Sunday, January 23, 2011

Korea or Bust!

From 2011-01-23

Yup, you read that right. Ryan has been selected to be the Squadron Commander at Osan AB, Korea and we will be moving there as a family this summer. Overall we are very excited about this. Of course it takes us far away from family and friends again, but it is a fantastic opportunity for Ryan and another 2 years of keeping our family of 4 together. Just another adventure for the Bak4More clan!

To celebrate Ryan's selection for this job I surprised him with a night out.
From 2011-01-23
Special thanks to Calvin for taking the picture!

It was so nice to have a night out to talk about this new job and the move without having to stop and play referee with the kids! After dinner I had a couple more surprises up my sleeve....dessert and champagne!
From 2011-01-23
It was a so much fun to surprise him and to do something special. We really don't do it enough. But being selected to be a Squadron Commander is a big deal, and I just couldn't let it go without a little celebration.

Congratulations Honey!!! You are going to be the best Squadron Commander the Air Force has ever seen!! I Love you and I am so very proud of you!

It's a New Dawn....

a new day, a new life, and I'm feeling GOOD!!! That's my theme song right now!
From 2011-01-23
After 5 months on Weight Watchers I have lost over 25 lbs and 3 jean sizes, and I am not done yet! I am healthier now than I have ever been in my life; I am running 2.5 miles 3 to 4 times a week and actually enjoying it!

In case you have forgotten what I even looked like before check this out!
From December 2010
It is my new year's resolution to NEVER gain that weight back!

Cause it's a NEW DAWN!!!!

Happy New Year!!

Hello 2011! This New Year's Eve we started a new tradition. We had a fun family night at home with the kids. Everyone got to pick ANYTHING they wanted for dinner, snack and dessert. Calvin picked Cheeseburger and Doritos.
From December 2010
Alayna picked macaroni and chese and Doritos.
From December 2010
And they both got to have sparkling grape juice! For dessert they picked Hot Fudge Sundaes. Ryan and I ate Prime Rib....YUM!

We played games as a family and watched a movie together. One of the games we played was Just Dance 2, which Alayna got from Santa. Calvin is quite the little dancer!

We had hats and blowers and confetti and the kids actually made it till midnight! It was a fun night and certainly a tradition we are looking forward to keeping for years to come.

Christmas 2010 - part 2

This is part 2 of our Christmas in Wisconsin. We arrived at the Bakazan's mid-day on Christmas day, and again we were so blessed to have the entire family together for the first time in ages.
From December 2010
And the best part was that we got to meet baby Darren for the first time! He is such a sweet little baby!
From December 2010
And the kids just loved him.
From December 2010
But Calvin was especially fond of him and wanted to always be wherever Darren was and talked about all the fun things he was going to teach him someday. It was so sweet!
From December 2010
We decorated our Happy Birthday Jesus cake with Grandma and then sang happy birthday and blew out the candles after dinner.
From December 2010
It was a very nice and relaxed Christmas. Then the next day was baby Darren's baptism, and Ryan was the Godfather. I don't know what happened, but it seems I didn't take any pictures that day :( But Darren was so good and never cried once, it was a very nice service and a great party.

That afternoon we were all just hanging out in the house and when I looked up there were 2 dear walking around in the back yard!
From December 2010
It was the craziest thing!

The very last stop on our whirlwind Christmas tour was stopping in to see Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy.
From December 2010
And we got to meet another new baby....baby Sophia! She was so happy and smiley! What a little cutie! And I am so honored that they have asked me to be her Godmother.
From December 2010
I can't wait to spoil her rotten!

Calvin and Jake are buddies and played so well together.
From December 2010
Our trip back to Wisconsin was short but sweet and it was so nice to spend time with the ENTIRE family. With everyone living this military life it doesn't happen very often, but it is so wonderful when it does.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Christmas 2010 - part 1

Oh my Goodness! What a wonderful Christmas we had back in Wisconsin with ALL of our family together for the first time in ages.
From December 2010
I am going to try and keep this post short, but it will be difficult since there were so many awesome things. We were at my parents house first, and there was a ton of snow on the ground. There were snowball fights,
From December 2010
and Jabba the Snowman,
From December 2010
oh and there was LOTS of sledding on the kids new snow tubes!
From December 2010
From December 2010
Even Nana went down!
From December 2010
And Uncle Macharia, my sister's husband, went sledding for the first time in his WHOLE LIFE!!!
From December 2010
And the big event was that Calvin got a Red Rider BB Gun from Papa!
From December 2010
He was soooo excited and did a really good job shooting it,and being very responsible with it. And to be honest I don't know who liked that present more, Calvin or all the adults! We all took our turn shooting it and even had some friendly competition!
From December 2010


Christmas Eve was the Ninmann Christmas, which is my Mom's side of the family. It is always a good time and one of our favorite things every year. Again it was the first time that whole side of the family had been together in years as well.

On Christmas morning we opened tons of gifts. Calvin's favorite was his new DS.
From December 2010
And Alayna LOVED her new talking Jessie doll.
From December 2010
Mid-morning on Christmas day we headed to the Bakazan's for the rest of our vacation. I think I will put that in a separate post since I have not succeeded in keeping this very short!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Snow Day!!

So back in December my kids had their very first EVER snow day! They haven't even seen snow since the winter of 2007, so they were VERY excited. We of course made some snow angels in the back yard.
From December 2010
From December 2010
And then a neighbor kid was nice enough to share his sleds with us so they could go sledding.
From December 2010
To say they had fun is a complete understatement!
From December 2010
Calvin even got pretty brave and stood up on the sled!
From December 2010
And quickly fell down!
From December 2010
But my little Alayna.....her favorite part was eating the snow!
From December 2010
Don't worry we have talked about the importance of only eating white snow!

After more than an hour of fun we came in for a little hot chocolate.
From December 2010
And Alayna about 5 seconds before she spilled the entire cup!
From December 2010
Thanks to Nana and Papa we now have sleds are are anxiously awaiting the next snow day!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

The first weekend of December Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit. We had a great time and the kids loved having them around. Alayna was attached to Grandma like glue the whole time!
From December 2010
The first night they were here Ryan treated us all to an amazing Prime Rib dinner.
From December 2010
And we test drove our Candy Cane Martini recipe that we were planning to use for our big Christmas party a couple weeks later.
From December 2010
The martinis were a huge success and we have been giving out the recipe ever since.

The next night Grandpa took us all out for Mexican food and everyone loved it and ate way too much!
From December 2010
Thanks Grandpa!

On Sunday the boys went to a local Sports Bar to watch the Packer game. Calvin thought it was the greatest thing ever!
From December 2010
He LOVES football right now and he also LOVES spending time with his Grandpa so it was win - win for him.
From December 2010
And of course Grandma always brings some little gifts for the kids.....here is Alayna modeling her new outfit!
From December 2010
We had a great long weekend with them and we are so happy they came. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, we love you!