Easter 2014

We had such a nice Easter, the weather was "beautiful".  The rain stopped and the sun came out, and how appropriate for this special day.

We went to Good Friday service, and I just about lost it. I wish I could of recorded our choir. They sang
"For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world".   It was one of the most beautiful renditions of this song I have ever heard.  They sang it continuously for almost 15 mins, it brought tears to my eyes.

On Sunday morning, we all went to Mass and it was a packed house. It was a beautiful service, and to see SUN , finally in Germany, was so fitting for our Lords resurrection.

We had a delicious Easter dinner, and Avery has to be the best little helper around.  I am so blessed to have my family.

I hope your Easter was just as special!

After church, look how big my boys are getting!

Made from the flowers on our trees, I think they are walnut trees, they smell glorious!

Love that she still loves to decorate eggs!

Happy Birthday BrownDaddy:)

Happy Birthday Eric......

Wow, we have alot birthdays together under our belt, 23 to be exact.  Some were spent apart, while you were deployed and the most treasured were spent together.  Here is to 23 more, and 23 past that.

We celebrated by having a snickers cheesecake.  Eric's favorite is German chocolate, but since we had just had that for Nicky's birthday, we decided on his second favorite, cheesecake.  And Avery and I just threw those snickers in fun.

We set up the tents for fun and aired them out for an upcoming camping trip.  Happy birthday Eric!!

Also, while home.....

While Eric was busying working in the house, the kids and I worked outside to burn the YEARS of leaves left by all the trees we had taken down.  It was truly a big mess, and was no fun doing this yard work.

Eric came out and helped us burn the leaves, and it literally took a couple days of burning, raking and burning some more to finally get it done.

We smelled like smoke.  And it wasn't the "fall air leaves burning smell" that you enjoy.  It was burning old, damp leaves, sticks, and gunk.  I felt like I smelled like smoke for days.

The culprits, trees and more and more leaves each year!

Finally, a clear view, but still so much to clean up.

I wish I would of gotten a picture of the fire while burning these leaves. But, the end result is below. We ended up using **80** bags of mulch for this area and around the house.  The next step will be extending the grass down to the rock garden, and on the right side of the driveway, finally having soft grass.  The rest of the trees are going to be removed this year, and we are planting more evergreens, you know, that don't drop their massive leaves each year!

It was alot of work, but so worth it! Thanks to Natalie for taking this picture, as it was just one more thing I didn't get done while home!

We were busy....

Owning a property while living overseas is sometimes a working balance that always needs balancing.

It is hard to put effort into something that feels "home" to everybody, only to leave it until the "next time".

When we found out we were going to Germany, we had two roads to take. Freak out, or freak out with a plan. Luckily, we choose the latter.

Every time we go home, we do a little more to the house.  Every time we go home, it gets harder to leave. But we know that God is planning this journey, and the end result will be a place we can call home forever, which is something us Military really don't get to appreciate much.

The last time we were home we had a massive amount of trees removed....But in normal Brown fashion, a flight popped up and we were out the door the next morning. We didn't get to clean up completely, but we knew it would be OK until we got back in the spring.

When we arrived home this time, we had two goals planned. To burn the area where the leaves and trees were taken down, and to work in Nicky's room.

Our house is a beautiful build, and someone put alot of thought into the design of the house. But the house is the same age as Zachary, and some of that design shows its age.  This would be.......WALLPAPER.

When we first moved in, Nicky's room looked like this.

And Nicky really wasn't loving the cowboy theme.  As a matter of fact, he begged us to paint this room first. 

Here is the thing, Ronda=painting=UNHAPPY ERIC.  I am not a painter. I am not patient enough to appreciate the process of painting and repainting. 

But I did for Nicky. And it was OK.  It was not perfect. Zachary put up the chair rail, bless his heart. He did the best he could while his Dad was deployed.  But Nicky was happy, he had his "space" room, and the cowboys were gone.  

Moving ahead three years, the "quick fix" of this room was really showing. It was on the plans for awhile, but we were not sure what we wanted to do.

When Eric completed the dining room, shown here before and after, I knew exactly what I wanted in the kids rooms. I love wainscoting, I think it adds a depth to plain old drywall, and you can change the top color of paint easily in the future.  

And yes, that is our dining room when we purchased the house. The first thing to go?  The carpet of course. This room was pretty bad, as the previous owner was elderly and didn't realize the toilet above (in Nicky's room) was leaking.  The entire wall and half of the ceiling had to be re-drywalled, luckily not by us, but as a condition to us buying the house.  THANK YOU VA FOR MAKING SURE THIS WAS DONE!

But as you can see, my awesome Eric took at shot at wainscoting.  We both figured it had to look better than this, but Eric did a great job for never doing wainscoting before.  Oh yeah, see the beautiful floors, we all busted our knee caps as soon as we closed on the house, and Eric laid this oak flooring. 

So, we made the decision to do a similar design in Nicky and Avery's room, and eventually Zachary's room.

While we are "home" on vacation, these are the types of things we do.  Because one day, when this crazy Army life comes to end, we know that this is where we will rest our heads. Nothing good comes easy, and we know we can't just look away at what needs done.  Little by little, we will get there, and all of the effort will be worth it.

Back to Nicky's room.....So Eric worked hard, especially because we finally were able to have enough time home to schedule carpet to be installed. We have attempted this twice now, and they can never work it in the time frame we will be back. But finally, they did. So, Eric had about four days to get this completed, but couldn't complete the baseboards fully until the carpet was installed.  Here are few pics of the end work, and Nic just loved it.  Doesn't it mean more when your Daddy does it anyways?  He was so appreciative!  Because Nicky had wallpaper on his walls from the original build, Eric decided to put birch sheets up first and then build the design. In Avery's room, we will only have to build the design, which will be much easier and quicker. 

Nicky loves blue and green, but really wanted the dark blue. We updated the room a bit for his age, and once the carpet got put in, it looked great.

In our normal fashion, a flight popped up, and we had to pack up and hit the road, so Eric didn't get to finish the bottom molding, and we didn't get to get the shade down and curtains up. But we are getting there, and the next visit home, this room will be complete and just waiting for Nicky to enjoy it.

Serious "Daddy" points for Eric on this one!

USA here we come......

One of the best things about being stationed where we are is the ability to monitor and catch the Space Available flights out.

Most of the time, we catch a civilian carrier back to the States via the Space A method, but every now and then we get lucky and catch a Military flight.

For the sake of OPSEC (operational security), I won't go into details of how or where we flew in to the States, but these flights ARE THE BEST.

Even though it is nice to receive a meal and drink on civilian flights, as well as watch in flight movies, there is no changing the fact that you are cramped in a little seat for upwards of 10 hours depending on where you are flying.

On the mil flights, you wait until you reach altitude, then you make your bed.....on the floor.  Often times your flying companions are huge pieces of equipment.  Its loud, and you wear ear plugs.  The benefit to this is endless....I don't hear my kids squabble, I don't hear other kids cry, and the hum puts everyone to sleep.

The only downfall to these flights?  It GETS COLD.  But, if you prepare with blankets, hats, jackets and socks, you are good to go.

Second would be the appetite the kids develop out of boredom. By the time we are done with these flights, all snacks have been consumed. And we are talking a backpack of sandwiches, trail mix, carrots, apples, etc. They wipe it out, and I often have to ration, per hour!  And if I fall asleep, well, the bag pretty much was raided, including by Dad:)

Can you tell Zachary is excited to head home?  Sorry for the blurry IPhone pic!

These are probably some of the funnest flights back for our family, and we will always remember them, I am sure of that. I would have to say, that when the kids are grown, I know they will talk about the excitement of these flights. And as always, stepping on US soil is the best feeling!

Can you imagine this being your travel partner?

The kids love it, buckled in and read to take off.

Our fellow passengers.....cargo

When the lights go down, everyone pulls out there electronics until you get sleepy!  Then you bed it on the floor, right next to the huge machinery.