Ode to Daddy

We love you and miss you more than you know. We look forward to December 6 when we will be reunited and hopefully never have to do this again.

To all our friends and family, please keep us in your prayers. We are looking for a house to buy and it's already been a long journey and we haven't even moved there yet. Karissa has been traveling down to vacaville a couple times a month to go house hunting and nothing has grabbed us. We want something that suits our needs, has a large yard for all the kids to play in, will be in the neighborhood where God wants us to be and is within our budget. Our realtor is wonderful and is searching for "The House" for us. We are also going to be looking for a church home and look forward to a new Christian community where we can get involved.

Elijah is full of energy and is Mr Personality. He is always up for a good laugh. He found the bag of his swimmer diapers and decided they would make a great hat. When he came out of his room with the diap[er on his head Mommy and grandma busted up so he thought he was funniest thing ever and cracked up right along with us.

The Holidays Have Arrived

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing to an array of hues that bring new colors to life. There is a slight chill in the air and we get a chance to bundle and snuggle. I have traded in my Starbucks Caramel Frapuccino for a Caramel Macchiato or Salted Caramel Hot chocolate. (Do we see a theme here? Yes, I love Caramel!) Haloween just passed and we let Elijah choose the character he wanted to be. We went through the list and he really wanted to be a Heffalump. If you're not too sure what that is, look it up...it's a Winnie the Pooh Character. I couldn't find this costume for him, so we settled on Elmo, which he loved just as much.
Elijah enjoyed dressing up, but he really loved getting candy. At first he was a little hesitant about going door to door and wouldn't say the magic words "Trick or Treat" but after he realized he got candy he was very interested in the festivities. Of course he had to test the goodies before the night even began. He stole some from Grandma and Grandpa's candy jar. This is Elmo mid-tantrum because we made him hand over his candy for the pictures.

So much to do, so little time

Last night we went to my Dad's graduation. He has completed an intense course through the Placer county Police Department to be a volunteer community chaplain where he will work alongside the police departments in all the cities of Placer County. Congrats Dad!

While we were at the graduation ceremony, the girls were the center of attention, as usual. There was one Cop who was particularly taken with the girls because he has a youngin' of his own who is just getting out of the baby stage. He chatted with us a little before the graduation and kept a close eye on the girls the entire ceremony. When it was all over I handed over Alysah to his care. Here is our trouble-maker in the making; already in the hands of a Police Officer.

The family often requests I make my famous home-made torillas to accompany whatever else is for dinner. My special little helper is working alongside me to roll out the dough before cooking it. What a great helper! They are growing so fast and are already fitting comfortably into their 0-3 months clothing. Here are our two little 'Things': Thing 1 and Thing 2.

So much to say

There have been many changes in our lives, as most of you already know, but there are a few things that we haven't updated y'all on since the obvious change has been very time consuming. First of all, we are no longer headed to Incirlik Turkey. They have reassigned us to Travis AFB in CA. We are currently scheduled to arrive sometime in December. We have been house hunting because we are planning on buying, but are still in the early stages. We have mixed feelings about this transition because we were really looking forward to living in another country again and experiencing another culture (not to mention the shopping options ie Turkish rugs). We were also looking forward to more European travels, but that has come to an end for now.

We are excited about coming back to the US and settling down for a few years, finding a church home and getting involved in the community. We have truly missed intimate friendship and regular fellowship with other believers so we will take full advantage of this opportunity. Travis is also close to 'home' so we are looking forward to staying connected with our 'old friends' and letting Grandparents spend time with the kiddos!

We are thoroughly enjoying our little princesses and are all adjusting rather well. The girls are sleeping well at night and giving Mommy a little break. They are on a pretty good schedule, but still eat every 3 hours during the day. They are slowly working on sleeping through the night. In fact last night they went 7 1/2 hours! Yeah Baby Wise. For those of you who don't know what that is it's a book that teaches parents how to schedule their babies and train them to sleep through the night within the first few months of life. Without it, I think I would go insane.

Chris just left today and will be back for sure in December sometime. Elijah cried most of the way home from the airport when he realized Daddy would be gone for a while again. So we are back to life with Mommy as a single parent...Not so exciting!

2 Weeks Old

(Above) Alysah sound asleep, sleeping has never sounded so wonderful. Perhaps the parents will be able to partake someday.

(Below) The best sleep and comfort comes when our little dolls are together .

Elijah is such a good big brother. He sure loves Hannah and Alysah (and which one is which, your guess is as good as mine)