Military Cribs: In the 'Wood

Here's the new place. Same neighborhood as in '08 but different street. Notice the new siding on the house and shutters.

Nulkie built this fence day 2 after we moved in. Best $200 we'll ever spend. so far it seems pretty "bella-proof" as we call it. So far Houdini hasn't escaped...but she looks longingly at squirrels and paces the back.

Chubbo LOVES to walk around outside in the grass. Our goal is to keep him out of dog dumps.

I got this little table last summer at a OCC garage sale which Monica donated. It's awesome! Gabe loves to sit his stuffed animals in the chairs or move them and sit at it himself and play with his farm! It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. Thanks for the table Monica!! In the middle pic Gabe is "showing his teeth".


I hot-glued turquoise ribbon on Gabe's letters which made them MUCH easier to hang. I think they turned out pretty cute.

front entryway and view of the family room from the dining table

View of family room from entry way and the updated kitchen. I love all the updates except that i can't fit a table and they didn't move the washer and dryer out. They did encase them in a closet though.

The master/office suite. They took out the 3rd bedroom and made a huge master. It's what has saved us..we were able to set up the desk and shove most of our extra stuff in the big closet.

Fort Leonard Wood 2.0

Hello All! We moved again..back to good ole' Missouri and the Big Piney (aka the Big Hiney). Last time we were here it was our first duty station. As we were in newlywedded bliss it didn't seem so bad to live in a 900 sq foot bungalow built in the 40s with one tiny bathroom. Fast forward to now..with a baby and two dogs and much much much more furniture..things don't seem so romantic. We were given a 2 bedroom renovated place this time. The renovations are appreciated but a little strange. For example there is NO where to put a table and chairs in the kitchen. They added a second opening to the kitchen and effectively took away your one place for a table. So therefore the living room is also the dining room. It's really hard to go from 3 bedrooms to 2...i really miss having that spare room to throw all the extra stuff you don't know where to shove! Oh well somehow between my decorating genius and Michael's spatial/engineering skills we were able to fit everything. Guests will just have to embrace our air mattress. My favorite thing about it: It's 2 mins from Michael's work. He gets to come home for lunch.

I'll upload some pics of the house in a bit. But here's a little treat for you...we don't teach Gabe lame things. We teach him cool things. Like the People's elbow: I think uncle wesdawg will appreciate this the most...but it's pretty hilarious when Gabe does it!
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Here is a photo re-cap of our vacation at Paradox Lake! It was totally awesome and went wayyyy too fast. Michael calls the picture above "Traveling with Pilons". I don't know what he's talking about!

Gaber's fell asleep on daddy's lap on one of the flights

Michael doing a handstand on top of Algonquin..the second highest peak in NYS

pretty view from the top...you'd never know it was about 30 degrees and FRIGID!!!

the group on top of Algonquin. We think we were the first hikers up there for the day.

Luke & Michael did Giant & Rocky Peak the next day...3 miles straight up!


Gabe playin' in the sand/mud on the shorline




Saturday (our last day) was the one hot day where all you wanted to do was sunbathe and cool off in the water as much as possible. Gabe even took a few dips with Daddy! He also enjoyed Grandpa's boat a lot!


Every baby should have a bungee to eat lunch with.

Me in my "drug rug" as Wes calls it. Off on a nature cruise!


Cutie pants!

Michael up on 1 ski again..took him a few tries to remember how to do it!

At Lake Placid

We actually walked down the bobsled track..it's almost a mile long!

NUlkie & VP did the older bobsled run...they had the fastest time of the day!


Nulkie sporting a new 'do



Uncle Wesdawg...aka "the glue"

Team UMass!

Greg & TZ's Wedding Weekend!

The older bro is married!! I gained another sister! We had an wonderful weekend in CT celebrating Greg & TZ's wedding. The wedding ceremony took place on the hill (pictured below) and the ceremony in a tent behind the house. This is Chantal's family home and it's absolutely gorgeous. I kept thinking i was at a Bed & Breakfast! I wish all the best to Greg & TZ in their marriage. We really enjoyed seeing old friends and family and dancing the night away. Gabe did great (especially since there was a sitter on site to watch him) and enjoyed some dancing on the floor :) Since you've waited such a long time for a update...I'll reward you with tons of greg-tz wedding pics!

Chantal's brother Zach is in the top corner with his wife Mallory. Her due date was July 4th..but the next morning (day of rehersal) her water broke. I guess after that things didn't progress quite how the drs wanted. SO to make a long story short they did a c-section in the early morning of the wedding day (june 26th) and little Aiden arrived! Needless to say, Mallory didn't make it to any of the wedding festivities..but Zach did come to the wedding ceremony :)