I can't believe I've been MIA from the blogging world for so long!  My apologies. Do I have any readers left out there??

In the past month and a half, we have been so busy I can't see straight anymore.  First Tommy left to go back out onto the boat.  Every day, all day (and I do mean ALL DAY), Olivia and I would have this conversation:

O: "Daddy?"
M: "Daddy's on the boat."
O: "Daddy?"
M: "He'll be back in a few weeks, honey."
O: "Daddy...." (insert sad, whiny voice)
Then, 15 minutes later, we'd repeat the exact. same. conversation. Every day all day for 5 weeks!

So Tommy left, and I was busy running from office to office getting things done for our big move.  Plane tickets, cat reservations on both airlines, moving company paperwork done and set up, etc. etc.  I swear they make it purposefully difficult to leave this place just so you may perhaps change your mind and stay longer!

A few weeks later my friend Robin came to visit all the way from Iowa!  She and I went to high school together and roomed for a year together at Iowa State.  We were in each other's weddings, and she has flown to see me at every duty station we've been assigned to!  Robs was here for 2 weeks and we went all over the island... pedicures, lots of great food, three sunny days at Okuma resort up north, ziplining in the Jungle, Bunco, and lots of other fun things.  It was so great to have her here!

Then Tommy came home, which of course we were so excited about.  We crammed in a bunch of Easter festivities, and a few days later, amidst all the chaos of everything else, we headed to Tokyo!  Tokyo was awesome.... I could write long posts about our trip, and I probably should.  The first day we flew there and adventured out around our hotel.  The second day we did Tokyo Disneyland, which I will admit I was blown away by.  I didn't think much of HongKong Disney but TokyoDisney was AMAZING.  The third day we went to Tokyo Disney Sea.  Again, absolutely amazing!  The kids loved every second of it.  The fourth day we toured Tokyo via rail and subway and cab. :)  We went to Sensoji Temple, which was built in the year 645 (!!), saw the cherry blossoms in full bloom, and went to the top of Tokyo Tower to see the city.  Next we went to... (drum roll please)... Outback Steakhouse.  Lame? Maybe.  But this girl hasn't eaten in an American-style restaurant in almost 3 years aside from the Chili's on base. Yummy!!  Finally, we finished the day off with a visit to the Imperial Palace where the Emporer lives.  It was so cool - it had a real live moat surrounding it just like in Scooby Doo! :)  On Day 5 we were exhausted and lounged around the hotel until our flight.  So much excitement!

After Tokyo, we had to hit the ground running with the move stuff again.  This week I sold my car, had two inspections (housing and movers), set up a billion appointments, and have been sorting our belongings like a mad woman!  The movers come on Monday to take our furniture and other household goods, leaving us with just kitchen supplies, clothes, and a few toys. 

Oh, and I host Bunco tomorrow night.  Rubik's Cube is the theme... everyone wears one item of clothing/accessory from each color on the Cube and after each round of Bunco you switch a piece, trying to get yourself to all one color.  It will be Epic.  Stay tuned!

T Minus 100 Days!

When I wake up tomorrow morning, we could have only 100 days left on our tiny little island paradise!  I say "could" because although we have our flight window (June 9 - 18th), we don't know which day they are scheduling our flight as of yet.  We should be finding out soon.  But if it's the 9th - that means we only have 100 days left on Okinawa!  I am excited and terrified all at the same time.

I guess I haven't shared our news here on the blog yet.  We will be heading back to Quantico, Virginia come June!  This will be my THIRD time living in Northern Virginia.  Tommy will be attending Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS), which is a 9-month career-level school for the Marines.  It starts at the end of July, so we'll have a good amount of time to fly back, spend time with both our families and friends, and get moved in before he starts class.  Oh, and the other bajillion things we need to do, like find a place to live, buy not one but TWO cars, enroll Wyatt in school... okay, I will stop now.

We attended our moving class on Monday and my eye started twitching about an hour into the four-hour class.  It hasn't stopped twitching yet.  It might have something to do with the 5-page (typed) to-do list that resulted from the meeting. :)

I have been dreaming of all the stores I want to go to when I set foot on American soil for the first time in almost 3 years.  In no particular order: Wegmans, Trader Joes, Michael's, Kohl's, Joann Fabric, and TJ Maxx are the ones I think about most often!

On average, about every 8 minutes I am struck with, "Man, I am so going to miss this when we move back to the States!" or "I can't wait to not have to deal with this when I move back to the States!"  The next three months will be a whirlwind, that I know!  We have a jam-packed spring: Tommy leaves soon, my friend is visiting for two weeks, then Easter, our trip to Tokyo over spring break, and then getting ready for the movers to be here.  Let the madness begin!

Weekend at the Marriott

We've gone to the Marriott once before, over Memorial Day weekend, but we had some more employee discount tickets burning a hole in our wallets so we invited some friends to go with us. The Hall Family joined us on Sunday/Monday and the Costa family joined us on Monday/Tuesday and we had so much fun!  The guys had Mon & Tues off for the holiday weekend so we enjoyed having them around before they all head out and part ways.

We got a later-than-anticipated start up to the Marriott, so after we got to the hotel and settled in, it was time for dinner.  We looooove their restaurants, so we were planning to eat our way through the weekend!  We ate at their yakinuku restaurant, which is where you grill your own food at your table.  We sat the kiddos at one table and the adults at the other and everyone had a grand old time!  The kids were angels.  The drinks were included.  We ate a bajillion crab legs and the biggest shrimp I've seen on island. We retired to the room, let the kids play and finished off the night with a rousing game of Apples to Apples, where Alli staged the greatest come-from-behind win in Game Night history!

The next morning after breakfast we all went across the street and took a glass bottom boat ride.  We got to take a trolley ride out to the pier where the boats were and the kids were super duper excited!


The kids loved the boat ride and seeing all the cool fish - but it was sort of stressful trying to keep them all IN the boat!! Japan doesn't have any of those silly rules about everyone wearing life jackets, and some of the kids (ok, just ours) thought it was a better view to lean over the very low railing to see the fish as opposed to looking at the bottom of the boat. *sigh.*

After the boat ride, we went in the underwater observatory and got to look at the sea life that way.  The kids were very excited about seeing Nemo and his daddy. ;)  Then we parted ways with the Hall family and went back to the room for naps all around!

After naptime, we met up with the Costas and all went swimming at the hotel pool.  It was chilly outside so we stayed inside to swim.  Well... the guys and the boys swam...Laura and I really just sat in the hot tub with the girls... :) 

Then we basically repeated the dinner/nighttime routine with the Costas...have I mentioned how much I loooove the food at this place?!

The next morning we swam and ate breakfast, checked out, and had an adventure finding an off-the-beaten-path park.  We all had a great time on the equipment!  

 Then Laura and I ventured off in search of a winery we swore was around there somewhere, and we found it! It was a fun little side-trip before heading home. 

 The kids racked out for a bit on this "hammock" which was really designed to catch someone if they fell off the very dangerous swinging bridge above it....ah, I love Japan!!

We are really going to miss Okinawa.  There is an adventure around every corner, and we have the greatest friends here!  But last week we officially got word that we'll be moving back to Quantico, VA for about a year.  I think we'll be leaving here mid- to late-June, which means we have less than 4 months left in paradise!

Terrific Two-year Old!

Olivia turned two on Saturday, and I can hardly believe it.  I thought her first year went fast, but her second year went by in the blink of an eye.  Really, my daughter is TWO?!

She is the sweetest little girl and so funny. We can hardly believe how she has changed...she was so serious in her first year year of life - it was all we could do to get her to "laugh," which, for her, was a whopping "he" sound.













A year later, she is constantly smiling and laughing, and is the ultimate ham! The picture above was taken on Friday when she stole my lipstick from my purse... she was so proud of herself! This little girl will come running up behind while you are sitting on the floor and jump on your back.  She'll tackle her brother, who is twice her size.  She is fearless to the point of jumping off diving boards in the deep end at 18 months old. 

She is the sweetest little mommy to her baby dolls.  She rocks them, feeds them, has us change their clothes.  She kisses them and loves on them, pushes them in the stroller, sits them in her shopping cart while she shops, puts them to bed and tells us to "shh."

Olivia dislikes wearing jeans.  She loves comfy play clothes, dresses, and especially her tu-tu from Grammy.  She even wore her tu-tu for her two-year pictures that we took with Ms. Jana a few days ago.  She will smile for the camera and say "cheese!"  She's got the 'run, stop, look back over your shoulder, and grin' pose down pat!

We had a Japanese cherry blossom themed party for her and invited a few of her little girl friends, neighbor Makenna, friends Vera and Madilyn, church buddy Clare, and bestie Charlotte. 

Olivia loves bouncy castles, so we rented one for the day. 

She was so excited - her face just lit up when they delivered it and blew it up!  It was hard to tear her away from the bounce house to open presents!

I had a lot of fun with the Japanese Cherry Blossom theme.  I made her invitations with my cricut machine and used it to cut the cherry blossom branches on it.  As you can see in the pictures, I made yakisoba noodles, which the kids loved, blossom-shaped sammies, edamame, fun candy "sushi," cherry blossom cheesecakes, etc. to go with the theme. 

I made the Happy Birthday Livy banner and decorated with the paper lanterns and faux-cherry blossom flowers (you can't see them here).  I am mad that I forgot to take a picture of the party favors, because they were my favorite: cherry blossom tins with pink-flowered coin purses and Japanese cherry blossom mini hand sanitizers from Bath and Body works (thanks Jen Farrell, you're the best!!).

The cake was the best! My talented friend Jenny made Olivia's birthday cake - a 3-layer strawberry-chocolate cake with beautiful cherry blossoms on the fondant.  I LOVED IT! She did such a great job!!  Here is a little video of us singing Happy Birthday.  It took her a minute to figure out the "blowing out the candles" part!



Birthday girl opening her presents... she loved them all. Special thanks to the grandmas for mailing her presents!  Olivia had so much fun - she was exhausted!  She took a 2-hour nap after the party, and slept past 8 a.m. for the first time EVER the next morning!  Then she took another 2-hour nap a few hours later!  I am now considering purchasing a bouncy house. :)

Sweetheart Dance

Tommy took the kids to their first dance on Saturday!  I was gone doing some crafting for the day, so he took them solo.  It was held at our church/Wyatt's preschool and the kids had such a fun time!

 They had a professional photographer there to take pictures of the kids.  She took 8 pictures...this was the best one.... :)

Olivia and her bestie, Charlotte... these two little girls are so cute together!!

 Meanwhile, Wallflower Wyatt was sitting in the corner... I feel like this might be a window into the future!!

 The dance in full swing... the kids loved the balloons, of course!

 Slowing it down a little for a daddy-daughter dance!

 DJ Wyatt was in the house, scratching records with his buddies - he thought that was pretty cool!

How can you not love this little girl and her smile?!?  Can't believe she'll be TWO tomorrow!

Bubble Time

 Broke out the bubbles and the sidewalk chalk the other day - it was a beautiful 70 degrees and sunny and the kids had a great time!  That is Kaitlin, my friend's daughter, hanging out with us above.

 Olivia likes to say "pop" when she sees bubbles, because the Lapsit program I take her to at the library (stories, songs, etc.) on Friday mornings has a bubble machine and there is a song about popping the bubbles.  So she sees them and says "pop!"

After the bubble action Livy decided to shoot a few hoops.  She gets mad that she can't shoot it all the way up yet, so I have to lift her up so she can make the basket.  And yes, that's a soccer ball she's using.  Except that it's not ours...it just sort of showed up in our back yard!  Anyway, it was nice to bust out of the house on a nice day - it has been rainy and dreary for two months now, and the Vitamin D did us some good!

Sunflower Festival

 I blogged about the sunflower festival last year. It is one of my favorite festivals in a land of never-ending festivals!  The weather has finally turned from cool and rainy all the time to mostly sunny and a little warmer, and it was a gorgeous day to see the sunflowers.

 This year, Tommy was unexpectedly here to share it with us, and we were excited to show him the sunflower fields.  Wyatt especially remembered our trip last year and had a good time showing daddy the fields.

 Wyatt thought it would be fun to stand like a statue.  Olivia didn't see it as quite that much fun.

 As a general rule, sunflowers are not my favorite flower.  But there's something about these sunflower fields...  I think I could take pictures of these sunflowers all day!

 Wyatt is in his "I'm not going to smile nicely" stage right now.  He likes to squint his eyes or close them altogether and give me a cheesy look.  I have definitely noticed him growing more out of the "little" boy stage and into the "boy" stage lately. :(

This photo sequence of Olivia cracks me up.  She is starting to look like a little girl, and she certainly has her own little personality. These pictures exemplify her attitude toward life this far, from what I can observe - grab it and stick your face in it full force, but make sure you look cute doing it!!  She is my little firecracker!

The Livy 500

 Olivia gets these bursts of energy, and likes to run as fast as a speeding bullet from our couch, down the hall, full speed into the door (in the background), and back again to the couch.  Then she does it all over again!  She repeats this about 50 times!  Wyatt used to do this at her age, too, and we always got a kick out of it.  My mom gave her the lei she has around her neck - she loves it.  She wears it all the time! Or her babies do :)

She has a silk diaper cover on here too, which she really likes.  She is sort of going through a naked phase, where she likes to strip off all her clothes.  We have finally convinced her to leave her diaper on, I think!  I just love this picture because she looks so happy :)

Wyatt & Olivia's Baptism

Last year I blogged a little bit about the new church that we had found.  Tommy was raised Baptist and I was raised Catholic, and this church was a nice blend of the two religions for us.  The church (coincidentally) happens to be the same place as where Wyatt goes to preschool, and the priest (also coincidentally) happened to be one of our neighbors our first year here on Okinawa.  His two kids match up closely in age and gender to our kids, who played a lot together until they moved off base.

 We have been thinking about baptizing the kids for awhile now.  After much thought and discussion, we had them baptized on Sunday with our friends (Okinawan family) there to help us celebrate!  We hope that when they are older, that they will make the choice for themselves about what they believe... but we also believe it is our job as parents to help guide them in the right direction toward faith, which if I am being honest, is what has really helped us get through this tour in Okinawa.

 The kids did great with the service - despite the fact that Olivia had been awake since 4:50 a.m.!  She is an early bird, that girl.  She didn't even bat an eye when Father Esau poured the water over her head.

 Wyatt was a big ham as always - he had a big grin on his face all the while the water was being poured on!  It was awesome to have Father Esau be the one baptizing our kids, since we have a connection with him outside of the church as well.

 They gave each of the kids a baptism candle, and Olivia, seeing Wyatt holding his, desperately wanted to hold hers as well... a little frightening there for a minute as she was reaching and grabbing for candle and flame!

 I made a bunch of food for the reception at the church, and the church bought this cake, which Wyatt exclaimed was "beautiful!"

 The kid's table... I see lots of donuts and not much of the fruits and veggies and egg bakes that I made!!

We were so grateful that all of our friends here were there to witness and celebrate with us.  It really meant a lot to have them there since our family in the States obviously couldn't make the trip :)  It was a beautiful, sunny day to receive such a wonderful blessing!