What do you think this is?

Anya painted this picture at summer camp last week. When I went to pick her up, I thought wow it's a turkey. It's not a turkey.

We found a new church, and they were having 3 weeks of summer camp for preschoolers! We got in on the last week, the girls went on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9-1. The theme was farm animals.

This was Ally's picture, if you look closely you'll see pigs under the mud smears. The girls both transition to new things so easily, when we got to church they both just took off to their classrooms. I hardly had a chance to say goodbye. I just kind of stood there like okay now what, but I quickly regained my composer, and promptly headed to the mall!

Monkey Joe's

Yesterday we went to Monkey Joe's with some new friends. I had no idea what Monkey Joe's was when we moved here, but I do now and can see us spending lots of time there. It's a really nice, clean, HUGE, inflatables indoor playground. The big bouncers have climbing walls, obstacle courses, and slides. There are also separate bouncers for kids 3 and under, which is great. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, but take my word the kids had a blast. Ally was timid at first, and only stayed in the smaller kid area, but soon she was bouncing along the big kids. Anya stayed close to her new friend Brynn, climbing the walls & sliding down the tall slides. Hopefully next time I'll get some pictures.

Josh's Schedule

Josh is finally getting started on his first block of internship tomorrow. He's been in orientation for about a month. A block equals a month, and his first month is FPIS, Family Practice Inpatient Service. He'll be on call tomorrow which means he goes to work around 6:30 a.m. and gets off the next day at noon. Hopefully he'll be able to get some sleep at the hospital. Josh will be on call every 4 days, so Friday he'll be on call again. He gets 4 days off this month, a Saturday, a Sunday, and full weekend (Saturday & Sunday). Next month is also FPIS, so it will be the same schedule. I don't remember what's after that, but it's something outpatient with no call.

After Josh graduated from med school in 2004, he completed an internal medicine internship in San Antonio. This year is going to be sort of a repeat of that for him. For me I think it's more of a first, because I don't remember the last one very well. We had Anya in January that year, and I was very wrapped up in everything BABY! I guess that was good, because I was don't remember the schedule being that bad. He had 10 months of inpatient(on call) medicine that year! This year he'll only have 7 months, but he's looked ahead and is on call for a lot of holidays/birthdays. Christmas and Thanksgiving are decided by a lottery system, so we'll see what we get.

Skeeter Cat Is Home

I just thought I'd update to let you all know Skeeter has come home. He was gone about two days. I have no idea where he went or what he was doing! We need to get him a tag in case he wanders again. I wish Taft (our other cat) would wander off, but no such luck. I know that's terrible, but that cat spits up more than a baby. She also poops on the floor right in front of the litter box!! We think she's about 12 years old, so one can only hope the end is near. Now I feel like a bad person, great!

Oh Where, Oh Where, Has Our Skeeter Cat Gone

Our best cat, as Anya calls him, went out last night, and hasn't come home yet. Anya is very concerned, and has spent much of the day outside calling for him. At lunch today she told us that Skeeter was probably out on the street looking for fish. Josh said why would he look for fish on the street? Anya proceeded to tell us about the fish stands on the streets that the cats set up. Then she remember that Skeeter didn't have any money, so she was concerned again. Later we're supposed to go for a walk "on the streets" to look for a cat fish stand, and to inquire if any cat has seen Skeeter.

When we moved to San Antonio Skeeter went out wandering a couple of times, and once was gone for two weeks. I really hope he comes home soon for Anya's sake, and for mine.

Tonight's Dinner

What Anya had for dinner....
Chicken
Goose Goose
Banini
Green Beans

What the rest of us had....
Pork Chops
Couscous
Zucchini
Green Beans

What I hate about moving....

I have a beautiful runner with no place for it to run. I have dining room table, and all the decorations that go with it, and no dining room. I have decorations for above the kitchen cabinets that are all too tall. The curtains in Ally's room are a foot too short. The list goes on and on.

The Neighbors

Meet Rutt & Tuke!

These two huge Great Dane dogs live next door with their mommy Petra. Luckily, they are very friendly dogs. Our yard is fenced but on the sides it drops down low, low enough for the dogs to hang their heads over if they want. At first the girls were curious about the dogs, but every time they barked they would run inside. They are very very loud dogs! I didn't know what to think about the dogs. When we finally met Petra, she formally introduced us to Rutt & Tuke, and now I'm actually enjoying the new neighbors. Anya is always checking to see if the dogs are out, and goes out to talk to them when they are. She loves all animals. Here's some info about Great Danes if your interested.

Friends & The 4th

When we found out we were moving to McConnell 4 years ago, I was excited to be close to one of my oldest friends, Marla. We stayed at the Beagley's house when we first got to town from San Antonio, and last week was full circle as we stayed with them again before we left for St. Louis. Anya was in heaven when Michelle's (Marla's Sister) girls, Avery & McKenna, came over for a sleepover the last night we were there. We all also got to take one last dip in our pool, and had a great time swimming together. Thanks Marla for letting us stay with you again, we'll miss you guys!

Marla with Reese, McKenna, Avery, & Anya

Ally would not get out of the pool to join the picture.

We spent the 4th in Kansas City. When we got to town we checked into our hotel, and then went off to find some ice cream. Later that evening we headed downtown to see the fireworks display. We actually ended up at a smaller show at LeaWood Park that we heard about on the radio. They had all kinds of inflatables for the kids to bounce on, a little train ride, carnival games, food, and live music. We all had a fun time. Anya wanted to do all the bouncy things, but Ally was not so sure about the big kids. They did have one bouncy ship that was only for 2-5 year olds that Ally loved. It sprinkled on us off and on the whole night, and was only around 70 degrees.

The next day on our way to our new home we visited some friends in Columbia, MO. We saw the Cunningham's new house, and went out for lunch together. It was good to catch up with another Air Force family venturing down the same path that we are on.

Ally, Anya, Drennon, and Dalton.


Our trip went really well, it was so broken up that Ally hardly had time to fuss! I wish we could travel like that all the time.

Moving Out & Moving In

Moving out was a little stressful. Most of the stress could have been avoided if I would have planned ahead, and packed up things we were taking with us ahead of time. Instead I scrambled at the last minute grabbing things here and there, making myself crazy! My mom was so much help with the girls while I did my last minute errands, etc. I would have been dead if she hadn't been able to come. We did have one problem, the "brown beast" a.k.a. the couch in the basement would not fit up the staircase. The movers wouldn't take it out the window (which is how it got down there in the first place), so we are one couch short now.

The moving in went much smoother. Since Josh had already been staying in our new house, he had cleaned everything, so I didn't have to do any of that. Yeah for Josh!! All I had to do for the move in was sit and check off the box numbers as the movers carried them in. The girls went to daycare on base while the truck was being unloaded. They had to get up really early to go with Josh when he went to work, and then he picked them up on his way home. Daycare was a first for us! I was worried about them, but they had a blast with all the other kids. Now I just have to unpack the 259 boxes that are piled up all over the house.

The girls pretending the packing paper is a pile of leaves

Taft likes the paper too

Good Bye Big Beautiful House

We'll Miss You!!