Changes

So. . . We have been wanting this for the past year or more.  Jaime put it wonderfully last night he said "man, I feel blessed! I haven't felt like this in a long time."  Lately it seems like everything we have been trying to do has not been going our way.  We felt like with every step forward we were pushed two steps back.  Nothing was going our way.  Finally things are looking up for us.  We are finally getting out of Italy.  Five years is a long time.  Too long.  It's nice over here and really nice if you have the time and money to travel, but we had neither the time or money to do it lately.  Especially with Jaime having duty every weekend.  We miss living in the US.  Having our American conveniences.  Like stores open late at night, same with gas stations and not having to use gas coupons.  We are ready for a change.  The girls are ready for a change.  I know many people leave here and are thrilled to come back in a few years.  I don't think we will be one of them.  We are ready to start settling down and be near family.  We have a niece and nephews that we need to spend time with.  Grandparents need to spend time with their grandkids.  Same goes with Aunties and Uncles.  We just miss being around family.  Some people don't mind being away from family for so long.  But both Jaime and I are pretty family oriented.  Things are finally going our way.  We should be out of here within a month.  Now it's time to get started packing and cleaning.  Maliah is really excited to be going back to see her Mimi, Aunties, Grandpa, and Nana.  She talks about it all the time.  It will be interesting to see how Kamora reacts to seeing her family.  She knows her Mimi from Skype. But everyone else she only sees pictures.  I'm hoping she adjusts well.  I'm not really looking forward to the traveling but the end will be totally worth it.  We are taking a good amount of leave before we are heading to our next duty station.  Plenty of time to relax.  It will be the longest Jaime has been home since he has joined the Army.  Oh next duty station. . . Forgot to say we are heading to Ft Bliss.  Which is near El Paso, Tx.  Hopefully we will be able to reconnect with some friends from Ft Lewis.  We don't really know what to expect.  But we are hoping we will enjoy ourselves.  We will make the best of it :)
So update on the girls.  Maliah has started to read.  She is doing really good with blending letters.  Of course there is only room for improvement :)  She is my smarty pants.  She can also draw really well.  She gets it from her daddy lol.  She draws people better than I do haha.  She can write a few words by herself too.  Like her name, Kamora, Mommy, Daddy, Cat, Frog, Dog. . . a few more that I can't remember right now.  She can sound out a word and figure out how to spell it.  She is growing like a weed.  I noticed a month or two ago that she was just arms and legs.  She definitely isn't a baby anymore.  I know I know she is four but she is still my baby.
Kamora is growing growing growing... she is really starting to communicate with her words.  She picks up a few more everyday.  Her first sentence was "I Love You" It's so cute to hear her say I love you to Maliah just out of the blue and then she asks for a hug.  She has so much personality.  She can be such a sweetheart but if she's upset watch out lol.  She gets so excited when you understand what she wants. She is really starting to express her opinions.  She walks around going happy happy happy when she is in a good mood.  and if she isn't she will look at you and say no and hit the air haha.  Most of the time she is happy though.
I'm so happy these girls love each other so much and play so well together.  Maliah is a really good big sister.  I hope it lasts haha.

Summer Leave

We enjoyed a nice relaxing two weeks of leave. We didn't do any big trips we just decided to stay around town and just take it easy. The first week I took Maliah to see Sesame Street live. They had a show on post. She really enjoyed it. My baby loves Elmo lol. On another day we drove to Aviano Air Force Base. I had never been there this whole time we have lived here lol. It was a long drive but it was nice because we decided to take back roads so we got to see a little scenery. We just went to the BX there. That was a treat because it is way bigger than our PX.

We took the girls to a local zoo. We actually just found out about it. It was pretty nice. Lots of shade too. They didn't have any big animals like lions or giraffes, they had lots of little monkeys and a baby hippo. Lots of birds and camels and foxes and zebras. The girls enjoyed themselves.

This last Sunday we went to the open air market in Camisano. It's always fun to go there. It's very busy but there are lots of stands and lots to see. After that we decided to go spur of the moment to Venice. Drove there, took back roads once again. It's a lot nicer that way because we don't have to speed our way like you do when you are on the Autostrada. We got to see a lot more of the country and lots of little towns. It's funny because you know you have gone to Venice a lot when you don't even bring a camera. I don't even remember how many times I have gone. But we do know the streets like the back of our hand. Maliah is such a trooper. I did not see another three year old walking the streets of Venice. They were all in strollers. She walked the whole time and did not complain.

Kamora also had a check up. It was her 15 month checkup but we couldn't get her in for an appointment until she was already 16 months. She weighs 22lbs 2ozs (30th percentile) and is 32 inches tall (60th percentile). My growing girl. I dont think she is as tall as Maliah was at her age, but she is still pretty big :)

Over all we enjoyed our leave. This will probably be the last time we take leave until we make our way out of the country. We cannot wait for that!

Walking around the zoo

Here Kitty Kitty, Daddy using Kamora as bait lol

Kamora being the bad kid, the sign said don't touch, she wasn't going to listen

The girls excited about the little monkeys interacting with them

Lake Garda with the Saephanh Family

We had a really nice weekend spending time with some friends we made while we were in Washington. They are from Sacramento too (what are the chances right?) Ou couldn't make it since he is deployed, but we are hoping to catch up with him too soon. Right now the Saephanh's are stationed in Germany so they aren't too far away from us. It has been a few years since we have been able to spend some time together. Cindy was brave and made the trip with her two boys, Tyler and Mason. They are such a cute family. Little Mason looks exactly like his daddy. Well both boys look like their daddy.

We had a great time with them. We went out to dinner to a little Italian place right outside of post on Friday called Il Fauno's. It was nice catching up.

Cindy went to Florence on Saturday on a trip through Outdoor Recreation on post. Florence is definitely my favorite city in Italy.

Then on Sunday we got to spend the day with Cindy and family. We headed to Lake Garda. Jaime and I love going to Lake Garda. Just a nice relaxing time walking around the lake. You can take a dip in the water if you would like but we didn't this time. Maybe next time. I hope that they enjoyed it too.

After the lake we stopped at Aqualand. The kids enjoyed it.

Then after that we stopped for sushi in Verona. All our kids love Asian food so it was an easy choice. Overall it was a nice weekend. And we enjoyed our time catching up with old friends

Ready to start our walk

Maliah playing in the water

Tyler, Cindy and I

Cindy, Tyler, and Mason

Our weekend

We didn't do much this weekend. No Lake Garda because I forgot Jaime's knee is hurt lol, ooops! So we just spent time together at home with the kiddos. We drove around on Monday and found a local zoo so we will be checking that out soon. Our neighbor also told us about a water park in our little town so we will be going there soon too. We are just enjoying our time together.

The girls are continuing to grow. Kamora's new thing is throwing stuff and saying uh oh and biting. I wish she didn't do the latter lol. Right now she is standing next to me and biting the couch lol. Maliah is being Maliah. Starting to get a little bit of an attitude but she is one of those kids that you tell them they are bad and she gets sad. So she isn't too much trouble lol.

Here is a video of Kamora humming Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. Both girls love this song lol

Our Seven Year Anniversary

Tomorrow, June 25th, marks seven years since Jaime and I have been married. It has definitely been an interesting seven years lol. But this year we actually get to spend it together. Our first anniversary Jaime was deployed to Iraq. The second one we got to spend together in Washington. The third and fourth Jaime was deployed to Afghanistan. The fifth we enjoyed together on a Mediterranean cruise. The sixth Jaime was deployed again to Afghanistan. So three out of seven isn't too bad lol. I don't know what we will be doing tomorrow but it will definitely be low key. No alone time since we don't have anyone to watch the kiddos. Maybe a day at Lake Garda. I read recently that it is one of the top ten (or twelve, i don't remember if it showed ten or twelve in the article lol) most beautiful lakes in the world.

I am still so in love with my hubby and love the life we live together. We don't always get what we want but as long as we are together (preferably literally together lol) we are happy. We are ready for new adventures and so ready to leave this country lol.

Bows!

Ok so I just started to make some bows again. I'm not doing it every day just when I feel like it. Lately I've been making Maliah some headbands. Here is one I made yesterday.

This is a turtle I made last week :-) I thought it was super cute. I will probably be making more of these in different colors.

Now this one I didn't have directions for. I looked at a picture that I liked and went off of that. I think it turned out pretty good too. Do you know who it is? If you watch Disney movies, you probably could figure it out. But if not, it's Tiana from Princess and the Frog. I placed her on a lined headband for Maliah.

Jaime's home :-)

He wasn't gone for too long but it is always long enough. Jaime came home yesterday morning. He spent a lot of the day sleeping because they drove all night and you don't get much sleep on the bus. But it was still nice having him home.

He came home on crutches :-( he hurt his knee again. He has an appointment this week for an MRI to see how serious it is. Hopefully he just needs to rest it. So I will be driving him to work until the doctor says he can put some weight on it. Nothing new is going on. Just wanted to update on Jaime. Will be posting later this week. . . Cuz it's almost our ANNIVERSARY!