Yeah, I'm alive :)

It's been a crazy couple of weeks.
The girls turned 3 on Saturday. I can't believe time has flown so quickly. I was planning to tackle potty training Labor Day weekend but last Wednesday Leah decided she wanted to be a big girl. Leila isn't on board yet. :) We have a birthday party planned for them in a couple of weeks.
Andrew started school today. He wasn't too happy about it. He is in a multi-age classroom of 3rd-5th graders. His teacher is the best from what we hear. I think Andrew likes how pretty she is! :)
I have interviewed for some teaching jobs but there are more certified teachers than jobs and since I'm coming off of a stay at home mommyhood break, I am not as competitive. Who knows what may come up in the future though!
Josh left this morning for 9 days to Africa. His job keeps him a little busier than I'd like but at least he is home every night and not in Iraq! :)
We are enjoying our neighborhood and know everyone in our stairwell. It's nice to have good neighbors and playmates for the kids.
A week ago I received some sad news. Many of my friends and family have heard me talk about my fellow Army wife friend who has 5 autistic children. I helped her raise money to send her kids to a special camp in the past and I think she is an amazing mother so I can be caught bragging on her a lot. :) Monday morning her husband was killed in a car accident. His funeral is today. I took it a lot harder than I thought I would. I think it's mostly because I know how much harder it is for her to mother her children and how much she appreciated her husband's help. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan and sometimes it is hard for us to see how a tragedy like this can fit into His plan but I have to rely on my faith. Please keep this family in your prayers as they adjust to losing a husband and father.

Good grief I am not doing well with this blog lately!

I think the reason for my lack of updating is a combination of things. One, my computer is going into the shop with a manufacturer's defect. I have to send it back to the states to get this taken care of so it kind of stinks. Two, I've been trying to get the house all set up as soon as possible in case I get a job and have to go to work. Three, my kids are busier which gives me less time on the computer. Four, I had two teenaged houseguests for the month of July so I spent most of that time driving all over Germany so they could see as much as possible. Finally, we have been rebonding as a family. Having Josh gone for 22 months and then coming back during a move is taking some time to adjust. It's so nice to have back up. I just need to remember to use it sometimes! :)
We are all well and happy. Germany is amazing and we have seen so many great things. I'll post pictures eventually. The weather is nice as well. I know most of our friends and loved ones are battling the heat wave in the states. Yesterday the high was 69 and windy. I needed a jacket in the shade. It is so nice! :)
I have some things I've been pondering that I'd like to share on here. Maybe I'll get to that this week. :)

Disney World

So after our cruise we spent 11 days at the Walt Disney World resort. We got to see a lot of friends on this trip. Our approach to this trip was to just take it easy and if we saw something we wanted to do, we would do it. No planned out day, etc.
We got to visit with Holly (in the white shirt) in her home about an hour from the resort. The last time I saw Holly was when the girls were a year old and she flew with me from Morocco to the states when we moved back. We also saw Chris (in his Disney attire), who is working through the college program at Disney. His family was in Japan when we were there. I think Josh was his scout leader at some point. Then we found out that my cousin's daughter, Micca (in the black tank and sunglasses), was at Disney so we met up for a bit and introduced our children to each other. The last time I had seen Micca was 12 and a half years before! We also saw Jen, a friend of mine from college. Jen is a teacher and works nights, weekends and holidays at Disney. She always tries to come by when we are at the resort. She rescued me from the chaos of Star Wars weekend by accompanying me and the girls to Magic Kingdom. Last, and certainly not least, my best friend, Ali (in the navy shirt), was with her family on their first day of their trip when we were on our last day. It was nice to spend the morning together and see her one last time before I moved overseas.
Josh and Andrew enjoyed Star Wars weekend at Disney Hollywood Studios. They got to see a lot of neat things and meet some actors involved in the movies/tv shows, etc. Andrew won a trivia contest for kids 12 and under. Apparently he knows way too much about Star Wars! :) It was nice to see the two of them get some guy time. I took the girls to Magic Kingdom with Jen and we hung out in Fantasyland. :)
There were lots of ducks at our resort and every morning, on our way to breakfast, the girls would yell "Quack!" at them. It was fun to watch them enjoy the rides and shows a lot more this time around. Leila started clapping along to "It's a Small World" and both girls enjoyed squealing "Castle!" everytime we got close to the Magic Kingdom.
The day before we left the resort staff left a wonderful basket in our room filled with snacks and patriotic Disney souvenirs. Attached was a card thanking Josh for his service.
Although it was QUITE hot, it was a nice, relaxing vacation. I liked the cruise better but Josh liked the resort better. Both were great, though! :)

Our cruise

Yeah, I'm behind. :)
After we moved out of our house in the states and before we moved to Germany, we took a very long vacation. We started it off with a Mother's Day Disney cruise. We had a BLAST! When we arrived at the cruise terminal I broke down in tears. It finally hit me that my family was whole again! Even though Josh had been home for about 2 weeks at that point, he was out of town visiting his family and we were trying to deal with the move that I didn't really have time to absorb it all.
We were in a 1 bedroom suite and it was so nice to have the space. We enjoyed breakfast in our room every morning with a view from our verandah. It was heavenly!

The parties were a blast, the kids enjoyed the kids club and the food was amazing. Josh ran a 5K on Castaway Cay, Disney's private island and I enjoyed snorkeling and a massage in the spa! :)

We won the door decorating contest and our waiters surprised Josh with a welcome home cake. It was truly the perfect vacation after Josh was gone for so long. I'm already checking out some European cruises! :)