England

Joseph will finish his residency here in Texas in August. We've been in the process of requesting and being assigned to our next base for a few weeks now, and yesterday we found out where we are going! Joseph will be stationed at the Royal Air Force station Croughton in England!! It is a base out in the country, close to Oxford, and about 60 miles outside of London.

It was actually our 2nd choice (our 1st choice was also in England) so we are pretty excited about it. But part of me is terribly scared and overwhelmed! I don't think I expected to really get assigned to England, so I'm still kind of in shock. We will be there for three years.

We have a lot of things to figure out before August, but luckily we've got plenty of time. I am having a bit of deja vu with this, remembering how I felt when we were headed to NYC almost 5 years ago. I'm excited for Joseph and the great opportunity this will be for him, and I'm sure our little family will have quite the adventure!

All friends and family are welcome to visit, so start saving up now! :)

2/21/2013

♥

We had a fun Valentine's Day! Anna and I got to join Matthew for his school party. They had lots of sugar and lots of fun. We made an R2D2 valentine box for Matthew and used these printable valentines to give to his friends. He loved helping me make them and was so excited about everything! And he was very kind to give all the pink or princess valentines he got to Anna. :)



Matthew also lost his first tooth yesterday! It was so loose that it came out with only one tiny tug from the Dentist. :) I can't believe how big Matthew is getting!

Our January

I have decided that Texas is not a bad place to be in January. (Although I'll probably be changing my mind in June, July, and August...) We've been able to enjoy some beautiful evening walks and afternoons at the playground.



Joseph's parents were here for a few days this month and we had a great time with them. We showed them all the cool playgrounds, taught them more than they cared to know about Star Wars, and cooked up some delicious plastic-food meals for them to enjoy. We also took them to our favorite BBQ place, which is always fantastic.


Happy February!

Sewn

Here are a few things I have sewn during the last couple of months:


I made this floral dress for Anna out of a thrifted shirt. I love the collar and buttons on the back. I also made her a Geranium dress and I love the simplicity of it. She also got a couple of long sleeve shirts. But I'm not sure why I bother since all she will wear when we are at home is her swimming suit... :)


I made this striped cardigan using this tutorial. This is the last of my fabric that I bought at Mood in NYC, so I'm really wishing I could go back and stock up on more! I got the sweater at a thrift store and altered it to fit better, then added a (fake) leather heart hand stitched to the front.

I made the gray peplum shirt from scratch, and then hand painted the polka dots. It is such a comfy tee. The gingham tunic was my first experience with a button placket and I love how it turned out!

I'm thinking up some fun things to make for the Spring, so I'm excited!

Favorite

My favorite part of the day is when Anna and I get to walk to the school to pick Matthew up. It is a good 10 minute walk, and I love that time with her. The weather is usually pleasant and we have a lot of fun. Anna usually rides the scooter, and she is pretty quick on that thing so I have to walk fast to keep up!

We are always excited to see Matthew when he comes out, and sometimes we even stay and play at the playground. Then we head home, and usually collect flowers and rocks along the way to add to our collection jar.



I love this special 30 minutes with my kids every day where we are not in a rush and can enjoy being outside and being together.

Come and Gone

Happy New Year! Last year went by so quickly for me since we had a lot of changes going on. It seems like years since we left New York. My little kids are now big kids, and we are getting settled into a career. I feel like 2013 will be a great year for me to organize myself and my home, work on things that have been put aside, and try to relax and feel more peaceful. At least until we move again in August! :)

We spent a couple of days in Dallas last week. It is only about 2 hours away, and has a lot more things to do than our little town does! We ate delicious burgers, went to the Dallas World Aquarium, went to the temple, and did some shopping. I admit that we are not used to crowds or traffic anymore, so it was a little bit overwhelming! We had a lot of fun, and it has been great to be able to travel around our area a little bit.


Our good friends came to visit us and help us ring in the new year! You know they are good friends when they not only come to visit you when you live in NYC, but also when you live in Wichita Falls, Texas! :) We took them bowling and tried to take them out for some delicious Texas BBQ, but everywhere was closed! We miraculously stayed up until midnight, played some fun games, and are so glad that they came with their cute little guy.

Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! We've been able to spend a lot of time together as a family, and I love that. The kids were so excited about everything this year, and it has been so fun watching them enjoy things so much.

It snowed about four inches on Christmas day, and we haven't left the house much since then. But we've been relaxing and playing with new toys and have loved having Joseph home with us! Matthew got action figures and robots and all sorts of "boy" toys this year, and Anna got a dollhouse that I worked on every night for a week to finish up in time for Christmas morning.
We went bowling on Christmas Eve and had so much fun. The bowling class I took in college finally paid off when I beat Joseph by over 40 points. :)


We got to see Les Miserables yesterday and I loved every second of it! We are looking forward to doing a few more fun things before the break ends and life gets back to normal!

This is the Season

I was frantically busy at the beginning of December, getting Christmas cards sent out, shopping done, and crafting all finished to send in packages to our families far away. But somehow I got it all done with a week to spare. Now we are counting down the last few days of school and work until the break!

We even got a little bit of snow last week! It was only an inch, and it was melted by the end of the day, but it was a fun little surprise to wake up to. Matthew is home sick today, so we are all napping and resting and enjoying a cozy day. I'm so thankful for my little family and for this Christmas season.

Around Here

Here are some more pictures of our home, with a few Christmas decorations mixed in. We love having so much space to play, work on hobbies and crafts, and run around. We are looking forward to spending our first Christmas in Texas, and I'm definitely not complaining about the 75 degree weather we've been having!



Happy Holidays!!