Been a While...

I know it's been a while, but I really need to get back in to blogging, for my own sake. Basically, my handwriting is awful, and I can't read my own journal entries anymore. So... time to catch up!


Kaile (Joe and Ella's Godmother) came to visit. We went to Paris. It was...swell? I don't know - we had a great time and all, but so many little things went wrong - at the very least it's a great story to tell :) Actually, several stories - we also visited Heidelberg Castle, and the Nazi Prison, Gross St. Martin and the Chocolate Museum in Cologne and went for dinner and dancing in Kaiserslautern... so many, many stories that I will torment her with for years to come :) I absolutely can't wait until she comes back to visit again, but that won't be until after she finishes basic training and AIT :( We'll be waiting for you in the fall, Kaile!!



Ella turned three! She had an Abby Cadabby (Elmo's best friend on Sesame Street, keep up!) party at Yabadoo, and had a blast. She's been clinging to the Hello Kitty wallet and stuffed EVE from Wall-E ever since. Ella also contracted Hand, Foot and Mouth two days after being bit by a hamster. Completely unrelated, but still an interesting timeline, in my opinion. The little rodent took the tip of her finger off, but it is healing nicely and at most, she'll have a lack of fingerprint there for a while :)






Joseph has a best friend ever now. His name is Jackson, and Joseph refers to him in all things. 'If Jackson were here, he wouldn't run in the house because he is a good boy' and 'Jackson doesn't like (insert random thing here) but I do because we're friends.' It's funny to hear him talk about friends now, and it makes me feel pretty good about things. Jackson's mom, Lana, is my best Germany friend, so we do a lot of hanging out with their family. It's nice to finally have a good family to hang out and bbq and just... be friends with, I guess.


I learned this week that Andy, an old boyfriend from Scotland, passed away last fall. I found out when I was redirected from his website to his memorial page, which is honestly not how I would have chosen... There is no information on cause, but I'd wager that the bacterial meningitis they had been trying to contain with amputations finally overcame him. I'm struggling to remember him not as the angry, hurt man I last spoke to, but as the loud, fun guy with the glass eye that I remember from my time in Scotland.

Will's brother and dad are arriving in the near future for a weeklong visit. I'm trying to work out an itenerary, but finding it rather difficult... I don't know what to do! Tulips in Holland? A day in Amsterdam? Berlin? Black Forest? Castle tours? I just can't decide! Ah well, I'll figure it all out somehow.

Oh, and today starts potty training for Ella. I absolutely can't handle diapers anymore - they arealways out of her size at the commissary, so it's become rather a necessity to get her out of them. I'm trying cold turkey this time - lots of water and juice, and no more diapers. I have tile floors and a mop - we're just going to ride this out, if we have to.