It's Been Awhile

since I've been able to update. We've been soooo busy!! For those who haven't heard, we're moving to Germany in early July. We're very excited! The town we're moving to is called Grafenwohr (prn. Graf-en-veer). It's in southwest Germany, closer to Austria and the Czech Republic. It's supposed to snow a lot more than it did in Mannheim, where we lived before. I've been outfitting everyone in winter gear that I can find on sale to prepare! We've been keeping an eye on the weather, and it's already getting down to the 40's some nights!

Lexie is getting so big! She's trying to crawl, lots of scooting and wiggling happening. She mostly goes backwards right now, but she's getting there. She's been eating baby food for about 2 months now....and unlike her siblings, she prefers vegetables to fruit. She's a big veggie lover. She's doing lots of "talking" too. Her favorite thing to say is "da da da!"

Aiden is the funniest kid! He is constantly cracking us up with the funny things he says/does. He found this old 35 mm camera in the garage and he calls it his "cheese." He carries it around by the shoulder strap and says "my cheeese!" and then pretends to take pictures with it. He's really talking well too. The other day I was clipping his toe nails (which is like wrestling a wild beast!) and Wally was nearby watching TV with Julia. Aiden was screaming and flailing and trying to get away from me, but I wouldn't let him. Finally he screamed "HELP ME, DADA!!" But when he says it, it sounds like "EP ME!" It's so funny. Now whenever I need Wally's help, I say the same thing to him "EP ME DADA!!"
One NOT so funny thing Aiden has started doing is waking up at 6am 7 days a week! He just walks out of his room and into ours and the next thing we know he's yelling "Mama! Dada! NEE NEE!" which means pancakes. He wants pancakes at 6am! He'd eat pancakes three meals a day if we let him.

Julia has just ONE WEEK left of Kindergarten! It's gone by so fast. I can't believe she's almost done. She's done so well. She's reading! She can read over 100 words. I got The Giving Tree from the library last week for a school project and she can read it. We're so proud of her. Her big ballet recital is coming up too. She's doing a ballet and a jazz routine. I'll post pics afterward. I'm nervous for her!

Our remaining time is quickly filling up, and we have a lot to do, a lot of people to see. I'm really excited to move back to Germany, but sad to leave my friends here. Especially my friend Jessie...and I'm sad to leave while my friend Kara is pregnant with her first baby. Chances are I won't see her baby until he/she is over a year old. That makes me sad, so I try to remember all the great experiences my family will have in Europe. We are so lucky! We have to make the most of this opportunity!

If you're going to be in Gainesville 4th of July weekend, that's our last hurrah. Get in touch with me so we can hang out! :)

It's OVER!

The semester is over, and I am so happy!

We've made a decision...the kids and I are going with Wally to Germany in July. I'm not going to stay behind to finish my internship. It's just too much to try to do a full time internship alone with 3 children. The kids have gotten sick more often this semester, and I had to miss internship days when Wally was working out of town. If I stay here, I'm going to be back in that same boat. Let alone trying to keep up with the work involved with teaching full time, housework, and meeting the needs of our kids. I just feel like I'd be setting myself up for failure.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to do my final internship in Germany, at the elementary school on base. UCF has not been too excited about this idea so far, but I'm hoping to change their minds. If they refuse, I'll suck it up and transfer to the University of Phoenix. They have a program already in place. I just know it will add more classes, but it may be a sacrifice I have to make.

So off to Germany we go. We're both excited and sad to leave. I will update again as soon as I can. Things are very busy right now.