i heart faces–cell phone

This week’s challenge is a photo you’ve taken with your cell phone. I don’t have a cell phone  but I do have my trusty iPod touch. I take it everywhere with me so I have 100’s of photos on it.
This is a photo of my baby girl. Ruby is a grandparent-loving fool. Since we live so far away we take full advantage of Skype. This is how she shows her affection and gives everyone hugs. This was a hug for Papop in Texas. She is such a sweetie♥

This was taken using Hipstamatic.
You can still join in the fun over at i heart faces.

Playground Walks

There are a lot of playgrounds here on base, and one of our favorite things to do is walk around the neighborhood. We started “playground walks” where we just walk to  a playground and play for a bit, then go to another one. The girls love it and I find it much more enjoyable for me. I really don’t like to sit still so it works out perfectly for us.

Today after we got Lilly from school we went to the playground. It was so nice out and so sunny. I had to change my camera settings when the girls were in the shade and in direct sunlight. It was a pain in the butt because my kids don’t like to stand still while mommy tries to take the picture. Oh well. I’ll just be grateful for editing software. I did manage to get a few that I liked. And next time I will pay more attention to the settings.

♥krissy

We’ll Miss You

Back in November we were able to take a whole month and see our families in the states. It was an incredible trip. We are blessed with the most wonderful families. We were proud to introduce them to our girls, many of our family had never met them. Our 4 years in England were met with pregnancies, complications, and passport dilemmas so that trip was a LONG time coming.
One of the most amazing days was when our girls met their great grandmother, Nana, and their great great grandmother, Granny. They were so excited and at that point their was 5 generations in one room. Not many people can say that. I never had grandparents growing up so I was thrilled that the girls would know all of theirs, 4 grandmothers and 3 grandfathers.
Earlier this week the girls were given another guardian angel. Granny passed away and is now in heaven looking down on us. She was so sweet and loving, and I only wish I could have gotten to know her better. We loved her dearly and will miss her greatly.

From left to right:
Granny, Steven, Sadie, Ruby, Papop, Lilly, and Nana

Our Valentine’s Day

We started out the day getting Lilly to school. Steven has Mondays off so he took her like usual. She’s always a little sad to go to school on days that Daddy has off. But off to school she went. She had a “Friendship Party” at school because they don’t celebrate holidays in her class. We helped her make “friendship” cards for her friends at school.

 While she was at school we went to the BX and got a couple of gifts for the girls and Steven. And then at home, I made cupcakes for us to decorate when Lilly got home. After school, we took the kiddos for haircuts and then headed off base to make another payment for our bedroom furniture. Steven then remembered that the girls really wanted purses for Valentine’s Day so we took a detour into Pop’s Leather. They make fake designer bags and other leather related things. The girls saw some pink Coach clutches that they really wanted. While we were looking at all the bags I wanted, Steven found the girls some Gucci purses. I don’t think think he knows what door he just opened. They girls have carrying around their fake Coach clutches in their fake Gucci bags since they opened them. They sit with them on the couch and hang them on their chairs for dinner. They’re too funny.

They were also thrilled to get some Hallmark stuffed animals and cards. Steven got me some tulips, my favorites, and a beautiful basket. I got him the Playstation Move. He has wanted one since before they came out, but has managed to pysch himself out when it came to buying one. He had a lot of fun trying it out last night after the girls went to bed.

Speaking of going to bed, the two big girls get tucked in and go to sleep on their own, but when they were younger and Steven wasn’t home for bedtime, I let them fall asleep in our bed and then put them in their own bed. We were set to do the same thing for Ruby even though Daddy is home for bedtime for the time being. Well last night after we tucked the big girls in, Ruby kept walking down to their room and pointing to their beds. After the 15th time of taking her out of there, we jokingly said goodnight to her and laid her in her crib. We really thought that she would only be in there for a couple of minutes before the tears started flowing. BUT she didn’t even peep. She went straight to sleep. We were so mad! We really like to cuddle with her at night. It’s the only time she sits still and we can just cuddle with her. I know that we are both hoping it was just a fluke and tonight she’ll lay down with us before she goes to sleep.

We had a wonderful day!
♥krissy

Sadie and Lilly Get a Haircut

On Sunday we went down to the hair salon on base. We had been talking about how the girls needed their hair cut badly all week. When we got to the salon we found out they were closed on Sundays, so we left and told the girls we’d try again on Monday after school.
I decided that Sadie needed a shorter hair cut and some bangs basically because she’s 3. She wipes her runny nose with her hand and is constantly getting food in it. The poor child just screams and screams when I have to brush and do her hair. Something had to be done, so shorter hair it was. Lilly on the other hand, has thicker hair and puts stray hairs behind her ears. She really liked the cut she got last time, so she just had it reshaped. They both love getting their hair washed and cut. They really think it’s something special.
When they were all done, they looked so adorable. I really liked how their hair turned out!
Sadie’s hair before:

And here they are after:

♥krissy

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We are having a fabulous day and I’ll back with all the details! Until then, here are a few photos from some mini photo shoots I did with the girls. We hope everyone has an awesome day :)

♥krissy

Bedroom Furniture

When we first got married we didn’t have any furniture. We got a bed from my sister and found a discount bedroom set from  a local furniture store, which was really 2 dressers. We made due with what we had and over the next 4 years we bought different pieces of furniture with tax money, TDY money, and Steven’s reenlistment bonus. We were very excited that here in Turkey you can bring a furniture maker a photo of what you want and they’ll make it for a fraction of the retail price. It took us about a year but we finally decided on a nice bedroom set for us and ordered it about a week ago. It’ll take 6-8 weeks for it to be done, but we are very excited. The collection we choose had a TV armoire in  it, but Steven didn’t like it. We showed Sunny, the furniture maker, a photo of the tall chest of drawers in the collection and he is going to turn that into a tv armoire that will fit up to a 40” TV. Did I mention we are beyond excited for it to be done? Just checking!
We chose a Tommy Bahama set called Kingston.

My favorite part are the spindle bed posts! And, the canopy will be removable and the finial above the canopy will be able to attach to the posts to make a poster bed. We’re hoping that the bed will be high off the ground so for a short time, Lilly won’t be able to climb into our bed in the middle of the night or poke me until I wake up. It scare the crap out of me every night!
We’ll be able to see the furniture as it’s made during different stages, so I will try to take pictures of it. And I’ll keep y’all updated!
♥krissy

School Pictures

We finally got Lilly’s school pictures last week. An oversight in our order caused them to get to us 3 months late. We were very excited to get the anyhow! These were taken before we went on vacation and before Lilly decided she wanted to cut off all her hair. She always looks cute but I have to say that I think I like her hair shorter.

We love this little girl!

♥krissy

Turkey and My New Toy

With part of our tax money this year, the hubs let me get a new camera. I was so excited and so impatient to get that money in our account. If you know me you know I am VERY impatient but have worked hard over the years to be very patient with the kiddos. But when it’s not the kids, I know I drive Steven nuts! But we finally got it and I am the proud new owner of a Nikon D90!! I am in love with it! And I am so excited to learn everything I can about it. I have been taking pictures non-stop since Friday. The girls have been pretty patient with me and the camera in their faces, but I know they’re getting sick of it. Steven said he didn’t want me to take it out of the house until we had a proper case for it. So, he bought a really nice leather bag for Pop’s Leather out in the alley. And to go with it, a new pink couch wallet, well it’s a fake coach but a really good one! I also bought a foam insert for the bag that will hold my camera with attached lens and an extra lens.

From what we’ve heard, we are having a very warm winter this year. We’ve had some very cold days, but for the most part it has been in the 60’s and even 70’s. When the wind blows it does get chilly, but all in all not bad at all. With good weather, we are able to still play outside, which the girls love. Ruby has learned to climb up on the little swing set and slide down the slide. She absolutely loves the slide. She’s also obsessed with balls. She cases them all over the yard. If she finds a small one that is easy for her to carry, she’ll carry it the whole time is playing and will occasionally kiss it! The big girls like to swing and pretend that the little swing set is a pirate ship. They are just happy to be able to run around. The other day they found a weed in the yard and Lilly thought it was broccoli. We corrected her and she and Sadie went off the find more weeds. They were completely fascinated.

This was taken on base here. The mountains have had snow on them for a few months now. They are pretty to look at since I miss seeing snow. I am glad that we don’t actually have any because it makes thing 10000x harder when taking the kiddos out of the house.

Swinging with Daddy :)

Looking for weeds in the grass!

She found a ball in her size!

They play pirate ship/Captain Hook on the little swing set.

Sadie and Ruby in their hiding spot for hide and go seek.

Getting brave with the swings!

Bouncing on giant bouncy balls!

We are going to enjoy the weather until the about summertime, then I gonna pack up the kiddos and are going to find sanctuary somewhere a little less hot! Also known as Yiayia’s (my mom) house. And hopefully Memaw, Papop, and Uncle Shelby will come up for a visit when Steven gets there too! It should make for a good summer vacation!

♥krissy

I Heart Faces–Hearts

This is my first time entering in the I Heart Faces Photo Challenges, but I have admired the site and photographers for a while now. This week’s challenge is hearts and I just took those photos of the girls for Valentine’s Day. Since I did those, I thought it would be perfect to enter one. This photo was taken in our backyard here in Turkey and is of two of my beautiful girls, Lillian and Sadie-Mae. Ruby wanted no part of the photography fun and proceeding to run around chasing balls. She’s only 13 months old, so she can have this one pass

To join in all the fun check out I Heart Faces!

♥krissy

Sick…still.

The entire house is now sick. Well except for Steven. Lilly and Ruby has RSV and Sadie has an ear infection and a blown ear drum. I think she has RSV too and the ear infection was a result. The doctor said that we should keep an eye on Ruby because it could lead to an ear infection for her too. My throat is hurting and I have a headache. So hopefully we get better ASAP because I can't stand anymore of this. I want us to be healthy and get out of the house for some fresh air.

Oh and I went for the thyroid test yesterday. The worst part of it was the migraine I had from not taking any of my medicines. I won't know the results until I get yet another appointment made. Apparently the results take 2 days to come back so we'll see. I'm pretty upset about that but what can you do? So when we are all feeling better I'll be back to updating this more often.

♥krissy