Since my last post, our life (and home...) has changed again! After a wonderful visit in Ohio with family over the holidays, we managed to win our fight with a giant snowstorm and made it to Fort Leavenworth. Seriously, it was the biggest snowstorm that I have ever seen and the scariest driving conditions that I've ever experienced. Thankfully we made it to St. Louis and spent an extra night there to take a break and ride out the storm.
So far we are really enjoying Fort Leavenworth. It's so nice to have some of the conveniences and luxuries that we have missed after being overseas. Ok, really it's just nice to have Target again. ;)
We have adjusted well to life here and look forward to the next year here!
Lots of things have been going on in the past couple of months so here are some highlights to catch up...
- Jeff is attending Command and General Staff College here at Ft. Leavenworth which is basically the school for Army Majors. He came out on the promotion list "below the zone" last year but the actual promotion won't likely happen until this summer. He is keeping very busy with "Army school" and online grad school. He's only a few classes away from finishing up his MBA through Murray State University. Although he spends a lot of time reading and studying, he is home every night for dinner and to put the kids to bed which was not quite a common occurrence while we were in Germany. We are definitely enjoying our extra family time and look forward to some warm weather so that we can venture out some more!
- Speaking of warm weather...the wind chill is due to be -20 tomorrow morning...yes that's 20 BELOW zero. I wasn't aware that we moved to Alaska.
- Since we are only here for about a year, there was really no point in finding a job so I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to stay at home with the kids. It has great highlights and some struggles but it really is the best job in the world. I've been keeping the kids (and myself) busy with playgroups and other activities in the area we've been having a blast. I've been doing my best to get to the gym 3-4 times a week and even signed up for a local 5K. We'll see how that goes..;)
- Brayden started a 3 day a week preschool here and so far seems to love it! He is happy every day when I pick him up and that's all that matters to me. Some of his favorite things now are board games, his puzzle of the United States, pancakes, Doc McStuffins, Little Einsteins, rhyming words, Madagascar, playing tag and hide and seek, ham and cheese sandwiches, apples, and being my backseat driver. :) Hard to believe he's 4 1/2!
- Speaking of "hard to believe"....Ainsley is 18 months old! Her personality is so sweet, yet feisty. :) Some of her favorite things are bananas, yogurt, having dance parties, Elmo, Minnie Mouse, brushing her teeth (and going into the bathroom to swipe toothbrushes all day), happily screaming at the top of her lungs, sneaking into Brayden's room while he's at school so that she can play with his toys, snuggling, and giving the greatest hugs and kisses. Her vocabulary is growing more and more everyday and it's so much fun to watch her learn! Some of my favorite words that she says are "Melmo", "nose", "please", "dance" and "uuuucy". :)
Hopefully I will do a better job at keeping up with the blog since we are settled now! Stay warm everyone!
I recently decided to take on a new adventure. I have always enjoyed attempting to be crafty and find that the time that I can find to craft is very relaxing to me. I love making hair accessories for Ainsley, but there are only so many that she can wear. I decided to start making them for others! 
