NEW Move Guides Blog Post

Here is my latest blog post for Move Guides about schooling in the UK.

When your child starts school, it is scary enough, but as an expat parent who has a completely different schooling experience, it is even more difficult to understand the in's and out's of a new system.

Have a look at my article - Expat Parenting London: Schooling for Expat Children in the UK, which briefly explains the primary school application process.

Please feel free to ask any further questions you have about schooling, and I will try to help as much as I can. I think I have a pretty good understanding of it now.

Have a great day,
Kalli x

**If you want to keep updated, please join my mailing list; follow me on Pinterest; follow my Facebook Page or follow me on Twitter.**


For any US expats, living in the UK - Move Guides has a rather important blog post U.S.A Tax Return For Expats: Who Needs to File? - Infographic - make sure you check it out! :)

Move Guides Blog Post: Keeping Positive in a New Environment

So, I have meant to blog all of December, and have a great number of blog posts in my head. But unfortunately December, and the festive season proved to be WAY more hectic than I had expected. Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. We had a fantastic Christmas day, with just the three of us (which was surprisingly rather nice, and not as stressful as a normal Christmas day). We did have guests from the 27th - 8th January though. And just after the first guests left, I got so sick, and am still not 100%. The joys of Winter.

I have however written a blog post for Move Guides, that was published at the beginning of January, about being positive in a new environment. Hope you enjoy it.

http://blog.moveguides.com/keeping-positive-in-a-new-environment-after-a-move-abroad/

On another note - I have just applied for our residence cards, got the final documents from South Africa in December. And we have applied for our son to start school - eeek! Fingers crossed that we get our documents back soon, and that our son gets into our first choice school.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic 2013!

Love Kalli x

Q&A with Move Guides

I thought I would just share the link to my @Move Guides blog Q&A. How exciting, seeing your interview on someone else's blog! :) My next post for them is in January, make sure to follow them on Twitter and Facebook, to keep up to date.

Bringing up an Expat Child in the UK: An Expat Mother Moves Abroad

YAY! 

And today, we got the final documents that we need to apply for our residence cards, so I am a happy little chappy today!

Hope everyone has a lovely day!

Kalli x

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

I have been really bad with blogging recently, keep thinking about blog posts that I would like to write - and then get so distracted by life, that I don't ever get to it.

A little catch up: I have started blogging for Move Guides as a guest blogger, which is quite exciting. My Q&A blog will be posted this month, followed by my own post about life in London, as an expat mummy, next month. We have also just moved house - CRAZY and BUSY times. However, the most exciting thing I have been doing, is getting ready for CHRISTMAS!

I love love love love love Christmas. I expected to be a lot more organised - but this year seemed to just flown by!

We went shopping last weekend, for things to add to our tree, that was up in the last week of November. And I had a list, as long as my arm of other things I NEEDED to make my house Christmas ready. Thought I would share some of the cute things I have added to my house this year...

1. Reindeer Food: Mix Oats and Glitter in a little bag. On Christmas Eve, you sprinkle the mixture on your lawn, balcony or on your roof (if you have direct access to it). The reindeer will have something to 'snack on' while they wait for Santa to deliver the presents.

2. Santa Key: If you do not have a chimney, you can either buy a Santa Key, or use an old key and attach it to a red ribbon. Leave the Santa Key outside your front/back door, so that Santa can 'get into the house' to deliver the presents.

3. A rewards chart. I wanted to do Elf on a Shelf, but only heard about it on the 1st December, and figured I wouldn't get the elf on time. So, while we were at M&S, I saw this lovely reward chart. Every night, our son either gets a green elf (if he has been well-behaved during the day), or a red elf (if he has been naughty). On the 24th, we put the chart into an envelope addressed to Santa, and if he has been good Santa will leave his presents.

I intended on doing a sock advent calendar, that I found on Design Dazzle. But for some odd reason, I could not find ANY Christmas socks - I looked in over 10 shops! I was going to do 24 socks, with small gifts, Christmas cookie cutters, and sweeties and then have his empty Christmas stocking hanging at the end. Alas, maybe I will do it next year.

One thing that I have made myself busy with today was my wreath. I wanted to buy an empty wreath and make it from scratch, however I couldn't find everything I was looking for. I bought this wire heart for £3, but didn't feel that it was Christmas-y enough.

I had decided that I would make a fresh wreath, as we have a beautiful big Christmas tree outside our front door, that is a little overgrown, and needed some trimming.

I started threading the fresh leaves into the heart, and am very pleased with the outcome. I do however think that I need to add some baubles or ribbons, or something. I had so much left over, that I decorated our staircase too. Think I will have to add some baubles and ribbon to it too.

Tomorrow I am hoping to make Sock Snowmen. 

Ciao, Kalli x