Everything's Coming Up Golden

Gold. Golden. Shiny shiny gold.  This is literally all we've heard about lately. Lexie is obsessed with anything GOLDEN!!!!
We were at the mall last week and saw these shoes in The Children's Place, and she fell in love! 10 minutes later, she was wearing them.


Yesterday she woke up and declared immediately that she could only eat GOLDEN food.  I could only get her to agree to applesauce and golden raisins for breakfast.  I tried to tell her that food comes in ALL different colors, but she said "What?! Golden food is GOOD!"

Love this girl so much, but she sure keeps us on our toes!

New Beginnings

We attended Meet the Teacher on the 16th, and it went really well.  We really like both Julia and Aiden's teachers, and we're all excited about a new school year.

But before the school year began, first we celebrated this guy's 36th birthday!! Note the gold beads he's sporting...a gift from Lexie... in addition to his party hat horns! What a good sport :)  We love you so much, honey!!



The next morning, we walked to school for the first time.  Julia was talking to him about what to expect in class and how things go.  She's so sweet and loving with her brother and sister.


Julia's first locker! I can't believe how fast our baby is growing up!! :/






Here's my crew after 4th grade orientation on the 25th :)


We've spent this first month really exploring our new surroundings! Downtown Leavenworth has a nice little shopping area, but it is very small town and quaint.  Not a big city.  There are a few antique shops and thrift stores, so I love that of course :)  There's a Super Walmart like 5 minutes from our house in Lansing, so that is amazing compared to living out in the country in Grafenwoehr, with only the PX that closes by 8pm.
We've been to Overland Park a few times.  It kind of reminds me of a bigger Floridian city like Orlando.   I like going there to hit Whole Foods, Oak Park Mall, and Once Upon a Child.  It's about 40 minutes away.
And of course, we've been to Kansas City, in both Missouri and Kansas.  We have enjoyed these new places and experiences.
Today Wally is taking Julia and Aiden to a Kansas City Chiefs football game.  Lexie and I are going for pedicures :)  Everyone's happy :)
Here's Lexie and Daddy yesterday as we waited for the bell to ring in the school parking lot.  Love these two.  With Wally's school schedule, some days he's able to be there with me to pick up the kids.  It's pretty incredible after spending the last year without him.

Our New Home

We're in the process of unpacking and getting to know our new city and surroundings.  We've been to Kansas City on both sides, Schlitterbahn water park, Overland Park, etc.  There are lots of shopping centers and the Oak Park Mall in Overland Park is nice.
The city of Leavenworth is ok, but I guess it had been talked up to me so much by other military wives, that it ended up falling a little short of my expectations.  There are some great antique shops and thrift stores, and a great farmer's market in Haymarket Square twice a week.
It's been great spending more time with the family.  Wally's schedule is lighter, and the kids are still out of school.  Hard to believe our little man Aiden is starting Kindergarten this year.  They'll be going to Lansing Elementary School, which is right around the corner from our house.  It'll be no problem to drive them, and I bet they could even walk.  We'll see.

Here are some recent pictures.
This day Lexie wanted me, but I needed to shower so we could get ready to go somewhere.  So I gave her my sunglasses, parked her on my bed, put on an episode of Dora, and told her to pretend she was at the beach.  Do what you gotta do, right??



Yesterday we went to the Leavenworth County Fair.  We had to park kind of far out, so they had tractors that shuttled you up to the entrance.




Daddy won this prize! Lexie named him "Cookie Dough," which is what she names everything lately!




The kids liked this hang-gliding type ride, but Wally wasn't a fan!



And our family is now the owner of a bunny named Billy.  He's 8 months old and won first prize in his class at the fair. Julia really wanted a rabbit...our neighbors in Germany had a few and she really liked them.



The other day Aiden said to me, "Mommy, scrumptious means yummy!" I said "Oooh, that means YOU'RE scrumptious!" And he replied, "Mommy, how do you know?! You've never tasted a human before!" So funny!