Skype

Right before Mr. J left, we downloaded Skype on our computers so we could web cam. This has been great! We use it almost daily to talk to Mr. J, and we have also been able to talk to Uncle Jimmie in England, Aunt S and Miss B in Germany and Grandma Barb (my mom) in WA. You can take video snapshots so here are some pics from our conversations.

Daddy and the sheep in Germany...

Silly Uncle Jimmie. He likes to show Mr. T his monster truck and tells the girls to wrestle and pick their noses (see below)

Aunt S and our favorite kitty!

There's some silly camera features that make us laugh

Uncle Jimmie "eating lunch" with the kids

Thanks Jimmie, for telling the girls to put their fingers in their noses... yuck.

Sweet Baby E

Hi Grandma Barb!!

Meet Miss E

My friend Leslie took some awesome pictures of Miss E when she was 10 days old. Here are a few for you to enjoy....

Germany

Hello! Mr. J has made it to his final destination on his desert vacation. I got an email full of pictures today from his journey. Mr. J had an unplanned layover in Germany due to plane problems. He got to do some sight seeing while he was there. Beautiful!

Before Mr. J left, each kid gave him a little toy to take on his journey. Mr. T - car, Miss O - sheep, Miss M - doll house baby. Whenever we skype with him, the kids always ask to see their toys.

Our great friends, Mr. and Mrs. M are stationed at a base in Germany. Since Mr. J had a friend that was in Germany TDY, he was able to go with him in his rental car to see Mrs. M and Miss B for lunch.

"Uncle" J and Miss B playing with the toys.

The toys with some delicious stroopwafels.
Amphitheater in Trier, Germany

We have been able to talk or web cam with Mr. J every day because he is able to have internet in his dorm at the base he is at. This is such a huge blessing. The kids LOVE it and so do I. I have his mailing address if anyone wants it. Also, if you email us at our regular email address, he is able to get that too. He is still updating his website regularly with some interesting articles that have to do with the location he is at... www.serespecialist.com

AWANA Grand Prix

As you may have been able to tell, I am trying to catch up on my blogging so I am posting pictures from March (I only have one more left after this!). Below are pictures of the AWANA Grand Prix. This was Miss M's second year and it was the Saturday after Miss E was born. Mr. J made a couple of great cars this year, one for Miss M and one for him. The kids helped pick out the design and the colors. Miss M's was modeled after the monopoly car and painted lavender. The cars raced great. Miss M's got 2nd place for speed and most creative in the cubbies category. Mr. M's got 1st place for speed for the leaders.

Miss M and Commander K

Mr. J's red car

Miss M proudly getting her car

Miss E's first real outing.

Silly girl

Mr. T and Uncle Tom

Miss M's car

The pit crew....This is one of the things I was glad Mr. T got to be in town for, since they had put a lot of work into the cars.

Great Grandparents part 1

Here are some pictures of our visit with Mr. J's grandpa and his wife. This was in March before baby E was born. We had a great time seeing them!

Great Grandpa J teaching the kids how to climb the mountain in our back yard
Great Grandma J playing dollhouse with the kids

Gonzaga basketball

After spending 6 years in Spokane, Mr. J became a huge Gonzaga basketball fan. For those of you who aren't from Washington, Gonzaga is a small Catholic university in Spokane that has a stellar basketball team. So you can imagine Mr. J's excitement when he found out last year that they would be holding the West Coast Conference Championship right here in Vegas. So, we splurged and got tickets to the conference that was the first weekend in March. Friday and Saturday night we got to watch some other teams play and on Sunday and Monday we got to watch the Zags. They were so much fun! There were so many people there to cheer on Gonzaga, it was great. We felt like we were back in Spokane! Of course, GU won both games. They went on to the big dance and eventually lost to the Tarheels (who ended up winning the whole thing).

The kids had lots of fun. The highlight for them was the concession stands. There was a ticket mix up that occured prior to the tournament and people at the Orleans (where the games were at) were so glad Mr. J brought in the extra tickets they accidently sent him, that they gave us a bunch of free coupons to use at the concession stands. The kids got popcorn one night, and cotton candy on another. Also, the girls really liked the cheerleaders as well. This led to some good conversations on modesty... since that was something some of the teams cheerleaders lacked. The tournament occured during spring break week, so there were lots of students at the game. The girls sitting in front of us had made lots of creative signs, so Miss M. used her magnadoodle to practice writing Go Zags and holding it up.


All ready for the game...