Elias lost his first tooth

Mr. Elias just lost his first tooth and was so funny!! He came running up the stairs and was so excited. I guess he hit himself in the mouth with a ball and the next thing you know was pop out came his little tooth. He is ready for the tooth fairy to come tonight. However the tooth fairy is trying to decide if he should pay in dollars,dinars. or euros....lol.It is cool he can say he lost his first tooth in Africa...but it was almost the states!!

Philip after surgery

I had to post a picture of how Philip looked after his surgery. He lost 20lbs in less than 2 weeks...yikes! We are doing all we can to get him back some of the weight. Thanks again for all the prayers and calls! He is doing much better and has had no signs of the infection returning. I just hope he will just rest and take it easy for a little while.

N. Africa American Cemetery

The day after Christmas we went to tour the cemetery. The kids were a little scared to go see a cemetery but warmed up to the idea as soon as we were inside. The weather was so beautiful and it was very peaceful. It was very nice and full of history. I posted some info on it below.

The 27-acre North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial in Tunisia rest 2,841 of our military dead, their headstones set in straight lines subdivided into 9 rectangular plots by wide paths, with decorative pools at their intersections. Along the southeast edge of the burial area, bordering the tree-lined terrace leading to the memorial is the Wall of the Missing. On this wall 3,724 names are engraved. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. Most honored here lost their lives in World War II in military activities ranging from North Africa to the Persian Gulf.
The chapel and the memorial court, which contains large maps in mosaic and ceramic depicting the operations and supply activities of American forces across Africa to the Persian Gulf, were designed to harmonize with local architecture. The chapel interior is decorated with polished marble, flags and sculpture. North Africa American Cemetery is located in close proximity to the site of the ancient city of Carthage, Tunisia, destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C., and lies over part of the site of Roman Carthage.

The House

Well I finally got around to taking pictures of the new house. We are still much happier over here in the new place. My only real complaint is we have very rude neighbors who are up from like 11p.m -2:00a,m and are very loud on their balcony which is up against the same wall we have our head board up against...if they keep at it I might just make master bed room the dinning room. Which will stink but what are you gonna do!!! I guess that will mean no more dinner parties..lol. The house is very open and large with lots of these awesome built in closets. We have so much storage space and I love it! We have 3 bedrooms up with a big open upstairs hall full of around 8 closets. There is 2 bathrooms upstairs as well. Downstairs on the 2nd level is the kitchen-living room-maids closet-dinning rm-2 bath rooms 1 power room-1 bath with shower(which I use as a closet)...I do not even think the kids know this bath rm is in the house...lol.We have a nice open big foyer and a great outside back porch with a perfect small yard. the construction pictures are to show the major construction that is right behind our yard. On the 3rd level is a large room which we have turned into the kids play room. I will post pictures of the kitchen if it ever is clean enough to do so...lol.

3rd trimester

I wanted to post a few pics of me in my 3rd trimester. I am now 33 weeks and counting. I feel really good just big and out of breath sometimes. The baby is good and still moving around all the time. I will take some more belly shots soon!!!

Christmas 2009

We had a very nice and simple Christmas this year! The kids got plenty of wonderful toys and surprises thanks to online shopping! The weather was so pretty that we decided to head to the beach. The water was way to cold for swimming...but the sun and sand made for a very relaxing fun time. The kids are now asking to go back to hang at the beach daily!After coming home and cleaning up the kids and Philip took me out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. It was very nice to go somewhere other than Denny's or Jack in the box. However I think I speak for the entire family when I say we would have been thrilled to go out to eat at any American restaurant. I was treated to really adorable yummy french pastries and a happy birthday song!! We saved our $90 ham for the day after Christmas. The meal was so yummy the kids licked their plates clean...this was a real treat for us. We have been living off the ham for the past few days and I will be freezing the rest for later use.