Back to school 2015-16 and moving

Brecon is in second grade this year and will be in Mrs. Uhorchak's class. He got a new backpack with a handle and wheels that he is very excited about bringing back-and-forth to school. He has a few friends from previous classes that he knows. 

Connor will be in all day kindergarten with Mrs. Gurris. He is very excited and ready to learn.  This summer he really exploded in reading site words and being able to sound out different letters and words.

And then there is Cael in the six grade at the middle school. He seems very nervous, it's hard to get him to talk to anyone let alone his new teachers. Ahh--who am I kidding, that kid was introducing himself on the open house night and cracking jokes, telling the teachers that they need to earn six figures and a raise, that Summer vacation should be longer so the teachers can have more time off, etc.

That means I have three boys in school all day and my Cannon and Brielle at home to help me run errands and take care of the house. It has been a crazy and busy week so far, but we are beginning to settle into the new house and get into a more firm routine.

The week before school we had gone on our trip to Maine, and we had a few days to get ready with school starting on Monday. That would also be the same day we would be signing for our new house and moving over the rest of the week. I had no idea how I was going to be able to be helpful at all, with the new baby in my arms it was difficult to get half of the things done that I wanted to do. A huge blessing was my friend Miranda was staying with us while they waited for their apartment down in Manhattan. Her cute little boys were great entertainment for my boys and she really was a huge help.

Miranda was able to be over at the new house, only 10 minutes down the road, and tell the moving company where to place the boxes inside well I was stuck at the other house getting things ready and taking care of the baby. She also began unpacking the boxes and putting stuff away in places where they needed to go. My house was practically unpacked by the time I made it over by the next day. It was incredible and such a blessing to have her here. She told me the morning before she left how much this helps to realize the hand that Heavenly Father has in our lives. She wanted so badly to be in her apartment, but the time that she was able to help me with such a blessing. She said I must be doing something right, living righteously, to have Heavenly Father take care of both of us!

MOVING and NEW YORK

The military bus picked us up at our hotel at11:30 Monday night. It would stop two more times to bring other families or soldiers to the Patriot Express Flight  that would depart Tuesday morning to Baltimore. The bus was painful, not for kids who slept the whole way, but for someone who is sensitive to where they sleep. Needless to say... I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time our bus stopped at 7 in the morning.

The 9 hour flight was uneventful. Naps, movies, airline food, and trying to keep ourselves entertained. Landed in Baltimore and had a 1 hour connecting flight to New Jersey. Then another hour of driving and we arrived at West Point around 10:30 that night, but our bodies were telling us it was 4 a.m. Germany time. We crashed in our beds exhausted and sweating.

When we woke up at 5:00 a.m. we stayed in our room. We couldn't really tell at night when we arrived but the area is beautiful. So many forests and trees, the Hudson River, and rolling hills. The campus is in a really amazing part of the state. The heat and humidity are *new* The boys look like they are melting and Ben is constantly dripping everywhere.

We signed the lease for "new" house here on the West Point campus. It is actually a historical brick QUINT, so we share the backyard with four other young families (two kids each, 4 yrs and younger). It is quite small for our family, especially since we have more humans than ever before. We are really going to have to figure out how to make every little inch count.  We are through a small forest to the elementary and Middle school and it is just a short walk for Ben up to the hospital and clinic. We met all of our neighbors at an ice cream social in our neighborhood and they were very welcoming and lovely. We are looking forward to getting to know them better and sharing lots of backyard fun.

After a few days driving and getting familiar with the area, we loaded up our bags again to fly west to see our families. We had a little fun in the airport taking pictures with a free email postcard and sent a few of the good ones. An hour and half delay on the runway due to weather put us behind schedule and made the time in the plane even longer. Everyone slept (except THIS lady) because I was rotating children from kicking each other in the face in their sleep.

We were happy to land in Salt Lake City. And excited to see Grandpa Eugene waiting to pick us up. We are sure having a great time visiting family and our hometowns again. Hiking up in the mountains, fishing in Swift creek, and then eating our catch of the day for dinner. OH! YES! WYOMING!!

4th of JULY

I got this wild idea that I wanted to host a neighborhood pancake breakfast. I convinced my neighbor to co-host and then I went on with the invitations. I made a cute little flyer and walked around to every house on our street, knocking on the doors and talking to about 1/2 of the people I really hadn't talked to at all. Most people seemed interested, others were "busy". The night before Ben was really concerned... "How many people are going to be here in the morning?" I actually had no clue. There could potentially be over 200 people. I had invited everyone but I really didn't know if they were going to be there or not. The funny thing was this: we were moving the next week! It was so fun to get everyone out there eating red, white, and blue pancakes, the neighbors brought fruit or breakfast meat... OH the breakfast tacos were so good! The morning was perfect and so nice to get to know some of our neighbors better! ***(better for the next week)***

I also told the kids we would have a bike rodeo and a 3 loop run. They got so excited and raced around the loop as fast as they could go. For the run Connor was out there like a champion- pumping his arms and making it the whole way with cheerleaders (young and old)

 We had everyone lined up and kept telling the kids "This is not a race" and Alejandro said "Pftt.. YEAH RIGHT! This IS a race!!" HE is funny and loud and made the delicious tacos and hot sauce.

It was a great morning and a fun time. WE loved this neighborhood and the safe place for our kids to run with their friends at the playgrounds and riding their bikes around the loop. So happy I have such great co-hosts and fun neighbors. We actually noticed a big difference after this morning. Not that people were rude before, just that we were busy with our lives and talking to the neighbors was few and far between. This morning seemed to "break the ice" and we had so many more chances to talk and share time with our community. These pictures all bring smiles to our faces, full of the memories of that morning. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! We salute you!

Running out of time...

 On a very specific drive out from our village we always would say "we should stop there". It was a neat little water log and we thought we could get fresh drinking water and enjoy a nice little pit stop. It was only 8 minutes away from our house... but we just could never stop there until one day we did! Ben bought a picnic lunch and we were off. It was raining hard but we were running out of days to do this fun activity. Connor and Brielle both fell asleep on the way (lucky kids) and the rest of us had a short picnic in the rain. So the bad news is this: posted on our fresh water log was a sign kinetrinkwasser -- DO NOT DRINK --- talk about raining on our parade/picnic! Figuratively and literally!

 Here are some of the greatest ladies I know at a fun yoga night at the church. Funniest moment at the end with a little "toot" from the Senior Missionary during rolling time. Not a laugh in the whole room-- I was dying from laughter inside!

 A cute friend is baptized! SO far we are 3 for 4 attending their baptisms. The Chatterley's were in our ward in Texas before we moved. They just like to follow us around the world... can't wait to see them soon here in New York (fingers crossed)

 At a farewell Bar-B-Q for Dr. Platt and all the other providers that were leaving that summer we enjoyed some custom face-painting. I was very surprised I was the only non-child to get a fantastic job done. I felt like I should wear it more often...

This is a fun reminder of our little street back in Germany. Our neighbors chasing after our kids as they ride their bikes or run down the street. We were lucky if they were wearing clothes this day. Most times we weren't so lucky!

The movers are coming....

I had been avoiding this day, thinking that if I just ignored it (packing day) then we really wouldn't have to leave this wonderful place. It's not too big of a deal, the moving company does all the work, we just needed to do the preparatory business in each room. Such a mess, but also I had gone through most of the rooms and we had cleared out the things we didn't need.... we just needed to grab our personal items and a few essentials (kitchen, bedding, bathroom towels, etc...) before they arrived on the 11th of June.

We were all pretty exhausted from the birthday party the night before, so instead of doing our last check through the house before our movers were scheduled to arrive the next day we went to sleep with plans to get all the things gathered that we needed bright and early in the morning.

WELL..... bright and early came and we got a knock on the door! It was a furious dash to grab things as these guys came into our house like a whirlwind. I thought in my mind, surely they would pack up the basement before the bedrooms-- that would be a big fat NO--- This morning was seriously so crazy. Running kids who missed the bus off to school, grabbing clothes and other things before they were wrapped and taped up tight in boxes. I couldn't believe how quickly they moved. They had a job to do and they did it so fast! We probably were slowing them down due to our interference, but there were certain things we need to hold onto until the very end.

 We finally were able to set up a "corner" where we started throwing our bedding, towels,  paperwork, books, and journals, etc.. that we were holding onto. It filled up the room on the other side of the picture above. I've only just now begun to put things away where they can be used again.

It was crazy! But after the initial tornado... we started to feel like we could slow down and watch these guys really get to work. Somewhere in there Brielle took a nap (a really long one) and the sun even shone for us, then there was a slight drizzle... perfect moving/packing weather.

Day One- They completely boxed and loaded up the garage, shed, living room, and the bedrooms.
Day Two- 3 big rooms in the basement, kitchen, and leftovers from different spots

AND that is how fast our entire house was packed up and loaded onto the moving truck. Sixteen Thousand pounds later (we are only allowed to move 17K).... and this move is really happening!

A little spot to call HOME

We moved out of the hotel and into the place that will be our home for the next little while. The good news is the house is bigger than I was planning on, but the bad news: it is 3 levels with pretty steep stairs. We also found out that our "stuff" (home goods) made it across the ocean (hooray) and they are scheduled to be delivered next Wednesday. For now we are enjoying the additional room to run around, even though this place really echoes... a lot! Here are a few things that we have been up to:

*Ben and I both passed our drivers tests and we bought a little run around car. SO NICE to be able to drive.... ANYWHERE!
*Connor is finally sleeping through the night because he is in his own room! Oh yeah!
*We ate our first schnitzel at a German restaurant and bratwurst at the town's fest.... delicious!

That is all for now. Our next mission: figure out where to sign Cael up for school and soccer!

We've landed...

Hello everyone!
Just a note to let you know that we are all alive and well!
Here is a little run down of what we have done and are doing now:
...Flight to Chicago+Flight to Frankfurt= A LONG DAY OF FLYING! the boys all did really well on both trips. On the 8 hour flight they showed 4 movies! If you ask Ben he will tell you the flight was "easy", I'm still not a huge fan of trying to sleep sitting up, but I made it (even if I did feel claustrophobic! AHH!)
...bus from Airport to our base scheduled to take 3 hours--- 8 hours later, we arrive. There was terrible traffic (or just no movement at all) on the autobahn. Also for the first hour there was no air flowing on the bus so we all were very sweaty and uncomfortable...
... still recovering from jet lag and a 7 hour time change....
...living in a "hotel" with a kitchenette...
...not allowed to drive until we pass a German driving test...
...walking everywhere we go...
...enjoying the cool, Bavarian air...
...trying to entertain 3 boys and keep boys from going stir-crazy...

So we are HERE, not settled....needing more sleep.... and trying to think of things to do with the boys that don't involved anything too complicated.

BRING ON THE ADVENTURE!

Packing UP and Shipping OUT

Our LAST family shot in TEXAS
The kitchen boxed up (top) and garage (bottom) It is such a strange feeling to have all of your belongings packed up in brown paper, tightened down with packing tape.... and watching it all happen very quickly. Ben and I were both amazed at how fast the packers could move. There was no hesitation... just very quick movements and lots of packing paper! Until this point I know I felt like I really wasn't leaving. I was excited for our new adventure but also I was very comfortable in my little part of the world. I think for this reason I had left packing our suitcases for the very last minute (for that reason I also forgot some very useful items) you could probably say I was in moving denial. I even told my friends not to tell me "goodbye" but instead "have a good vacation" because just thinking about leaving would make me start to get tears in my eyes, and when that happens I am minutes away from becoming red-eyed and snot-nosed- and that just isn't a pretty sight.
BUT... ready or not... we were leaving this place we had called home for the last 4 years, and what a good time it was....

• multiple trips to Sea World, the zoo, and SIX Flags
• exploring caverns and caves
• the ALAMO and River walk
• Poteet Strawberry Festival
• home renovation and painting
• attempting a garden and laying sod
• swimming in our community pool
• watching Cael ride his bike at 2 1/2 without training wheels
• barely making the drive to the hospital when Brecon was born
• babysitting swaps... ya gotta love 'em!
• visiting Ben at work
• tennis with friends (all year round if we wanted)
• volleyball nights at the church
• ugly Christmas sweater party and...
• last minute bar-b-q's and parties at our house
• girls night out and midnight movies
• our Halloween baby Connor

this list will go on and on... and I will probably add more.

Needless to say we LOVED our time here in Texas.

FOR SALE and other fun stuff

Having a house on the market is fun.... well, not really. We pretty much have to keep it clean all the time because we often get last minute calls from agents wanting to show it on a very short notice. This has been very exciting to say the least and we've now had a couple of offers! HOORAY! I've been wondering why I waited so long to give our house those finishing touches... not that it looked bad before, but seriously- now it is complete and I'm moving in a few months!! AHH!!!

In the meantime, we've been selling a few things here and there on craigslist. Here are a few of the "causualties"---

 

OUR HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY

AND BIRTHDAY DADDY
guess how old he turned this year....

Our life is wonderful, going to be very crazy for the next while with all the selling and selling some more and packing and all the paperwork and passports.... but I'm sure that we will make it through and we will be where we need to be in no time.

GUESS WHERE WE ARE GOING?

After months of waiting, we were "emailed" about where our next assignment is going to be..... wait for it.....

WE'RE GOING TO

GERMANY!!!

Yes you read it correctly. GERMANY! We are still in shock and trying to figure out all the logistics of moving to a new country, a different continent, and to a new ADVENTURE!! If you ask I will tell you I still can't believe it is true. This is going to be crazy, but such a great opportunity for our family.

ummm... that plane ride with 3 boys is going to be a doozy, isn't it?