Bragging Corner...

Just have to take a moment to brag about the other completeness of our family...

Our FANTASTICALLY AWESOME Girls!

Anya- just finished out her first semester of 7th grade with straight A's!  She rocks!  She was not taking a light schedule either, with pre-algebra and Spanish (which earns her a High School Credit).  She also is participating and loving Junior National Honor's Society, and just completed 10 hours of community service.  I am so proud of her and her initiative as she actively sought ways to serve in our community.  She is one fantastically awesome girl!

Hannah-just finished out the semester with straight A's as well!!! And was honored on the "A" honor roll today.  She is rocking 5th grade, running a mile or more every day and also excelling in school.  She is already way above grade level for reading and math, we are so proud of all her hard work!  We are especially proud that she brought her "B" grade in social studies all the way up to an "A+".  So proud of what she can accomplish when she puts her mind to it!

She is one fantastically awesome girl!

Cora-just finished the semester out with excellent scores all around for her grade.  They don't give letter grades for 2nd grade, but she is already well above the level she needs to be at for the end of the school year, and is still showing growth.  She is excelling at math and is already mastering Algebra strands.  We are so proud that she is doing so well in school, and loves it!

She is one fantastically awesome girl!

I am so grateful that our crazy awesome boys have some fantastically awesome girls to look up to as examples!

Life is good!

Crazy Boys.

I always wondered what it would be like to have boys.  Now I know...it is Crazy!

However crazy it is, I do love these tikes so.very.much!

They are constantly doing things to make me smile :):):):):):):):):):)

 They would wear their basketball (athletic) shorts every single day if I would let them.  And you can always find one of them with a baseball mitt in hand at any given moment.

 They like to zoom back and forth on their "motorcycles"

 Make silly faces...

 silly-es

 silly-ness

 and silly-er

I don't know what I would do without my troop of crazy boys.  For one thing, life would be that much duller, and many smiles would be lost through out the day without their crazy antics.  

They make our family and life complete!

Christmas in Prague...after Christmas!

It is no secret that we love, I mean LOVE, Christmas markets.  Germany is not the only country in Europe who holds them, most countries in Europe have towns and cities that host Christmas markets.  One of these is the Czech Republic.  We happen to live very close to the border of Czech, and we found out that their Christmas markets in Prague would be going until Jan. 13.  So, Jan. 5, we packed up the kids and drove a couple hours to one of our favorite cities...Prague!

Where we enjoyed our last Christmas market in Europe!

 I loved the wood carved nativity at the base of this tree...below is a picture closer up.

 Hannah got a new camera for Christmas, so she had fun taking all kinds of pictures and showing us!

 Dad with a market booth in the background.

They all kinds of cool and unique items here.

I left with a corn husk nativity ornament, a nesting doll that is unique (he is a soldier, but every doll inside is different).  I, of course, saw many things I loved and wished I had brought home with me.  

But, alas, I did not. 

 The natural museum and offices in the background.

 I love this cathedral in the center of the old town square!

We decided that no one decorates for Christmas like Prague!

All their trees were decorated to the nines...every single one.  Not just lights, but streaming icicles, ornaments and bows.  It was beautiful, and made the Christmas season seem to last a little bit longer.

 For dinner we had some delicious crepes...a fast favorite in our family!

Bon appetit!

Ice Skating!

The last day of winter break we decided we wanted to do something fun and wintery as a family. We have never taken the kids ice skating before...can you believe it?  Here the rink closes at 6pm, and Dad is rarely home before then, plus it was never an activity I felt comfortable doing on my own with 5 kids...so we didn't go last year.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity!

Hunter was super excited to get his skates on!

Hannah and Jack were both very nervous and skeptical that they would even have any kind of fun.

 Hunter loved going out.  He was my best skating partner!

 They had these great sleds for the kids.  They were able to steady themselves while they figured out how to move their feet in the skates.  It saved them from a lot of falls!  Jack made it all the way around once using a sled.

 Mostly the boys liked to be pushed!  They had a blast, as the girls sped them around the rink on their sleds.  It was perfect!

 By the end of the evening, Anya was really getting the hang of it!

 There goes Hannah and Hunter, speeding by...

It was a great, fun activity.  Some had their doubts that it would be any fun, but by evenings end, all agreed that it was a blast!  They can't wait to go again!

Our most exciting news of the New Year so far...

We have some exciting news...!

Last week we found out that Matt made the Promotion list...he will be promoted to Major later this spring.  We are very excited and very proud of him!

What does this mean for our family (besides a pay raise?), we are for sure moving to Charlottesville, VA this summer!

Matt will be going back to law school at the University of Virginia to receive a masters degree in Military law ( they call it a L.L.M.).

So Matt will be going back to school this coming fall, along with the girls.  Law school will be much different this go around, for one...it will be 2 years shorter then the first time.  Second, we will be getting a steady pay check...no change in his salary. Third, our housing will be paid for.  and Fourth the school is absolutely free...all Majors go, so the military pays for it. All this equals no more student loans this time!  A very good feeling!!

C'ville will be very different compared to the last 8 years of army life we have experienced   We will be living in a college town...not an army town.   So we will not be close to a base at all.  How do I feel about this. Great!  It might be nice to have a break from "army" for awhile and remind myself what real life is like.  Plus, I will be living very close to Target and a  mall...what else do I need for shopping?  I haven't been close to either for 5 years!

See the picture below...this is a sneak peak of where we will be living for the school year 2013/2014.

Isn't this such a cute little cottage?!

It is set up on a hill, so the backyard and garage are below the house.

It is a 4 bedroom, with a dining, eat-in kitchen, living room and family room (with a fireplace...so excited about that, we love fireplaces and have missed not having one!).

Plus it has a laundry room in the basement, as well as storage.

I think it is darling, it may be a bit tight with 5 kids...but I have been living with tight the last two moves, so I can do tight.  Whatever doesn't fit, will go down in storage.  The best part is, it is in the coveted neighborhood everyone wants to live in, when they come to the grad course (army lingo for the guys that come to the JAG law school in VA).  So I am pleased with that.  It is a gated community without the gate...does that make sense?  So there are two clubhouses, several pools (two of which are within walking distance of our house), tennis courts, and a fitness center.  Plus where we are, we are surrounded by trees, hiking and running trails, and little lakes.  Hannah wants to take up fishing, so this will be the perfect opportunity for her!  It may sound like we are out in the woods...but that is the best part, we are not!  Just across the highway from the neighborhood is a Target, Lowes and lots of restaurants (including Panara Bread...a long time favorite from our Ohio Law school days).  

It is quite possibly the perfect location, you get the best of both worlds...the city and country.

The schools are excellent too, some of the best in the school district for that area.

It will be a fun year, and from there...who knows where we will go!

We will keep you posted!

Happy New Years!

I still can't believe it is 2013!  I think we had a great New years Eve.  It was original, I wil say that.

The Jeppson crew spent New Years Eve in Germany this year.  It was a sight to behold.  We had heard it was quite the spectacle, so the kids wanted to experience it first hand.  Some good friends of ours that live in a German village, invited us over to celebrate with them.  Matt had heard they allow fireworks here for the New years celebration.  So he went to a local store and found sparklers that were 2 feet long!  Crazy!  

 Cora sparkling!

Jack sparkling!

Hannah Sparkling!

notice her hand and arm are as covered as then can be.  She is so afraid she will get burned!

 At the strike of midnight all of Germany erupts!  There is just no other word to describe it.  Fireworks explode in the air 360 degrees around you, the church bells start ringing like mad, and all the neighbors pour out into the streets making noise.  After the explosions are over, the neighbors walk up and down the streets shaking everyone's hand and wishing Happy New year to each other.

Doesn't that sound so cool!  I wish American neighborhoods were more like that sometimes.  Anyway, Matt said the only way he could sum up the celebration in words...is how you might feel celebrating a major war is over.  Everyone is loud and exuberant.  

Did I experience this...no, I did not.  I spent my New years away from my "family" in Utah celebrating my little sister's wedding.

She got married Dec. 31, 2012...New Years Eve!

She made a beautiful bride.

 We were all (us siblings) able to make it to the wedding.

On the far left is our Sister-in Law.

It was fun to spend some time with each of my sibs...I miss them!

The wedding party.

Stephen (we call him Oz...long story) picked his little sister to be his "Best man"

She was such a good sport, and even wore a tux.

My dad and his baby girl during their dance.

I thought her cake turned out lovely. 

It was pretty tasty too...Chocolate with raspberry filling...yum!

 The Happy couple!

We also lit sparklers New Years Eve, as we lined up to send the Happy couple on their way to their honeymoon!

It turned out very lovely, and she is so happy!

They gave us a super gift of leaving early enough that we had time to clean everything up and be done by 930pm...still time to party before midnight!  

I headed over to my in-laws house, they always throw a raging New Years Eve party...and played games pretty much the rest of the night!

That is how we spent our New Years Eve! 

Happy 2013 everyone!!