Saying goodbye to friends

The last few days we were in Germany, we were able to spend time with friends- Ashlyn's best friends. We went to an indoor play place with Laura, William, Aiden, Bella and Harrison. Ashlyn, William, and Aiden are at the top of the slide.Bella
Harrison

That night we had dinner at the Johnson's. Kelly had the girls make "goop," which turned out a bit messier than she had anticipated. Or maybe Ashlyn and I are just messier than she had anticipated. They had fun making it, anyway, though our batch went into the trash. It was very sticky.

After goop, we had chocolate fondue. I think we ended up dunking everything they had in the house into the fondue. YUM.

They had us over for dinner again before we left (thank you!) Kelly again had an activity for the girls. This time they decorated sugar cookies.

I think Christopher was removing a toy from Eavan's mouth, or shoving one in there?

Famous Last Words

Ok, I realize that it has been more than three weeks since the last time that I posted, but for good reason. First of all, our internet has been quite annoying. Then, we MOVED!

I realize that it was just 6 months since we moved the last time, and only 5 months since we received our household goods. During one of the days that we were getting our furniture, Allen mentioned that we could move in a few months. This was after I had painted the entire house, plus I hate moving. I quickly turned to him and said "We are NOT moving." However, we have not been happy with our house. The living room and dining room were tiny. While the bedrooms were huge, they were separated into two different floors, plus we didn't have a garage. I still didn't think we would move, though. Then, our neighbor started talking about this great housing on the other side of town. I told Allen that I would be willing to move, but ONLY to that housing. I liked our little town and already knew people here. However, the more I thought about it, the more I disliked that I was going to be putting Ashlyn's bedroom on a different floor from our own. The more she got up during the night and very early mornings, I became convinced that we were going to want to move. We were not able to stay in the same town, because of the housing that was avaliable.

Last weekend, during Allen's first long weekend after rotation, he (and a couple of his team members) moved us. My job consisted of packing, unpacking, painting, repainting, and cleaning. I started out painting our new living room, since we already had plenty of paint left over. After repainting the old house back to white (which is not near as satisfying as painting a color) I was glad that I hadn't painted any more of the new house. I will still paint the children's rooms, but that is it.

Our internet is still not working great, so I am on a friend's computer right now. So, sorry, no pictures yet. Hopefully, Allen will get our own computer figured out and I can update more often.

So, even though I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done right now, we really like our new house, so it will all be worth it.

Unpacking and LT Dan

Our stuff is here. We have too much stuff! It is very difficult to move into a smaller house. I am not close to having everything unpacked, and in most rooms I have already had to pack stuff back into boxes, where it will hopefully fit in the already overstuffed basement or attic. Ashlyn's room is HUGE, though. It is at least twice the size of her last bedroom, and the closet is actually only a little bit smaller than her old one. We never kept toys in her last bedroom. Right now, almost all of her toys are in her bedroom. There is still plenty of room, but nowhere to put them. As in put them away. Right now they are just piled on the floor. We had baskets in different rooms in Alaska, but it looks weird when there are so many baskets just piled together. (Not that it looked great before, either.) Shelves are needed, in several rooms. I am surely not cut out for this military life, though. I am already dreading the next move. I'm going to have to unpack AGAIN. The transportation guy came on Tuesday and was saying that we have a small house (thanks, we already knew that.) Allen told him we could certainly move into a larger one. NO WAY am I moving again in the next few months. I painted every room in this house, and I'm now unpacking everything. NO WAY. So, if Allen stays in the military until retirement, that is 11 more years. At least 4 more moves. Ugh. But, enough negativity. We are making progress. I can see semblances of what our rooms will look like. And, I am going to like it here. And, Ashlyn has been so excited to have her things back. Like her chair at the table. And, her little table and chairs. Honestly, a lot of the things that I couldn't put away in our kitchen, we don't use anyway. We already have 3 boxes of things to take to the thrift store.

Our kitchen as it was being unpacked. At this point, every shelf and drawer are already full of stuff that is in the wrong place. As the guy started unpacking more boxes, I told him to stop.

Oh, the LT Dan Band performed in Hohenfels on Tuesday night. (So that you know this is Gary Sinise's band, aka. LT Dan from Forrest Gump. They raise money and perform for troops. )We were all planning on going, but Ashlyn had been in day care all day, and it would be late. It just seemed like a bad idea. Allen went though and had a good time.

LT Dan

Ok, Ashlyn is asleep and I need to use this time for more unpacking.

Haircuts and painting and things

Only one more night sleeping on an air mattress. Just one more day of eating our meals on the couch (which wasn't that big of a deal before Ashlyn, but now....) That's right, our household goods are coming tomorrow! I am so ready for everything to be here and so ready for someone else to unpack it and put it all in the perfect place. Oh, wait, the movers don't do that for you.

Does this bed look comfortable to you????

We had/have loaner furniture with beds, table and chairs, and all that stuff. We decided to keep the couch and chairs since we won't have our new stuff until JULY. I called to have the loaner furniture picked up, thinking Monday. Somehow they could pick it up only Friday or wait until Tuesday. So, we've been sleeping on a leaky air mattress since Friday. I discovered that the mattress had a hole on Friday night, but only had masking tape to fix it. It really just makes the mattress leak more slowly. When I go to bed, it isn't too bad. When I wake up during the night, it is less comfortable as you sink to the floor. By the end of the night, you are pretty much sleeping on the floor. I realized yesterday morning that having Allen in the bed with me actually made it more comfortable. I guess since he is the heavier one, he pushes the air under me in the mattress. Yesterday morning, when Ashlyn woke up, I mumbled something about could he get her. As he got out of bed, I sank to the floor. I should have just gotten up for as comfortable as I was. I did manage to go back to sleep for another hour or so. During this time, Allen started Ashlyn's breakfast, changed her clothes, and CUT HER HAIR! It was only her bangs, but they are not straight. At all. Everyone looking at her will have to think "home haircut." He just said that her hair wasn't in her eyes anymore. I had planned on taking her to get a haircut. From a professional. It was going to happen, but I don't have a car. That was the only reason that it hadn't happened last week. I was also hoping to grow out some of her bangs, so they weren't so thick. This would require that she always have some kind of barrette or band or something in her hair, but I wanted it to happen. Allen cut the thick bangs, though. So, we still need to see a professional for a haircut, but at least her hair isn't in her eyes. Hopefully, Allen won't attempt to even it up.

Cute kid with a BAD haircut

I'm sure that you have all been waiting to hear my decision on painting behind the radiators. First I left the wall white in the guest room. I didn't like that, even though it was off by itself. I decided to just paint a little bit behind them and see how that was before going the whole way. After painting just a little bit behind them, I realized that painting the whole wall, without making a huge mess and painting the radiator as well was pretty much impossible. So, I'm ok with how it looks. As of yesterday, I have finished painting the house. (Unless I decide to repaint the dining room and hall, which is a distinct possibility, or paint flowers or something in Ashlyn's room, another pretty good possibility.) This house seems rather plain with my paint right now. I painted many more colors in our Alaska house. Of course, I had more rooms to paint there as well. Plus, I painted the kitchen to look like we had a tile back splash, and here we have a tile back splash. I also couldn't paint the bathrooms, since we have tile covering the walls.

As for potty training news, there isn't any. Every once in a while, she'll show some interest, but for the most part, she just isn't ready. We did buy Elmo's Potty World DVD, though. It pretty much cracks me up (Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter P and the number 2,) though I think it is a pretty good video for introducing a child to all of that.

The busy weekend of one family in a new country with no transportation

Yeah, I haven't updated. We've just been so busy. ha.

• We've hung out in our spacious room.


• Been to the playground (lide, lide, lide) at least twice a day


• Walked to the px (which is a little smaller than the shoppette at Fort Benning, for those of you who are familiar)


• Checked out our possible new homes. (sorry no pictures yet. I'll post once one is ours.) We were given three options, two in Parsberg, one in Grossbissendorf. Just by looking at the outside, we've narrowed down our selections to the two in Parsberg. Parsberg is a bit larger village and has restaurants, a few shops, and a train station. Plus, I just don't like the floorplan in Grossbiss.


• Experimented with new hairstyles.


• Ate at two different restaurants in Parsberg, yum, and on post, yuck. We ate at the bowling alley for dinner. I ordered a currywurst. I figured when in Germany, have a sausage. Yuck. It was a hot dog, people. A hot dog with some kind of nasty sauce and spices. Yuck. After I took the first bite and realized it was just a hot dog, Allen suggested that trying German food on an American post was not a good plan. Yuck again.


• Questioned the purpose of this cupholder?

Update: I saw another one in a public restroom, and it had a cup in it with a toilet brush.

In Germany!

As most of you already know, we have arrived in Germany. (If this doesn't make sense or is rambly, deal with it. I'm tired!) We finally made it to Hohenfels today. I have now been introduced to the Army's way of moving you, which involves several changes of transportation, lots of loading and unloading of bags, and hurry up to wait. Fortunately, we were able to reduce our amount of carry on luggage, so that made it a little bit easier (maybe not, since the rest of our bags were heavier.)

As to the actual flight here, it was really as good as you could expect with a toddler. Even though our first flight was cancelled, they checked our luggage and animals all the way to Frankfurt. So, we only had an hour and a half in Atlanta, but we didn't need more than that. The delay allowed us to sit at the airport in Arkansas with parents and grandparents. During the long flight, Ashlyn had a few crying moments, and really wanted to kick the seat in front of her, but she ended up falling asleep and sleeping for 6 HOURS! in her own seat. Basically, she slept until we landed in Frankfurt. We flew on Delta and were really pleased with them. Allen was so excited about the movie selection that he watched movies instead of trying to sleep.

As I mentioned before, we reduced the amount of our luggage. We did this in part to the use of space bags. If you haven't used them before, they basically smash your clothing together to get the most amount of space, kind of like vacuum sealing. They really helped on space. Of course, then we ended up spending the night in Hanau before coming to Hohenfels. oops. In order to open the space bags to get to my clothes, I no longer have as much room in my bags. Plus, everything is very wrinkled. I met people today looking really cute, I'm sure.

We had a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Hohenfels. Again, Ashlyn slept! I couldn't believe our luck. Allen was met by two guys from his team, who helped us get everything to lodging, took us to the commissary to get a few groceries, and introduced us to a couple of wives while we were there. So far, everyone has been very friendly.

Anyway, we are now staying in a VERY small lodging room. Apparently, the pet rooms are smaller than non-pet rooms. Does this make sense to anyone? Currently, Ashlyn is asleep in the bathroom. Allen will go to housing tomorrow and we will hopefully not be here long.

Ok, I'm done rambling incoherently. I was asked this morning if I was excited about being in Germany. My response was "not right now." Just too tired.

Tour of Arkansas, part 2

Allen and Ashlyn, my favorite subjects

I have wanted to share everything we have been doing in Arkansas, but we have been so busy, I just haven't made it on the computer for longer than a quick email/blog check. Now, I have a little bit of time, but only dial-up! So, I'm not sure for how many pictures I will have patience.

Anyway, we're having a great time! And, we are experiencing SPRING for the first time in 4 years! I love real spring, with the slow flowering of trees, daffodils, and WARM weather. Truly, the weather has been just about perfect most days. I know, boring post going on about weather, but it was 45 below when we left Alaska! 45 below makes it easier to leave. On the other hand, we are already missing a) FRIENDS b) Ashlyn sleeping in her own bed all night long and napping every day, and c) coffee huts. (or Allen is missing the coffee, anyway)

Ashlyn and Granny walking Bubba

So, on to our visit. We were in Harrison for most of our first week. We mostly hung out with Granny and Ol' John. Ashlyn loved to chase the cats ("titties") around the yard and take Bubba for a walk.

Kay with the little girls

I was able to catch up with old friends while we were there. Ashlyn met Kim Smith's daughter. Kim's mom, Kay, was my Girl Scout leader. I was also able to catch up with Amanda (Hager) Fruedensprung and her daughter Beth, who turned 1 on Saturday. Unfortunately, Ashlyn slept through their visit. Ashlyn had been napping so little I hated to wake her. Amanda was my college roommate.

Amanda and Beth

A view of the downtown area in Eureka

Allen and I ditched Ashlyn with Granny one day and went to Eureka Springs, which is a small artsy (and touristy) town near Harrison. They have a beautiful historic district and a small shopping area. It was nice to have the time for just the two of us.

Corn-eater

Moving and Miracles

Even if I'd had my camera with me, I would not have taken pictures of our empty home today. First of all, I don't want to remember it empty. I especially don't want to remember it with bits of trash and cat hair outlines where the furniture used to be. We have some MAJOR cleaning to do this weekend. Gross.

I am actually pretty sad to be moving from here. We have been in our house for 3 1/2 years. (Well, I've been there that long, Allen took a little vacation in the desert.) That is the longest we've lived in any one home since we left our parents' homes. This is also the longest we've lived in one place since college. I am very sad about leaving close friends, who are so like family, our little quiet house in the woods, and so many things that make Alaska unique. I've even been crying about it a couple of days.

However, if I ever thought that I would miss the weather, NO WAY! We've had a pretty warm winter so far this year. Temperatures were above 0 for a good part of January. Very unusual. Still winter, but enjoyable. Now we have a cold snap. When the movers arrived this morning, it was -45. And, of course, they had the doors open most of the day, taking everything that we own to the trucks. I ended up going upstairs and staying there after about 10 minutes. BRRRRRR. Occasionally, I would come downstairs and check out the progress. That would take about 2 minutes and then I would go back up and sit by the heater.

The highlight of the day was our "moving day miracle." Allen lost his wedding band in fall '04. He thought that he'd lost it at the gym, and it was just gone. We found it today! I was so excited! One of the movers said "what's that? Is that a ring?" I saw it and immediately snatched it up, with "that's Allen's wedding ring!!!!" So, not lost, just misplaced. A miracle, I tell you.

Just a little redecorating

All of the latest news

My father was in the hospital over the weekend with chest pains. Thankfully, the doctors found no problems with his heart, and he is now at home.

Ranger came out of his surgery just fine. He looks quite pitiful, but even in his pitifulness, he is still quite the beggar. He followed Ashlyn around this afternoon while she had a cracker. He will be on some restrictions for the next couple of months, but, just as with his other leg, he should be fine after that. I hope this can't happen to front legs, too! He will have the sutures taken out on the 1st, and should be fine to fly that evening.

John, Katie, Robyn, Chris, Wes, Laura, me and Allen

We went out with good friends last night to Lavelle's. Since John and Katie will also be moving VERY soon, we wanted to get together as a group before then. Chris and Robyn will be leaving this summer after having a baby, but Wes and Laura have become sourdoughs and will live here forever:) Thanks for a great time!

Robyn, Katie, Laura, and me

We had movers today. They packed up stuff that we are not taking to Germany with us. Mostly, art supplies and all of my teacher stuff. Makes me kind of sad that I am just assuming I won't need that, but that's how it goes. We will just have to travel on a smaller budget, I guess. But, hey, we won't have to travel around a school schedule or anything. Tomorrow starts the rest of the packing. I can hardly believe that we will be leaving so soon. Someone else will own our house in a week. I will probably always think of it as our house, though.

Ashlyn wasn't feeling well today, so instead of getting stuff done, I was holding her a good part of the day. Not feeling well has seemed to make her thrash around more than normal, so she's had some pretty major bedhead going on. She really loved having her hair brushed this morning.

I ALMOST don't want to post this, because I don't want to beat Jamie to the news. (I just checked their blog, more pictures!) But, Jamie and Chris had their baby boy this afternoon. You can check out his picture and stats online, but no name yet. Congratulations on a beautiful baby boy!