Happy 6 1/2 Birthday to You....

.....OLIVIA~!!!

You dont know it yet, because your still at school, but TODAY IS YOUR DAY!

I cant believe tomorrow you'll be 'almost 7' more than 'just 6'........

I'm Not Dreaming...

It's Doubly Official!!
Yup, you heard me!!
Ethan called this afternoon while I was in the YMCA working out.
I returned his call about an hour later... and we played Phone Tag till about an hour ago.
He had Our Order's in his Hands! OMG!
Yup, they came today.... Were Moving to Japan!!!!!!
I just somehow can not get my mind around it.

So this means we have 4 months until we load up on the airplane to Japan!

The details are not worked out yet.

One thing we do know is we can't Fly before October 1st, and that Ej will need to be checked out of his command as soon after Sept 15th as possible (He wont have a "Job" after Sept 15th.) So, this might mean we will have 2 weeks of Packing out with Ethan home and Helpful and not on the ship going "in and out". I hope thats the case, and it works out nicely!

I am Glad to hear this news... Olivia will have more than a single week @ here school... and we wont be moving during the Middle of Summer (Heat Central here in VA.)

We left Sasebo Japan on November 29th (i think) 2003 and we will be arriving October 2008... 4 years and 11 months... and One Evan later... haha... Time moves so slow... and yet FLY's! Weird! I feel like we "just moved"... yet it was so long ago! :(

~SIGH... and the "stuff" begins!~

Evan...

The 'Caption' is below each picture... Enjoy!

Evan, riding his bike. Man, he caught onto "bike riding" Quicker than Olivia ever did!
Do ya like his Boxers? Yup! He stripped after the playing the the hose and decided he had to ride his bike in his undies! haha! We went Directly to the bathtub after these pictures.

Evan giving me a Goof-Ball Look. Seriously, He is a Character!!!
(See the "jug" drink next to him? Gosh... That's what Dad's are for... to buy the Fun, unhealthy stuff...He brought a whole case home for the weekend BBQ's... Sigh! There 'gone now'... haha)

All Smiles! Lov'n control of the hose!

Side yard fun...

In the Above Picture Evan was having a Super Fun time w/ the GIJoes Ethan saved for him... from his own childhood! 20+ yrs old! I was so happy to see them playing Together... I had to snap a picture. Evan and Olivia both enjoy these toys...

Evan playing at a park a few weeks back, we took a picnic lunch. ;)

Olivia...

In the above pic she has lost 7 teeth. She is working on #8 right now.

YES, the Camera is FOUND! T/Goodness!

Funny thing is i did not even look that hard.

While loading grocery's in the VUE ... i saw it, haha!

Boy, was i excited!!

When i got home from food shopping we spent a little time outside, it was a beautiful day.

I took some pictures of Olivia.

Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Weekend!

I guess my Biggest Plan of the Weekend is to find my Camera, i feel lost with out it! :(
Other than that, we want to
*have a few BBQ's
*detail the VUE
*try Kittys 'Wii Fit' (wanna try it before we buy it!)
*maybe go as a family to see Narnia

It's a cool day, high of 69 today. Weird!
I was expecting a hot weekend.
I guess the 'pool' is out~ haha

I'll be back with more from the weekend later.
Happy Happy Weekend Everyone!

Olivia & Evan's 1st Spring

Here are 2 pictures.

Olivia was 5 months and Evan was 4 months.

I just love looking back! they were so Small... and Cute! ;)

Part 2... Date Night

I just HAD to add a comment about "Teppanyaki Grills" for all you who has Never lived in Japan.
In America... when you think of a Japanese Restaurant you think of the Guy cooking for you, and "Fire" and just the whole 'show' of dinner.
Well, in Japan... at least in the 2 places we have lived, It's hard to find that style of dinning.
We did go to a dinner, in Sasebo Japan about 6 years ago, just Ej and I for a Anniversary Date. It was at a Nice Restaurant. They had a Small Room w/ just a few chairs off the the side of the Regular dinning room. We went in, it was Just us, and a chef. He cooked JUST the meat on the grill. It was Kobe' Beef. It was VERY $$ and VERY GOOD... the best ever actually. Melted in your mouth...
Anyways, the point to this is that the American Version of Japanese Dinning is Very Far Off what Actual Japanese dinning really is. (if i am making sense!)

In Japan You have a Few Common Options. A Sushi Bar or "go round". (where the Value Priced Sushi is on a convey-er belt, and moves by you, and you select the 'plate you want' and play per color of plate.) Second Choice... is a Cook it yourself type. IMO, those are the best. I love to cook my own beef/chicken... (all kinds of 'parts'... haha)... Also you can cook it yourself in a boiling soup bowl... there are Many Options of Cook it yourself restaurants in Japan... my fav!
Also there are regular types of eatery's... The one main difference is WOW... the best customer service ever, and wow... nothing compares, Esp in America. And , You don't Tip... that's a Plus.
There are tons of eating options in Japan... from Fast food to Street food... to Vending Machine Food. Yup... the Japanese Sell Everything in a Vending machine. Personally i have bought Hot & Cold Coffee and Tea in Can's... in Vending machines. Also i have bought Beer...(they shut off after a certain time at night)... You can also buy Chicken, Rice and Fries... in a HOT Cook Vending machine. Ice Cream in a Vending machine, and.... Oh, the "Catch your own Lobster Claw Vending machine"... um, No Joke! (You can also buy Non Food items in a Vending machine.....)

Ok, enough about this...

The point is, i cant wait to head back to Japan... to get my Food Fix..... because there is Nothing like it in America!

Date Night...

Last night was 'Date Night'. We had a sitter for 3 hours, Free.
We remembered Very last minute about this... and were not prepared.
We could not see "Narnia" because it's 2:20 minutes long, and we would have to consider Travel, Lines... and Parking/Walking. We would go over the 3 hours, for sure. So,... because we could not go to the Movies, like we Really Wanted... we were Stumped.

'Its Weird. Because we have children, and we have adapted to doing Everything with our children, we don't know what to do Alone.
I asked Ej is we were Weird,... haha... he just said we have adapted to Not having a reliable babysitter for over a year. I guess i will agree with that, for now. haha'

So ... we dropped them off @ the 'sitter' and headed out. Of course, we had a ton of ideas, and NO plan. (this is typical us) So we decided to Drive around, and look around and 'what we wanted to do'... haha... no joke. Lets just say this... we drove around so long that around 7:45 pm we Finally decided to go to a Japanese Steakhouse and have some sushi and a Teppanyaki dinner. We wanted to stay local, so we did not go to our Favorite Teppanyaki Grill http://otanigrill.com/ Otani's.
We decided to go to a Smaller, More local one. It was NOT 'up to par' IMO... but we ate, and it was ok... we got to talk, and that was nice. The Funny thing is... i said to Ej "Gosh, i miss the kids"... he agreed. Otani's is Olivia & Evan's Favorite Place to eat. Olivia is a sucker for Sushi... she loves it, and can eat Many Roll's... Loves it.
We ordered a "Green Dragon Roll" last night, and it was Tempura Shrimp rolled in Avocado... w/ a few other things. It was good... As close to 'a Taste of Japan' w/ the sauce they used... But,... one thing is for sure, we cant wait to eat 'real' sushi again!

Ok, so when we were done eating, it was time to drive and get the kids, haha. We did pick them up 30 minutes early... but that's ok.
It was a Fun Night, i only wish we had a plan, or 30 more minutes... making it 3 hours and 30 minutes. I really wanna see Narnia!! haha

Camera Lost...

I am Peev'd! The camera is LOST!
I know it's gotta be here somewhere, this is aggravating.

TGIF

Yea It's Friday!!
On another note...
This YMCA Challenge is really helping with some winter weight loss!
4 and a half pounds gone this month. :):) Super Cool!
I guess the Weights and the Killer Classes are kicking my butt!

Hump-Day

Lets see, Not much to chat about this week.

The past week has been busy, but nothing exciting to chat about.

Yesterday i had a Veg-Out Day with my Friend Kitty. Her and I spent ALL day (9:30 am~2:30 pm) playing Wii... haha... and running up to a Wii Game Store... to get a few more Wii games. haha! I am Loving the Wii, and so is the family.

Today is Recovery Day. Laundry, Dishes... picking up.

The past 3 weeks another Friend of mine encouraged me to Join her in a 12 week Challenge @ our local YMCA. The 1st week was Mellow, the 2nd... a bit more, and now... we are just killing ourselves! haha!
Last night we did a Cardio-Kick-Boxing Class... It was BRUTAL! So, today we are taking the day off. What a Nice Break!
We will be back in the saddle tomorrow, Her? in the PM and I will go in the AM. (We have Dance Thursday nights.)

Thats about it from here... Oh did you notice the School Ticker? 29 days to go!!! Awesome!

2 years ago. A look back...

Wow! 2 years ago? Gosh! time Flys! I think... i think... i am wanting a BABY again looking through these pictures! :( They grow up soooooo darn fast .........

1 year ago! A look back...

1 year ago Olivia decided she did not want Long hair any more.

At 5 years old, i wanted her to have a say in her Hair Options.

So, as much as I did not want it, She did, and it made her happy.

So... She has been Short Hair for about a year now.

Right now, she is trying to decide if she wants it Super Short for Summer... or if she is growing it out. (I am thinking Short... because It's at the 'Weird' stage right now... we will see!)

Medial Screening Update

So, While we have been busy, we all (the 3 of us) had Medical appointments.
Evan is Healthy, I am Healthy... Olivia... she had to be referred to the Naval Hospital. They were listening to her heart, and heard a Murmur. So, a few days later we took her to the Naval Hossy and yup... she does. But, the good news is ... it's perfectly ok :) and nothing to worry about. (The doc's also heard 'something else'..... but that's A-ok too!)
Ethan is last... then we are OK. :) We are just waiting on some paperwork. He was told it would be here this month.

Evan on a side note needs his immunizations up to date, but i have a Waiver... so No Rush!

Summer Enrichment ...

Olivia was sent home with a packet about a Summer Enrichment Program. It is for children who work above their grade level. It's with the Public School system. She was recommended to attend! :) We are very happy of course. The only draw back is the $$ and the fact that i am counting down the days until Summer Vacation, and now... We will get about 2 weeks of summer and then back to a schedule! This summer program runs 4 weeks, and is only 1/2 day. These are the good things. The bad things are she will have to ride a bus (not something i am fond of) or be driven. Also, it starts about an hour earlier than 'reg school'.
So... School is out the 2nd week in June, Dance Recital 3rd week of June and Summer Enrichment is 4th week of June.
June is going to be busy! :(

Did i mention that Olivia grew out of her Dance (tap) shoes? Yup... last week she could barely Squeeze into them for class. MAN! This is like growing out of your backpack the last month of school... SUX!
The worst part is i don't even know if she will do dance next year, because were moving! Sigh!!!
So, she is a size 1 shoe!

We are back!

Wow! I cant believe it's been almost been a month!
The Week Long TV/Internet Fast went from 7 to 10 days! It was So Hard, but So worth it!!
We as a family learned so much!
The feeling was like a "power outage". Very Weird, but Interesting.
I enjoyed it and recommend it!

The following 20 days went fast. We went to Meemaw's house and visited. Then, She came and saw us. She stayed for a few days while Aunt Ro and Uncle Jim came with thier 2 youngest girls. It was a very nice, and needed visit. :) We enjoyed it!

Meemaw just left today, and of course, that is sad! :(

With just about a month left of school, we are ready for it to be over. The Weather is Beautiful... and i just want Olivia and Evan to be having a Blast outside. Soon enough!