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!

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

First off... Today is my Mother in law's birthday in Japan so happy birthday Bonnie!
She won't read this any time soon, but I want her to know I was thinking of her when she finally does :)
I refuse to give anyone my blog address until get this down. I'm HORRIBLE about blogging right now. So if I give out the address and never write in it, no one will follow it. So for now, I post and someday when I'm better at posting at least weekly, then I'll share it.
I have this rule about not posting pictures I haven't edited since every picture can always be better. I posted one last time I wrote, and wish I had fixed it first. So I have THOUSANDS of pictures I want to share but haven't because finding the time to edit them is pretty tough around here. It's a battle I'm loosing with myself.
Well enough complaining about the time I never have.
Today the boys had a half day at school and Tristan had a doctors appointment at 10:00. Rather than get up and take the boys to school only to pick them up 1 hour later, I let them stay home from school today. So they have been wrestling all afternoon... I keep telling myself only 1 1/2 hours until soccer practice so they can burn off some of that energy!
Tristan's appointment didn't go as well as I had hoped. This was a follow up appointment because they think he has asthma. I don't understand their way of doing things at the doctor but oh well. I thought they had ways of testing to diagnose asthma but it seems like it's a trial and error thing with Tristan. They first put him on claratin to see if that helped things hoping it was allergies causing his symptoms. I had to video tape his "attacks" when he starts coughing and breathing like he's just run a mile. The claratin didn't help. He's still having this problem but there is no wheezing sound when he has them. He just looks like he's having a REALLY hard time breathing and coughs every few seconds. So today the doctor put him on an albuterol inhaler every 6 hours around the clock for the next week to see if it helps. I was under the impression that it was bad to take albuterol regularly but I'm not the doctor. She said if it helps then we'll talk about what to do from there, but if not, she's going to try a nasal spray for allergies. She did say they have a machine to test his lungs but sometimes it's hard for younger kids to figure out how to use it. Now I'm no doctor, but I would think it would be better to give that a try rather then put him on a bunch of different medication and hope for the best. I guess I'm just frustrated here lately. I am grateful that we have free medical with the military! But with free medical, you get just that FREE MEDICAL. Which means alot of times we are guinea pigs and don't get the BEST medical care. And being here in Japan, I don't have the option to take him anywhere else. So the only option I have is to continue to give him medication I'm not sure he needs and wonder what is going on with him. My patience is starting to run out...with the medical, with their teachers, with the shopping/ lack of and with the lack of arby's.
But we'll save that for another day...
I went to the BX yesterday and almost bought the boys some pumpkin trick or treating buckets until I saw the price! These are the same orange plastic buckets you get at wal-mart. Only here they were over $12.00 each! Ugghhh! Anyhow now it's time to feed the boys before soccer practice...but I got a blog in first! woohoo! :) Maybe I'll complain a little less in the next one!

Let's try this again...

I REALLY want to keep an online journal... I have wanted to for some time now. But I have the hardest time finding the time! I have so much to say all the time and so many wonderful stories and pictures to share! But with three kids (really 4 if you count Chad) there is never a dull moment around our house! And that means:
1. There are LOTS of wonderful memories being made!
2. There are ALWAYS photo opps.!!! I never put my camera away (I LOVE my camera!)
3. There are not many quiet moments around my house.
4. There is never enough time in the day!
I have LOTS to write about, but I'm still trying to find the time.
As a matter if fact, as I write this Chad is standing in front of me starring at me while he plays the guitar on rock band. He really wants my attention because he's VERY proud of himself that he's memorized some of the songs and he REALLY wants me to notice that he can play with out looking! :) The kids are in bed and Chad and Bryan have been playing rock band for hours! HAHA So I thought I would have some quiet time to blog but instead I have heard the CONSTANT banging on the drums and guitar. It drives me crazy, but to be honest, I wouldn't change it for the world! So I guess I'll try this again... hopefully tomorrow. =) For now I'm gonna go, the guys won't leave me alone cause it turns out they need a lead singer for their band. :) Like I said... I love this crazy life that I live! So I'm going to sing but I leave you with a few of the pictures from the last couple weeks. I really wanted to edit them first, but still haven't found the time. :) So here is one... since it's the only one that would upload... still unedited... Tristan tried to climb the shelf to get the syrup...mission accomplished!

This isn't looking good...

Well this is the first official blog... and it's not looking good!
I've been thinking about starting an online journal for a while now. Only because I tend to say to much about nothing. It will give me a spot to share my pictures more often, and I can journal about our adventures. Plus this way only the people that want to read my rambling....can.
Well the boys went to bed about 2 hours ago. I spent the first 30 min staring blankly at the wall. Then I sat here debating on weather or not to actually start the blog or not. After figuring out how it all works...(kinda) ,this may be a lot more work that I had originally thought. Well by the time I decided on a blog title and web address 2 hours had passed and it's now 10:30 pm. The boys both have a baseball game at 9:00 AM (Saturday here). I just realized both of their baseball pants are in the dryer, not yet dry. So morning is going to come WAY to early! I'm gonna restart the dryer and try to to get some sleep. I'll try this again tomorrow. But because I'm going to try to put at least 1 picture up a day... here it is.