A warm jacket, some make-up and as always soaking up quality time with my buddy

The boys were glued to "Bee Movie" Jerry Seinfeld is already a hit in their world
Nick LOVED Sephora. He stuck his finger in just about every make up sample and sniffed all perfume. He didn't want to leave. But we had to get him home and clean off that baby clear complexion!

This is Nick deciding how warm the winter jacket really needs to be..... This one, too warm =) Stay-puffed marsh mellow - yes, able to walk, no!

Who grabbed the gold fish?

Nick - this is how I see it, my folks have little intention of taking me to Germany - so you will have to be my life line - skype me!

A few Relaxing days before Chris Leaves

The perfect sized glass for Nick----just so happens to be the shaker top for the drink mix.... Keeps his water nice and cold -) Austin Texas Botanical Gardens

Hey Mom - where is all the water?!?!?

Prost!! Goomba - How much do you think these Koy are worth?? Chris is reaching the home stretch in his departure - his flight leaves Sunday at 12 noon. He is headed to Virginia first to get hooked up with the home office (maybe catch the inaururation ;)

And so it begins

On 2 January 2009 Chris and I decided to make the change. We accepted the career change and making the move to Stuttgart Germany.

Chris is leaving 19 January as the leader of the Advanced Party. He is tasked with finding a great place that has -

a S-bahn stop (for easy airport shuttling)

rolling biking trails

a schwimbad

a kindergarten

fresh markets in walking distance

a postcard worthy square.

He also gets to purchase the family vehicle. I am hanging my hopes on a Mercedes/VW/BMW station wagon=)

Chris flies back to Texas around 11 Feb. At that time we will load up 2 20' mill vans and ship everything to Texas. Chris intends to run the Austin Marathon with Andy Bury on 15 Feb and than board a plane with Pauli - to CT. We are staying with my family from 15-23 Feb and headed to Stuttgart at that time.

To keep folks up to date with all the excitement I decided to start a blog....... We will see how it goes.

This weekend was consumed with 'unconsuming' - yup, that means getting rid of it!

Chelcy started the process by eliminating 5 HUGE bags of clothes from my closet It was a significant emotional event =) and amazing to see how you can get attached to clothes that are OUTDATED (the spice girls dress survived and is in the Halloween costume bag....) Now it feels like I have more clothes since I can see them all.

Chris rooted through the attic and complied HUGE bags of Army gear (to include 20 + shirts, mop suits, and several binders filled with countless OPORDs)

We have a million postings on craiglist - so if you know anyone in need of anything from a house to rent, to a Passat, Tahoe, phones, boots - you name it! come and get it.

Last night we had a blast at Misty and Brad's house. We are lucky to have kid friendly evenings where the Adults can chil and the kids can where themselves out! It was perfect and one of the 10 ten things we will miss.

A blog for Chris

Every time I get to catch my husband on the phone, I know how much it stinks to be talking to us and not enjoying vacation with us. Sure its nice to be home and solo - but I know he misses these little guys so I wanted to post some extra photos just for him. We will see him on Friday and I am not sure who is more excited, Nick or Chris.....

Here is some playground time with Oma Sue and Goomba and one of my favorite shirts - got lobster (Thankfully Shane hasn't tried lobster yet - does that make me a bad parent, or smart one??)


Yeah, a smile from Shane!! Almost impossible to achieve with a camera


Nick the climber


Wait, is that another one??


Yup, that looks about right....


Swinging in action!





Book time at night


Actually, we can't get enough of book time


Nick and I were trying to recreate the JCrew photo shoot =)


One foot is yellow, One is green. Nick is thrilled to get up every morning and have the paint still on!!


We did some fun errands like filling up the car and I couldn't resist packing in my two cuties to sport around.


Shane thought it was o.k.


Nick, of course loved it!


Next, to the pool - BTW, as my piece of advice - I LOVE these swim belts. My sister-in-law Shannon swears by them. As a former swim instructor I think they are fabulous. They keep the kids up while teaching them to use legs, arms etc!! They are made by water gear and I found them on amazon for $9! Grab some!!


I love little dudes fresh out of the water - even if they look a little grumpy....


Nick is rarely grumpy....


Cocktail hour with 2 dudes and a pregnant mom consists of cheese-its, Cheese (that Nick loves to cut) wheat thins, milk and Crystal lite - will someone please share a cocktail with me!!


Bellie shots - so why do you think my boys are doing this....


Does this answer your question?? We can't 'shoot' at the head, only the bellie - wonder how this will affect my kids later in life.


well my wonderful husband, I hope you woke up and enjoyed the pictures this morning. Now enjoy your final day in Germany and travel safe to have some much deserved relaxation with us! We love you and cannot wait to give you big big hugs!!