Bryson had to name 10 items and then count how many we had and give the plural amount. He wanted to count all my wine bottles.....um.... No Bryson you may not! "Why Mom?"His teacher might think awful things....He decided to count Presents instead.
are nothing like in the states. They have these huge roller slides that if you don't bring a piece of cardboard to ride on your butts going to burn.
There are also, what I call drop slides. You hang on to a bar with your body dangling and let go. You drop until the slide curves and you meet back up with it.
These parks are so much fun and they are all over the island. If these parks where in the states they would be a law suit waiting to happen.
Last year he was gone but this year he was here...and we are so thankful!
I hope it was a memorable one.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We spent the afternoon with our friends the Salas' and then in the evening we went over to our neighbors house the Slattery's.
Our Thanksgiving food was fabulous. Leann made a turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, stuffing, a few casseroles, apple, cherry and pumpkin pie. Her mom is in town and made all the pies, and helped prepare so much. I made the fried turkey, rolls, sweet potatoes, bourbon carrots and rum cake. Leann had her neighbors and another couple over and they brought all the appetizers. We had so much food, and it all was so delicious. 
The kids all played outside until it was time to eat. Bryson and Carter love to spend time with Anthony, and I love to spend time with Allissa. Its fun to have a girl around.
I am really thankful that my family is all together this year. We really missed Joe last year.
The special olympics were held here and we decided to go and cheer them on. During the races they had some japanese drummers preform. We had a great time watching them.
A friend of mine asked me to take some family photos of her and her family and we decided to scout out a park here in Okinawa for the perfect picture spot.
We ended up choosing another location but here are a few picture I took while walking around. I would like to bring my family back for some photos here. It was a lovely place.
Chase your dad and I are holding you back. You want to crawl so bad but every time you lay on your belly we pick you up and sit you back down on your butt. Or I will yell at Bryson and Carter to pick you up. I will admit it....I don't want you to crawl. Once you start crawling its over, you will be a mover and into everything. You won't be out little bitty baby, you will be on your way to a toddler.
Because we are always picking you up you have found other ways to move around the living room. You hop on your butt! Its the cutest thing to see, and it works. We will set you in the middle of the living room then you hop on your butt all the way to the coffee table and then pull yourself up. There really is no stopping you, you are one little determined child to get where you want to go.
This month you also said your first word. Mama. This was a shock to me as Bryson's first word was ball and Joe remembers Carter's first word as being Dada but I will have to double check that.
You love all your fruits, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. I think you have eaten your weight in sweet potatoes.
You weigh 20lbs.
You love to talk now, you babble at the boys and they just laugh.
You still love to be held and you get mad when nobody pays attention to you.
You were left for the first time while the rest of the family went to a movie without you. We went to see A Christmas Carol. You stayed with our neighbors Andrea and Chris. They love to watch you.
Chase you are one special little boy and we are so thankful for you.
We decided to go to the Zoo for Veteran's Day. Bryson had already went on a filed trip with his class but the rest of us had never gone. It was a nice day and not to hot. It was a nice zoo, I was rather surprised. Of course there were a few animals I felt really bad for with being in such a small cage but they all seemed to be pretty happy.
Carter has learned so much in his pre-k. You can click on here and watch him do flash cards when he was just 2. He really does love his numbers.
Look at the size of that thing! I found this snail in our yard. I put a quarter next to it for a size comparison. Huge isn't it??
I made Bryson's class some brownies for Halloween. He and the class loved them and so do I.
I miss fall! I miss fall even more because Chase missed his first pumpkin patch festivities. The hay ride, the leaves changing, wearing orange while getting your photo taken. Do you remember last fall? You can read all about it here. Joe had just left us for nine months and we were trying to stay really busy.
It's raining outside right now and I am wondering how we are going to go Trick-or-Treating? I took some photos of Chase yesterday in a make-shift pumpkin patch and afterwards took some pictures of the boys in their costumes. By then Chase was done having his photo taken and started crying. I thought all is well I will take some photos tomorrow before trick-or-treating, only now it's raining, and I am not going to get any good photos. Therefore I am going to have to share the photos that I took yesterday.
Last night was Trunk or Treating on the Marine base and they let all the local nationals on to participate also. Chase was a star in his little Chewbacca costume. The locals don't know how to speak very good English but they all pointed to their cameras and then at Chase. They would put their child next to him and snap away.
UPDATE: It rained on and off all evening and the boys were soaked. Bryson said this was the worst Halloween. I have to agree. No fun at all! The costumes are all hanging up to dry as we speak.
Here are the photos from yesterday.
Carter was given this blank paper doll at school on the first day and was told to decorate it. This is what we came up with.
We were at the clinic yesterday to get flu shots. I do not plan on giving the kids the H1N1 shot so I figured I had better at least give them their flu shots. At 4 this was Carter's first flu shot, thankfully my kids are very healthy and never get sick so its just one of those things I don't make them get. Back to the story..
We were at the clinic waiting and Carter places his hand on Chase's head and says "Chase this is your forehead." He then looks at me all seriously and asks "Mom, where is our three-head?" I thought it was so funny.
Later on that day when it was time to get ready for preschool I grabbed his (flu-shot) arm and he screams "You've broken my arm!" In a very southern drawn out yell. I couldn't stop laughing. Apparently his arm was a little sore from the shot.
Everyone is doing well after the shots and little Chaser's at six months finally got his four month shots. I know dead-beat mom. You can go back and read here why he is off schedule.
That's it folks!
I have my very own Charlotte. My little spider friend has lived in my side view mirror for going on 6 weeks now. There have been several occasions where I thought I have lost him. Sometimes when I am driving he likes to hold on to his web and then he spins very fast in circles while I am driving. Once I come to a stoplight/sign he will crawl back behind the mirror.
Carter: Mom the red light means you have to stop.
Mom: Yep
Carter: The green light means you can go.
Mom: Very good Carter, What does the Yellow light mean?
Carter: Go faster or you'll never make it!
In the last two weeks Chase has decided that sitting up is the best thing ever. These photos were taken about a week after he started sitting up and now that another week has gone by he is doing awesome.
We have now been on the island for 2 1/2 months. In that time we have had three possible typhoons that could have been disastrous had they not of changed their course and missed us. Only bringing lots of wind and rain. Being inside and looking out the weather can be quite fooling.
Last year we were living in North Carolina and a day like that would have been a cold, wet, windy, miserable day. Here in Okinawa its just wet and windy and still very, very, very HOT, with a shit load of HUMIDITY. But if you turn down the thermostat really low,
grab yourself a Vanilla Latte (they don't have pumpkin spice here), a pumpkin cookie (courtesy of my friend Leann), some old pine cones from NC,
and just look out the window, you can almost trick yourself into believing its really cold outside.
Saturday morning I loaded up the car and pulled out at 5am to head to my garage sale. I paid 15 dollars for a spot at the golf course where they let locals come. At 530 they opened the gates and gave us all our spot and I started to unload my car. There are some locals that buy and sell every weekend. As I started to unload I had some coming up to my van helping unload and going through my items. By 615 I had already made 100 dollars and the gates weren't even open to the public. At 7am the gates opened and the locals where RUNNING from two gates. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. They were everywhere. I would say there were probably between 60-80 people selling items and hundreds of locals to buy. It was so fast that I packed what was left back into the van and I was pulling out of the golf course by 930 and had made 270 dollars. It was the easiest yard sale I have ever done and will do it again when I need to unload some junk.
Last weekend we ventured out to Comprehensive Water Park. We weren't sure what to expect and boy were we surprised. We had a blast. The big slides have a ridiculously high height limit so Carter wasn't able to ride.
The park is now closed for the summer and we can't wait until next year. Bryson has already claimed this as the place to hold his birthday party next year. I can't wait, its sure to be lots of fun....Do you want to come?
Bryson today is your 7th birthday and I wonder how it's even possible. Where has the time gone, how did we get here. 7 years has gone by so quickly and you have changed so much. You amaze your father and I everyday.
Chase, you have definitely had some ups and downs this month. I realized you just seemed so skinny and was really starting to worry about your weight. You had your four month check up at four and a half months and you had lost 1 pound and 6 ounces. You had mommy and the doctor very worried. We started feeding you bottles as well as nursing and you are doing so much better.
This was the question Bryson asked me while I was setting up my new Magic Jack. I will explain the Magic Jack in just a second.
Today was Carter's first day of school. He had a great day today. He came home and said he made 6 friends. Tonight we went to Chili's for his special dinner. We have been talking a lot about school lately and he says he doesn't want to go to college. I asked him why and he said because he doesn't want to live there. Then he asks me if they have food at college. All in all I think he had a great day at school, and I am thankful there are many years before college.
