Just another day at the Brown house!

Hi everyone! The kids and I have been having a lot of fun lately. We've been wrestling on the couch and doing arts and crafts. It's been really fun!!

I was at the px one day (big suprise) and looking through the kids clothes (another big suprise!) and came across the super girl pajama set! It was a 2T, so a little big, but I just had to have it. It went along perfectly with sean's super man pajamas. Of course as soon as we got home and I showed sean, we just HAD to put it on kayla and Sean just HAD to run and get his set!! They're just so darn cute!! Both are a little big... at least they'll have room to grow!! I think they'll still fit them when Daddy gets home! :)

Another one of the pictures is of Seany and Kayla playing. They were wrestling one night and were having such a good time together. I love to watch them play. I just had to whip out the camera and takes some pictures! You can definately tell they love each other. Most of the time at least! You'll have to excuse Kayla's crazy hair!! It was the end of the day!! ;)

The last picture is of the kids licking the beaters!! One of my favorite things to do as a kid! Who am I kidding, I still love to do it! I just don't get as many opportunities because the kids or chris get them! But I just do what my mom use to and I get the bowl!! :) I had gotten a sweet tooth and decided to make a simple chocolate cake! The kids of course wanted to help and I love to let them. I think they only like to help enough to get the beaters though! But who can blame them! It's
so much fun to be able to spend even those little moments with the kids. I hope they remember those times when they get older, like I do!

Thanks again for reading our blog! I hope you all enjoy it!

Rachel and kids!

Hello!

Well, we haven't been up to too much, but still trying to keep busy. Halloween has came and gone and the kids had a ton of fun. We went to a haunted house that was just for kids! Sean loved it but wanted to go to the scary trail!! He's just like me! We went trick-or-treating to the new housing area (netzaberg) and the kids loved it. I liked it too since sean is old enough for me to stay on the sidewalk while he got up to the house and says "trick-or-treat!" Kayla got a lot of attention in her costume. Everyone loved 'finding' nemo!! That was sean's costume from a couple of years ago when we were still in clarksville!

Chris and I have been able to keep in touch on a regular basis still. We're very blessed to be able to chat as much as we do. The kids were able to see daddy on the webcam last night. They always love seeing him. It makes me really happy to see them get so excited to see daddy!

Chris is doing well. He's ready to come home on leave already. Sadly, we still have a little while to go. Other than that, he's doing ok. Not much going on at work. He works nights so he doesn't have much to do. He's been doing his classes and is almost done with his first one. He's waiting on someone to be his proctor so he can take his tests.

I will try to keep you all updated more often! Have a great day!

My soccer dude and little artist

Hello everyone,
In my last blog I talked alot about sean playing soccer. He's still playing, although some days he participates more than others. I know that's just because he's only 3 1/2 and his attention span isn't very long. He likes it though. He really likes his coach Mrs. Renee. We've gotten our uniforms now and we've had about 3 games. I think we have about 3 left! The very first game sean played quite a bit. It was a lot of fun but rainy! It keeps us busy and keeps sean's mind off of daddy being gone.


Kayla is doing really good too. I don't think she know to miss daddy, but she definately likes to see him on the webcam! She gets so excited and points to his picture! I know it makes chris' heart melt and sink at the same time! As the title of the blog says, she's my little artist. She LOVES to draw. You can watch her concentrate on what she's doing. Sometimes it's long quick strokes and other times it's short curvey ones. I love to watch her learn!
Other than that, we're keeping pretty busy still. Our schedule is the same, but I'm going to incorporate some Partlite into it. I'm going to be a consultant starting towards the end of october! I'm really excited about it. It's something I can do whenever I want and can make a little more money. If anyone is interested in hosting a party you do not have to be in germany to do it. You can host a cataloge party if you'd like. Just let me know and I can give you a call sometimes. Don't forget to give me your email your phone number! :)
Have a great day! Love Rachel, Sean and Kayla!

Keeping Busy.

Well, It's been about 73 days since chris left. But who's counting right!? The kids and I are trying to stay busy and we're doing a really good job of it. Maybe a little too busy sometimes!
Sean started school on the 3rd. He really loves going. It's part-day preschool so that means he goes M-W-F from 8:30-11:30am. It's not too long, but it's good for us so far. I think I would miss him too much if I had to leave him all day. It's been good for Kayla and I because I can run erronds while Sean's in school and also, Kayla and I get some quality time! My goal is to start working out during those three hours also. I had to quit my other excersize classes so I could go back to PWOC (protestant women of the chapel) and I'm really missing the workout. I want to try to get Kayla into hourly at the same time that sean's in school so I can go to the gym. If that doesn't work out ever time, then I'll just take her with me ane we'll go for a walk or something else.
Besides school, Sean is also in soccer for the first time. He really liked it the first practice, but afte that he wasn't really into it. I kept bringing him and with encouragment from the coach and other moms we're still going. Sometimes he doesn't always do what the others are doing, but Coach Renee said not to worry. She's super good with Sean. I think we're very blessed that she's our coach, because I would have given up by now if she wasn't there. She really takes time to try to get sean involved and excited about playing. Next monday we get our uniforms! They're going to be blue and our team name is "The Giants." All the kids got to put what they wanted the name to be in a hat and Kayla picked one out. Sean of course wanted to be called "The Iron Man" and apparently so did another kid, so I thought we had a good chance, but two other boys wanted The Giants! It's all good. After the end of every practice they all put their hands in and say "GO GIANTS." It's so cute! Next wednesday (the 10th) is our first game! I'm really excited for it. But also quite nervous because I have no clue how this age works and if sean will even be interested! I've been showing him pictures of me playing soccer back in highschool, so he can get excited! I hope it works. I really want to show chris! My friend Casey said that she'll come too and video tape it for me since she has a digital video camera, it's a lot easier to put on the computer!
So, besides school, and soccer, I also have PWOC every thursday moring and then whenever I have anything to do with the FRG I do that also. So my weeks look like this. Monday is school in the morning then soccer practice at 5pm. Tuesday is usually free, wednesday is school in the morning and soccer games at 5pm, thursday is PWOC in the morning, friday is usually free too. Saturday is free also and then sunday is S.S. in the morning with church afterwards, come home eat lunch put the kids down, get up and back to the church by 3:30 for AWANA. It's a crazy week, but I really wouldn't have it any other way. I'm usually home in the afternoons and evenings. That's when I relax, get FRG work done, play with the kids and have dinner. It's also when chris calls! :)
Something really exciting that is happening tonight is our compnay VTC (virtual teleconference) It's when any families that want to participate meet at the battalion and we all take turns having a video teleconference with our soldier! We get to see them and talk to them. Some people don't have webcam and if you're like us, we have the cam but you can't talk at the same time because it's too slow. I'm really excited to go so that way the kids can see chris too. Usually they're sleeping when we get online. We have 9 families that are participating so that means we each get about 23 minutes with our soldier. We're in a room by ourselves, so it's private. Chris and I are the last ones to go, but that's ok since I have AWANA before hand. I want to be able to get the kids food so they'r happy when we talk to daddy! :)
I think I talked about Sean and I now, so here's a little about Kayla. She's is getting to be so funny! I really think this is the best age. She knows what it means to be funny now and she loves to make us laugh! A couple of weeks ago she had Sean's vampire teeth want wanted me to put them in for her. It was so funny because they're entirely too big for her face! She's also a good listener I don't think Sean listened as well at her age. It's amazing to me, but I'm definately not complaining! :) I can't wait to see her grow even more, it's just sad that chris has to hear everything by phone or pictures. I know that's the military, but it's never easy. And second deployments are NOT easier than the first. Exspecially when you have another child going through it too....
Other than that, we're enjoying our time together. It's been a little rainy the last couple of days so we've been staying inside and having friends over. I love to be around people. And the kids love having all their friends over to play with too.
Well, that's about it for me. I want to say thanks to everyone who reads our blog. I hope that it keeps you guys informed and connected to our lives at least a little. We miss you ALL terribly and can't wait to come visit next spring! Love to all,
The Browns

What's up with us.

Not too much has been going on with us lately. We just try to stay busy and go outside as much as we can. Sean is always trying to go next door to his best friend's house. His name is Ray. They are two peas in a pod! Kayla LOVES Yvonne (ray's mom). Every time she sees her, she goes running! It's so cute. Yvonne's Keila (sounds the same way as mine) does the same thing with me. It's adorable!
Sean is going to do soccer for the first time this fall. It starts in august. They should be having a parents meeting soon. I have to call to see if they've scheduled it yet or not. I'm really excited. I have to load up on camera tapes, so I can tape sean for chris and send it to him! I can't wait! Sean loves soccer. He even has his own cleats and shin guards! They're so little!
Kayla is a little ham! She's at the perfect age right now. Her personality is so cute and she's usually happy! She's a stinker though. She gets into EVERYTHING! And I'm not exaggerating when I say everything. Ask my mom or mom in-law. She loves her daddy doll. Both of the kids sleep with it every night. Today Kalya was talking to him (the doll) and saying "daddy." I love it!
As for Chris, he's doing ok. I'm going to try to get him to post some blogs too, but right now he has to use the MWR computers and they're REALLY slow. I'm lucky to get an e-mail! He should have internet in his room by the end of this month or early next. And it should be free so that's really cool. Other than that, he's been busy working, trying to fix the fuel farm.
I did have an "exciting" night last night. Our whole village lost power for about an hour or so. Luckily I had just put the kids to bed so they didn't even notice. I was saying our prayers with sean when it went out. All he said was "uh oh." I told him it wasn't a big deal and to go to sleep. Neither of the kids had their music, but that didn't seem to faze him. Sean did hear everyone outside and opened his blinds, but I went back up there and got him back to sleep! He was out after that. The power came back on around 10 I would say. Everyone's EXCEPT mine! I have no clue why, but my house didn't want to come back on. My neighbor came over and flipped all the switches and still nothing. All of my 110 outlets would work, but not anything that was 220. My friend Yvonne and I called the fire department so they could call the housemister. He didn't come so we called again and they said that he didn't answer the phone. He lives just down the road, so we walked down there at like 10:15pm and rang his bell. We felt really bad cause we didn't want to wake him up, but I needed power. He had just got home, and said that he would come check it out.
He tried everything he could think of, but it wouldn't come on still. He was talking to Yvonne in german and all Casey (another friend) and I could understand was 'Kaput' which means broken. He said that one of the main switches wasn't working so we had to call the electric company. He tried calling them but no one would pick up. He said he would call again in an hour but if no one answered then we would have to wait until the morning. He said my fridge would keep for 36 hours, so that was a relief. All my neighbors were super nice. They stayed up with me and all offered to let me put my food in their fridges and freezers if need be. It's so nice to know you have friends you can count on. They truly are your family over here.
So about 30 minutes later Yvonne called and said that the electric guy would be here in 15 minutes. YEAH!! He came and was able to fix the problem and I had power again! Yvonne, Casey and I stayed outside talking for probably another hour or so and then went to bed. It was nice to know I had power before going to sleep. So yah, that was my first bad thing that happned since chris left! I'm sure there will be more! Like I said, I'm so grateful for having great friends who were will to take in my food and also us if need be! Thank you all for being so great!
Well that's about it. It's been 23 days since chris left, but who's counting! :) Have a great day!

Schloss Thurn

I've been trying to post this blog for a while, but the site hasn't been working, so here it finally is!



Before chris left we wanted to go on one more family trip. My neighbor Yvonne suggested Schloss Thurn. It has a show about knights and one about cowboys. It's an amusement park. They have a lot of rides and it's perfect for sean's age. They had one roller coaster and sean loved it. I wasn't sure what he would do, but he had a ball.
We asked in Yvonne wanted to come too and bring her kids. Sean's best bud is Ray, Yvonne's son. And she also has a daughter keila. Pronounced just like our kayla, just spelled the German way! It was nice to have Yvonne come along since they have been there a lot and they could show us the way. Plus she's our translater! :)
We all had a blast. Chris and I even went on a couple rides ourselves! :) The boys loved the knight show. Afterwards they were sword fighting. It was so cute. I'm really glad we decided to go there before chris left. I would definately go again.

The day has come.

I'm finally getting around to writing about chris leaving. Not only because reality if finally hitting me that he's actually gone, but also because I've been really busy (and maybe a little lazy).
Well chris left on last wednesday. Their first formation was going to be at 1am. I had to be there at 12:15am since I'm FRG leader and we were planning sack lunches for all of the soldiers. Chris and I usually stay up until about 11pm most nights, so we figured there was no reason to go to sleep. We put the kids to bed at their normal 8:00 bedtime. Chris helped me put all of the sandwiches into baggies and then into the fridge. I know I should have delegated that task out to someone who wasn't haveing a soldier deploy, but I can't help but want to do things myself. It's ok though, because it gave chris and I time to sit at the table, just him and I, and talk about things. About the deployment of course.
We had all the stuff in the truck by 12 midnight and just grabbed the kids straight out of bed and into the truck. Chris seemed to think they would be tired and sleep at the field house. I knew better than that! :) The field house is basically just a gym. It was nice to have things their because the kids were able to run around the whole time. I wont go into all the boring details, but after about 3 or 4 formations it was time for the dreaded goodbyes. After not very much family time because of all the formations, we had about 30 minutes to say bye. Chris helped me get all our stuff to the truck. Then he said bye to sean. I was so glad that sean actually took time to hug and kiss daddy before he left. Chris told him to be good for mommy and that he was the man of the house now. Then he said bye to kayla. She wasn't as cooperative, but it was still ok. We got our picture taken and then put the kids in the truck. Chris had to be in formation in a little while, so we hugged and kissed and said our goodbyes. I was fine up until that last kiss, cause I knew that was it. That would be the last time I got to do that for a really long time.
Chris went around to kayla side and gave her another kiss and shut the doors. We said bye one last time and to see tears in his eyes, is when it broke. Knowing that he was hurting just the same was comforting, but heartbreaking too. When chris left sean asked me where daddy was. I told him, through tears, that he left and reminded him that we had to say bye for a while. Sean goes "but I thought daddy was coming with us." Man did I start bawling. He's so innocent and didn't even understand what was going on.
I left after that and headed home. After making two wrong turns I finally made it out the gate. Just then I realized that if I didn't go back and see the buses leave and see him every last possible second that I would regret it. I went back and parked the truck. The buses drove right passed the truck when they pulled out. God knowing, Chris was on the side of the bus that the truck was on and I got to see him one last time. We waved by and I took a couple picture and then I went home.
The kids fell asleep in the car and I was home by 5:15am. I put them in their beds and went to bed myself. We all woke up about 11:30. I'm glad that they slept in. We hung out with friends the rest of the day and we ate dinner with a couple of them. I'm so glad that I have friends whos husbands are gone too that way we all can do things like dinner. It's nice to keep my mind off of it.
We're doing really good now. The kids are doing great and haven't said much about missing daddy. Tonight at dinner time kayla was looking at a picture of chris and kept saying 'daddy'. I asked her if she wanted him and she said yah. Then said said he wanted him too. I asked if he missed daddy and he said yes. So I know they're missing him, but so far it's not effecting them too much. We try to stay busy so it's not on our minds too much.
Well, it's now our 3rd deployment. I know we'll get through if perfectly fine. We pray every night for the Lord to help us through it and to keep daddy safe. I know you all are praying for us. I appreciate it so much. I'll write more later!
Love Rachel and kids.

FINALLY!!!!

Sean is a little older now than in this picture.

I love her sun hat!!
Sean is FINALLY potty trained. Ok, well almost. He wears diapers during nap time and bedtime, but that's it. We're slowly working on getting him into underwear during those times too. Nap time is pretty much there, but it's the long bedtime we're still taking our time on. He actually woke up one night at about 1am and went to the bathroom. And he even had a diaper on. I'm so proud of him and SO thankful that he's finally getting it. We figured out a good potty chart with a good insentive and he's doing it. He'll even go potty without us asking him to. Out of no where I hear "Mommy I pooped. Now I can get a sticker and a piece of candy." It's so nice. Kayla is even interested in the potty. One down, one to go.
It's FINALLY summer. The weather here has been beautiful. I'm so glad that it's getting nicer. The kids love the pools outside. We left the pools up for the last couple of days so the water is actually pretty warm. As long as they take naps, they'll get to play in them today. I want to get in too. I'm just glad we have an umbrella for our porch or I don't think I could stand it outside. It gets pretty hot here!
That's all for today, so far at least. I'm going to enjoy a movie with my hubby while the kids are upstairs. Have a great day!!

My interesting Mother's Day.

Well, I spent half of my mother's day in the hospital. At about 2:30 in the morning on Saturday, I woke up with really bad pain in my right side. I tried to make the pain go away for about an hour, but nothing worked. I even called my dad to get any suggestions from him. He of course told me I needed to go to the hospital. I knew that too, I just didn't want to be admitted because I had two really important things going on on Saturday. But the pain just got worse, so Angie drove me to the hospital. She's so great!
Long story short, I had MORE kidney stones. I had one small stone and one large stone in my ureter. They had to put another stent in. This time they took the large stone out when the put the stent in. That's good, because now I don't have to have them shocked. That's no fun at all. Well, the next day they said that I would be released in the morning and all they had to do was an ultrasound to see if the stones were gone. It took them until 11:30 to even do the two minutes ultrasound. I was finally released at noon. I get my stent removed in two weeks. That much better than 3 months like last time.
Chris and Angie (and the kids) picked me up about 1:15. When I got closer to the truck I could see a bouquet of flowers in the driver's seat! :) They had gotten me flowers and a beautiful card for mother's day. That was definitely a good end to my bad day.
After we left the hospital they wanted to go get ice cream one more time before we headed to Frankfurt. German ice cream (eis as they call it here) is soooooo good!
Well, after ice cream we went home and I took a shower and got our things around for our night in the hotel. Once our bags were packed we headed off to Frankfurt. Angie was flying out to go home the next morning.
That was pretty much my Mother's Day. It turned out to be a very good mother's day. My flowers are still alive and kicking and they're SO fragrant. Anyways....
I'm so blessed to be a mom. My kids may drive me crazy at time, but in the end I love them more than anything. Being a mom is probably one of my greatest privileges! I thank you Chris for giving me that blessing.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMS!!!

Trying again.

Well, chris left saturday for selection again. He should be starting on tuesday. I'm really excited for him, but extremely nervous. Last time he made it all the way through, but didn't get selected. I know he'll make it through, I just hope the cadres see in him what I do. Please pray for Chris. He needs all the sleep he can get and all the strength as well. Also please keep me and the kids in your thoughts since we're going to be missing Chris. Thanks everyone!
The Brown family.

An update

Well a lot has happened since my last blog. We've been here now for about 7 months now and are pretty much settled in. The one thing I hate about moving is trying to find new places for all of your stuff. I haven't been able to do that completely. The main floor is complete, so that's good.

Angie is now over here with us and it's been great having her here. We're all having a lot of fun and we've been able to travel and little bit. We've gone to Amberg, Nurnberg, Bamberg, and Munich. Chris, the kids and I were all able to take a free trip to Edelweiss in Garmisch for a marriage retreat. That is right in the alps. It was so beautiful.

When we went to Nurnberg it was just Angie, Jenea, the kids and I. We took a day trip while chris was in the field. We went to see the Kaiserberg Castle. We weren't sure if the weather was going to be nice, but it turned out to be. It was a little cold, so we bundled up the kids and headed out.

Jenea was also here when we went to Munich. We took the train there. The kids loved that. We got our own little room so they could get down and play all they wanted. We decided to go on a sunday. We didn't think about it until we got to Munich, but all of the stores are closed here on sundays. So needless to say we didn't get to shop much, but we took a ton of pictures and had a lot of fun. We are definately going to go back because there is so much more to see.

We have some friends from Campbell that live in Bamberg. We haven't gone there to explore the city yet, but we've been there to visit them a couple of times.

It's been really great so far. We're really excited to travel a little more before chris has to leave. It's going to really stink when he leaves, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?! Angie and I are going to be planning a trip or two home while he's gone. We're not really sure when, but we will look everyone up when we get there! I hope everyone is doing well!

-The Browns.