Turner Field

The last time that Josh and I were stationed in Ft. Benning, we didn't take advantage of the fact that we were so close to Atlanta.  When we found out we'd be here again, we agreed to make sure we took the boys up there to do some fun things!  Atlanta is about an hour and a half drive from the city of Columbus (which is the city where Ft. Benning is located), and we wanted to take the boys to a baseball game at Turner Field.  Of course we didn't want to just watch the Braves play (no offense to those Braves fans out there).  We wanted to go watch the best team in MLB...the Cincinnati Reds of course!!  So we found out when the Reds played in Atlanta, got some great tickets, dressed in our Reds gear (including Joey Votto t-shirts for the boys), and went to the game!  We had such a great time!  Turner Field is a really nice stadium, and while we figured we'd get some heckling from the Braves fans, everyone was very nice and fun-loving!  There were quite a few fellow Reds fans in attendance, and it was fun interacting with them too!  We got to the stadium early enough to watch the Reds batting practice, and Joey Votto, the boys' fave player was within shouting distance.  Ty and Caellum kept yelling his name and waving at him.  And guess what?!  One of the Reds players threw us a baseball!  :-)  The icing on the cake was that the Reds won that game!  Yay!  We are so glad we took the boys.  Such fun!

The boys in front of the Hank Aaron statue

Turner Field

        The player closest to us was the one who threw us a ball! :-)

Having fun at the game (and yes, Ty has a Braves sticker on his shirt...one of the workers gave it to him, lol!)

                                 Ty holding the ball that was thrown to us

          

Go Reds!!

It's a.......

We found out today! Watch the video, and the boys will tell you the news! :-)

God is so good, and we are so incredibly blessed!!!

We are still here...just in GA now!

We are finally (almost) settled in!  We are officially Georgians now.  The past month was full of bittersweetness.  Saying goodbye to family and friends was rough, but we are looking forward to an exciting, new chapter in our Army lives.  Moving went smoothly, but was stressful, as it always is.  The boys are handling all the changes pretty well.  They have been a little unbearable lately, but as things settle and we get into a good routine, they will be just fine.  I finally got around to uploading some pictures to share.

Easter Weekend: 

All dressed up for Easter Sunday

Mamaw with her babies and grandbabies! :-)

The boys wanted Daddy to have a Mickey Mouse b-day cake, so I made him one! :-)

Ornery boys!

Mertz Family Pics

Cousins...aren't they cute?!

Josh still has a couple more weeks of leave, and won't start his school until the end of this month.  We are making the most of this time we have together, and adjusting to getting settled.  We were able to get a doctor's appt scheduled for next week, so we will try to keep you updated on baby news.  Hopefully we will have the opportunity to get another ultrasound soon and possibly find out the gender!  We will also try to take some pics of our new place and post them sometime soon.  Now that we are farther away from most of you, we will try to do a much better job at posting more consistently (no promises, though!).  :-)



Happy Birthday/Easter!!!!

I am away from our personal computer, but had to post this very special message on a very special day!  Just wanted to wish a very Happy Birthday to my gorgeous, sweet husband!!!  Today we have so much to celebrate and be thankful for.  First and foremost we are celebrating our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the price he paid for us as we celebrate Easter Sunday.  And secondly, we get to celebrate Josh's special day today! :-)  Happy Birthday, Josh, your family loves you so much!!!!!  And Happy Easter to everyone!!! 

Will post pics soon!

April already?!

Happy April, everyone!  Man time has been flying...especially since Josh has been home!  We have been keeping busy cleaning out our house in preparation for our big move happening in just a few weeks!  We had a big yard sale last weekend to help get rid of some things we just don't need or use anymore.  One of the best things about Army life, and moving often (PCS-ing) is that it forces you to go through your junk that has been hiding deep in the back of your closets!  Other than cleaning and re-organizing, we have been trying to enjoy our last month in Fort Knox. 

We went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, got our first ultrasound of baby #3, and we heard his heartbeat!  It was a sweet, sweet moment for Josh and I.  We are so excited to add to our growing family, and hearing that little heartbeat and seeing that first ultrasound picture of our little guy moving around is so amazing!  And yes, we are calling this baby a "he" for now...my gut is telling me it's another boy, and of course Josh refuses to believe it's anything but a boy! :-)  So, until we know for sure, baby #3 will be referred to as "he."  I am feeling good, and nearing the end of my first trimester!  We are so blessed!

The boys are doing great, and gearing up for the Easter bunny to come to their house.  We keep teasing them that they will only get bunny poop in their Easter baskets if they are naughty. :-) 

Josh has been busy working on his new obsession...a 1978 Harley Davidson Shovelhead motorcycle.  He got this "project bike" when he came home from Afghanistan, and is doing a great job rebuilding it.  One day, when I am not feeling so lazy, I will upload and post some pictures of it, along with our ultrasound pictures of baby #3. 

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend, and hopefully it won't be so long before my next post!

Lots of Exciting News to Share!

Sorry it's been so long since we have posted...it's been a crazy month!  Josh hurt his knee while still in Afghanistan, and had knee surgery on Valentine's Day.  He was able to get a month off work to recover, and we have been taking advantage of that time together.  He was able to get referred out to his doctor friend from Cincinnati for the surgery, so we have been traveling quite a bit in the past month.  Josh is doing really well, and is set to start back to work later this week.

Now on to some exciting news....first off, we found out that we will be moving to Fort Benning, GA at the beginning of May!  I knew we would be moving not too long after Josh re-deployed, but I didn't realize how quickly it would all happen!  We are excited about the move, but will miss Fort Knox tremendously.  We have been here for a very long time (at least longer than normal for Army life), and both our boys were born here.  Plus, we enjoyed the fact that we were only a 2 1/2-3 hour drive away from our families.  Fort Knox was definitely the best place for us to be during this first deployment, and we really grew to love it here.  We will be in Fort Benning for about 7 months while Josh attends Captain's Career Course (his next school). 

Oh, and I can't forget to mention something else.......

WE ARE EXPECTING!!!

The Lord blessed us with yet another sweet gift, and we are so excited!  I am still very early along in my pregnancy...only about 8 weeks.  Please pray for us, that this baby continues to grow strong and healthy, and that we have no complications.  We haven't heard the heartbeat yet, we are hoping to at my doctor's appointment next week.  We decided to go ahead and tell everyone in hopes of getting lots of prayers that all is ok and will continue to be ok, especially through this first trimester.  I had fun breaking the news to Josh by making these shirts for the boys and myself:

I also used our Flip camera to capture his reaction as I broke the news to him:

My due date is October 18.  I feel pretty good, just the normal fatigue from being in my first trimester.  We just can't believe how blessed we are! 

Cakes, Cakes, and More Cakes!

Our baby turned two on January 15th, while we were in Disney World!  Caellum got so spoiled for his 2nd birthday!  Since we didn't get to have one big party for him, he had four, yes four, small parties!  That means 4 cakes...yikes!  That kid is definitely spoiled rotten!

On his actual birthday, we were at the Magic Kingdom, so we ordered him a cake at the bakery there.  Cake #1:

Then, we spent a couple days with Aunt Kathy and her family, and they got him the cutest "Army themed" cake. Cake #2:

When we got back from Disney, we went to Cincinnati to spend some time with our families, and we celebrated with each side of the family. I wanted to make Caellum a cake because I have always made their birthday cakes every year since they were born, so I made cake #3:

                                   
 
                                   Mamaw Kinsel bought him cake number 4:
                                    

We had WAY too much cake! Happy Birthday, Caellum! We can't believe you are already two! We love you, little stinker!