Happy 4th of July!

We made it to Colorado in time for the 4th of July. It was fun to watch my kids spend the 4th doing the things I did in my childhood. Same parade line-up, some of the same floats in the parade, and a burger burn/hot dog roast! Ahhh...the good life! We did also attempt to go out to the lake, but the mountain thunderstorms rolled in just after we set up day camp...oh well!

A visit with Grannie...

On our way to Colorado to see the rest of our family, we stopped in Kansas to visit my Grannie. We had a wonderful time, visiting, playing at the park across the street from her house, making homemade ice cream and watering her flowers! It was so nice to get to spend time with her, but I still wish we were closer!

Ashlynn is 3!

Our baby girl is 3 years old! It seems like such a short time ago we were finding out we were pregnant and hoping and praying we would finally get our little girl. And although the ultrasound couldn't tell us and it was a BIG surprise, we were convinced we were having another boy. God blessed us with a little baby girl. Parenting her is a lot different than the boys. But with each milestone she passes we are enjoying every day. And, with the days we don't enjoy as much as others, we remember to look at her little angel face while she's sleeping. It helps us to remember why we wanted her in the first place! ;) I think the hardest part about her turning 3 is the bittersweetness of knowing our last baby is growing into a child, she's no longer a baby! It's a relief and heartache all at once!

Kalib turns 7!!!

We can hardly believe our son, OUR FIRST BORN SON (as Kalib would say) is really 7 years old. He is such a joy to watch learn and grow every day! He is such a big helper and has such a giving and caring heart. We are so blessed God gave him to us!

Our new home!

So I am way behind...But, here are 2 photos of OUR new home! Our FIRST home! It's just one view from the front and one of the back yard...that's my favorite part! Did I mention we are so excited to own our very own home!

Just some of life's moments

I just thought I'd catch you all up with some new photos from the last month while we've been in TLF. We've been spending lots of time outside in the Texas sun! Last weekend we bought a hose and sprinkler to set up in the back yard of our TLF, we had so much fun! Before that the kids would just fill up whatever containers they could find and play with that water, the sprinkler was way better!

Transition to Texas

I know the best part of reading blogs is seeing new pictures. I don't have any great ones from our move yet. But, I thought maybe we were due for another little update. I think last time I told tales of our trip over the ocean and lice... Well, I for one am happy to report that if it was lice, it didn't hang around. The one little egg in Ethan's hair was it!

Let's see...Ashlynn, she is adjusting well to our move. She keeps asking to "go home," I don't really think she understands where all her toys are and why we keep our clothes in suitcases, although she loves toting around her suitcase just because she can! With all the traveling and instability she hasn't been napping much and that makes for some fun afternoons and evenings! But, she is still doing pretty well with her potty-ing, not many accidents since we left Germany. Our hope is we are on our last pack of "night time" pull-ups. Once we get into our house and get settled we are going to push for her to get night time trained.

Ethan, he is doing really well. We have had some days of attitude, but I think it's getting better. He gets angry and yells or pouts. All in all, with him leaving his loving friends and wonderful teachers, I think it was to be expected. He asked me on one rainy day we had, "Mom, is this Texas? I thought it was supposed to be hot?!" I agreed, but we have had 2 or 3 HOT days to make up for that one! He REALLY liked going to see Monsters Vs Aliens in the REAL theater. He thought that was so much fun! However, he has told me he doesn't know what his favorite part about living here is yet!

Kalib, he is adjusting the best out of the kids. He still asks about his friends and classmates in Germany. He'll say, "I wonder what my class is doing in Germany today?" It really breaks my heart to have had to move them from a wonderful school with great friends and teachers! Kalib is gearing up for his 7th birthday at the end of the month! It hardly seems possible that our first born is so old! He is quite the little man and pretty helpful when he wants to be. I think for his birthday he has his sights once again set on a Nintendo DS, but I think we may have to still wait until he is taking better care of the Gameboy he already has. We are thinking maybe a bike would be better since his got stolen in Germany.

Travis is at his first day of work today. He had taken some time off for house hunting. We found a house we wanted to buy it is a cute 1 story brick home, it is 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage with an awesome back yard. We have been busy going through all the process and paperwork to get things squared away so we can move in. We are officially under contract!! We should close by the end of the month and will hopefully move in June 1st! This is very exciting for us as it is our first home and the process has definitely been easier than what we thought it should be. God has paved the way each step we've taken. The Realtors, bankers and insurance agents we've met along the way are not just chance meetings, but divine appointments God has given us to make this process almost stress free!

There is a great kids play place in the gym here on base. My kids have enjoyed going to the gym more than I have actually. We are going to try to get in a grove of life today. Here after a bit I will get the kids up, get us ready to go and we will have a full morning at the gym and then off to story time at the library.

We have been so blessed to know a few families near by. One of my cousins lives about 45 minutes from here so we were able to meet up with them for lunch on Mother's Day. A family we knew in Germany was passing through town yesterday and we met up with them for lunch at another friend's home. It was nice to get to see some friends from Germany on this side of the ocean. There have also been several other people we knew or friends of ours knew in Germany around to help us out if we need it. And, another bonus of being here, our neighbors from Germany will be moving here by the end of the summer. Even if we don't make new friends we have lots of our old ones near by. However, I don't think it will be hard to make new friends as people seem to be quite friendly. We are loving Texas more every day! I guess that's about it...Sorry I've been long winded! Talk to you soon, Blessings to you all!