summer.

The boys are great. Sam is loving preschool and talks about his friends Faith and Cole all the time. He is so proud to take his own lunchbox to school everyday. Owen is so much fun. He loves to talk and sing about anything and he's enjoying spending a few mornings a week with his Granna. It's hard to believe it's been nearly a year since we turned into a family of five. JP's first birthday is on Sunday. Maybe I can stay on top of things and get a picture of him on this blog soon. I have a feeling he is going to like cake!

Two and a half months later

Wow, it really has been awhile. And we're not in Scotland anymore so I suppose I should change the title of this blog. But for now, a few more pictures from April/May, better late than never.

Seth took a trip to Geneva, Switzerland, with his friend Patrick. This is Seth in John Calvin's pulpit.

Another picture of Seth posing as John Calvin, this one is outside the Reformation history museum.

Issac, JP, and Josiah... These 3 little guys were all born within a month of each other. If we ever manage to have some sort of St Andrews reunion, I think they will have great fun playing together!

This picture was taken in early May and I can remember talking about how cold I was and that I was ready for a hot Alabama summer. After a few months of 90-100 degree weather, I have changed my tune:)

Sam with his friend George, the crossing guard outside the school in St Andrews. They were good buddies, mostly because George liked to pass out candy to the kids every morning.

Missing you, Caleb, Joshua, and Abigail!

So what have we been up to since May? Moving into a new house, starting a new job (Seth), resuming an old job (Mary), playing with family and catching up with old friends, getting snow cones, trips to the zoo, playing in the sprinkler and slip-n-slide, trips to the lake, starting preschool on Wednesday (Sam), pulling up and cruising along the furniture (JP), and getting into all kinds of mischief (Owen). I'll try to get up some more recent pictures soon, but no promises. At least Teresa (and the rest of you too) doesn't have to look at the picture of Seth on the mountain any more when she checks this blog for updates.

A first attempt at catching up

So JP has been up around 4am the last three mornings and he has been particularly content until about 6am so since I am awake anyway I thought I would go ahead and try to make good on my promise to post a few more pictures. So here ya go. I still have some of Geneva to come later.

Seth and Jake took a dayhike to Lochnagar.

Home Sweet Home

Seth and a couple of his office mates from the Hadow Room.

Some of the people who made the last 2 years so special.

Just checking in

I thought of avoiding posting for awhile because I am so incredibly behind in adding pictures to this site. I have so many to get to one of these days... Seth's trip to Geneva, Seth's dayhike, the boys growing up by the minute, some friends in St Andrews, etc, etc, etc. It's been so busy here lately but I wanted to let everyone know that we're back! And we are homeowners! We arrived in Birmingham Monday night after one of the hardest days ever. Then we bought a house on Tuesday and we'll move in on Saturday after a few days of work refinishing hardwood floors. Then Seth starts work on Monday. So, there will hopefully be many more pictures to see eventually, but for now I'll just leave you with this one that I wasn't sure I wanted taken after being awake for nearly 41 hours at the time but I am now thankful that Rachel got out the camera. (Yes, that's 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 strollers, 3 carry-ons, 2 carseats, and 9 pieces of luggage!)

Easter, a picnic, a 6-month-old, a birthday party, and some very sad tulips

JP's half-birthday was yesterday. Hard to believe he's already 6 months old. He's growing so fast and is getting close to being able to sit up on his own. He is eating a little more solid food; trying a new one each week. This week was butternut squash. I was roasting it in the oven so that I could puree it to make baby food and it made the house smell so good that I had to wonder why I didn't cook it for the whole family. So I found a butternut squash soup recipe and it is a new favorite around here!

Not much to say about this one. Except that I think it is about time for a haircut.

I think you could say that spring has sprung in St. Andrews. On this particular day it hit 60 degrees. But the next day it was back in the 40's and our days have been cold with rain and some snow ever since.

Owen and Sam eat Easter dinner with Joanna, Laura, and Shannon. We had a really nice time with several friends. What a blessing it is to have "family" here to share holidays with!

The kids at church sang on Easter morning at our church. Sam is the one in the plaid trousers ("trousers" is one of the few British words we have had to adopt out of necessity... if you say pants, one would think you are referring to underwear).

Sam has been on a break from preschool for the last 2 weeks. We had a nice day and took full advantage of it by walking to town to join Seth outside his office for a picnic lunch. It took Sam about 45 minutes to walk a mile or so. I used to let Sam ride on the front of the stroller like you see in this picture until we ended up with a flat tire. As awesome as the BOB is, it apparently wasn't designed to have an extra 31 pounds sitting atop the front wheel. That was a $30 mistake on my part. Now I just have to make sure we leave our house with PLENTY of time to spare (Sam is a bit pokey).

Sam was adamant that he be able to carry his PBJ and apple in his Spiderman backpack (thanks to Aunt Rachel for a great Christmas present:) to the picnic. He was so excited about it that he stopped everyone we met on the sidewalk. "My name is Sam. I'm three. I have a Spiderman backpack."

I don't claim to be much of a gardener but I have to give the credit for this masterpiece to my middle son. Yes, he snapped the soon-to-be-in-bloom beautiful red tulips right off the stem. Every single one of them. I was near tears.

Another picture from the picnic I mentioned earlier.

Yes, this one is out of order too.

At a birthday party this week for our friend Andrew.

So now you have an idea of what we have been up to. Sam starts school back tomorrow. The countdown is on and we'll be heading back to Alabama in just 6 weeks. Seth has been super busy. He's presenting a paper at the Rutherford House Group conference in Edinburgh at the end of the month. Last weekend he joined his soon-to-be boss in London. He sat in on a few meetings and was able to do a bit of sightseeing and visited All Souls church where he had the pleasure of speaking with John Stott (one of Britain's greatest 20th century Evangelicals). He's also excited about an upcoming trip to Geneva, Switzerland. As for me, I'm doing well and really enjoying my three little ones. It's late and I am tired so I'll stop writing for now. Love to you all!