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The Kuhlest Family in America is about to become the Kuhlest Family in Germany! Yep, you read right....Germany. The details are a little hazy right now, but it looks as if we will be venturing there around July 2010. We will be living there for about three years. We will try to make it back to Nebraska as often as possible, but seeing as plane tickets are expensive (especially when you have to buy 5 of them), that won't be as often as we would like.

Please be praying for us as we make all of our decisions in this matter, as well as getting ready, travel, and living arrangements when we arrive. There are so many things to think about regarding this BIG move!

In this wake of events, we have decided to come home around Christmas to spend some time with family and friends. We realize that this is a very busy time for all of you, but hope that you all will be able to hang out with us during this time! Unfortunately, we are only able to take a minimal amount of stuff with us to Germany. For those of you that have helped us move in the past, you know that we have WAY TOO MUCH stuff! For Christmas this year, we hope that you would help us out by not buying us any Christmas gifts. Instead, there are so many things you could do for us for Christmas this year!

As I mentioned before, you can pray for us. You can also help us out by spending your quality time with us! We need all the support you can give! Another thing you can do is send the kids letters while we are over there. I am sure this will help support them while in another country and give them a connection to all the family and friends we have back in the states!

The Army will be paying for the move and travel to Germany, but we know that there are many unexpected costs of a move, and we can't even imagine what an overseas move will entail. Therefore, I have decided to do Pampered Chef so that I can hopefully bring in a little extra cash over the next eight months, without having to be away from the house and family as much as a regular job. Also, I can still do Pampered Chef in Germany to continue bringing in an extra income.

The kids are doing very well. Jonah is an excellent student in the 2nd Grade, and it looks as if he will actually get to finish the entire school year at one school! His favorite subjects are science, gym and music. His teacher tells me that he is always off in his own world, and I said....that's no surprise to us! He has such an active imagination, and is always inventing new games or things to play. He is always running around the house as a super hero or singing away the day! He is becoming more independent every day. Over the summer he learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He also has finally accomplished tying his own shoes! I guess mom and dad bought him way too many slip on shoes!

Avalyn has become quite the school lover over the past few weeks. Just just started preschool here and just can't seem to get enough! She loves her teachers and her new friends! She comes home talking about all the playtime, painting, and quotes her teacher quite often! She is still in love with her Aunt Ashley's boyfriend, Sean, but she has also found new love.....a neighbor boy her age, Geoffrey. If she is not at school or in sleeping, she is asking to have him over or to go over to his house to play.

Zella has become quite the performer. She is constantly asking Daddy to sit down and play the guitar. She dances around singing withe Daddy and loves every minute of it. She also prefers music channels to cartoons....such as Fuse or Palladia that she also watches with Daddy! We are still working on potty training, but is getting better and having fewer accidents. Now, if we could just get all the way there, we could be a completely diaper free family

You know you're slacking...

...when it has been almost a year since your last update!

We are halfway through the year 2009, and so much as happened since the last time I wrote. Justin is now home from Iraq. In April, we packed up our house in Omaha, Nebraska to meet him here in Fort Drum, New York where we are now living in a wonderful 4 bedroom house on post. It has been a lovely summer so far, barely hitting the 80's. In fact, it is excellent weather for camping! With so many beautiful places to go, it is hard to decide where to go. So far we have camped in the Catskill Mountain area, and the Thousand Island area. The Thousand Island area is home to the Boldt Castle, a stunning castle on an island in the middle of the seaway to Lake Ontario.

Jonah has just completed an extremely long 1st grade school year, as he started on August 18, 2008 in Omaha and finished here at Fort Drum on June 24, 2009. He has had an excellent year excelling in reading, math and science. His favorite subjects reading and science. He is very interested in the environment, animals, learning how things work. He is very excited to visit Washington DC in a couple weeks on our family vacation. It couldn't be a better time to visit as the movie "Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian" has just come out! We will be spending two weeks there with the Lawson Family and then driving back to Nebraska for another two weeks to visit friends and more family! The top of his list of at home activities is......video games! His favorite is Spiderman; Web of Shadows. He also loves bowling, whether at the bowling alley or on the Wii at home. And he is pretty good at it...he kicks all of our butts anyway!

Avalyn will be turning four in a few weeks! She is getting ready for the possibility of preschool and hopefully some dance classes. She is learning so much these days. She recognized her numbers and a few letters, knows her basic shapes, and colors beautiful pictures! She absolutely loves to color and paint. Big brother also tries to teach her things he has learned in school as well as the video games he loves. They also suit up in costumes daily and sometimes hourly, running around the house, fighting and shooting bad guys.

All of our kids enjoy music, but I don't think Zella could go a day without it. When a beat comes on that she likes, she immediately jumps up and dances. It has become a daily ritual for her to sit with Daddy and watch music videos. A good song could change her mood from completely grumpy to the happiest two year old on the planet. She turned two on April 23, and is getting bigger everyday. We now have to lock every door that we don't want her to get into. She is in her very own BIG girl bed, and has been working very hard at using the BIG girl potty. Though it is sometimes hard to understand her, she is speaking fairly well. Two of my favorites are "pillow" which means blanket, and "milky" which means drink.

One of the things that the kids and I are enjoying this year is a garden. We planted a bunch of veggies in our side yard and a flower bed in the front. The kids have had a blast watering and watching it grow before their very eyes. One plant in particular is a Sunflower which has grown tremendously since we planted it. We actually got this Sunflower from our housing community who gave them out to our neighborhood to have a Sunflower growing contest. Judging by the size of ours compared to our immediate neighbors, we might just have a chance! :)

Justin has been having a great time as a Broadcast Journalist for the Army. He enjoys it very much. This is something that we are both very grateful for. He has had the opportunity to shoot footage for "One tank trips," which are stories about things to do and places to visit on one tank of gas. So far he has gone fishing, the Utica Brewing Company tour, and the Howe Caverns tour. He goes on these outings and others to shoot video footage and the comes back to the studio to edit and put it into a story that is featured on a local television station. His Utica Brewing Company story is featured under the May 29th episode link on this page: http://www.drum.army.mil/sites/installation/pao/DrumTv/

We look forward to seeing friends and family the last two weeks in July, so keep your calendars open and invite us over for dinner! ;) Miss you all! Take Care!