Houston Central

Happy 4th Birthday Noah T!

2012-01-19T06:04:00.004-06:00

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Noah!!!!!

Some pictures from the last 4 birthdays!

First week...

We were living in College Station, awaiting approval from the doctor that Mommy and Noah were fit to make the long journey up to Ft. Leonardwood where Daddy was anxiously waiting for us. Mimi and Pawpy drove us allll the way there!

First Birthday....

Daddy was deployed to Iraq, so he couldn't make it to your party. So, we had everyone dress up in Camo to remember him. You had a pretty cool tank birthday cake!

Second Birthday....

We were living in Poppenhausen. We made you special blueberry waffles and bacon for breakfast and cute little monkey cupcakes for your birthday cake!

Third Birthday....

All your sweet friends came out to celebrate you turning 3! Mom and Dad spent a long time creating a pretty spiffy bulldozer cake because you LOVE bulldozers!

Fourth Birthday morning....

Started the day off right with a Birthday Donut!!! We have lots more fun things planned for you on this special day! Mommy made you soccer ball and baseball cupcakes to take to Kindergarten today! And...this sunday we'll play outside and have a Spiderman party just for you!!!

Blessed beyond measure for sure with this little dude. He makes our hearts happy and light.

Best big brother around too!

Here's to you our lil 4 year old! We think "Yer the BEST!"

A New Year...a new beginning....a new home????

2012-01-13T02:24:00.004-06:00

Yes, yes indeed.

The Houston family is heading back to Texas.

It's been [almost] 4 amazing years here in Germany.

All good things have to come to an end.

I think that's the way I will feel once we set foot on Texas soil.

We'll wonder if the last four years were just a dream.

Did we really live in Germany?

Well enough about that...and all those one-liner thoughts. [it was for dramatic affect...did it work?]

meh. Let's recap what's happened just this year....

We had Jon's wonderful amazing beautiful talented (I could go on forever folks, she's just that cool) Shannon came to stay with us for 2 weeks.

Wowzah, did we have fun with her and we're still a little bit grumpy-pants that she's back in Texas. We thought we could convince her that the last semester of her senior year in college was over-rated and she should stay with us....I know I know, NOT going to happen, but hey we love her! Needless to say, we are counting the days till we get to see our beloved Shan again:)

Jon and I celebrated 5 wonderful years of Marriage:)

Woot Woot!

Sorry you can't see our faces in our wedding photo here, cool idea though right?

We still feel the fireworks even after all these years...har har har...

Shan actually took this shot of us right as fireworks were exploding in the sky behind us on New years Eve!

We are NOT ready to say goodbye to this sweet lady ( I realize that this is more of a statement than an event that has taken place...)

This is our beloved Emma. She's like our family. She's totally the smartest wisest woman you'll ever meet. Except you'd never know because she's so cautious of sharing her wisdom so as to not offend or push her "way" (as she calls it) on you. Shame Emma, Shame! You could save the world from cancer, bad doctors, etc. if you'd share your wisdom with everyone! :) We do NOT want to say goodbye to her. Everyone let's all give a collective "BOOOOO!" now...

Noah said goodbye to his best friend, Anna Sophie.

She is Emma's grand daughter. She is the coolest girl. What pre-teen do you know will spend hours and I mean hours running around the house with a 3 year boy. This one that's who. She is so loved by Noah. He is devastated that she had to go back home to Macedonia (where her mom works at the German embassy) and that he won't get to see her again before we leave for Texas. Boo for saying goodbye.

We feel you Noah, we do.

Did I mention the boys weren't that thrilled about Shannon leaving either?

Yep, so they devised a plan to go with her...

Yep, it didn't work, nice try boys, nice try.

So, I believe that's enough to last ya for a few more days. Soon and very soon we should have official dates for our move to Texas:) We are happy and sad ..excited and scared. Stressed? meh, just a little.

But, did I mention Jon and I will finally get to have our first vacation, alone at the end of the month???? PARIS ...here we come! Oui Oui!

2011 ....what a crazy hard year!

2011-12-28T01:46:00.003-06:00

2011....

There were certainly highs

...and very low lows.

The blogging was lacking...very lacking. But don't let that fool you, there was more than enough to blog about, I think too much, which kept me from getting on here and babbling on about it.

Who's ready for 2012?

We are!

I say half-heartidly...I want to kick 2011 out of here for all the hard times we've been through, but I cannot fully say that without being so thankful for all of it, good and bad.

Through the hard times you learn who your true friends are, your family never ceases to amaze you with their generosity, kindness, and prayers (even though they are hundreds and hundreds miles and an ocean away!), and....God's love. He has shown us his GREAT BIG love by providing for our every need, every hurt, every last challenge.

Without all the challenges and heart ache this year brought, we would have never known just how many people love us and how BIG God's love really is.

Here's to all of you!

We toast this New Year's Eve to all our support system from 2011!

Did we ever tell you about our little indian?

2011-09-29T14:32:00.003-05:00

A few months back, Noah's German Kinder put on a small program in the village.

They had just completed learning theme all about Indians.

Noah's indian name was "kleinemond" ...."little mouth" ;)

Here's our little Indian playing and trying to keep up...

He's usually pretty shy around Kindergarten, very perceptive. He definitely knows the language and usually you will find him quietly observing when he's in a big group of his German friends.

What a cutie patootie!

He's a ball full of laughter that's for sure! He's sweet as can be. "Mommy, [rubbing my head bc i'm laying down with an headache] I'll take care of you" "Mommy can we go home now, so I can sleep with you "[he likes to nap with me on the couch] And lately he's been talking about how he would love a pair of soccer shoes and shorts.

We will surely miss his Kindergarten and the language he learns when we move back to Texas.

Our little ONE year old....

2011-09-19T02:37:00.008-05:00

He's one.

Where did the time go?

We had a fun birthday planned for this one....but the weather had other plans...so we didn't get as many photo booth shots as we would have liked. Nonetheless...here are some favs:

We had a whole birthday party themed around pieces...

mostly M&M's. Pretty fun. Simple. Everyone took home baby food jars I had turned into M&M holders that said "We love you to pieces"...they were pretty cute...sadly, we didn't get a lot of pics because the our amazing photographer

had to go home and take care of windows and such because it had started storming about 45 minutes into the party.

Here's Jon and James escaping the weather...but not before he had his

first chocolate cupcake!

My sweet friend Jen would simply NOT let him go without getting as much cupcake as possible!

This is Jon's way of saying ...he doesn't think the weather is that bad, stay awhile, James is!

(I promise no kiddos were injured playing in the rain...)

Noah...sort of tested a cupcake before we arrived..so he got to eat his before everyone else.

James is a happy little one, most of the time.

He just started walking, although he still thinks the one legged scoot is much quicker.

He loves playing with his big brother, who takes great care of him, most of the time (as long as his favorite toys aren't involved) ;)

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Too Much!

2011-08-31T15:19:00.003-05:00

How much is too much? I mean in the ways of apologizing? I keep saying sorry every time I get on here to post. Figures.

Unless you know what's been going on in our lives!

I will just summarize some highs and lows, not in any specific order, however they all occurred this past summer. That's right Summer of 2011...we'll surely remember you because:

Peter, our landlord here in Germany, passed away.
I, Angie Houston, completed my very first Triathlon!
Jon completed a HalfIronman race
Jon trains for a full Ironman race in August
Jon has to give up Ironman bc he has testicular cancer
Our baby James turned ONE!
Jon has surgery to remove the testicle with cancer, told he needs chemo and then sees his cancer levels decrease= no chemo necessary!!!!
Jon starts training again...this time for a small sprint distance Triathlon
Jon starts studying for the Professional Engineers exam

Some pictures to illustrate what we've been doing...

Houston boys...LOVE to stretch!

Little James "reading" his Birthday card from GiGi

I finished my Triathlon 1:37 minutes! 13 minutes faster than I thought!

Noah getting super excited about riding the swings with Daddy!

The most incredible man I know...Jon. FINISHING his half Ironman race in just under 5 hours! His goal was to finish in 6! Way to go Jonny J!

Crazy summer, lots of drama, lots of tears, lots of sweat, lots of sleepiness....but

GOD IS STILL GOOD!

We praise him for all the things we have been through this Summer. We serve an amazing God that "Works all things for the good of those that love Him" Romans 8:28

James update...

2011-06-05T07:34:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone.

Here's some pictures from about a month ago of James. 8 months never looked so cute!

I love Holland!

2011-05-04T13:46:00.006-05:00

Yes, that's right...I love that place.

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about my lovely trip there with some amazing sweet lady friends of mine.

Without further ado.....

This was my itinerary...

We arrived super super late in a city called "Rotterdam" (2nd largest port city...um, in the world, second to ShangHi!) Lovely hotel. Situated in a pretty business-like part of town...no biggee...

First full day: We drove north to a town called Haarlem.

How cute right? We traveled there to visit an amazing museum.

It's the Cory Ten Boom house...the house she and her family actually hid Jews in during WWII. It was amazing. She wrote a book called "The Hiding Place" ...we did get to see this place...actually got to crawl inside the place they'd hide peeps. Very incredible story. Go, now, look her up and marvel at her story! ...ok, please wait till yer done reading this blog entry...

We also walked casually through the streets of Haarlem and it was awesome...That town was simply lovely, especially all the bikes! Really, tons and tons of bikes with cool baskets, carts, wee lil' baby carriers both on the front and backs of them. Awesome...I really want a front seat now for baby James...

Then, Tulips!!!

Paula is one of my dearest friends here in Schweinfurt....

(despite the fact that she went to Tech ;0) )

Can you tell I love this lady????

We toured the grounds of the famous Tulip Festival. This is what happens when you have amazing women with you up to no good..well, just up to taking really goofy pictures!

Yes, yes I did love the shoes...bought some for Noah as a matter of fact...

My fellow goof ball..Tessa....this is what happens when one of us gets bright idea to do this...

And then tries to do with her friend...

I still giggle looking at how much Tess just looks like she's falling...and I'm well, trying to jump...

LOL...what happens at night...with some goofy ladies....

Final day: Ate brunch at a cute lakeside-harbor cafe place. It was awesome to see tons of peeps out running, walking, biking, rollerbladin.....so fun.

ha! Yes, we did...well, not really

Just what I needed.

I loved every last minute of it...These were just a few of our pictures..I'm still waiting for my other lady friends to give me more pics:)

We're Back!

2011-04-15T02:11:00.004-05:00

I know what you are thinking...are you kidding? You keep apologizing left and right EVERY time you post...

I know, my lack of posting is lame. How could I leave my family and friends hanging like this?

I'll tell you why...I need help! I cannot figure out how to post pictures and such efficiently since I got our new mac.

So, cross your fingers that this works!

I also face-lifted our blog. Turns out, blogger has some pretty nifty templates...etc, so I think I am (gasp) giving up designing blogger headers all cute-like!....it's just a time-sucker anyway...So, here's to simplicity!

There are some great pictures!

James is growing and moving!

He's crawling around and enjoying every minute. I have to purchase as walker bc this kid is happy when he can move move move.

Noah is such a sweet dear heart. He's so helpful and polite these days. "Oh thank you mom, thank you" What a sweetie.

Jon is too! He's letting this tired worn out Momma have a vacation this weekend in Holland! With the tulips! Yay! I will post pictures:)...but just hold your horses..I have to get there first!

The weather has been better here...it's a little cold, but sunny! The flowers are in full bloom and it's looking more and more like a dream here! We sure are gonna miss the seasons here.

Last weekend our family went on a marriage retreat sponsored by the chapel here on post.

These pictures are taken at the foot of the Zugspitze (tallest mountain in Germany) at the Eibsee lake:)

And here's a silly picture of Noah during his Kinder Fasching week.

(Fasching is a German holiday that "scares" the winter away...so all week long the kiddos ...and adults...dress up and have lots of fun!)

Does that satisfy everyone for a little bit? :) I hope so! I miss you guys dearly!

Now...go have some fun in the beautiful SPRING weather!

I'm so behind....

2011-03-11T10:04:00.004-06:00

Yeah, let's not talk about how I've been a terrible blogger as of late.

I'm so behind. We've had so much going on.

Noah turned 3 in January! We had a super fun bowling party for him with all his friends here in Germany. He had such a ball!

We took a trip to Texas that was quite spur of the moment, flew Space-A and had a blast. That was middle of January till about the first week of Feb.

Jon has transitioned into his new unit working for the Garrison of Schweinfurt now. He's enjoying himself, especially since he's working with the DPW (Directorate of Public Works).

How do I even begin to describe our dear little ones?

Noah is going to German Kindergarten from about 8:30 to 1:30 Monday thru Thursday and till 12:30 on Fridays. His German is really improving and he's growing like a little weed! Tall and thin. Just like his Daddy. Singing songs, playing games, running, just being a helpful little dude that's what he's been up to.

James is a joy. His personality is so charming and contagious. He is constantly smiling and giggling. He's almost crawling. Sitting up and just now enjoying homemade baby food. We haven't ventured too far from sweet potatoes, but so far so good. He's also a small dude, but long and lean.

I am currently training for my very first triathlon in July! Jon is about to start his training for a full IRONMAN in August. We are a busy busy sporty family! HA, I thought I'd never say that.

In addition, I am currently taking an awesome class called CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) and loving every minute.

I am still serving on the executive board for PWOC and facilitating Beth Moore's Esther study for our group.

Also, I have just started leading worship with my guitar. First at PWOC, now maybe for our Sunday morning Protestant services. I played for the first time on Sunday with a friend and loved it! So, I'm not that good to play alone, but enjoying it nonetheless.

We're busy, but happy! Sorry the blog is suffering! I still have to get pictures printed of our little dudes for the family! I promise to get that done soon!

I'm still getting familiar with our new computer so I'm having issues on how to post pictures better. I'm sorry for the lack of photos here, I will try to get this fixed for next time!

Pardon the absence....

2011-02-08T15:06:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone...

Yes, we are all still here and doing well.

We've had a few hiccups in the world of computers...we had an unknown mishap with our old computer ....boo. We're still hoping to save the files on the hard-drive, so say a prayer that we can...all of our pictures, files...etc from living overseas are on there...and it would be so very sad to loose them.

In other news....we had a marvelous trip to TEXAS! I will take some time later this week when I'm not feeling super tired from jetlag to fill you in....and hopefully post some pictures.

We finally have internet and a wonderful working computer at home now...a Mac! :) We crossed over, so far we love it. We're still getting to know Mac, but I find him quite enchanting...probably bc I've been without a computer for so long!

My sweet husband had purchased the Mac before the computer mishap but it didn't arrive in time for him to surprise me for our 4th Anniversary...so we came back from Texas and it was waiting for us in the mail room!

Yay! He's so wonderful.

That's all for now...We have a lot to do ....and 2 sick little ones, so bare with me, posting is not a big priority.

S N O W.....

2010-12-27T07:46:00.006-06:00

Snow...snoooooooow!

We've had a white Christmas alright...it's pretty amazing around here. It's the most snow any of us have ever seen.
This makes for interesting mornings for Jon...
Here's the truck....looking down our street...our house is on the right...with the lights:)

This is a view from the front steps of the house...
And this is my awesome shoveling machine...aka..JON

He has to get up at about 4:45am to shovel out for work in the morning!!!
OH, and yes, he has no jacket on bc ...he gets so hot shoveling! :)
This also makes for lots of fun for Noah...he loves shoveling snow!
Here's proof:

Jon and Noah playing in the snow...building a giant snowman...

Here's me and snow...we get along great.

Here's the igloo/cave Jon carved out...it's seriously about 2-3 feet higher now, bc we've gotten more snow since this picture was taken!

This is me..doing what I do best in snow...playing/falling.

Um, my coughing you can hear at the end of the video...that's bc it took my breath away...it wasn't as deep as Jon told me...so I hit the ground hard! LOL

OH...AND...James turned 4 months this month!!! Crazy!
He's such a cute happy lil dude!

From Germany...

2010-12-24T14:50:00.003-06:00

We wish to say:

And here's a few pics from tonight....
Our candle light service...

And....our Christmas Eve tradition of opening a new set of PJs!!!

We look snazzy!
Merry Christmas Y'ALL!

GlobeTrotters!

2010-12-19T03:17:00.002-06:00

I thought you all might enjoy seeing these pictures!
The Harlem Globetrotters came to Schweinfurt...for FREE! (Jon had to be up at the gym at 6am to get us tickets)
It was a blast.
Noah had a "ball"! (Jon happened to catch one of the small basketballs they were throwing out to the audience)
Jon and Noah had the most fun after the game was over getting autographs from all the players:)
I hope the slideshow works for you! I decided it would take up a lot less space and save you from scrolling...and scrolling...and scrolling......

Thanksgiving ....

2010-12-11T05:04:00.007-06:00

I just wanted to post some pictures from Thanksgiving.

Here's the finished product...of my super cool A&M apple pie!

James ready for gobblin':)

Here's the pie before I baked it!

I was so proud!

Here's a Texas Apple pie we gave to Noah's Kindergarten teachers!

I think the pictures of the boys are so hilarious...
I could easily think of great captions to fit the many faces of these cute boys...but I think you should leave comments guessing what they are thinking instead! It's too funny!

After a long day...It's nice to snuggle up and read a good book with Daddy;)

And...here's a shot from James' s 3 Month mark!

And..just for good measure a goofy hat hair picture of Noah...quite the lil toot!

Mind the Gap

2010-12-02T11:33:00.008-06:00

L O N D O N !!!!

Gosh, it is entirely too hard to begin talking about our trip to London, we loved it so much.
Truly, we sure wish we had more time in this amazing city. So rich with history and the people were absolutely a delight!

We took off on a Thursday and came back Sunday. It was Veterans Day weekend. In fact, it was their "Remembrance" Day weekend too, so it was unusually crowded...and I mean CROWDED! That didn't stop us from having lots of fun though:) Just wish we could have been there in the warmer weather to enjoy the parks.

So, here's some pictures to highlight our adventures.
We took a double-decker bus tour which ended up being super worth it with two little boys and pretty chilly weather.Took us a while to pick a spot to eat for fish and chips...but we finally found some! :) Notice, Noah is zonked in the backpack carrier! LOLNext stop...Tower of London! This ended up being the only "Museum" we went in...with little ones museums are just not a good idea!
Here's some fun pictures from around the city.
Me pointing at the building they affectionately call the "Gerkin" bc it looks like a giant pickle! Yes, of course we took a stroll through Harrods!!! The best thing about that place was that their childrens floor had an amazing baby changing room...with 3 separate changing stations, complete with their own sinks and changing pads!!! Yes, a travel weary Mommy's dream!

Jon, in keeping with tradition, would get up early and run around to scope out the city...this time he brought the camera with him! Great shots Jon!!!

This one is soooo frame worthy don't you think???
Our bus tour also came with a free river boat tour....Noah absolutely loved it! He got to ride on a plane, train, bus...AND boat!Other highlights....
London Eye
The National flower for Remembrance is the Poppy....so there were poppy wreaths...and paper poppies being sold everywhere that weekend.In front of Westminster Abbey
These guys reminded me of the "oh wee oh, yooooo hoooo" dudes from Wizard of OZ:)Of course the obligatory pic outside Buckingham Palace
There was also some interesting parades...Horse Guard:)Trafalgar Square!Eating a traditional English meal....And...we had to take Noah to Hamley's Toy store (It's like a glorified FAO Schwartz) He was overwhelmed at first..
(just like I was in Harrods! LOL)
And...James did GREAT on the plane!!!!
Lovely time indeed! Stroller free! We carried both boys, Jon had Noah in the backpack carrier...and I carried baby James:)

Better Late than never.....

2010-11-25T13:23:00.010-06:00

Yes, yes...I know I promised more entries and I left you all hanging for a couple of weeks.

So, Here's a ton of pictures! You can see for yourself what we've been up to!

Halloween Jon and I made a LEGO costume for Noah! James was a little pea pod.(Jon is missing in the Halloween pictures because...he was busy running a MARATHON in Greece!)

Noah watching football...he always yells "good defense!!!" ...um, no matter who has the ball. ;)

And...we had a visit from Jon's parents, Greg and Laura (Mimi and Pawpy)

If you look closely, Jon is sporting a mohawk...from the marathon he ran that weekend.

Noah loved the goodies Mimi and Pawpy brought him;)

And...pictures of Jon running the marathon!...in Athens, Greece!
Jon has a thing about mohawks...he was super pumped to find a guy who was actually a barber from the States to give him a mohawk for the big race!

Finished in 3 1/2 hours!
And..here's some pictures of Jon in Athens...doing a little sight seeing!

And...for my Mom...these are for you...and our DEMIS heritage! Straight from Greece!Next up....a full report from a delightful trip to LONDON! :)

October Update...

2010-10-25T07:48:00.006-05:00

Here's what we've been up to this month!
We had a spouses coffee...but...it wasn't just any coffee.

It was an 80's Bunco Party at our Battalion Commander's house. What a hoot!

I borrowed the most ridiculous 80's dress did I not?I dressed Jon in a Miami Vice type getup! (it was embarrassing only bc he had never seen Miami Vice and therefore had no clue how cool he looked! LOL) That's what I quick trip the local thrift store on post will buy you! (you can't tell he's wearing a women's blazer can you? LOL)

Family Bowling...

This was Noah's first time to get to bowl all by himself. Well, almost!

Things to note about our bowling experience:

Noah carries his own ball."I wanna do it Dad!"Noah gets super excited when he bowls!AND.......James turned 2 months!We decided to make a cake each month...so we'll remember!
Crazy huh?
This little guy is too cute!

Next up.....Halloween...AND....MIMI AND PAWPY come to GERMANY!!!!!!!!!

Lately...

2010-10-13T07:31:00.005-05:00

I am still trying to adjust being a mother of 2....and a good wife to my amazing husband....so, pardon the lack of posting...some things are just more important right now than sitting in front of the computer. I'd rather be interacting with Noah while he still WANTS me to play with him...or just sitting with James...because I know all to well how fast they grow up. Seriously, it seems like we have a little man in our house, not a preschool aged son. ;(

All that said...let's get down to updating.
A few weeks ago, Jon's friend Wade (who happens to be an extremely avid rock climber) invited our entire family to go camping with him for a night. Jon, after asking Wade multiple times if he knew what he was getting himself into camping with a family of 4(...2 of the persons going being under the age of 3), told him yes we'd love to go!
So, we took off...our goal for the camping trip was to find some great climbing rocks for Wade to visit in the future.
Wade has this super cool van, not much bigger than ours, but it's a camper. So, the hood has a pop-up feature that sleeps 2 peeps up top and then 2 more on the seat(that turns into a bed) This van is complete with a stove, fridge and table! Yep, I loved it!

We had a blast. I was extremely sore by the end of the trip from all the uphill hiking we did...but it was worth it to hang out with the best boys in the world! (Wade..included;) )

It has to be said that these "rocks" are very illusive...although pretty enormous...they are quite hidden in the woods...so it took lots and lots of hiking and land navigation skills to find them.

Here's the boys as we are about to embark on our 2 1/2 hour car ride to the rocks. :) Jon graciously sat crammed in the middle of the boys' carseats....don't be fooled, it really was quite roomy, just not with 2 big carseats in the back.

Here's us at one of the rock sites.Beautiful views.

And..the big boys...bc let's face it, they truly act like little giddy boys when they get to go "outside and play with the rocks" :)And us after a great meal...chicken pasta cooked right inside the van. :)
And, surprisingly, Wade said he had a great time with our little family at the end of the trip!

I will leave you with a smile...from James:)
Updates on him to follow...

Enjoy....

2010-10-06T07:32:00.002-05:00

Here's our little Noah...singin' away...(to the Davy Crockett song)

I'm thinking he wants to go as "Daisy Pocket" for Halloween;)

CAPTAIN Houston

2010-09-24T03:54:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures from Jon's recent promotion to CAPTAIN!

This time... I will let the pictures do the talking...but I have to explain one thing. Once you "pin" the new rank on the soldier, the wife (or whoever is pinning) must then PUNCH them in the chest where the rank is! The only shot we got of me punching Jon was the aftermath smile Jon has on his face here....

notice..the Col is holding baby James so I can pin Jon :)

1 month old!

2010-09-19T07:05:00.004-05:00

We celebrated James's 1 month Birthday with a yummy German Chocolate Cake...as requested by Daddy.

Just had to post the rest of these...
I've been trying really hard to capture a good picture of this little man's curls...His hair gets curly ( like mine) when it's wet...Although I have been tempted to put mouse in it so they will stay..I have and will continue to resist that urge...I'm hoping his hair will start to show the curls more when his hair gets longer. For now, I just get to see those cute curls when his hair is wet.

Can you believe this little dude is already 1 month old???
More to come...pictures and a post from Jon's Birthday ....

Oh, and thanks to my dear friend Jamie...did you notice that cute little 1 on his onesie? She made these nifty little number stickers for each month up until he turns a year old. (so this forces me to stay on top of monthly pictures of the dude!) And..she even coordinated the number with the month...so look for his 2 month sticker to be Halloween colors! She's so creative! :)

"I scooped the shovel"...

2010-09-13T10:21:00.004-05:00

Yep...that is what Noah will tell you if you ask him what he did in Kindergarten.

Our little Noah isn't little anymore. He started German Kindergarten on Sept. 1 and has loved it!

I was so proud!!!!

Here's Noah on his very first day.

So we celebrated by taking Noah for some yummy schnitzel at a great German place up the road from us. We invited a sweet family who has boys about the same age apart as Noah and James will be. Noah adores these boys!
Do you see that he's sitting with the big boys? without a highchair or anything!

I guess this is what happens after a long hard day of Kinder......he fell asleep, practically standing up until I grabbed him...and then he just konked out in my lap...LOL

And...here's a few more fun pictures...so you can see what we've been up to!

Jon and James time....

One of the reasons why being able to pump while you are breastfeeding pays off...Big Brother can help feed Little Brother!

He was SOOOOOO excited to help feed "baby Jame"

And...here's the BIG BOY...making Mommy yummy pancakes!

Sorry it takes me forever to post...Im new at this Mom of 2 thing, so you'll have to excuse the lack of posting until I get the hang of it!!!

"Rock- a- bye Sweet Baby James"

2010-08-24T09:44:00.004-05:00

That tune from James Taylor has been in my head since this little boy entered the world in the early morning of Thursday, August 19th.

James D.X Houston born 4:11am. 7.6 pounds.

Noah and James share the same date!
Noah was born on the 19th of January! James...19th of August:)
What a sweet baby. He takes after Noah. Noah was an easy going baby from the beginning...and James is pretty similar in behavior so far.This is Noah's "baby Jame" (he doesn't put the "s" sound on his name yet...it's too cute!)
My labor story is long. It's painful. It's simply not worth writing about because the best part of the whole story is James. But, I will say that I give all the Praise, Honor and Glory to God for helping me through it. I truly never thought I'd be able to say that I delivered a child without any pain management. But here I am. I did it. I survived. It was the most difficult, painful thing I have ever endured...but look at me! I can say I did something I NEVER thought I could do. Ever!

:) God is good!:) and I think that was the lesson in going through all that unexpected pain. To learn I really could do something I never thought I could!

My most precious gifts...Jon, Noah and James!

Here's more pictures....I'm working on getting more...just be patient with us!Here I am ....the day I went to the hospitalA few hours later....

We've got HOMEMADE icecream!!!!

2010-08-14T12:48:00.003-05:00

So, while Im waiting for baby to arrive...what am I doing? Making Ice Cream of course. hehehe. Home made yummmy Ice Cream!

That's right. Be Jealous.

It's amazing.

No ice cream maker needed. Why? Because it's just that easy and good!
Here's the site I got the recipes from
kevinandamandablog
She has a recipe link. Go there and find her recipe for ice cream!

My first attempt was the Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream. Jon really liked it. I thought it was a little too much. I think the vanilla could have been less.

My second attempt is bliss.
Nutella Peanut Butter Chip ice cream. Need I say more? Holy smokes man! ...this one tastes delicious.

The third one is my own creation. Woot. I'm so cool. It's Strawberry and white chocolate. Yum.
Here's how I made that one. I won't post the other recipes since you can go on her site and find them.
Strawberry White Chocolate Ice cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 can Sweetened condensed milk
about 1 cup pureed fresh strawberries
1 bar of MILKA white Chocolate, cut up in small chunks

Beat the whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks.
combine the condensed milk, strawberries and white chocolate in a bowl.
Fold in the whipped cream to the milk mixture. That's it. Freeze for at least 6 hours.
yum!

The recipe makes about 2 quarts.
let me know if you try to make it. I sure hope you find it just as awesome as we do! Jon said.."we should never buy ice cream again!!!" Word!

So, when this baby finally decides to come...we will be well stocked.

With HOMEMADE DELICIOUS ice cream that is!

another day...another Triathlon...

2010-08-05T15:10:00.008-05:00

Yep...no big deal.
Jon just completed another triathlon. He's such a stud:)

This one was twice as long as the first one he did a few weeks ago.
1500M swim
40K bike
10K run
No biggee for him though.
:)

The venue for this triathlon was absolutely beautiful...close to the foothills of the Alps. :) Yep, the Alps! Picturesque scenery while you compete! Doesn't get much better than that. We really enjoyed our short trip down there. And, did I mention the weather was absolutely perfect?

Here's a weekend review in pictures:

This is Jon checking in his gear at the transition area....

It's always entertaining at this point in the game because this is where you see the big BEASTS of Triathlon competition come out. There ares some SERIOUS athletes that show up and it's fun to see their really expensive bikes...and cool gear. You can just feel the adrenaline in the air...
So...after he checked in...we headed down to the lake.

The water was quite cold here, so they were allowed to wear their wetsuits.

Jon was very happy about this....despite that look on his face;)

Checking out the water just before the race begins....And....they are off!Noah and Mommy waiting for Daddy to finish the swim...

Noah kept saying "Go Daddy go!" Which ended up making a lot of the German peeps smile...made us stick out pretty good since we seemed to be the only Americans at the race!

Here's Jon during the swim...1500M ...took him around 25 minutes! Woot! Woot!

Here he comes...Out of the water...

running to the transition area to get on his bike and go, go, GO! This was so exciting! Really! Even just watching is fun!

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of him on the bike...he was much too fast for that! I couldn't get any shots before he sped by! Again, he surprised himself with how well he did with the bike. It was a 40Km ride and he said there was just 1 person that passed him! Go Jonny J!

But, I did catch him in the transition from Bike to Run! This is where it gets fun! Jon's best event...Running!And....there he goes!!!Again..no pictures of him in the actual run...we did stake out a great spot that no one else was near so that we could really cheer for him! He said he really enjoyed seeing us then! I could actually talk to him and ask "one more lap right??"

So, here he is...coming in for the finish....and of course...luck would have it that this silly lady stepped RIGHT in front of me! DOH!

Look at those arms!!!

Hooray for Jon!

Finished in 2 hr. 30min 1 sec! He goal was 2 1/2 hours...not bad ey?Noah was excited to finally see Daddy again!

Mommy was PROUD!

So, now on to training for the Athens Marathon on October 31st! Woot! Triathlon season has come to a close for Jon...for now. But, he'll be back...and next time...it just might be for the big one...an IRONMAN! (in about a year:o) )

Training...and of course waiting....this baby will be here any day now!!!!!

Time to play the Guessing Game!!!!!!

2010-07-30T00:55:00.002-05:00

~cue silly game show music~.....

HOUSTON BABY #2 GUESSING GAME!!!!!!

Ok folks...that day has come.
We are within a few short weeks of D-DAY!
Could happen any day now.
(but please pray for at least after August 1st...bc Jon has another cool Triathlon to run and I want to go!!!)

Alright, So you may begin leaving messages about what you think we are having.
If you ask Noah "Do you want a sister or brother?" he says "Sister"
If you ask him, "boy or girl?" he usually says "boy"
so...clearly...we cannot go with Noah's choice! LOL
Jon and I both still think it will be a boy.

Now, to make things even MORE fun :)
We still want the names we have FINALLY decided on to be a surprise.
However, in order to let the family we are honoring know...we'd like to give you some clues.
We will let you come up with some names from those clues and see if anyone guesses correctly when baby comes! How fun right?

OK...get creative...
Our clues are not in order and might even require you to come up with a mix of those names mentioned. We are just gonna give the names we somehow will use in the first/middle name

If it is a BOY
Clue #1 : Book of the Bible
Clue #2: Honors Jon's Grandfathers George D. Thurman and Dan Xavier Houston

If it is a GIRL
Clue #1: Involves Mommy's full name somehow (Angela Marie)
Clue #2: Honors the following women: Sister Mary Jo , Sister Emelene, and Josephine Thurman

So remember...You have to be creative...Maybe you've heard of the names...maybe you might have to create one. LOL.

Oh man...let the guessing begin!

Don't disappoint people...we want INVOLVEMENT!!!

What are we doing...

2010-07-22T11:59:00.003-05:00

Well...

Noah is busy....practicing on his tricycle...we allowed it in the house before we ever took it outside.
As you can see, he was all about safety in his "helmet"! LOL..

We have transitioned the tricycle outdoors now.
He's doing ok with peddling...now if only we could work on steering...

Jon...well, he's busy doing things around the house before the baby comes. What a handy dude:)

How manly he looks under the sink....in our pink bathroom...in pink gloves. LOL

And Me...Well, what the heck am I up to? Carrying this baby of course! :)
Here I am 36+ weeks pregnant! Just about 3 1/2 weeks left! I'm feeling great!

Still no solid boy names picked out....girl name is covered.
Sorry, it's a surprise! But please, feel free to leave boy name suggestions! :)

And of course...in a few more weeks we can play the guessing game and see who gets it right, boy or girl...and the name:) That should be fun huh? :)

For your viewing pleasure..

2010-07-20T06:13:00.002-05:00

here's some entertainment.....sure to put a smile on anyone's face...

Just the typical Noah nonsense that goes on at our house...

Just Noah...trying to sing and do the hand movements we learned to Twinkle Twinkle.

And here we have the lil dude singing his ABC's...or trying to..before he gets goofy and starts singing them to Jon in his silly voice.

Hope you enjoyed them! :)

Jon's FIRST Triathlon!

2010-07-13T10:48:00.009-05:00

Hooray for Jon!
We are so proud!

This past weekend we took a short trip over to the German/Luxembourg border so that Jon could compete in his very first Triathlon!
Woohoo! Here's what he did:
It was actually a Sprint Triathlon so it was a little bit shorter than the typical one.
Perfect for his first.
It was a 500M swim, 20Km bike, and a 5Km run. In that order.
The best part of these events is the transition areas...they are perfect for fans to get great pictures of their athletes!

So, we checked in at about 8:30 and the race was to start promptly at 9:30.

The Lord was really looking out for Jon bc when he went to get his equipment inspected (they check helmets, googles, bike etc.) they found a small crack in his helmet!!!! DRAT!!! I saw them escort Jon over to the side and I knew that something was wrong. He came over to me and with a sad voice he said that they found a crack in his helmet...that they were trying to find someone to help him...but of course, the language barrier was pretty rough. Luckily, there was a nice gentleman that let him use a helmet! Praise the Lord! I kept thinking..man if we have to go home just because of this....that would be awful! So, back to the transition area he went to go set up his gear.

Another great part about this triathlon was that his two friends, Wade and Renee were competing with him.

So...without further explanation....Here are some pictures from the day:)Here's Jon...all ready to go..helping his friend check in. See how they write their race numbers on their arms and their legs:)
Noah wasn't quite sure about all this...but he was pretty happy that Daddy was happy.
Here's Jon and Wade walking over to the starting line in the lake.
Close up..."Good Luck guys!!!"
Look closely, Jon is in the yellow and gray tri suite! Getting ready to start....
And...there they go!!!!!!
Here's Jon's friend Wade, out of the water first...
There goes Jon..just out of the water...on his way over to his bike (again, look close for that yellow and gray suite)
And..here comes Daaaady! Lap 2....
And again...lap 3...
Fast forward...done with the bike transitioning into the run...last part Dad! It's your strongest event...let's go let's go!!!!
And there he goes!!!!!!!
ANNNNNND......Heeeeeere he comes!!!!
Almost..almost...WOOOHOOOOOOOOO! WAY TO GO!!!

YAY!!!!! Finished!!!
And Wade...not long after (and sadly after he had a flat tire and some other issues...but he was happy nontheless!)
Here's Renee...all done! I kept missing her...never did get a good action shot...I was proud of her too, representing the ladies:)
Noah was way too excited to see Daddy again. He was sooooo hot...along with his Mommy. We were sweating buckets watching...but it was sooooo worth it to see our Hero compete and finish strong!
And here they are...post Tri! Well done everyone! Well done!

During this trip, we also took a short day to explore the city of Trier. Here's proof that I was on the trip:)Hope you guys enjoy this post!!!

What these lil feet want to do....

2010-07-07T06:19:00.005-05:00

These lil feet...These precious lil feet.

They want to be JUST like Daddy!

They want to run races like Daddy....And win First place!!!

They want to ride a bike like Daddy.

They want to swim like Daddy.

They want to stretch like Daddy.

They want to eat like Daddy.

They want to read like Daddy.

They even want to sleep like Daddy.

:) These boys are the most precious people in my life.
They bring me such Joy when I get to see them together.

One of the best times they spend together is bedtime. Jon works all day and so it is his JOY to spend time with his boy before he goes off to bed.
Thus, Daddy does all the night time routines...brush teeth (he sings Twinkle Little Star to him while they brush, usually in a silly accent, the accent of choice these days has been this ridiculously goofy Indian accent) after teeth he says to Noah " Go tell Mommy Nite Nite" and then I hear a patter of lil feet running around the house to find me and kiss me goodnight.
Then, it's to his room where he will spend as much time as it takes to make sure Noah picks up every single toy (I, in NO WAY, have the patience to sit back and watch Noah pick up every lil piece, but Jon does and I admire his patience greatly for it).
Then, it's book time. Lately, it's been "I wanna read the gibing' tawee I wanna wead the gibing tweee Daddy." And Noah's favorite part is finding the boy. He says " I wanna I wanna find the boy". (Notice, they are reading the Giving Tree in the picture above:) )

I get to observe these sweet precious moments they share and it melts my heart every time.

These boys...these precious boys. I love them dearly. I simply cannot imagine adding another lil body to this blessing...but in just about 5 weeks we will get another lil body to love around here.
Can't even begin to imagine what life will be like with 3 bodies to love around here.
It's getting so close! We don't have much longer to wait to meet Baby Houston #2.
I wonder what the Lord will bring...boy...or girl...only time will tell:) Can't wait!!!

I don't think I ever shared this story....

2010-06-23T14:17:00.003-05:00

I'm having a hard time accepting that I never shared this. Wow. I'm lame for not posting this. It's pretty cool.

I never shared how Jon found out I was expecting #2!!! So...here's the story.

Jon and I knew we wanted to try for #2 when he came home from deployment in November. So, I guess it was really late Nov-early December when I took a test one day while Jon was working.
I took the test not really having high hopes...and sure enough..positive! YAY!
So, here's what I did.

I called Jon at work, pretending to have had a pretty bad day with Noah. I just kept saying "if you could just come home as soon as you can from work today that would help me so much!" So, when he walked in the door, it was all set. I looked at him and said..."it's been a long day, do you mind changing Noah for me?" ...and like the wonderful husband and Dad he always is, he happily said "sure sweetheart!"

So, as he took Noah into his room, I hurried to grab the camera to capture these moments...

Hey?! Hey! There's something written on this boy's belly!

Look at me Dad!!! Look what my belly says!

Goooood one!!!!

So, that's how it all went down. I wrote on our son's belly "Im gonna be a big brother!"

Pretty cool I think.

Jon thought so too!

And now...almost 8 months later....we are already here...

And we are literally jumping for joy over this new baby on the way!

can't help but laugh...

2010-06-18T09:37:00.002-05:00

Im sorry...
if this offends anyone...but really Im not..bc ...

It is tooo stinkin funny.

Swagger Wagon

My best friend, Janiece, sent me the link to this hilarious video. Probably bc as she well knows... in about 10 days we are gonna be proud owners of a minivan! What?! Yep... I am 26 and Im gonna be a proud Owner of a' swagger wagon! Honda Odyssey baby! LOL. and..."there's no motha fatha swearin'" in our house neither! LOL

Oh man, can I just say I was CRYING by the end of that video! HA!

Im horrible...at posting..

2010-06-03T02:43:00.005-05:00

Im sorry everyone....seems like our life has been one whirlwind after another. Meanwhile our friends and family are suffering from our lack of posting and pictures! There is an infinite amount to post about. I will not make any promises on how often I will try to get the pictures and stories out, but for now...I hope this can appease you!
This was a day trip up to a city called Kruezberg (which means Cross mountain). It's a desirable spot because it used to be an old monastery, which now is a restaurant that serves pretty famous beer, and there's lots of hiking.
Jon and I decided a few weeks ago to buy this awesome backpack for Noah to ride around in. So, it was the first time we took it out and he loved it! This thing is "worth it's weight in gold" as Jon says. Seeing as how I am well into my 7th month (sorry, no belly shots available), I cannot carry it, but it's pretty amazing and I hope to once baby #2 comes and Im back into the swing of things.
This last picture may not seem pretty amazing..but it is. I was walking by this guy who is in the picture with us, and I was pretty sure he was one of Aimee's old friends from high school! He and few other older guys were basically like my big brothers my freshman and sophomore year. Needless to say...it was him. I was brave and went up to him, and asked..."Are you Dominic??". Yep. Turns out, he is in the airforce and stationed here in Germany. And you can see he is married and has a sweet lil baby girl. The weirdest/coolest part of the story...his MOM is German and is from Schweinfurt (where WE live here!!!) Pretty cool:)

That's it for now...I will do my best to get more stories for you...

Happy Mother's Day...to the best Mom's I know!

2010-05-09T11:40:00.003-05:00

Here's to you ... Moms...

WE LOVES YOU!!!!

So much we do!
And Grammas...we love thee too!

precious moments..

2010-04-26T13:38:00.003-05:00

Just had to write about this one....

Yesterday we told Noah to say goodnight to our friends, Gina and Elizabeth, who came over for dinner. After he finished telling Elizabeth goodnight, he went over to the big window, looked up and said very plainly,

"Goodnite Moon"

We never taught this sweet boy to do that.
He just went up to the window, as if he did it every night and said it.
We all just melted into big puddles.
Love this boy.
And I guess he, like his Daddy, has an affinity for the moon now too:)

Spring has FINALLY sprung round' here!

2010-04-25T07:58:00.006-05:00

Yes, in an effort to let you know what this family has been up to lately...Pictures pictures pictures. Grandparents and all my lovelies that check often for pics.....you are welcome:) Enjoy them!

So, to prepare for Spring...one must get the bike ready! Jon installed a bike seat on one of our bikes. Of course, he couldn't do it without Noah's help:) teehehe! Look at those men, working hard!

Off on our very first bike ride. Jon took me on the paths that he would go once he starts riding his bike to work. Loooong ride for pregnant me that hadn't ridden a bike since ummmmm October?

We look pretty good though:)

Noah ...learning his German words (Jon wood-burned the name of those animals in Deutch on his puzzle) Jon is pretty spify for doing this!

Jon...rigged up a pretty cool grip hold for his dremmel tool to fix a broken frame..this man is HANDY!

We also got a unexpected visitor a few weeks ago...a lil birdie found it's way inside our house!

hmmm...Here is Noah, taking a break from another bike ride we went on. This fountain is in the middle of our lil town here in Poppenhausen, you could tell this kid is ready to be outside playing in the water!

Mom and Noah taking a break!

Of course...showing off his coolness...changing out the snow tires for the regular ones! (That's how you know Spring is OFFICIALLY here to stay!)...um, did I mention he can do this in about 20minutes or less? I know...Jon is soooo darn cool! Ladies, be jealous:) hehehe!

Such lovely weather! Take a look at that iron trellis above the driveway...it's green now, and in about another couple weeks it will be completely white...covered in baby roses!!! :) Yes, we love spring here in Germany!

Now I (partially) know my ABC's!

2010-04-17T02:02:00.003-05:00

In honor of Mimi's birthday.

When Noah does things like this, I think of everyone who wants to know what he's up to.

There are very few children's toys that do a good job of teaching kids constructive lessons like this one. It also holds his attention extremely well. Noah has been using this gizmo over the last 2 days. He proudly regurgitates his new knowledge on and off camera, attesting to this toy's effectiveness, Noah's sponge-like little mind, and his eagerness to show off new skills.

I like showing everyone Noah's works-in-progress. Then when you see the end result, you'll also know part of the process he took to get there.

Czech Roots

2010-04-10T09:51:00.003-05:00

This one is longer, but there's good meaning to it. Pictures are at the bottom.

Sometimes your plans don't work out. You may plan too late, some one may bail out on you, or something beyond your control can prevent you from doing what you want to do. Sometimes things work out even better than you could plan them. You start planning an event and instead of having to fit around obstacles, it feels instead like everything was set up for you and you are merely letting people know what you're going to do. Over the last two months, I experienced both of these extremes never realizing that the sacrifice of one plan that started 6 months ago would crumble to pieces but leave behind a silver lining.

While I was deployed in September 2009, Mark and I hatched a plan. I wanted to visit him in Saudi Arabia. Mark never got visitors there, so he happily supported it. We aimed for his spring break in March 2010 which gave me plenty of time to fill out the mountain of paperwork that would be required to get authorization to travel to the Saudi land. To spare you the boring details, the paperwork could give you vertigo. I was asked several times by many people "Are you sure it's worth all this trouble?" and I reminded them "Yes. I'm doing this to see my brother." In the end, my request would go up to extremely high levels of Army command and be rejected twice. If you're in the military, don't plan on visiting Saudi unless you have a "hardship or urgent need". That plan was history.

Forced to flush the plan for me to visit Mark in Saudi, we came up with an alternate solution. Mark would come see us in Germany. He would arrive on March 25 and stay until March 31. And here's where the tide began to turn.

When we came to Germany 2 years ago, I knew that we had distant relatives in the Czech Republic that Grandma & Grandpa T and Uncle Mark had visited almost 20 years ago. I wanted to find their contact information so that we could visit them, too. However, the contact info was lost somewhere. That was 2 years ago. Now that Mark was coming to Germany in two weeks and he wanted to do something cool, I asked Grandma T & Uncle Mark again if anyone had the contact info for Marie Muckova in the Czech Republic. Grandma T emailed me an email address. Success! We emailed Marie...and she replied! Success again! In the span of 1 week, we emailed back and forth, skyped, and made plans to visit them in the Czech Republic during the time that Mark would be here. This was one week before Mark came and he had no idea. It was kind of a surprise for him since his birthday was on March 21 and because I knew he'd like to visit our Czech relatives.

Mark came in on Thursday, March 25. I picked Mark up from the Frankfurt Flughafen and we drove home to Schweinfurt where Angie and Noah were waiting for us. We wasted no time packing the car and heading east that same day. We stopped to stay in a hotel outside of Prague that Angie the Awesome had booked ahead of time. The next morning, we drove the rest of the way to the far eastern end of the Czech Republic where there's a little village called Sedliste. The town was a little confusing for us, so we asked for directions and found our way to the house that Lubosh and his father built.

Marie and Lubosh have 4 boys: Jonash (18), Jachim (14), Damian (10), and Adrian (4). They were great hosts. They had happily made room for the four of us and always made sure that we felt like honored guests. Everyone in the family is skilled in some way. Lubosh is a skilled craftman. He knows carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work. Marie knows how to can preserves. Jonash speaks Czech, German, and English. He was key in helping everyone communicate. Jachim is an excellent cook and builds model airplanes that fly by remote control. Damian is a figure skater. Adrian knows how to play with marbles.

I'll let the pictures and captions tell the rest, but not before I conclude by stating that had the trip to Saudi Arabia gone according to plan we would not have met Lubosh, Marie, and their boys. At least not on that weekend. And that, my friends, is the silver lining.

Our quaint hotel outside Prague that Angie the Awesome booked.

Marie in the kitchen making kolaches (below). I was always amazed at the great work that Lubosh and his father did when they built this house.

This is a kolache. Unlike the ones I'd had in Texas, this one is the size of a pizza and you eat it in slices. The smaller ones that I was used to are traditionally eaten at weddings.

Mark mid-fall after trying to spin and balance on a little wooden block (hidden by Mark's foot) that sits on the larger wooden plank that you can see. The wooden block has a curved surface on the bottom that makes it difficult to balance. Damian uses it to practice spinning for his figure skating routines. Right after Mark finished trying, Damian made it look easy.

This is the house in Velke Karlovice where Marie's grandmother was born and raised. The year "1842" is neatly chiseled into the front door lintel, which is the year that it was built. It has since been bought by people who are not related to us, but is well kept by the owners.

Inside the house at Velke Karlovice. Electricity has since been added but the hand-hewn beams, doors, and much of the furniture is still original. From left to right: Josef, Marie, Jachim.

Angie and Noah standing next to the original wood burning stove, which still gets used regularly.

This is a video of the inside of the house. It moves around quite a bit, but you can hear the names of everyone as it goes around the house and you can hear Josef talking in the background.

Noah plays in the outdoor b'day.

Left to right: Noah, Angie, Jonathan, Lubosh, Adrian, Damian, Jonash, Mark, Jachim, Marie.

Damian and I throw grapes to each other and try to catch them in our mouths. Unfortunately, our successes were not caught on film.

Damian plays piano, Jonash accompanies on guitar, and Adrian leads the vocals to a Czech song.

This was taken on Sunday morning right before we left. Everyone is arranged by family and age except for Mark and Adrian.

Thank you to Lubosh, Marie, and all the boys for making us at home while we visited!

Boys and Tractors....

2010-03-30T02:33:00.005-05:00

"Cooo dude"...Noah

So, there is a small town near us that has an annual Tractor fair the first weekend in Spring. Some friends of ours told us about it and we all went and had a great time. I thought it was so neat to see so many different kinds of tractors...and Jon, of course being the Mechanical Engineer that he is, wanted to figure out how they all worked. Luckily, some of our friends that came with us grew up around farms so they could offer us some great insight. Noah wanted to climb on all the tractors and play with the steering wheels.
Here's some pictures from the day's events....

A very old tractor, to which Noah kept saying..."Browwken? browken."

As if to say..."Don't you mess with MY tractor!"

See...boys and tractors....trying to figure out this giant tractor!

And of course, some of you may know that this past weekend we traveled to Czech to visit some of Jon's distant relatives...so I will be posting about that next. THAT trip was a blast! Can't wait to blog about it! ....I think Jon might want to have the honor of bloggin it.

love these boys...

2010-03-18T14:52:00.004-05:00

So, when Mom is away..the boys will play.......So silly.Yes, Jon taught Noah to say " eeeyyyy matey!"

Oh, the other weekend Noah attended his very first Birthday Party. Here he is, very proud of his gift to his friend, Lochlan.I have an endless supply of cute scrapbook stuff I never get to use..so I thought I would spruce up the ordinarily plain brown paper wrapping job.Noah spruced up his side too...drew him a nice picture! Needless to say, the wrapping job proved to be a big hit at the party. Oh and he just loved the party, there were plenty of lil ones his age that he played with and all night long he kept sayin, "berday pawtee? berday parteee!!!" Even on the way home. ...I think he even mentioned it today as a matter of fact.

Meanwhile...March Madness has begun....the TV is on.......My bracket is filled out...happiness is everywhere here at our house!

Happy Easter Season

2010-03-16T12:15:00.003-05:00

I just thought I would take advantage of these cute Easter-ee blog headers/pages.
So...Here are the cute lil Easter pics of Noah from the previous years.
Im bummed just a lil bit....this year we didn't plan any cool Easter pics! Shocker I know! Sorry to let all of you down. I know we always gave you guys a really good laugh with those!

....on another note....MARCH MADNESS has begun....

have you done your bracket today?????

Oh man...I can't wait..I can't wait! Mine is filled out...but Im a lil hesitant about my picks this year. Oh well. The cool part about this tournament is that we get to watch some with Jon's brother Mark! :) He comes to visit in about a week! YAY!

Cheerios!

Brown Bag Burritos...yum!!!

2010-03-08T05:39:00.003-06:00

So, after talking to my Mom about these lil diddies I decided I should post about them.

Ok let's begin. I was reading some blogs about foods to make ahead and freeze and I came across this recipe for Brown Bag Burritos:It makes a ton of burritos...20 to be exact...Excellent for putting in Jon's lunches and such.

I went to the store to gather recipe ingredients and stood in front of the dry packet mixes for a long while. ( I had just attempted and succeeded with an amazing pulled pork seasoning packet from McCormick, so I thought I might find a seasoning packet for burritos:) ) Sure enough, there it was. So, I read the back of it and it looked similar to the ingredients of the original recipe...I decided to do half the beef with the packet directions..and do the other half original.
I also found a packet of Old El Paso Spanish Rice in a microwavable pouch that I decided to add to my experiment too.
Here's the new recipe....they are delicious..I just finished eating one!

1 lb ground beef
1 burrito seasoning packet (and what is listed on the packet)
1 cup water
1 can refried beans
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 packet of spanish rice
about 12 burrito tortillas (mine were small..so if you get the big ones...probably half that amount)

Brown up your beef, add the onions...then add the rest! Wait till the mixture gets thick and then load your burritos! (I used my cookie scooper to load mine up, about 3 scoop fulls per burrito...it made it so much easier and evenly distributed my burrito goo) If you plan to freeze them like I did, wrap them in a paper towel first, then foil. Here's what I ended up with.

Yay! I felt so accomplished! I have lunch ready for the whole week for Jon! YES! Oh, and I felt so good about them, I decided to wait to make the original recipe for next week. So, I cannot tell you how those taste/turn out yet. But, Im sure they will be just a great.

And...since you took time to read this...I will reward you...
....

with some pictures...

Here's Noah trying on his big boy underwear I bought him. We aren't potty trained yet, but I thought I would get ready for the big day! What a ham!!!!

(note, when we were in the underwear isle..the box HE grabbed was Little Mermaid! LOL! I think it's because he likes fish so much!)

Also....drum roll....the very first...

Belly shot....17 weeks! I feel great! My clothes still fit me...aside from not being able button up my jeans! No biggee..I've just been using a rubberband! :) Can you believe we are close to half way to meeting this lil baby?????????

Crazy hair?

2010-02-22T02:00:00.002-06:00

something funny...
I will let the video do the talking...

Our 4day trip...OuiOui! (weewee) :)

2010-02-18T07:48:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful time this past 4 day weekend.
After much deliberation, we decided to head down south-west towards the Ramstein area of Germany.
Here's what we did:
We stayed in Mannheim (at an army post hotel) and used that as our jumping off spot.
On Friday we checked into our hotel in Mannheim and headed straight on to Ramstein, it was only about 40 minutes out.
We ate at Chili's! YUM! Skillet queso...fajitas...paradise pie! ...oh man was it delicious!
We checked out there super huge mall...and tried to look at cars (we are in the market for a new/used family car)
Saturday...we picked up Jon's ol' corp buddy Kerri who lives in Saarbrucken (a German town right on the border of France) and headed to Strasbourg, France! YAY! It was lots of fun.
Kerri had been there before so she showed us where to go and what to see...
This hugely tall amazing cathedral..
LePetit...a typical 16th century picturesque French village
Sunday...we found a great indoor schwimbad (swimming facility with lots of pools, saunas..etc)..Noah had a blast and we both thought it was the icing on the cake for the whole weekend.
Monday we drove home..but stopped in at the Heidelberg castle on the way.
It was a great short family vacation. :)

Sick of snow yet?

2010-02-16T09:25:00.004-06:00

Well...snow...that's all we got around here! So...yet another post about fun in the snow:)
A family fun day in the snow...
I got kind of mad at Jon when he wanted to start a snowball fight with me because it's soooo not fair when one person has glasses on!...so I insisted on trying to sled down a hill...without a sled.
As you can see...Noah was so much better at it than me after all the practice he's had with Daddy.

So...a break from the snow to show you how our Superbowl turned out! Remember, the game came on at about midnight our time...so I only stayed awake for about 1 and half quarters...but I still wanted to celebrate with yummy food...Jon was very much in agreement.
It was great. Jon was totally awesome in granting my request for him to make his amazing ribs (this required him to go out and buy a small grill...which he was delighted to do...yay, more rib opportunities!!!!).
So, our menu consisted of:
Jalepenos stuffed with cream cheese wrapped in bacon! Ohhhh so yummy.
homemade potato salad, deviled eggs, baked beans...ribs ribs ribs..and for dessert....the cake...you see, the outside was pretty pathetic looking; but you know its what's on the inside that counts...it was a confetti cake with rainbow chip frosting...ahhhhmazing...one of the best betty crocker cakes there is. And the commissary finally decided to get some for a limited time. (I bought enough to make 2 cakes...one can never have too much rainbow chip cake and frosting)

Here's Noah enjoying his yummy superbowl food.

He digs the ribs!

here's the boys chilling out...

more updates...

2010-02-09T11:05:00.004-06:00

It's a whole lot of random...but I hope you enjoy...
Ok...so here's another fun video of the igloo and Jon's coolness.

What have we been up to the last month?
hmmmm...
Jon's unit had their military ball. It was a lot of fun, despite really cold, bad snowy weather.
Here's few pictures from the evening.

Jon has also been skiing with some buddies the last few weeks. There is a small skiing area about 45 min north of here, so he had a ball going up there. The first time it was super foggy.The second time...perfect...and Jon up to his goofy antics again!

Noah updates...what isn't he doing?
His speech has exponentially picked up, making 3-4 word or more sentences (sometimes they don't make sense to us, but boy do they seem to make sense to him when he talks)
We are in the first stages of potty training.
He loves to put clothes on and play dress up....here's some older pictures from December
Noah found some old brown t-shirts of Jon's...so Jon and I both said he needed a belt...he ended up looking like a monk!!! LOL!!! Silly kid!

Baby #2 update:
So far, so good. I am officially into week 13. Starting my 2nd trimester! W O W!!!
This pregnancy is proving itself to be quite different as far as my growth..lol. I still do not even look remotely pregnant. ...and with Noah...by now I definitely did. This is great though, because I plan to only gain HALF of what I did with Noah. So, Im on the right track....and I have the awesome Spring and Summer coming up to help me keep active this time!!!
We love our German Dr. I get to have an ultrasound every visit. Which is awesome, but once we get closer to week 20 it will get tricky bc...we do not want to find out the sex of this baby!!! We want it to be a surprise this time! (sorry everyone who was anxious to find out sooner!)
I am feeling WONDERFUL! Really. I feel so much better now and am starting to get back into the old swing of things and attend more functions that keep me and Noah socialized! Lol. I was really feeling like I was living under a rock there for awhile.
Jon is also reaping the benefits now, bc I am back to cooking and baking:) YUM!!!

We are looking forward to this coming weekend, it's a 4 day for Jon. We are heading south towards the Ramstein area. Spend some time there and then head down to Strasbourg, France for a day! We also plan to visit a swim park during the weekend so Noah can enjoy the weekend too!

Blessings!
ps...all you google readers..I updated the blog look...again. LOL.

Highly demanded...

2010-01-26T06:21:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures of the winter fun Jon and Noah have been having lately....(Jon has been beeeeggging me to post these...:)Here they are...in field right across from our house...clearly, Jon had been playing awhile bc he took his jacket off in this freezing weather...he had been running around so much with the boy, he was actually HOT! :) LOL.

Later...Jon called me downstairs one day, in a big fit of excitement...to show me this...An Igloo!!!

Here is one of the many sledding videos...I had to post this one first, to show off Jon's coolness...He yelled up to me " Hey Angie, throw me down a box, a pocket knife, and some 550 cord"...little did I know, he was constructing a sled for Noah!

Turns out, our landlord had a pretty cool sled,...so this is them using the real thing...
and yes..I did get bundled up a few times to play with the boys...but seriously, who can keep up with these guys?!!!

What a lil boy does on his 2nd Birthday...

2010-01-20T06:58:00.004-06:00

His Mommy makes him super yummy blueberry waffles and bacon...and yummy ovaltene to drink(hence the cool chocolate mustache)...

He plays for hours with really cool blocks...

His Daddy makes him yummy steak for dinner, corn, steak fries, and sweet tea! (notice he's showing that he's "2" with his two pointy fingers)

He gets to open presents from the sweet neighbors....

He gets to eat yummy banana chocolate chip monkey cupcakes...

And..blow out 2 candles!!!

Ciao Roma! Guten Tag Germany!!!!

2010-01-11T04:48:00.002-06:00

We made it back from Roma!

We had such a great time.
Our Rome story is coming....

Happy New Year's Eve

2009-12-31T11:57:00.003-06:00

Yep...it's New Year's Eve...
I can't believe Im actually feeling well enough to blog....
My pregnancy has been in full swing nausea mode....not fun...but I know it will pass. Im really hoping that I can make it through our vacation without too much trouble!
We leave for Rome on Saturday and fly out on Sunday. We will be there till Friday, so we are pretty excited about our lil vacation/ Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!

Tonight's festivities will be popping fireworks with our landlord's family right in front of our house!
It should be a fun time, yes we are getting the boy up at midnight to let him watch. :)

I will leave you with this video I had been meaning to post for ages...
This is just a lil glimpse at what Noah and Pawpy do when they are together, watching "foo'ball"...as you can imagine..this lil due sure does miss his Pawpy!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:35:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

From our lil Growing family!!!!

better late than never?

2009-12-02T08:04:00.008-06:00

Im thinking that friends and family will appreciate these even though they are super late....there's a lot to see here!

Halloween events folks!

Pumpkin Patch...

Testing the pum'kees!

Mommy and Me

Carving pumpkins at Nana's... Noah loves his pum'kee...giving it kissies...

Finished products...

Outside view...

Carving pumpkins at Mimi and Pawpy's...Looks like Grover!!

Super cute lil cowboy on Halloween...

It must be noted that Noah is wearing Jon's old boots...and he looooooves them!

Our first house...Pawpy trying to show Noah how the gun works..Our lovelies...

Noah and his cute Nana!

Noah and his Auntie Aim

Mommy, Noah and the Kate!

Annnnd...the aftermath...

2 chocolate lovers....

two lil peas in a pod!

Yes, I know Im super late... but I hope you enjoyed the pictures anyway!

help...

2009-12-01T10:12:00.003-06:00

Yes, this is so lame that I haven't posted in forever and now I am asking for help from all you green moms out there....

Cloth Diapers!

Jon and I are anxious to start trying them with Noah. He's getting close to potty training...and we want to give them a test run before he's totally through with diapers. We know that we want to have more kiddos in the future and cloth diapering is something we both have been convicted about.

I have already read thoroughly on the Simple Mom's webpage....that was a huge help. But, if any of you are actually doing this and have any suggestions for brands and such...please help us out!

I promise (all you friends and family who check our blog for pictures) to have a great post of what's been going on here in the Houston Home soon. :)

Welcome Home!

2009-11-20T03:04:00.004-06:00

I know Im super behind...
Can you blame us? We had just enough time to get over the most ridiculous case of jet-lag then Jon came home!!!!!

I have more pictures to post...but I wanted to share a few.

Look at his face...PURE JOY...absolutely the best look on his face I've ever seen:)

There are so many events Im behind in posting...from when Noah and I were still in Texas, my birthday with the Kate, Halloween, fun times with family...and fun Daddy/Noah time. Just give me some time. We are in no hurry to be on this thing..we are enjoying family time, can you blame us though? We have so much catching up to do!
I promise to do a more regular post once life slows down...lol, but I know it will never fully "slow"down..especially with these two boys together again!

We are currently trying to "nest" again in our lil home here in Germany...moving rooms, cleaning, purging...trying to simplify:) Jon is adjusting quite well here. He has already enjoyed some good jagerschnitzel, dunkel beer, and of course, good Angie homecookin'. He is already in the swing of things around the house; he's got a to do list and has been enjoying getting to know his precious boy again. Im sure he'd be proud for me to post that he changed my tires for me, since it's getting close to snowy weather we have to put snow tires on my car. ...he changed them in about 18 minutes.:) He's so cool. We are also eager to start planning fun trips around Germany and around Europe. There is a lot to be done, and it sure is pretty wonderful to have him back again to do it all with!

We would love to schedule a chat/skype session with you guys, so leave us a message and a good time for us to do it and we will see what we can do:)

Let the countdown begin......

2009-11-11T09:38:00.003-06:00

YES! We are within days of Jon's arrival.....

Get excited everyone!

Continue to pray for safe travels for all the men coming and going.

It's such a bittersweet time of year, we are welcoming home so many brave soldiers, Jon especially, and sadly saying goodbye. Our dear friends Jay and Gina are preparing to say their goodbyes for another deployment! If you all could pray for Jay's safety as he leaves and for peace and comfort as they say goodbye. We heart you guys too!

Look for sweet reunion pictures sooooon:)
For now..I will remind you what we looked like one year ago at this time....:
We were celebrating Thanksgiving early...We were saying goodbye...now...Jon will be saying goodbye to this!...:)
HOoooooooray! He comes home sooooon!!! GET EXCITED!

Im here

2009-11-02T04:45:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone, I figured this might be the best way to let everyone know that Noah and I just arrived back in Germany and are sitting in our house right now.

We both are beyond sleepy....Noah is having fun rediscovering his house, toys, games....etc.

The flight over was pretty bad, I just couldn't do anything for the poor dude. He screamed and cried a lot!!! But, it doesnt matter anymore..Im just thankful we made it and we were happily greeted by Peter, our wonderful landlord.

I will post more once I feel normal..right now Im a zombie!

Our Aggie Girls weekend!

2009-10-27T17:07:00.004-05:00

I know this is a little late coming, but I wanted to share some pictures from our super fun weekend we had in good ol' Aggieland a few weeks ago!

My dear sweet friend Katie and I drove up on Friday and we met my sister and my other wonderful friend Betsy on Saturday. I can't tell you how great it was to catch up with Betsy, whom I hadn't seen in what seemed like ages...and to hang out with some of my most favorite girls in the whole wide world!We stayed with Jon's lil sister Shan in the wonderful dorms.
Oh, fyi..those same dorms we stayed in are the very same dorms that Jon's Dad proposed to his Mom in! Teehehehe! How cute is that? Shanny is staying in the same dorms her mom got engaged in!? Shannon was a super cute lil host...we were sad that she couldn't sit with us, but alas, we were sitting on the Alumn side...and our lil Shanny is just a wee freshman. I think she was ok with it after we gave her JPs' for the game! (it's an Aggie thing...too long to describe) Here's us having a good ol time on our last day...freshly showered of course..
The whole weekend was just a blast! Gosh, we had had so much fun!
Of course I had to go back by the Corp dorms and see some old Aggie Band stuff...and ran into good ol' Col. Brewer!Then I ran into Abby and Jeff..some old friends of ours that were in the Corp with Jon.
This guy, Russel, was in the same RV platoon as Jon...so I had to get a picture to show Jon..
This guy, Will, was also in RV's with Jon...he was also a Yell leader our SR. year...Since I had only met him a once or twice at Corp functions with Jon it was a lil awkward to go up to him and ask him for a picture with me, but once I told him who my husband was, it was like we were old friends.

Anyway, I wanted to share these, mainly so Jon could see them, but I know yall like seeing pictures too!

:) and..Happy Birthday Eve to me! I turn the big 26 tomorrow!...with Katie! We share the same birthday:)

Apologies

2009-10-22T09:11:00.005-05:00

Im sorry everyone.

My blogging efforts have been slim and hard to come by.
I promise, once I get back on my feet in Germany, things will be different.

Right now, Im sort of in a transition state right now.
I am trying to enjoy my last 10 days here before I leave.

I can't say any dates..but know this...Jon will be home not long after I arrive in Germany!
Can you even believe that?????
As you can imagine, my heart is fluttering like crazy already and Im beyond THRILLED!

So, for now, Im going to find some cute pictures on Mom's computer!
This is Nana and Noah together at the dog park in McAlister Park behind Mom's house! The sun was setting, it was kind of windy...She's going to be mad at me for posting a picture of her..but ain't they cute????

there's always a photo-op when Nana is around! I think most of these are from our zoo trip

Check out my cool hat that Nana bought me!

One very scared Noah...while Mommy bravely feeds the Lorikeets!

So, I might be able to get a few more posts in before I leave, but if I don't, please just be patient!

Still more RR

2009-09-25T08:27:00.003-05:00

Im trying to get this series finished here...just bare with me...

So, our friends, The Owens, had suggested a place called the 7F Lodge to me. I had been asking around if people knew of a nice romantic place near College Station so Jon and I could enjoy a few days alone. Oh man...did this place deliver! We stayed in the Spanish themed cabin and felt soooo pampered. No TV, No phone...it was amazing. The only negative thing I could say is that we didn't think we got full use out of our room because we were so busy visiting peeps in CS, but it was all well worth it. We got to see so many friends and special peeps, God truly blessed our time there because there was absolutely NO way we could have pulled off such perfect timing to see everyone. Here are a few pictures of our room:

Everything was beautiful in there... the handcarved furniture...and gorgeous linens!

Another view of our room...with the amazing Jacuzzi tub:)

Just tucked away in the woods...it was such a charming lil place!

Everything was beautiful, the bedding, the patio, the amazing jacuzzi tub....and of course it all was Spanish themed. They even had music playing when we arrived...needless to say, Jon and I got hooked to the Gypsy Kings....GREAT music! Every morning we had a cute lil basket of delicious breakfast food waiting for us...including yummy snacks for the day.

The other big highlight of College Station...

I had to get my engagement ring fixed, and the place we got my ring from was there, so it was kind of a reason to head up there....but we really didnt need an excuse to visit Aggieland. Anyway....Jon surprised me BIG time with a new band! When we were getting mine fixed he just looked at the girl who was helping us, without blinking said, I'd like to order another one to match her band now. Whoop! I was soooo surprised and beyond excited. We engraved the inside with RR 09 to remember all of our fun. I feel bad that I don't have a picture...but I will tell you my rings look so very nice:) A gold band on each side, surrounding my beautiful engagement ring. :)

We also had lots of fun in College Station because we got to go back to The Hall to do some much needed two-steppin! Man, it was great because the place was so empty. And the feeling of being able to dance with your man again..priceless.

Our time there felt so short, but so long because we really started to miss our lil guy by the 3rd day!

The next post will finish up our RR story. Can you guess where this was taken?

RR continued...

2009-09-20T11:01:00.006-05:00

Im sorry I didn't post sooner, Jon's Mom, Laura and I...and Noah went to Dallas for a few days to visit her parents. We had a great time..and I will post about that trip once Im finished with RR.

So...one of the best events we had while Jon was here was in his parent's backyard! We had a great outdoor BBQ, pinata, and dancing! It was such a blast! We hung super cute lights out on the back part of the house where a great cement slab is (perfect for basketball when the boys were little, but perfect for DANCING now), we hit a pinata and had watermelon! Not to mention...Jon's famous ribs! Yum! It couldn't have worked out better with all the family that was able to come: Jon's Grandpa and Grandma Houston, Uncle Dan, Aunt Linda and their sweet kiddos(all the way from California), Daniel, Paul and Claire, Sister Mary Jo, Uncle Tom, and of course, Jon's family too:) We had so much fun dancing the night away, eating yummy food, and hitting the pinata.

Here's my boys...Noah really wanted to ride the donkey...and he had fun hitting too!

Here's Noah..sharing his loot with DaDa

Our lil family...dancing our feets off!
I guess it was a lil too early to teach Noah how to two-step!

ahhh yes, don't forget the watermelon!

Some of the Houston men...surely singing to a Willie or Jonny Cash song!

Good looking men ey?

Notice the boots Noah was wearing..this kid LOVES those boots, they happened to be Jon's old boots, also worn by his lil brother Mark..and now...Noah. Yes, the are lil big on him, but he doesn't seem to mind one bit. Guess we know what he will be going as for Halloween!

Later in the week, we took Uncle Dan and kids to Canyon lake. Jon's dad has a great boat...and he really didn't mind too much taking us out. It was so much fun. They tried getting the boys up on skis, rode the inner tubes, and even had inner tube wars whilst being pulled.

I told Jon...Just go in and I will give you the boy...I thought he would be scared, but he loved it, as long as Daddy held him the whole time...he was braver than me. Mommy doesn't swim in the middle of lakes.......

Well...for photo Ops I do

Sweet lil Claire and us...she kept me company in the boat...as I do not swim out there...but I did got out on the tube with Jon...but somehow I always end up getting hurt. Plus, he's a lil misbehaved out there, always trying to tip us over etc...tsk tsk tsk!

We did a lot in the two weeks he was here. My memory is fading bc it all happened so fast. More to come....

Our first few days of RR

2009-09-11T09:23:00.004-05:00

Our first few days of RR...wow, looking back I should have written all of it down because we did so much in 2 short weeks.

First, Jon and I were able to stay in an amazing hotel on the riverwalk, just him and I for the first 2 nights. The Hotel Contessa, very swank:) We got up and ran along the river the first morning, then we came over to his folks home, and got in some good Daddy/Noah time.

Then...we cut the boys hair. I was almost sure he would hate the clippers...but he did amazing, he even made the buzzzzzz sound whilst we buzzed.
We loved his new do!

We also went to the WildLife Ranch a few days later.
It ended up being a huge disappointment for me bc I have been there and seen so many animals, but when we went the only animals we saw were the freaky ostriches and all the deer type animals. So, the petting zoo was the most exciting part of that trip. And Noah again, surprised us all.
He LOVED the lil goats and definitely was not scared of feeding them.

Since Jon is a big runner, I found 5K fun run through our church that we could do. I told him he could either run/walk with me and Noah or he could try to run it to win it. So, he opted to win. And he came in 2nd place...(the guy that won was a beast!...and Jon thought the whole time he was running that the guy was just working for the run, he didnt even know he was competition). Shannon was gracious enough to run along side me and help push the boy whilst I tried to run/walk. She coached me through and we had a good time.

yes, this is us after running/walking 3 miles...notice Im the reddest one of the group! LOL

The run was the same day we had a huge family event. Jon's Uncle Mark came in with his son from Dallas and we had lunch and the boys played...his cousin taught him how to play lacrosse and Uncle Mark, Jon and Mark juggled in the front yard. I, sadly, do not have pictures of those on this computer...I will try to post some later if I can. Then, we had a huge party for Jon at a great BBQ place down the road. So many great peeps came. And, of course...I didn't take a single picture..but I think Jon's parents did..so I will get those on here soon too. We had a great turn out, and I was even able to raise some money for his unit.

More to come..I think that's a good amount for now...

Our Sweet Reunion

2009-09-09T21:19:00.005-05:00

Reunited and it feels so goooood.

That was us about one month ago.

Yes it was amazing...Yes we had the time of our lives...and yes, sadly, the time FLEW by!

Jon's visit started with what seemed like the longest day of our lives because his flight status kept changing ...he was supposed to arrive at 3pm...and in the end he arrived at 9pm. I know it doesnt seem like a long delay, but believe me, it WAS! We had a small group of friends and family there to greet him. I kept watching the clock when 9pm rolled around because he was supposed to walk down that airport escalator around 9:10...so when my friend Scott said, "Angela, Angela look...." This is what happened next!!!

Of course I had imagined that moment for months, imagining me watching him come down those stairs...but that's not what happened...when my friend said my name..I was busy doing something; paying no attention to the people coming down the stairs bc Jon wasnt supposed to be there yet, his flight status was still showing they were landing...To my wonderful surprise I looked up and freaked out and just ran up to him....oh there were tears!

And this is what our precious boy did...when he saw Jon he slowly walked up to him...and just went right up to his arms..and just studied him. He didnt cry at all, which he normally does with peeps he hasnt seen in awhile.

Oh man...our family was together again...for 2 whole weeks.

It was amazing. A M A Z I N G!

God truly blessed us with so many incredibly planned events that couldn't have gone better, with seeing family from out of town...to seeing old friends in College Station. We did so many fun things here in San Antonio.

I will keep this one short, and promise to post more each day for the next few days, so as to not have a huge long picture blog mess.

Here was the first order of business when Jon arrived

...He wanted to buzz his lil hair off. ( if you noticed Noah's hair was super duper long, we tried gel'n it up into a mohawk for Jon's arrival, but it was so long, it just kind of hung to one side)....

and I will show the buzz results soon....

We're all okay...

2009-08-29T10:13:00.004-05:00

Yes...RR finally happened....

We are all okay.

More than okay actually. I had no idea how fast 15 days could fly by...but boy did we have fun. I can't believe we were able to do so much around here...we forgot how fun San Antonio was...not to mention all the wonderful family we were able to spend great time with.

Jon made it safely to Kuwait...now he is waiting to get back to his FOB soon. That's all I know right now. Please continue to pray for a safe journey back for him and continued safety through the remainder of the deployment.

I promise to post updates and pictures soon, once I get on my old computer and have some spare time.

The time we got to spend with Jon felt like a dream....especially when he left...I kept asking myself, "was he even really here? or was that just a dream?" Stinks!

I'm hoping the next 3 months will go by quickly...who's with me???

1 MONTH

2009-07-12T11:29:00.006-05:00

1 month!
31 days!

Oh My!!!!!!!

We CANNOT WAIT!

oh boy...:)
This is them right before he left...Can you imagine what they will look like in a month? How much this lil dude has changed since then???

Tagged...:)

2009-07-07T15:25:00.002-05:00

My sweet friend...Jamie...tagged me...and since she is pregnant..I didn't want to let her down:) :)
I guess it did help that I was really bored too...which is why Im super pumped about flying home to Texas next week...
...On with the tagging.....

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Holding Jon in my arms again
2. Being able to spend 15 days with Jon
3. Picking Jon up from the airport...after having gone 8 months without him...
4. Playing golf with Jon in August
5. Hanging out with Jon
6. Watching Jon and Noah play again for the first time in 8 months...
7. Watching Jon give his lil dude a haircut
8. Did I mention...JON?????

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. woke up...
2. fed Noah some yogurt
3. read another chapter in the book of Daniel
4. took a nap
5. made a PB&J for Noah
6. went on post to get my mail
7. opened a package Jon sent from Iraq...
8. enjoyed looking over all the mail Jon had gotten in Iraq, running out of room so he sent some home

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. See Jon right NOW
2. Run a half marathon..with JON
3. run and not grow weary...
4. sleep through the night
5. Live in Texas with my family..but somehow still get to travel in Europe at the same time..
6. potty train Noah overnight...
7. watch Shark Week now..Im getting excited...
8. did I mention see JON?

8 Shows I enjoy:

1. Iron Chef
2. Ultimate Recipe Showdown
3. America's Next Top Model (Jon will be disappointed..:( )
4. Project Runway
5. The Nanny..she makes me feel like a good Mom:)
6. Chopped
7. Peep and the Big Wide World (yes it's silly kid cartoon)
8. I honestly do not watch more than half of these....but if I am ever in the States...that is what I enjoy..

8 Friends I'm Tagging:

1. Crowe's Nest
2. The Feldt's
3. J&E's
4. Kendalling Love
5. Pettit Family
6. The Ballards
7. Palermo
8. Smith Haus

What happens at Nana's

2009-07-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

My Mom, whom we affectionately call Nana, sent these pictures to me...they are a little late (from my visit to Texas in the Spring), but I thought I'd share a few cute pics ...this is what happens when Noah spends time with his Nana...

He get's Happy Meals....and obviously loves them... He's is such a Happy happy boy:)And this...
I think she was trying to tell me to cut the boy's hair!(notice the clip in his hair)And this is one reason why I miss home so much...the view from our driveway:)Oh Nana, we can't wait to come home and have fun again!

What a cutie!

2009-06-30T05:43:00.004-05:00

A lot has been going on around here in regards to our lil dude.
He has been talking like crazy...mostly sounds that I can't quite make out, but he sure does like to have conversations with me. He has also been singing:)....

Thought you guys would like that...did you catch a glimpse of the lil guy's chipped tooth?

Shoes have now become a favorite thing around here...Every time we go into my bedroom, I can almost bet he will go right to my closet and sit inside and try to put my shoes on...here's a few pictures....it really cracks me up!Man, it seems like so many things have really taken off for him.
It seems like his lil chubby legs aren't chubby anymore...he's getting so tall. And, his face is really changing too!
We only have about 2 weeks left here in Germany...and Im liking that..because it's just now getting hot...and we don't have AC! UGH! So, although the temperatures will be much higher in San Antonio...they believe in AC:)
So...let the countdown begin!!!!
And more exciting news...we will be together with Jon in a month and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our last day traveling..

2009-06-27T02:49:00.004-05:00

On our last day, we drove through the town of Heidelberg...and it took us some ridiculous navigating to find parking for this monstrous castle, but in the end it was worth it.
But...before I get into the last day...I wanted to post some pictures of what we did after we came back from Luxembourg on Day 2 of our journeys.

Noah has inherited our love for ducks...he enjoyed chasing them around anyway...And now for the castle pictures..
These pictures don't capture the size at all...this place was huge!A lot of the castle was in ruins, not like most of the castles I've seen here. I thought the ruins gave it a really neat feel...and Im not kidding, this place was massive!

Complete with 2 humongous..I mean huge casks of Im assuming...wine? Beer? Here's the smaller one!
And the bigger one..this one was about 2 times the size of the one above!!! It had a staircase you climbed up to go up and around it and back down again!...yeah this thing was enormous!
And the castle grounds were quite lovely.
We sure did enjoy our lil 3 day excursion. We listened to "The Dawn Treader" (one of the books from the Chronicles of Narnia) while we drove. It was great. Me and Mark loved it. Especially when the book would refer to the "poop"...which meant the poopdeck on the ship...but they just kept calling it the poop, and it made us giggle.
We really had a wonderful time with Mark, especially all the yummy food I got to make.:) We enjoyed our amazing buttermilk biscuits (recipe of my sweet friend Melody) so much, that I made them a second time before he left:) And of course my landlord, Peter sent him home with fun yummy goodies to eat too!

Day Two: Luxembourg (with Mark: ))

2009-06-24T03:12:00.005-05:00

Yes, I did forget...I was in the middle of 3 day posting promise..and I forgot to post the last of the days...
I have been quite busy...and Noah has been such a joy, but unfortunately goofing around too much caused him to chip his poor lil tooth!!!! Don't worry, the tooth wasn't fractured so he won't have to get it taken out, and we see another dentist Monday to check what our options are as far as putting a filler on the end or filing it down. The poor dude. You would never know he did it, he is still his happy, cheery, and extremely babblin' self! This plus he bit his lip pretty bad yesterday too!
Daddy of course wants to see pictures of the lil dude's chipped tooth...but Im still working on it.

So, in the meantime, I will continue on with the post for Luxembourg:
We drove there with caution, because I didn't have my international drivers license, I know I know...but it ended up being just fine.
We started our journey at the tourist office where Mark obtained quite a few maps and suggestions on walks around the city. We picked one, and off we went, with Mark as the guide.
(as smart as Mark is...I was shocked at how many times we had to turn around because we went the wrong way...I kept thinking, Mark this really doesnt seem right....Maaaaarrrrrrrrrrk? :) heheheh!
We thought this was silly...looks like that person left their bike there for a loooong time:) hehe

I thought this sign was too funny!

This city was so amazing, built into and on cliffs...it was just neat. Im not quite sure how else to describe it except that you really just had to be there.
One of the best parts of the whole city was this amazing park, sunk down low into the "cliffs"..you didn't feel at all as if you were in the middle of the city...We ended our trip here:This is where General Patton is buried, and it was awesome, he is buried facing all of the soldiers.
Altogether, we enjoyed Luxembourg...even if we took a lot of wrong turns!

Oh Father's Day....

2009-06-21T13:48:00.005-05:00

What a special day.

It's a bittersweet day for me.

My Dad has been gone for going on 6 years...and sometimes it feels like he just left us.
These are the days that I reflect back upon how amazing my Daddy was. These days, especially, I wish I could let him share in the joy that surrounds my life. With Jon, with Noah...with all my wonderful family. I sure do wish Noah could have met his Pappy...

I know this sounds silly, but it also makes me remember my Mom:) and...how wonderful my Mom and Dad were together. I miss him...and today I remember all the fun times we had preparing special treats for Dad!

I have a long list of Daddies to honor...so many amazing men in my life.
It really reminds me of what an Amazing AMAZING GOD we serve, that our Heavenly Father could bless us with such wonderful men.

Jon...you are the best. And I miss you dearly...as does Noah! I couldn't even imagine a better father for our son, Noah. Even though you are so far away...you are so close to us.

My Mom's Dad...Grandpa Hall...you always make me laugh and giggle, and have been a constant source of Spiritual steadfastness....it's such a blessing to see a man never waiver in his strides towards loving and knowing God more:)Sadly...I don't have pictures of Noah and me with my Dad's Dad or Stepdad...
Grandpa Burkholder...we hope to see you soon so you can meet Noah! I have the fondest memories of playing with my Grandpa B....and I do mean playing..rolling around and having such fun.
My Dad's Dad...there's nothing quite like his voice...it will always bring joy to my heart.

Jon's Grandparents...!
Over the last years, I have gotten to know each of you better, and have developed such admiration and esteem for you both....I know Jon loves you dearly and I can see it in the way he speaks so highly of you both, Grandpa Dan
and Grandpa T (Tio!)
We love you!

And of course...Greg/Paw/Pawpy....Im sure words will never fully express the gratitude I have for you...for you and Laura's love in raising up the man I love so dearly...for teaching him how to be a man...and most importantly, a man that loves God and his Family!
It brings pure joy to my soul to watch you, Pawpy,
play with Noah. Since you are the only Grandpa Noah will ever know...it just makes you so special!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY...TO THE BEST DADDIES EVER!

Day One: Around Trier

2009-06-19T06:22:00.006-05:00

Our first day in Trier was a bit rainy...a lot rainy...all day actually.
We had a wonderful time though, despite the rain. In fact, I told Mark this morning that I actually had a lot of fun traipsing around in the rain.

Trier is the oldest city in Germany...founded in the early bc years....
There is a famous gate type thing we saw
Porta Nigra
...but it was really rainy then, so we kept moving...

We made our way to the old Roman amphitheater...which was awesome...Mark had fun exploring the underground..I thought it was creepy, maybe because I had to go in alone bc I couldnt take the stroller...but really...
Our favorite part was the underground...I really kept thinking I would see some spooky figure behind me once I finished taking my self portraits...so I hurried along quite quickly in there...
We obviously were getting quite wet..Noah stayed nice and dry..and really couldnt understand what all the fuss was about...

Half way back to the car, I realized that Jon's so called "rain jacket" was indeed NOT waterproof...so it was beginning to get a lil uncomfortable..but, I kept truckin...and decided eating icecream IN the rain..would be fun....Notice how wet I am...

And it was, we kept laughing...and I think the girls working in the parlor that we were crazy!

This was our ...yay to be out of the rain look...nice huh?
Altogether we had a grand time walking around, and we were quite happy to return to our hotel to get dry:)
I was really glad I wore my spify crocs the whole time...they were awesome!
So, stay tuned..up next is our day trip to Luxembourg!

cookin for 2 boys...

2009-06-14T10:30:00.003-05:00

So,
Jon's lil brother Mark came in for a few days...
I thought I would just share a few things before we head out on our short adventure before he leaves.

I have been making all sorts of yummmmmy homemade food...buttermilk biscuits, pot roast, chicken and rice...and APPLE PIE..a favorite of Mark's..Not to brag...But this pie turned out amazing..the first time I ever made a homemade crust...
It sounds silly to be posting about a pie...but it was just that good...someday I will share the recipe...:) It had a really yummy oatmeal brown sugary filling in it with the apples...:)

I took Mark to the standard city of choice for our guests...Wurzburg...here's just few pics....
Noah's hair was pretty cool..I had just slather'd him up real good with sunscreen...so his hair was pretty crazy!
And more will come when we return from our adventure in a few days!