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:

mmmm Cream Collon

I guess this is just another example of how words get translated from Japanese to English. I found this little snack in our local store just around the corner from our house. They taste like sugar waffers. Would you like a Cream Collon (pronounced colon)?

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I popped some popcorn, heated up some cocoa, put on the Christmas music and gathered the family to decorate the tree. Everyone was excited and wanted to help. The kids asked about every ornament they hung. We shared stories, thought about memories, we sang, we laughed and had some good old fashion fun.

Merry Christmas! Wish we could all share it together but this will have to do for now!

Bouncy Fun

It's not your typical Thanksgiving fun but we thought it would be great to keep the kids occupied and out of the house for the day. And boy was I right. The guys delivered it at 8 am and the kids played until they picked it up at 8 pm. It made their day and made mine a lot easier.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year (don't let me get started about last year). We prepared the full spread, two deep fried turkeys, honey baked ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, pies, you get the picture. It was so gorgeous in Okinawa. We set up a huge canopy, tables and chairs outside in our driveway. All of our friends came and ate and played.

I actually don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving (can you believe that?). I guess I was too busy eating and playing instead.

Let the Party Begin

We celebrated Jasmine's 13th Birthday with her two favs. pizza and chocolate. We had a great time.

She got everything she wanted for her birthday, money (thank you everyone), an iPod nano, games and movies, oh, and more chocolate (typical woman).

Happy Birthday Jasmine!