2007

Tomorrow is a new year and new hopes begin. 2007 was good to us. It started off with the birth of our second son, Mason. Can you believe he'll be one soon? Between the early months of Mason (no sleep)and preparing to move from Oki, there was a lot going on. The summer of '07 we said goodbye to many good friends and Okinawa for the second time. And hello to Virginia, which Pete and I are still adjusting to. The kids are chameleons, having no trouble fitting in. Moving this time was a smooth transition, but hardest one on me emotionally. We all miss Okinawa very much!
Virgina has brought us a house of our very own. One of my hopes for 2008 is that we'll get accomplished what we started, the painting, new flooring. The all encompassing house makeover. With Pete deploying this summer that might be a difficult task. This upcoming deployment will be a first for us. We have been very fortunate not to have been apart for birthdays and holidays, the deployment will change that. So, we will be apart as a family for much of 2008. That will be our biggest obstacle of '08.
The song goes: "should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind."
I think not, remembering old friends brings a smile to my face. And each new year brings new friends. I hope all my family and friends have a happy and healthy new year. See you in 2008!

The Fort

measuring

hammering

Here is what my kids have been doing on the holiday break. Building a fort. They have built it and moved it more times than I can count. Yes, they are using real tools,saws,hammers and nails.I think its great. The kids friend,Cole,who is also a boy scout has been helping too.I think he is the one with the most know how.

Christmas 2007

Christmas has come and gone. We celebrated our first Christmas in Virginia,with ourselves. Mason enjoyed opening about the first three presents,then he was over it. He wanted the bows and boxes and the big kid toys. I don't think he likes his rocking horse much. It could be he is too little for it,he'll grow.Emily asked for a DS this year and didn't think she would get one,but she did. She was so happy to see it. She has been playing it nonstop.Jacob got all kinds of Legos,transformers all in Star Wars of course. Star Wars is his new favorite thing. It was a nice Christmas with my family.

Next year will be a different story Pete will be deployed.And it will be the first time we will be apart for the holidays:( So, if anyone has room in their basement and would like company. We are available.(ha ha)

Congratulations......

Neva and Chris Gerke on your new baby boy, Sai!

My beef with Santa

Well not really THE Santa, the Mall Santa. I wanted to get a picture of Mason with Santa,with this being his first Christmas and all. At the local mall the Santa is very realistic,a real beard and belly.I brought my camera only to discover you can't take your own photo. You have to first purchase their photo package($20) for three pictures.Then you may take a photo. What? Where is the Christmas Spirit? Can you believe that? I was very disappointed. Needless to say I'll be going back next week to get my little boys' picture with Old St.Nick. It is his first Christmas!

With Love

What ever Holiday you may be celebrating this year. We hope it is a joyous one filled with love!
Near or far, we wish you a Merry Christmas.

What Holiday Food Am I?

Pete is a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?

What Holiday Food Am I?

Tommye is a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?

Jake is 8!

Jacob had his 8th birthday. He wanted to have his birthday dinner at Red Robbin,so he did. They sang to him and gave him a sunday with ballons tied to the spoon.
Happy Birthday to my little man.

Step by Step

Mason has started walking. If you can call it that. I prefer toddling. He kind of looks like a monkey,the way he walks. With his arms high in the air and belly sticking out. He is so happy with himself. His hands aren't always in the air sometimes they are waving around. He can even stop, squat to pick up something and start walking again. He is still wobbly but by Christmas he'll be a pro.

Emily's 10

Our little girl is 10! Can you believe it. I can't! Or I refuse to face it, all kids grow up.

A Christmas Story

I love this Holiday classic, circa 1983! "You'll shoot your eye out!" Need more be said? I remember my brother getting the official Red Ryder BB Gun. I think my mother said those words to him. If she didn't I know I did.We had loads of fun with that thing. No, we never shot at birds or any other animals, we were good children. We shot at each other. Just Kidding. My dad made a target for us to shoot at. We also lined up cans on the old well to shoot down. Who was the better shot? I was of course, I don't actually remember who was better. Grant was probably the better shot. I do remember him getting angry if he didn't win though. Don't all little brothers?

Spam

I started receiving spam on my blog, so from now on all comments will go through moderation before being published. Sorry! I hope this doesn't detour anyone from leaving a comment. I just takes a little extra time to get your comment on the blog. Stupid Spam!

Answer

The answer to the poll is: Veterinarian
I have always loved animals.I get that from my dad. If I had all the money in the world I would have a huge plot of land and have lots of animals. Farm,domestics,exotics it doesn't matter to me.As long as I can take care of them.

Family Resemblance

A few of my friends have a look-a-like meter on their blog. Who do the children look like? More like mom or dad? So, I tried it out. And found it to be unreliable. Depending which photos you use,depends which parent the child looks like. One time Mason looked like Pete by 48%.Using a different photo,he looked like me more by4%.And it said Jacob looks like us both equally. Which we all know isn't true. He's Pete's carbon copy. So I've put up some photos and you tell me your opinion. Who does Mason look like?

A Big Scare

It happened! Mason fell down the stairs last night. I've never been so scared or felt so bad in my life. Thankfully he was not hurt. He barely cried. I think he was just as scared as we were. Luckily we have very good padded stairs and the carpet is pretty new and fluffy. I could only imagine if they had been our Okinawa stairs. Yikes! Pete was right behind him trying to catch him but could not. He said it was like when you know something bad is going to happen and you can't stop it from happening,slow motion. As a precaution we gave him Tylenol and kept him up to make sure he was alright. Checking all his limbs. He is fine! And in true Mason fashion went right back for the stairs this morning.
Yesterday was just not his day. He slipped on the tile in the hall earlier in the day.And smacked his head and it chipped his front tooth a little. He cried a lot on that one. My poor baby!

More things about me

The last post got me thinking.....There are more things about me you might not know,like

I have a nac for songs. I know the words, if I don't then I know who sings it and vice versa.Especially true for oldies and classic rock.

I love to play trivia games and I'm good at them. Just ask anyone who has ever played me. And thanks to years of TV watching, I know a lot of useless trivia. That's not all true, I have learned some useful things.

I have a bad habit of popping my toes and trying to pop the kid's toes.

I have a crush on Huge Jackman as Wolverine.

I can eat all the junk food and sweets I want and not blow up like a balloon.Thanks for the good genes Mom and Dad!

I'm not a good liar. Which I think is a good thing.

So ,there are some other thing you might not have known about me.

A Game

I've been tagged. So here goes,

7 Things You Probably Don't Want To Know About Me

1. I Love to watch gorey surgeries on TV.
2.I like to eat cold spaghetti.
3.I think bugs are fascinating. Even the gross scary ones.
4.I like biology , that probably explains the surgery and bugs thing.
5.I can multitask but I'm not good at it. I always try to do too many things at once and they never seem to get finished.
6.I don't think changing poopy diapers is that terrible. It has to be done.
7.I used to hate meeting new people.

There you go,my 7 things.
I tag Michelle and Jodi(I'm giving you a reason to get that blog running)

Promotion

Pete has been selected for CWO3.YEAH! He won't pin it on until next August though.

The over 30 crowd!

A friend of mine had this on her blog. After you read it,you'll see why I had to have it on my blog too,since I've recently joined this crowd.

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!! When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what, with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning .... uphill BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter...with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids' and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your a$$ and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire .... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!!!!!!!!!

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!Oh yea, and a seat belt was Mom throwing her arm across your chest every time she hit the brakes.

Regards,The over 30 Crowd

Glasses

My two intellectual children. Jacob and Emily both now wear glasses. They almost have the same prescription. Both are slightly nearsighted,or myopia for you doctor types. Hopefully their eyes won't get any worse, since Pete nor I wear glasses. We will just have to get them checked yearly.
Don't they look cute!!

The Marine Corp Birthday

In case anyone doesn't know the Marine Corp had its 232rd birthday on November 10th.
OOH-RA!
We didn't go to the ball this year,we don't have a sitter yet. I'm hoping to find one soon. Pete and I could use some time to ourselves. Maybe next year we can make it to the ball. We always have a good time at them. Dinner,drinking and dancing how much more fun do you need? Well anyway HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINE CORP! and I'm sure many more.

Congratulations.....

Heather and Jason Eck on your new baby girl,Haylie!

Trick or Treating

Halloween

I wanted to do a scary pumpkin this year. I think I did it. It's eyes and mouth are sewn up. And its crying. Pretty creepy huh? Jacob made his a vampire,Emily's has two faces and Pete's says BOO. I painted a cute clown for Mason's pumpkin. His was too little to carve. Pete made us a giant cookie and we decorated it like a cake. It was really good. I say" was" because it's all gone.

Our little climber

If we can't find Mason, he is climbing the stairs.

Day at the zoo

We finally took a break from home improvment and went to the zoo. It was freezing,well the wind was cold. We saw all kinds of great animals. Jacob wanted to see the rhino,but all we saw was his rear. We saw a lion roaring and an elephant eating. We waited and waited for the Mandrill feeding but they were late so we left. Jacob and Emily got to pet snakes,the zoo was also having trick or treating,that's why we have pictures of StarWars guys. We are going back when it's warmer so we can take our time and enjoy it more.

You're my best friend

Mason loves to play with Buster. Buster is such a good cat too,he lets Mason pull and poke him without a complaint. He just takes it. Buster was the same way with Emily and Jacob. I guess he loves our family or he is just plain dumb.

It all comes out in the wash

Look what came out of my wash! Just kidding. I turned around to pick up some laundry that I dropped and Buster decided to check out the washer.

Relaxing

Birthday

Well, I hit the big 30! And I feel older and wiser. And I know I still look good. I was mistaken for a teenager last week. The timing of it couldn't have been better. Right before the big 30.It felt great! We didn't do anything really special. We went out for a family dinner at the Olive Garden. It was funny to watch Pete order his dinner, not knowing how to pronounce the words on the menu. Then, I ate a huge clove of garlic and asked Jacob if I had stinky breath. All the while the waiter was watching. I felt like an idiot. I was just having some fun with my family.It was a good birthday.That's me making a wish......I won't tell you what I wished for,if I do it won't come true. (ha ha)

Maggie

This is Maggie the newest member to our family. She is a boxer. She is very sweet and gentle. Maggie comes to us from my brother,he had adopted her from a shelter. She really seems to like it here with us. She has really taken to Pete the most. I don't know if you can tell from this picture,Maggie only has one eye. She lost it when she was hit by a car. Still with only one eye she likes playing soccer and running. She does have a little balance issue. Her depth perception is off, so she has trouble with the stairs. I think as she gets used to our stairs she will get better at climbing them.

Answer

My favorite fruit are peaches.Yellow or golden to be exact. In the summer time a juicy peach is refreshing. I missed having them while in Okinawa. They had peaches just not the kind I love. Since being back I eat them every chance I get. I can remember when I was a kid,or maybe a little older, my Dad bringing home a boxes of farm fresh peaches. I think I ate them all. And the funny thing is my mother hates them because of the fuzz. It's like fingernails on a chalk board to her.

Just some thoughts

I don't have much to blog about. Today, we got around to hanging up some decor in the kids rooms. I hope to paint them soon. Jacob wants to paint his room a bright green. Emily wants a rosey pink. I don't want either of those colors. I'm thinking resale. Those colors don't appeal to most people. So we'll have to come to a compromise.
We also had a chance to catch up with our dear friends the Gerke's. We haven't spoke with them since they left Okinawa and the military for the real world. They are expecting a baby boy around January 30th. I'm so happy for them. They have wanted another baby for so long. Who knows maybe Mason could share his B-day with their new baby. Anyway CONGRATULATIONS to Chris and Neva!

Ever Wonder?

Have you ever wondered what your child would look like if he stuck his finger in a light socket?
I imagine it would look something like this. See above picture. ha ha ha!!!!!

We'll get it in shape

Here are a couple of pics of our"work in progress". The house is 20 years old and had barely been updated. We are painting and planning. The people who lived her before liked lighthouses. There was lighthouse border in the downstairs bathroom and dinning room. The blue strip in the peach dinning room was lighthouses.Yeah, the peach isn't staying. When we originally looked at the house there were light houses everywhere. We have a long list of projects. We'll probably get it all finished and then it will be time to sell it.

Practice Practice Practice

This one is being posted for the Brown Family. Although I never had the pleasure of hearing either of you play, Mason sure loves tickling (banging)the ivories.

Pics of Mason

First day of school

Here they are off to school. My 4th grader and 2nd grader.

We are here

We are getting settled in here in Chesapeake. The house is in total disarray, boxes all over the place. We have a bigger house but less closets. Where to put it all?
Emily and Jacob are in their 3rd week of school. They seem to really like it there. I 'll post pictures soon.
Mason is pulling himself up on the furniture and clapping his hands. He's growing up and I don't want him to.
We had a nice little vacation at my mothers. We saw family member we haven't seen in three years. We went to some county fairs the kids really enjoyed that. It was nice to visit with my grandmother. And Mason and her got to meet eachother. Well Mason got to meet everyone.
Im glad to be in our new home. Although I miss Oki greatly. I'm sure I will love it here too.

My kids

My three great kids. Emily, Jacob and Mason. I love you !

Answer 2

Our combined age is 75.6 years.

Answer

The answer to last weeks poll: Buster Blue Eyes and Savannah Jade. We have had Buster for a long time. We got him the first time we were in Japan. He is only 6 months younger than Jacob. I got Savannah for Pete in NC. Although she does not like him. She is 5 years old.

Tomorrow we are leaving bright and early for Va. Wish us luck!

Our House

Here is our house in Chesapeake, VA. We close at the end of the month.We looked at this one on the first day of hunting, but didn't know how much we really like it until we saw the rest. It is on a cul-da-sac and has a huge back yard. I hope you all will stop by if you're in VA.

Time to update

Well I'm finally getting around to updating our blog. We have been very busy buying a house,visiting family and entertaining the kids.
As you know we didn't make it straight to Nashville from Seattle. We sat on the tarmac for and extra 45 minutes for minor plane maintenance,causing us to miss our connection. So the airline put us up in a local hotel in Denver. Because there we no available flights out to Nashville that night with any airline. We were devastated, I cried and was so upset I was of no use to anyone. Thank goodness I have such a strong husband. Even thought I could tell he was drained from our long flight from Okinawa. He took care of everything. So we spent the night in Denver. Could it have gotten any worse? YES!! The airline also gave us food vouchers to get something to eat. But the only place that accepted them would only accepted them for dinning in. No delivery. Remember we are in a hotel. Now tell me how were we supposed to get there? And being tired from traveling over 24 hours already. So we just paid for it ourselves. We were lucky enough to have meet Jewel,a lady who happened to be on the shuttle to the hotel we were going to. She also worked for the airline who screwed us. She felt so bad for us. She took me to the nearest store to get some toothbrushes and food for Mason. All I had left was formula. We got out of Denver at 8am the next day. I was couldn't have been happier to get off the ground in Denver.

Guess who Screwed up

IPAC,that's who. For any Marine or Marine wife who reads this you'll know what I'm talking about. Pete when to pick up our tickets this morning. First, Emily didn't get tickets then they had us flying out of Naha,commercial,straight to Norfolk. That's not gonna work.Since we already bought tickets from Seattle to Nashville. What is the deal with these guys?They have had our package for over four months and they still got it wrong. We have never not had a problem with them arranging our travel. Needless to say Pete has spent all morning yelling and chewing peoples heads off. He is about at his wits end. They told him it would all be taken care of after lunch. We'll see? I'll believe it when I see it, as Pete says.

Westpac

Well,I'm in the Westpac. It sucks! I've only been here 2 days and I want to leave. I want to go back to my house on the hill with all my own stuff.. My life just seems to be thrown upside down. What am I saying, it literally is. BOO HOO HOO for me.Moving is stressful and I don't like it. I guess I need to quit my bitching and suck it up. You gotta do what you gotta do.

things are a changin

Well this might be the last post for a while. We pack out of our house tomorrow. I won't be posting any pictures this time Pete has packed up our camera and things. If I can figure out how to do it from my mothers I will. I have pictures to share of Mason. He has hit a lot of mile stones lately. He is now feeding him self baby finger foods.He is also working on trying to crawl. He can get his leg under him but hasn't figured out what's next. I think he is cutting his first tooth. I can feel a a little bump and see a little white spot about to come through his gum. He seems to be doing everything all at once. He is a very active wiggle worm.
Jake and Emily are very excited to go to their Granny's house. As for Pete and I we are just hanging in there. Doing the best we can not to get over stressed. I'm excited to get back to the states and buying our first house.
I want to tell all my friends here on Okinawa that I WILL MISS YOU ALL!!!! Thanks for all your help and great times on the Hill. Until next time
LOVE to you all.

Man-yi

We are in the midst of Typhoon Man-yi, winds of up to 155 mph. We were scheduled to pack out our express today but Man-yi came and said"No, not today!".Did I mention today is Friday the 13th.(go figure) The moving company will call to reschedule. I'm hoping they will work this weekend.We have our household goods pack out this Wed. As long as they pack everything out by that day we should be OK. I'm glad Pete planned extra days in the West Pac other wise this would be a huge problem. And more stress.
So, we are sitting here in the house watching movies. Luckily the power has remained on. We would really go crazy if the power cut off. Emily and Jacob ask me about every 2 hours " What are we going to do all day?" I said "you're doing it". I hope this is the only typhoon to hit us the rest of our duration on Okinawa.

Japanese crafts

Emily and Jacob were in the host nation summer school program. Emily took a class in Shi Shi making. This is her Shi Shi she made. I think it's quite good for her first one. Jacob took a class in origami. Just a little something to remember Okinawa by.

Celebration

BBQ's and the 4th, they just go together. So that's what we did.