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what happened?

So I've posted twice in about a month. I know totally not like me at all, except when we are on repat, then you come to expect that. But right now when are in the thick of holidays over here in the sandbox I should be more on the ball with these sorts of things. Today I sat down to update. Went to post a photo and I've hit my storage limit for the blog. So I'll need a day or two to figure out what I plan to do about that. I've been blogging for five years, so I guess it was about time I hit some sort of limit.

 

We're good.

The quick updates.

Lexie is crawling, going from all fours to sitting, has three teeth, clapping and has begun to leave a wake of baby destruction behind her as she takes on the house.

 

Also an update, Mike and I are learning to baby proof again and so are the boys. They have also been introduced to what it means to really, truly have a little sister, one that makes a bee line for anything and everything they have, are in to, or are playing with.

 

Carter is morphing into a little boy every day. I feel like he wakes up each morning a little bit taller. He has decided he no longer wants spiky hair. I'm a bit heartbroken. I still gel it in the morning and most days he comes home for lunch and he has flattened it at school with some water in the bathroom. He loves to draw still and is getting pretty good with his letters. We spend several afternoons drawing pictures and writing words about his pictures, sounding out the words and writing. It's such a new and exciting stage we are in. Just yesterday during sacrament at church I heard him singing, looked over to see him writing out his abc's and singing out loud when he became stuck on what letter came next.

 

Owen is the costume man. You can usually find him dressed as a superhero, the favorites this week, superman, captain America and (not so much a commercial super hero) army guy. When he's not dressed to 'save the day' he always wants to be in gym shorts or his soccer jersey. He is the first to come over and give you a kiss just because, or to whisper in your ear that he loves you. Melts my heart every time.

 

Me. Now that Lexie is 9 months I stepped on the scale the other morning and felt pretty proud of myself with the number I saw. I plateaued a bit about two months ago, and this past month after our trip to Sri Lanka and now teaching three times a week I've been able to drop the last four pounds of post baby. I've been working hard and it's great to see and feel the results.

 

Mike. Is enjoying his time with the kids and the family. We still laugh about how great it is to have him home for lunch and in the afternoons when he gets home about 4:30. Life here in that regards is so great. He's finishing projects, starting new ones and keeping it all balanced with work, church calling, and his really needy family. He's still cross fitting it up and enjoying his gps heart rate monitor watch.

 

We're looking forward to Christmas. Decorations are up. Tree will go up tonight. Countdown is on 31 days.

Hugs, Angie

Travels

Our first two days in Sri Lanka were bright and sunny. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds and it was beautiful. Probably our favorite two days (other than the Safari day) of the trip. We enjoyed the beach.

Later that evening we headed to the Sea Turtle Sanctuary. Only in Sri Lanka could you pick these little guys up, the kids LOVED it, and so did we. The facility houses patches and patches of turtle eggs and then holds onto the newly hatched turtles until the bottom of their little shells harden a bit and then they release them into the ocean. They also house several sea turtles that have been injured. It was pretty neat.

Our favorite part of the trip. Each kiddo was able to pick up and carry a little sea turtle to the edge of the beach and release them into the ocean as the sun was setting. It was a race to the water. Go turtles go!

 Drawing pictures of our turtles after they were long gone.

 It was an awesome night!

hugs, A

vacation from the vacation.

We are home.

Our vacation in Sri Lanka is over.

We survived one week abroad in a third world country with three children during monsoon season. It was great. It was hard.  There were sunny days but more days with a lot of rain. We loved the company -sharing a villa with our good friends and their kiddos. We loved making memories with our small family.
And now? We are beat.
It's so good to be home. We now need a vacation from our vacation. 

The prettiest day of our travels. Me and the little miss.

Plenty of pictures and stories to share soon.

Hugs, A

Pre Spooking.

 We are off to Sri Lanka for a week of relaxing and exploring. We will be gone over Halloween, so we decided that a little 'pre spooking' was in order for the kiddos. So last night we dressed up and joined the Community Boo Bash on the baseball fields. We dressed up.

Carter as Iron Man, Lexie as a little witch (it was too hot for her long sleeve shirt and this was the end of the night), and Owen as Captain America.

 I don't think the boys really understand how awesome their dad is. This is another reason why. Captain Mike Sparrow for the night.

 Lexie and Mommy after the festivities.

 Our family along with the Bournes, and Nelsons ran one of the carnival games. Mike and I put together the bowling pins for Pumpkin Bowling. Roll the pumpkin to knock down the ghosts. It was pretty cute.

The day before was Owens Halloween party at preschool. Here's another one of Captain Owen showing off his muscles. 

Carter had a chance to wear his costume to school too on Wednesday morning and there was a parade too. Unfortunately we missed it, due to a mild concussion for poor little Owen, who spent the morning with dad in the ER getting a CT scan. His noggin is ok, and he's back to his old self which is a big relief.

We're outta here for a new adventure. Updates and photos when we get back.

Happy Halloween and Eid Mubarak.

(The holiday in the Middle East right now- and the reason we get a weeks vacation.)

Wish us luck!

Hugs, A

The Bus.

 The buses here are not what you are used to back in the States. There are no cheese wagons picking up kiddos. Instead they roll in style. In one of these Mercedes Charter buses. Yeah, serious upgrade from the bus I remember as a kid. Like clock work it arrives every morning at 7:18 a.m. drops him off for lunch and takes him back and forth once again. You can hear it coming down the street and it stops right outside the house. We are so very fortunate in that regard.

Carter waving goodbye.

 We wait outside for him when we can and since the weather is becoming increasingly cooler (like only in the 90's now- sometimes 80s) it's actually pretty nice sitting on the porch.  I'm also pretty sure Carter likes it when we sit there and wave goodbye so he can show off his baby to the other kids on the bus. 

 Check out the scary pumpkin the background. We're ready for Halloween over here.

 Lexie is a little steam roller. She rolls where she wants to go, it's actually pretty cute and funny to watch. I'm back teaching and on this night I left my bag out. She rolled right over and found the jump ropes. That's one happy little tangled baby.

Earlier this week I dropped Owen off at preschool a little late. I was able to catch a quick photo of him playing outside with the bubbles. He's in the middle wearing navy blue. He sure loves school!

Hugs, A

morning jog.

 A perfect morning looked something like this today.

Just her, me, The Bob, and a perfect hour spent outside taking it all in and burning some calories too.

 

 Yes, that is a stroller fan you see.

And just in case you were thinking about bringing your pipe along for your walk or jog tomorrow, it is strictly forbidden on the golf course trail.

Hugs, A

fall ramblings.

I'm currently sipping warm apple cider and eating Mike's awesome caramel corn. It tastes like fall in our little home in the sandbox tonight.

The kids are snuggled down fast asleep, Mike is away for a church meeting and I'm catching up on the blog and going through my class plans for tomorrow. Yes, I said 'plans' plural. Tomorrow I start teaching two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon while I am covering for a friend out on maternity leave.

The only other hiccup I will have tomorrow is nursing my broken little toe, that I managed to whop right before Owens birthday party on Wednesday and has since been swollen and every shade of nasty bruise possible. Moments like those, I realize Carter is totally my child and he manages to get his gracefulness from me.

Here are a few more photos from yesterday after church of my oh so loved family. We watched a session of General Conference for church and Owen only managed to play one musical instrument in the middle to cause a quick little disruption. Lexie managed much more than that as she fought taking a nap and then managed to reach over my shoulder and turn on all of the lights too. At least Carter didn't cause a scene, so we had one success during the longest two hours of our Sabbath day.

Carter, 5 yrs and Owen, 4yrs.

Other news. We celebrated our Saudi-Versary on Oct. 4. We have survived and thrived for the past two years here in the Sandbox. Still feels like yesterday we were packing up our house in Houston and saying goodbye to our dear friends. Now, two years later, our boys are bigger we have a baby girl and we've finally planned our first travel trip. In two weeks we are bound for a week in Sri Lanka. After two years we are going to see a little more of the world over here. Perhaps it only took us two years to get up the courage to take our kids with us. It's going to be awesome.

I hope you are enjoying the changing seasons. I longingly watch the FB status updates about pumpkin patches, I watch the instagram photos of changing fall leaves and I miss the seasons. I miss the crisp fall air and all that comes with it. So keep them coming so I can sit here -in still hot sandbox - inside my AC home sipping apple cider and living vicariously through you.

Hugs, A

He's FOUR!

Owen is FouR!

 Happy Birthday you Handsome little man!

 We had cake.

He blew out candles.

He opened presents. (Look at Lexie in the background I think she likes the water guns too.)

 He dressed up in his new Pirate gear from grandma.

 And at 11 p.m. he's still running strong when he should be fast asleep. You have always been our little night owl. 

Owen you are a funny kid. The things you say make us all laugh.

You love sports and lately all you want to wear are sports jerseys and gym shorts. Right now you have size 10 feet and wear size 4 sometimes 5.

You love to eat chili, tacos, chips guacamole and salsa, salad, sweets of course and drink iced lemonade and milk.

You love everything pirate! You love playing with your friends (especially the ladies), going to preschool, jumping on the trampoline, watching movies, playing iron man with your big brother, making your sister laugh and snuggling in the morning.

So glad you are ours. We're a lucky family!

Hugs, A

Sittin Pretty.

Lexie Sitting Pretty and for a very long time just playing.

Oh how I LOVE this stage.

Hugs, A

Coach Dille.

 The boys are playing soccer. Lucky for them dad is the coach.

Coach Dille has 17 five year old boys. Yeah, it's a whole lot of craziness. Good thing he's use to crazy around here. Except on the soccer field he gets a whistle.

 Lexie and I came for the last 30 minutes of practice. All strapped in the Baby Ergo. Cute baby.

Hugs, A

Argh... You're invited.

Owen turns 4 in just three days. Can you believe it?

We went out last night to hand deliver his Pirate Birthday Party invitations.

So little Jack Sparrow got all dressed up and off Owen and I went. Invitations in hand and a mini script, "Argh.... You're invited to my Pirate Party!"

He LOVED it!!!

Pirate Birthday Party tomorrow.

Arghh... you excited?

Hugs, A

7 months.

This little lady is turning into a blonde and blue eyed love bug.

 

A bit behind on posting these monthly photos. This was our least successful photo shoot. Lexie now insists on ripping the sticker off and fought me most of the five minutes I tried to take photos. She's a spirited little one and doesn't give up. Great qualities for when she's a grown woman, a bit of challenge for her mamma when she's still a baby.

Hugs, A