Welcome to England

In February, we found out that we would be stationed in England for the next 3 years. We were SOOOO excited. We arrived July 22nd and have enjoyed the first couple of weeks a lot. The weather has been a big change from Texas. The first week or so we were quite cold, but then the weather warmed up a bit and our bodies adjusted as well. Although it is often overcast, the weather is perfect for playing outside all day long. We are in temporary living facilities (TLF) until we can move into our home around the 1st of Sept. It has been crazy living out of a suitcase for the last 2 months, so we look forward to being able to unpack for good.

I was a little nervous about the 9 hour flight, but the kids were amazing. I was so grateful for that, since our flight left over an hour late and we had to wait 2 hours for our shuttle at the airport to take us to base. Then, the 2 hour bus ride turned into 4.5 hours. The kids were great the entire time! The next couple of days were a bit rough, but it's better to have meltdowns at home rather than in public!!!

We're Baaack!

So, after an almost 3 year hiatus, we are officially back - bigger and hopefully better than ever. Bigger, in part, because Devin Douglas Kofford joined our family on Jan. 9th 2011. He is such a calm and sweet baby. Another little piece of heaven in our home. He is obviously LOVED!

Maybe, someday, I will go back and fill in some of the missing years, but for now we want to share what is going on in our lives now. Thanks for visiting!

Absolutely Most Recent Kids Pictures

OK, now I'm posting pictures that I took 2 minutes ago. This way all of you can be totally updated with our family. Thanks for being patient with me and my inconsistent blogging! We love you all!
Our happy Dallin. He sleeps well night, rarely fusses, loves to cuddle, and smiles when anyone starts talking to him. We are SO glad to have Dallin in our family.

Sweet, sweet Kiersten. She is growing up so much and trying to follow in her big sister's footsteps. She is the MOST ticklish little girl that I've ever met and laughs so hard that she can hardly breath. Of course, that causes the rest of us to laugh that hard as well.

*FYI: Altough this pic doesn't show it best, it looks like Kiersten's hemangioma is finally getting a little bit smaller, so maybe soon everyone won't think she hit her head really hard (:

Kaitlin, oh Kaitlin.... She looks so innocent in this picture, but this in the only one out of 2o that didn't have her making a goofy face. Before each one, "take a picture of this one mommy." I wonder where she gets it from? She is so full of imagination, love, and spunk.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Mary Poppins is one of our family's favorite movies. The girls will actually sit and watch the whole almost 3 hours of it. Actually, they get up, run around, sing and dance a lot while they watch it. Kaitlin knows almost all of the songs and Kiersten sings along too, just using her own "words." Their favorite song is "Let's go fly a kite." Kaitlin got a kite for her b-day in July, but we haven't had a chance to go fly it yet. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the wind was PERFECT. Even Kaitlin and Kiersten had no problem getting the kite into the air. And, yes, we did sing "Let's go fly a kite" the whole time(:
Kaitlin loved running back and forth across the field. The wind was strong enough that she had to work pretty hard.

Kiersten loves her daddy so much. She always brightens up when he's around and she definitely obeys him better than she obeys me.

This is a field in front of the elementary school just a few blocks away from our house. I love being together as a family!

Here we are on our way to the field. The residents in Brandon's program all pitched in and bought us a Sit-n-Stand stroller that actually fits all three kids (and a dog). I just strap Dallin's car seat in the front, have Kiersten sit on the bench and Kaitlin stand on the foot rest. It really makes it so much easier to go from point A to point B. Otherwise, the kids decide to scatter or just refuse to walk. It also folds up pretty well and has been a lifesaver for me.

Halloween

I know that it's been over a month since Halloween and that I'm just mass posting today, but since I only took down my Halloween decorations a week ago, I don't feel too far behind(:

The girls were fairy princess ballerinas. Basically we used an assortment of dress up clothes from our grandmas and our neighbor to put together these darling outfits. Dallin was handsome and so cuddly in his pumpkin costume. It was beautiful weather so we didn't even have to wear jackets. I remember most Halloweens in Chicago having to wear a coat over my costume because of the cold. I always thought it defeated the purpose of dressing up if you couldn't tell who or what someone was dressed up as.

I love these pictures that Brandon took. Sweet, sweet girls.
I tried to go trick-or-treating with the kids while Brandon passed out candy, but the girls didn't want to leave him behind. We ended up only going to 3 houses and spent the rest of the time passing out candy.
The girls called out to the trick-or-treaters, telling them to come to our house. They were so excited when people came. However, Kaitlin was stingier with the candy than we were, only giving one piece to each person. When we had half the bowl of candy left, she started telling people, "sorry guys, no more candy for you tonight" or "hey guys, this is your last one." We couldn't stop laughing. I think she was afraid that there wasn't going to be any candy left for her.
She was right, because there wasn't much at all. Luckily, by the next day they had both forgotten about the candy.

Fall Fun

A few weeks before Halloween we went to pumpkin farm, called Devine Acres, about 45 minutes away. They had a huge variety of activities for the kids. We actually never got around to picking a pumpkin because we had so much fun doing everything else.

The girls loved running around the maze. It ended up being a pretty warm day, so I felt bad that I had dressed the girls in long sleeves. They were quite hot after running through the maze. They didn't even cheat and climb over the bales until we were on the way out. Mostly, Brandon and I were tired of going back and forth and figured the kids wouldn't mind if we lifted them over a few bales of hay.

They made it to the mountain in the middle! The kids are so lucky to have such a fun dad.

They had a little catch and release fishing pond with lots of tiny little fish. We didn't catch anything with our bits of corn, but the girls loved their first fishing trip with dad. And they could see the fish attack the bait.

The girls favorite part, by far, was petting the goats, pig, and llama. We actually went there first and they didn't want to leave. They both threw little fits, but we were able to distract them. I used to LOVE pettng zoos too, so I know where they get the fascination with animals. Wait, who am I kidding, I STILL love petting zoos.
Kiersten especially liked this pig. She would scoop up dirt and try to feed it to him. He didn't seem too interested.

Kaitlin may look a little standoffish here, but she was running from goat to goat petting and hugging them. She begged us to bring one home for her, and I think Brandon would have if our rental agreement allowed. Seriously.
Kaitlin asks us for a new animal several times a week. Just last week she asked for a kitten, puppy, duck, and a goat. I think we may end up living on a farm.

The last thing we did was play on a big playground they had under some old oak trees. We really needed the shade and the girls loved playing in the sand.

Kiersten also experimented climbing up the rope ladder. She kept on getting stuck, but as soon as she got down, up she'd go again.

It was so much fun spending time together as a family and enjoying the fall spirit. We're excited to go again next year. We didn't have time to go on the hayride, make little crafts, and do all of the other activities.

Catching Up

I know that it's been forever since I last posted pics, so I thought that I'd do a little catch up. (Ok, it's really a lot of catch up).

We loved having Uncle Michael stay with us during the ADA Conference. Dallin sure loves his uncle.

I tried taking a picture with all of the kids about a week after Dallin was born, and this was the best one I could get. Admittedly, I didn't try very long, but I could tell that things weren't going to get any better(:

This is Dallin at 1 week. The shorts were WAY to big on him, but it's a cute outfit that says "My Daddy Loves Me." Very true. Our neighbor gave us this super-soft and cuddly blue bear. The girls love cuddling with it almost as much as I do.