My Book Worm

Tanaya finds interesting places to cuddle up with a book.....

What a nerd!

The Big Guy

I couldn't find my kids today.  As soon as I got off of work I headed towards the bus stop where I pick them up.  Where were they!?!  I waited a little longer thinking maybe the busses were running late.  Not only were they running late but they dropped my kids off all the way across post!

It was the funniest thing to see them truckin across the street towards me, especially Tristen.....

The girls were skipping accross the street while their big Bro carried all of their belongings.  His back pack is hidden on his back too!!!  What a great big brother!

Creativity

Naya is my little helper.  She loves to clean and organize.  Look what she did with the fruit!

Sleeping with LeeLee

Its hard to find any words to describe this photo.  Around 2am LeeLee crawls into bed with us.  I get up to use the restroom and find this.......

I had to turn the lights on to get a good shot.  Apparantly Joey moved her towards me to get her feet out of his back earlier that night.....No wonder her sisters always complain about sleeping with her!  I just love it!!

Gymnastics

Kahmea is our little gymnest!

One day she was down in the chinese splits and said "Look Mom!" 

This is the first time she tried these type of splits.  Not bad eh?

She's been diligently working on her chinese splits and keeps creeping down further and further.

Her cartwheels are so fast that I couldn't get a picture without a blur.  She swings those little legs over so fast she's almost doing a round off.  We're working on form at home but unfortunately I wasn't the gymnist in our family.  This is when I wish we lived near flippy dippy  Alisha.  I'm sure Alisha could teach her a thing or two. 

Her favorite is practicing her hand stand.  She can hold it for about 3 seconds and gets better and better form everytime. 

This is also the first time she attemped the back bend.  It was a peice of cake and after the third time of pushing herself up into the position she was able to hold it for 30 seconds. 

She loved it so much she even gave me a pretty smile. 

Gymnist in the making.  With all of her diligent practicing it'll just be a matter of time before she flipping around!

Run to Remember/Firecracker Run

Since I was so lonely last race I brought my buddy along this time and the next:)

Tristen and I before the firecracker run.

After finishing the race we got a T-shirt and a picture with Uncle Sam.

The next race was the Run to Remember. 

This race is in honor of our fallen soldiers. 

Tristen kicked butt this race.  He ended up waiting for me at the finish line. 

Tristen by the "Rememberance" display right before the race. 

The next race is a 10k called the Pumkin run.  Hopefully I can keep up with Tristen on the one:)

Tanaya will be joining us next year and can't wait.

Kahmea's Graduation

Better late than never!

My little Mea Moo graduated from Preschool this year. 

Getting her diploma.

Posing with her friend Chloe

And again with a few more friends.

We can't forget her BFF Talaya!

And her favorite teacher Mr Kevin.

Lastly, her big brother and sister. 

Kindergarden Watch out!!

The Race Is On!

I finally ran my first race.  It was a little over 5 miles and I feel so accomplished.

Before the race!

Yeah...I know....I've packed on some weight since I've been in germany.  Now that I have stopped taking the antibiotics that caused me to put on weight no matter how much I ran and exercised, I've finally began to see results in my weight too which I'm sure will help in future races.  I wish I was told that extended use of antibiotics could cause weight gain.  I feel like I'm starting all over in my quest to be fit.  Grrrrrr. Fortunately I didn't give up my physical exercising and my endurance is still quite strong.

Although I've been running 2-4 miles on a regular basis I was a little nervous about this race.  Besides the fact that it was my first official race....there were horrendous inclinces that prevented even experienced runners to opt out of participating.  I predicted that it would take me about 1.25-1.5 hours assuming that the inclines would slow me down. 

I started off good to my standards but I was being passed up person after person.  Sure I felt a little insecure but I told myself that speed isn't as important as constistancy.  I kept my pace consistant and continued to be passed up by kids and people that were a bit "chunkier" than myself.  How's that for an motivator.  But I didn't get discouraged and kept on trucking along. 

Then the first, longest, and toughest incline began.  I kept my pace and at about half way up the hill several people began to stop and walk the incline.  I kept my pace and began to pass person after person.  This first incline was the defining moment.  After I made it up to flat ground only 1-2 people passed me for the remainder of the race. 

At about 2.5 miles in I hit the "running high" for the first time ever.  I wanted to stop and walk for a minute but my body and mind would let me.  It really is the coolest and most refreshing feeling.  The high remained for quite sometime and it felt so good that I would periodically smile and tell myself how awesome I feel.  Before I knew it I saw the 4 mile marker.  What? Are you kidding me? I'm usually dying right now!  I felt amazing and increased my pace.  The feeling stayed until about the last 1/2 mile when the shortest yet steepest incline hit.  Holy Crap! I said to myself.  This sucks.  I felt the strength to finish hard and pushed hard to the finish line.  I don't know my exact time yet but I know it was a little under an hour.  Better than I predicted.  As for my rank....I definitely wasn't with the leading group but I wasn't even near the end. 

When I crossed the finish line I looked for my family.  I couldn't wait to see them.  After I didn't see them anywhere I called Joey.  The stinky butts didn't expect me to finish so fast and had went home to surprise me with a clean house.  It wasn't long before they showed up.  It felt so good to see their proud faces.  I may have influenced Joey to train to run the next one with me.  I know Tristen is definitely in on the next.  

After the race with my girlies.

After the race with my baby boy. 

It's gonna be great when we're all running races together!

Scenes from Happy Feet!

Tristen and Tanaya joined the RB Players (Drama Club) at Robinson Elementary earlier this school year.  They put on a quite a show for us.  And guess who was the star of the show.  None other than Twitters himself.  He was the main character Mumble!  I always thought Tristen had a strange way of dancing with his feet and all but it looks like his stranginess paid off.....lol

Dunt dada Dah!

And here is Mumble before the show. 

What a cute Penguin if I don't say so my self.

Now you have one of the cutest little hatchlings.

Miss Tanaya

And Kahmea giving her a hip of good luck before the show.

The cute little hatchling being hactched.

Tristen talking to Memphis (his penguin dad)

And Twitters doing some more of his acting. 

And lastly....Tristen doing the grand finale Mumble dance! 

What a great night it was. 

Sad Day For Tris

After months and months of getting on to Tristen for begging the girls for more food after swalling his Happy Meal in one bite we decided no more Happy Meals for Tristen.  It was inevitable!  That boy can eat!  The sad face is actually dramatized for the picture.  He was actually thrilled that he's old enough to get a meal as big as daddy's!  He specifically asked me to journal his last happy meal.  What a nerd! 

Bangs

Bangs on LeeLee turned out to actually work.  We tried this on Kahmea but her curls were just too stubborn.  I just love having such diverse heads of hair in the house.  Fros, Curls, and Waves = Fun Fun Fun

Shhh!

Kayleena is already shuttin the boys up!

"Love In the Elevator"

Stuck in the elevator!

Yep....that was our date night!

Stuck on the elevator at midnight. It was Joey's fault! He wanted to see what happened if he tried to push the door open while it was still moving. Suddenly the elevator came to an abrupt hault! Turned out to be a wonderful date...hahaha....while we waited for the repair man to get us out. It was even more entertaining to try to communicate in different languages neither of us understood while the repair man tried to get us out.

Waiting, waiting, and waiting some more....

And the culprit. 

Definitely an experience and a story that our children & grandchildren will enjoy:)

Dominos

We decided to take it back to the good ol days--before Da Kids!  When we would get competative with games like phase 10, speed, dominos etc.  It brough back alot of of memories. 

Sparkling Cider, Hersery Chocolates, Dominos and the most important ingredients--each other. 

We're doing this more often:)

Butterflies!

Butterflies in my tummy from my super sweet hubby:)

Aren't they just beautiful!

aawww

Christmas Market

Here in Germany they have a fest for EVERYTHING!!! Fishfest, shrimpfest, summerfest, christmasfest.........

The best thing about it is that it's in our own backyard! 

The Christmas Market

The kids standing in front of a lighted miniture village.

And what do you know....Carolers!  But they weren't just any carolers.  They were the youth from the ward:) They even had the kids join in and sing with them!

LeeLee enjoying a Creppe

Yesterday snowballs were litterally falling from the sky and covered all of Stuttgart with several feet.  The very next day its green again!  What the heck.  The rain came and help melt all that snow away.  So now the kids have what's left of a muddy snowman to destroy.

The kids in the city center right next to the castle. 

I just love this shot....all my kids and their crazy poses.

Oh what fun!!!

The Best Potty Training Teacher Ever!

Joey decided he would be a sweet husband and help with getting LeeLee to go in the potty some more.  I came back into the room and this is what I found.

Knocked Out!!!!

A Brother's Love

It had been a long day for Kayleena and she didn't get much of a nap.  She slept in the car for about 20 minutes so I thought that power nap would help her last the rest of the day like it usually does.  But as I was cooking dinner I was wondering where my little monkey that likes to climb up on the cabinets to see what I'm doing (or beg for food) was.  Here is what I found. 

Sound asleep in her brothers arms!

NaeNae wasn't cuddled up there initially...she saw me run for the camera and had to get in the picture.

What a sweet brother!