getting ready for germany....

So I learned that 2 weeks after I arrive in a foreign country, Alex will be leaving us again... only for a month.. but still... grrrr!!! We get there, soon after our household goods arrive, and then Alex leaves! He'll be gone a month, home a week, gone 2 more weeks.. or something like that. So, it's going to be a mad rush to get in processed so I can access post, get my driver's license, get the gas rations cards etc etc! I suppose, though, I'll be busy unpacking and... (woohoo)... decorating our new house (that's where pinterest comes in!!!) I'm so excited to see our yard! All I keep thinking is PICNICS in the yard! Alex is going to come home to an outdoor dinner every night (while the weahter holds) It looks amazing in the pictures Alex has sent me. (Of course... I see the potential, so no, I won't share those pictures... I'll share pictures once I get there and I can give them a more creative angle!) =)

On to Lexi, our little darling! She truly is a GREAT kid! So sweet! So smart! So amazing! Here's a cute story from yesterday! So.. when she uses the potty I put $$ under her pillow. She won't even be done on the potty and she'll be saying "I get money under my pillow." It's a tradition that started while my Aunt Helen was here.
Well, I wanted to teach her just 'what' we do with that money - where the potty reward leads to. So I let her bring her money with her when we went out to the VA w/ my dad. She put it in the vending machine and got some m&m's and even a sprite (big treat day!!). It was so cute to see her put her money in and make her choices! And we put the change back in her pockets.
Well, on the way home I stopped off at the grocery store, and little miss smarty pants immediately recognized where we were, pulled the change out of her pocket and yelled "me have money! ride the horsies! 2 quarters mommy, 2 quarters!" Now she remembers this b/c every time we go there I say I don't have 2 quarters for the ride! HAHAHAH! So I really wanted to run in and grab what we needed for dinner and get home... but who could resist that?!?!?! She really is the best little thing ever!!!
Here are some pics we took in the front yard this morning. There were soooo many more cute ones! But I just wanted to quickly share a few =)

Sleeping beauty has got nothing on this cutie!!! =)

So I've decided to devote at least one day a week on our little family blog! I have lots of family who aren't on facebook and they get their updates this way and I've been neglecting them =( Although, they don't even know how to 'follow' the blog so I have to email them the link each time I post. (sheesh all this work! ). But there's a lot going on lately w/ moving overseas and we'll be EVEN further away from all my loved ones so I'm really going to need to put great effort into keeping us connected!!

We are currently (STILL) in NH. Well, Naomianna, the boys and I are. We are scheduled to leave for Germany Sept 19th!! Woo hoo! We haven't seen Alex since the end of May...and before that he was gone 3 mos to georgia, before that he was home only 6 mos and before that was the latest deployment that he was gone for a year for. So as you can tell we are anxious to be together as a family again! He got us a great house over there (a private rental) and God has really blessed us w/ renting out our house in WA. We immediately got renters and they signed a 2 year lease! What a relief! I will get some photos of the new house up soon!!

But today I wanted to share some wicked cute pics as I document the lil mamas sleeping on the couch this morning!! The pictures are in order as I took em. The sensor was loud enough to wake her a bit as I snapped pics (you can see she opened her eyes for a second). Then I walked away and came back a few times and here is what I found!! heehee. Just some straight out of the camera shots. The clouds are moving around a lot this morning so it kept getting brighter and darker and I had to keep up w/ the settings. But overall, nice lighting and a GREAT lil model! of course!! =)

(I apologize in advance for the music player being out of whack!! I'm working on it! I've figured out making the photos appear nicer thanks to learning how to work a photogrpahy blog.. but as you can see, w/ the music player, i've got more to learn about this blogging!!)

Naomianna's 2nd Birthday Celebration!

With all the social media sites and networking sites out there it's hard to keep up! I usually use my facebook page as a 'blog' about Naomianna and her growing up. Also, I like to write to her in a journal periodically. It's hard to stay on top of everything and keep it all updated. But 'blogging' seems fun so I'm going to start giving it a better effort!

Ok, for for Naomianna's 2nd Birthday I decided to brave Chuck E Cheese for the first time!! She was as adorable as could be in her little summer dress and matching hat and sandals! And she couldn't have had more fun!!!!

           Naomianna doin' a lil old fashioned cheating! (come on, we've all done it! hahahaha)

After enjoying the day at Chuck E Cheese with Tante Gretchy, Onkel Tom, Auntie Kristina, Cousins Krisotofer and Kayla and Friends Karen, Baldy, Zack and Hannah - we headed back to the Haken residence for dinner and cake!

There we enjoyed the rest of the evening with Aunt Helen, Oma and Opa, good friends Cheyenne and Destynee (and all the previous)

The cake I had ordered for the party was a disaster! I should have taken a picture of it before I refused to bring it home! (Let's just say someone decided to make it tye dye!) So the original theme was tossed and we went w/ pink at the last minute. You think Lexi cared? hahaha!

I turned around for LESS than a minute to slice some tomatoes and she had SILENTLY climbed onto the table, straddled the cake and was starting to enjoy it! Needless to say we had to change clothes once or twice! The first time b/c she jumped in her kiddie pool the second time...

well I think you can see why here. Thanks Aunt Helen for helping Lexi wear her cake! Luckily Naomianna has LOTS of pretty dresses, so she was set for the occasion!