The Adventures of the Driggers4Ship

Double Up to Catch Up!

2010-03-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently I have not posted any pictures in a while... so rather than have several postings with a theme, I am just going to post some pictures of the past month and commentary as I go... then I promise to be a little better and timely about getting pictures on here!

On the 1st of February, Russ pinned on Lieutenant Colonel! He arranged for us to be there via teleconference, it was quite a surreal experience, since I was expecting 4 or 5 guys and a lap top... instead I got all sorts of pomp and circumstance! We are so very proud of Russ!

The Iraqi General also helped pin Russ on and also presented him with an award. Quite the surprise!
Yes... he sent me flowers and made me cry...

A few days later, I took the kids on a ski trip. Quite adventurous of me going with out Russ, but two other families went roughly over the same time period, so that made the trip go a little easier...

The view from our balcony!!!!

The Koltes family and Pravecek family overlapped with us for a few days in Garmisch, Germany.

Leo picked snow boarding to be just like Daddy... he actually did pretty well for his first go round! Emma chose to ski with Mommy!

Next up was a Karate tournament for Leo... He did well and should be testing for his next belt in a few weeks! He will move up to Orange belt level.

Leo's favorite cheerleader!

Leo and his buddy Nolan! HIYAW!!!!
And on to Cub Scouts! Leo achieved Tiger rank! As dessert for the banquet... all scouts were supposed to make a cake with a 'scout theme' to be judged before eating! Our stove is TERRIBLE! It is guaranteed to burn the outside while leaving the inside of anything you make runny and nasty... so we got creative! We built a 'mountain' out of bite-sized doughnuts!
He got the award for 'Most Unique'!

Miss Emma and Snow Ice Cream!

Well... we thought the snow was over... but on March 6th, we woke up to yet another blanket of snow. Enough already!!!!!!!! But Emma made the best of it! She grabbed bowls, milk, sugar and vanilla and went to work making snow ice cream! Yummy!

Until next time!

Love the Driggers 4 Ship!!!!! XOXOXOXOXO

New Year's East Texas Style...

2010-01-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

New Year's in Silsbee...

Nanny Lisa, Uncle Jeff, Uncle 'Carot' and Aunt Beca joined us for the day!

Sampling the fruit pizzas...

The Chicken Fire Work that shoots fire out of it's backside... I mean... it lays FireWork eggs!

Okay gang... this is New Year's SE Texas style. PK had a friend in town and we all went to a Honky Tonk to bring in the new year... I danced with her 84 year old uncle, drank Shiner Bach beer, witnessed a few irresponsible people, and only cried once! Happy 2010!

Notice the perfect clarity of the crystall...

HAPPY 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second Half of the Christmas Adventure...

2010-01-15T10:26:00.001-08:00

After Austin, we headed North to Cleburne to spend a few days with Ron and Brenda. We were blessed to have a few days with more family.

in the comfy chairs!
Nanny Danna!

LOVE COUSINS!!!!! Had tons of fun with Antares and Skye...

The kiddos with PaPa

Girl time with make-up and braids!

Grammy and Grumpy!
This is one of my favorite pictures... look at that smile too!

On to New Year's and then back to Germany...

Christmas Texas Trip 2009

2009-12-25T09:47:00.001-08:00

Before we left for the states, Leo sold Christmas trees with the boy scouts!

with a little help from Emma!
First stop in Texas was in Silsbee for some recuperation... we did a whole lot of NOTHING! I finished a novel, the kids did kid stuff, I shopped and basically just vegged out...

hard at work decorating cookies! and playing in the woods!!!

Then on to Austin! I stopped and had lunch with a college friend Tiffany and then visited with another friend Jackie before heading to hang with more family!

Christmas Light viewing!

We tortured little Leo with this hat... not when his parents were around though... they wouldn't have stood for it I don't think! Gig Em!

Baby Savanah!!!!
Decorating the Gingerbread house with Auntie Aara and Uncle Lumpy

The crew! Just missing Rusty!!!! ;-(
Fun with Nana!

Ready for Church!
And Christmas morning!!!!! Seeing what the big guy brought!

We got to skype with Russ while the kids opened presents! Our adventure continues tomorrow as we head to Cleburne... I will post more pictures then!!!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

Emma's class did a Thanksgiving play and Emma was the lead character... it was a play about Sarah Josefina Hale who wrote the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb"... she also went to President Abe Lincoln to petition him to make Thanksgiving a National Holiday! Emma was just brilliant!

Normally I would do a gumbo on Thanksgiving (or we have fried a turkey) but since Deanna was visiting and hasn't had an American Thanksgiving in many years, I did the traditional roasted Turkey... of course, I am not used to it... but it came out just fine... I also made my Mawmaw's cornbread dressing, Some yummy sweet potato soup, fresh cranberry sauce... and Deanna made her family's traditional "Pink Stuff" ... but we have since renamed it "Fat Salad"!

We got to skype with Russ for 45 minutes... so even though we miss him terribly, at least he was there in spirit!

Pulling the Wish Bone...

Had to include this... Leo was hiding in hide-n-seek... look at his face~! Hilarious! I think he is trying to blend in with the frig...
His job was to carry the gravy to the table... yeah...
and he can clean off a drum stick like nobodies business!

We had a fabulous wonderful day...

We love you all and miss you so much! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!

First Karate Tournament

2009-11-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Leo had his very first Karate Tournament this past weekend. He did great! He competed in two events... form and sparring. He tied for 3rd in form... but unfortunately lost in the run-off so he didn't place... but I was very impressed with the little man! He won his first sparring contest so progressed to round two and was then eliminated. So no trophies... but for his first time out he did fantastic. And his attitude about the entire thing was great! He had such a great time and can't wait until he is old enough to 'fight with a sword' ... nice... As for the tournament itself, it was very frustrating. It was the 'First Annual International" tournament... the others had only been American only... so it being the 'First' we had to deal with all the problems that come along with that... so the event starting 2 hours late, being pretty unorganized and all ... not to mention my behind going numb after sitting on bleachers for 7 hours straight. 7 hours of sitting to watch a cumulitive 30 minutes of Leo doing his thing. Worth it... but painful!!!

OH... and did I fail to mention that I left my lights on the entire day and had to get the battery jumped before leaving????

Leo's friend Nolan...
Leo in front of the three judges beginning his form... He got a 6.3, 6.3 and 6.2 tying for 3rd...
Leo won his first spar... which was unfortunately against his friend Nolan... the kids' attitudes were so great about it. Both ways! They were so proud of each other!!!

b

LegoLand

2009-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

So I braved a road trip with the kids to LegoLand. It was about a 3 hour drive down to Bavaria... roughly an hour away from Munich... Super cool...

The first day we met up with the Praveceks... our closest friends here in Germany...

These rocks in the background were 'singing rocks' every time they passed them, the kids would start singing the songs and dancing... they were such a riot!

This and the next few pictures are AMAZING! Everything is made out of Legos!!!! Hundreds of Thousands of them... it was incredibly impressive!
This is the Lego replica of Neuschwanstein Castle (the Cinderella Castle's Model...)

This was INCREDIBLE!!!!!! A full soccer stadium in Munich in full Lego-replica glory... all the fans were little lego people... hard to see in the picture, but you can imagine the complexity of this display... unbelievable!
This was just hilarious... the second day of LegoLand was EXTREMELY FREEZING and very empty. (We went on the last weekend the park was open before closing for the winter season) so it was DEAD! Emma and Leo went on this roller coaster 10 times in a row... they only had to change seats a few times... they thought changing seats and riding again was the funniest thing....

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T23:52:00.000-07:00

This was a bit of an interesting Halloween. The neighborhood we live in is probably 50 percent German and 50 percent American. It is also a relatively new neighborhood, most of the houses have gone up in the last 3 years... so the Germans are learning and totally LOVING some of our American customs. Germans do recognize "All Hallows Eve" which is the evening before All Souls Day.... it is a Holy Day recognized in Germany... but it is the American influence of going door to door getting candy that they were unfamiliar with. So... it was fun having little German kids who could not speak English coming up to our door and smiling sweetly as they attempted to say 'Trick or Treat"... Then to hear Danke... so cute!

And as for my little cuties... Leo Michael opted for classic villian... Darth Vader...

And my little princess opted for Classic Literature! She was a Greek Goddess (Athena... my favorite one)...

Since technically both of my kids had fevers... we did not go to a party before as planned. I let them Trick or Treat with some neighborhood friends... but Emma only lasted about 20 minutes before I took her home and she went straight to bed. Leo, fever and all, lasted the entire time...
And last week we had an adult party. I was not planning to go since my babysitter fell through. But a friend 'kidnapped' my kids from me and forced me to go... Since I had no costume planned, I came up with a quick improvisation. Strawberry Shortcake. But of course, since I usually try to be ironic or satirical with my costumes... I added a quick pillow to become "Irresponsible Strawberry Shortcake". I know... tacky and tasteless... but adult Halloween parties usually are. I only stayed at the party for an hour since I was on a borrowed sitter who was already watching other kids... but I am glad Lisa dragged me out...

Leo's Newest Creation...

2009-10-31T23:47:00.001-07:00

I just had to throw this in here... This was taken after our Senior Graduation Party in High School... hee hee...

Leo likes to design his speeders, spaceships, vehicles... you name it. he was especially proud of this one...

Oslo Norway

2009-10-06T12:50:00.001-07:00

Well... I decided to take the kids on a little international trip to Oslo, Norway... I was pretty proud of myself flying solo with two kids on a trip involving passports... a little out of my comfort zone, but it was a success! It was cold and rainy, but the Norway motto is:

"There is no bad weather... only bad clothing!" So off we went!

This is the University... also this is the city that awards the Nobel Peace Prize... pretty cool!
The architecture is awesome... this is the wall of a castle over 1000 years old... I loved the red ivy!
The place of residence of the Royal family...
Brian and Stacey were our wonderful tour guides... we were with them in Lakenheath way back when... before they were married. They were our very gracious hosts!

At the harbor! Norway was recently named the Number 1 country to live in... it is beautiful, however, lunch at a deli cost me $75... not quite sure how that factors in!!!

There is a huge park with over 200 sculptures (all naked...) depicting the different stages of man... this small sculpture of a little naked boy pitching a fit is one of the most famous in the park... funny!
Since the kids were ditching the whole "bad clothing" rule... we ended up at a children's museum with tons of hands-on displays... they even had a Lego room which was the highlight of the day for them!

Cub Scouts

2009-10-06T12:32:00.001-07:00

Well... our little Leo is following in his 'Boy Scout' Daddy and 'Girl Scout' Sister's footsteps and has started in with Cub Scouts... He wasn't that keen on having the face paint put on... hence his expression in this picture!

He earned his Bobcat Patch which is the first step...

Visiting the AFN studios was one of the fun things he got to do... Emma got to come along and join in the fun! They even got to sit in for a bit on one of the AFN radio shows and got to say hello to everyone listening in!

The DJ...

Off to the Commissary to pick out pumpkins and a snack!

Emma has proven quite the little helper since she goes with me to all the meetings! She is so good with younger kids! At least she is in a group setting... if I could only get her to not fight with Leo on a normal basis! :-)

The Road to a Half-Marathon...

2009-09-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought my long-distance days were over... but alas! My friend Heather asked me to train with her and as a much needed distraction to Russ leaving, I agreed! UGH! Now the farthest I have run was the Army Ten Miler... which I ended up doing with an injured foot and vowed to never run one again after that... but time apparently changes things. SO! Here you go! The first 10 miles I was such the Rock Star!!!! Mile 11 hit and it became apparent how 'MENTAL' running is! The mile markers of the run were way off, so our GPS watches were saying one thing and the physical mile markers were saying something else. Ouch... also, there was a turn-around at one point during the race so we were thinking it was at one place and it ended up being fairly farther along than we thought... that leads to another big mental block. AND THERE WERE NO T-SHIRTS "proving" that we ran a Half Marathon. That in and of itself is a huge motivational thing believe it or not. So the last 3 miles were pretty tough.

I ran it slowly, but we didn't stop the entire time and I can now say I have run a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) ahem... it was actually 13.5 and all the hoopla at the end had packed up and left by the time we finished... but you know what? WHO CARES!!!!! :-)

My running buddy Heather...

This was the beginning of the race... yes, we kept our sense of humor about being at the very tail end the entire time! The Red Cross guys were right behind us most of the time...
Heather's husband had our kids and drove around to different parts of the course so we were able to have our little cheerleaders meet us just when we needed a boost!
Mile 11... at one point, when the kids saw us they were yelling "hey mom, you are in first place!!!!" why? because to their eyes we were in first because they say no one in front of us... of course that was because we were so far behind everyone else... but hey... again, WHO CARES!
We made it!!!!
My own little cheerleaders! They were so supportive and awesome!!!

I can definitely say I have done it though... it took my knees a few days to recover, but recover they did. Not sure if I will do another, but I am glad I did it!

Let's Start the Countdown!

2009-09-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

Russ flew out Thursday morning and after all was said and done he didn't crawl into his cot in Qatar until 4:30 in the morning! Long day but he made it safe and sound... he will be in Qatar for a few days awaiting the transition down (up?) to Iraq so he should be there within a week or so! I got to talk to him today and he is doing well! Here are some shots from the Airport...

St Michael is Russ' patron Saint and I know he is standing guard. God is in control and His Grace and Mercy are limitless! Thanks for all the love and support!

The kids and I and are heading to a fest of some sort at a Castle nearby for the weekend. I will post more pictures soon!

love us!

First Day of School!

2009-08-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well... we now have a first grader and a third grader!

The line up for classes was a little chaotic but we finally found their teachers! Leo Michael is still at the Elementary School with Mrs. Marksberry!

Then we walk across the street to the Intermediate School for Emma! She has Mrs. Shaver and is in the same class as her good friend Hannah!

We were so glad Daddy could be here for their first day!

The kids rode the bus home like champs!

Both of the kids really liked their new teachers and made a few new friends today!

The Vineyard, The Visit, and the Nice Surprise...

2009-08-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Janet's parents came out for a nice visit at the end of August... which corresponds wonderfully with the culmination of Wine season in Germany. We took a day trip out to the Mosul River Valley and spent the day at the Weingut Sebastiani Vineyards. Alfons Sebastiani is the owner of the vineyard and it has been in his family for generations...

You can see miles and miles of vineyards in the background. The vineyards are only planted on the Southern slopes to maximize the sun.

We sat down with the owners and they let us taste a number of the wines and talked to us about the process of making wine and all the little nuances that go into it.

Then we went down in the cellars where they ferment and bottle everything! So cool!

Alfons and Norman

Well, you can take the Texan out of Texas but you can't take it out of this guy! Pop took the smoked salmon at a restaurant and mashed it all up... but he ate it! :-)

The best part was that Russ was able to fly back through Germany on his way to Iraq. We went to Frankfurt to pick him up on Friday... then spent the night because Sandra and Norman were flying out Saturday morning....

Yeah!!!!! Daddy's home for 5 days!!!!!

It was a fantastic visit topped off by a sweet visit from Russ! What a fantastic week!

Prep and Farewell...

2009-08-01T09:33:00.001-07:00

We had a little neighborhood farewell at the local 'Burgerhaus' for Russ. It was a great mix of old friends (Candy and Jello Pravecek who we have been friends with since England) and newly met people in our neighborhood!

Russ and Jello
The Santoyos, the Palmas, Jay Winslow and his pole (Cassie was still out of town) and me.

The gals... Candy, Lisa, me Elise and Esther
The guys... Jello (Lawrence is his real name), Russ, Miro, Anthony and Jason

Russ starting to lay out all the stuff he has to pack...

it looks like camouflage threw up all over our living room!

all into 4 tidy little bags! We leave for the airport tomorrow morning. He will be at Fort Dix for a month then (yeah... we just found out...) that he will travel back through Ramstein on his way to Iraq so we will get to see him for a few days at the end of August!

Another Nanny Visit

2009-08-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Deanna came out for a few days to see us and get a little taste of 'little America'...

We went to the new Macaroni Grill that just opened here on the base... Leo had a little fun with straws being everything from a Walrus to Wolverine!

It was a great visit!

The Poop...

2009-07-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

Well, this post has no pictures, but I just wanted to spell out the story of our crazy last few weeks (and especially the last few days...)

We knew Russ would probably end up deploying from here... we didn't know when or where but that it would more than likely happen since it has been several years since he last deployed. (Kosovo) When Russ had checked around, it turned out he was up for going on deployment in the spring so we put that into the backs of our heads and pressed on. A few weeks ago, Russ got a "by the way, you might end up going in the fall and not in the spring... just a heads up".

Ugh... okay, so that means we cancel some planned trips and just start to 'deal' a little earlier.

Then came a phone call... we found out a week ago that Russ' deployment paperwork had apparently been 'misplaced' but his report date was August 13 and that he had already missed some training... you see... typically you get a good 6 weeks notice, or even longer because it takes a long time to spin up for a deployment... you need to be poked and prodded, vaccinated for all sorts of crazy things, get new equipment, get tons of briefings, out process from one base and in process to another... not to mention the homestead stuff like beefing up your Power of Attorney and figuring out junk like that...the list goes on and on. So with only 3 weeks notice, we hit the ground running to catch up both physically and emotionally.

Now 4 days ago, Russ gets an e-mail from his training base (Russ will have to go to Fort Dix in New Jersey for a month before he heads to Iraq). "Major Driggers, just to confirm we have you arriving on 3 August for training"... WHAT??? It is 13 August not 3 August! Nope... It is 3 August.

So, needless to say the rug was pretty much pulled out from beneath us again, and we are spending this week cramming the 6 weeks of preparation into just 1 and dragging our hearts along the way.

He will be okay, I will be okay, the kids will be okay... I am not okay right now, but I know I will be so that helps it along. I have been through a deployment before, but he was flying then and the whole squadron was gone so everyone was in the same boat. Here Russ will not be flying this time around and I am solo... so it is a different ball game. Iraq is a much different ballgame, but I have made some friends and will pull through. March is when we are expecting him home.

So, I am really not sure who all reads this regularly, but I ask for prayers for safety, peace, comfort, and sanity. We bought a new camera for Russ just today so he will be able to post pictures as well (or e-mail them to me so that I post them).

God bless and I will start posting pictures again when we have some.

Rock climbing

2009-07-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Ramstein has just opened a new facility called the KMCC... they basically took most of the stores and helper offices on base (like the travel office and car rentals, stores etc...) and put them all in one location at a brand new 'mall' like facility. It is opening in 3 phases and the first phase just opened. The Outdoor Rec store, is the place where we can go to get 'outdoorsy' stuff and rent equipment and such... well the new store in the KMCC has a rock climbing wall that is pretty darned cool!

Emma is a natural climber... she scaled right on up... HIGH!

Leo did great too! He sometimes had trouble reaching some of the footholds, but he was fearless!
Russ got in on the action as well... It was a really great time!

another lego creation... and some more lost teeth!

2009-07-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

As you my already know... Leo loves to have daddy draw things and then Leo makes with Legos what daddy has drawn... this time, he took it upon himself to make a F-15!

...and his other front tooth joined the one knocked out by the mail box!

More pictures from PK's visit...

2009-07-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Paula and I took a trip into France for the day... We stopped off first at the largest American Cemetary in Europe, in St. Avold - Lorraine France... it was beautiful, peaceful and very stirring.

This was a large tombstone for those whose remains are known only to God.

Then on to Metz France. It was a wonderful little city... as you can see in this picture, there are 4 buildings which come together at an intersection... an artist painted stripes on each of the 4 buildings and you can see the optical illusion it creates... totally looked like a cylinder of some sort, pretty cool.
This is the Cathedral of St. Etienne... which is French for St. Stephen! It was beautiful.
So... does this look like France to you? It felt like a little bit of Texas to me on our drive home...

The Rhine River Experience - Boats Trains & Automobiles...

2009-07-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

So we take off for the Rhein River... it is only about an hour away from us... incentive to come and visit huh? The Rhein River is the major river in Germany and is the source of many of the vineyards of Germany and hence their wines... mostly white Reislings, but many other grapes as well...

This is the ferry that took us across the Rhein, for those of you familiar with the ferry at Galveston/Bolivar peninsula, it is way different! It takes only about 5 minutes to get across and each ferry holds about 15-20 cars. It will also leave with only 2 or 3 cars on it!!!!
We took a Gondola up to the top of a hill over many of the vineyards. Nanny PK is visiting and she rode with Emma...

The vineyards below...

at the top, we took in the sights of the Rhein below, there was also an Aviary which takes care of injured Birds of Prey such s Eagles and Owls. They take care of injured birds until they are ready to be released back into the wild.

From the Gondola, there is about a 45 minute walk through the forest/vineyards which has several castle ruins.

Also along the way were wild Raspberries! We picked them and ate them as we walked!

At the end of our trek, there was a deer park where we stopped and fed deer... most of them were fawns but there were a few with some pretty impressive new antlers!

Then we took a chair lift down from the hill to another village.

PK did brilliantly despite her fear of heights... I did too... although, it was a bit scary for me as well...
Then we took a boat up the Rhein which is peppered on either side with vineyard and castle ruins. I think there was a castle every 10 minutes!
Once we reached the end of the Rhein (or at least the section of it that we were on) we opted to come back by train, the boat would have taken almost 3 more hours where the train only took about 25 minutes...
on the train... we ended up going to Mass in a German church before heading back home. A wonderful (and tiring) day!!!

Emma's Girl Scout Day Camp

2009-07-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Emma is into Girl Scouts and the first week of summer was a day camp. She earned several badges for her vest and even did an overnight!

At the end of camp is the Ash Service. Basically at every girl scout camp, the final campfire ashes are taken and distributed to the girl's present, then at their next camp, they share the ashes from previous camps... keeping the tradition going.

Last Day of School

2009-07-05T12:29:00.001-07:00

I KNOW I haven't posted lately, sorry. On the last day of school we met the kids off the bus and had a surprise party for the neighborhood kids with a bouncy castle and hot dogs... so there are no pictures of the bouncy castle because things got pretty busy... but here they are getting off the bus!

I had to throw this one in there... it was Father's day so Leo's Kindergarten class made the daddy's hats and ties!

Cute pictures...

2009-06-06T02:52:00.001-07:00

These are the neighborhood boys... Nolan, Tyler and Henry are in Leo's Kindergarten class and then their are two little brothers... Emma is a little outnumbered in our neighborhood... but their is a little girl who lives 'up the hill'...

And the kids have taken to wearing our shirts for jammies... Emma's favorite is Russ' Mr. Bones shirts from when we were stationed at Tyndall...

End of the School Year Activities

2009-06-06T01:37:00.001-07:00

The end of the school year has been packed with all the 'end of the year' activities. Here is a sample! :-) Volksmarching is a German thing which is basically hiking in different places. The Germans really get into it and there are scheduled Volksmarches all over the place. You often have a booklet or medal of some sort where you get a stamp or token of that particular Volksmarch. The kids school had a 2 mile one through the woods on the base..

Emma getting her medal 'stamped'.
Emma and her friend Hannah. Hannah lives in the village next to ours and her and Emma have become good friends.
Leo belonged to a 'Marathon Club' which met after school on Thursdays. Basically they would run a little every Thursday and their distances were noted so that at the end they would have run 26.2 miles... the distance of a marathon. The last meeting they ran the last mile and crossed the finish line! Russ and I would meet up with him most Thursdays and run with him. This is Leo's friend Henry running with him... Henry is in Leo's class and also lives in our neighborhood... Perfect! Russ and I have also became friends with Henry's parents so that is great also... The funny thing is that We were also stationed with them when we lived in England but did not know them!!! They are not military, though, Mark is a civilian.

Emma also had her Brownie ceremony where she received the patches she had earned since coming to Germany. This is her giving a presentation (she is a good little public speaker) about one of her hobbies. Emma likes to write stories!

Leo's closing ceremony for T-Ball... here he is holding his trophy with both of his coaches! Leo is a natural with T-Ball... he has a good throwing arm, pretty good aim and can hit the ball!

And finally, Leo's graduation ceremony...
His teacher Mrs. Cortez... she is great and taught the class bilingually half English/half Spanish.
The kids were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up... Leo's response? An Army Man.

Even though the ceremony has already occured, the kids still have 4 more days of school...

Will post more soon!

Trip to Disneyland Paris

2009-05-23T04:16:00.001-07:00

We finally made it to Disneyland with the kiddos! We figured we would be dragging them around from Castle to Ruins to Museums ad nauseum... so they needed a weekend all their own! On the drive we encountered miles and miles of geometrical colorful shapes on the side of the highway... some squares, cubes, poles, circles, globes, pyramids and triangles... I need to google it and figure out if it had any significance! It made the drive less boring though as we kept looking for the next patch of shapes!

We stayed at Davey Crockett's Ranch which is about 10 ninutes from the Parks... we had our own little cabin in the woods!
The drive up to the parks... we were so excited. And then Russ goes look kids! Look how cool!!!! And Leo announces... "yeah cool... look at that car!" (see car below) he was totally unimpressed with the gates to Disney... he just thought the car was cool...
Welcome to Europe! Soldiers with Machine guns are everywhere... including "The Happiest Place on Earth". Americans sometimes don't realize how good they have it...

The Buzz Light Year ride was great... it was a combination lazer tag ride... super fun!

Of Course all the Star Wars stuff was a hit...

Trying to pull King Arthur's sword from the stone...
Emma was all about all of the characters... Leo pretty much had nothing to do with any of them... except if one of them had a sword...

The big hit was a stunt show involving fire, jumps from buildings and cool car and motorcycle chases... super fun!

It was cool and rainy the whole time... but not too bad... we just bought sweatshirts and I bought a baseball cap and pressed on!
At the cabin, they had a breakfast cabin that Russ would walk to every morning and grab our French breakfast for the morning... baguettes, chocolate, coffee....

Up in Cinderella's Castle!

Belle and Beast!
We had a great time and can now say we have ticked that box!!!!! Next time we go to Paris... we are doing the other stuff! Will post more later!

We love and miss you all!

An Adventure

2009-05-10T01:33:00.001-07:00

Saturday was quite the adventurous day! First of all, Russ and I chaperoned Emma's Girl Scout Troop to a Hand's On Science Museum in Pirmasens Germany. The museum was fun and filled with tons of experiments that the kids could do... then we let them play outside in the gardens.

The grounds were beautiful (minus the graffiti in this one) and there were also several weddings going on!

Girl Scout Overseas Troop 95... and one little brother...
This is the view driving through the German countryside. The yellow on the side are fields of a crop (I think some sort of a grain) that has yellow flowers. These fields are everywhere and as you look out on the horizon in any direction, you see these patches of brilliant yellow!
... and you also see random wind mills everywhere!
more yellow fields... SO! We got home from the field trip about 2 hours sooner than we had planned... so we thought... hey, why don't we go to France for dinner! So we ran by the house, grabbed our passports (just in case) and I hit the internet to try to find a nearby town with a good restaurant. We picked the town of Bitsch (yes... we had a good laugh and thought, we had to go there just because of the name even though it is actually pronounced Beesh) and read about a fancy hotel with a great restaurant and it was only about an hour's drive! EASY PEASY! But our 'quick trip for dinner in France' turned out quite different than we expected!

The restaurant was not supposed to open until 6:30 and we arrived in Bitsch at 5:30. As we were driving into the village you look up and see this monstrous fortress! We drove up to it and walked around it. It was centuries old first built by the Romans! It was added onto over the years and even used by the French army in WWII as part of the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line was a line of defenses built up after WWI between France and Germany and when the Nazi party began to come to power, the French army refortified the Fortress and used it in their early defense. You can see it off in the distance below...

This is a real drawbridge! We were not able to go inside the fortress because we got there as it was closing, but we walked around the perimeter...
OKAY... Now for the adventure part. As we are leaving the fortress, we drive by a French grocery store and decide to stop in for a look. We buy a few bottles of wine and on a whim, I grab some cheese and bread and we let the kids get a bag of chips. (These chips were puffy and one was jambon & fromage flavored (ham & cheese) and the other was ketchup flavored. uh... gross! But, when in France!!! So it is now 6:30 and we are starving! So we make our way down to the restaurant and guess what! It is closed down for a week. What? So we drive by another and it too is closed. So we figure, let's drive to the city center and just find something there! We pull in across from a church and as we get out of the car, the church bells begin to ring calling people to 7pm Mass! So, we look at the kids, we are all starving, but the idea of going to Mass in France in a beautiful old church was awesome! So we bribe the kids :-) and we go! It was so beautiful! It is amazing how we could follow everything regardless of language! Of course we could not understand the Bible readings or sermon, but because of the liturgy, we knew everything that was going on. I think that is the beauty of it! Some things just transcend language! And it was also a little miraculous... the kids were hungry, Leo had to pee, it was in FRENCH and they were the best behaved EVER!

So, NOW CAN WE EAT??? We walk around and try to find a restaurant. Europeans tend to eat very late and eating is an event. You are not rushed, the table is yours for the night and meals tend to take over 2 hours but can easily go past 3... so I was worried that we wouldn't get home until midnight! But for some reason everything was closed! I need to Google it and see if we managed to hit a French holiday or something! The only place we found that was open was a kabob (turkish food) restaurant and while I like it, we wanted French food in France that day.

So it is now 8:30 at night and there is nothing to be found... so we drove back home and ate bread & cheese with ketchup chips! How is that for dinner in France?

c

T-Ball

2009-05-02T07:49:00.001-07:00

Spring has sprung and it is time for some base ball! Both kiddos were originally signed up to play, but Emma had a lot of other things going on and something had to give... she is one darned good little cheerleader for her brother though! And she helps the team mom!

Leo is a River Cat... not quite sure what that is... other than a cat that lives by a river? It is better than the Sand Gnats though! Where did they come up with some of these team names?

Leo is number 11!
This picture is sort of hard to see... but it is only HALF of the amount of kids playing baseball... It is really amazing how many people are over here! The city we are close to in Germany is Kaiserslautern and there are 3 main bases plus numerous smaller instillations in the area. Hence it is know as the KMC (Kaiserslautern Military Community). It is the largest population of Americans living outside of America in the world. It was just beautiful at opening day ceremonies to have hundreds of kiddos and the girl (I think she was 15) who sang the National Anthem brought tears to my eyes!!! It was just a really neat feeling...
Go River Cats!

Running through the arch of parents after the game!

The 'EGG'stravaganza...

2009-04-21T23:02:00.001-07:00

The Kindergarten class had a fun activity where we made dishes made with eggs and then each kiddo had to design a contraption to encase an egg and hopefully keep it from breaking as they dropped it off the roof...

Emma was very supportive and helped make Leo's container!
we were going for a 'lunar module' design made out of straws and a plastic bag for the parachuteREADY TO GO! ALL SET FOR LAUNCH!
Russ was the launcher...
Going in for the pick-up...
Bringing it over to the 'opener' for her to inspect the egg...
SUCCESS!!!!!! Leo's victory dance is always amusing...

Not Something you see everyday!

2009-04-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

As you turn into our neighborhood there is a beautiful field of Tulips blooming... in Europe, there are places like this where you can pull over and pick what you want then leave payment (on the honor system!). It is just so refreshing! Today after getting the kids off the bus, we walked down to the tulip field to get some flowers!

The sign telling you how much the tulips cost. You put the money in the little hole marked "kasse" which is the word for "cashier".
We also brought 'flat Stanley' with us. The kids cousin Antares sent him to us to take some pictures with him while in Germany. We actually brought him to Prague... but OOOOOPS! He remained hidden in my purse the whole time! ugh!

This is the sign as you enter our village of Mackenbach! There was also a field of Narcissa (daffodils) but they were not blooming quite yet so we will have to go back! By the way... the Tulips were 40 Euro Cents a stem which works out to about 60 cents a stem... tell that to the local florist!!!!! And we got to choose exactly which ones we wanted! :-)

Emma's Birthday and our visit with Deanna in Nuremburg

2009-04-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Following our trip to Prague, we detoured down to Nuremburg Germany for an overnight visit with Deanna. (Russ' sister lives there so we have family only 3 hours away!) We met up at a theme park called Playmobile FunPark. Playmobile is a toy brand here in Germany similar to Little People or Legos. Basically themed playsets. The FunPark is basically huge replicas of the playsets that the kids can play on. It was such a great day!

Here... of course... Leo is trying to take the sword from the Viking...

Emma, of course, gravitated to the Princess...

This Castle had rope climbs and rock-climbing walls all around it, my monkey children (and my monkey husband) made it up in no time...

Deanna, Myself and Emma in the stocks...

...and attempting to get across the 'ocean' from the dock to the Pirate ship... it was actually a workout! And yes I am very surprised that noone actually fell into the water!

This climbing tower actually went pretty far up! I have my camera on the highest zoom it would go! I say no thanks! When did I start disliking heights?

And for the best part of our detour! The next morning, Deanna brought us to a friend of her's home for breakfast. We walk up and they had set up their backyard in a big breakfast picnic! Lots of fruit and breads and meats and cheeses... They had even hung up a few balloons since it was Miss Emma's 8th Birthday! We walked in and these wonderful people we had never met gave us big hugs and then sang Emma Happy Birthday! It was incredible and surreal! We loved every minute!

... and it just goes to show that regardless of what language you speak... EVERYONE speaks KID! Language served no barrier at all as the kids ate breakfast, then went off to play and then to get ice cream at a parlor across the street...

fast friends already... Emma is going to write Sarah (with a little translation help from her Nanny Danna) and is determined to keep up with her new German pen pal! It was a beautiful day! Thanks Deanna! We can't wait to see you again!

Whew! Our trip was over and we headed home to unpack and have our own little family celebration. It was the same day as my family's annual Crawfish Boil for Easter so we Skyped with our whole Cajun brood! It made us feel a part of it even though we couldn't be there physically! Then we had cake with Emma (following an oh-so-healthy dinner of PB&J's) and she opened her presents...

The present is actually for both her and Leo's birthday which is next month... we are taking them to DisneyLand Paris for a weekend in May. So it is back to more PB&J's here at home to offset the cost!

Tomorrow the real world sets back in as we get back into our routine. Leo Michael just started T-Ball and Emma is continuing with gymnastics and piano! I will post more pictures soon!!!

Have a blessed Easter Season! We love you so much and we miss you!

2009-04-11T12:02:00.001-07:00

We went to a post Cold War country over spring break... it was beautiful as well as eye-opening in hearing about the country. Prague is in the Czech Republic which was part of Czechoslovakia until the fall of the Soviet Union about 20 years ago. It was the only major city in Europe not to be bombed during WWII and therefore still maintained it's beautiful old buildings... albeit many had quite a few bullet holes in them thanks to the Soviets...

Our first stop before Prague was in Plzen which is a city close to the German/Czech border. This is an old Cathedral...

We visited the Pilzner-Urquells brewery (which we all got a taste of the beer straight from the non-filtered-non-pasteurized barrels at the end of the tour)... Leo and Emma even got a taste... and promptly thought it disgusting. I guess we should be glad???

This is in front of Prague Castle. This is the largest Castle in the world and takes 2-3 miles just to walk the grounds. I must say, our children are Rock Stars!!!! They walked so much over the 3 days we were in Prague and there were very few complaints... In fact, we got compliments from the family we went with at how well behaved and 'non-whiny' they were!
This is the Saint Vitro Cathedral located inside the Castle walls... it was huge and beautiful and filled with history (and tombs) of martyrs and historical figures of the Czech Republic. The sad thing is that Prague is filled with Cathedrals and churches... mostly unused because when the Communists overtook the country, they banned Christianity and actually turned most people (at times with violence) against God. What used to be a very rich and vibrant country of very spiritual people, is now poor and agnostic...
Inside the castle walls was a museum of medieval artifacts... Emma liked the dresses... and Leo Michael?
liked the weapons! Uh.... I guess that is okay?

Back in the hotel lounge for a relaxing cocktail. Our friends Grant and Tina Morris and their daughter Molly were with us on our trip. They are Army friends who are also stationed in Germany, they were our next door neighbors when we were in Kansas at Fort Leavenworth... proves that the military is a very small world!!!

One of the walking tours of the city included a boat ride down the river that cuts through Prague.

This is a view from the river of Prague Castle. And one from the Charles Bridge.

This is a statue of an inverted horse... The symbolism is huge. Basically Prague was an incredibly rich country before Communism took over the country. Following WWII, the country was decimated and stripped of its industry and beauty. I never realized how much the people hated it... I just assumed (very wrongly) that the people were just a part of the Soviet Union and ignorantly never considered that they were actually oppressed. After the fall of the 'iron curtain', the government was still very much corrupt and at the 10 year anniversary of the 'fall of Communism' not much had changed and the people were upset that they had not yet regained true freedom... so the statue meant as a 'celebration of freedom' was changed as a protest and this is the result. Makes you think... Freedom is so incredibly important and a thing we take for granted...
This is a very ancient clock that animates on the hour. It is situated on the main square of Old Town in Prague. The square is the cultural center where they hold fests and markets.

This picture is a tribute to how important it is to pay attention to currency exchange rates! What Grant and Tina thought was an inexpensive bottle of wine was actually a $50 bottle! So we had a few laughs at their expense... they were good sports though... and drank every drop of that bottle!!! Wouldn't you? :-)

Eating crepes in the city square! They made them in front of you and filled them with very hot yummy fillings! This one was chocolate! yum.

On our trip out of Prague, we ventured off of the Autobahn into a small Czech village to find a post office... of course the post office was only open for 4 hours a day and we missed it... but hey, it got us out of the city!

Self explanatory... we wore the kids OUT! But they were awesome! They can never use an excuse that they can't run/walk a 5K with us! We walked so much every day and they were so great! They did ask for us to buy them things once a minute... which we declined... but they didn't whine and really enjoyed the trip!!!!

We love you and wish you were able to come along!

Our house before furniture... and an incident...

2009-04-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, here is some inside pictures of our house before we got the furniture in... I will post more once we get it more settled...

This is our foyer right as you walk in the front door. The door to the right is our office/craft/kids TV room... the door to the left is the living room.
Here is our kitchen which is connected to the living room.
and the living room. We have two huge windows (you can see one of them on the left) and the double doors leading out to the back yard! As you can see, the living room is a lovely (sort of) shade of peach which we are powerless to change, but we will work around it!
And now for the 'incident'. As you can see, Leo Michael is missing a tooth! I would like to be able to say that it happened naturally, but as we were walking out the door to go to church, a 'friendly' game of tag (or something like that) got out of hand and ended up with Leo's face hitting the mail box... I was upstairs when I heard a volley of "I am sorry Leo!!!!!" and "uh oh, there's blood... MOMMY!!!!!!!" I ran down the stairs and saw little blood so I wasn't too concerned until I saw that a tooth was missing. Panic set in and only when the kids saw me a little stressed out did the tears come. I was freaked out because I thought it was a permanent tooth. OF COURSE this happened on a Sunday afternoon during Spring Break. OF COURSE! So, after fishing the tooth out of the mailbox and dunking it in a glass of milk, we had to make an emergency call to the on-call Dentist to get it checked out.

The tooth was thankfully a baby one (Leo has two permanent lower teeth but in my sort-of-panic I couldn't remember which teeth he had already lost and which he had not... not to mention the tooth lost was HUGE and looked nothing like any of the teeth Emma had ever lost... which added a bit to the sort-of-panic). The surrounding teeth were also knocked a bit loose so we are waiting to see if they were damaged as well. The x-ray showed what appeared to be no damage to the permanent teeth, but again, we are going to have to watch it and hope for the best.

Leo Michael of course is having to live on soup and scrambled eggs for the next few weeks but other than that, shows absolutely zero signs that the trauma has bothered him in the least bit. Like I said, he didn't even cry until I sort-of-panicked! Well, we still made it to church, albeit 15 minutes late... thank God for the VERY LONG Palm Sunday Service! :-)

The dentist requested that we keep Leo from any major activity for the next week or so... yeah right! They should have issued us a strait jacket or put him in a body cast if they wanted that!!!

What am I going to do with this kid!!! Love him!

Tomorrow we are off to the Czech Republic for Spring Break! It is a 5 hour drive away... can you believe that? We are going with some friends for 4 days. I will post pictures soon!

Love us!

Settling In

2009-03-29T02:32:00.001-07:00

We are finally in our house and getting to the point where 'real life' can begin. I will post pictures soon! The moving in is going a little slowly this time. Normally, we get our stuff and have a few days before Russ starts work and the kids and I get locked into activities. This time, however, work and activities already started because of being in the hotel for almost 2 months... so we have had to unpack amid and around other things we had going on.

No complaints though! Our neighborhood is a newer section of the village of Mackenback. The kids walk to the bus stop down the street and there is a bakery right there... so when Mom is being generous, they get a little treat. We have met some friends that are within walking distance so that is great!

Emma and Leo both are taking gymnastics. Emma is continuing with Piano and Girl Scouts and Leo begins T-Ball next week. I have plugged into the Catholic Women of the Chapel here. It is very different from the group I was involved in while in Kansas, but it is nice. Once I get settled, I will look into doing some volunteering and POSSIBLY work a little bit. I have contacted my old employer in England to see if she had any at-home-work I could do for her. I have done that for her once before when we lived in Texas and it was great so I am hoping we can maybe make that happen again.

Our home phone number is 011-49-6374-802695. If you have Skype my name is Driggers4ship so we can chat on-line...

I will take and post pictures soon! The first week of April is our spring break and we are heading on road trip to Prague! Super excited! Emma turns 8 on the day before Easter, so we will have a small family celebration in the car on the way home... hopefully the weekend after Easter we will have a few of her friends over for a small party.

Talk soon! Love us!

Lechtinberg Castle

2009-03-02T03:03:00.001-08:00

Our First Castle... Germany is filled with Castles, this one is only abut 25 minutes away from us and was built around 1200. It doesn't have that sordid of a history, apparently is was used mostly as a Duke's office building! But it was cool crawling around the ruins. The kids really enjoyed it.

Burg is the German word for Castle. So all the castles start with the term 'Berg'... just a little trivia for ya!

I was trying to get the picturesque town in the background but my lighting wasn't working I guess...

My little explorers! Leo Michael wanted to climb on or through everything. I am sure with most of the more popular castles, there are rules, but this one seemed to be "just do what you want", there were no real regulations. In fact, several German children were riding their bikes all over the place and there were live in apartments built into the side of the castle. I guess it is just another building!

FASCHING!

2009-03-02T02:26:00.001-08:00

Fasching is the German version of Carnivale or Mardi Gras. They have parades and everyone dresses up all crazy. We went to one of the smaller parades in Ramstein village so it had much more of a 'small town' parade feel to it, but thousands of people showed up! The kids had a lot of fun although there were a few tears from hard candy hitting the kids heads!

Apparently, Smurfs are HUGE over here! All the ice cream shoppes even have smurf-flavored ice cream... now I don't really understand that... but there you go!
Each little village had a prince and princess plus a team like this (all with similar outfits) that marched through the streets.

Leo's First Kindergarten Program

2009-02-25T04:26:00.001-08:00

We hadn't been in Germany for 2 days when the kids started school. 6 days later, Leo Michael had a school program! He hammed it up big time! One of the songs was about 'being hungry' in German. Boy is that the truth... I can't fill that kid up! I don't know what I am going to do when he is a teenager...

Sweet Supportive Big Sissie Emma!

The First two Weeks....

2009-02-18T04:20:00.000-08:00

On the plane... The plane left at 9pm and the kiddos managed to stay up until almost midnight before we pushed the issue and they fell asleep. Janet, of course cannot sleep on planes very well so I ended up watching 4 episodes of Ugly Betty on my iPod then closing my eyes for about 45 minutes. The next day was painfully tiring, but we pushed through and got over the jet lag pretty quickly!

There are over 40 buses... all filled with kids grade k-12 that drop off at the same point... mass chaos at the school! Ramstein Elementary has only 3 grades, Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade... and it is massive! Watching thousands of kids get off the buses and then walk to their prospective schools (all 4 schools are in the same area so the busses only have one drop off area) was pretty overwhelming! Emma and Leo took it in stride though. We are still walking the kids to school from our hotel room. Once we move into our house they will ride the bus.

I am glad they are getting the opportunity to know the school a little bit, however, so they will feel more comfortable with how things are before they have to do it solo on the bus.

Mrs Potts (teacher's aide), Mrs. Cooley (student teacher) and Mrs. Cortez (Leo's Kindergarten Teacher). The kids really adjusted quickly, I was very proud of them.
This is part of our new town Mackenbach. You see how the streets are narrow and the buildings are so close to eachother and to the street! Makes driving a little interesting!
These are our landlords! He owns the house and is also an electrician and builder so we will not have to go through a middle man. His name is Andy and his wife is Susan. They are very nice and have promised to help Russ and I with our German. This is the inside of the foyer but the furniture belongs to the people who are currently in the house so I will send pics of the inside of the house later. It has a huge open living room with the kitchen and dining room all pretty much together. Then a downstairs bedroom that we will use as an office and guest room. There are three bedrooms upstairs and Emma and Leo will finally have their own rooms. The rooms are much bigger than what we had in Kansas!

And here is our new house! It is located in a very American neighborhood, which is good and bad. The upside is that all of the kids in the neighborhood will be around to play with and walk to the bus stop with... as you can see it is snowing. It has snowed on us quite a bit since we got here but it is not as cold as Kansas. In Kansas it was in the teens most of the time, here the snow pretty much melts off as soon as the sun comes out. It is still cold... but in the 30's cold rather than in the teens cold.

The first two weeks were pretty hard, we had no phone, no car, no internet, no home... so that made it a little hard to find a phone, car, or house! But it eventually started to fall into place. We couldn't drive until we passed a German Driving Test so once we passed it, we rented a car in order to find a car to buy. Then the phone and house hunt began... so slowly but surely things are coming together.

The search for the house was the worst. The list of houses the housing office had was very slim because we are off cycle and therefore not many people are leaving right now. Every house we called about had already been rented. We had finally decided to rent a furnished apartment and then take over a friend of ours house (who wasn't leaving until April) when we happened upon a house with a sign in front. Germans do not do it like We do... they rarely put signs in their yard. They either go through a realtor (which comes with a $2000 finding fee) which we were trying to avoid. Or advertise through the paper. We happened upon the sign before the ad went in the paper. He had already gotten a realtor, but since we called him directly, we did not have to pay the realtor!!!!!!! We were the second people to call on the house, the first had gone out of town and come to find out, once we started to paperwork, more than 10 people called every day to rent that house! We are so blessed!!!!!

More later, it is time to get some other stuff done!

Miss you all! Janet

The Journey to Germany...

2009-02-07T08:29:00.004-08:00

Well we left Kansas and headed to Cleburne, Texas for a few days with the Driggers side of the family. We had a wonderful time playing games with family and just spending some quality time. Brenda... e-mail me some more pictures because it seems all I ended up getting were these two and then videos...

I am assuming that Leo is 'driving'???
Cousins!!!!! Antares, Sky, Leo and Emma!

Our next destination was Silsbee, Texas for Janet's side of the family. A family of peacocks would fly onto Mom's porch every morning... we called it the poop deck... for obvious reasons!

making a camp fire with the big boys...
Happy Birthday to mom!

The Boys...
The Girls...

AND THE POOP DECK!!!

On to Baltimore after a very brief time in Louisiana shipping a car. We stayed with my cousins Liz and Arch... a very short stay but at least we got some Cajun food and hugs!

In Baltimore 3 of our very closest friends met up with us at our hotel before we flew out... Julie with Mia, Annalee & John with Charlie and Josh, and Katie with Emma, Max and Madeline.

The best laid plans of throwing all the kids in the pool for the day ended abruptly when Baby Emma left a small present in the pool. We could have dealt with it discreetly had all the kids not gathered around it yelling. "Look at the Poop"! The pool guy caught us and made us get out... so, we took them to a park.

NEXT STOP... GERMANY!!!!!! Bring it on!

Guten tag! Hello from Germany

2009-02-03T08:43:00.001-08:00

Well... we made it! I will post pictures from our long journey a bit later... but for now, we are safe at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The journey here was pretty smooth and uneventful... it is only since we have landed that we have felt the pinch. I will give more gory details once I can get a little more computer time... now it is a quick 'here ya go!'

You are not allowed to drive until you pass the driver's test, which we don't take until Thursday, so we have walked ALOT and had to beg some rides here and there. We also do not have access to a phone (unless we pay $2 a minute) right now nor do we have internet unless I walk the mile to the library (which is where I am right as I write this) so it is a very odd feeling to be so out of touch and without mobility. It sort of puts our very easy American life in perspective I guess. We just never know how readily we come to rely on this stuff!

The kids are now registered in school and will start tomorrow and once we get our driver's license and find a car we can start looking for a place to live. The housing office was pretty dismal with not many places to look at because we are out of cycle, but I am determined to remain upbeat and positive! So... it is off to pizza across the street from the library... ONE DAY I WILL ACTUALLY GET SOME GERMAN FOOD!

We love you and miss you already! Check back in a few days!

the German crowd...

Farewell to Leavenworth

2009-01-19T18:18:00.001-08:00

While we were clearing all of our stuff out of our house, rather than stay in a hotel which is the norm, we stayed with our best Army friends Lauren and David DeFelice. They through us a huge farewell party! What fun! Although it was weird having all my little 'worlds' of friends colliding together. We had such a great time! This is an assignment that is very tough to leave...

LT COL Promotion Party!!!!

2009-01-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

On January 15th we found out fantastic, yet very surprising news... Russ was selected to be promoted 'below the zone' to Lt Colonel. That is in civilian terms "promoted early" and a very good deal. We were very excited because this is a pretty big deal!

Now, Russ will not actually pin on for quite a while, but in the Air Force, when the 'list' comes out, the guys who are promoted are pretty much required to throw a party as soon as possible... so $350 later (what we each had to pay... ouch) the party ensued. As unexpected as it was, we were not complaining! Soooooo proud of Russ!

um... yeah... is this what a future LT COL looks like?
Lauren and I at the party...
Lauren and David

the obligatory random shot...

from the balcony
Kelly Lasica, me, Lauren and Stephanie Retka
David, Russ, Col. Goble, and Danny Lasica

Emma's First Communion

2009-01-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

On December 28th, Emma made her first Communion! She was not supposed to make it until Easter time, but Father Tadeo made an exception since we were moving. It was a sweet special day...

Skiing in Missouri

2009-01-19T14:27:00.001-08:00

The day after Christmas we took my sister to Snow Creek... I would have never thought you could ski in Missouri! It is mostly man-made snow although on occasion it gets a fresh dusting... this particular day was very odd as we had a freak 'heat' spell. It was 60 degrees out after being in the teens for weeks. So we didn't have to deal with complaining kids... a plus! The snow conditions were not the best, however, but fun was had by all...

Leo just sledded all day... he is patiently waiting until he can snowboard with dad. Emma likes the skis just like mom. She is great! No fear and no complaining... I was really proud of her. At one point, I underestimated the steepness on one of the runs. But we were already up and there was no other way down. We were both a little scared. I wasn't scared of the skiing part since I can do intermediate runs... but I was terrified of how to get a 7 year old down! What does Emma do? point her skis straight down, sits on her butt, and flies all the way down with a big grin on her face! LOVE IT!

Paula mastered the bunny hill... then moved on to sledding with Leo, she was a trooper too! It is a scary thing to learn how to ski as an adult (I only learned 10 years ago and that was scary as well). So Kudos to you PK!

How to Put a Lego Vehicle Together...

2008-12-25T12:38:00.001-08:00

...without throwing it out the window!

Ah... you have to love Santa! For months our precious son has been asking for the MTT... what is a MTT? It is from a Star Wars movie and it is a big vehicle that apparently carries a lot of droids. Leo had to explain this to us, because while we have seen the movies, we had no idea what this particular request was! Well, since it is well-over $100 and also no longer in stores, Santa had to do the E-bay auction thing and after losing many to people with bigger wallets (or at least someone more willing to spend an arm and a leg) the illusive MTT was won.

Little did we know that it would take over 5 hours to put together!

Russ organizing the pieces...
The 2 hour mark...

the 3 hour mark...
the 4 hour mark...
Janet taking Russ' pulse as he retreats into his happy place... oxygen standing by!
after 5 hours and change the MTT is assembled and ready to be destroyed by a 5 year old.
TA DA!!!!!

Christmas Morning

2008-12-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

Okay! So we drilled the kids before bed last night... do NOT get out of bed before 7am... do NOT go into the living room... yadda yadda yadda... I think I overdid it because Leo's little lip stuck out and he teared up and said "but what if I forget"? heart breaking... so I laid off.

Oh the excitement! 7:01 to be exact, we had two little monkeys jumping on OUR bed... then of course they ran into PK's room to wake her up as well...

Putting together the MTT (apparently in is a robot transporter from Star Wars... Santa is a rock star!

so... I also have a video from the morning but I need to figure out how to upload that...

MERRY CHRISTMAS! WE MISS YOU ALL!

2008-12-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

We had a girl's night out for Lauren's birthday!!!! Haven't stayed out that late in a long time!

Russ and I and David and Lauren went out on a double date to an awesome seafood restaurant in downtown Kansas City... very pricey... but the best seafood I have had outside of the gulf coast! YUM!

yes, that is Lobster Bisque in the photo... almost licked the plate!

Just some Catch Up!

2008-12-21T17:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated this thing in a while! The month of December was a whirlwind and I have to admit that I let Christmas catch up with me unprepared! At the beginning, I was unmotivated and pretty down on the whole thing... the commercialism is really irritating. I love to do things for people and give gifts, but the pressure of the season is daunting. I like it better when I come across something that make me think of the person it would be perfect for... not the whole "you must by now and give at THIS time. ugh. But I got over myself and got my act together... albeit a bit late! So here are some Thanksgiving (I told you I was late) pictures as well as a few random ones... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! May we all take a break and remember Jesus Christ! He was happy with a drummer boy playing him a song!

The new babies! Leo and Savanah

I was able to visit with my friend Jackie King for a bit... expecting baby #2 any day now... in this picture anyway. Gage was due the beginning of December...
A house divided.
Leo Krumpe

Savanah!

The Turkey Trot

2008-11-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

russ, the kids and i ran the Turkey Trot 5K race. Leo rode his bike, but emma ran it with us... well, we finished, but there were a LOT of tears and complaints. At one point she almost quit, but she decided to finish and she was very happy that she did. It was definitely one of those defining moments as a parent. Being at one point so ticked off at your kid for whining and complaining, but at the same time knowing it was you who signed them up to do it. Then sheer elation at the smile on their face when they finish...

Halloween!

2008-11-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

more pictures to come... out camera was dead, so these are just those sent to me so far...
This is me modeling the new flight suits... Russ' will have black fringe...
a few of the kiddos from the neighborhood...

Mr. Leo was a clone trooper... if you look very closely, you can see the duct tape on his blaster... he broke it immediately of course. Emma was a girl jedi... she is in the middle of the group picture. I will post more as my friends send them to me!
There were over 350 trick-or-treaters that came by last night...

Emma's Girl Scout Initiation

2008-11-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Emma's Troop

I have a little girl scout! Never thought that I would be the one walking her around the neighborhood to sell cookies rather than opening up a door to buy them! Yes, she is taking phone orders!!!

Pumpkin Patch with Leo

2008-11-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy day at the Red Barn Farm...Walking over all the mud
petting the chicken

I did the Kindergarten Chaperone plunge to the pumpkin patch. There was a farm and we got to tour all over and meet the animals! Leo got to pick out his pumpkin and learn about all of the different types of pumpkins! Of course it rained on us... but it was a fun day!

Camping Trip

2008-10-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we just returned from a camping trip in Oklahoma, Russ mom, dad, and grandpa met us there for a few days. We did a lot of fishing (of which I caught a bunch of sorry looking very small good for nothing perch) and the kids spent a lot of time getting dirty... so once I get this campfire smell out of everything I own, I will hopefully get some pictures up! I will have to get some e-mailed to me since apparently my picture taking skills were not very good on this trip!

Running Ten Miles

2008-10-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

Well, most of you know I am crazy, there are some who don't... so here is the story. When you move to a new place (which I do every 2 to 3 years) it takes you a while to find your niche. Some times you fall into a group of gals who like to go to lunch... some shopping... some scrapbook and/or quilt. Well, in Leavenworth, I fell into a group of gals who like to run. WHAT??? But I don't run! Well Lauren and I were both in the same boat. We did the occasional aerobics class and we liked to go to the gym... but that was the extent of it. This became my social outlet, which I must say is better on the waist line than going out to lunch all the time!

Then came the "why don't you come running with us?"

After my initial shock at the very idea of running, I managed to get out... "because I don't run."

That being said, Lauren had the same answer, but we decided to go on a 'walk' with them one day. What the heck, let's try to run. The first time I ran 2 miles (VERY SLOWLY I MIGHT ADD) I cried and cried. But I decided it was just a passing fancy, "run" a few miles a few times a week just to be social. And by "run" I was always embarrassed at the fact that all my friends were running 10-11 minute miles, me? 14 minute miles. But they were very encouraging and never let me give up. Slowly over the months my pace increased. Not by much mind you, but I could start to see little improvements over time. Then came the invite:

"We are going to do the Army Ten Miler in Washington DC... come with us"

Sure, I will go just for the girl trip! What fun! I can't run ten miles anyway... the farthest I had ever gone was 3. Then there was a 10 K I did with Russ... but I can't do 10. So I started attempting. I would run 2 miles twice during the week, then on Saturdays Russ and I would get a sitter and go for a 'long' run. (Russ by the way was my coach and my cheerleader. He didn't let me give up and he was so supportive and encouraging). Our first long run was 3 1/2 miles. Worked up to 4, then 5, then 6 then 7 then 8... THEN... foot injury. I couldn't walk or move. UGH! So the verdict was... no more running because it would do more damage. The race was in two weeks... well, I road a bike or did an elliptical machine 3 times a week until the race and this past weekend, I accomplished something I never thought in a MILLION years that I would do. I ran the Army Ten Miler in Washington DC. My foot was not healed, so it wasn't pretty and it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes... but I did it. I cried my way through mile 9 and limped across the finish line... but just doing it was one of the (outside of my family) best accomplishments of my entire life. 26,000 people were in the race... many of them were soldiers who had lost limbs in combat... what an inspiration. The race began and ended at the Pentagon and the route took us by so much history it was inspiring and just surreal.

They would not allow cameras, so I will have to wait to download the 'professional ones' taken at the race, but here are the before and afters!!!!

Picking up the race packets!!!!! it took us over an hour just to find a parking spot!
This is when we had finished the race... but it took us a while to get back to the camera...
Lauren and Katie finished at about 1 hour 50 minutes.... awesome! Annalee a little less than that. I took 2 hours and 10 minutes... but I did it!!!!
The best sign ever... it meant I was almost done!
We made time for a little bit of site seeing!

After the race, we hung out at the hotel and had a much needed cocktail!!!!!

Soccer Season has commenced

2008-09-18T13:03:00.001-07:00

Emma and Leo had their first soccer games yesterday. Unfortunately, they were at the same time on two different fields, so Russ took Emma to hers and I went to Leo's. They both did fantastic. I was really proud of Leo, he would have played the entire hour if they would have let him. He really went after the ball with gusto! Russ said that Emma did the same and had improved even though she chose to take a break from soccer last year. Here you go!

They didn't get their jerseys until they showed up for the game...
Mr. Man and his bad self...
My future David Beckham
He was so funny, it was hot so he kept pouring water over his head just like 'a big boy'
cute...

Air Force Ball

2008-09-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

The 61st Birthday of the Air Force!
Dan Lasica, David DeFelice (our token Army guy), Russ and Balstad
Lauren DeFelice (our token Army wife) Kelly Lasica and me.
Like my hair?
We had a great time. We had the kiddos in the hotel with us and the Lasica's teenager babysat for us. Plus it was our anniversary weekend so that was nice! I like to get all dressed up!

2008-09-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

September 11 Freedom Walk

The Fort Leavenworth Elementary Schools (3 of them) had all of the students walk to the central ISD area for a Freedom Walk in memory of September 11, they had a little 'rally'. God Bless America!

The Conventions

2008-09-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

Nice smile on Russ eh?

I think my kids would waste away if it were not for peanut butter.
Pretty little girl...

Just a few random photos from the summer since I haven't taken any pictures in a few days. Now for some venting...

What I would like is if the media would just lay off! On both sides. I want to hear what the candidates have to say and what the candidates believe. But the media (on both sides not just one) just spin crap... and sometimes downright meanness.

Is this what Free Speech has come down to? You take Palin, dealing with her own family issues and having people tear into her teenage daughter. Good on Obama for telling the press to lay off and that family was off-limits... but the press does not listen. I wouldn't want the press following his two little girls around the play-ground either.

I just wish it could be about the candidate and what the candidate believes... leave the rest of the stuff out of it! The hatred in this country is unbelievable! CIAO!

Leo and his Legos

2008-08-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

OK, I guess I am floored by this, but Leo really has a gift with legos. He comes up with the most amazing things. He likes to build planes (actually they are all spaceships of some sort and they all must have guns and other 'shooters'. He even made a WALL-E thing that actually looked like the character... and he has not even seen the movie. So Russ came up with the idea that he would draw a plane and then see if Leo could make it with legos... we were amazed at what he came up with! Is this normal? For a 5 year old? I have nothing to compare it to so I don't know... I am pretty impressed with my little boy though!

Here is what he came up with

We are moving to Germany

2008-08-27T17:46:00.001-07:00

Mixed feelings here folks. I am very sad that we will be moving so far away from family, especially my new little niece and nephew... but I am very excited to move to another country for a couple of years. We will be at Ramstein AB...

In the lower left corner is Mannheim... Ramstein is about 45 minutes or so to the west. So we are close to France (and about 3 hours from Zurich). There are 4 places on our 'list of places we want to go to' that we did not make it to when we were in England. Those are Rome (and the Vatican), Greece, Czech Republic (Prague), and Auschwitz... morbid I know, but I am so interested in the history!

A plus is that Russ' sister Deanna lives in Nuremburg, Germany so we will only be about 2 hours or so from her... don't really know the logistics or time schedule yet, but we will keep you posted!

Air Show

2008-08-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

We went to the Kansas City Air Show this past weekend... We knew a few of the Thunderbirds, Tony Mulhare is the T-Bird announcer and a friend of Russ' so we got VIP passes and got the 'front row joe' seats and free food. The kiddos loved it and Emma had a blast collecting autographs...

Leo and Alaina... their first date...

Thunderbird #2 Chris Austin went to the Academy with Russ.
Emma getting #6 Dyon Douglas' autograph.

Daddy showing Leo how it's done.

The Bus

2008-08-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

OK, I am not one to make excuses for my kids. If they behave badly, there are consequences. I try to be consistent with my discipline and if someone else needs to reprimand my kid (within reason) I am okay with that. But I am NOT okay with the bus driver yelling at my kid and then yelling at me because of my kid. Here is the story:

Said bus-driver would not let Leo, Gabriel and Owen (friends of Leo) off the bus until 'the parents' walked over to see what was going on. Leo and Gabriel are both sobbing and she is yelling at them telling them they will never ever sit together on the bus again. Their crime? Star Wars play punching and bouncing up and down on the seat. Okay, I get it. She wanted them to stop. They didn't stop after being asked three times. I understand her frustration... been there.

(Please keep in mind that the bus ride is less than 1 mile... no stops... takes all of 4 minutes... she must really be high strung).

Will Leo get in trouble and have consequences? Absolutely. BUT! The bus driver's behavior was completely inappropriate. She was livid and kept saying, "I will not put up with this anymore"... yelling at us! With a mean face! So the other mom said "So how long has this been going on?"

The Bus Driver said "2 weeks". EXCUSE ME? You have been dealing with something for 2 weeks, never tell us about it... until of course you blow your lid and scare the crap out of 3 little boys and then turn your anger on me??????? Leo was crying so hard he couldn't breathe!!!

How in the heck can I fix a problem that I have no idea is going on? How can you sit there and let your anger build up so much and that you behave that way... when a simple "by the way... this is what you need to work with Leo on...", 2 weeks ago!!!! would have worked.

COMMUNICATION PEOPLE! Seriously!

Again, I am not excusing his behavior, but she handled it so inappropriately. I was quite ticked off... of course because all of my perfect replies came to me right as the bus drove off... I had to just put it on my site... do ya'll still read this? :-)

Jedi Neighborhod

2008-08-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

The light sabers are out in full force... even Russ joined in, notice what his shirt says! (it says Geek Squad) haha

A Fun Weekend

2008-08-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

So it was our BFF's (code word for "the closest friends we hang out with the most at Fort Leavenworth") daughter's birthday. The party started at 2 and involved a large water slide... The party (for the adults anyway) ended at 11:30 in the evening! Fun was had by all.

Leo was a crack-up, after downing the pinata, he started hacking at it while it was on the ground with this crazy laugh! Silly boy!

School is going great. We are into the second week and the kiddos have adjusted really well. Emma started piano lessons (she begged for them, it was not my idea) and has practiced almost every day at our neighbor's piano. she loves it and wishes she had lessons every day. I am not making this up! I had always wanted lessons, but never really had the opportunity, but Emma is eating them up. She also starts Girl Scouts in 2 weeks... again her choice. I did tell her that she had to do at least one physical activity and she chose soccer over dance this time.

Leo Michael will also be starting soccer in September, he can't do Cub Scouts until he has completed Kindergarten and has zero desire for piano... so just soccer (and daily neighborhood Jedi Light Sabre battles) for now...

I am training to run the Army Ten Miler... yes I know... that is Ten miles... I am scared. But so far I have managed to go 7 miles so only 3 more to add on. A group of girl friends are training together and we will all fly out and run it. It is in Washington DC in October and you run from Monument to Monument... I am very excited!

more soon...

Home from school!

2008-08-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

No complaining about the homework! That's a relief!

The first day of school was a success! Leo was beaming when he got off the bus... Emma was just ready for a snack. Yeah! I am officially a mom of 'school-age' kids! Now I have to figure out what to do with me. Definitely have to catch up on my scrapbooks... haven't touched those in years!!!

The Kindergartner and the 2nd Grader

2008-08-11T06:14:00.001-07:00

Yes, there were tears... mine of course! The kids couldn't wipe the smiles off of their faces. They set their alarm and were up and getting dressed before we were even out of bed. I had originally wanted to drive them on their first day, but Leo was so excited to finally get to ride the bus that I let them. The only thing Leo was concerned about was how to buy lunch at the cafeteria, so he requested I pack him a lunch... which I was planning on doing anyway. He said he wanted to see how the other kids bought their lunch first. Other than that, no misgivings. Emma has quite a few of her friends in her class, so she is excited about that. Open House was last Friday so we had already dropped off school supplies and met the teachers... here we go! I don't know what I am going to do with myself!!!! But what ever it is, it has to include cleaning my train wreck of a house...

Mr. Man with his cool Star Wars back pack...
Lovely Miss Emma, in school girl plaid

Leo, Johnny and Gabriel... the new kindergartner gang of Infantry Barracks
Alice, Maggie, Emily and Kaitlyn (Sally age 3 is convinced she is going too...)

The 15th Anniversary of my 21st Birthday

2008-08-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well! I got a new camera for my birthday... we couldn't wait long because little Mr. Man Leo starts kindergarten and Emma starts 2nd grade on Monday... so my b-day was a good excuse to buy a camera.

Russ really surprised me! We were just going to have a sitter and go out to dinner, nothing fancy. He arranged the sitter and everything, the only thing he would tell me is "wear a sun dress". So we get to the restaurant (more on that later) and as the hostess is leading us past all of the two-person tables, I keep thinking where is she taking us! I am not paying attention at all just wondering where we are going when she brings us to this long table with 10 of our closest friends! Russ had totally surprised me... and then of course our friends delight in telling me all of the funny things they had to do or say in order to keep the surprise. It was very sweet.

Now for the restaurant... we went to this Brazilian place, where initially you go to a buffet area and load up on salads and side dishes etc. Then they give you a disc and one side is green and one side yellow. When you are ready, you turn the yellow side up and they just start bringing these spits of meat around and carve it right onto your plate. Sirloin, different types of beef prepared in all sorts of ways, turkey, chicken, veal, lamb, fish, pork... they must have come by 30 times. You just said, "Sure cut me off some of that one... more please..." I know I ate an entire cow! At one point I was just done and turned my little disc over to the 'stop.. no more side' when the guy comes around with a steak stuffed with... CHEESE! no way! So I had to turn my little disc back over and try some of that... ugh! It was so yummy!

Well, we had a wonderful night ... but Russ still owes me a date night just me and him :-)

Check back on Monday for pictures from the first day of school!

The Camera

2008-08-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

So! I guess you are wondering why no pictures have been posted recently. I had made a decision to post pictures once a week... well, little did I know that Russ (with the camera neatly concealed in his shorts pocket) would be pushed into the swimming pool this weekend. You got to give Dave credit, he asked Russ for his wallet and his cell phone... which Russ naively handed over only realizing way late in the game what Dave's intentions were. Anyway, our trusty camera has gone to Davy Jones Locker... a silent death at sea. So, I will continue to make posts and I will also go back a few months and post some photos that you haven't seen yet... but no new ones until we pay for back to school clothes and budget money for a new camera.

I promise you will be entertained by some pics we have taken over the summer though! And oh by the way... its a million degrees here and we lost our air conditioning over the weekend... so walked around in a perpetual state of sweatiness all weekend. They got it back on today, but it is taking a while to cool back down.

There have been some developments on our assignment over the past few days, but nothing solid quite yet... will keep you posted.

The Hood

2008-07-28T18:12:00.001-07:00

Well, we are in the throws of meeting all of the new neighbors. Our building has 8 apartments in it and there are now 26 kids in building. Plus 16 from the building right next to us who are always in front of our building. WOW! It is a little overwhelming at times. I am going to take a picture of the front yard in all its glory and post it tomorrow... for now, here are some from a grill out session we had last week. Also there are a few pictures of the kids from Worlds of Fun when we chaperoned the youth group last week... we got to see Mercy Me in concert... that is the picture of my big head with the band in the back ground. They are a Christian Rock band and are one of my favorites!

Zoo Pictures

2008-07-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

Some of our good friends from pilot training live on the other side of KC from us so we met up half way at the Kansas City zoo... hot, hot, hot... but we had a great time. Here are the pictures!

zoo

2008-07-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo today! I will post pictures tomorrow! Right now, i am sunburned, tired and dehydrated... but tomorrow!!! I will give the real story! :-)

Is anybody out there?

2008-07-22T17:35:00.001-07:00

I am just wondering if anyone really reads this?

Thirteen Teenagers

2008-07-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Russ and I chaperoned 13 teenagers to World's of Fun Amusement Park. We survived. Our children almost did not. Boy were they troopers! We dragged their little selves all over the park, Emma got to ride some rides that Leo was too little to go on, which made for some drama... but a trip to the candy store helped!

So 5:00 rolls and after being at the park since 10am in 97 degree heat, Emma and Leo were begging to go home. Did we take them home? No, because the kids we were chaperoning were from our church Youth Group and there was a Mercy Me concert that night at the park and that was the main reason we were there! So our poor tired wrung out children trooped along even longer and last until 9pm! I was so proud of them! The concert was fantastic! I love Mercy Me! David Crowder Band and Hawk Nelson opened up for them.

The teens were great with our kids. They all obeyed, no trouble makers no drama so the whole day went great. Now today is a do nothing day!

Summer Camp

2008-07-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the kiddos are in day camp all this week! Yeah! Break for Mommy! Complete with field trips on a bus and everything! SCARY for Mommy! So far so good. When I picked up Leo yesterday he was playing with a neighborhood kid also at the camp. I asked him how long he had gotten to play with Owen, Leo gives me an incredulous look and then says... "Mom, you know I don't know time stuff yet, how am I supposed to know?" hmmm... I guess that sass means he is ready for Kindergarten?

Still trying to figure out how to add pictures... here goes

2008-07-08T18:19:00.001-07:00

Finally back to a routine, back to running and some form of a schedule. The kiddos started baseball camp yesterday and really like it. Emma is rethinking dance, begs not to go every time, but then loves it when I pick her up. I think she begs not to go because she sees all the kids at the park when we go... We had a fantastic vacation at Innsbrook. The kids went horseback riding, fishing, swimming in the lake and in the pool. A whole lot of downtime which we needed... and also which is why I terribly need to get back into some semblance of a routine. Let's see if I can add some pictures...

I am an aunt again

2008-07-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Leo Michael has a new little Leo to play with. Leo Paul Frederick Krumpe is here.

I am attempting to figure out how to put pictures etc. on this site... I will figure it out again eventually.

I am an aunt

2008-03-02T06:49:00.001-08:00

My sister Alissa had her baby last night! Little Savannah Wren was born March 1st... missed Leap Year day by 12 hours! whew! ALissa had a tough pregnancy but all ended well. I am so excited... I can't wait until the week before Easter when I get to go spoil a baby!

For those not into MySpace

2008-02-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

I guess I am entering the blogspot world. I don't write often, but family and friends can keep up with our craziness a little better I guess! Also have a myspace page with all my pictures!