Summer Reading Program at the Library

We signed Hailey up for the summer reading program at the library. Once a week they meet for storytime and a craft.

Here they made a pirate bandana and a jeweled sword

A stop at the park after the library...she's getting pretty good on these monkey bars!

Pirate Leila! Argghhh matie!

Kailee is going through a hording phase!!!!!! Her hands are constantly full! She scrambles to grab as much as she can hold when we head out the door!

Todays craft was Hula girls/boys

Kailee with her craft :)

Our new friends! The Kent family...Nora is 5, David is 3, and Maddie is 11 months. The girls and I met Lauren and her kids at the park one day (they are just moving here too) AND come to find out Leevi and Matt were roommates in Afghanistan in 2004!!!!! How crazy is that!??!! They have gone through the same housing crisis as we have but think they have finally found a place and its only about a 15 min. drive from our new house (YES, WE FOUND A HOUSE...WE GOT APPROVED FOR THE MANNHEIM HOUSING...I'll know more soon and post about it tonight or tomorrow!)

Off to the park again!

The Heidelberg Zoo (and a Housing Update)

I'll start with our housing update (because there really isn't too much to say!) We met with Heidelberg housing yesterday and they told us that our Mannheim military housing option (the 4 bedroom duplex) is out of the question (that post is eventually closing and they don't want to move any new people in) So......we sat briefly at a computer with an agent who clicked rapidly through off post houses and demanded that we pick 3. From those 3 we MUST decide on one...meanwhile we haven't barely a clue where they are located (how far of a drive will Leevi really have to work, school zones, good neighborhood, etc.) Believe me, we are composing quite the complaint letter to the Garrison (something has got to change about this process...at least give us a computer room of our own to browse through the houses at our leisure). Anyway, we borrowed a car from one of Leevi's bosses and bought a GPS and headed out...I was my bright idea to wait until bedtime so we wouldn't hear complaints from the girls being strapped in their carseats for hours and the sun doesn't set this time of year until 9:30 so we had plenty of light to house hunt. They crashed within minutes of getting in the car and we had a nice peaceful tour of Germany. One of the houses is in a questionable neighborhood, one is pretty cramped with neighbors right in your windows, and the one we really like is pretty far away. But the kicker....da da da....we get home from our 3 hour adventure and Leevi has an email from the Mannheim housing office stating that our request will most likely be approved!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! We laughed so hard! So, he called housing this morning and they are waiting on one last signature and we should know this afternoon!!!

And the zoo....Kailee and I made an attempt to find the zoo earlier in the week to no avail (mapquest failed me! I walked around for an hour and gave up. Come to find out, it started me from the wrong location so I never had a chance!) We tried again a few days later...we took the military shuttle from lodging to the main PX post and then walked about 30 minutes through downtown Heidelberg. When I saw this river I was sooooo relieved because I knew I was going the correct way!

Thankfully Kailee crashed on the way because initially I made a wrong turn and added 30 minutes to our route!

The bear exibit on the outside of the zoo

Needless to say she was obsessed with the monkeys (how fitting!)

My science fact of the day...anyone know that Sea Lions have claws on their back flippers??!!! I found this picture online...look closely...those fingernails pop up (like Wolverine!) and the sea lion was scratching himself like a dog...I was amazed!

See the leftover piece of meat hanging above the lions head?

The Heidelberg Castle on our walk home! We will make it there one day! Kailee LOVED the zoo...she wanted to go back and see the "ah ahs" (monkeys) and when I ask her what she saw at the zoo she'll say, "ah ah, roooarrr" (monkey and lions!) The next morning when she woke up she got right in my face and said, "ah ah, rooooarrr?" implying "are we going back today?!" :)

And on a side note, she has gotten over her bug phobia!

A family again...

Can't really say that Leevi and Hailey are "home", but we are together again as a family! :) Hopefully we'll find a "home" soon!

Just a few more days...

Leevi and Hailey have just one more day in Spokane and then start their long journey back to Germany on Wed with a drive across WA to Seattle. They fly early Thurs. morning, but won't get back here until Friday afternoon. Can't wait to see them! When I talk with Hailey on the phone the first thing she will always ask me is if it's night or morning for me. :) And then she'll tell Kailee, "You can come visit me sometime!" :) Kailee loves hearing her voice! When I ask Kai where did Hailey and Daddy go, she points to the sky and says, "plane".

In the meantime, Kailee and I are keeping busy. We went hunting yesterday for cold-weather clothes (to NO avail!) It's been a brisk 59/60 and gloomy cloudy...I stocked up on plenty of winter clearance before we moved but all of those clothes are in the shipment coming in mid-July. I didn't think I'd need them now! The poor girls have 3 pair of pants and maybe 2 t-shirts and one sweater each. They could potential get away with a dress on some days but all of their dresses are tank tops and too chilly. So, Kailee and I searched the PX yesterday and the only thing I walk away with for her are size 12 month pants! :) I'm scared to wash them! They are right at her ankles and I supposed she could get away with the "capri" look! :) I was desperate...I would have even gone for boy pants, but they had nothing! She and I checked out the Thrift Shop on post without much luck either...I did find two Carter's fleece long-sleeved nightgowns for Hailey for only $1.25 each! And a pair of New Balance sneakers for Kailee for .50cents. The poor thing has plenty of sandals but the only shoes I kept out for her are her Dora Crocs (that are probably too little to still be wearing!) Can't wait for July when we get all of our stuff!!!!!!!!!!

Leevi went overboard (to say the least!) at a consignment shop in WA and is bringing home an entire luggage of cold weather clothes. And now of course it's supposed to be high 70's tomorrow and Thursday! Ha! I'm assuming it will constantly be back and forth. It's a very weird feeling to have to go online and check the weather report (NEVER had to do that in Hawaii!) :)

Speaking of Hawaii...she misses the sand (I don't!)

We go from a warm afternoon like the one above to a chilly sunless day...here she is off to the park insisting that she bring her bubbles, backpack, and "ah ah" (monkey)

And back to warm this morning (yet now this afternoon its cloudy and chilly and we'll probably need a sweater when we walk Leila) And oh how I wish I had saved one of the plenty of child ballcaps we have (coming in the shipment!) had I know her obsession with this one was coming! :) She turns heads though! :)

She morphs into a kitty quite often and will crawl around and meow. I cringed as she crawled the length of the playground in her new (but thankfully cheap) size 12 month pants! :) Meow!

Finally HAIR but still not much! Can't tell if she'll be as curly as Hailey, but it could be because she doesn't really have much yet or because of the cold weather...

RIDICULOUS, I know....this is her new "smile" face!

Kailee as the Only Child

I had recently commented to Leevi that Kailee would make a good only child right now during this toddler stage. As of late she has become very opinionated when playing with Hailey and would loudly voice her disagreement. And sadly (because of the circumstances) she is back to her angelic ways with Leevi and Hailey out of town. Our days are very quiet and we are staying busy with trips to the park and we'll try to adventure into downtown Heidelberg this week. I read my first book (in years I think) this past weekend to keep me occupied at night. I feel like everything has been put on hold until we find a house (a home base per say) so I can see where to enroll Hailey in preschool and fall soccer and to look for a job for me (and then potentially daycare for Kailee) I have plenty to do (projects on the computer...cleaning up photo files, studying for my German driving test, etc. etc.) but nothing with a real purpose....we need to find a house!

We started potty training (really just for something to do!) and Kailee has been doing great. She had been peeing/pooping on the potty randomly for the past month and now she's probably still a little young but we'll try. We call her the "potty waitress" because she's very helpful when one of us is using the bathroom: she claps when we go, she asks if we are all done, she gets toilet paper for us! :) Its very different from when I potty trained Hailey (at 23 months)...no gimics or rewards, no little potty or potty seat, no sticker chart. We do make a huge deal when she does go....cheering, clapping, telling people (or Leila if she's the only one around) and Kailee likes for me to throw her in the air! 9 times out of 10 she makes it to the potty, but when we are out and she's in a diaper she make no mention of when she pees. She'll get there...no rush, just something to pass the time! :)

Going potty
Eating breakfast

Making a mess....I mean playing so nicely with her toys (and she's obsessed with that hat...it was free from t-moblie when we got our cell phones over here)

At the park (again!) :)

Picking out some new books at the library

She could pick these flowers all day

She saw a bug!

Tidbits from Hailey Part XVII

It's been awhile since I posted a group of tidbits from Hailey, so here you go...

*She has a "Fur Real Cat" that moves and meows and feels somewhat robotic and hard inside (not soft and fluffy like a typical stuffed animal) and so she calls it "the kitty with the bones"

*We just got a Swiffer Vacuum and it had to be charged for 16 hrs before the first use. Hailey was pretty bummed about that and told me, "I won't tell anyone if you don't follow the rules."

*She and Kailee were taking a bath and Kailee had her hair spiked up with shampoo and Hailey said, "You look like a goddess!!" :)

We borrowed a car of one of Leevi's co-workers to drive to Mannheim to look at housing and the headrests have a square cut into them and when Hailey noticed it she told Leevi that he "had a hole in his head!" :)

We have a continental breakfast every morning downstairs in lodging...Leevi always gets a few hard boiled eggs and he and Hailey peel them except Hailey says, "Daddy, are you ready to hatch the eggs?!" gross...

And since I don't have any recent pictures of Hailey to add to this post while she is gone, these two are in honor of "only child week" and are of Hailey at the same age as Kailee is now experiencing life as an only child while Leevi and Hailey are at his grandfather's funeral.

Trying to pass the time...

Still not much to update on...We've decided we want to live in Mannheim at Benjamin Franklin Barracks in the duplex housing area, but are having to jump through hoops to do so! Leevi had to go around and get signatures for an Exception to Policy for permission to live there and now that paperwork has to go to each Garrison Commander for approval on the post we want to live and the post where Leevi works! On top of all of that, we are getting pressure from the housing office here to get out of lodging and find a place to live. We set up an appt to view 3 off-post houses on Thursday to act as if we are pursuing other living arrangements but we think we will be most comfortable on post until we get to know the area. And it looks like Leevi's new job will have him travelling 100 days out of the year, so I think the girls and I will like the little community of Grant Circle in the duplexes. We drove up there today hoping to get a peak inside to no avail, but we drove around and walked around the outside and the girls tested out the parks! The gov't must have come into some "use it or lose it" money and built 100 parks here! It is ridiculous....you can play at one park and the next closest park is within eyesight. So, that is how we've been passing the time! Park, after park, after park...and the library (although we can't stay long because Kailee screams when I don't let her pull book after book off the shelves!) :) We just get about 5 new books and get out! :)

We are perfectly comfortable in lodging where we are except for not having a full kitchen. Even once we do move, we won't have our own household goods until mid-July, so it's not like I'll be able to set up the house! :( We will get loaner everything from the military (furniture, linens, kitchen supplies, etc. etc.) but at least we'll get a feel for the house and hopefully get the girls in better sleeping routines...they are finally sleeping through the night again and even sleeping in until after 8am, but Hailey is in bed with Leevi and Kailee is in bed with me! Ughh!!

We were hoping to get out and see some of Germany this past weekend (since we are all finally getting over the cold that wiped us out!) but we got the unfortunate news on Friday that Leevi's grandfather passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. We were pretty mopey all weekend and didn't feel like being too adventurous. Leevi flies to Washington on Friday for the next week.

So, the girls and I are guessing we will stay put where we are and venture from park to park.... :)

I was wondering if this happy little face was ever coming back...I was worried that she had gone straight from being sick into the terrible twos!!!! (And all four eye teeth are coming in!)Snot, drool, and blowing a dandelion don't mix!!!

The park with the Zipline

Leila on guard!

A video of the parks...

And some random pictures of Hailey sleeping....

She had fallen asleep while watching t.v. I wonder what she was dreaming about...

Hailey and Leila are under there somewhere...