Is it really O C T O B E R ?

I know it's been all about Caden this week, but he's my little buddy... my shadow... my baby! Plus, he {still} lets me take his picture!

I can't believe it's the E N D of October and we're still picking garden tomatoes! I'm so in love with Kansas, which is making it that much harder to move. I know big adventures are awaiting us in Europe, but I really would be fine here f o r e v e r. One of our favorite appetizers (thanks Starr & Mac) is basil/mozz/tomato on crackers... fresh tomatoes make it all the better, yum! Caden & I have it (all alone) for lunch and it's wonderful! This Alaska girl is so easy to please...

Caden Turns F I V E

I can't believe my baby is five years old! For part of his birthday yesterday, we set up a private horse riding lesson for him. I didn't tell him until right before his lesson. He thought we were just checking out the horses at this cool stable which was just fine with him. He was a little apprehensive at first, but did SO well! He had a nice calm horse (Charlie) of course, but I was still AMAZED to see my little guy on the horse riding all on his own! The instructor was fabulous working with him to use his reins and use his balance. He worked on going left and right, kicking to get him to move, whoa to stop. She even had him trotting- which was (no surprise) his favorite part. After his lesson, the instructor let him brush Charlie down, then showed him a few of the show horses they board there along with a 4-month old little filly- so sweet! Wonderful atmosphere- perfect memories!


If we were staying here, I'm sure Caden (& his momma) would be taking more lessons...

CADEN white on white

Caden, Caden, Caden. This little guy pretty much wants to be just like his oldest brother, which means he L O V E S football! Being home alone in the day lends lots of time for his football games, which are very similar to Justin's. Today, it was white on white, last week it was green on green (just like Justin, of course). Justin's friends (Josh, Pay-n-ton, Oliver, Chris, Austin) are Caden's friends. I don't know how he figured out the life jacket would make good shoulder pads, but he continues to crack us up! Gotta love the skater helmet, too... oh, so much creativity in one little body! It's quite difficult to catch any video of him, but this short clip captures a little bit of his imagination. He's usually quite verbal (GO WILDCATS... come on pass... LET'S GO...) but, I'm guessing this mouth guard he found makes it a little harder to yell.

the B O Y S and the M O V E

I often get asked how the boys are handling our upcoming move. The big boys are well-adjusted, happy teenagers in a great school with great friends. For the most part, they've been pretty mellow and on board. They'd probably say, they don't really have a choice. True. For the little guys, they're just excited to get to take a trip. For them, it's just an upcoming vacation. Good friends have made it harder for all of us knowing we're leaving. The good friends we've made here are definitely friends for life.

Ty's probably shown the most resistance to the move from the start. Not definance or even an attitude toward us, he's just the most unsettled of the boys. I like to think moving to a cool far away place has made it easier. It's not like we're moving to Iowa. We'll be two hours from Paris, next door to Austria and Switzerland, a train trip to anywhere in Europe. But, it's still change. Change is hard.

A sweet new girlfriend (Taylor) is making it even more difficult as they're two peas in a pod! They're both super smart, fun and full of life- it's great to see my kid so happy. sor:

Weekend Fun

A few more photos from Mac & Starr's quick weekend trip. Abby checking out our fire! This was before she got ahold of a cookie... and had it all over her! Yum!!
Still a little sick... passed up a s'more, something our Coleman rarely misses out on!

Roasting marshmallows on our fire
Uncle Mac making memories!

Uncle Jim & Abby at the football game

yes, we're still M O V I N G

Ok, the reality that we're moving in has finally set in- thanks Starr! Just kidding... So excited to spend a little time with Starr, Mac, Connor & Abby this weekend! They made the drive over (from UT via Denver) to get mom's piano. Rather than take it all the way to Germany, Starr is going to enjoy it and keep it stateside. Jim, Justin, Ty and Mac had it loaded it in to the truck before I even knew they started, so I missed the transition photos.

With our movers scheduled to start packing us up on November 4th (one month EXACTLY, yikes!) we loaded up our houseplants as well since we can't take them. I LOVE houseplants, excited we won't just have to throw them out, however now our house looks absolutely bare! I'm pretty sure a month will go by faster than I'm prepared.

We just found out we can ship our van and also fly out of St. Louis. Our plans are to finish up football season here for Justin, then take off to Granny's sometime the beginning of November. Our household goods will be gone by November 6th, so we'll be camping out here until Mulvane is done for the season. We'll take a commercial flight from St. Louis to Baltimore. Then, an AF rotator flight from Baltimore straight in to Ramstein, Germany. Now, we just need to sell our house! Oh..... I just can't wait to be settled!

After driving all day Friday, they got here only to drive another 1 1/2 hours to Justin's football game. Coleman was sick, Mulvane lost but it was a great game!