Happy Thanksgiving!

It's the night before Thanksgiving here and I'm trying to get my list together and plan out how/when to cook what tomorrow. Everyone is FINALLY healthy here or at least almost healthy... We ALL took turns with the stomach flu that AJ had. It was a rough couple days around our house! But I guess I could look at the bright side and say "hey I dropped a few pounds and got one heck of an ab workout!"
Because face it, that's the ONLY bright side of the stomach flu! I think the only thing worse than the stomach flu is seeing your 3 babies with the stomach flu. I never realized the stomach flu could break my heart until I watched Logan, Tristan and AJ suffer though it! It is the most helpless feeling in the world! But luckily they are feeling much better now!
SO this Thanksgiving I am VERY thankful for my HEALTHY beautiful children and amazing husband.
Needless to say this last week has been pretty uneventful. We spent most of the time at home trying to rest and recover, but I did get my Christmas shopping almost all the way done and mailed out to my nieces and nephews! So this year I'm ready for Christmas! I just have a few more things and I'm DONE! :) We bought the boys a $1,000.00 swing set/hide out fort for Christmas this year as their "big" present. It started out that I wanted to buy AJ a play house for Christmas (don't worry, it was going to be the castle one.) Then I started to worry that Logan and Tristan would feel cheated if AJ got something that big and they didn't. So I called Chad and told him I wanted to get them a $400.00 jungle gym instead. He thought that would be a good idea for the 3 of them and said he would meet me at the store with his "big" car to come and pick it up. It took about 30 min for him to get there. In the 30 min I managed to buy the jungle gym, talk myself out of the jungle gym and in to the swing set, return the jungle gym, buy the swing set and then second guess myself again. It was actually a lot more complicated than that because they had to check on inventory for both and print up an invoice, make sure the box size would fit in the car and all that fun stuff. So when Chad got to the store to pick it up, I had to tell him it went from a $400.00 jungle gym to a $1,000.00 swing set. Thank God he loves me and didn't kill me! HAHA After looking at the jungle gym again, I thought Logan would out grow it WAY to quickly and with the swing set, it has a club house that him and Tristan can hang out in. It actually has a 2 story clubhouse so AJ can still have his play house and the older boys can have the upstairs one. Well when we went to load it in the car, it wouldn't fit. Not even close! So we had to take everything out of the boxes and load up our cars with the pieces. When we got home we put it all in the shed. Chad and Bryan get to put it together in the dark Christmas Eve...should be interesting!Hopefully all the pieces made it!...Like I said, I'm lucky Chad loves me! Well when we moved things around in the shed, we moved the bucket with the Christmas tree. It was full of water! I never realized how much water could collect from humidity! It had about a gallon of water in the bucket! Well the lights and things were all rusted on the tree. Thankfully that was the only decorations I had in the outside shed! So a few days ago I put all the fall/Halloween decorations away and dug out the the winter/ Christmas decorations. I really just wanted to change out the place mats and candy dish on the table because they were Jack-o-lanterns and didn't go to well since Halloween is over. Once I started getting everything out I started to panic because last year the BX ran out of Christmas trees and there is nowhere else to buy them here. (They won't ship them here if you order online.)So I made Chad, Bryan and the kids get in the car with me a run to the BX to pick out a new Tree. I think there were only four to choose from, but we got one! Then came home and ended up putting it up over the weekend! Along with all the other inside decorations. A little early I know. I hadn't planned on putting them up but I couldn't help it... I love the holidays! :) I guess I said we spent the last few days relaxing, now that I think about it, some days were a lot more relaxing than others! But now my house looks so pretty! =)
We had planned on having dinner with my closest girl friend here and her family tomorrow along with a lot of other people, but the plans have changed. I don't want to spread these germs to her family, and Chad and Bryan really want to have dinner at home. I guess I can cook thanksgiving if they are going to be busy Christmas eve with a swing set.
This is my first Thanksgiving I'm going to cook away from home. I am really homesick this time of year anyway, but I REALLY miss my step mom right now. I love waking up Thanksgiving morning to the smell of Turkey in the oven. For years now She would wake up before the sun came up to get the Turkey in the oven since she knew we had other family to see that day. She's wonderful because she always planned dinner around our other families schedules and never complained! I love her for that! The other day I was talking to her on the phone planning my TG dinner and she was laughing so hard saying she wishes she could be here to see me have to take the giblets and stuff out of the turkey. (I used to be so horrified watching her do it!) Then I realized that she has taught me everything I know about feeding my family. Weather it is a quick dinner, home cooked meal or a full Thanksgiving dinner, I learned it from her. In fact I've learned A LOT from her! I love her so much! So I add my step mom to things I am thankful this year! And of course I'm Thankful for my daddy as well, but this post is long enough tonight, I'll go in to that another day!
So...I am very thankful this holiday for my friends and family... all of them.
I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!!

My poor baby...

Well it turns out AJ didn't cry so hard he made himself sick. He is sick...VERY sick with some sort of stomach flu. My day has not gotten any better from when I typed out the last blog. Chad had to run to the commissary earlier to grab a few things and while he was gone, AJ got sick all over the kitchen floor. I got that cleaned up and dinner started. About 5 min. after Chad got home from the commissary he got a call telling him he needed to get his troop and head to the police shack on base. He was gone for about 1 1/2 hours. While he was gone, we had to eat dinner with out him. But right after I got AJ in his high chair and got him dinner, he puked...AGAIN! Right after that, the worst diaper I have ever changed! He's thrown up a few more times since then. He got his blankie and was ready for bed. So we laid him down and I thought maybe I would come down and get some cleaning done for tomorrow. About 10 min. later, Logan came down stairs and said AJ was sick again. That got cleaned up and Chad just told me his stomach has started cramping... Oh this is not looking good! I'm going to have to cancel the appointment for tomorrow. Hopefully they feel better VERY soon! And I've got my fingers crossed no one else gets sick! I can't take much more of this!

seriously?!

So today has been one of "those" days. It's Sunday here. I had my Sunday all planned out. I had planned on sleeping in this morning ,which in our house means we sleep until 7:30am when the boys wake up. Then they crawl in our bed with us and we talk and read and hang out with the kiddos, but don't get out of bed until at least 9:00 when Tristan decides he's starving and just can't wait another min. to eat.
I love those days! Between what ever sports games we have at the time and Chad's work schedule, we're lucky if we get one of those mornings a month. This morning I had planned on sleeping in,then going to brunch at the NCO club, hair cuts and then spending the rest of the Sunday at home catching up on house work and laundry that I haven't been able to get to all week. I have EDIS coming to the house tomorrow to work with AJ and I REALLY wanted to be able to clean everything before that. We have had Birthday parties and end of soccer season parties and school carnivals and everything else this week. It doesn't take long with the boys for the house to go from clean to messy to looking like a pig sty! Right now the house is somewhere between messy and pig sty only the dishes are done and the trash has been taken out.
Needless to say the afternoon was going to be full of dusting, vacuuming, moping and scrubbing toilets with a little laundry in there somewhere. But first... I was going to sleep in and then enjoy breakfast with my amazing husband and children.
I should have learned a long time ago to NEVER plan on sleeping in. I should just be thrilled when it happens, but never plan on it.
This morning at 5:00 AJ started crying... it was the "I'm still asleep but I want to wake you up" cry. We waited a few min. and sure enough, he went back to sleep. About 30 min. later, Tristan came and crawled in bed with us because he had a bad dream. So he crawled in bed with us, waited about 5 min., then had to get up and go potty. Then crawled BACK in bed with us. Which really means he climbed back and forth OVER us...you know, knee in the side, foot in the face, hand leaning on the hair...that kind of crawling in bed with us. We finally fell back asleep...until 7:00AM when the phone rang. Chad's first shirt called to let him know one of his guys had gotten a DUI last night and he needed to go over and check on the guy in a little while. That's okay...He said in a little while. Which meant if I hurried and got everyone showered and dressed, we could still run get brunch and hair cuts before Chad had to go over and deal with his troop right?! So we headed to brunch where we ran in to a few of the guys that were out with the DUI guy last night. And they all needed to tell Chad their side of the story. So my nice quiet breakfast turned in to me taking the 3 boys through the buffet line by myself and trying to get their plates ready and shuffled back to the table with out any body's plate falling on the floor or down the front of their shirts... It's not an easy task. Then I spent 1/2 of breakfast with Chad not even at the table with us. :(
We finished our breakfast and went to get the boys haircuts. This is NOT fun. AJ SCREAMS and fights the whole time. It takes at least 3 of us during AJ's hair cuts. Which is why he gets so shaggy before we cut his hair again. So AJ SCREAMED and fought the entire time they cut his hair. We get in the door of our house with ALL of us covered in hair. Chad's phone rings with the DUI guy wanting to know when he's coming over to talk, so Chad stepped outside to take the call since we had JUST walked in the door and AJ was still crying. All of a sudden AJ puked ALL over the floor. Guess he made himself sick crying. Poor baby :(
So now... AJ is finally out of the bath AGAIN and sound asleep. The puke has been cleaned up, Chad is over babysitting his troop, and I found Molly (our dog) chewing up ANOTHER pair of my undies! What is with that dog?!?! UGGH! So much for my relaxing Sunday morning! I guess I'm off to clean house! But I'll leave you with this cute picture of AJ so you don't have to think about the dog chewing up my undies! Keep in mind this picture is about 2 months old, but I LOVE it! :) Hope everybody else's Sunday is better than mine!!!

BTW I think if you double click on the picture it makes them bigger. :D

The zoo

Last Sunday Chad had to work :( So I decided to take the boys to the zoo and discovery museum ... and of course I made Bryan come along...I'm not crazy! There is no way I would try to take my three boys to the zoo by myself :)But I think he had a pretty good time too!


I've never been a big fan of the zoo here because it is so different from the states. The animals live in little tiny rooms/cages made out of cement. NOTHING like their natural environment.

And the animals just pace back and forth the whole time trying to swat/shake off the flies.


It depresses me and I feel like I should go set the animals free.

But that might cause an international incident, and I try to avoid those. So needless to say, I don't care for the zoo here to much.

The boys on the other hand... love the zoo!
This is Tristan's best giraffe face...

If you ask me... it's a pretty good impression :)

The boys highlight of the day was when the Monkeys threw poop at everybody walking by.

They have signs posted warning everyone, and since we can't read Japanese, I'm grateful they also draw pictures for us! =)
This one is out side the lion's cage...

This is a sign in English... I had to take a picture of the "drunk tree"


The boys enjoy the zoo because honestly I don't think they know it's sad there. They just like walking around the zoo,petting the animals at the petting zoo and seeing all the animals they usually only see in books.




AJ loved the baby chicks!

But I think his favorite was feeding the goats...

If you ask me, I think he kind of looks like them here. =)

And of course they love climbing on the statues!



The boys also loved riding the cars!






But the best part about going to the zoo is the wonder museum!
It cost 5oo yen to get in to the zoo which is about $5.00 give or take depending on the exchange rate. Then it cost another 200 yen ($2.00) to get in to the museum. You can get an annual pass for $20.00 to the zoo so 4 trips and it's paid for itself! And the museum is DEFINITELY worth the 200 yen! Here are some pictures from the wonder museum at the zoo...




With this, the boys put blocks in to a little tray, then put the tray and blocks into the machine... the blocks then come to life on the screen... they get up and walk around on the screen... it was one of Logan's favorites!






It's 3 stories of pure interactive fun for everyone! So the wonder museum keeps us coming back to the zoo! All three boys were just in aww the whole time! And beg me to go back everyday. So I'm sure it won't be long before we spend another afternoon there! Thanks for going with us Bryan, we had a lot of fun! =)

Happy Birthday Logan!!!

My oldest baby turned 9 today!!! NINE! 9!!! I can't believe it! It sure doesn't seem like 9 years since I first held his precious hand in mine for the very first time, or touched his itty bitty nose or kissed his little bald head... Now he's nine and so grown up. He is such an amazing boy! He is so loving and caring and so incredibly smart beyond his years! If anyone deserves to be spoiled for the day it's him. I feel so lucky to be his momma. I don't think he needs me as much as I need him. We love you Logan!! I hope you had a happy birthday!!!

Where did the weekend go?!

The weekend really went by WAY to fast! Saturday We had soccer games and football practice as usual. Then we went to the PX on Foster (about 15 min.away) because our AAFES credit card wasn't working. It's pretty much a military credit card for the BX and things on base...kind of like a target credit card only with a MUCH better interest rate! Anyway, ours wasn't working and we were told there was a problem and to go to Foster to sort it out. We tried to use this card two different times... once for Chad's new uniform, and once at the BX for Logan's birthday presents. Not a huge deal, but it is when your planning on using a credit card and spend about $200 then find out your card has been declined! I'm not the type to just say never mind and leave the store, so I paid with debit from our checking account. It didn't put us out, but it wasn't something I budgeted for. Which really was just a huge inconvenience. Well we went to find out what was wrong with our card Saturday... turns out we had $7.00 in late charges at the video store so they put a hold on everything!!!Our card and Video rental are not even connected, But they go by Chad's social security number! Chad couldn't get his uniform because of his video rentals! I would understand if they had sent us notices and we were trying to leave the island without paying or something, but they didn't even give us a notice! We had no idea about the late charges! I think I was relieved and extremely annoyed when I found that out! Anyhow... the military.... they take their movie rental's seriously! But you can bet we won't be late again!
Saturday night we BBQ'd with friends and tried to relax a little.
Well Sunday we spent the day at the house. Tristan had 2 projects due. I hate when they send things like this home in kindergarten because there is no way Tristan can do them, which means it's homework for the parents. I have ENOUGH homework that I don't need any extra! We had to decorate a turkey feather to hang out side the office and he had to do a star student poster... the all about Tristan poster.

This is not the finished poster, but you get the idea.
I worked on it all day and finally put it away around 1:00 in the morning. But got it finished and turned in today! I didn't think it was going to happen but it did! And the best part is: Tristan LOVED it!
Chad helped me cut out the letters and gave his ideas. But he took care of the kids all day which was the biggest help of all!

Now it's Monday night and I FINALLY have a few min. to blog! I feel like I don't have a free moment between Tristan's homework, sewing Halloween costumes, planning birthday parties and shopping for Birthday and Christmas presents! It stinks having the boys birthdays this close to Christmas! I guess I should have thought that through!
Well I hear the boys and Chad is loosing patience so I better go save him!
Hopefully I'll have a little time to get on here again soon!

Bryan's House

I finally get to do some editing on my pictures!! And not just ANY editing.... editing on Bryan's computer!!!
We had a long day today with the boys soccer games at 12:00 and 1:00 then lunch, and errands! So we came over to Bryan's tonight and had a little mini dinner at his house. He lives off base which means he has a Japanese kitchen so... no oven! The Japanese use a different kind of micro wave than we do. There's has different settings so it's used as a microwave, oven and grill. There is no way I could figure it out though because it's all in Japanese! The other day I tried to make the boys some popcorn in it and realized it was on the oven setting because it just got really hot, but didn't pop. There electricity is different off base so you have to use a transformer for anything we bring from America (like a microwave) and they are not cheap! Each transformer cost from $100- $150! It's more than the microwave costs!! And he already had to buy one for the computer and TV so the microwave has to share one. So we made hot dogs and mac & cheese since we could use the stove for it. The boys loved it because they got to eat hot dogs and mac&cheese for dinner, but they got to sit on the floor at the little table to eat. Traditional Japanese dinning! We all love hanging out at Bryan's house every chance we get!! His house is beautiful first of all! But he also has optical Internet (Which Chad would kill for!) Our internet on base is about the same as dial up, and off base the optical internet is faster than we could even dream of in the states! So Chad is always begging to come over! But my reason for Loving this house... Bryan's desk top computer!!! Chad and Bryan both have there lap top computers so they leave me alone with the desk top! His desk top is the top of the line! And runs circles around my little lap top! The monitor is huge and the Computer is SUPER fast! I can't even explain it, but I LOVE it!!! And Bryan being the amazing friend that he is... put my photo shop programs on his computer and even gave me my own folder to keep my pictures on! This computer has like 4 tetra bytes on it!! Which make my 300gig hard drive look puny! Anyway, Bryan gave the boys their own room so they have toys and movies and games here! so they are always entertained here plus he got the Japanese cable so the boys could get their English cartoons over here too! And... he has his pantry stocked with snacks and sippy cups!
Needless to say, we've all been a little spoiled by Bryan!!! Which is why his nick name is "Big Daddy"!! We Love him! Not to mention the fact that he moved all the way to Japan just to hang out with us! So we get to be spoiled AND hang out with our best buddy! It has helped Japan feel a little more like home now that he's here!
Well...
I'm going to finish editing some pictures so I can hopefully post some on here tonight!