Packing Day!

Well, it's finally here! The packers came yesterday, are finishing today and the moving truck comes this afternoon. All our belongings are being shipped to Kentucky tomorrow and hopefully will arrive on Monday. I have to admit that I felt guilty for about the first 10 minutes as the girls were going through Christmas decorations, packing dishes and clothes, while I, Aaron, and my mom sat back and watched. I got over that quick! Man, it is nice to not have to worry about that one bit!

There will be many things we will miss about Killeen. Mainly, our friends, my job, and Mrs. Jackie (Clara's day care provider). I'm sure come the cold Kentucky winter we will be missing the mild temps in Texas, too. But changes must occur when you are "married" to the Army. Aaron and I both have a suspicion that the Army will be calling us back to Ft. Hood eventually. If he goes to flight school (as planned) odds are he'll fly at Hood. Many chopper pilots get posted here and we could too. There was a day when we would have dreaded coming back to hot, sticky Texas. But, looking back on our time here we would not mind returning at all. Think of how easy it would be! I would have a job in a second (my boss here has already said she knows I'll be back and she'll be waiting to re-hire me), we know exactly where we would want to live, I will already have friends here that I'll be anxious to reunite with, and we won't have to learn about to the surrounding community. Time will tell. :)

My mom, Clara, and I will hit the road tomorrow morning to begin our journey to Ft. Knox. Aaron will stay back in Killeen until Monday to settle things with the house cleaners and rental company. He will meet us in Kentucky sometime Tuesday and hopefully arrive to a new house full of furniture!

Rain, Rain, Everywhere!

What a wet week! It started raining Thursday afternoon and didn't stop until this morning. But it was a great, steady, not stormy rain. It was well needed and great. And our munchkin loves the rain! We let her play in the rain on Thursday afternoon and she loved it. Splashing in the puddles, getting all wet, and she started to lay down in the puddles so she could blow bubbles, but mommy spoiled that plan!

Wow! Water in the street! I've never seen that before!

During bathtime the other night, I had the idea to turn on the shower after the water had drained. I figured, if she loves the rain so much, why not make it "rain" in the bathtub? She loved it!

Awesome! Rain in the house!

Make sure to check out the slideshow at the bottom of the blog page for additional pictures!

Until next time, xoxoxox

Happy Labor Day!

We hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend and had as much as we did. We had a busy one, that's for sure.

Friday I enjoyed a "girls day" with some friends of mine, starting with good coffee and great conversation, then lunch and chick flick.

Saturday we hung at home so we could watch the Notre Dame game. Oh, did I mention that we CREAMED Nevada! 39-0 baby! What a great start to the new season.

On Sunday Clara and I headed to church and after lunch the three of us went to the water park down the street. Clara had such a great time playing in the huge wading pool and going down perfectly munchkin-sized water slides. Clara kept asking for "more" after she went down the slides! Aaron and I took turns riding the big slides and a great time was had by all!

Today, Monday, Clara and I went to the park after breakfast for a walk and some swinging and sliding at the playground. After lunch Aaron, Clara and I went out to the backyard for some pool time and a painting project. It was so messy! Which, of course, means it was a blast!

A perfectly painted pot

Looking like she's ready for battle

"But, I don't want to stop painting!"

Back to work tomorrow for both Aaron and I, and most of you, too, I'm sure. Hope you all have a good week.

xoxoxox

Let's Go ND!

It's college football time! Wooo Hooo! Naturally, being Aaron's daughter there was no question what Clara was going to wear on Saturday, Notre Dame's first game and home opener...

Let's go Irish! and Practicing her cheering!


Our Irish beat Nevada 39 to 0!!! What a great start to the season. Now that we'll be living in KY we'll be able to make it to SB for a game or two and Clara can experience tailgaiting. Well, the toddler version of tailgating, at least!

I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray again!!!!! I got the call yesterday that I was selected for the position I applied for. I'm so excited and Aaron and I are extremely relieved. Such a huge weight off our shoulders.

I will the "motor specialist" for the early intervention services on post at Ft. Knox. Basically, I will be visiting families in their home and working with their children ages 0-3 who are need of therapeutic intervention. I will primarily be evaluating the children and training the parents in techniques to improve their challenges. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity. EI is only aspect of occupational therapy I have yet to work in. Granted, I've worked a lot with the 0-3 population but doing ONLY that will be so cool.

Now, the not so fun part of negotiating a government salary. The position is through the Department of Defense so I'm getting a "coveted" GS position. Which means once I'm in the system I can stay for good. Get regular raises, promotions, and can transfer jobs between different places. So it will hopefully help with all our future moves and make it easier to get jobs at the different posts we go to.

Until later :) xoxoxoxox

Clara's new "sclide"

Daddy just couldn't resist and he bought Clara a slide! She loves her new "sclide" as she calls it. The two of them were supposed to be going to the playground while I was doing my phone interview, but he took her to Toys R Us instead and picked up a slide. She loves it and will even put off dinner 30 minutes so she can slide; and this girl lives by her routine. She can climb up all by her self and shouts "weeeeeee" every time she goes down. It's too adorable.

Clara's turn

Bailey's turn

I also can't resist sharing this next picture with everyone. Clara is such a sucker for her independence, as I'm sure most kids her age are. When we leave the house for Mrs. Jackie's in the morning Miss Clara insists on carrying her own lunch box, her baby or Elmo or both, and wearing her glasses. Here she is all ready to go!

We have a house!!!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!!! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a house in Kentucky! We paid the deposit today. It is such a relief to know that we now have a place to live. We had such a hard time finding a place while we were at Ft. Knox in August and we were getting very discouraged. Major props to Aaron for staying on it and searching the web for hours and days since we got back from vacation. He spotted this home late last week. We sent my cousin Michelle over to look at it and take pics; thank goodness we had someone there to help us with that part. We knew we had to snatch it up quick or loose it and risk not finding anything else for a while.

Our house on Shiloh Court in Rineyville, KY

Here is a slideshow of some of the pictures my cousin took. Keep in mind the current tenants hadn't completely moved out yet and the house is kind of messy. But we still think it looks pretty great! It's in a beautiful, fairly new (early 2000's) subdivision in a town about 15 miles from post. Lots of nice homes and big lots and hopefully nice neighbors!

We will be moving to Kentucky at the end of September. It seems like we have know this was going to happen for such a long time and that we had forever to plan and prepare. And now, just like that, we are moving in 4 weeks. My last day at work will be September 17th. And we will leave Killeen around the 25th.

I had a phone interview for the job I really want! I feel like it went well and should hear more by the end of this week or next. Keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers, I really want this position!