Labor Day and More...

Natalie and her crazy faces.
One night after bath Blake started tackling Evan and said, "I just need to wrestle someone!!" Guess he misses his Daddy.

We had planned to have picnic outside one day but it was so hot and there was no shade so we moved it indoors... still fun. :)

Evan watching the dough mix in the bread machine.

We tried out making soft pretzels... very yummy but we probably need some more practice twisting them. :)

There's a pizza place right near our house that has games and rides, kind of like Chuck E Cheese. We walked to it one of the days we were stranded at home with our jeep in the shop. (We've been having lots of trouble-and they can't figure it out, just won't start sometimes and has left me stuck in a store parking lot with all the kids several times now. Hopefully we can figure something out soon!)

We went to visit Brian's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Larry near Louisville for Labor Day. I hadn't met them yet (or their kids) and it had been awhile for Brian so it was a great day of catching up.

Hotdog lunch out back.

They have grandkids similar ages so our kids loved playing with all their toys.

Especially riding bikes since we don't have ours here.

Cousin Kate--great to finally meet you too! :)

Yummy cookout, complete with ribs and all the sides.

Evan especially loved the banana pudding dessert!

Trying to get some pics of everyone...

Gets harder the more kids we add...

Thanks so much for having us!

I had to take this picture... after a very long day at the doctor's office, it POURED rain on us on our way back to the car. As Natalie says, we were "soaped and wet" (soaking wet) and I just had to laugh. I thought, "what else can happen today?!"

We've definitely had our share of hard times and difficult things about being here but we've also had lots of great and wonderful memories to cherish too. The song and promise I keep clinging to is that God never lets go, He's with us through all of this... and always will be. What an incredible thought!

And I will fear no evil

For my God is with me

And if my God is with me

Whom then shall I fear?

Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go

Through the calm and through the storm

Oh no, You never let go

In every high and every low

Oh no, You never let go

Lord, You never let go of me.

To listen to the song on YouTube, click HERE

May you be blessed today with this promise!

Grandma and Katherine's Visit

My mom and sister drove down to visit us for awhile. We had a wonderful visit packed with lots of fun activities. Making chalk drawings in the driveway for them.

Brian had been gone in the field and so he got a few days off...which was great that they happened to be this week so he could hang out with us.
We went to the KY State Fair. Lots of fun!

We saw a dog show--they were amazing!

Lunch time-gotta love fair food.

Evan was so tired... he fell asleep eating. (Thanks to my new friend Connie for letting us borrow her stroller.)

Natalie is super into cotton candy-had her first taste a few weeks ago and we told her it would be at the fair and I think that's the only thing she cared about. My mom gave the kids some quarters to spend and that was all she wanted!

We saw lots of animals... I thought this was cute, if pigs can be cute.

The girls.

Listening to a band

Our cute family. :)

My mom with this amazing balloon display (that's part of the octupus)

The next day, we went to the Patton Museum on post-dedicated to the history of Armor (tanks and armored vehicles, etc)

Brian taught us a lot about the tanks.

There little simulators so you could sort of see what it's like inside a tank-the kids LOVED it!!

See the teeny windows (and the cute wipers)-that's all they use to see out!

We went to our friend's house for dinner. Our families were great friends in Germany when I was kid and I used to babysit for them when they were 2 or 3 years old! All grown up now!

Evan loved Kelsey...looks like we found a babysitter!

Kentucky has proven to be a real crossroads for us and our family and friends. So many people have stopped by to see us. Stan and Gayla live about 5 minutes away and my teacher friend Debbie, cousin Mark, and Chad and Jenny (college friends) have all stopped in to visit. Brian's aunt and uncle live about an hour away so we'll see them over Labor Day. Who knew we'd have so many friends here! :)

Gayla and my mom... best of friends. :)

They invited us to use their backyard pool so we took them up on it the next day.

Such a fun day... and yummy picnic lunch.

We went out for German food their last night. Auntie Katherine with Natalie... and Blake.

Everyone enjoyed the schnitzel!

Thanks for coming Mom and Kath!! :)

Coming soon: quote time... and in few more weeks, the sex of our baby! :)

Brian's Birthday and More!

It was Brian's birthday this past weekend. We went out to dinner as a family (all-you-can-eat ribs!) on Friday night. There's a couple of guys from Penn State that Brian did ROTC with who just got here to start their training so we had them over on Saturday. Opening some presents.
We played corn hole and had yummy homemade pizza for dinner. The kids LOVED Vinnie and Adam and have adopted them as "uncles" while we're here-and actually, Adam will be moving to Colorado Springs so we'll get to hang out with him there too.

I decided to get a little more creative with Brian's cake-especially since we were having Armor guys over as well. The kids and I made him a tank cake!

Not completely accurate but still fun. :)

Happy Birthday to you!!

My camera died so I got few pictures...but we had a great time!

Debbie, a kindergarten teacher I taught with in Germany was driving through KY and stopped to see us. It was great to catch up with her-such a small world!!

Making EggMcMuffins for Daddy to keep in his freezer so he can have a little better breakfast than a poptart! :)

Feeding the ducks at nearby lake, much more aggresive than the Bellefonte ducks!