Stationery card

Cheerful Timeline New Year's Card

Browse Christmas invitations and holiday cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The Big Day

We survived the first day of school!  :)

Not so sure about tomorrow, but we'll think happy thoughts!

Our little family 
has been visiting the school pretty frequently.

Abby has been hanging out for small bits of time & getting comfortable.

{Thanks, Ms. Stacie!}

Last Thursday, we went to see the class lists & Abby met her teacher.

Well, her teacher has been teaching for 33 years.

And she loves singing.  And dancing.  
Most importantly, she loves drama!

{we'll have to see if it's the Abby-type of drama!}

So, she gave Abby an envelope to open on the night before school starts.

Fun, fun!

Last night was the night & she opened the letter...
click on it & hopefully you can read it.

{if not, I'll type it out when I have more energy!}

What an answer to prayer--it was like it was written directly to her.  :)

 It really did help & she seemed excited...she gave Beks a couple of pieces of the *magic stuff* too!

Before school...

Mommy & Daddy had a hard time getting her to leave the house!

She was not happy & was starting to get pretty upset.

Brad did go with her to talk to the teacher when we got to the school.

Abby told Mrs. Harvin that one of her biggest fears was how to ask to go to the bathroom & how to get there!  That's a pretty big step for A, so we were proud of her!

The day seemed to go pretty well.

Seems like she had a mixture of good moments mixed with some not so good.

Some new friends, some hugs & a good teacher...
were a few of the good.

Things she's not so keen on yet...
P.E., girls who yank you back into line (yes, homeschooling, we don't practice standing in line!), and short lunches/recess!

AFTER school...

a little happier!

Fun with sissy

Complete silliness!  :)

We ended the day with an impromptu neighborhood pizza party.

{thanks to Daddy being the pizza delivery guy!}

It is a true blessing to be in this little square & have all these kiddos running around playing.

Hope to soon report that A is loving every minute of school!  :)

Am I Really Behind Already?

Well, when you're out having all sorts of fun in a new country, it's hard to blog!

Do you believe me?  It might be more believable if I weren't home by myself 5 nights a week!  :)  

Some nights it's harder than others to upload pictures and drink wine...

They had a field day here on base...of course it had an Olympic theme.

The girls had little desire to partake, but when they found out they had to sign up to enter the jumpy house, they managed to survive.

Actually, they had fun!

Here Beks is doing one of her special dances...

Our first Thai experience in Germany...

it was good & there are actual Thai people there, so that is always a positive sign.

Makes me miss Korea though.  Mmmm...Lana's.

There are lots of places to try, but happy to know we have Thai this close to base!

After church one Sunday, 

we just started driving & looking.

Here is a place our *Panther Paws* (a book that helps you navigate restaurants/shopping in the area)

said had good schnitzel.

It was our first experience where no one spoke English.

Not that I expect them to speak English...we are in Germany.  :)

Brad is getting to practice all those years of German he took.

Oh, and this is where he was born!
(Um, not at this restaurant--smarty pants! Or should I say MOM!) 

Another awesome thing about Germany...

parks are everywhere.

Now I'm only 2 weeks behind...I have VBS at night this week, so don't expect too much from me!  :)

I'll do my best!

Let's Go Bowling

Fun times!

Before we got into our house, we were off finding all sorts of exciting things to do on base.

We have a great bowling alley here...

it is free for the kiddos to bowl during the week.

We just have to rent shoes,

and with early risers, the fact that we can start bowling at 8 a.m. is a plus!

We rock.

Mommy should probably use the ramp too...and the bumpers!

There is also yummy food there.

It is THE place to go for breakfast!

Not sure what they were doing while eating said food, but it was pretty funny!

Exploring...

This past weekend we ventured out to see some of the surrounding area.  We started the morning off at a little farm where we found some fresh milk, cheeses & other delectable items!  I did not remember to bring my camera, so we will do better next time.  Some new friends took us, so that made it a little extra special!


After the farm, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, we headed to do a drive-by tour of Wittlich & then on to Trier.  Trier is the oldest German city...I told the girls we knocked out a big visit on our first official weekend.  Of course it was rainy & cold (and not much of a tour since we didn't know a thing about it!), but we persevered to find some warm, fresh pretzels & currywurst.  Yum.  What's not to love?  Today, I booked a train trip for the girls & I to go on next week (so sorry Daddy!), so I will educate myself before anyone comes for a visit!  :)

  

A little dreary, but we had umbrellas!

Picture of what Mommy calls the Happy Potato Restaurant...

the Kales took Mommy & Daddy here when we came back in April!

Yummy. 

I think our potato loving Grandma Lene will find it satisfactory!

(p.s. Grandma, apparently you come by loving potatoes through your German heritage.  They are into every form you can imagine!)

The umbrellas are out...

A little pretzel loving...

This is where we got our bratwurst & currywurst.

Take me away currywurst.

Okay, I'm getting hungry now!

There was also a band playing, so we sat in the drizzly rain to listen & eat our meat.

See, I leave the USA & I blog.  Crazy stuff!  Hope you enjoy & I can't wait to see where our next adventure takes us!

It's Official

The big day came last week...Brad officially became a commander!  The best part is that the Air Force sent us to Germany for command.  Oh, and not just anywhere in Germany--Spangdahlem!  It is gorgeous here, very rural & there are vineyards everywhere you look.  We feel so blessed to be here.

Back to the Change of Command.  The girls were looking forward to 'Daddy's Party' because cake would be involved.  Well, they had another surprise too...

  

SPARKY!  

Good old Sparky was part of the festivities.

One girl liked him...

One, not so much...  :)

The serious part of the day...

from L to R:

Colonel Calisti, Lt Col Bill Kale, & Brad

This picture didn't turn out to great, but here Brad is taking the guidon.

He is officially taking command.

What a surreal moment it was.

I'm so proud of him, but a little in shock that we're really at this point!

Just think, we were little ol' lieutenants when we met!  :)

We are excited to be here, and excited to be a part of this squadron & base.  I know Brad will do a great job...he always takes care of his people & will work hard for his bosses.  One thing I know about him, he doesn't do anything half way.

I can't wait to meet all the spouses & families.  We have a busy 2 years ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to all the adventures.  And baking.  It's going to fly by, so we want to make the most of it!

Wish our families could have been here for the special day, but it's a long way to go for a 15 minute ceremony!  Come & visit us if you can...it is amazing here!

Germany!

We're in Germany!


The trip was great...the girls BOTH slept.  Abby is like me & she pretty much never sleeps while she travels.  Well, after they fed us some dinner & turned out the lights (oh, and after 2!!! bathroom trips) they both snuggled in & fell asleep by each other.  Too cute!  The girls & Mommy were wedged into 3 middle seats, and thankfully, we had kind people on both of the aisle seats.  The girls woke up with about an hour to go--they never even made it through one movie.  Amazing!


We arrived & went outside to meet our shuttle. We were chilly!  How exciting!  After leaving the high temps, and no electricity back in NoVA, we were happy to feel the nice 50/60-degree temperature here.  No complaints!

Here is a look @ what we found the first day...

 It's our friendly, neighborhood gelati man!  :)  Abby was even willing to pay for it with her very own Euro.

I finally got around to updating the look of the blog too.  I now remember why I haven't done it in such a long time!  It takes me forever & I have to relearn how to do it each time.  :)


Enjoy & I'll be back with the next installment soon...

Our first glimpse...

Well, Daddy & I took our first trip to Germany!  It was amazing.  So beautiful...it just made me want to run away there right now.  Unfortunately, we don't have orders yet, so who knows when we'll actually be leaving.  


The funniest part about the whole trip was that I took 2 pictures.  TWO.  Is that not the craziest thing?


So, without further ado, here they are...

When we arrived in Germany, we took a shuttle from Frankfurt to Spangdahlem.

I should tell you that I don't sleep when I'm traveling.

It is a curse.  Curse I tell you.

Anyway...

The shuttle driver saw me awake & got all excited.  

He said to grab the camera because there was some beautiful scenery coming up.

HAHAHA.

He also drove like Mario Andretti, and there were curves and hills involved.

THIS, is the picture I got.  

And then I gave up--I was way too tired to photograph anything from a moving vehicle!

Okay, part of the week involved a themed dinner.

Seriously.

I am not joking.

I will be 39 in less than 2 weeks, and I did not find this amusing.
Bringing a costume from the states to Germany?  Really?
Party pooper, I am.

Not that you can tell it from the picture...I look surprisingly happy.

Too happy, you might say.

Anyway, any guesses as to who we are?
We were the most colorful, but my favorite duo was Penny & Inspector Gadget.  They were awesome.  And she was 7 months prego, so props to her!

It was a good week.  We had some Daddy/Mommy time, which was very needed.  It also gave us some time to chat about Brad's upcoming job...it is going to be a big undertaking, so we came up with a game plan of sorts.  We caught up with some old friends, made some new ones, and saw the place we will soon call home (well, for the next 2 years anyway!).  


I better get in gear...I know everyone will be wanting updates on our big move & all the excitement. 


Until next time,
Momma J

our little swimmers

Last year, 

if you would have told me that I would be sitting at swim team practice 2 days a week,

 I would have laughed & LAUGHED!

Not that I didn't believe my girly could do it...

nope, I knew that Abby could swim.  

And that Beks wouldn't be far behind.

We just had to get past the fear.

Oh, and Coach Mary, words can definitely not describe how much we love her! 

Here is Abby getting some coaching...all smiles!  :)

And the littlest one...see those fancy strokes?!  

And a smile!

Today was a big day for Beks...

face in the water.  

Over & over!

Learning what to do when she gets water up her nose.

"It's like a sponge, Mommy.  You squeeze it.  

Oh, and you can blow it out too."

That's it from swim land...
Bloggy love, Momma J

old school

Well, I bought what I thought would be a fun Living Social Deal...

a 4-pack of tickets & skate rentals at

Skate-N-Fun Zone.

Abby has been taking ice skating lessons, so I assumed this would be a fun time.

Beks has been ice skating as well, and has done great.

Hmmm...are you getting the drift that it didn't go quite like Mommy had hoped?  :)

Abby is all cute with her *wheels*

Daddy was the only one who tore up the rink...he is our resident skater.

Being a CO boy, he grew up ice skating & literally skates circles around the rest of us.

They had a play park here.  Thank goodness!

It was much more popular with our girls than the roller skating was.

I didn't get a picture of it, but Beks would let us push her around the rink while she held on to the skater helper we rented.

I'm all laced up & ready to go.

Tell me,

why was it so much harder than I remember?

Why did I fear running some poor kid over...I sure don't remember it being so hard to stop.

Mommy & Daddy had fun, but Abby says she will, "NEVER go roller skating again.  EVER."

Here is the photo Daddy took...he mocked my roller skating skills a bit, but I was happy with the day!

No injuries for me, and I also didn't take out anyone.  Woohoo.

p.s. Mom, you'll have to answer the question about whether or not I EVER had any roller skating skills.   In my memory I did, but you know how that goes...

Bloggy love, Momma J