Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving day, and decorating for Christmas. We let the kids decorate however they wanted and then when they went to sleep Chris and I adjusted the decorations slighty. :)

Happy "sniff, sniff, cough, cough" Thanksgiving

So November brought the Ingram family many things. Let me try and list them, strep throat, strep throat, horrible head cold, strep throat, a yucky virus that makes little boys get sores all inside there mouth, and more strep throat. Tis the season to be sick and sicker. Since returning from AK we have been bombarded with illness in our house. It has been less than fun, but since I am sitting here sniffling, and holding a very cranky little boy, I thought I would be productive and update our blog. We have had a busy month this month, but as I look back I am not 100 percent sure what we have been doing besides getting sick and working. All I have to say that we are looking foward to Hawaii with a passion right now, and have 37 days to go!!!! So hopefully we will get all the sickness out now before we leave.

One other thing that Novemeber has brought us is a new addition to our family. A very sweet puppy we named Honey. She is about 9 weeks old, and a yellow lab. She is as sweet as can be and so far is an awesome puppy. She hasn't had any accidents in the house, and we couldn't be happier with our impulsive decision to get her. She was given to us, and we couldn't pass up the offer (we are suckers for cute things.) Here are a few pics of her and the kids, with I am sure many more than you care to see to come. We hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!!!

November

It is about time I posted another blog, I have had a hard time finding a moment to sit down and write.

I can not believe it is already November (really I am having a hard time believing it is November, since I was just out yesterday mowing our lawn in the 80 degree weather.) Although it is almost Thanksgiving, fall has really not yet arrived here in TX, but I can tell there is a crisper feeling in the air. Things have been going pretty smoothly, I don't have a lot to report, which is probably a good thing.We just got back from AK a week ago, and had an absolutely fabulous vacation (thanks mom and dad.) The kids did great, and had SO much fun playing with cousins, and Grammy and Papi, and Auntie and Uncle. It was so nice to be able to go with Chris and get to see our friends, and enjoy a lot of date nights, (which are very rare for us) and just relax and enjoy being "home." The kids were once again super travelers. I counted and this was Cailey's 11th trip on an airplane, which is not counting the times in my belly, and Caleb's 4th. They are becoming little jet setters. Our next big adventure is our trip to Hawaii...we have been spoiled rotten by my mom and dad this year. My entire family will be traveling to Kauai on Feb 2nd, for 10 days of fun and sun to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. We are all very excited and are counting down the days. So now we are just looking foward to the holidays, and doing our best not to gain a bunch of weight durning this time, because we have to be in bathing suits in 2 months!!!

The kids are doing great. Cailey has been doing really good in pre-school, and is making a lot of friends. She is getting very excited about turning 5 (she still has 3 months, but talks about it regularly.) She seems to think at times she is 13 instead of 4, the attitude is definately coming out, but all in all she is a sweet ,bubbly, extremely talkative little girl who we are very proud of.

Caleb is doing pretty well in pre-school, but has had a few naughty notes sent home with him. His favorite word is "mine" right now, and has a tendancy to steal toys from his friends, and then run away with a big grin on his face laughing. Having a boy is a very different experience from having a girl, but a huge blessing also. He is so sweet, and cuddly, and is just so cute that all the little naughty things are pretty hard to get mad at. He has a great laugh, and is generally a happy little boy. We are working on being kind, so hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

That's about it for us! Hope this finds all of you doing well also. We love and miss you all, and hope to hear updates from all of you soon also.

Blessings

Chris and Christina

Ok, so after posting this newest blog, I realized that everyone had been leaving comments on the previous blogs and I had no idea...can you say computer illiterate. So thank you all for leaving such nice comments, I loved them! Also, I realize there are no pics of Chris on this most recent blog. It isn't that we don't love him, and it isn't that he wasn't there, it is just for some reason he was camera shy. I will try and get a few of him and of the new house this week, Because he is pretty handsome and definatley worth looking at! Love and miss you all!
Christina

Update for August

The summer is coming to a close...so hard to believe, it has flown by for us! Although temperature wise, it is humorous to say that summer is almost over, it really is starting to sink in that there is only a couple of weeks left and the fall activities begin. I just wanted to update you all on what has been going on around here.

We moved onto base about 3 weeks ago. It was a really good move for us financially and socially. We were blessed with Chris's brother Jon coming the night before the move, and believe me his muscles were definatley put to work. The three of us moved into the new house and got our old house sparkling clean in 2 long days. It was so worth it though. We love living on base. There are so many families to get to know, and the kids have playmates in the neighborhood. I am saving a ton on gas because there is so much to do around here that we rarely leave base. The house is great, I will post some pics as soon as I get a chance to take some. It has a huge back yard, 3 bathrooms, and three bedrooms, and a huge garage. It is perfect and we are really happy we were able to make the move.

Update on Chris:

Chris has finally started getting back to the land of the mobile now that his ankle is doing so much better. His physical therapy has been really helping and although he can't run yet, he is pretty much back to normal. He started going back to the gym which is making him feel much better. We are thankful that he is back on his feet. He has just gone back to work after 2 weeks of leave, and 1 week in Georgia for some training. We enjoyed having him home with us and miss him now that he is back to the daily grind.

Update on Christina:

I was able to stop doing daycare now that we are moved on base. The whole family is enjoying having me back to my non -stressed out state of mind. :) I am enjoying being with just my 2 kids and doing mommy things, like the park and errands, cooking and cleaning, and all the little things that one more child made a little more difficult. If anything, doing daycare made both Chris and I feel very much at peace with Chris's vasectomy. 2 kids is good for us!

I found out a couple of days ago that I got the job I have been praying about. I will be working at our church as a preschool teacher. It will only be 2 days a week. I will be with the "bunnies" which is the 1 year olds. I am really excited about the job and think it is going to work great for our family. Both of the kids will be able to attend the preschool, for a very discounted rate, so it really is a blessing for us. Other than that I have been spending my days trying to get into swimsuit shape for our big trip to Hawaii in Jan, doing Susy homemaker things at home, and trying to stay cool, as the weather has been SUPER hot. We have hit over 100 degrees many days so far. We are all surviving, but don't go out much unless it is to the pool or somewhere air conditioned.

Update on Cailey:

Cailey's big news this week is that she got her ears peirced finally!!!! This is a big deal in our house, as we have been trying to get her to do this for probably a year and a half. She was so brave and hardly cried. She looks adorable with her little flower earings. She is very excited about going earring shopping with me once she can change them out.

We decided not to put her in the public school system this year. She was going to start a program called Head Start, which is pre-K. We have been praying about it though and decided God was telling us that if I got the pre-school job that that would be better for her. So she will be going to pre-school only 2 days a week instead of full time. I get her for one more year and I feel blessed by that.

Other than that she is the same old sweet Cailey. She is quite the social butterfly and is so ready to make some new friends, so I am looking foward to the fall and all the activities she will be involved in.

Update on Caleb:

Caleb turned 2!!! We had a nice little party for him at my Grammy's house. He got ton's of boy presents, (which is really good because he has been way too into Cailey's dress up clothes lately.) The big news with him is that he is totally potty trained now!!! I can't believe how easy it was. We are very proud of him. He has been doing great with hardly any accidents and is only in diapers for bedtime. I can't believe my days buying diapers are almost done! Other than that nothing really new with Caleb, he is just acting like a 2 year old and gives me a headache most days, but makes up for it with his cuteness and sweetness.

That is about it for now. I know it is long, but at least you all now know what has been going on in the Ingram world for the last month or 2, because I know I have been terrible about keeping in touch. Love and miss you all.

Christina

We only have one full day left in our house. I am a little sad actually, because we love this house, but am excited to start fresh in our new free house! The free part makes it a bit easier to part with this house. We move on Wed, and wanted to post our new information. Our phone number will stay the same, here it is for those of you who don't have it...325-695-2062 and here is our new address...101 Indiana St. Dyess AFB, TX 79605.

Fourth of July Weekend

We had such a nice Fourth of July weekend. Chris and I both had a four day weekend, so we were able to do a lot of fun things and do a lot of relaxing. On the 3rd we stayed up late and went to the drive in movie theatre (which is so fun.) First we watched Wall i, which was a cute robot kids movie, and then we put the kids to bed in the van and Chris and I watched the Hulk. Let me rephrase that, Chris watched the Hulk, while the rest of us slept, but it was really fun and I had a great nap. On the 4th we went to a pool that was having some festivities. They had a money dive where they threw a bunch of change into the pool and everyone raced to get as much as they could. All together we probably made about 5 or 6 dollars, but it was fun. They also has a balloon toss and three legged races and other things. We had a good time hanging out together. We did not do any fireworks this year, because our children are terrified of them for some reason or another. We had a relaxing Saturday and Sunday, just hanging out together, and going to the pool some more, and then on Monday we went to the Zoo and the park, and had a great time. It was a much needed weekend and, and was stress free, relaxing and fun.

Last Week

So lets see...what has been new around here? About a week and a half ago I took the kids to McDonalds playland for 1.50 happy meal day. We were having a nice time playing, I happened to be watching three other children that day, so had 5 kids with me, Caleb was playing on a bench, and I said "get down Caleb, that's not safe" so being a boy he decided he needed to jump down. I don't even really know what happened but he ended up on his face and there was lots of blood. I tried to keep calm and when I looked in his mouth I saw 1st his front tooth was chipped and 2nd there was a lot of blood coming from his gums. So Chris met me there and we gathered all 5 kids and went home. We didn't have a dentist yet, so I called the insurance company, found out what dentist I could take him to, left all 4 other kids at home with Chris and took Caleb. 2 hours later we found out that he had indeed chipped his tooth, and also had rolled his gums up off the bone, that is why there was so much blood, and that he was going to be just fine, but maybe just look a little funny. The tooth is now turning a lovely shade of grey(will have to ask the dr. about that when we go in for a follow up) but it doesn't seem to be bothering him in the least. I am not quite sure why he thinks he has to jump off of everything, but for some reason he does and it is driving me crazy trying to make sure he doesn't get hurt again.

Bigger news about Caleb though is that he has decided to be potty trained. I wasn't even expecting to start trying with him until at least 2 and a half, but since I have been potty training the little girl that I watch for about the last 4 months, he has been slowly easing into it. About 5 days ago he finally peed on the potty and now his is wearing big boy undies. I am super excited about it, but also a little wary because he isn't even 2 yet, but he is definatley ready, and I wasn't going to stop him. He loves that he gets candy every time he goes and is extremely proud of himself. We are proud of him too, and although I spend all day on the bathroom floor while he is trying to go, it is worth it to watch my little baby turning into a big boy.

Cailey has also had a mileston this last week or two. She passed the swimming test at the pool. She can go down the slide now, and swim in the deep end, although we told her she isn't allowed without us. She took swimming lessons a couple of weeks ago and they really helped. She is becoming a little fish. She LOVES to swim and it makes me feel so much more comfortable knowing she is in the water with the skills to not drown.

Ingram Update

I have been talking about starting a blog since we left Germany 6 months ago. So we will see if I can finally make this happen. I have been horrible with sending out any picutures since we moved, so I my hope is that I can find a minute to update this every so often with pictures and stories of the Ingram Family. Here is an update of what we have all been up to for the last few months.

Chris and Christina...

When we first moved here there were no houses available on base. We found a great house off base, that we absolutely love, but it is a little expensive to live in, so I new I was going to have to work. To be able to still stay at home with the kids, I decided on doing daycare. I began doing daycare in February and have been watching a 2 year old little girl full time since then, and also a 6 year old boy. It is a great job to have because I am able to still stay at home with the kids, but it has also been a challenge for me keeping 4 kids everyday. Needless to say Chris and I have both reached our limit with having other children in our house day in and day out. We made the decision a few weeks ago to try and move on base. We are in a year lease, but the Lord is good and we have awesome understanding landlords who found someone to move into our house August 1st. We were able too get a brand new house on base, we will be the first ones moving onto our street. It is beautiful, and has a big fenced back yard. Moving will also allow me to not work any more. I will probably get a part time job, but my days as a full time child care provide are over in a couple of weeks, and I couldn't be more excited. So July 16th we will be packing up our boxes and heading down the street to our new home which is rent free, and utility free!!!

Chris hurt his ankle about 2 months ago playing in a soccer game. He sprained it really badly
(a 3rd degree) and also tore a ligament. He just started physical therapy this last week and is already finally noticing progress with it. Unfortunatley he should have started doing PT right away and would have probably been right back to normal by now, but that is the lovely, sometimes slow, military health care system. So we are thankful he is finally starting on the road to improvement because he has been hobbling around for a LONG time, and I am tired of mowing the lawn :) He is enjoying his job, and will find out in August if he will be deploying for 6 months in Jan. We will keep you posted. He has also recently started delivering pizzas a few nights a week to help with the money crunch, we don't know how long he will be keeping the job, but for now it is helping out.

What is new with the kids...

Cailey is 4 and a half now and is such a great helper. She even changes the occasional diaper for me, (she is really good at it, if olny Caleb would be still for her) She is turning a dark shade of brown out in this TX sun and is becoming a fish because of all the time we are spending at the pool. She will be starting head start (pre-k) at the end of August, so I feel like my time is short with her. I think Caleb and I are going to be really lonely when August comes around and Cailey is gone all day.

Caleb is almost 2...need I say more. He is talking up a storm now, and is never quiet. He is a sweet boy, but also has a wild, and crazy side. He is definatley all boy. He climbs EVERYTHING and jumps off everything, I have been close to a heart attack many times. He loves his cars, and rocks and balls and collects them and takes them everywhere with us. I am clinging to every last baby moment I have with him, because once he is potty trained, he will no longer have anything baby about him.

That is about it, we are all enjoying TX, we love the warm weather, somedays are too hot, but for the most part we enjoy it and just spend a lot of time at the base pool. We have found a great church, that little by little we are meeting people and becoming involved in. We are so happy to be back in the US, and no that God has a purpose for us here in TX and can't wait to find out what it is.