Donuts!

Time with cousins

First Football Game

Back in September, when Roger was home, we were able to take the girls to their very first football game. Here we are at the Ag Farm where we parked for the game.

We also tailgated for the game, family style. Thanks to the Alumni and Family Assications for throwing a great tailgate.

Hallowed ground, Bill Snyder Stadium.

We had front row seats in the end zone. It was awesome!

A Sea of Purple!

And we got to meet Willie!

A Day with Harry Potter

This is the Hale Library, somewhere that I spend a lot of time at. It always struck me that it looked like a castle.

On Family Day, back in September, we learned that it is actually Hogwarts! The Great Room on the fourth floor looks just like the Great Room in the Harry Potter movies!

They hosted a Harry Potter Day for all the kids that weekend. As avid Harry Potter fans, we were thrilled!

They had stories and a coloring contest for the kids. And a lot of things about the history of the library and the school.

R & R

In September, Roger was home for two weeks of R & R. We were all very happy to have him home. The girls were excited to go pick him up from the airport. They insisted we take him car to get him. They said Blue Car had missed Daddy too.

And we took him to Famous Dave's. He was so happy to eat! Their chow hall in his new FOB has been a little light in the food area. We were very busy while he was home. I wish I had more pictures but I will post what I do have soon.

Oh, I forgot about the wind

We are getting settled into our new home here in Kansas. And one thing for sure, I had forgotten about the wind. When Rodgers and Hammerstein said the winds comes sweeping down the plain they were not kidding. We drove here dodging tornadoes and fighting to stay on the road. There are nights I think my house is under siege the winds are so bad. And we enjoyed a summer filled with tornado watches, but were blessed to actually not have tornado warnings.


As most of you know, with in two weeks of moving in to our new home in our new town, Roger deployed to Afghanistan. We were expecting this and prepared as best we could. But that still left me to put the house together and help the girls to adjust. As usual they are troopers, but its hard to understand all of this when you don't know how long a year is or where Afghanistan is. I have once again had to rethink everything when it comes to Lily as she continues to plow her own unique path through life.


I must say first that we have been very blessed here with so many people to help us, from family to new neighbors. Everyone has made the adjustment for the girls and me much easier. I have to say Roger hit a home run when picking this house. It is fantastic and the neighborhood is perfect. Four of the houses on our street have families with children, including one with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. In fact the neighborhood is full of kids! A big improvement over Fayetteville. And all of neighbors have been so helpful. I couldn't imagine being in a better place.


With Roger gone I knew I would need to enlist help, at least for the summer. I took 2 classes this summer, each 4 weeks long, each meeting 10 hours a week. After much struggle and prayer, I found a summer babysitter. A preschool teacher who decided to run an in home daycare. She was able to take both of the girls for the summer. I had originally planned to put Lily in the campus childcare when school started for the fall. But we liked her so much, after two weeks I decided to keep Lily with her for the school year. It was the best decision I could have made. Lily loves to go to Sandy's and Sandy truly gets Lily. She has blossomed there and Sandy has been a HUGE help with potty training. I know that changing childcare for the fall would have been more harm than good for Lily who has had to deal with so much change already. So I fell blessed to have found Sandy.


I also had to enlist help with the yard. The yard has always been Roger domain, but with him gone and a yard that no one had tended to in almost a year, I was overwhelmed. I found a horticulture student to come and sort it out. One issue was there were so many plants and trees that they were crowding each other. He cut out half of what we had in the yard and it looks so much better.

So, we made it through the summer. I love here so far. It is truly liking coming home for me. And Manhattan is a great place for kids with lots of parks and swimming pools. We have been to Nebraska fours time and Kansas City once. It has been so great to be able to visit my relatives and know that it won't be another year before we see them again. I'm sure I'll won't love it as much here when we have a foot of snow outside this winter, but for now I'm enjoying Kansas. I hope to take the girls to see lots of new things now that we are in a new region. Hopefully we will get lots of pictures!

Jena's first day

Jena started Kindergarten last week. I told her she could have anything she wanted for breakfast. She chose Lucky Charms.

I started measuring the girls when Roger left for deployment. Here is how much they have grown over the summer.

Jena already for the big day! She coordinated her outfit with her backpack.

I tried to get them both in a picture but Lily didn't cooperate.

One more try.

Our very excited Kindergartner!

Saying goodbye to the angel.

At the drop off. One thing I love here is there is no car line in the traditional sense. They have a lane to pull up to the school and a separate area for the Kindergartners. They also having parking in both areas and you can park on the street in the neighborhood. We parked and walked to the school that day. Since then I've been able to park in the kindergarten area or pull up and get her. Only about 5 minutes at most. No 45 minute wait here.

All ready to go in her room. She already knew one girl who lives on the next street over. They have become fast friends. So far it has been good. She has had hot lunch at school and has taken her lunch a few days also. She likes having the option of eating at school. They assign each student a number for their account. Our little overachiever already knows hers, we've been working on it for last few weeks. She told me last night she thought the lunchroom would be more like a restaurant where you pay. I told her you pay by telling them your number like when we pay with a card. She doesn't quite get how that works yet, which means I'm safe for at least a little while when it comes to shopping.