Another Week Gone By

I'm thankful another week has gone by, which means we are that much closer to some wonderful men coming home. I'm excited for all of them, but really just focused on one of them! I'm so glad when each weekend shows up because that means I can lower the count that much more! So exciting!!

This week hasn't been too eventful. I haven't taken anything picture worthy or really even worthy to talk about. But I have to talk about something!! I spent lots of time at school, subbing and filing papers! I taught in 1st and 5th grade. Let's just say, that after being in both grades, I know that God made me to be an upper elementary teacher. I'm not a fan of the constant "my finger hurts," "I'm hungry," "I need a band-aid." Instead, I absolutely love having the older kids, holding actual conversations with them, and being able to have some fun. When I tried to have fun and joke with the first graders they would go wild. If I said something sarcastic, they would take me seriously. The older kids understand me much better. I bet some of my love for the fifth grade class had to do that those were my fourth graders last year. They knew me, so we were able to have a good time! This week I'm already scheduled for art and the same fifth grade class. I'm really excited for both of them!

In my "spare time", I've been doing a lot of research for our block leave trip. Jay gets a month off and we are going to use it to travel to some really cool destinations. I have booked us on a safari in Kenya and Tansania. I'm so excited for it!! It will be a true safari, with us sleeping under the stars and cooking all of our own meals. We will cross many miles of open land, hoping to see lots of animals. It's a good thing I will have a fantastic photographer (Jay) with me to get some great pictures. All these books....

We've been looking for another warm place to go. We'll have a couple weeks left once we get home from Africa. It may be our last opportunity to take a long trip, so we want to make the most of it. We finally decided to stay in Crete and travel to all the Greek Islands. It won't be the warmest place, but it's the best we can do during the winter. It will still be great! We won't be laying on the beach in swin suits, but we will get to see some amazing views of the islands. I can't wait for December to come around. But before that happens, I need a man to come home and a family to come visit!! Lots to look forward to!!

On another note... the weather around here has been absolutely wonderful. We are definitely in the midst of fall. It has been down in the 30's in the morning, but then warms up to the 60's during the day. The leaves are just starting to turn. This could be my favorite part about Germany. I absolutely love it here in the fall. My favorite thing to do is go for a walk and admire how awesome God's creation is. He made it all so perfect. The past two nights as I have sat in my living room, I have watched these float by....

The weather has been so perfect for them. Riding in a hot air balloon has been a dream of mine for a long time! Before I die, I sure hope I have the opportunity to be soaring in the sky. We looked into going up in one while in Tanzania, but it would cost $500 a person. We thought we could probably find a cheaper option somewhere else. Someday....

Hope everyone has a great week!! Enjoy these beautiful days!!!

The Weekend

I've been home for one weekend now and it was a great way to get myself back into the swing of things. On Saturday, I went to a flee market with my friends, Angie and Jon. I love looking at the old furniture. It's all so beautiful. I would love to buy a piece, but no place to put it in our house!! It's packed full already. I ended up buying one little thing. She'll know who it's for as soon as she sees it!

Later in the day, I went to post to do a 9-11 Remembrance Run. I was going to walk the 3K with a few other ladies, but ended up running the 5K with two of my middle school girls. I stopped to talk to another middle schooler that I went on Beach Break with since I hadn't seen him all summer. I wasn't too worried about my time, so I did some relationship building instead. I finally finished after 35 minutes! No pictures after running, which is good since I was all sweaty!!

I then went home and showered quickly to get ready for the Medieval Festival that was taking place downtown. I walked through the festival with some friends. There were many people dressed up in medieval outfits. There were several activities for kids and a band playing. It was neat to walk through there.

Then it was time to head to the bowling alley. There I met more friends for a fun evening. We had pizza and bowled two games. I was rather terrible at bowling. So bad that Jon beat me.... even though it was really Noah who was bowling for Jon.

But at least I had a good time socializing and holding baby James.

After bowling we went out for ice cream. No better way to end a great day than to eat ice cream! Spaghetti eis!! My favorite! By that time, I was ready to come and hit the couch!!

Today we had a shower for Angie and James. Such a celebration of life. James is such a sweet little guy! I'm glad he'll be sticking around so I can watch him grow up!! Elizabeth and I went together to get Angie and Jon this...

For James, these lovely bibs and burp clothes were made, thanks to my mamma!

Now I'm home and watching Arrested Development. Jay called on Friday to see if I had ever seen it. He has watched the first season. If I like it, he'll wait and watch the rest of it with me. If I don't like it, he'll keep watching it! We'll see the verdict is by the end of the evening.

Hope the weather holds out like this for awhile longer! It's been so beautiful!! Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Back Home

I'm back in Schweinfurt and getting back to normal life... at least as normal as the Army life allows. I haven't stopped moving since my feet hit German soil. But that's what my life is all about. It feels good to be back in my own house, just wish it wasn't missing someone!

I have spent a lot of time at school the past couple of days, helping out where needed. I've been filing papers in the office and taking an inventory on new books in the library. It's been really hard for me to not walk in there to be teaching. I have to admit I really miss it!! I so much want to have my own classroom, with my own group of kids, writing lesson plans, and being silly to help them learn. Someday.... But this year, I get to focus souly on my husband, volunteering, planning trips, and absolutely enjoying life in Europe! I'm in the process of planning our trip for block leave once Jay gets home! It's going to be a fantastic time! I can't wait!!

No new pictures since I've been home... so I'll leave you with my last picture with Jay for awhile. This was taken at 6:00 in the morning, right before Jay jumped on the plane!

Happy Birthday Jay!

My wonderful husband turns 28 today! Unfortunately, we don't get to celebrate together this year. I did get to talk to him on Skype though! He had a good day, thankfully not as busy as the past few. He didn't even change out of his PT's all day. That's almost the same as staying in your pj's!!

To celebrate Jay's birthday, we had his parents come over for a picnic. We grilled hamburgers and brats. They were delicious!! I also made Jay some cupcakes!

After supper and some socializing, we lit the candles and wished Jay a very Happy Birthday!! (even though he wasn't around)

Then we blew out the candles! I had some help from Keegan and Avery!

Someone had to eat Jay's cupcake. Carson volunteered!! He had to eat the "J" for Jay.

Can you tell he's a bit excited to eat that cupcake!! Then we let him dig.

Carson hasn't had his first birthday yet, so he had a practice round of a smash cake for Jay's birthday.

I sure hope we'll be able to celebrate together next year. We'll have to make it extra special since we haven't done so for a couple years. I can't wait for Jay to be home! We should get to celebrate Christmas together! That will be fantastic!

Not Much to Say

Ever since Jay left.... well.... I just haven't done a whole lot... so I don't have a whole lot to talk about.

My favorite thing these days is spending time with my little nephew. It's going to be hard leaving him, that's for sure. He sure brings a lot of smiles. These two boys just fill my heart!

Other than that, I've been doing my last few errands I need to accomplish before heading back to Germany. I started packing a bit, but will need to finish this weekend. I have a lot of stuff to shove into two suitcases. I may be sending some boxes back in the mail. I don't want to pay for it, but don't have much of a choice.

If I was able to stick around for another month... I would get to see all of these little ones!! But unfortunately, it may be another year until I see them. It's already been nearly three years. I have never seen the littlest two. Kind of sad. But I sure am grateful for Skype. It's my life saver... with Jay too.

Sitting around here has been hard without Jay around. I like to keep a busy schedule, but haven't been able to do that. That's the main reason I'm ready to head back to Schweinfurt. I'm ready to get back into the school and fill my days again. I also want to get back because two little boys were born while I was gone. I can't wait to meet James and Ryker, along with visiting their older brothers and their parents. It's going to be sad to leave my family and friends though. Thankfully I'll get to see my parents and my sister in only a few more months. That makes it not so bad.

A few things I'm looking forward to before I leave... Union Knights football game, ICubs baseball game, and spending the weekend with my family. One thing I'm not looking forward to...... packing! Yuck!!

One last note... I was ableto talk to Jay today for the first time since he got back. I was so glad to hear him. He's doing well and trying to catch up! Sure hope the next few months go fast!!