In Okinawa

Hello everyone! I know most of you know that we got here safely, but I figured I would go ahead and post this to let everyone else know. We are moved into our apartment and finally over the jet lag. We have a phone, I didn't bring the number with me, but will send out a mass email with it soon. We don't have all of our stuff and the computer yet, so I am at the library doing this. I just wanted to let you know that we are safe, sound, and finally a little happier. I will update more in about a week when we a hopefully going to get our things.

Love you all,

Karen

Home Sweet Home

Well, we are home from our month long vacation. It felt so nice to sleep in my own bed last night, that I thought for sure I might never get up. Colin must have felt the same way, because he did not get up until 9:30! Today, we are jsut enjoying being back together, since Matt came back two weeks ago, and getting stuff around for the movers. The movers are coming on the 19th and 20th, so we have a lot to do.

Christmas and the New Year were great. We got to see tons of family and eat lots of good food. Ryan got too many trains to count, so he was very happy. However, he is already asking for more stuff for his birthday. Colin got to be a little clingy over the holidays and would cry everytime I left the room. He is already starting to go back to the laid back Colin we knew though and is currently playing with his toys.

We did many other things on our trip including a trip up to Maryland. Ryan and Brenna were almost inseperable (mostly because Ryan followed her everywhere). They had a lot of fun together. Ryan also had fun playing with Caroline. We even got to go to the park and feed the ducks. It was an amazing 67 degrees for a couple of beautiful days. This being said, we are completely in shock in this 0 degree Nebraska weather.

Of course, our days were busy while we were gone, but I am sure you don't want to read about every little detail. So I will just go ahead and wrap it up so I can put some pictures up.

We love you all...and I will be sending out a mass email with our new address.

Vacation !

Well, it is Wednesday night and we are trying to get ready for our big trip east. We are all very excited. Ryan has been throwing random things in the suitcase whenever he gets the chance trying to "pack for Grandma and Grandpa's" Little does he know that he is about to spend more than 24 hours in a car. Ahhh.... the fun and excitement to come! Matt took a clep test about a month ago trying to clep the last two classes he needs for his CCAF (Community College of the Air Force) degree. He got the results for one of them back today and he passed. He is pretty sure he passed the other one since he passed this one. As long as he passes both he will recieve his Associate degree about a month after he gets to Kadena.

Anyway, I had better get busy packing!

We can't wait!!!!!!!

The time is flying by

Sorry it has been so long everyone! I can't believe it has been more than two weeks since I have written anything. Bad! Bad! Lets see what has happened....

Ryan, the dare devil, fell and broke his arm. I know what you are thinking, "no wonder as wild as that kid is!" However, he actually fell and broke it while taking a simple step. The doctor said it is a buckle fracture and that it is common. He was going to get full cast on to replace his partial, but it needs to come off around New Years and as most of you know we will not be here. So, they left the partial on and we have to go back in on the 16th so they can take some more pictures and see how it is doing. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they say it looks good and let us take the cast off.

We ended up putting some decorations up after all. We decided to go with a short and stumpy tree since it was the cheapest. Ryan had a blast decorating it, and spent most of the night sitting in front of it and asking when Santa was coming.

This week is the boys last week of school as well as mine. One of my classes ended today, but I still have two finals left to go. Ryan has been taking a sort of dance class at school and they are going to have a christmas show on the 17th, but unfortunately he will not be there.

Colin can now push himself up from his stomach to sitting. I haven't seen him do it yet, but his teachers and Matt have gotten to see it. I took Colin to the dentist because his front two teeth are discolored and he said that the enamal has not formed all the way there, so we will need to keep an eye out for cavities in those spots.

Matt and I are still waiting for orders. We are hoping to get them on Monday or Tuesday of next week. We really need to get them before we leave so we know what is going on and what kinds of plans we need to make.

Well, I will be sending out Christmas cards soon so I probably won't update for awhile. I hope everyone is doing well and we can't wait to see everyone when we come home.

Sleepy Sunday

It is about 5:30 here and Matt and Colin are fast asleep, Ryan is watching a movie, and I just finished raking leaves. Let me start by explaining the pictures above. The first is of Ryan while we were baking a pumpkin roll. I told him that I had to measure the pumpkin stuff and he said I'll do it and went and got the tape measure. The second is just of Colin and I, since Colin was watching us bake. The next to are what my living room currently looks like.

I was supposed to study today, but I didn't get a whole lot done as it is very hard to make myself study for a class that won't really count for anything. Anyway, I did get a little bit done. I have two tests this week, but I do not go to the hospital since we havea short week.  We are going over to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I am going to make half the food and Kim will make the other half. This way I don't have to worry about having people over when we are trying to get things ready to move. What really stinks is that we probably will not be putting up Christmas decorations this year since we will need to pack that stuff to go to Japan. For those of you who have ever seen me in the time from October to December you know this will be very hard for me! So, for all of you up there in Virginia(Mom), we are looking for TREES and LIGHTS. (hint hint)

Well Ryan is starting to get embarassed about stuff now. He gets worried that people might see him naked or that people might think he looks "silly". When the neighbor girl came out earlier (she is 14) he ran inside because he didn't want her to see him with a hat on because he didn't look "very pretty" I let him take it off for a quick minute so that he could run out in the yard, run up to the fence and say hi, and then run back in.

Colin has gotten up on his knees three times now just to rock back and forth real fast, but he hasn't moved anywhere yet. We have figured out that he doesn't really like to smile at strangers. People come up and talk to him and he just gives them a long hard stare and won't even begin to crack a smile. It is funny to see how different he is from Ryan, who would smile at anyone who even glanced his way.

Well, I better go. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. We can't wait to see you all over there in Virginia and Maryland. We love you.

 

Winter Must Be Here

Well, it's officially COLD here. It was only a high of 43 today and this morning when I left it was 31 with horrible wind. The wind of coarse is no big surprise since it doesn't matter what season it is here, it is always windy!

Matt and I have once again been struggling with the idea of me quitting school and going to Japan. We tried to swap the orders with someone who really wanted to go, but that got denied only a few hours later. It is so depressing to think that it is going to take me 10 or more years to finish a four year degree. With all this time and money lost, I should be a doctor by the time I get done. It just doesn't make sense to start a degree when you are 20 and not finish until you are older than 30. We have been entertaining the idea of me going to live in Viginia and going to school there. It seems nice to talk about, but I am not sure how well that would all work out.

Colin and Ryan are good. Ryan has three little girls in the 4 year old room that like to send him little love letters. He barely knows their names, but he is always ready to show off the stack of papers he brings home from them and will readily tell you that he has three girl friends. Luckily he doesn't really know what that is, and considers them that simply because they are girls. Colin is doing great at sitting up, but is in no hurry to crawl. Ryan was already long gone by this time, but we are in no hurry since the house is not child proof yet. Colin now has four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. He is not eating any cheerios or anything yet though. The doctor told me to try them out, but Colin chokes on even the smallest piece of anything.

Well, I hope you are all doing well. Hope to hear from you soon.

Terru it was good to hear from you, give me a call.

Sick Days Over Here

Hello everyone! Sorry there hasn't been anything added lately. I had strep throat all last week and I have spent most of this week trying to catch up from last week. Then today I got some kind of quickie stomach virus. The kids have also had non-stop coughs.

Ryan had a blast this Halloween. He was Thomas the Train and Colin was a pumpkin. I took Ryan around the neighborhood to gather some candy. He was actually a very good listener not running, staying on the sidewalk, saying thank you. It was fun for the both of us. It was actually a pretty good night for it too as it wasn't very cold. Matt dressed up this year too, as a convict.

I started going to the hospital today (and actually had my own patient), which was a new experience to say the least. My patient today was very nice and really wanted to get well, which makes all the difference. Unfortunately, I got sick at the hospital and had to leave a little early.

Well, I hope everyone is well. ER is on so I gotta go.