happy birthday buddy

lucas turned one year old last sunday.  luckily grandma and grandpa were able to make it our to his birthday party along with a few friends.  a pretty good time was had by all...  and lucas really liked the cake! 

march update

hello everyone.  we’re sorry we haven’t posted in a while.  it has been a really busy time here in casa del pietz.  recapping the last couple months...

if you’re reading this you probably know we’re due to move this summer.  i’ll (jesse) be going back to school for a while so that’s where we’re headed.  we expect to move in august-ish to be ready for the fall term.  the catch is we still don’t know where we are going.  one place seems more likely that the other options at this point but the military life dictates that we understand it’s never a sure thing until you get your orders!  more to follow on that...

in other news, my promotion board results came out a few weeks ago (link) and i got selected to be promoted to major.  of course it will be another year or so until the promotion actually occurs, but good news nonetheless.

we’re getting ready for lucas’ 1st birthday party.  that’s right he’ll be one in one week (March 14th, same as einstein!).  we don’t have anything crazy planned, just getting together at the youth center on base with friends.  dad and phyllis will be there too!  there will be cake, ice cream, a bouncy castle, and more toys.  woohoo!

gabby has been taking swimming lessons (in addition to the pre-school, gymnastics, and music classes she had already been doing).  i think we finally found something that sparks her interest enough to be worth the time and money we put into it.  she really loves swimming and i’m sure she’ll be good at it too since she’s gonna have clown shoe sized feet!

gabby has been learning to read!  we are really excited about that.  for the last month or so she’s been part of a reading group in pre-school.  right now she’s reading these little books that have a couple of words on each page with two, three or four letters in them - like to, mat, cat, tree, etc.  maybe she can help me in school next year?!?

lucas isn’t walking yet.  we think he’s quite satisfied with crawling right now.  he has four teeth - two on top and two on the bottom - all right in the front.  the top two are kinda big and have a little gap between them.  if he had a little flat tail we’d call him the beev!  he does not like baby food of any kind.  he’s gotta eat whatever we’re eating - rice, beans, veggies, steak, ice cream, cookies, whatever, bring it on!  he really needs more teeth.  above all his, weakness is milk shakes.  a couple of weeks ago we were in the mall and we got a milk shake.  being how he is - gotta have what mom and dad are having - he campaigned for a sample.  game over.  if that boy gets within 25 years of a plastic cup with a straw in it, he thinks it’s a milk shake, and goes absolutely berserk.

adriana is holding it all together.  needless to say she’s a busy lady.  she took her braces off a few weeks ago (after having them on for two years), and her teeth look amazing!

we’re trying to squeeze in one last trip before we leave europe, got a new car, wind storm blew the dish off the roof so we have no tv, it’s march and we had six inches of snow yesterday, got some new knives and pans for the kitchen, and sunscreen is my new best friend.

life is good!