Just A Little Sweetness

Joslyn's teacher gave each of the students in her class a big German chocolate letter. Joslyn was given "J" for the first letter of her name. How sweet!
Joslyn went shopping today at the annual "Santa Christmas Shop" at school. I am volunteering at this event all week since it is sponsored by the PTA (I now hold the position of secretary) When Joslyn came in the shop to do her Christmas shopping I left the room. This evening Joslyn wrapped my gift, along with the other presents she bought. We don't have any ribbon at home so she curled a few strips of construction paper and placed the bow in the middle of the curled paper! How cute, creative and sweet is that!

Crazy Daisey

Had to capture these few moments on camera! Our Crazy dog, Daisey making herself comfy on Allison and a few minutes later after Joslyn lays down to watch TV, Dasiey makes herself a nice little seat on Joslyn's tummy! The video shows Daisey playing with her favorite squeaky toy. She loves it!

Saturday and cookies!

What a day! Allison and I woke up early this morning and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. At 10am I had to drop Allison off at the Chapel for rehearsal (Allison is going to be an angel in the Christmas Eve pageant at our chapel). Then I had to pick Joslyn up from her sleep-over at her friend's house. After a wonderful visit, Joslyn and I had to pick Allison up from the Chapel. We then made our way to the school to browse the craft fair and flea market. There were a lot of cute items, but nothing I really, really wanted, so we left empty-handed. I needed to make a quick run to the grocery store where we picked up a few essentials. We came home, had hot dogs for lunch and did some usual Saturday cleaning around the house. I decided it would be a good idea to let the girls make Gingerbread cookies. I bought some frosting for the girls to use for decorating their gingerbread cookies. However when it was finally time for us to make the cookies I realized that I don't know where my cookie cutters are. They could be downstairs in any one of the boxes in our storage room. I really didn't feel like going through boxes tonight. I did find one cookie cutter in my kitchen drawer- its a bear. So the girls made Christmas bears out of gingerbread cookie dough! Oh and on the last picture I posted of Allison, she is holding her Hello Kitty creation, that is what the H and K stand for on the cookie! Now we are going to top the night off with a movie Philip bought the girls before he left, "Ariel's Beginning"!

Movie Night

Last night Joslyn had a sleepover at her friend, Mia's house. Allison and I stayed home and just spent a little "momma and baby girl" time. We watched a movie, had popcorn and then Allison and I went to sleep in my bed. I am so thankful for moments that I am able to spend one-on-one time with my each of my girls!

It's Christmas Time!

We have had our Christmas decorations up since Thanksgiving. We wanted Philip to be here with us when we put the Christmas tree up. Philip and the girls did the wonderful job of decorating the entire tree while I handed the ornaments out! So here is a picture of our pretty Christmas tree! Philip also decorated our balcony and made little adjustments so I don't even have to go outside to turn the lights off and on. This Christmas will be so different from any other Christmas. Philip won't be here with us to celebrate the holidays and we are in Germany -far from family and friends. I'm so thankful the girls are here with me and I know we will have a wonderful Christmas, just the three of us! Happy Holidays!

The Jesse Tree Devotions

I participate in the Protestant Women of the Chapel or PWC through the Chapel here on post. We get together every Wednesday morning for a couple of hours and enjoy fellowship, songs, worship, bible study and lunch. Last Wednesday we were given a devotional book and 25 ornaments for our Christmas trees at home. Each evening through Christmas we will read scriptures, have a memory verse and hang an ornament on the tree that symbolizes what we read. The girls are taking turns reading the different scriptures. Not only are they learning about God's Word, they are also learning how to look up scriptures in the bible! Is so exciting!

The Life of an Army Wife

Well Philip left for Iraq a couple days ago. This is his 3rd year fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Another wedding anniversary apart from one another, birthdays,holidays and other special days will be spent away from one another again this year. We hope Philip will be able to make it home for the birth of his first baby in April. He will be allowed to come home for 2 weeks and then have to go back to Iraq to finish up the year deployment. Philip has been able to call home and I am so thankful for each and every phone call I get! You may find this weird, but I feel some comfort in seeing his dirty clothes in his basket. Those are the clothes he wore before he left. I know eventually I will have to wash them and put the clothes away. I also find some comfort in seeing his shoes next to the door. I know I will have to move those back to the closet too. As I run errands around the post I see other women who have husbands down range also. My friends are all going through the same emotions and have the same feelings I have. It makes it a little easier knowing that so many other women around me know EXCATLY how I feel. What other neighborhood would I be able to get this kind of support? Even at the girls school, more than half the students' father's (and few mother's) are deployed. Even the school mascot, Wilbur the pig, deployed to Iraq with the soldier's and will send pictures back to the students of his adventures in Iraq. This community has really pulled together and has so many support programs for all of the soldiers' family member's here in Schweinfurt! This will be a long year for me. I just need to focus on staying busy, taking care of myself, the girls and this house! Please keep our family in your prayers!