DISNEYLAND!

We had a great time at Disneyland and California Adventure! We spent five days there after we left my parents' home. Each of us tried rides that we hadn't been on before. We made a deal with the kids that if they went on all of the rides (excluding one ride of their choice) they would be rewarded souvenir money. They did a pretty good job(though sometimes with a little whining...we should have made that part of the deal) and got some fun prizes to remember the trip. Sarah learned that she loved the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Space Mountain. Jake loved Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, California Screamin', and Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters. Grace went on every single ride...she was awesome! Rachel loved every ride she was allowed to ride, except for the Matterhorn Bobsleds. I had to cover her eyes every time we passed the snow monster. We had a really fun breakfast with Minnie and some of her friends. The food was delicious, and I recommend it to anyone planning a Disneyland trip. We also won passes to stay in California Adventure for an hour after it closed, so we got to ride on lots of attractions with hardly any waiting in line! We spent an evening with our friends, the McLeans, who live in Baltimore, and another evening with our friends, the Stowes, who live in Orange County. I'm a little bummed we didn't get pictures at the sword in the stone or at the front entrance of Disneyland, or with my parents who joined us for two days(Sorry mom). We tried to just enjoy the moment, and picture taking sometimes gets in the way of that! Oh well. We did have a great vacation. I agree with Jake who told us he was grateful Walt Disney created Disneyland, because "He helped us to not be so sad about moving."

Bounce-Opolis with our CA Cousins!

We love our cousins--Chandler, Hayden, Dawson, Hannah, Eliza, Max--and we will really miss playing with them!

Goodbye Beale AFB

Getting Packed Up

Packing up was a bit of a headache. We had to divide up our stuff into what we would need for our trip across country, our 900 lbs. of air freight that we would have in Virginia, and household effects that would be put into storage. Somehow I understood that only our air freight shipment (900 lbs.) was going to be packed that day, and we had placed all of those items in one area. Nothing else was very organized, so Andy and I had five packers asking us (it seemed all at once) where each item was going. I'm sure it was a little frustrating for them too. Somehow everything (except a kitchen utensil drawer) got packed into the correct boxes, and the packers went home. The next day the moving truck came to load up all that was left in the house. By then things were organized and we thought it would be quick work to load it up, but the guys didn't leave until after 10pm. Hopefully, everything travels across the country safely. We don't know when we'll see our things again.

Moving Date

Just a quick update amid all of our cleaning, organizing, and preparing for movers... The moving company will be packing us up on the 29th and 30th of this month! Ahh! Then, we'll be painting all of the rooms (well, priming) back to white and hiring a cleaner so we can pass our final housing inspection. Then, on to Disneyland and our trip across country! It's coming up fast...we are really excited! Now we just need somewhere to live when we get to Virginia!

HOORAY! Andy Got an Offer!

This morning has been an emotional rollercoaster. When we got up, Andy checked his email, because the State Dept. started making job offers yesterday. He had no offer, but someone had posted on a chat room that they had accepted an offer, and this person's ranking was lower than Andy's. So we figured things were all messed up and started to freak out that Andy had been skipped over, or something! Andy emailed the lady who hires the political officers and she was out of the office, of course. I started thinking about whether to start up my wood sign business, or apply to substitute teach to help support our family while unemployed. Thankfully, a little later, the lady responded that she sent the offer yesterday. We never received it, so she sent it again! It is official now! Andy will start the A-100 class on March 3rd! We are so excited, and I think we appreciate it even more now that we had a little taste of what it would feel like if he weren't hired. Woohoo!

Lost Tooth Two-Fer

Jake and Grace each lost a tooth today! Grace's front tooth has been hanging by a thread for a couple of days now, so we knew it was coming out soon. Jake, on the other hand, didn't really notice his was loose. He just pushed on it this morning and it came out. His next tooth had already pushed through his gums. They're hoping the tooth fairy leaves them a little extra for this special occasion. We'll see tomorrow!

My Man in Uniform

Yesterday was officially Andy's last day of work in the Air Force. Here's a picture of him wearing his BDUs for the very last time! Pretty cute.

Scrabblin' Girls

The girls and I played Scrabble a few weeks ago. When I asked Sarah what word she wanted to place on the board, she said "hi". I turned her tile holder toward me to see if I could help her make a longer word, and this is what her tiles looked like..."HI YALL". We thought it was really funny! Rachel made lots of her own words after we were finished with the game. You can check our board for accuracy...I think most of the words are spelled correctly!?

Christmas Sunday

I know Christmas wasn't on a Sunday, but the kids all got to wear their new church clothes to church on the Sunday before Christmas. I thought they looked pretty cute!