Colin's Birthday and More

Okay, so it has been forever since I have updated this thing, so I figured I better get busy. I will start with Colin's birthday which was on April 15th. He turned two and we just had family here since Murhl and Lew were visiting during that time. We made some cupcakes and just had some balloons and presents. I think he had a good time. We got him a Thomas the Train take along toy that he loves; he plays with it everyday and takes the trains with him to bed. It looks like we are going to have another train lover on our hands which works out nicely for our budget since we can just pass everything down.

Murhl and Lew (Matt's parents) were here for almost two weeks. We had a great visit and it was so nice for the kids to have some time with their grandparents. Thry came during spring break so Ryan didn't miss very much school and I didn't have to watch the baby that I normally have everyday because his mom is a teacher and had off as well. We went to Okuma for one night while they were here. It rained a lot though so we didn't get to do as much outside as we might have liked. We did go to Kokosai Street, to the Castle, to the seawall, the aquarium, the butterfly garden, and of course did some shopping.

Matt found out right after his parents left that he was chosen to go to an advanced training school in Texas for his job in the Air Force. He left on May 15th and will be in Wichita Falls for about 2 1/2 months. It is a great school for him to take and will help him a lot in his career field and also in civilian job should he decide to get out. So if you feel like going to Texas you can stop on by! Matt had to drop one of the classes that he was taking since he was going to miss the end of it, but he still had a pretty productive term and was able to finish two other classes.

Ryan has been playing basketball and has games every weekend with a practice two times a week. He does really well during the games, but sometimes acts up during practice. Matt was the assistant coach for the basketball team as well, but he had to let someone else take over when he left. Ryan has also been swimming pretty well. We have been going to the beach at least a couple times a week, so he is getting lots of practice.

Colin loves the water too. I just ordered him one of the floaties that Ryan had when he was that age. He doesn't want me to hold on to him and is always squirming to get away in the water so hopefully the floatie will help. Colin thinks that he is such a big boy. If Ryan lays on his belly to watch TV, so does he, if Ryan laughs at something then Colin cracks up too. I love watching them together and they have even started playing a little more.

I have been busy, especially this week with Matt gone. I am still volunteering at the hospital and I think the people there are really starting to trust me to do things. I also think they really appreciate me and that makes it even better. I am still trying to fit exercise in wherever I can as well as time for Pampered Chef. The Pampered Chef thing is not picking up as fast as I would like it to, but I have already gotten tons of free stuff out of it, so if I end up not making it then I guess it is okay. Summer break starts in about three weeks so I will not be watching any kids other than my own. I am hiping to spend a lot of time at the beach and around Okinawa.

Well, I guess that was good enough to catch all of you up. I hope all is well and we miss you all!

Ryan's Birthday and More

Well, I have taken longer than I should have to update after Ryan's birthday so I thought I had better get to work. Ryan's birthday went great. We had about ten or twelve kids here and the weather was nice so we were able to have it outside. Matt painted a football field in the grass and we had everything else all decked out in football stuff. Ryan got tons of toys and has been enjoying most of them. We got him a new bike and he is just loving that.

Colin is trying to be such a big boy now. He copies everything that Ryan does and wants to do more big boy stuff like play with playdoh. He an dI take the dog for walks in the afternoon after lunch if we haven't gotten outside much, just for a little change in pace. He doesn't like to be in the strolller, so I let him walk and explore the things that he finds in the grass.

Matt has a break from school right now. He got another A in the last class he took. Now he is signed up to take three classes this next term and he is signed up to CLEP an additional two. We will see. I hope he does well on the CLEPs that way he can knock out two classes very quickly. We just want to make sure that he is done with his bachelors before we leave here. He has been working of course and it has been much of the same as far as that goes.

This month was my first month selling Pampered Chef. So far it is going pretty well. I had my first show and I was very nervous, but I think I did good. I also started volunteering at the hospital this las week and I have now been there two times. I like it so much! I have fun, I get to see a lot of things, and I get to practice some of my skills. Last night one of the people who work there let me practice an IV on them. I got it on my second try and was very excited. They are also going to let me take part in all the training that they offer the corpsman (the Navy people). So I guess that I won't get to go to nursing school, but I am still going to get to learn so much.

We are moving right along into the year and in a couple of weeks Murhl and Lew, Matt's parents, will be here. We are so excited to show them around and spend some time with them. While they are here Colin will have his second birthday, so I will probably update some more after that. Hope everyone is well and that I get to hear from you soon!

Rainy Season is Here

Well, it is time for the rainy season here. So far it is not as bad as it was last year. It rains for days at a time, but then we get a day where it will be 80 degrees and sunny. Yesterday was that day, so you could see the whole neighborhood flocking outside to enjoy it. Then when we woke up today the sun was gone and it was back to rain. We have all been keeping busy though so I guess it is not too bad.

Colin is definately getting to be less like a baby and more like a two year old. He is talking a lot more now but still has a cute little baby face. He likes to do whatever Ryan is doing and gets frustrated when he is not able. He doesn't really play with other kids though and so you can usually find him doing his own thing, like following the dogs around the playground.

Ryan is doing Karate, but says he doesn't like it. We are going to make him keep doing it for awhile longer though. He might play basketball this summer, but we will have to see because I don't want to overload him at such a young age. He is doing well at school and getting very excited about his birthday. Right now he thinks five is the greatest age to be and often tells me that he can do something (like cross the street) because "that is what five year olds do!" Right now the forecast for his birthday is sunny. I hope it stays that way because I do not want to have 20 kids in my house.

Matt is taking part in another exercise rigth now and so he is having a long week. He is also a little more than halfway through this term. He can't wait to just be done with school all together. We got offered a three bedroom house the other day and so we went to look at it, but it was horrible. It was probably the same size as the one we have now but with an extra room carved out. It was dirty, old, and much worse than the place we have now. We turned it down and have decided that we will not reapply and we will just make it work where we are.

I have started selling Pampered Chef. I am really excited and I have my first show next week. Mom and Murhl are also having catalog shows to help get me started. I am also going to start volunteering at the hospital on March 13th. I plan on working there one night a week from 6pm-12am. I am excited to get started and start learning anything I can. I might even choose to volunteer in other areas to help me get an idea of where I might want to work when I finally finish school.

We have hit our one year mark here and are very excited to begin our next. We miss everyone so much. Even though we will probably never live next door to everyone, we would love to feel that we could get in the car and drive to visit you all. That is one of the worst things about being on an island, you can only go so far!

Recent Activities

Well, now that the holidays are over and this month is almost over, we are all back in the swing of things. Due to deployments, Matt is now the crew chief of his group and is now slightly busier. I think he enjoys it and even though he is not the higghest ranking left, he got the job because he is the most knowledgeable. Matt has also started back to school this week and is taking two classes. Another history and a philosophy class.

Ryan is back at school and is riding the bus everyday. It is so nice to be able to put him on the bus instead of having to take him and fight the crazy parents in the parking lot. He is getting very excited about turning 5 and says that he wants to have a football party. We went online and picked out the stuff for it the other day.

Colin is doing well, but is getting some more teeth and so he has been waking up in the night again. We went to a birthday party the other day and he all of a sudden started being a bully and pushing all the younger kids down. I guess he was just happy to finally be the bigger one in a group. He also has a new favorite pastime of turning off the television. He is so hard to get mad at though because he is so cute!

We had a couple over for dinner on sunday night that had just moved in. They are our age and are ver nice, but very hard to cook for. They don't eat any pork, any ground meat, they like organic foods, and they try not to eat dairy. I almost said, "Well, maybe you should cook for us!" It turned out okay though. I made something with chicken and they seemed to like it. Matt jocked after they left that maybe they went home and threw it up. I hope not, because I worked hard on the food.

I have been still watching Aidan in the mornings and I have started cleaning my neighbors house every wednesday afternoon. I also called the red cross and I am going to see them on Friday about voluteering at the hospital. I have my CNA from nursing school, so I figure it would be nice to put some of my skills to use. Also this way I can keep my certification up and when I get back to the states I can use it to get a paying job if I want. I am excited, because she told me that I can probably work in whatever section of the hospital that I want. I am going to tell he ER or Labor & Delivery. Idon't think I have ever been so excited to work for free, but it will get me back in the hospital and that is what I want.

Well, I better go. Aidan is crying and I am sure I have other stuff I need to do.

December Pictures

I just thought I would post some pictures from our holiday activities. Hope you enjoy!

Christmas and the New Year

Well, Christmas is over and it is back to the daily grind, or whatever you want to call it. We had a very good holiday season. We went to a friend's house for Christmas Eve and had a wonderful meal and also got to know some knew people. We came home and read the Night Before Christmas and then put out Cookies and Milk for Santa. The kids went to bed pretty quickly and Matt and I had a pretty laid back evening. Matt was the first one up on Christmas morning since he couldn't wait to see if the Cowboys had won or not. Christmas morning flew by as usual and the kids were very happy it had finally come. Colin didn't even want to open his presents after the first one. Everytime we tried to get him to open something he hit it away and went back to playing with his truck. Ryan opened his own presents and then the ones that Colin didn't want to open. We invited our friends and neighbors over for a Christmas brunch and that was really enjoyable as well. The food was great. Our family took a nap in the afternoon and then we went to another friend's house for Christams dinner. Again we stuffed ourselves and the food was great.

Ryan was a real brat on Christmas day and was very unappreciative of his toys and the things people do for him. So we went through his toys the other day and he picked out toys to go to the orphanage in town. Ryan is also still riding his bike with no training wheels and seems to have that skill pretty well down now. Of all the toys he got for Christmas his favorite seems to be his Spiderman games and the Army guys that I got him for a dollar. He also is really enjoying some swimming bath toys that he got. Colin is scared of them though so he has to use them when they are not taking a bath together.

Colin loves one of the trucks that he got and pulls it out everyday to play. He is saying a few more words now like "go" and "help". He is really enjoying having a dog and is even a little protective of her. Whenever we go outside our dog and the neighbors dog play and whenever Colin sees them rolling around and barking he comes over and yells no at the neighbors dog and tries to hit their dog to keep her away from Tasha.

Matt went back to work yesterday after having 11days off. He enjoyed his vacation, but was happy to get back in the swing of things. I started a workout plan with my neighbor on Monday and have been trying to put some efftort into that. Matt and I got a baby sitter on New Year's Eve and went to a party. We had a lot of fun eating, drinking, and dancing. New Year's Day ended up being a really warm day so I took the kids out to the park for several hours and then I took Ryan to the beach for awhile.

Well, I will be posting pictures up here soon, but for now I am just going to post this up. I will try to have the pictures up by the end of the week. Happy New Year everyone!

Almost Christmas

Well, It has been more than a month since I have updated so I will see if I can get it all in. If you notice above we have a new addition to our family, Tasha, but let me start with Thanksgiving...

We had our neighbors with thier two kids and our good friends who also have one child over for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyhting turned out great and I think everyone had a good time. Thanksgiving has to be the worst holiday for kids though...to them all it amounts to is another day where you force them to eat and there aren't many other highlights. Of course Matt missed being able to watch the game on Thanksgiving. He had to get up very early in the morning the next day to catch the game.

Matt and I both had very busy weeks the first two weeks of December as we tried to get ready for the holidays as well as finals. In addition we are both still working on our online class. I got my grade back for my class already and it seems that I got an 89%. It sure does stink to be that close to an A and not get it. Matt is still waiting for his grade in History, but I'll bet he got an A.

I stopped doing the daycare and turned all of the extra toys and other stuff back into the office. I feel like a huge load is lifted off my shoulders and I am so happy that they will not be coming to inspect my house anymore! I am still watching the infant (Aidan). His mom doesn't care if I do it through the family child care people or not and now I can split the time between her home and mine.

Colin has been talking a lot more and now frequently uses the word "no" as well as several others. He is also pretty fiesty lately and certainly knows when he wants to do things such as eat or sleep. Of course he is still cute as can be and has aspirations of becoming the Future President (If you read the shirt in the picture above).

Ryan is now an old pro at tying his shoes and so he has moved on to riding his bike with no training wheels. He can actually make it all the way around the parking lot now without falling. Now all he needs is a bigger bike, but there is a birthday around the corner so I will probably wait until then. He is enjoying his break from school although I think he might be a little bored. We did make Christmas cookies though and he rolled, cut, and decorated his own. He did a great job.

Matt has to work this week and then he will have next week, the week after Christmas off. Hopefully, we can go a few places as a family while he has that time off. He also has a pretty long break from school (unitl the end of January) so he is ready to relax a bit. His history class was very difficult and I know he isn't looking forward to the second half of it next term.

Matt's Squadron had a Christmas party last Friday that we got to go to. We didn't drive there and had someone watching the kids, so we both got to have some fun. We even won the game of Pictionary in the drawing for prizes.

We have quite a few places to go and people to see over Christmas weekend, so I am sure we will be busy. Despite everything, we sure do miss being around family for the Holidays. I will update again after Christmas with pictures of the kids and us. Until next time...