A look back

I was thinking today about how fast the last 3 years have gone by but I was remembering that my kiddos were just so little when we got here.  This picture was taken on the 4th of July three years ago when we had just moved in. Holy cow have these cuties grown up!  I just can't wait to see what the next three years will hold for us.

The Final Countdown

I feel like the last couple of weeks have been painful as we know our time in Texas is winding down.  I can't believe that the packers come on Tuesday to start boxing up everything.  It seems like we have had a lot of "lasts" and it is starting to make us all very sad.  We have had an amazing 3 years in San Antonio.  We have had great visits with family, amazing friends, great classmates, wonderful opportunities to serve, and so much fun.  We were so excited when we found out we were moving to San Antonio and we have not been disappointed. It has been everything we had hoped for and more.  I have a feeling that we will be through here again during our time in the military so I won't feel bad about the places we didn't get a chance to see and things that we didn't get to do.

In an attempt to take full advantage of free time left in San Antonio and time with Abe, since he won't be joining us in Yuma permanently until September, we went to visit the Quadrangle at Ft. Sam.  I had only heard of this place through playgroup rumors but it looked fun from some of the pictures I had seen.  So we grabbed some of our aging veggies and went to feed some animals at a little grassy area surrounded by stone walls on base.  We had a great time enjoying the lovely weather, feeding cute animals and taking in all the green.  I'm trying to soak in all the green I can before we moved to the desert.  I have a feeling it will be what I miss the most in AZ.  I remember thinking how brown San Antonio seemed when we moved from the beautiful green mountains of western Virginia and now I keep thinking how green San Antonio is.  I guess its all relative.  The other day Taylor was looking at Yuma on Google Earth and she called to me with a lot of excitement in her voice.  She said "Look mom.  I found some green grass in Yuma.  Isn't it beautiful?"  I guess she will be missing the green with me. But I guess the astroturf in our yard in Yuma will count as green, right?

 The peacocks were very fond of being fed but several of them weren't very fond of sharing so there were a lot of ruffled feathers.  They also loved to sneak up behind us and let out a loud squawk.  I hate being startled so they were not my favorite.

 Brooklyn had mixed feelings about the animals to begin with and made sure to keep an eye on them at all times.

 The deer were so sweet and tame.  I loved to hear Ethan talk to them as he divided out the food they would all get.

 Brooklyn wouldn't take her eyes off the peacock long enough to smile for a picture.

 Ethan was less enthusiastic than Taylor about a group picture but he was a good sport.

 This is what an oak tree should look like.  I have never gotten used to the tiny sad little oak trees they have in San Antonio but this one reminds me of the trees in South Carolina.

 Brooklyn had a love/hate relationship with this little duck.  She was afraid of him at first but then she decided she really wanted to pet it.  I tried keeping her hand away but she kept putting it back out there.  And of course those chubby little fingers look very much like the baby carrots we were feeding the ducks so eventually the duck tried to eat one.  Luckily it was just a little nibble and I think she was more startled than anything.

Such a great day together!

Missing our sweet family

We were so lucky to be able to squeeze one more trip in to Dallas to visit our amazing family up there before we leave Texas.  It was an absolutely perfect weekend and none of us were ready to leave when it came to an end.  I wish I would have taken a few pictures but we were too busy having lots of fun.

We had the chance to visit our ADORABLE nephew Caleb in the NICU while we were there.  He is even cuter in person than all the pictures we have seen of him.  It was so nice to finally meet him!  All of our kids have a cousin in this family very close to them in age so Caleb is Brooklyn's playmate.  We can't wait to see them together one day soon.

Abe's brother had planned a huge surprise party for his wife for this same weekend so it was so fun to get to be in on the surprise for her.  We dropped all the big kids off at a gymnastic place for their open gym and the adults went to a cable lake for wakeboarding.  I have never wakeboarded before but it was such a great time.  At this place you don't wakeboard behind a boat but rather by cables that pull you around a loop.  It was great for beginners like me.  Everyone was so nice and we just had a blast.  The kids all played so nicely together and we had lots of time to visit so it was just a perfect weekend with family.  We have been so lucky to have family relatively close for these past 3 years.  We are looking forward to moving a little further west to be closer to Abe's family for the next couple of years.

The End of Another Year

Where has the year gone?  It seems like a blur but it is official that summer has began and we are getting closer and closer to moving from San Antonio.  The kids both had great years in school and were sad to know that they would be leaving their friends and wonderful teachers.  I was a terrible mother and forgot to check the battery in the camera before Taylor's graduation so we really didn't get many pictures of that but here she is with her two teachers on the last day of school.  Taylor learned so much in school this year.  It seemed like overnight she went to reading small sight word books to reading easy chapter books.  She is still my little rule follower and would report home every day who could not follow the rules.  It's funny that she acts like she doesn't understand how people can want to break the rules yet she breaks rules at home all the time. I think she puts home and school in different categories.  She went to a week of dance camp at the YMCA this week and she was worried that if she missed the first day of camp then she might miss the explanation of the rules and it would be awful.  It seems that some kids in the camp didn't have a problem breaking rules and the whole group had to sit out of free play time as punishment.  Taylor pointed out to me one of the girls that caused the problem and told how she stood up when they were supposed to be sitting and you could tell Taylor was MAD about it.  She cracks me up.

For some reason Ethan's school handed out certificates in class rather than an assembly and decided not to tell the parents about it.  It is so frustrating because there are quite a few parents that are in the school almost every day so they get information but the teachers don't seem to feel the need to pass the information along to the other parents that try to keep a reasonable distance from the classroom.  So I was a little bummed that I didn't get to see Ethan get his award for the top reader in his class.  He has really started reading for fun lately and can plow through some pretty big books.  I am really hopeful that his class next year will be able to challenge him instead of just giving him lots of time to read books in class.

Of course Abe was also a big graduate this year.  We are so proud of him finishing is EM residency.  It has been a long 7 years of medical school and residency and I can't believe it is over.  With all the bumps we have had in the road during those 7 years it seems like a miracle but we are so excited for Abe to start a new chapter in his life.  He is a pretty amazing doctor!

 For graduation/Father's Day we got Abe a projector to watch movies on and it has been so fun.  The kids have decided it is so much better than the movies.  I see a lot of movie nights in our future.  Other than the truck, I think it is one of the few presents I have surprised Abe with that he has really liked.

Last Beach Trip for a While

We had made plans to see our wonderful family in Dallas a few weekends ago but Ethan had a cough so we decided that we didn't want to give anyone our germs up there but the kids were so upset about missing a fun weekend that we decided to head to the beach instead.

This was Brooklyn's first visit to the beach and her took her a little while to warm up to the idea of hot sand and cool water.

 Ethan and Taylor had a blast as always but they were missing friends that we have gone to the beach with in the past.

 This was the first time Brooklyn put her feet in the water.  She wasn't thrilled about the wet sand or the cold water.

 No trip to the beach is complete without being buried in the sand by their dad.

 By the end of the day Brooklyn had gotten used to the idea of sand and had fun playing in it.  She liked it a lot less when I had to try to get the sand off of her in the cold showers.

After all our fun we stopped for some yummy seafood before heading home.  We all ate too much and had a great time.  Less fun was the stomach bug Ethan got that night because shrimp does not smell good when you throw up.  I think that would have to be some of the worst vomit EVER.

We are looking forward to some trips in the near future to the Pacific coast and all sorts of new adventures.

Nine Months Old

I just can't believe how fast time has flown and continues to fly.  I can't believe how big my little baby is getting and how many new tricks she is figuring out.  I love to see her figure out new milestones and master new things.  It seems like I took these things for granted a little with the other kids but after seeing our foster kiddos and how far behind they were at some of the skills I have a new appreciation for the role we play in teaching them everything and helping them develop.

Brooklyn is her own little person these days with her own little personality.  She is not a big fan of baby food and pretty much refuses to eat it.  And even real food she is particular about.  Pretty much with every bite she will stick the tip of her tongue out and taste what is on the spoon before she will open her mouth all the way.  If she doesn't like what she tastes she will shake her head "no" and flap her arms around to make sure you get the message.  But when she does want to eat something she likes to keep food in both hands.  She will pick up a cheerio in the palm of both hands and then grab another with her fingers and eat that one.  You usually have to pry the remains from her hands at the end of a meal because she doesn't want to let them go.
I had my doubts that she would ever learn to really crawl because she thinks she is just going to walk but she has figured it out.  For the last several weeks she just wants to cruise or have someone hold her hands and walk around.  Neither of the other kids walked until they were 12 months old but I think she might beat them both unless she figures out how to crawl before we get to Yuma and hard tile floors.

She absolutely loves other kids and will wave hi at people to get there attention.  She is a mama's girl through and through but she flashes some big smiles when she sees her dad.  She doesn't want him to hold her but she sure does like it when he is around.  I think it is so interesting how good she is for him and how whiny she is for me.  They can be sitting in the playroom and she will be entertaining herself without any problem and then minute she hears my voice she will crawl over to me and whine and want me to help her stand.  It can be so frustrating.

Brooklyn is not a cuddly girl so I have to steal my snuggles when I can.  She usually grabs on tight when she doesn't want to get into her carseat so I try to leave a few minutes early to take advantage of them.  And I steal a few after she nurses during the night.  Any other time she wants to be facing away from me and seeing what is happening in the world.  She can't get enough of what is going on around her.  It can be very frustrating when she is trying to nurse somewhere and she wants to constantly know what is happening.  Her head peeks out every minute just to make sure nothing exciting is going on.

She has just started making kissing sounds and I love it so much much.  Those kisses melt my heart.  She has also started saying "ma, ma, ma" which is nice since she would only say "da, da, da" up until this month.  I don't know if she knows what she is saying but I love it anyway.