The final 6-Weeks

Our final date night visiting Meg-Out at the Honkey Tonks

Dinner at Judge Bean's Bar-B-Que with Michael's family

Our little adventurer moves her stroller around and then stands on it to get what she wants...really safe huh...

Helping to clean in our casita (Panama and I decided this was a good name for the apartment)

Amaya hair is long enough to do full pig tails

Our final 6-weeks before Germany have been a whirlwind. Here are some pictures to document the time.

Finally in Germany!

Hallo! We made it =) It has been a VERY busy 6 weeks since I sent our last blog. We enjoyed the weeks in our apartment-swimming in the pools, grilling out, spending time with Meg, Panama, Eric, Nana, and Grandpa, and playing at the playground. I finished my final year of teaching (at least for a little while) and Michael came home. It was great to spend time together.

The flight to Germany was interesting...Michael and I will are able to laugh about it now =) 1. We started out having a 2 hour delay in Nashville, 2. then an extra hour in the plane to our midway point. 3. We missed our connecting flight, 4. the next flight did not leave out until the following evening. 5. We stayed the night in an airport hotel (with the cat-no kitty litter...thank goodness the hotel was very helpful). 6. The flight the following day was delayed 6. We sat on the plane for 55 minutes before taking off. 7. Amaya only slept 3 hours of the 8.5 on the plane. 8. Our luggage went missing for 4 days. But we got it =) And it ended up being a blessing because they delivered it directly to us.

Of course we took it all in stride. Over the past couple days Michael passed the drivers test, we accomplished many of the things we needed to do, and this morning we found a house...which is GREAT! We cannot wait to finally be able to move in and get settled. More pictures to come.

Amaya is adjusting-she has been in and out of the car for the past couple days and then airplane traveling the two days prior. Her poor little body is all out of whack. It was a little better last night, and I am hoping even better tonight. Tomorrow we have free =) so we will take her out and play for the day. She is saying many new words and sounds. She loves seeing and saying "doggie, puppy, ducky, tree, leaf, thank you (dank da), Panama (Anama), Nana/Banana (Nana), up, meow (eow), baa-baa." She is quite the talker. She loves climbing and sliding. She can climb and slide all on her own and actually does not want any help. She is a little adventurist.

Doggie Heaven

Me with Kasey

(a few day before Amaya was born)

We made the difficult decision today to lay Kasey to rest. He had a wonderful life-but will be greatly missed! Not quite the way anyone wants to end their week, but he let us know, it was time. We have had him for 12 years-over a third of my life. Although it was very hard to say, "good-bye" I am at peace with the decision.

!```EDWAXZZZZZ (Amaya typed the title)

Nana, Gpa, Erica, Meg, Panama, Amaya at ChuckE.Cheese

Almost the whole crew hanging with Chuck-E-Cheese

Gpa, Momma, Amaya

Meg and Panama

Amaya loves playing (pounding) on the computer. She is growing so quickly! Here are some of the things she now does:

-She started walking backwards, and thinks it is so funny to bump into things

-She loves feeding her animals, giving them kisses, and talking to them

-She walks Kasy like a big girl-holding the leash all by herself...she also has a little dog that she love walking around the house

-She continues to love swimming-she now steps off the side of the pool into Gpa's awaiting arms-She is laughing the whole time

-She LOVES bananas and wakes up in the morning, walks into the kitchen, points to the nanas and says"nana-nana-nana" (this has to be her favorite word-it means all things good) We are trying to teach her please...but that may take awhile yet (Wonder where she inherited her love of food?)

-She uses her fork and spoon all by herself! No thanks to any of us adults...one day a couple weeks ago, she took the fork and has been feeding herself with one ever since

-She is a climber-thanks to her cousin, who is a fearless climber herself-Amaya thinks it is so great to climb on just about anything

-She still has a voice =) Loves to talk-talk-talk

I am sure I am missing so many things. She never ceases to amaze me!

Craziness!!!

Amaya helping Gpa get the car ready to be shipped

Daddy is molding a SuperFan...

All boxed up!!!

The last time all 3 of us were at our 1st house

Living large at our new place

Hello all!!! Sorry for such the delay in blogging. I thought life was crazy before, but that was nothing compared to what we have done this past week...(which is nothing compared to what our fellow Nashvillians are going through with the local flooding. We have had 14 inches in the past 24 hours!) As a good friend once said, "Life Lives" and we are sure living =)

The week in review:

--Nana and I drove the car to St. Louis last Friday and drove back the same day.

--Michael flew in from San Antonio on Saturday, we got Amaya's traveling passport, drank some great wine, spent time as a family, had a hail storm Sat night, and Michael flew back out on Sunday.

--The movers started moving us on Monday and they finished Friday afternoon. They left us with an empty house-and ALOT of cleaning for the dueling Cinderellas to do.

--We moved into our little apartment on Friday as well-Grandpa took the grandgirls to the pool. It is a really great place-I defiantly miss my house though =)

--Saturday: Nana and I cleaned like crazy-the rain sure was coming down.

--Sunday: Almost didn't make it to church this morning...rain...rain...rain. Organized the apartment and found out there is no school tomorrow.

Please keep the Nashvillians in your thoughts and prayers.

At this point, I am hoping that all starts to calm down. Michael, Amaya, the animals, and I will be headed to Germany mid-June. As I have said many times before-We would LOVE to have you visit!!!

The 3 Ladies at Easter Mass

Trader Joe's Shopper in Training

(Multi-tasking with the balloon in one hand and the cart in the other!)

Taking Hello Kitty for a walk

Mom, Amaya, and I had an eventful Easter weekend. With the sale of the house, we are now in the hunt for an apartment...I was shocked to find out how expensive furnished apartments are! We hopefully found a place that will take us animals and all. The girls enjoyed the weekend together as the rest of the family was out-of-state for one reason or another. We had a great time shopping, walking the parks (as you can see, Amaya decided not to just walk Kasey, she also decided to walk her Hello Kitty around the house) and dinner at PF Changs (gotta love their GF menu). Amaya finally had her 1 year pictures taken and the kid wouldn't sit still long enough for a picture. She was too busy chatting and running over to the prop box to kiss all of the stuffed animals (too cute!) Overall, we are all doing fabulously well. Everything seems to be falling into place.

The Countdown Has Begun!

Michael's Promotion Ceremony

Amaya's 1st Ride

She wanted to steer-just like she does in Grandpa's car

Amaya in San Antonio trying to put on her sun glasses

Amaya, Panama, and Meg jumping on the trampoline

We have been in a constant whirlwind the past two-weeks. We put our home on the market, had the fabulous Myra & Jodie visit, found out Kasey (my doggie baby) has diabetes, flew to San Antonio to watch Michael be promoted (Yippee!!!), and got a contract on the house...all in less than two weeks!

We are so happy with all we have been blessed with and I am trying to slow down, take a breath, and enjoy the moments as they come. I have a new found respect for single parents-Amaya and I are so lucky to have my momma here to be a momma =) I was also so fortunate to have Jodie and Myra visit when they did-Michael had just left, we had our first showing (The people loved it so much...they wrote up an offer-I hope I am not jinxing myself by writing this...), and it was just plain crazy at our house. They were here to talk, walk, and have a great glass of wine with me =)

Amaya is getting even better with age! She is absolutley the best thing ever!!! She is a little comedian-who loves making others laugh with her weird sounds, funny faces, and new words. Today she was saying, "Peek-a-boo" while running and hiding behind the walls. So much fun!!!

San Antonio was a blast. There is a little bakery called "The Little Aussie Cafe." I had bread for the first time since August. It was a wonderful little place. We loved the riverwalk, the food, the shopping, and the people. I am looking forward to our next visit.