Little miss giggle...plus a snort or two!

Lainey LOVES when her daddy throws her up in the air. I used to freak out when he would toss our babies in the air, but I have had to get used to it. Listen for the snorts...they crack me up!

Baby Buddha

Here is the darling onesie that Breck sent us! How freaking cute is it?!! Lainey looks a bit like a boy, but I will stick a bow on her to fix that problem :)

We love packages from Aunt Breck!

Today in the mail we got a FUN FUN FUN package from Aunt Breck. We got some yummy fruit leather (that we can't get here), a book and a DARLING onesie for Lainey (pictures of it will come soon) and much much more. Thanks so much shmecky!! The favorite thing that came in the package was a pack of fake mustaches...I think Andy had just as much fun with them as the kids did! When I put them on Lainey it was hilarious, she couldn't breath out of her nose and she would snort! The little boy in the picture is Truman, the kid we babysit.














Andy is a total Chester in the pictures...ha ha!

Look at Lainey's hair!

Lainey's hair is in an ugly stage right now. No matter what I do, it sticks straight up! I have been experimenting with hair gel the past few days and will have some pics shortly. Don't worry, it's nothing too crazy!

Always and Never.....

In my late teen years and early twenties I was full of I will NEVER and I will ALWAYS.....yeah well, two kids, a few dogs and a husband later, I am pretty sure that I have contradicted myself in almost all of those statements. Here are just a few examples:
1-) I will NEVER let MY child watch t.v. for more than the recommended 1/2 hour a day..yeah, that was before I knew that I could clean the kitchen, take a shower and make a phone call in the time it takes to watch a few episodes of Spongebob Squarepants.
2-) My kids will NEVER have toy guns....
3-) I will ALWAYS communicate with my husband...
4-) I will NEVER spank my child or yell at them for that matter. Well, that was before I had children and experienced asking them 15 times in a nice way to stop jumping on the couch or to stop trying to ride the dog.
5-) I will ALWAYS answer every question my child asks...yeah, that was before the child turned 3 and asked why why why just for the fun of it. I also learned that asking WHY is a great way for a child to stay up just a bit longer.
6-) I will NEVER say "because I said so"....
and last but not least....
I WILL NEVER EVER EVER OWN A MINI VAN!




This cute little car just wasn't cutting it anymore.
I could fit both kids and a diaper bag, but really
that is about it. Now we have more than enough
room for the kids, strollers, and the dog! I promise
though, I will not own a mini van when we are
back in the states. There are other types of vehicles
that will fit our growing family, but here in Okinawa,
we don't have much of a choice. Now all I need is a soccer
mom sticker and and a baby on board decal and I will be set!

Tis the season of nasty bugs

Living here in Okinawa I have seen my fair share of nasty nasty bugs. Why just this morning I was taking the trash out and was greeted by this crazy looking black and white striped beetle with horns! I do however really like the gecko's since they eat all the nasty spiders. Ethan and his friends found a little baby one this morning. They caught it and have it in a bucket as their pet. We will be freeing her this afternoon..here is a shot of the little thing.

Quite cute eh?! Last year we had a full grown gecko in Ethan's room. He found it on his firetruck, on the ladder! We got a giggle out of the firefighting gecko.

Fun Random Pics

So, let's start off this post by putting a picture of Lainey in a MuMu ( I am not sure of the spelling, but MOO MOO just didn't look right, ha!).



We were upstairs and Andy picked up his guitar and Lainey loved it. She just sat and listened for ages. We might be in trouble as she gets older, I think she has a thing for musicians....or is that her mommy? John Mayer what?! Anyway, the other pictures are of her semi-pushing up and then just taking a break. It must be tiring to push all that weight up!


























While I was taking pictures of Lainey and her Dad, Ethan and some friends were playing in his room. The room was immaculate just five minutes before....

For the last picture, Andy painted Lainey's toenails!!

My Big Girl...MIO!

I took Mio to the vet yesterday and I knew that she was a bit overweight, but I wasn't sure just how much...she hides her chunkiness well...she is a whopping 109 lbs! I had to get her the heartworm medication for the big dogs and for the little dogs as well! The vet suggested that I put some green beans in with her food so that I can give her less dog food, but so that she won't be hungry. Yeah well, I found out that Mio hates green beans. She spit them out all over the floor and wouldn't touch her food until we took them out. She is a very picky dog! Here is a pic of poor Mio "playing" with Ethan.

Our tour of the Island

So like Annie said she got Ethan and I a tour of the island. We flew on a little cessna 4 seater plane and took right here on Kadena. Ethan was so excited to go on the plane then he saw the size of it and looked out the window and realized how high we were and nearly pooped his pants, which wouldn't be the first time! He had the death grip on my shorts and told me after the flight that there was now way he was letting go of me. Anyway it was a cool flight we started off heading north towards Nago following the coastline. We flew a hundred or so feet over the mountains then headed south Towards Naha (the capital city). Ethan was so enthused that he fell asleep about 3/4 of the way through the flight. Ethan's favorite part was putting the headset on, he felt like a real pilot. Well here are some pics. All the coast line pics are on the West side of the Island which is the East China Sea. The super densely populated area is Naha. I put a picture of base housing on there too so you can see the difference between on base and off. Kinda makes me feel bad sometimes but not really. The pic with the 2 piers is White Beach which is where I work most of the time. Enjoy!

Lainey's Pool

Andy has been working the past few days, but the pics and commentary on the plane ride will come soon! For now though, here are a few pics and a clip of Lainey in her new pool. She wasn't really all that thrilled to be in it, but she was patient enough for a few pictures. Thanks for the new, bigger swimsuit Grammy Barb! Listen in the background to Ethan "spelling". He cracks me up. He had a few friends over to swim in his pool. I tell ya, little boys are so rough! After putting Lainey down for one of her many "30 minute cat naps," I came downstairs to find all 4 boys out of the pool playing power rangers beside it. I asked them why they weren't swimming in the pool anymore and one admitted "we all peed in it!". EWWWW, gross!
I tell ya, I am not yet used to little boys! Sorry the quality of the video isn't any better, I am not sure why it sucks.

GERBER BABY

So, Lainey just LOVES her sweet potatoes! So far, sweet potatoes, peas and green beans are all her little system will tolerate. She sure loves them! Here are a few pics from this afternoon....

My Boys

The boys are having a "dad and son" day today. They started their day by going to White Beach where Andy works. Ethan loves to go and check out all the cool stuff they have there. There are boats, humvees, big camo trucks, etc. He just loves it! Later on today they are going in a little plane for an hour around Okinawa. I got that for Andy for Father's Day. Pictures will be posted tomorrow! I love my boys!

Ethan on a motorbike

Our little neighbor boy got an electric motorcycle for his birthday. Yippee, if you know me at all, I am NOT a fan of ANY type of motorcycle even if it is electric! But, after asking and asking for 2 days I finally broke down and let him ride it. He was in heaven!! He told me that Andy told him that when he is a bit older he will get Ethan a real dirt bike...we'll see.....:) In one of the pics, Ethan was a bit too enthusiastic and was squeezing the guts out of the kid!