First Day of 2nd Grade

She's getting so big!! Our sweet Ashlynn is loving school, as always! She started riding the bus this year and she feels like such a big kid! This momma is having a hardtime adjusting to this!! But New York seems to not make it easy to just pick up your kid. There is no car line....at all! On the flipslip it has been nice to have her picked up and dropped off by the house! 

She likes her new teacher and shes making great friends. Its a pretty small school compared to her last school but she seems to be adjusting well. She is known as the new girl. There isn't a lot of new people that move around here. Even though shes the new girl everyone seems to be treating her nicely and eager to meet her. 

Here to another year :)

Apple Orchard Fun

We had such a good time apple picking! We can't pick apples down south! The girls had a blast and we probably picked 25-30 lbs of apples! They would of kept on going if we'd let them! It was a beautiful day! Super yummy fresh apple cider, apple donuts, and carmel apples! 

I've had to be creative with what to do with all these apples!!! I've made apple butter, apple coffee cake, apple sauce, and we eat an apple almost every day!! I'm finally running low on them! It was such a fun experience! 🍎

NYC Pictures - Part 2

Times Square

Double Decker Bus. Ashlynn wanted to sit on the top deck and in the very front. We had a great view. Plus we got to witness how many accidents almost happened...eek!!

The girls loved M&M world! 

Brookie decided she did not want to take a picture with me. Little stinker!

Our drive through Manhattan....we had to drive drive straight through it to get to our hotel. I think we lost a few years off our life doing this, hehe. Tip: be on alert for anything and everything. Also everyone thinks the few inch gap btwn you and the car in front of you is enough space for them to merge... 

The ball is much smaller than we expected! 

NYC Pictures - Part 1

Ashlynn at the Empire State Building

At the top of the Empire State Building

On top of the One World Observatory. Tallest Building in the Western Hemisphere. 

9/11 museum- Ashlynn soaked up this day. She was fascinated to hear what happened. She was also deeply saddened. She wanted to know everything! 

9/11 museum

The Statue of Liberty was her favorite day!

Ashlynn's holding up New York 😜

Summer

Brett finished his first summer session! It was quite intense taking 6 classes. So far he's doing quite well in his classes! We are very proud of him! From what we've heard the first summer is the hardest. He just started a two week break which he will thoroughly enjoy taking a brain break! The girls are excited that he will be home everyday!

We decided to take a trip to NYC while he is on his break! Brett has been to the city but I have never been. We are going to hit all the highlights! Looking forward to the sights and taking lots of pictures! 

Ashlynn still has a month until school starts! This is a long summer for her! She's been enjoying making new friends, play dates, VBS, and the exploring the house and our big yard. 

Brookie has been her sisters shadow all summer! They seem glued at the hip a lot! We are searching for a pre-school for her up here. Hopefully we will find a good fit soon. 

The weather has been beautiful this summer! It's pleasant to spend the day outside!  Lovely 70s and 80s. We've had a couple 90* days but not many. We are happy we are missing the 100*+ heat! My parents said it was 106* the other day at their house! 

We sure do miss our family and friends in Texas but we are enjoying and thankful for the opportunities and journey God has us on! 

Amy

Spontaneous Fun

Sorry we haven't posted in a few weeks.  The girls and I have been down in Florida for the past few weeks visiting family.  We had a wonderful time! The girls took swim lessons and made huge improvements this summer!  

After flying back home we decided to stop by Niagara Falls since we were already in the area.  The girls and I were quite tired after getting up at 4:30am to make our flight, but the adventure sounded fun!

I remember visiting the Falls back when I was little (maybe 5 or 6....somewhere around there :) )

I have a few memories of that visit and it was neat to see what I was remembering!

The girls thought the falls were so cool!  Since we went unprepared we didn't have our passports with us to go over to the Canadian side.  The Canadian side is much more impressive.  Nonetheless we got wet looking at the top of the falls and the girls thought that was fun!  When we go back prepared next time we'd like to do the Maid of the Mist and the other fun activities.

We only spent a short amount of time here b/c the kiddos began to get quite cranky...nothing like having a time out spot at Niagara Falls! But it was a nice side trip before getting in the car and driving home.

-Amy

All about our new house!

All the bedrooms are upstairs.   I  don't  really like that because I like to be next to mommy and daddy on the same floor when it is my bedtime.  We have a big back yard but a small kitchen.   I would like it better if we had a big kitchen and a big back yard.  Our house is on a hill.  We have a four story house a basement, first floor, second floor, and a walk up attic.

-Ashlynn

We finally made it!

Phew! We've been here almost a week and it has flown by! 

Traveling up here took 33 hours, 3 days, and 2 uhaul trailers hooked to our SUVs

We are so thankful to Brett's parents who helped with the final packing, packing the trailer and final house cleaning!!

The trip was LOOOONG.  The kids did pretty well all things considered. 

I've unpacked quite a bit and so far nothing broke during the move!

Nobody wants to go on a car trip for awhile!!

We've been super busy unpacking in our new house

Met our next door neighbors who are very welcoming and friendly

We've never lived in a house this old...

It was built in 1940....and has it quirks!

...some charming and some not so charming!

We like the floorplan, charming cottage windows, lots of built-ins, very close to the University, plenty of space for us, large lot with mature trees and plenty of room to run!

We've usually lived in newer homes so all the creeky floors and stairs are taking some getting used to. Ashlynn's queen box spring wouldn't fit up the staircase so now her mattress is on the floor until we get a temporary solution. Brett has to duck his head on part of the stairs....were people short in 1940?

We have a basement....not a pretty basement like you see redone on HGTV.  It's a chilly, smelly alittle funky basement. Unfortunately this Texan who's never had a basement has to go down there to do laundry. This is no Bueno! And the washer drains into a large utility sink....I guess I've been spoiled with my self draining laundry on the main floor laundry room....or maybe this set up is not normal ;)

We do have a laundry shoot upstairs. The girls looooove throwing the laundry down it! So far no injuries :)

The kids are having a hard time adjusting to their new rooms. Since we will only be here a year and this is a rental we are limited to what we can do. We are also limited to what we brought up here for the year. Their bedrooms don't feel like their own. Ashlynn has creamcicle colored walls which she isn't too happy about. So far the girls have only slept in their separate rooms twice. Every other night we've been here they have bunked together. 

It will be nice to be all unpacked soon and start a normal routine.  

Here are a couple pictures. I know not super entertaining but we haven't ventured out much yet. 

We will post some more pictures of the house up here when the boxes are gone :)

This huge tree is just outside our back door

The sea of boxes...thankfully this was taken a few days ago and the "sea" isn't this bad right now


-Amy

Today is Bittersweet

Oh my goodness my sweet girl has finished first grade!  

Today was a bit emotional for me.  I dislike goodbyes!  Watching Ashlynn give goodbye hugs to her dear friends and teacher was hard for me.  I felt teary eyed watching her say her goodbyes.  I'm so happy she's had an awesome year full of wonderful friendships and so blessed she had a phenomenal teacher!  Her teacher was a perfect match for her.  Ashlynn thrives when people love on her, are fun and silly but can also keep the lesson going.  So many times she would come home talking about lessons (with out being ask "What did you do today?") and I was shocked how much she retained and how much detail she would give me.  She loves school and everything about it.  I sure hope this outlook stays with her through out the years.  She told me the other night she wished she could stay in first grade so Mrs. Smith could always be her teacher (melted my heart).  You will always have a special place in her little heart, Megan!  Thank you for all you do and the little lives you touch.  It means a lot to us parents knowing our little ones are in wonderful hands! We pray for wonderful teachers for her in the future.  

3 More Days! The packing is pretty much done except for last minutes things.  Tonight we relax, eat chinese (the girls favorite...Mmmm Orange Chicken) and turn on a family movie!

The calm before the storm!

Amy

Last day of school

On my way to school

On my last day of school I was so sad to leave my friends and teacher.  Do you wont to know who my friends are?  They are Madison, Gaby, Bianka, Iris, Clare, Cloe, Brooke, Myasha, Emma, and my teacher's name is Mrs. Smith. We had a fantastic party!

Mrs. Smith, Me and Brooklynn

Madison and I

Ashlynn

 

Moving

Ashlynn Blogging

I am so excited to move! me, my sister, mommy, daddy, Emmett, and Sadie.  We all are moving.  Are you surprised to know Emmett and Sadie are dogs?  I am excited to move because I can't wait to learn German.  We go to Germany after a year.  I cant wait to see Niagara Falls.  Niagara Falls is a big waterfall.  I cant wait to meet new friends at my new school!

Ashlynn  

Where's all my toys?

We've moved.....Again (well in a few days)

I have been asked by several people to start a blog to share our adventures to come! The more people asked I figured this might be a good idea :)

I talked to Ashlynn about what a blog was and if she'd be interested  in writing one with me, taking pictures and writing about experiences through her eyes. She LOVED the idea! For those who don't know, Ashlynn adores writing and we thought this would be a good way for her to practice writing and grow those typing and spelling skills! 

Our family is looking at the next few years as a fun family adventure/experience. We are off to upstate New York next week where we will be for just over a year and then to Weisbaden, Germany for 3 years! 

Lots of new sightseeing, living in the north instead of our warm south, and then to Another country! 


Amy