The Girls

ADORABLE!!!
Here are the last of the pictures that we had taken last week. I can't wait to get the pictures back and share them with everyone!!! We have to have my Mom pick them up for us as they do not come in before we leave for Melrose, but we will get them back before we leave the US. Enjoy as I probably will not have anymore pictures to post before we get our desktop computer back the middle of August. Unless of course anyone decides to e-mail me some pictures.

Hannah Ellen-17 months

Here are Hannah's year and a half pictures. She did a great job!!! Now both of the girls just have to have their pictures taken yearly.

Alyssa Nikay-3 years 4 months

Here are a couple of pictures that were taken of Alyssa. It wasn't her time to get pictures taken, so there are not a whole lot of her by herself.

Weekly update

On Wednesday Bill, the girls and I spent most of the day at Splasher's at the Canad Inn. Alyssa went on all the water slides that they had. Even the "toilet slide" as she called it, which was a whole lot of fun. Hannah also enjoyed all the slides, except the toilet slide as she was not old enough. We floated down the lazy river, hung out in the hot tub (when the girls needed to warm up), and spent a whole lot of time just splashing around in all the water.

Wednesday evening we went over to my friend Kristi's Dad's house. Kristi, Chris, Tyler and Emma were in GF visiting from England. The kids had fun playing together. We will get to spend a whole lot more time with them when we move over to Germany. We are very excited about that.

Thursday Uncle Nate made it home to visit from Minneapolis. The girls enjoyed spending the whole weekend with him and can't wait to see him again in Minneapolis before we leave next week.

Yesderday (Saturday the 26th), my Sister and Mom had a going away party for us. That was a whole lot of fun for everyone that was there. We had great food, played games, and visited with family. That evening Mom, Dad and Breanna watched the girls for us so we could go on a party bus. Alyssa really liked having Breanna spend the night with her, it was like a sleepover. My Uncle drove the bus for us along with my Aunt LouAnn, we all had a blast hanging out together. It was Nichole, Pete, Nate, Deb, Sam, Brenda, Bill and I that all went.

Our Family Pictures...

So, here are the family pictures that we had taken last week. And to answer my last post we are going to be having a baby boy!!! We are all very excited and would have been just as excited if we were told we were having a little girl. It will definatley be a new experience for everyone. Auntie Nichole got to tell Alyssa and she was so excited that she was screaming and laughing up a storm. She has wanted a baby boy since she found out that we were having another baby. She said his name would be Aladin Vladimir Gruenes. We had to let her know that we would not be naming our little guy Aladin, so she was not disappointed when the baby arrives in December.

We're having a Baby....

So, we had our ultrasound today are there any guesses on the sex of the baby??? The heart rate was in the 140's. I am going to keep all of you guessing until I post next, so for those of you that know don't give it away.

Last Week

I am trying my best to get all of you caught up on what we have been up to. The pictures of course will come later, unless some of you e-mail me some that I can post. We are just leaving all the pictures on the camera until we get our desktop computer back the middle of August. It's just easier that way.

Anyway, Bill, the girls and I spent 5 days at the Holiday Inn. Alyssa and Hannah really enjoyed the water park there and they can't wait to go to Splashers in the Canad Inn.

We finally decided that we need to do a family picture before we move, so we got Hannah's 17th month (suppose to be 18 month, but oh well), pictures of the girls together and our family picture. We had to do them in two sessions, two different days. I figured we would not be doing professional pictures again until we are back in the states again, so why not. The family pictures didn't turn out the best, but at least we got them done. The girls didn't want to cooperate.

Last Friday I went to the casino in Devils Lake with my Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law. I didn't make any money, but I had a good time just spending time with my family.

Last Saturday was Bill's going away party with his shop. We all met at Buffalo Wild Wings, as usual, then went to a few bars afterwards. I went back to Mom and Dad's and gave the girls a bath and got them to bed, then I met up with Bill and some other people from his shop.

Yesterday Alyssa, Grandma, Auntie Nichole, and I all got haircuts. I can't wait to post a picture of Alyssa's new haircut. She got it cut to her shoulders and it's just adorable. We finally got to save a lock of her hair for her baby book, she has only gotten it trimmed in the past. Thanks Kaylie!!!

The Fertile Fair

Bill, Alyssa, Hannah & I headed for Fertile Fair last Friday, the 11th. We spent the afternoon/evening with LaVonne, Bruce, Marissa & MarJenna. The girls had a blast feeding the animals and eating all that fair food. We spent the night in Winger, MN with the McWilliam Family. Saturday afternoon we headed back to the fair. Alyssa & Hannah were in the 4-H Fashion Review with Marissa & MarJenna. They spent the rest of the afternoon on fair rides, a first for both of them. Needless to say Alyssa fell asleep in my lap eating ice cream, that's a first. So, since the weather wasn't the best anyway we decided to head back to Grand Forks.

July 7th

I just wanted to let all of you know that my cerclage was put in on the 7th and everything went as planned. I had a little more spotting this time, but everything is now just fine. I have an ultrasound and doctor's appointment scheduled for next week and that will be my final appointment until we get to Germany. Bill and I are hoping that they will be able to determine the sex of the baby. The girls spent the day with Auntie Nichole & Uncle Pete and had a blast as usual.

4th of July!!!

Bill made it home safely around 1:00 on the 4th of July. Bill, Alyssa, Hannah, Mom, Nichole, Pete and I spent the rest of the day celebrating the 4th of July. We went into downtown Grand Forks where the girls got to each ride a pony, go through the petting zoo, bounce in all kinds of bouncy castles and Alyssa also went on a horse carriage ride with Grandma, Auntie and Uncle. We got to eat Uffda-Taco's, elephant ears, cheese curds and mini donuts, yummy (our afternoon snack)!!! We went back to the house and grilled out then headed back for the 4th of July fireworks show which finally started at 10:30. Needless to say the girls were sleeping by the time we got back home at 11:30. We all had a very fun filled day!!! I will post some pictures later.

Update

Well, we are all officially moved out of our house. They came last Tuesday and packed up the majority of our stuff. Wednesday they finished packing and put everything in to wooden crates and sealed it all up. We spent the rest of the week cleaning our house all up. Monday the other movers came and packed up our early shipment, which we should get just eight days after we arrive in Germany. Everything else should be there sometime the beginning of September. Tuesday we passed our housing inspection and Bill headed to his parents house to get our van to St. Louis. Bill and his parents made it safely to St. Louis and dropped the van off this morning, which we should get by the end of August. Last time I talked to Bill they were stopping to eat and had just three hours to go to get back to Melrose. So, Bill will be home tomorrow to spend the 4th of July with us!!!

I'm not sure how often I will get pictures on the blog, but I will try to keep you updated on our moving/baby status.