Day 31. happy new years!

Holding her seahorse, and all dressed up for new years :)

                This is the last day of 2011! Mat and I are ready for 2012, and we are determined to make it a better year! We are going over to Kelly and Matt's house tonight to ring in the new year, and hopefully the kids sleep through it :) The blog will be getting a new look tomorrow, so look for that! One of my resolutions this year is to finally get the house clean and organized the way I want it.. I've gotten a start on it already, and I will follow through!! I also am making a resolution to be happier, this year has had some rough patches, and Belgium has a way of getting me down sometimes, and in 2012, I'm putting a stop to that...hopefully :) lol. This is a short blog, because we're getting ready to go for the night, and we wont be back til' tomorrow. but check the blog, because as long as I'm not too hungover lol, there will be one tomorrow!    I love you all, and have a happy and safe new years eve!!! 

Day 30

She really loves my waterbottle

watching scooby doo

playing in the kitchen

                       Kay seems to be feeling better today, she woke up in the middle of the night, but went back to sleep pretty quickly, and slept in until 10, so I was happy! I got the kitchen mopped and some laundry put away today, how exciting... And discovered that Kay has a moderate interest in Scooby doo, which is good, because that show doesnt drive me nearly as crazy as elmo or sesame street does. And I havent seen every single episode of Scooby doo, like I have elmo, at least 35 times. On a very exciting note, we signed the paperwork to buy a car today!!! :) It's not the Suzuki that we originally planned on buying, because we still haven't heard back from the guy about getting the American title. It wouldn't be a huge deal to wait a bit if we still had Mat's car, but since it's broken and stuck in Germany, and we're just going to junk it anyways, it's a little more important to get a new car soon. I don't drive anywhere that much, but with Mat's horrible schedule lately, we don't have time to go grocery shopping together, (the commissary is open weird hours and days) and I like going to playgroup with Kay from time to time, and there is just no way I am getting me and Kay out of bed at 5am to drive mat to work lol, neither of us are morning people, it just wouldnt work. So we've been looking online and found a good car in Germany that is pretty much perfect. We're buying a 2007 Ford Freestyle, the highest model they made. It has leather interior, and DVD players built into the back seats, 7 seats, heated front seat, and plenty of space. We'll have plenty of room when people come to visit, and we'll actually have extra room in the car when we have Breanna with us. and they can watch dvds when we take long car trips! So I am really excited about it, we're going to Germany to look at it and hopefully pick it up on the 4th or 5th. yay! Once we get it I'll post some pics :) Going to go get groceries with my friend Kelly tomorrow, then I think we're going over to their house to ring in the new year. So, I love you and happy Friday!

day 29

up close and personal with Kay

                    Well I got my mopping done today, and took down the Christmas tree and decorations, I was going to leave them up until New Years, but I don't think we would have any ornaments left if I did, Ninja has broken two since christmas day..So I took them down today, while KayLeigh was supposed to be napping...but she didn't want to cooperate, so she went to bed really early tonight after her bath. Her fever isnt very high today, but she still doesnt seem to be feeling very well, neither are Mat or I. Hopefully we all start feeling better soon! LOve you all! I"m going to bed early myself :)

Day 28

day 28- relaxing with her goat

                           KayLeigh woke up about an hour earlier than she normally does today, and I don't really feel well, so we snuggled on the couch this morning and watched Elmo, because that's the only thing that she will sit still for! When she went down for her nap, I took a nap too! So nothing really happened in our house until after 12... Mat was off today, so we went to get a few groceries. Every time we go to the commissary now, KayLeigh walks in and says "car car" because she wants the car grocery cart lol. It seems like she understands so much more of what I say know, she was asking for a cookie which sounds more like "cacky" when she says it, and I told her to go sit on her booty on the couch and she could have one, I didnt really expect her to know what I said, but she went right over to the couch and sat down! She asks for baths "ba" before she goes to bed now, she looks into the bathroom longingly and says "ba?" when we go upstairs to go to bed. She is still very attached to her binky bear, although his girlfriend security forces bear will do as a substitute... She is enjoying all of her Christmas gifts and cycles though all of them as the day goes on. today she was trying to put her little elmo figurine from the playset into rock n'roll elmo's mouth... apparently elmo is a cannibal now... lol. She helps me pick up her mega blocks as long as  I clap or say thank you after every single block she picks up lol. She sang me a nice song before she went to bed tonight, I have no idea what she said, but it was still cute :)

                           Thats it for today.. tomorrow is going to be lazy too. I need to mop, and thats my big plan for tomorrow lol. hope you all are having a good after Christmas week! :) 

Day 27

cheese!!!!

. 

KayLeigh's showing off her new Ohio State overalls from Grandma Lewis. We just relaxed today while Mat was at work, seems like both Kay and I are coming down with a bit of a cold, so we took it easy today. Still no snow here in Belgium, just rain. I cleaned the house up a bit today, it still looks like a toystore exploded downstairs though, because Kay likes to take all her megabloks and dump them out on the floor and then try and walk through them lol.  And that's really all we've been up too, just relaxing after all the holiday crazy-ness!!

Day 26

Brody and Kayleigh drinking milk together

watching elmo :)

Today was pretty relaxed, KayLeigh is coming down with a cold, at least it waited until after the holidays! HOpe you enjoy the Kayleigh of the day, it is her first christmas pictures compared to this year...you can see how her opinion of santa has changed!!! 

Christmas day

KayLeigh loves her new pirate ship ride-on! :)

                    Today was a good day! :) Kay woke up a little before 8am, which is pretty normal for her, so we all went downstairs and opened up all her presents. After opening one, she would get distracted and want to play with it of course, and didn't want to open anymore, so it took a little while to get through all her gifts! Mat and I opened ours last night after Kay went to bed, so we wouldnt have so much to do today, and thank goodness, because we had our hands full with helping kayleigh and playing with her new toys all day :) Mat put her pirate ship together last night so it was ready to go this morning when she came downstairs, and every present she opened, she had to go sit on the ship with it and take it for a ride! lol. I think she had a good christmas, and it was nice that she was actually excited and wanted to open things, and understood that there was neat stuff hiding underneath all that paper! 

                    After we opened all Kay's presents we took a nice nap on the couch together. well, she watched elmo and cuddled with us and her new toys, and mat and I took a nap lol. Then we got up and snacked a bit, and played some more while Mat started the enchiladas for dinner, then kay had a nap, and Mat and I took another one as well! We watched some Christmas movies and just hung out until we had some friends over for dinner, KayLiegh played with her bff Brody, and we had a good night being with friends as well. all in all a good Christmas, it would have been better if we had Breanna with us, but at least we got to talk to her :) hope you all had a good holiday, and I love you!! Merry Christmas!!!

Day 24, and a flashback

Day 24, Kay opening a Christmas eve gift in her cute outfit from Gma Tracy :)

         Growing up Christmas Eve was the night we all opened presents, from youngest to oldest we sat around in our PJs and opened all our gifts, then santa would come over night and we would open our stockings in the morning, I liked it that way, and I never really thought that I would have to change that tradition. But now that I have my own little family, we've decided to do things a little differently, Christmas Eve is Breanna's Birthday, so the years we don't get her, the holiday is always a little sad...and we dont want to open gifts that night, because the years we do have her, the night should be hers, so we're opening all our gifts Christmas day. 

            Breanna turns 7 today, and I can't believe how big she is! It seems like just the other day, I was meeting the little 3 year old Breanna for the first time, and now she's my step-daughter and she's 7!!! Its crazy how fast these past years have gone! We got to talk to her for a bit today, and she got all the presents everyone sent to her, which is good news, since a few boxes we have sent to her have gotten lost somewhere between here and Louisiana.   We miss her a bunch today, and we're going to have a birthday party for her this summer when we get her :) 

           I'm looking forward to KayLeigh opening all her presents tomorrow, and having a few friends over for dinner, and relaxing. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve, and Christmas day. I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Breanna last year, Pictures for her 6th birthday

Breanna 2 years ago, when we went to Vegas for Christmas and her bday
Miss that little cutie pie soooo much!

Breanna in '09 We got her in January that year, Wolfie was a pretty good present :)

Day 23

Day 23, Kay holding hands with her bff Brody at lunch

        Today was a good day, we're home, and happy. It was nice to sleep in our bed last night, and I guess KayLeigh was happy too because she slept the whole night, which was great for me!! We ran a few errands and met our friends for lunch, then came back home. I made some cake pops and deviled eggs for dinner tomorrow...and thats it! Mat and I gave each other one present today, because he was worried I wouldnt like something he picked out lol. He got me a cute Vera bradley wallet, that I'm very happy with ,and I let him open his Browns Gnome, which he loves. Kay decided she needed to open some presents too...we let her open one, a cute little kitty that runs around from mat's grandma and grandpa...and then she stole another one!! she opened a stuffed dog from them too, which she loves, and took to bed with her :) lets hope the rest of the presents make it until Chrismas!!! I love you all, and HOpe you all have a good Christmas eve, eve!! lol 

Day 22, home!

day 22- all bundled up for our treck from the hotel to the mall in the cold

Well we finally made it home! :) and we are all very glad to be here, I'm too tired to complain any more about this trip, in fact, I would rather not thinkabout it again. I'm looking forward to Christmas, in 3 days!! Mat and I picked out presents for each other in germany, and we're actually going to wait til xmas to give them to each other, we always end up doing it early.... And i'm excited for kay to open her presents, and I'm sooooooooo glad to be home! the dogs were so happy, wolfie was crying lol. Kay didnt fight going to bed at all, I think she's happy to be home in her crib :) And i'm exhausted and want to go to bed on our comfy bed, and not a pull out couch, with some crazy bright blue light keeping us up all night... Love you all!

Day 21. Not any better...

                    Well the plan was for Mat's friend to come to our hotel this morning and help us get the car sorted out, and you would think that since we drove all the way out to ramstein to support him, and for Mat to go to his graduation and he had to walk toit  in the cold, since we coudnt get ahold of the guy, and the cars broken, that this guy would be able to do us one favor..but no, he just never showed up, and put a block on phone calls to his room, so I"m pretty mad about that. Obviously he is not a very good person...So Mat, once again had to walk all over base to try and find someone to help with the car, and get parts, and figure out whats wrong, a nice guy finally happened to drive by and stop, and he was a mechanic! Weird that a random guy off the street was kinder to us than Mat's supposed friend...but the guy helped mat figure out what was wrong, and where to go to fix it, that's the good news. the bad news is that the car that we just spent over $700 to fix the brakes on now requires a new fuel pump and that part alone costs $1200..so we're done with this car, because we would have to pay to have it towed off base, and pay for the part, and pay for labor...yeah, right.
                         I'm feeling pretty discouraged by all this right now, if I wasnt so tired, from KayLeigh keeping me up so late the past few nights I would be crying, but I just dont have the energy! It seems like Mat and I try so hard just to get shoved back down by everything!!! So very frustrated right now. But thanks to my mom, I can find the good most of the time, even if it takes a while. I am happy that we are together, and safe, and at least we have a hotel room for the night. We have another car at home, so mat has a way to get to and from work, and best of all, we have plenty of real friends that are willing to come get us, all the way in Germany. Our wonderful friends Amanda and Rob are going to come rescue us tomorrow, and I am looking forward to being home, and not leaving for quite a while! Things could be much worse, and I know that, its just hard when this many things go wrong all in a row... I'm waiting for KayLeigh to fall asleep so I can do the same, and be on our way home tomorrow!!    I love you all, and I really really really really hope that everyone else's week is going better!

Day 21, hiding in the cabinet in the hotel

she wants a new car for christmas

dragging in her new elmo jammies

Day 20..Only 5 more days!



Only 5 days until Christmas, and it seemed like KayLeigh was determined to get herself on the naughty list. She went to bed at a decent time but then around 11 or 12, she woke up and would NOT go back to sleep!! She cried, and screamed, and wanted to be held, but wanted to get up, she just was not happy no matter what I did! I gave her tylenol, thinking baby it was her teeth, that didn't help, she didnt want milk, she didnt want to eat anything..I guess she was just overtired since she was in the car and the stroller all day yesterday and didnt take a nap...But I was just frustrated, Mat finally drove her around for a while at 4, and he didnt even get out of the parking lot before she fell asleep, she went back to sleep pretty fast when he brought her in, but she only slept for 4 hours!!!! then she was wide awake again, I couldnt believe it! around noon she finally went down for a nap, after I rocked her for about 15 minutes, and she slept for 3 or 4 hours..She's aseep in the bedroom now, and I have my fingers crossed that she stays asleep all night! because I cant be up all night again! Now, as if that wasnt bad enough, Mats car decided to stop working today too... We just got the brakes fixed, and usualy his car runs really well, but he changed the fuel filter a while ago, and the guy who did the brakes did something to the gas hose (I dont know car terms, or exactly what's wrong this is a guess) and now theres no gas getting to the engine, or at least thats what I gather is the problem, so while I was trying to get kay to nap this morning, mat was running in and out trying to fix the car, and trying to get ahold of his troop that he's supposed to go to a graduation for, he finally called around enough to find out what time he was supposed to be there so he's there now...But he tried to roll the car and start it, and that didn't work, a nice guy helped him push it though, and he's going to try and get it fixed by tomorrow since we were planning on going home tomorrow... I bundled up Kay in the stroller and walked the 15 minutes to the mall on base to do some shopping without mat since he left for his graduation thing just a little while later, Kay and I wandered around and got Mat's Christmas present, and I cant wait to give it to him!!! I'd tell you what it is, but sometimes he reads the blog, and I dont  want to ruin the surprise :) We spent about two hours in the mall then started the trek back to the hotel, and I have to say I was a little surprised that no one, not even one person, stopped to ask if we needed a ride...It was raining lightly, Kay was plenty bundled up, dont worry, and it was dark, and there were plenty of peope driving by, and this is an american base, with lots of famalies living on base, and No one, not even one soul stopped..I didnt need a ride, and we made it back just fine, kay wasnt even cold, not even her nose!! But if Mat and I were driving, and  a woman with a stroller were walking in the dark, cold, rain, on base, we would stop and at least see if she needed a ride..but oh well, we made it back and now are all cozy..in our crappy hotel room...the door handle is broken, the chair is broken, the neighbors are loud. /we love ramstein but after being stuck here for so long trying to get out on a flight this summer, and now all this, I dont think we want to come back for a while!! lol. The good news is that we're getting a lot better at handling stress, we used to snap at each other a lot more in situations like this, but we were actualy pretty pleasent to each other today :)  So hopefully Mat can get the car up and running, if not we'll have to figure out a ride..we've got a few offers from some wonderful friends in Belgium, so we'll make it home one way or another. I'll be glad when we are, and I'll be glad when this trip is over!!! I hope everyone else is having a better week!! love you!

Yum, cheesy snacks!

Hotel dinner, pasta on the couch

she's figuring the fork out!

not sure what this face is....

Day 20, Kay's face describes the way I felt all today..but she was just mad at the flash on the camera :)

Day 19

Made it to Germany safe and sound :) Our new GPS even got us here about half an hour faster then we normally make it. KayLeigh did pretty well in the car because we downloaded some elmo onto the laptop and let her watch it on the way here, otherwise she woud have been mad the whole 3.5 hours we were in the car. The bad thing was that she didn't nap so she was grumpy when we got here, and wasn't in the mood for much shopping. We walked around the mall a bit and got some taco bell, yum!! and ice cream, then came back to the hotel. Took me a while to get her to sleep, no nap, a new place, teething, all that combined meant I had to lay with her on the bed until she fell asleep and then carefully move her into the crib.Tomorrow Mat and I are going to split up and shop for a while, so we can actually surprise each other with presents for Christmas. It's nice to get out of belgium for a while!! 

Day 19...She's only happy because Elmo's on!!!

Day 18 (only one week until Christmas!!!)

           Today was filled with crazy weather, we woke up to rain, which turned to hail, which was accompanied by loud thunder, which finally turned to snow! Then it got sunny out, then rained some more, then as I was giving Kay her bath, I looked up at the skylight in the bathroom and noticed it was snowing again!! When it started snowing this morning I took Kay upstairs and got her all bundled up so we could go outside and play in the snow...but by the time I got her dressed in her many layers, and found a hat for her, it had stopped!!! But I had already told her she was going outside so there was no backing out! The dogs came out with us and ran around like crazy things, because they love the snow, even this tiny amount. :) So we watched the dogs run around, and Kay screamed and ran with them, she only fell a handful of times, and took the opportunity to take a closer look at the snow. We came inside, and ate some PB&J sandwiches then Kay took a nap, and I did some more laundry. That's about it for today, did some packing so we're ready to go to Germany tomorrow, I'm so excited to go to Ramstein! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend, I"ll be sure to take a bunch of pictures while we're in Germany. love you!

Day 17

            Today was another very boring day, I was supposed to run a few errands, but left the carseat in mat's car and he drove to work with it...So we stayed home and did laundry, because that's what the weekend is for in Belgium anyways! I did manage to get some cute pictures of Kay by the Christmas tree, she's wearing the pj's my mom sent, and I let her open a present from Grandma Tracy, a cute little dressy top and pants that she's going to wear to our Christmas party this week. So here's a ton of cute to start your weekend off right :) 

She's trying to get to the back of the tree, where her big present is....

inspecting her pants

everybody loves the goat mom!

giving foxie kisses

she was trying to ride wolfie hahaha

Day 17, 100% cute. Turning on the charm for santa :)