Staff Sergeant Windhorst!

Philip was promoted to Staff Sergeant (SSG) this afternoon. The ceremony took place in front of his company's building. Philip's entire company was in attendance (Charlie Company of 172nd Support Battalion) Allison took off Philip's old rank of Sergeant!

Joslyn put on Philip's new rank of Staff Sergeant!

I put on Philip's patrol cap. His patrol cap has his new rank on it.

We are so proud of Philip and his well deserved promotion!

Not Much Going on Today

I don't have much planned for today. I am going to the commissary to get some ingredients I need for dinner tonight. Italian Herb Chicken in the crock pot. I am thinking about maybe running my car through the car wash. However I looked on weatherchannel.com and we may have a snow shower on Saturday. So I'm not sure if I will wash my car or wait until next week. This week is Dr. Seuss Week at the girl's school. Monday was crazy hat day. Allison wore a candy corn hat and Joslyn didn't want to participate (she is at that age now). Tuesday was stripes day. Both girl's wore striped turtlenecks. Today is green day. Joslyn and Allison are wearing green shirts. Tomorrow is crazy socks day. On Friday the kids can dress like any Dr. Seuss character. Allison is all game. She wants to dress up like the character on the cover of the book The Foot Book (Thanks Susan Pennington for the book)! So later this afternoon I will run up to the kid's toy store around the corner from us and see what they have. Maybe look around for some orange pants and orange shirt. At times like these is when I especially would like to be back in the states. Here is a picture of Philip wearing his new glasses/goggles to work (the army calls it Protective Gear). We are still not sure when his promotion ceremony will happen. It will be sometime this month. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Joslyn and The Miami Heat

This winter season Joslyn and a few of her friends were brave enough to play basketball, a sport they had never played before. When the basketball season first started back in November Joslyn and her friends were some what excited. Joslyn and her 3 friends were sure they would all be on the same team together. When the list of teams and players were posted on the gym wall all 4 girls were devastated. Joslyn and her friends were on 4 different teams. They all waned to quit basketball right then and there. However each mother was able to convince our daughters to stick it out and finish the season. Joslyn grew to really enjoy basketball. Practices were every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30-6pm. I was able to drop Joslyn and her friends off at practice and another parent would drop her off at home. Games were on Saturdays. She learned a lot about the sport, improved her game, and was not ready for the basketball season to come to an end. I'm proud of Joslyn and her dedication (she always made sure I was ready to leave our house at 4:15 for fear of having to run extra laps if she was late to practice)and her strong desire to be better at basketball. Joslyn's team, The Miami Heat finished the season 8-1!! They went to the playoffs and lost the 2nd game.
Saturday the team had a pizza party at the bowling alley. Joslyn's coach, Coach Jackson gave each player a medal and trophy!

Sunshine Award

A super sweet award from my long time friend Robyn. Thanks Robyn!
I am supposed to pass the award to other blog friends. Go visit their blogs and say "hi" if you don't know them!
Sarah L.
Sarah Smith

Garmisch, Germany in the Alps!

The last weekend in January our family traveled to Garmisch, Germany. Garmish is surrounded by the Alps. It is so beautiful. We stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. It was amazing. On Saturday we had plans to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle but the weather was so bad, that we decided to go try our luck at skiing instead. Philip and the girls had so much fun skiing! They all caught on super fast. Joslyn and Allison had a couple bruises from the falls they endured, but is was all in fun! After our skiing adventure we took a lift up the side of one of the mountains and had warm soup at one of the restaurants. It was beautiful. We ended our day with a dip in the outdoor hot tub, surrounded by beautiful snow. Our family plans to return to Garmisch in the Spring or Summer and visit the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Family Vacation in Paris, France

Philip planned a wonderful vacation for our family to Paris, France. Philip planned the whole trip and made all the arrangements from Iraq. Paris is only about a 6 hour drive from home, but we took a 45 minute flight instead. We arrived in Paris at about 5pm. However we did not get to our hotel until 7pm. The traffic was horrible!When we got to our hotel we unpacked our luggage, and settled into our new "home" for the next 5 days. We took a walk outside and found a restaurant to eat dinner.
** waiting for our plane in the Frankfurt Airport **

** Moriah drinking from her bottle before take off**

**So tired. We had an early morning**

**Moriah,only 8 months old and has almost flown around the entire world.**

** Eating dinner on our first night in Paris **

**Awesome view from our hotel room!**

We spent our first full day in Paris at the Eiffel Tower. We stood in line for about 1 hour to climb the stairs up to the 1st level of the Eiffel tower. That was a work-out!

From the 1st level of the Eiffel Tower we had to purchase tickets again to take the elevator up to the 2nd level.

From the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower once again we had to purchase tickets to take the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower! It was windy and cold, yet beautiful! Thank you Philip for making one of my dreams come true!



We spent our 2nd full day in Paris visiting the Louvre Museum. It is so HUGE! We saw the Mona Lisa. Its a lot smaller than I expected.




We spent New Year's Eve at Disney Land Paris! It was super, super cold and raining off and on through out the day. We made the best out of it and enjoyed our time at Disneyland!



New Year's night at 12 am we watched the Eiffel Tower light-up from a near-by bridge.


Our last full day in Paris we went to Notre Dame Cathedral,



we also went to Les Invalides


We had an amazing experience in Paris and I'm so thankful our family was blessed to go!

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. I know it would have been even better if we celebrated Christmas in San Antonio with our family and friends. We went to the Christmas Eve candle light service on post at 7pm. We sang a lot of Christmas hymns and read the Christmas story.

After the service we headed over to a family friend's house where we had dinner and a good time.


On Christmas Day the girl's (all 3) woke up to a pile of Christmas presents under the Christmas tree. We each took turns opening one present at a time. It was wonderful to see the girl's faces light-up with each present they unwrapped. Moriah was just intrigued by the wrapping paper, bows and boxes. Typical baby :)


After opening presents and cleaning up all the wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, boxes and such we headed over to another family friend's house for Christmas dinner!
She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins -Matthew 1:21