What do the litte girls do while Lilly is at school?

They like to play dress up, make silly faces, tell me when to take a picture, and play together. Ruby has started to put her finger onto her cheek and squeal "Cheeeesssse!!". She does this whenever she wants me to take a photo of her. She's pretty cute when she does it and she'll usually stand on the coffee table for the picture. They miss Lilly a lot when she's not with us so I think they will be really excited for summer vacation.







-k

Big News, BIG NEWS!

We have a new member of our family. Her name is Sophie and she's a 2 year old bichon frise. She is the sweetest little thing and the girls adore her. They have wanted a small dog for a very long time. We had 2 other dogs before her and things did not work out well with them and part of the reason was the dogs were bigger than our kids. All 3 girls are very petite. They have grown a LOT over the past year but they are still the smallest compared to other kids their age. Bigger dogs are intimidating and can easily push them out of the way. Sophie is just a perfect fit for us. She is sweet, gentle, well behaved, and cute too! We are thrilled to have her join our family.

We also got some more big news this weekend. We received our next assignment.

 We are headed to Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan! We are so excited to go there and make it our home. The girls are ecstatic. Lilly has learned that all of the kids in her class are military kids too and they all go through the same process of packing up and moving. Sadie and Lilly both remember the physical process of moving- packing up the house, getting on an airplane, staying in hotels, getting a new house, and then wait and wait some more for our belongings to catch up to us- and are excited to see where this next chapter brings us. At school when someone moves they will tell the class where they are moving to and try to "prepare" them for the changes. Lilly remembers where all her friends that have gone so she is hoping that she sees them again. I know, I know. Most of you are saying explain to her that there's a good chance she won't see them. But, there is a little boy in her class here that was in her nursery school class in England. They remembered each other when he moved here and have enjoyed that.
Sadie is thrilled because there is a Disneyland in Tokyo, ha! She likes looking at the photos of our trip in Disneyland Paris in 2007 when I was pregnant with her. She wants to see all her favorite characters, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy. That is a big one on our list to do there. Either way we are excited :) I will try and keep this blog up to date on all the different parts of PCSing to the other side of the world!

-k

The Other Playground

Here is the rest of the photos from last Saturday. This playground is in the middle of some older housing in our neighborhood. We like it because it has stuff for everyone, a LARGE playground structure, a small structure for Ruby, swings, and a couple of merry-go-rounds. It also is pretty shady so it's really nice to go to and let the kiddos blow off some energy. The girls rode their bikes and there was even a little girl there that Lilly knew from school. There really aren't many pictures of Lilly because she was running all over the place.  Seriously, she was everywhere. So you won't see many of her. But here are some of this part of the day.










Check out so more here, Fleur De Lis Photographie.

-k

A Saturday Off?

Steven has been on normal day shift schedule for the past week or so. What I mean by that is 8 hour shifts with Saturday and Sunday off. I seriously cannot even remember the last Saturday he had off. And on nights, his first day off he would sleep half of the day so we wouldn't see him. This past Saturday he had off and had gone to sleep normally on Friday, so when the girls woke up and he was waking up too they started getting excited. Lilly figured out that she was going to get to share breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him. She and Sadie were giggling because they were so excited. It was so cute to see them that excited over something as simple as sharing meals together.



Since we're pretty early risers, we took advantage of the day. We ate breakfast, got dressed, and headed out. The girls got on their bikes, Ruby in the stroller, and we headed for a playground. We got there and the girls parked their bikes and headed on to play. There were flowers there to pick, a giant playground, and they were able to ride their bikes around it. Ruby felt left out because she couldn't take her bike and helmet so she borrowed Lilly's helmet to play in. And yes, Lilly's helmet did fit her. Sadie and Ruby have big heads- Thanks Steven!- and Lilly's head, even though she's older and taller, is the smallest of the three.



What I love about these days is that I take my camera and just photograph whatever I can. The girls will occasionally break from playing for a little while and let me take a few photos while they rest. After they excitement form the playground wore off we packed up, got on bikes, and headed to find another playground. We found another playground and gazebo and played there for awhile then headed home for a much needed potty break. The girls were beat so we headed out for lunch and then back home so Ruby could nap. And when she woke up we headed to another, you guessed it, playground! But since Ruby is about to wake up from her nap and we have to get Lilly from school, I'll save it for another time.




And for even more photos, check out my other blog, Fleur De Lis Photographie.

-k

Oh and I am making it a priority for Steven and I to take more pictures together and to try and get some more family ones, you'll see more and more photos of us. And Steven hates it!

Sprinkler Fun and a Little Blog Safety

First off- I am going to be adding a watermark to all the photos I post, especially the ones of the girls. While I know most of you who read this are friends and family that I trust, I just want to take precautions in the slim chance someone does try to steal them and pass them off as their own. With that if you would like to use one or would like to print them please just leave a comment at the end of the post with your email address, if I don't already have it, with the ones you want and I will do my best to email or send them to you. The internet here is just wonky so there is no guarantee of when because I have actually had days go by before that I wasn't able to get certain websites- like AOL, Flickr, or Blogger- to even load.

Anyways back to the sprinkler. It has been getting warmer and warmer here so Daddy decided it was time to buy a new sprinkler for the kiddos to play in. Luckily when we went to the BX they had a kids sprinkler mat in the shape of a turtle. We thought we were going to have to just get one of the regular ones for watering your yard so we definitely lucked out. We were also able to find the big girls tankinis. We are big fans of two pieces for them because it is much easier to go to the bathroom, but we also wanted them to be fully covered so we're happy with what we found. Needless to say we had a great afternoon.
I took photos of the girls while Steven started the fire pit. He made smores- by himself because the girls and I just have no patience to roast marshmallows, we played bubbles instead. I love how even with all the things going on around her, Sadie was still just playing in her own world at her pace.



Ruby was thrilled with the water and wasted no time going straight in. Lilly was a little skiddish and I think it was because it was cold water but she had a big 'ole grin on her face the whole time. Sadie walked around it for awhile and then went straight through it. They really wanted Daddy to go through it with them, so he did for a little bit and then made the smores. Ruby called them smoes, Sadie called them snores, and Lilly was just upset that they couldn't say the word properly. Needless to say that as soon as the finished eating them they were muddy and chocolatey so straight to the shower they went. And after about and hour and a half outside they had some pretty nice tan lines going on. 




Oh and the turtle had a toy feature to it. On the torso of the turtle there was tiny turtles in fake water that moved all around. Lilly and Sadie went on and on about how the turtle was pregnant. It was pretty funny. They have the funniest conversations with each other, especially in the car!

-k

PS. Don't forget to check out my new photography blog and follow on there!

Fleur De Lis Photographie

So I have decided that I would like to start a photography business. When, I don’t know. I am in no rush to get it started because we’ll be moving in 9 months and we don’t know where and I am taking the kiddos back to the states for the summer. So in the mean time I am absolutely content on practicing until we are are settled at our next base. I started a new blog that I’ll start just posting anything photography related over there. I also have a bunch of photos that I have wanted to share but take much too long to load onto Facebook. I’ll still be posting about our everyday lives on here. You can find my photography blog here, Fleur De Lis Photographie. If your wondering about the name, it is after Miss Lillian. She was the first reason I wanted to learn photography. Also, Steven and I have always been partial to the number 3. Three words in “I love you”,  3 baby girls, and 3 kisses when we say goodbye, and three petals on the fleur de lis. It just fit.  Looking around our house you’ll find clusters of 3 everywhere, which I just noticed so it just seemed like the natural choice.

So for the foreseeable future I will continue shooting everything and anything and build a potfolio, so if you know anyone who’d like some photos done let me know!

And because it just doesn’t feel right to leave a post without photos, these are some of  my favorites from this spring.

-k

Gross

If you know me or Ruby, you know that I tell everyone that she is just plain gross. She is the sweetest, happiest little girl you will ever meet. She always has a smile on her face. But she has an affinity for the outdoors that goes beyond just playing out there. She likes to collect rocks, pine cones, branches, and leaves. She collects them, puts them into piles, and will then taste them. Yup, she tells me dirt is not yucky, it's "mmm, mmm, mmm, num num!". I'm hoping that soon, very soon, that she'll stop trying to eat them. It just plain grosses this momma out!

Can you see a difference?

So I was looking at the photos I have in previous posts and the really don’t look like that on my computer. I thought I would try Flickr and see if the quality was any better. Do you see a difference?

Mother’s Day

We had a great day on Sunday. Steven got home from work and brought the kiddos downstairs so I could try and sleep in. Unfortunately Ruby had poked me enough until I woke up that there was no hope of going back to sleep. So instead Steven put breakfast together for all of us then went to sleep himself. The poor guy does so much for us and doesn’t get nearly enough sleep. The girls and I hung out around the house until Steven woke up at about lunchtime. We then headed out so we could take some photos at the train tracks. The girls love it there- they’re not in use- and pick all the little flowers in the grass. It was such a beautiful and relaxed day. Steven cooked us an awesome dinner of steaks, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and hot dogs for the girls. It was just a nice day and I’m so thankful to have Steven and the girlies.

-krissy

How did I forget about Spring Break?

I have no idea how I didn’t blog about Lilly’s Spring Break! She had a week off in April and while Steven still had to work, we made do with all the time off we had together. You see, Steven doesn't work a normal everyday schedule like most people. He never has. He works 12 hour hour shifts with Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. For Lilly, she only gets one day with Daddy, which is really half of a day because he works nights so he needs to sleep some on Sunday morning. She doesn’t get much time with him at all so we packed in  a lot of fun stuff for the time off he had. We did a lot of playing outside and movie watching and we also went miniature golfing. We wanted to have fun but also let her relax. She has just looked exhausted the past few weeks so we really wanted her to have some time to relax. I think we managed to balance the two.

The theater on base only plays movies on the weekend. We went and saw Rango. The girls enjoyed themselves but Ruby didn’t want to sit still. I’m not sure if I really liked it or not. I know I’ve seen better kids movies but it was nice to enjoy a movie out of the house.

Steven really wanted to take them miniature golfing again. It is really cheap- only a dollar to play- and the girls loved it last time they went. They went through the course so fast! They would take their turn and just keep going. I could really care less because I am terrible at it, but Steven actually wanted to play. He played every hole. Every time the girls got the ball in the hole, they would shout “Bingo!”. Ruby thought it was hilarious. She sat in the stroller most of the time and watched Steven play, so when he got the ball in the hole she would shout “Bingo!” for him and clap her hands. And speaking of Daddy, he got a hole in one on the first hole. Me being the sore loser I am was not impressed! After golfing we went to Arkadas Park. It’s the big park here on base. There are playgrounds, gazebos, grills. volleyball, a stage that has a rock wall too, and nest of all bathrooms, lol!  Even though they claim that they already went or don’t need to, 10 minutes after we get anywhere someone has to go to the bathroom.  All in all it was really fun day :)


- Krissy

Nature Photography

I was never really interested in nature photography. I just wanted to take some good photos of the kids so I didn’t  have to spend an arm and a leg in professional photos. Since they are all mobile now and getting them to sit still just long enough to take a photo of all three of them- without them even looking in the same direction- I had to find something else to take photos of.  Thanks to the beautiful flowers and weather of Turkey I quickly found something. The flowers here are just beautiful and there are plenty of them. Steven and I have been talking about how much color there is in this country. The colors just brighten your day and make you feel happier. The flowers don’t disappoint either.  Having these will be a nice reminder of our time here.
Does anyone know what any of these might be called? Other than the basic roses and hibiscus, I have no idea!

 
-Krissy