New Year

First I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! How on earth did 2012 go by so quickly? I feel like the older I get the more time seems to tick away at a warped rate of speed. I know this past year I haven't been as dedicated to this blog as I'd have liked to be.

 However I am not going to promise to do so many posts a week or anything of the like. Just trying to do better. I do want this to be a resource to as many people as possible, so with that in mind, and with some changes going in our house hold hopefully I can be more committed to more frequent postings and the most up-to-date information to help our military family, new and old :)



Blessings,

Merry Christmas

It has been WAY too long since I have posted here. I am afraid October was super busy. We moved house, and have been dealing with tons of issues from that. I won't bore with the details but just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy this day with your family and friends. Just wanted to share this little picture from my family to yours.

Photo Credit Heidelberger Photography

October

Well it has been well over a month since I have posted here! Lots of things going on, particularly for me with school that it has just been too busy to write very much. I do apologize. Lets see if I can do a decent update and try to keep up a deal better than I have been with this blog. It is just one of those things, I suppose.


In some interesting news we are moving! Not out of the UK, but onto base housing. Our landlord has decided to sell their home so we aren't given the option to renew our lease. With the number of dependants Franklin has we actually qualify for a two bedroom home, which is kind of stinks since currently we live in a four bedroom and two and half bath. We have been truly blessed by the Lord because on Monday we found out that we are going to get a three bedroom just because there are too many people who need two bedrooms. The other people don't have children so it makes more sense for us to be put in a three. We move at the end of the month! We are super excited. We actually like our on base house better than this one. More storage and it isn't falling apart!

This month is in for a lot of changes. I am going to now be in charge of our base playgroup. It will be fun but challenging. The current lady who is running it is PCSing in February so I offered. I am really excited because I have TONS of ideas for activities, circle time, advertising and I hope to make it an enriching and enjoyable experience for anyone who attends.

The start of October (okay well really the end of September) makes Kalilah now 15 months old! I can't believe how fast she is growing. She had her well appointment on Monday and she is growing like a weed! She is a long and skinny girl! She was 9kg (19lbs 13oz) which puts her in the 9th percentile for her weight but she was 32 inches long which puts her in the 89th percentile for her height! To put it in a bit of perspective, she weighs too little to technically fit into 12-18 month clothing (at least at Old Navy) but she is smack dab in the middle of the 18-24 month height range. So, dressing her has been...interesting. She also had her iron retested (her last well appointment she was diagnosed as slightly anemic) and her iron was much improved! So she no longer needs to be on supplements (goodness). Other than that she is just fine developmentally and seems to be right on track. She also got a couple of shots. Poor thing. She did well. She was really clingy the rest of the day, so it was nice that Franklin was able to go to the appointment and be at home.

Kalilah right before we left for her appointment.

Well, I think that is it for now. I have some cleaning to do before the Mum's bible study group gets here. I co-host that as well. Greetings from England!




Blessings,

Summer's Ending

Maybe it's my desire to be in total denial that classes are back, or perhaps that since our English summer was particularly soggy, but we are clinging on to the very last few days of summer in this house. We've had some fairly good, warm weather since we arrived back from our vacation to the States to see family.

So when I awoke Thursday morning to feel a chill in the air that easily could have been a chilly, mid-October morning back home I let out an audible groan. In the States I LOVE autumn. It is by far my favorite time of the year. The crisp air, the changing leaves, the sweaters, the pumpkin and apple spice! I am still looking forward to these things but I am not ready yet.

I want a few more weeks of sunshine filled days, summer fruit, and flowers blooming. Just a few more weeks of days where Kalilah can play all day outside. Just a little more time of short sleeves, skirts, and sandals. For now I am just trying to enjoy what is left before I accept that summer is fading, and fall is coming upon us. Enjoy some snapshots from some of our summer adventures!

Blessings,

Olympic Games

One of the many, and unique opportunities we've been blessed with since moving overseas has to be that of the Olympic Games. This year the Olympics are in London! We really enjoy the Olympic Games in our house. It's just fun!

We were fortunate enough to score tickets to two different games! We opted (and of course what was based on availability) to see Women's football (soccer). We bought tickets to the quarter finals match not knowing who we'd see but hoping for a good match. We weren't let down! We got to see our host country, Team GB play against Canada. Sadly Team GB lost, but we found out that night that Canada would be matched against Team USA in the semi finals! So exciting! So we snagged up tickets.

What a game! We were so fortunate! The game was amazing! A nail biter if I've ever seen one. We were tied up at the end and went into overtime. The most exciting thing had to be watching team USA score the winning goal!

Team GB vs Canada

USA vs Canda

Unfortunately the gold match was sold out. It would have been awesome to see our ladies win GOLD! We did watch the match on TV, but I bet it was amazing to be at live! So are you watching the Olympics? What is your favorite sport? Are you cheering for team USA, team GB, or another nation?

Blessings,

One Year

So I am a little behind on this entry. I actually had a nice long entry written for my girl's birthday, but had some technical issues. For whatever reason Blogger wouldn't load the pictures properly and I went off and just forgot to mess with it.

Kalilah Bug actually turned one on June 30th while we were on Holiday in American visiting family. Her birthday was beautiful. She looked so big suddenly! I don't know how that happened. It was a great time, and I am glad we were able to go back to the States for a little while so all of our family and friends could join in on her very first birthday. It was really special. I still have plans on taking pictures of her in the tee shirt I made along with the tutu I made as well. Hopefully soon. I need to capitalize on these rare beautiful English days!

Today I took Kalilah for her 12 month check. Unfortunately one of our health care providers just PCS'd so when I called them at the beginning of this month (we had just got back from the states) it was to be a three week wait!

Her appointment, overall, went really well. Kalilah is a tiny girl. She weighed in at 18lbs 12oz today. So she is in the 10th percentile for her weight. However she was 30.5 inches long putting her in the 50th percentile I believe, for height. Her head circumference was average as well, I believe. Developmentally she is right on track, and other than throwing a fit while having to be examined she was fine. She does NOT like having to be confined. At all.

Since we live in an off base house Dr. N wanted to test Kali to make sure we have no worries with lead paint. He also tested her iron. That was less than fun because even though Dr. N told me it would a heel prick (no big deal) they (folks in the lab) decided to draw her blood. Ugh. Meltdown city. I felt cruel making her sit in that seat with the bar down over her lap. However she came out no worse for the wear and it turns out she is actually a bit anemic so we are now starting her on iron drops. Her iron wasn't much lower than normal, so I am going to try to fill her diet with more iron rich food as well. Otherwise she is all set.

Today she also went to her first dentist appointment. She did pretty well. It helped that one of her little friend's Daddy is the dentist. She still cried, but it worked because she needed to open her mouth. No cavities, and doing well.

Anyway that is a little update on our girl. I hope everyone is doing well!

Making Life Simpler

I have been doing a lot of reading lately. It is summer time (though this summer has been very mild in England) and usually the time of year that I love to go through old stuff and purge. I am, by nature, a fairly type A personality. I like a place for a thing and a thing in its place.

So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this blog. I am pretty much in love. I have decided to make it a goal of mine this year to start a journey as a minimalist. I think there is so much truth to the statement less is more.

This first place that is getting a makeover in this house is my wardrobe (than I'm moving in on my husbands). After reading this blog (which is in associate with the blog I mentioned earlier) I have decided to really try my best to move toward the goal of Project 333. I highly suggest clicking and checking out what is all about. Basically it is the idea of having 33 items that you use in your wardrobe, the rest gets packed away in a box for three months, you see how you can do with just those items and then you donate the boxed stuff, after all you got along without it for three months. I personally am not counting shoes and jewlery accessories, mostly because I don't indulge in having too many of those items anyway and can honestly say I wear almost all those items. This is a big step in living intentionally in my mind.

I have a goal for my family. To make wonderful, loving memories. For us to live each moment with as much of a purpose as possible. I want my daughter to remember trips to the park, playing with her dog in the living room, early morning cuddles and sweet moments in life. I don't want her to remember an over exhausted Mama who could never be caught up with laundry. A Daddy too busy organizing our junk, or a Mama who was always trying to go through our stuff, or even parents that were always working to have more stuff. I don't want us bogged down by stuff.

I want us to be able to focus on the important things in our life, and honestly think that would be easier with less stuff hanging around. I am fairly certain my friends and husband think I'm crazy. Haha! I challenge that it isn't crazy to downsize but that perhaps it is the crutch of materialism and the idol that it has become in our lives that makes us baulk at the idea of downsizing.



Blessings,