This is not a photo shoot...

I actually had to say this to Emma today. It was hard since she is so used to me whipping out my camera and telling her to pose! We had to have pictures taken for our Government travel passports today and she apparently though it was auditions for America's Next Top Model. At least the photographer thought she was cute, lol. Mason was SO cute in his picture, I held it up to his tourist passport and boy has he changed! I mean if he hadn't that would be weird since his other passport picture was taken when he was 2 weeks old. Hopefully getting this stuff turned in early will get our passports back to us in a timely manner! We have to have this 'extra' passports purely to be granted entry into Germany to live there with Dave. We will use our tourist passports to have all our Griswold Family adventures! :) Emma started soccer last week and she really likes it, she is still getting the hang of it though. Hey, its hard to be a graceful swan on the ice and a mean machine on the field! hahahahaha. I did take pictures but they are from behind and of her just standing there, I will get more this next week at practice. Mason is having is 2nd birthday this week and it makes me want to cry! My baby is getting SO big. He is really into Buzz Lightyear right now, thanks to Honey and Papa. Everything is about Buzz and Woo, aka Woody. I'm super excited for him to see his really big Buzz that Dave and I got him for his birthday. He will be oh so happy!!! We still don't know when we are leaving here en route to Germany but should find out very soon. My classes are going very well and they have given me the idea to pursue a new career field, which is really exciting for me! Since we started off with photo shoot talk, I will leave you with why my kids strike a pose when they see a camera...don't hate, I got it from my momma.

Spring Break and other happenings...

So I'll just get to the big stuff first. :) After being back in the states for one whole year, we've grown tired of Targets and American food and decided to leave the country once again. Just kidding, well partly. Dave has been given orders to our next assignment and.......................We're going to GERMANY! I have scenes from European Vacation playing in my mind(Griswold's). lol. We are not totally sure when we are all leaving but we are trying to plan it like our Korea move where we shipped our stuff super early and the kids and I stayed in Texas until time to fly out. When we do it that way, our stuff arrives just about the same time as the kids and I do and this gives Dave time to find us somewhere to live and whatnot. Plus, it lets Dave fly by himself...I'm not real sure why he wouldn't want to fly with 2 young kids on an international flight?? :) So now that the schnitzel is out of the bag....on with other things. My fam came to visit for Spring Break!!! It was a great time and the weather was absolutely beautiful!! My mom and Chelsea came in on Friday to watch the kids while Dave and I attended an Army Prom. hahaha, kidding it's called a Dining Out, but it so totally like a prom, but with adults. It was a fun time and nice to get all dressed up for a change. Daddy flew in the next day and we invaded Manitou Springs for some yummy Mexican food, and it was YUMMY! That must mean something coming from Texans! On Sunday we drove over the mountains and through the hills to Keystone to visit Aunt Nancy, Uncle John and some of their crew. We had a fabulous time, even though Chelsea and I attempted to be pro snowboarders and left some tears on the mountain. That story is for another time because it is entirely TOO long and painful to relive. It was fun though!!! The rest of their time in the Springs was spent relaxing with their beautiful grandchildren, lol. They even got to witness Emma ice skating. My parents are for sure she will be an Olympian...hahahaha. She has gotten a lot better and three of her coaches even came by to tell me how awesome she was. Yeah, I already knew that. :) Needless to say, it was a whirlwind visit as always, but a fabulous time!!! Now I will leave you with some evidence of the wonderful time. Love and miss you all!

Adventures in Skating

Let me start by saying, kudos to these teachers! There were 24 preschool age kids in Emma's class and it was chaos, controlled chaos, but still chaos! Emma had some trouble staying upright, but never cried and said she was ready for next week! That's always a plus. Here are a few pics from her first lesson which included learning to fall, walking on the wall and skating with their hands on their knees. It was SO cute, but hard to watch the kiddos fall so much! Hopefully next week is less painful! I know one little diva who will sleep well tonight!

sorry sorry sorry

oh my goodness. I have let this go for a LONG time!!! Life just sort of took over after our house fire and we are just now getting into the groove of things again. Our new home is slowly coming together, thanks in part to many family and friends who have helped us out! Dave and I have become a bit obsessed with building our own furniture...hahaha. Mostly just accent pieces right now, but we might branch out in the future with some bunk beds...who knows! We are busy as ever, classes just started for me again and we just registered Emma for KINDERGARTEN! I know, she's just not old enough right?! Well, her school district says she is. Sad for Mommy. She is also taking ice skating lessons and starting soccer this year. That should all qualify me to become a full fledge member of the soccer mom society, but I will not be getting a minivan. LOL! Mason is almost 2, seriously where did all this time go??? He's not quite as busy as Emma but he sure keeps me on my toes. His speech is getting better by the day, his first two syllable word was Daddy, not Da Da like he usually says, but actually saying the end of the word. We were so proud!! He goes back for another hearing test next month to further investigate the 'hearing loss' in his right ear. As most of you probably know, Dave's deployment was canceled for the time being, we aren't sure what that means for us or where we are headed next but we are defiantly enjoying have him around more! I promise to be better with this, I tend to be more organized when we are super busy and that's what we are! And I know you are all going to want to see updated pics! I'll post a few of the past months! Love you all!