Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Life is settling down........

We made the move, got the kids into schools, made some friends, and are finally feeling settled in our new home and new community. Here is an update:

Chad: He is really enjoying his job. They are keeping him busy. He happens to be the only licensed architect in the USAF, so all the jobs that require a licensed architect fall on him and he is also the architect on the Air Force's two largest projects right now. Even though they don't like him to work more than 40 hours and would usually give him comp time to offset his extended travel days, he is just too overloaded to take any of it. They are so happy to have him on board. He is the only architect (of the 16) who has any experience outside of the military so he brings an entirely new skill set to the table. They are utilizing those skills every chance they get. Makes for long hours, but he is a shoe in for making promotion to Major and Lt. Col in the coming years. He mostly travels to Biloxi, MS and California-both he really likes. He travels with a small group and they seem to enjoy these trips, despite working about 12 hour days. The medical community is small and really close. He really likes all his co-workers and the families get together often for camping trips, BBQ's, and holiday fun. So far, so great!

Kindra: I have never been busier! I thought that when we moved here and I was no longer working that life would really slow down. Boy was I wrong! I guess each year brings more homework, more sports, and more responsibility. I spend my day getting the kids up and fed, off to school, cleaning up after breakfast, taking one to private speech therapy, then taking one to afternoon preschool, making lunch, cleaning up lunch, picking up kids, making dinner, helping with homework, taking kids to sports, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. I, literally, have to mark out about 15 min. every other day just to get in a shower!!!! Life is really, really good though and I am so thankful.

Kiley: Kiley has made a lot of friends in the neighborhood. We are only a couple blocks from her school, so many of her classmates live really close. She is with friends all day, every day. Kiley is doing well in school. Her last report card she had all A's and B's. She is doing 2 tumbling classes a week at a cheer school here. As you can imagine, Texas has an entirely different view of cheerleading and football than the rest of the world. There is a cheerleading academy on every corner! Kiley is loving Texas. She often says she misses Denver though. No place can compete with the beauty of Colorado, however, I think we all love that it's mid-November and 85 degrees today! We hung up Christmas lights in shorts and tank tops! Kiley's favorite part of living in Texas, besides the weather, is seeing palm trees everywhere and living an hour from the ocean.

Creighton: Creighton started Kindergarten this year and loves it. He is so social and makes friends so easily. He also played baseball in the fall and will play flag football this winter. He continues to take swimming lessons at a swim school close by. He is able to kick off the wall and swim about 10 feet under water on his own. Next year, we will join the community pool that we share with the neighborhood next to us, so the kids can swim much more often. The YMCA has year round swimming here, but it's about a 15 min. drive and we just don't get out there as often as we'd like too. Our neighborhood has a waterpark that the kids would love, but it broke down. The HOA is working on a plan to either fix it or rip it out and put in a new one. We'll see, but this is Texas and we need water play for kids in the summer!!

Cort: Cort goes to afternoon preschool now. He will go this year and next because he can't start Kindergarten for 2 more years because of his birthday. It's a good thing, I couldn't see him being ready for all day school next year. He is making a lot of progress in his speech. He goes to private speech therapy two days a week and afternoon preschool, where he also gets speech therapy two times a week, every day for 3 hours. He continues to be adorable, charming, affectionate, and so sweet. He and Creighton are in-separable and best buddies. They chose to share a room instead of having their own space, leaving us with a huge playroom upstairs.

Cheyenne: Oh, that sweet and naughty Cheyenne. She's 2 and oh so adorable. She is so funny and witty. I am so impressed with her maturity and intelligence. Chey potty trained right after she turned 2. She was fully trained in just a couple days-so easy. Actually, all the kids were really very easy. Life with no kids in diapers has been strange and I missed it a bit at first. Baby fever has crept it's way back into my life as my kids continue to get bigger and bigger. Cheyenne keeps me on my toes all day long and there simply isn't time for another little one. Although, I think Chey would be a fantastic big sister. Cheyenne loves gymnastics. When she turns 3, we will put her into both swim lessons and gymnastics. Right now, it's nice to just have the 3 kids that have obligations. I am not sure what I will do with all 4 needing rides to and from.

Life is pretty incredible right now and we are enjoying every second of it!

Monday, April 22, 2013

New job, new house, new life....

As most of you know by now, Chad has taken a position with the USAF as a Health Facilitating Officer (HFO-abbreviations are something we will have to get used to). He will be working as an architect with 23 other architects-it's a pretty small and selective department of the Air Force. Not to brag-okay a little, he was selected for this prestigious position out of hundreds of other applicants in a world wide search. Did we ever dream he'd get it, not in a million years, but clearly it was worth his time to go through the tedious 1 1/2 year application process. He will be going in as a Captain (O-3) with 6.5 years as time served, so he will be eligible for promotion to Major (O-4) in 3 years. This is the most exciting decision we've made and will drastically impact our lives. The pay is great, the job security is even better. After working 60-80 hour weeks, a 40 hour week will be a welcomed change. Because of his unique experience working in the private sector for so long and earning his Masters degree and license, he is going in as their most experienced architect and will be used as a mentor to others. We have already been lucky to make friends with a Lt. Col and Major that he will be working with and I am thrilled that they are so kind and supportive.

We just purchased a home in Cibolo, TX-right outside of San Antonio. It's a 40-45 min. drive to the base Chad will be working at, but his colleagues all recommended this one small town and said it's 90% military-which is exactly what we are looking for. We have too big of a family to live on base but want to be surrounded with the military lifestyle. This is the best of both. Here are some pics of our new home. It's 4 bedroom + a game room and sun room, 4 bath, 2 story living room and 2 story entry. We love it. Pics are from the listing site as we haven't been there yet-crazy, we know. We really relied on our realtor to help us through this. Keep in mind, the decorating is that of a 40 something old who loves African decor. We will update when we move in.