December {In Pictures}

 

We haven't been slammed with snow as much as I thought we would be at this point (and I'm ok with that).  We have had a few good snow days though.

 

The boys watching the snow fall...

 



 

 

This particular day there were HUGE flakes and it covered the ground in about 30-45 minutes.

 

 

The boys coming in from playing in the snow.

 

 

On December 7, the Home School Group was invited to a Saint Nicholas party at The Seehof.  Soon after we arrived Saint Nicholas arrived and handed out small gifts to each of the children.

 

 

 

Blaine did great and sat at the table for a whole hour!!! The plateful of cookies and candy probably helped. :) 

 

Ryan and Colin greatly enjoyed the unlimited supply of hot chocolate.

 



 

 

 

We only made it out to two Christmas Markets this year.  Tim and I ran through the one at our downtown while on a date a few days before Christmas.  Then on Christmas Eve we all took a small trip to a local town, Forccheim (one of the few that was still open).

 

 

 

This couple playing music was probably the best part.

 



Good Times with Blaine

To be perfectly honest, the last three weeks, Blaine has been much more enjoyable and much less frustrating.  He still has his fits and tantrums on occassion, as any child, but they have not been as often as the fun and endearing moments.  His character is really starting to bloom.  Here are two vids of him recently.

 

He still loves music, and he's been perfecting his dancing skills lately.

 

This one was probably much more fun for Tim and me then it was for Blaine.

An Answered Prayer

Today I got to pin my husband!!!

 

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the ARMY ways...my husband got a promotion today!  I'm so proud of all the effort he has put in toward this promotion!  It has been long deserved (in my opinion)!  He's been at a different post on a detail, but they let him come home for a half a day for the little ceremony.

It is an answered prayer for us! One that was highly unexpected.
 

Just a little back story and explanation for those who are unfamiliar with how it works. As an enlisted soldier Tim is required to go before a board for review and obtain a certain amount of points, which vary month to month, in order to receive a promotion. You can get points by taking college classes, Military Correspondent Courses (a type of online class geared toward Military knowledge), and other Military Training. Three years ago Tim passed the board's review and became eligible for the promotion. All he had to do was have enough points.

 

Tim missed this promotion by 1 point, two months in a row. 1 POINT!!! It was complete torture and has been haunting us since.

 

Shortly after that time, Tim changed his MOS (his job within the ARMY), and the required number of points was even higher. Then, a little over a year ago, the ARMY re-did the point system. The system runs on a 800 point scale. Prior to the "re-do" Tim had around 630 points. After the "re-do", his points dropped down to 300 something. A promotion seemed WAY out of reach.

 

For the last year Tim has been working very diligently to get his points back up. He has taken hours worth of the Correspondent Courses and we also paid a small amount to have all of the extra training/classes he has received transferred into college credit. (Completely worth it!) About two months ago Tim became maxed out in both of these areas, but he still didn't have the points needed to make the promotion list. We have watched the points for the last 3 years and they typically drop during the summer and spike up again in the winter. The only option left to receive more points was for Tim to go to another school.

 

He actually had a slot to go to a school he needs back in March, but it was cancelled last winter when we received his orders to come here to Germany. He's been fighting for the last three months to get another slot for the class. That in itself is a whole other story. For the last few months we have been praying hard for him to get a slot for the class right after the New Year, that way when the points dropped down again he'd be good to go.

 

Long story, semi-short (since you've already got the long version)....Last week the points dropped to 601. Tim currently has 605 points, putting him on the promotion list! We weren't expecting it and Tim wasn't even checking the list. We actually heard word of it from some of his buddies down range. We didn't share the news at first because it seemed too good to be true. Tim wanted to do some double checking and make sure his orders actually came in.

 

All that to say, God is good! He answered a prayer for us in a way we didn't expect and at a time we least expected it. In our minds it is by God's divine hand alone that the points dropped to where they did, when they did.
 

Now...Staff Sergeant Baxter!!!

 

 

Not a Baby Anymore!

It's official.  No more babies in the house.  Blaine turned 2!

 
Just a little re-cap....
 

2 Weeks Old:

 

(If you are interested in Blaine's Birth Story you can catch that here and here.)

 

9 Months Old:



 ...and that's why we sometimes call him chunks.  But he's such a cute chunks.

 

 

1 Year Old:

 

A few pics from yesterday:

 

I always find that buying gifts for a 1-3 year old is pretty difficult. Out of some recent "clues" he gave me, we went with Snap Cubes, Wood Blocks and of course a movie. We were pleasantly surprised when he didn't even seemed phased by the movie and was completely satisfied to play with the blocks.

 

 

Since Blaine can't answer the 20 Birthday Questions, I figured I'd do my best to hit the highlights.

 

1. Blaine loves movies.  His favorites include, but are not limited to, The Incredibles and Larry Boy. 

2. His favorite thing to do is to dump things all over the floor and then move on to the next room.

3. He recently learned how to open the refrigerator.

4.  If you couldn't tell from the pictures, he's addicted to his left pointer finger and his blanket. 

4. His favorite book is "Animals".

5. He wakes up at who knows what time in the morning (always before my alarm), turns half the lights on in the house, and either goes and wakes his brothers up or brings me food.  (His way of telling me he's hungry.)

6.  His favorite thing to wear is his diaper....and nothing else.

7.  He loves acorns and airplanes and always points them out when we are outside.

8.  He's a great climber and often confuses our couch as something to crawl over.

9.  He recently had a growth spurt and is currently 30.5 lbs and 2 ft 10.5 " inches.  According to our growth chart he grew 2.5 " in the last six months alone! 

 

 

Official 2 Year Photos to come!!

 

 

September {In Pictures}

Last month the boys were begging me to have a "sleepover" with Blaine.  Tim had Staff Duty (a 24 hour shift) one Friday and I figured that was a good time for their sleepover.  I blew up the air mattress, threw some pillows on there, and put in a movie.  It was getting late and Blaine was getting cranky so I gave the boys the option of me putting Blaine in his room to sleep and they could finish the movie, or turning the movie off and going to bed with Blaine.  They actually choose to turn the movie off!  I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't choose to "ditch" their brother for a movie.  (Although, Blaine would have had no idea/cared less.)  I ended up having to sit in there until 2 out of 3 of them fell asleep.  Ryan was the 1st to go, then Blaine, and finally Colin.  Here's the one picture from their sleepover.

 

 

Diggin' deep in the bag for the good chips!

Blaine has recently been all about yogurt..and not wanting me to help...at all.

 



 

 

It normally ends up all down his shirt, and all over the table and chair.  And obviously his face.

 

 



 

 

Blaine had a weird week in September (we are guessing the beginning of 2 yr molars) where he slept....A LOT.  Tim and I were getting ready for church one morning and came out to find Blaine asleep in the middle of the living room floor.

 

 

And lastly...who needs games, or busy bags when you have Scentsy scents?!!

 

Are my boys the only kids who enjoy opening these up and smelling them?  They've even asked me if they can carry one with them when we run errands!  Colin was very intentional about going through all of them and then coming up to me with the one that he liked the best (Hazelnut Latte, I believe).

We Made It!!!

We finally made it to the ZOO!!!  This was our third attempt; rained out both times previous.  But that's ok, 'cause it ended up being a gorgeous day!

 

We went on a Monday during Tim's last 4-day weekend and I don't think it could have been any better.  We got free parking right up front and the crowds were minimal.

 

Almost right through the entrance were some Squirrel Monkeys.  Some of my favorites.

 

Then the giraffess and some karate and gangster posing kids...

 



A couple of these crazy monkeys got into it.....

 



 

 

....but Blaine was much more interested in throwing his acorns in the water....then crying over it.

 

 

 

Our best attempt at a shot of all three of them looking.  (And let me just say...I did not put them all in red on purpose.  It just happens sometimes.)

 



 

One of the cool flowers we passed by...

 

And then this guy was just chilling on the tree.  No fence between him and us.

 

We saw some manatees...

 

and we attempted to stay for the dolphin show.

 

 

Tim and the older two stayed and got to see some of this....

 

While once again, Blaine seemed to care less so we walked off to find some more acorns.

 



 The "King of the Beasts"....

 

 

 Yet smaller than the tiger.

 

Sitting happy with his acorns...

 



 

The polar bears seemed to be very interested in the one polar bear on the other side of the gate.

Our map reader for the second half of the trip.

 



 

And somehow Tim went from feeling like this....

 

...to this...

 



 

(It was very temporary!!!)

 

And our last pic before we sat down to eat some lunch....