Deja Vu

As I was cleaning the house and getting last minute things for Julie's arrival, the feeling of déjà vu came over me. Three years ago, almost to the day, we said our goodbyes to Derek as he went off to basic training. Less than a week later, we picked up Julie from the airport for the very first time as she was about to embark on her journey as a foreign exchange student.

 And here we are now, welcoming Julie back "home" again just six days after Derek left for training for his new army job after being promoted to sergeant! So weird.

Only fortunately, Derek is only away for ten days, not nine months this time. And I won't be having a baby while he's gone. :) 

It's been sort of a joke around here about the army seems to just have something against Julie. And not only because he was gone for the first several months when she lived with us, but because he often has army duty when she flys in, flys out, or has a graduation party. For being Danish, she's far more familiar with US Army life than many Americans. (She once told me that attending Derek's basic training graduation was one of the coolest things she experienced in America.)

The kids have been so excited all day. They have each taken turns being Julie and sleeping in her bed. And while we were at Target picking up some last minute Julie-essentials (like fruit loops and sweet tea) they told everybody... EVERY SINGLE PASSER-BYER that Julie was coming. Now, the two high ladies behind us in line were fortunate enough to hear our entire family lineage, our ages, and pretty much everything other than my social security number. What can I say, my kids are enthusiastic and they know no strangers.

The ride home was spent with the kids fussing over whose turn it was to talk while Julie and I started catching up. The déjà vu slipped away at this point as I realized how much she's grown over the past three years (and not just taller!). No longer a 15 year-old living to play basketball... She's now 18 and deciding on college majors and looking for jobs! 

I'm looking forward to the fun we'll have over the next couple week...  Especially when we head to Chicago next week!!! 

Julie's back... Again!!!!

Yes! Our favorite Dane has come back to visit once again! There is a certain little boy who is soooooo exited to have her back! (We are all very excited, but Jackson is the only one who had an asthma attack from running/jumping/hollering due to so much excitement.)

Due to an internet outage, I'm posting from my phone and so I don't want to go into the ridiculousness we went through to pick Julie up from the airport. Poor Julie got off the plane with no one to greet her! :( But we did find her after lots of running and frantic searching.

There's also a good story of how I didn't get Julie's flight info before she started traveling, so after scouring the internet with only her arrival time, I decided I needed to email her family...not all speak English! But I was desperate to find her flight number so we wouldn't have to wander through every terminal looking! Her brother saved the day, but we still wandered (ran) through two out of three terminals anyway...

Anyways...

Jackson was SO excited to show Julie the sign he made with Grammy! And like I mentioned, he was ecstatic to see her and he barely l left her side all evening.

Even though I knew she'd be so tired from 20 hours of travel, I planned a surprise welcome party for her! Many if her favorite friends were here to welcome her back to the states. Everyone was just as happy to see get as she was to see everyone else!

And lastly, Julie got to see her new room! And by new room, I mean brand spanking new. Like... I just finished sanding and painting this morning. Just last week, it was barely even framed. But thanks to many volunteers the room has been wired, drywalled, sanded, and painted with doors and lights installed too!

(because I'm posting from my phone,I can't caption or pick the placement of   photos--they are ask just stuck at the end!)

She's back!

Our favorite Dane is back!! According to Jackson, Julie is back from Capenhogen. Ha, it's close, right? 

Jackson has been especially hyper ever since we picked her up from the airport Friday night. He just can't get enough of her and he is glad he can finally have his birthday {we've told him all along that he will have his birthday party while she is here visiting}. 

We went up to Trenton for the Missouri Days festival on Saturday. Julie was Jackson's partner in collecting candy {and other goodies} from the parade!  

Jackson is so impressed that people actually throw candy {though not quite like last year-- please rewatch that video. So funny}. And he kept checking inventory of his loot.

And of course, Julie was excited to see Belle, who has grown so much in the past four months!

{In case that wasn't clear, it is Belle that has grown so much. Not Julie. She actually shrank a little.}

 And we happened to run into Chacey too! Chacey has major Julie withdrawal and apparently asks about her a lot. How cute are they?

Julie has used the phrase "our house" or "our home" a few times and that really, really makes me happy! We're going to have a great week- a busy week, but it will be good!

{be sure to check out the giveaway going on for party invitations and decorations!}

Rewind: Julie's Going Away Party

One year ago today, I drove to the airport to pick up a pretty Danish girl from the airport. I hardly knew much about her, but was so excited to spent the year getting to know her. It's crazy to look back and think it's only been a year because I just can't really imagine my life without her!

It's been almost two months since Julie left, but we had a big going away party before she did! Tons of people came, of course- because Julie is just super fun person and so many people enjoyed having her in their lives this past year. We all wanted to make sure that she felt tons of love here in the states as she traveled back home to the people who loved her first. It's about time I finally get around to posting about it!

There were lots of friends:

Lots of food:

and lots of fun!

She had two delicious cakes

And we gave her a hard time about choosing to eat from the Danish flag!

I can’t believe Julie has been gone for almost 8 weeks now. We miss her like crazy, but she’s been having a blast back home. We Skype and email to keep in touch. She spent a week in Italy at the beach with friends earlier this month and is currently in Paris with her mom, so I’d say she’s having lots of fun adjusting to home life! She does have plane tickets to come visit in October-YAY!! Super excited.

They loved her first

Well, Julie flew home yesterday. Doesn't it seem like she just got here!? The good-bye was pretty teary, but I managed myself pretty well... Until I came home at the end of the day to an empty house. Ugh. It's been awful! I've been in a complete bummed out mood for the past two day; it's almost as bad (if not worse) than a bad breakup. If I had my way, I would spend the next week on the couch watching the Gilmore Girls eating chocolate ice cream!! It doesn't help that Derek is on active duty this week. Not just because it makes me extra lonely, but there's no one to tell me to stop eating fudge pops.

I am forcing myself to think happy thoughts, so I am sharing some of my favorite pics from the past year.

Jackson is wearing Julie's basketball uniform and shoes!

I stole this next pic from her mom's facebook page, but it was too cute not to share! Look how happy her dad is to see her. This has taken the sting away a little bit. She's back with her family and they have missed her so much! Seriously, do you just feel the happiness from this picture?!?!

This has been a ridiculously busy time. Like, too busy to blog! *GASP* So many updates coming soon, once Derek manages to put the keys back on my laptop. Yes, again. I get bonus points for making this blog post happen with half of my letters missing.

We are off to St. Louis tomorrow for my nephew's second birthday! It's also our 5th wedding anniversary tomorrow, but Derek's got a date with the army, so I will just celebrate with our cute little third anniversary present!

Julie's Graduation

Last night was Julie's graduation! It was such a good time. On the way home, Julie said to me "Tonight was just perfect" and it really, really was! 

With friends before the ceremony

Walking in

Julie receiving her piece of paper that says that grades and diplomas will  be released at a later time diploma

 The slide show!

A very talented girl from their class played the guitar and 

sang an original song. It was so good!

The tossing of the hats!

Then onto the reception! 

In my unbiased opinion, Julie had the best table. 

Here's a collection of some of the stuff she's done over the past year- sporting tickets, museum passes, birthday invitations, plane ticket here... she's been busy!

Lots and lots of pictures with friends!

(I told Julie that she was Kate Middleton today and I was her paparazzi. To which Derek replied, "Who's that?! ... uhm... has he been living under a rock!? )

My parents and sister came down and Granpda came too!

These two are funny together.

Julie and I have fun together too. I am going to miss this girl!

It has been a super fabulous, albeit busy, week with making graduation posters, attending final concerts, and getting her all situated to finish the school year and all ready for graduation. It was all super fun and I had a great time with it all, but there is a part of me delighted to know that I won't have to do this again for another 16 years.

The week Christian came to visit

This past week flew by in a blur! With Julie's brother, Christian, in town we were busy from sun-up and way past sun-down cramming in as much as possible. We tried our best to let him experience our every day American life and to see the things our city has to offer. I had so much fun playing host mom/tour guide. Here's a recap of some of the things we did!

Thursday, April 21st
Christian spent the day with Julie at school-- just what every 21-year-old guy wants to do when he visits America, on his Easter holiday no less! But it was good for him to see what Julie's been up to while she's been here and he even ended up with homework. More on that later. That evening we had planned on going to the Royals game so he could experience some baseball, but the weather was terrible so we lucked out that our hockey team had a play off-game instead! Christian's a hockey player (he even played on Denmark's national team!) so he explained a lot of what we didn't understand!

Friday, April 22nd
With the little kids and the Danish siblings, we all crowded into the car to go visit Derek at work and then headed over to Oklahoma Joe's BBQ, which was the one place Julie really wanted him to eat. Kansas City is known for the having the best BBQ and Oklahoma Joe's is definitely my favorite. Christian was pleased as well, as his comment was "This is the best sandwich I've ever had." That night we grilled burgers and then Julie and Christian went to a birthday party, where they serenaded the birthday girl with the Danish birthday song!

Saturday, April 23
The day started off with the Easter Egg hunt at church. After lunch, we headed up to the city. Christian was eager to tour the World War I museum (the only one in the country) and then he and Julie went to the top of the Liberty Memorial tower for the great view of the city. We headed over to the Hallmark Visitor's Center next and even go to see a Danish greeting card in the international display case! Before heading home, we stopped at Yogurtini. YUM!

Sunday, April 24th
We got all dressed up and headed to church for Easter Sunday. Christian was a good sport as he was succumbed to posing for pictures!

We headed to Wal-Mart on Sunday afternoon. As a Dane, he was excited to go as he's just heard so much about this empire called Wal-Mart and as an American, I generally have a bad attitude about going into the ginormous store! Christian was even more excited as he realized exactly how much cheaper items are here in the states than at home. Later on Sunday evening, we had friends over to hang out and Christian got to experience making and eating a S'more!!!

Monday, April 25th
This was a busy day! First, Christian had to go back to school... to teach a class!! He is studying mathematics at the Univeristy of Copenhagen (actuarial mathematics, to be exact) and so Mrs. Dahmer invited him to teach Monday's lesson to the Pre-Calculus class. I would shoot myself if any vacation I took involved pre-calc, but he seemed to enjoy it and did a great job!

Per Christian's request, we had more BBQ for lunch. This time, Arthur Bryant's. He agrees with me; it's good, but not as good as Oklahoma Joe's. Then we headed over to do some shopping at the outlet malls, where he and Julie were super excited about the strength of the Danish krone to our dollar- specifically at Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21 (for his girlfriend), Converse, and Banana Republic.

Before leaving the shopping center, I took them into Cabela's. In the parking lot, I told them both that this store was unlike any store they'd ever visited. I'm getting a good chuckle just remembering their faces as we walked in... to see the mountain (literally) of stuffed animals that used to be alive, enough camouflage to clothe an army of hillbillies, and a wall full of hundreds of guns. The guns, specifically, were amazing to him as Denmark (and most of Europe) doesn't have the same appreciation for our second amendment.

Tuesday, April 26th
This is the day Christian had to fly home. But on our way to the airport, we did stop at Dilliard's for one last item to take back home for his honey. Julie was super bummed to say good-bye, but reality is that she will be on that same journey in just a few weeks. We heard that the flight out of Kansas City was delayed so he missed his connecting flight to Frankfurt. But it all worked out when he ended up traveling to a different route; he was only three hours later than expected and he got a first class seat on his trans-atlantic flight. You've seen how tall the guy is- I am so sure he totally loved all that leg room, especially on that long flight!

We had such a good time! I has taken a couple days of recovering to get all rested up from our super busy week. Julie, Christian, and any one of their family will forever be welcome in our home! And anybody who ever wants to visit, actually!