M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

The birthday boy started his day

with a birthday pancake, 

a side of eggs and apples.

 He really wanted to eat the candle.

 After breakfast we started getting 

ready for his party!

We went with our favoirte mouse

to celebrate our Sweet Boy!

 He loves the mouse!

 We invited some of our favorite people

over and we grilled out for his party.

 Staying true to our family motto of

"go big or go home" we went

big with the cake!

 It was almost too cute to cut,

but we have had this bakers cakes before and

we know it tastes as good as it looked!

 Sweet Boy was not really sure of all

the people singing to him or

the large amount of kids standing around the table.

 After cake he opend a few gifts and then

it was time to call it a night.

 Back to his happy self once the party was over.

I realized when I was trying to find pictures

to post of the party I had very few that

I could use because in most 

of the picures he is being held by

or playing with someone 

other then us.

It just showed how many

people love our Sweet Boy

and how truly blessed we are with our 

Army family.

Sweet Boy had a great day and

an amazing party!

I am counting down the days till

I can take him to visit our favorite 

mouse and see the magic in his eyes!

 So sing with me

M-I-C-K-E-Y

M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse!

Oh Happy Day

We got our stuff!

59 days after we said goodbye

and the truck pulled away

4 trucks pulled up with all our household goods.

 We said 'auf wiedersehen'

to our temporary furniture

 and started the long process of unpacking.

 Opening each box was like Christmas

because you never knew what the

movers put in each box.

 Some boxes come with more wrapping paper

than appliances and other boxes get none!

Let's put two knife blocks with very

sharp knives in a box with

NO PAPER!

~SMART~

 Let's only pack half of something.

After the movers left the house we found the

knife to this, but could not find the board.

We found the board!

It made it to Germany, but the knife

is hanging out with Grandpa in the states!

 Even with a million boxes to unpack and lots

to do we always find the time to be a little silly!

The truth is we need to laugh a lot

or we would go crazy during this PCS!

We are about 95% unpacked and started to paint.

Once we are done I will take more pictures of our home.

The car made it about 10 days late along with tire damage.

Once we get that fixed

we will start to travel.

Our New Home!!!

We have moved into our new home!

I am so happy to finally know

where we will live for the next few years!

 (At the playground of the lodge)

 The long hallway to the right after you

come in the front door.

Our room is at the very end.

 Mr. Man in his room before the

 'temporary furniture' came.  

We received beds, a kitchen table w/ chairs,

couch, two chairs and a couple of end tables.

This is all we have until our stuff comes on the

slow boat!! 

 The master closet!!!

It is a walk in!!!!!!

 About five days after we moved in

we got our quick ship!!!

It felt like Christmas to me!!!!

 Dishes!!!

With that came a limited amount of kitchen items

so I could cook!!!!!!

 My coffee pot!!!!!!

I feel like a real person now that I can

have my coffee each morning!

So far we are learning our way around

the town.

A few things to anyone who wants to travel

to this area keep in mind:

1. Wifi- No free wifi like in states. I could get free wifi

at my kids school, coffee shop, any place I went, but

that is not the case here.

2. Public bathrooms~ If you can find one be ready to pay

to go potty.

3. No free water~ When you go out to eat you get bottled water. No free

tap water. Water is the same price as soda, and beer is only a few cents more.
 We realized we drink a lot of water.

4. Spring Water~ I can only find one type of spring water in the stores. Lots of filtered

tap water and bubbly water, but spring water is hard to find.

5. No free phone calls~ Even with a German home phone

calls to another German phone we have to pay.

6. No instant gratification~ Get a cell phone wait 5 hours before you can use it.

Cable will not work, wait up to 24 hours for someone to call you to make the

appointment to come out and fix it.

(That will be a few days later)

It is just a learning curve!

We are working it out.

It may take me a while,

but we learn something new each day.

I still can not believe that we are here!

As we walked around the farmers market one Saturday

I looked at Mr. PC and asked him if it has sank in yet?

We are living in Germany and going

to get to travel all of Europe.

The Army life might suck sometimes,

but this is one main perk of the Army life.

Once we get Mr. PC's work schedule

and figure out schooling for

the kids I am going

to start planning out trips!!!!



Unaccompanied Baggage

Did you all know we are PCSing to Germany?

In early November Mr. PC was told we

could PCS to Germany if we wanted to.

The PCS list had not been released yet, so

it was kind of a gamble, but our family motto is

Go big or go home!

We jumped at the chance to make the move.

After what has felt like forever we are down to less than 60 days

before we jump onto a plane.

The last few weeks have been non-stop.

Lists, lists and more lists have been the story of my life.

The first thing I had to decide was what to put

in our unaccompanied baggage.

This is our quick shipment

that goes by air.

It had to be under 2000 pounds

and needed to be "essential" items

to set up your home.

I think I made about 20 lists just for

this one shipment.

A coffee pot and coffee was always

at the top of my list.

 School supplies, towels and sheets made list.

 We picked a few games  and few other

odds and ends.

I am sure I picked nothing that we will need

and shipped everything that we do need by boat.

 I have stressed and stressed about what to pack,

what to ship and what to store.

At the end of the day as long

as we are together

it will all work out!!

We are moving to Germany!

The four of us are going to have blast.

We plan to spend the next three years

traveling all over Europe.



No Words

No words can adequately

explain how one feels on a day like this!

Nine months is long time

to be apart from your best friend.

Yes, we have done longer, but

just because the time is shorter

the pain is no less.

 I never told the kids when Daddy

would be home, because the one consistent thing

about Army life, is nothing is consistent.

I was not going to tell them he would be home, only

to have to tell them the day had been moved.

 Friday was one of the longest days

of my life, as I waited for the hours to pass.

His boots in the gym time was 12am on Saturday.

 The boots did not hit the gym until 1:30am!

I started waking the kids up at 11pm to get ready.

I told them we had an adventure to go on, but first we had

to make a stop on base to pick up paperwork.

It was not until I pulled the signs out of the truck did I tell

 the kids what was going on. 

Then the show started!

Can you find him?

I found him in a spilt second and then waited for

what felt like a lifetime listening to people talk.

In reality it might have been 5 minutes, but it took

all that I had not to run up and grab him.

 Then the moment that has carried you through

the deployment happens!

You get him back!!!!!

 People often say you forget the

pain of childbirth after you hold your

baby in your arms, but I can say

I forgot the pain of the deployment

once I am in his arms!

For nine months I waited!

I put on a happy face and marched on!

 You get real good at faking it till you make it!

Tears and moments of weakness

only happen at night when

the kids are in bed.

How my kids handle the

deployment is determined, by how

I handle the deployment.

We stayed strong!

 After nine long months, joy and happiness

fills your body!

 You have so much you want to say, but

I love you,

is all that comes out!

 After nine long months you now

know it is going to be ok.

I can finally let my guard down

and be free.

 You are now a family again.

Everything in the world

is right!

I love that man more

then words could ever explain!

It is that love that carries me through!

When love is not madness, it is not love.  ~Pedro Calderon de la Barca