Day trip to Taormina

Hello loved ones!

It was beautiful here this weekend! We decided to take advantage of the weather and destress after a crazy week by heading up the coast to Taormina. Lindsay has been here about six times already but Derrick only once when we first moved to the island. Taormina is a small touristy town up high on the rocks, hanging over the ocean. The water below is crystal blue and the town is extremely clean and charming! Our favorite thing to do is try the different flavors of gelato. Valerie always has strawberry :) I don't have too many pics of the town itself unfortunately because my camera died after we got there! grrrr!!

On our way out we got stuck by a heard of sheep. Mt. Etna was so clear today so we thought we'd share the scenary.

Just a few pics--

Ellie at the park on Sunday- The girls before church last week-

Uh oh daddy.. watch out! She's flirtin'!! Valerie and her pal Reese after their gym class today-

Every girl needs a tutu...

Several months ago (think pre-Halloween) my mom ran out to the store for me to get a bunch of tulle for me so that I could make the girls each a tutu. I have basically put it off for fear of ruining it! Today I decided to go ahead and make it while Ellie is standing but not yet running away so I can get some great photos of the girls out with the beautiful flowers (a perk of living in Sicily!!)

Photoshoot to come-- but thought I'd share the tutu! If you want to make it.. simply take some elastic (about 1/2" thick) and wrap it around your kiddo's waist. You want to pull it a little bit so it's stretched. I literally just stapled it several times (once off the kid!) to hold it in place. You can sew it if you want.. but the tulle will totally cover it and it held up to my strength! Next cut about 6" strips of tulle to the length you want, double it so you can fold and tie to the elastic. I literally just tied each chunk on and it was a new sew project! Val just tried it on-- here's the finished product for Valerie and the model testing it out. We'll head out when the weather is nice for some pretty pics somewhere!

after all.. every girl deserves to spend some point in her life in a tutu.. right??

The rest of the trip...

.. and then I'm done with massive amts of photos, I promise!

While playing in the snow was fun, there was lots more to do and see in Indiana! We took several day trips to Chicago to the museums, eat a good hot dog, and meet the Stilwells at Navy Pier! (which some how I have no photos of!! ugg.) We spent lots of time visiting family and friends around Lindsay's parents and even a small road trip for the weekend to Ohio for a Coe family xmas! On the way back we stopped in Indy for a few hours at the Children's Museum. The girls had a blast but were absolutely exhausted by the end (I think we all were!) We had a couple weeks of jet lag and getting back to schedule but all in all it was a wonderful trip! Here are a few highlights:

Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jeff at the Science & Industry museum with Val

Great Grandma Ruth meets Eleanor
Ellie had her first Christmas!
Xmas Eve-

To see more photos including the Ohio gang click here:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=214083458/a=26991588_26991588/t_=26991588

Snow Fun!

After our week in FL we flew in to Chicago to lots of snow and weather in the 20's! This was a bit of a shock to our systems after the 80+ degree day we had in Sea World the day before!! Eeek!

Anyone who has talked to Valerie in the past month knows that she is currently obsessed with snowmen. She reads snowmen books, draws them constantly, and even arranges the food on her plate to look like a snowman. Her morning request is lately snowman pancakes. Therefore it was absolutely a treat and of high anticipation that Val got to build her first snowman ever (and Derrick's too!!!) at Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Debbie's. For clarification purposes, it was a bit too cold to actually build a nice snowman and the sun was setting soon. We had to pack the snow in the backyard where the sun was still warming it and bring it to the front for all to see (of course!).

To see the rest of the photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=214062855/a=26991588_26991588/t_=26991588

Off to FL we go!

To start the trip we had a long day (and night) of traveling ahead of us. Luckily we were able to get the baby bassinet/front row seat and the girls slept the entire flight. Our wonderful friends, the Stilwell's picked us up and let us sleep in Chicago although unfortunately the girls had no plan on sleeping that night! We flew out to sunny FL the next morning!

The vacation started with a week in FL to visit Derrick's family! Valerie enjoyed walking around with her Aunt Heather in the mornings "helping" to feed the animals on the Johnson farm and run around. Eleanor was excited to meet her new family members. We enjoyed a trip to Sea World and had an early Christmas dinner with the whole family. Unfortunately we had to leave too soon as we had lots of traveling left to do! Here are a few photos from the trip- and those who would like to see more can click the link at the bottom!

There are lots more on our snapfish accnt: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=214056931/a=26991588_26991588/t_=26991588

Stay tuned- Val finally gets to make her snowman in snowy Indiana!

Let's try this again, shall we?

Hello friends and family!

We are attempting to get organized this year and actually stay in touch on a regular basis. It is becoming increasingly difficult as we increase in #'s both at home and in our email address book so we decided to try to do this blog thing again. Our long lost blog died somewhere in 2005 so here's a new start!! I hope to update often with news, ramblings, and of course photos-- so bookmark this and check back often!

January has already started off to be a very busy month for the Powell's. Derrick is scheduled to leave very *soon* and training and long hours are already in full swing. The girls have finally gotten over their jet lag and back on track which makes for a happy mama. I think we have officially decided to stay in Europe until we are scheduled to move back as the other passengers who endured a 9 hour flight with our girls would agree!

We had a wonderful time in the US for the few weeks we were there! It was a bit exhausting trying to squeeze in both families and friends in to a short visit; however, we are so glad to have gotten a bit of time in and a break from the hussle and bussle of pre-deployment "stuff!" I will attempt to blog a post at a time about our trip with some photos--- so stay tuned!