Catch up

My my, how time does fly when you have two kids!  Has it really been since February since I last updated?  Pwomp!

So much has happened, so let's recap:

   We had little E's 4th birthday here.  The theme was Dragons Love Tacos (from one of her favorite books) and we made dragon hats, read the book, and ate tacos.  It was a lot of fun and yes, I do realize that at some point I will have to succumb to a fairies and /or princess party...but so far, I've gotten away without one!

Reading Dragons Love Tacos at E's birthday

I should stick to cupcakes...this cake looked very sad!

 We had a wonderful visit from my sister and her family in April. They started on mainland Japan and then came down to see us for a few days.  We ate out, went to the aquarium, the beach, the peace museum, and the pottery village.

G and Auntie Kristi

   Then lickety split, the kids and I headed for California in late April for a four month vacation...which ended up only being two months because it was so hard!  We got to stay in my grandma's house on the top of my parents' property, which was amazing!  Mom had it cleaned up and then she put in little things we would need like soaps and dishes, towels and kitchen gadgets.  So sweet!  We played at "grandma's park" (as E calls it), spent time with friends and cousins, went to the coast, the wine country, the children's museum, Lake Tahoe, Truckee (to see my sister's cabin), ate out...a ton, and went shopping all the time!  Seriously, I think I was at Target and Joann's fabrics like every other day!  I gorged myself on Dave's Killer bread, Winco bagels, fresh strawberries and blueberries and my dad's fried chicken. So delicious!
  And as wonderful as all is sounds, being away from Adam and being a "single mom" away from everything the kids are used to was a lot more work than anticipated.  It was worth it for the family to meet and love on little G, for E to reestablish relationship with grandparents and cousins and for me to find encouragement in the most unlikely of places.
  While we were there, little G learned how to stand and bilaterally crawl and he grew two teeth! Adam didn't even recognize him when we came home!

When we arrived the weather was cool and rainy, when we left it was hot and so dry! Mom's dogwood lost all of its flowers in our third week.

Looking at the American River

Mom, the tour guide in Coloma

Pizza at Kristi's after a garden tour for Mother's Day

mmmm, pizza...which I couldn't eat because of my non dairy diet. boo

Grandpa and little babaloo

brother

Grandma and little babaloo

the cousins!

Gardening with Grandma

cousins and best friends!

This is their Elsa and Anna hair

to the zoo!

At Dillon beach!  What a fun day!

Momma and babaloo

E found a little friend and they had a great time blowing bubbles and sliding down the sand dunes together.

Just hanging out on the porch

Learning to stand

Most of our shopping centered around trying to find Elsa and Anna...finally found at Target!

Eating out at Island's Burgers.

A surprise visit from my best friend, Evie...so blessed!

hmmm

Fairy cousins!

Lots of swinging at Grandma's

trying to pack for Okinawa

  Also difficult was that while we were in California, Adam's contract was cut from the marine corps meaning that he lost his job.  So there we were, separated with these huge decisions to make and Adam feeling lonely and stressed.

So home to Okinawa we came.  Although we are currently in limbo about where we will be in the next month, God has given both of us a tremendous amount of peace.  He will take care of us wherever He takes us.  We chose a life of adventure, a life of extreme faith, of jumping off into the unknown time and time again.  And we are slowly understanding how to brave the storms, how to trust The Lord, how to walk practically in utter belief that He will sustain us no matter what our future looks like.  And we pray that this assurance, this faith we struggle to remember, this calm in the midst of personal storm will translate to our children.  That E and G will grow up believing in the impossible!

Back in Okinawa

Life as we know it

  Well, life has certainly been busy since little G came into our lives!  It's suddenly much harder getting out the door, doing laundry, paying bills, blogging or even getting myself ready.  Numerous times I've run out the door already late and then discovered on my way to an errand or play date that I've completely forgotten to brush my hair (or teeth for that matter)!  Even now, I'm wearing a sweatshirt that has been spit up on at least four times today and I've not changed it (although I remember every once in awhile when I turn my head and whiff a sour smell)!
   Big sister, E, has been a great help during the day, and aside from the constant meltdowns whenever she is asked to dress herself, has been happy and kind.  We stopped forcing food down her (making mealtimes last over an hour), moved toys into her bedroom for "quiet time" so she would stop picking her face out of boredom, and gave her a flashlight at night to help with the loss of her paci.  She has really been doing great with all the changes happening around here.
  As for little G, he's just the cutest thing you ever saw!

Smiles!

He is a constant smiler and laugher!  He loves his big sister and is always on the lookout for her.  Good thing she's not too hard to find with all her loud singing and dancing about!

  Little G's thrush is totally gone but he is still allergic to dairy so I've been diligent at cutting it out of my diet.  Still getting a ton of spit up, but it doesn't seem to bother him.  He's 4 months now and still not sleeping well in the night.  He's doing about 4-5 hour sleeps...I've got to get him sleeping through the night soon.  Being off caffeine doesn't help ;)  We've tried to resume an active week with almost every day accounted for: Monday is workout day at the gym, Tuesday is prayer group in the morning, Wednesday is ballet, Thursday is library play group and Friday is now trying to be park day with friends.  We are making it - I may be late everywhere I go and I may have unshaven legs, but E's getting out and about with friends and that makes my days much easier!

Cherry blossom season

Japanese roller slides are the best!

We took a short trip to the Naritasan temple to see some cherry blossoms this year

lunch at daddy's office

Civic Center park

breakfast smiles

What happens when I leave Dad and E alone for too long

weirdos

E and C under the cherry blossoms

E and C at Comprehensive Park

A zoo play date

E and N watching a dancing robot at the zoo

  We've been making tons of new friends and it has been such a blessing to E and I.  I feel like God is taking care of me emotionally here (so far from what I know) through a great group of moms and dads that I get to see each day.  We are so lucky to have such incredible people around us.

  

Holidays 2013

  Well, with little G being born in October, the holidays were a bit...off this year.
 Halloween came and went without much notice by me...G was only 10 days old and there was no way I was going to take him out in the rain for trick or treating.  But Adam was a trooper and took E in her tinker bell costume out to Camp Lester housing with her friends.
  Thanksgiving was fantastic!  We went to our friends' the Traficans' house and had SO much delicious food!
  Christmas was not what we expected this year.  We decided to go to the Okuma military resort to just get away from life for a little vacation.  Our good friends, Jared and Shelley, wanted to come with us so we made grand plans of playing card games, opening stockings, watching movies, playing mini golf, and lounging by the ocean while cooking over a campfire.  We packed like we were staying for a year (although it was only 4 days) and even Jared and Shelley brought enough snacks to feed a small starving nation.  BUT, it rained the entire time!  We were stuck in a very small and nasty "resort room" where you had to wear your shoes in the shower and the toilet sounded like it could suck the paint off the walls every time it flushed!  We did get some smore's cooked and had hotdogs but overall, not my favorite Christmas.  We ended up leaving two days earlier than expected because it was just too miserable.  Good thing we had Jared and Shelley there to cheer us up!

Jared and E wrestling

The view from the room

Making cookies for Santa

Opening stockings 

Fairies from Santa!

E's first lego set!

Jared and Shelley enjoying smores

E's first smore ever!

The ladies

Jared helping E cook her marshmallow

Good friends

huh?

So glad the holidays are over!