Thought some of you might want to see the outside of our house. Don't ask me what the ugly tree in our yard is! I'm stuck with the landscaping since we are not allowed to plant at all. Only pots no more than 24 in diameter. At least the house is great!

Hawaii House

Downstairs 1/2 bath- Chocolate and Blue, I love it

View of Formal Living from loft

Loft with desk for kids for our homeschooling

Kitchen w/ eat in and desk (taken from family room)

Family room (taken from Kitchen)

Formal Living Area w/ 2 story ceiling (taken from Dining room/ hallway.)

Dining Room (yellow walls) I love this room! We also added the chandelier. This was my great buy at Home Depot- $12.30

Down to 2 weeks

We are down to 2 weeks as of tomorrow. I worked with Armin (Armin and Marion Tapestry) this weekend at the Primavera bazaar. Well, actually, I worked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Drew worked for me on Sunday because it became obvious on Saturday that Sofia and I were sick. She ran a fever for 2 days. She is better today although still cranky. I will hopefully be better tomorrow. We will see. Armin was very glad it was Drew and not me on Sunday since Drew has the muscles and helped load all the tapesties back in the truck.

Derrick has informed everyday how many days he has left of school. 7 1/2 days. He is thrilled! They are also excited about my birthday this weekend b/c it means CAKE!We will be going to the winery, Bessich, down the street, this weekend. They are having their annual party. Glad we didn't plan a trip this weekend. I wouldn't have wanted to miss that! They throw a great party- complete with an Italian Country Western Band. Crazy as it sounds, they're not too bad.

For my friend, Liz

The bulbs I never thought would bloom...

Liz bought 6 iris bulbs at a local market here in Italy. I talked her into giving them to me b/c she didn't know where she would plant 6 bulbs. She had larger beds. I have been waiting and waiting while all the irises around me bloomed. I truly thought these weren't going to bloom before we left Italy. I was so excited to see them blooming yesterday morning! I even tried to talk Drew into letting me sneak the bulbs into my suitcase but he swears I will get busted and carted off to jail or something. Guess we'll see if I am feeling rebellious or not...you never know.

Grady's pansies...

When my friend Liz was leaving, we dug up her pansies and put the in a plastic grocery bag. Well, I forgot them overnight at her house and the next morning, we found pansies drug all over the yard by her very playful dog Grady. I expected them to die, but I planted them anyway. That was in November! These pansies have been blooming ever since in a bed I have not been able to grow anything in. Everytime I see them, I smile and think of Liz and Grady. Thanks Grady! You've got the touch!

Baptism

Here is the video from Derrick and Isabelle's baptism on Easter Sunday. What a joyful day in a parent's life. Yes, there were tears of pride and joy from momma.

Thank you

Thank you to my friends who helped me with Sofia during our move. You guys are awesome and I love you. It helped to make our packing days alot less stressful.

Our pack out went great. We had very professional and efficient movers (the same crew who packed up my friend Liz). I think they did a good job. We'll see on the other end. Apparently, the Army does not fly our stuff there, so it will go by slow boat to China (in this case, Hawaii) and we will see it sometime in August. Pray it comes faster since we did not hold out much for the kids to play with because we thought it would be there end of June (transportation office really gave us bad info!). Oh, well. We're going to Hawaii- can't complain too much, can we?

Mother, Daughter Tea

The girls and I went to the Girlscout Mother/Daughter Tea last Saturday. We had a great time together and with our friends.