The MOVE!

These first few photos were from back in mid-April when we packed out our house.  After that we borrowed oh so comfortable furniture from the military along with kitchen items.  A survey says that you age a year every time you move and I can completely agree.  It's just insane and having done it so many times doesn't make it any easier.  And an overseas move has got to age you at least two years!!!  The logistics of cars, pets, clothing, houses, is just so overwhelming...throw a few kids in the mix and holy moly, how did we survive!!???!!  It's actually quite a blur writing this now 5 months (really????!!!) later sitting comfortably in our new completely unpacked home and well into our next adventure, but trust me, it was INSANE!!! 

This old girl has seen more places in this world than most people!!!!

Luke was in heaven with the mover's toolbox!!!!

Ahhhhh, the absolute WORST part of the move....the "see you laters"

The Lukes

 Ava...

 and her sister, Ella

 Nora...

and her sister, Brynn

 Gabrielle

And a random adorable picture...the 3 kids each got a twin size bed and Leevi and I were given a full for our loaner furniture while we were still in our house.  Since we saved Luke's toddler bed out for the 2nd shipment, we pushed his twin next to our full to give Leevi and I a little more room when these two monsters snuck in at night.  At the new house, we are LOVIN our new king sized bed and typically now, it's just one monster that comes in EVERY NIGHT!!!  Leila has even left us and stays in Hailey's bed all night, woohoo!!!

The nightmare of the final packing...I literally locked myself in our room after dragging in everything I had to cram into our suitcases....any extras or maybes didn't make the cut.  We lived out of a suitcase for 3 weeks and stayed in ELEVEN different houses/hotels from start to finish.  We were allotted 10 checked bags (not counting stroller, carseats, dog crate) BUT we had make sure all of that could fit into our minivan on the other end!!!  We also could have 10 carry-ons, but physically that wasn't going to work for getting on and off the plane.   We had a 2nd shipment that ended up being 1,000 more pounds of who knows what that we packed out before moving into lodging!!!! 

We cleared out of our house and headed into lodging for 6 days.  Hailey finished the week at school and we did last minute family things on Monday and Tuesday before our Wednesday flight.   

Her last day of 2nd grade with the AMAZING Mrs. Eishen.  With the exception of the chaos of her 1st grade year cycling through THREE teachers, she has been BLESSED with outstanding, loving teachers so far!

Hailey and her 2nd grade BFF, Riley and a photobomb from her buddy, Austin.

Kai, Luke, and I park hopped on Ramstein while we were in lodging (which was an awesome 3 bdrm apartment!) while Hailey finished school and Leevi finished work. 

We made it to our annual strawberry pickin with friends. 

And Kai wrapped up her first soccer season with her last game the weekend before we moved. 

I forgot to add this picture to the soccer post, but this pretty much sums up how crazy she is! :)

Luke began this crazy cat like sleeping and continued it for over a month where he'd sleep up above us on our pillows (unfortunately, Leevi almost always got the foot end!)

Even though the girls each had their own room in lodging, they shared Hailey's twin and we found them sleeping alike like this one night.

The kids had a blast playing 'doggie' with Leila's crate.  Leila wasn't allowed in the lodge with us and 2 families graciously dog sat for us that last week before the flight!

Rock climbing was on the girls' checklist of things to do before we left Germany, so we squeezed it in one morning. 

I cashed in all of our Euro coins and ended up with almost $75!!!  Glad to be done with carrying around an extra change purse!

And before we knew it, bam, we were in Baltimore!!!!!!!  We finally made it to the hotel around 4am German time with 8 checked bags, 6 carryons, and one dog crate (plus dog!) :)

By the time we got to the hotel and somewhat situated, Leevi just ran over to Wendy's to grab us dinner before we crashed.  Jet lag got the best of all of us and we were all up before 5.  The kids asked if they could finish their frostys for breakfast and I said, "go for it!"

And because I need to document it for the blog, Luke had his first ever poop on the potty on our first morning in the States! Woohoo!

We were so excited to get our minivan back!!!!  Leevi took a cab over to the port and we loaded up (yes, somehow everything fit!) and headed to the Matthews in DC for a night, then down to see the Faisons in Richmond for a night, spent a week with our timeshare in Williamsburg, and then spent a long weekend at my parents before starting the 18hr drive West to Missouri.  Much, much more to come about those adventures!!!!