The past week or so...

Story Time at the library.

Last weekend the girls started gymnastics. They were so excited, especially Sadie since she wasn't old enough in England. They did pretty well. Lilly loved showing her teacher all the things she already knew. Sadie was pretty good too. Steven and I often forget how young she actually is because she keeps up with Lilly so well and they are about the same size. She had her moments when she would run off and want to do something else in the gym, but she was probably the most attentive of the 2/3 year olds in her class. Oh and both Lilly and Sadie were the smallest kids in their classes. I even think there were some kids in Sadie's class that were bigger than Lilly. We move to Turkey and all the sudden their are big kids. I mean there are some 3 year olds that look 5 or older big. It's crazy, but the girls seem to have enjoyed their classes.

Playing in the play room.

Playing on the futon with their own toys.

We still don't know if Lilly has been accepted into the pre-K program here. There isn't a preschool but the elementary school offers the pre-K. I am starting to get a little annoyed because here it is August 13 and school starts August 30. Um...that's like in 2 weeks. We were pretty sure they require dental exam/physical to start so we were luckily able to get in with the dentist here. Unfortunately, Lilly has cavity. I was shocked. She has always been pretty good at letting brush her teeth. We are waiting for our dental insurance to start and then she will go to a Turkish dentist to have it filled. Steven will have to take her because they will not give me a gate pass, so being stuck on base will continue. There isn't a pediatric dentist on base so they are sending her to someone who has been working with the base dentist for the past 13 years. Sadie's appointment went really well. She use to have horrible stranger anxiety so I was nervous that she wouldn't cooperate. I even thought that since Lilly had a cavity Sadie would have one too because she doesn't always cooperate with me when I brush hers. Thank God she did well and doesn't have any cavities.
I showed the girls how to make their beds last week and since then they have been making their own beds while I make mine. They do a pretty good job, Lilly especially. She took the time to figure out how to fold her fleece Transformers blanket all by herself. It's crazy how big she is getting and how smart all three of them are. 

The many faces of Ruby Elaina!

Ruby is doing great. Her eczema sores are just about gone and she hasn't been scratching much anymore. And because it is getting better she has been able to take more baths. She loves the bath tub. She'll sit there and just splash and splash. She is eating well and growing. She loves table foods but also loves baby food too. We usually feed her some baby food at every meal (she doesn't always eat it but we offer) and at dinner we will give her some of the food we are eating. She's also getting mad because she can't move around yet. I can't believe she is 8 months old already.

Steven is on dayshift now and we LOVE it. He is getting a little more sleep and a better quality sleep. And it is great that we have his days off together. Before he would be sleeping for half the day and be exhausted when he was with us. Still the girls wake up in the morning looking for him even though they know hes at work. And at least once a day Lilly asks if he can come home or if he can stay home because she misses him. We were even able to make it to church last weekend and it was nice. Lilly and Sadie have been asking when we were going to go back to church. Taking them by myself usually turns into a nightmare so it's good that Steven was able to come.
My passport finally came in and is now turned in for my new residency permit. Once that come back we start the process of our COT (continuous overseas tour) leave paper work. We really would like to be in Texas for Thanksgiving and in Pennsylvania in the beginning of December. We are so excited. All of us are anxious just to go back. Hopefully soon! I'll post videos in a separate post because there is like 6 of them!
-K