Legos

I had heard relentless tears for four years of how I gave the girls' Legos away before we moved to Japan. If I had known that they loved them that much I would have never given them away. So this year they all got Legos for Christmas. They got a City set that makes houses along with cars, police sets and a beach set. They have played with them non-stop. Charlie gave me the thumbs up on how that was the perfect present for them. So today while we were out running errands, Charlie stops by the Lego section of our BX and picks out this Castle set. (There he goes spoiling them again.) The girls were so surprised and grateful when we showed it to them. Right away they got to work on building it.

Separating the pieces:
Daddy being silly and attacking them with a dragon:

Still working hard:

Almost done:

Finished!

I guess this the closest Charlie will have to playing with boys. He's commented many times on how I'll never be able to give him a boy. Good Grief!

BTW, while the girls have been playing Legos non-stop, this has been Charlie for the past week non-stop.

He deserves it though. Work has been rough lately and he's just finally starting to feel relaxed after months. Oh, and he's clear to go scuba again so be looking out for some underwater posts coming soon!

New Year's Resolutions

2010 is just a day away. I've been thinking about the new year, the many changes it will bring and what changes I can make as well.

Things that WILL happen in 2010:
1. we're moving to a new land
2. the kids (and we) will have to adjust to new surroundings
3. the kids will start new schools
4. Charlie will start a new job (and I will start working??? what?)

Our New Year's resolutions:
1. buy a house
2. look to the good things in life
3. be more creative
4. think of others before myself
5. be more patient (do I really want to commit to this one?)

Good plan, lets just hope we can stick to it. The new "list" comes out in 2 weeks. We can't wait to see what's on it and think about the possibilities it may bring (Just praying that it's not filled with the northwest. Been there. Done that. Don't want to do it again! I'm a southern girl.).

Soon Enough

It's driving me NUTS! The house is a mess (to my standards anyway!). Charlie and I made a plan for this week:

1. to truly enjoy our time off
2. to not worry about the house
3. rest
4. play video games (or do whatever I want) ALL day

So it's day 4. I did do some laundry today (well, I had to. I can't let it go past 2 days. That would be insane.) I also had the kids wash dishes (can't let that one go long either). Today I even vacuumed once (it really needed it).

For the most part we have been doing absolutely nothing. It's been nice. Next week will be here soon enough and the craziness will start again. I already know what I'll be doing! We have 150 days left on this island. We don't have orders yet but they'll be here before we know it. I don't want to wait until the last minute to get things done.

Little by little I've been cleaning up, sending things to the thrift store, thinking about what needs to stay and go. The girls and I have been talking about their new rooms, how it's going to look and how they want to decorate it. I made a memory board with each girl. They picked out their fabric and ribbons and we designed it together. With the leftover fabric we made pillows for their beds. They each got new rugs for their room for Christmas. It's funny how I had bought them months ago but they matched the fabric they had picked out perfectly. I'll have to blog about them later. I have no idea if these kinds of rugs are in the states but I couldn't pass them up. They are THE softest rugs I have ever felt. The price was amazing. I'm thinking about picking up some more for our bedroom before we leave.

I know the time is going to fly by but at the same time we still have 5 complete months left here. I can't get into the thought that we are on our way out the door. There is still plenty of time to have to keep focused on what's at hand. The girls will finish the school year, clubs, maybe even fit soccer in there somewhere and Charlie is finishing up some work and school. 5 months = 20 weeks = 150 days = 3,600 hours = 216,000 mins. = plenty of time to stay focused.

Beanie Men

I don't really know what you call these but we call them their little beanie men. I'm sure they've been out in the states for years (I wouldn't know) but we've started seeing these pop up in Japan just recently. They are just pillows in different sizes and colors filled with teeny tiny beads. My girls haven't let go of them. They are addicting. Once you feel one, you can't put it down. I actually fell asleep on one yesterday. Charlie says he wants one (just a round one because he can't be caught snuggling up with a dude) now I want one too. And I just saw Sandy snuggling up with one as I walked by to check on the kids.

The Morning After

We made the kids go to bed at 1am. They had been up for 21 hours playing non-stop. That's how you know it's been a great day! So this morning this is how we found them all snuggled up. This picture was taken at 10 am. It's noon now and they are still asleep. They are catching up and I'm leaving them alone. They've got all week to play and I'm not worried that they won't sleep tonight.

It's Christmas Day!!

The girls woke us up at 4 am to open gifts on Christmas Day! Charlie and I so did not want to get up. We were enjoying our sleep. But we managed and all ran down stairs to let the girls dive into their presents. Everyone was good this year and received everything on their list.

Jasmine got an iPod clock, movies, games, things for her room and clothes.

Charlie got the two video games he wanted. He was so patient not buying it before Christmas unlike years past. He also got a massage seat, clothes and movies.

I got a new Coach purse! along with a digital frame, jewelry box and candles.

Maya got Legos, games, books, pj's and slippers.

Kiera got an iPod nano, Wii games, DS games, movies, and books.

We spent the rest of the day playing with all the gifts.

Jasmine is sharing her remote control truck with Kiera. Our friends, Jasmine and Phil spent the day with us also.

We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! It was great talking to you all on the phone. We miss all of you and hope to see you next year!

Our Anniversary

Charlie and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary today, Christmas Eve! I can't believe it's been that long. It does not feel like it. Charlie is the greatest husband and father ever.

Since it's Christmas Eve we do what everyone else does the day before Christmas, our last minute shopping. At least it was a beautiful day here in Okinawa so we took a ride on the Harley. Once we returned home, we watched Christmas movies with the kids, prepared the turkey for dinner and let the girls open one gift each. It's always a tradition in our house (and it keeps the kids tied over for one more day).

In the summer we'll really celebrate our anniversary. And since we'll be coming home next summer it sure will be a celebration!

My Birthday!

We had a great time celebrating my birthday by going to see Tops in Blue! They are the Air Force's entertainment group. They are real military members whom are selected to take a year off from their regular work duties and perform all over the world. This year's program was dedicated to dreams.

The show was great but the best part was the ending. The 2nd guy from the left, playing trumpet, sounded like Shachmo. He was awesome.

After the concert we had dinner at Chili's. It was so good. And no, they didn't sing to me. We were actually so tired and ready to go home that we didn't even stay for dessert.

So Far...

So far for my birthday I've had the privilege to be woken up extra early to be told that Maya has vomited in her bed.

Great.

Luckily, she and Kiera camped out in the living room on cots so I was able to take the cot outside and hose it down. It followed by doing laundry way too early in the morning. But I am so thankful that she didn't do it on the couch or in her bed. She's feeling better now, so far.

Church Christmas Party

Sunday we hosted our church's Christmas party. We had a nice sermon in the morning with lots of Christmas music and time to fellowship with each other. Afterwards, Charlie fired up the grill and I warmed up all the side items for a great lunch.

As you can see Sandy is waiting her turn for some yummies. If Charlie would only be so kind to drop a piece.

After everyone was full we started our gift exchange. Earlier in the month we drew names so it would be easier to give a gift. I think this little guy was very happy.

The older kids served the younger kids. What great spirit they had to help!

The oldest kids had to answer trivia questions in order to receive their gifts.

All in all it was a great day. Everyone was happy and enjoyed their time. The kids got to play football outside and the parents got to hang out, play dominoes and hearts. It was a fun party.

Things Do Sink In

The other day I picked up Jasmine from school. Once she got in the car, she turned to me and said,

"Mom, something happened at school today."

I was taken back. Jasmine never talks about school or anything ever happening. I tried my hardest to not pounce on her and ask for every stinking detail.

So I was cool, "oh yeah, what happened?"

She went on to tell me how she has a project due in p.e. where a group of them has to come up with a dance routine with music, flips and dancing. Yeah, so anyway, they have to work on the project together as a group. One of the girls decided she wanted to do her own thing and be the center of attention. She didn't want to have any part of the group. The rest of the girls talked it over and asked Jasmine to talk to her about how she was acting. Wow, my daughter whom I have to push to order at Burger King? So she confronted the girl calmly, asked her why she didn't want to be apart of the group and didn't want to help out. Jasmine didn't yell. She didn't have an attitude. She just talked to her in a normal conversation tone. The girl on the other hand just got up and left. She didn't want to hear anything Jasmine had to say.

I am proud of Jasmine for standing up for herself and her group. I am proud that she had the courage to talk and not to fuss at her. I am proud of her for doing the right thing and coming to talk to me about it. Jasmine is usually so quiet and I never thought I'd see the day when she would just open up and talk daughter to mother.

I gave her some advice to continue to be nice to her no matter how hard or frustrating it may be. She will come around eventually and see that she was treated differently than she may have thought or been treated before. I told her to continue to be her friend because friends stick together even when times are tough. And I praised Jasmine for coming to me and talking (but not too much 'cause I don't want to over do it and have her think I'm nuts!).

Movie Time

We waited months for this movie to come out so this weekend we took the girls to see Disney's A Christmas Carol. The girls decided to go ahead of us and get seats while Charlie and I got the popcorn and drinks. Coming in the theater, I saw Maya right away and asked her where Jasmine and Kiera were. They had decided to sit in the front row. Whatever. So Maya, Charlie and I sat together. I mentioned to Charlie that it's probably going to be like that once the kids are out of the house. Maya will tag along and stay with us forever. She's already told us that anyway.

I warned Maya ahead of time that the movie may be scary. She just kinda looked at me like, "why did you bring me then". We got about 20 mins. into the movie when Maya leaned over and asked, "Can I hold your hand?" She didn't let go during the whole movie. I think everyone liked it. The girls love anything that Jim Carry is in.

18th Communications Party

Charlie and I had a night out of dinner, entertainment and prizes at his squadron's Christmas party. Charlie MC'ed the night so we didn't really have the night together. He did a great job at hosting games such as 20 questions (we had to answer Christmas related questions to see which table could get their meal first) musical rolling chairs, a scavenger hunt (the last item was a Wyoming driver's licence so I was almost tackled to give it up), and gift give-aways. There was a large fundraiser earlier in the week where anyone could put some one's name up for a bid to wear a Sugar Plum Fairy costume. Charlie did everything he could to keep his name off the list. The winning bid was $480 and it went to a major who would of had to double the amount and put down $960 to keep his name off the list. He refused to pay so he had to humiliate himself instead and wear the costume to the party. By no means did he look good. Christmas parties are defiantly not your typical sit-down dinner type in the military. There were a lot of fun and crazy moments. I took more pictures of the night but I used a friend's camera instead so I'm waiting on her for the pics.

Gingerbread Houses

Today we had a great time making gingerbread houses (not really out of gingerbread because I'm really not that talented but we used graham crackers instead). There was a lot of this going on:

and not so much of this going on:

But in the end everyone made a creation all their own. Whether livable or not, but always tasty, was up to you!

Maya:

Our friend Phil:

Me:

Our friend Jasmine:

Jasmine:

Kiera:

Charlie: