Tayson's 1st Flag Football Practice

Last week was Tayson's 1st Flag Football practice. He's been so excited to start and he is doing pretty well at it. He can throw a nice spiral and does really well dodging the other players. Tatum had a great time at Tayson's practice too. She was playing in puddles and getting kind of muddy. It's nice to let her just explore in a big open area during his practices. Now we sit a lot closer to his practices, so we'll get better pictures later on. I'm really excited to cheer him on in his games. I'll probably be that crazy mom cheering on her kid after every play. I've always wanted to be that mom.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving morning started out with the Turkey Bowl. I look forward to this every year because it's really the only chance I get to play football during the year. We played with a lot of people from the Okinawan Military District. It was a gorgeous day. Jay was gone on TDY (temporary deployment) so it was the the kiddos and me. We missed him very much. The holidays just are not the same without him. The first play I was able to tag the receiver (we were playing 2 hand touch) and got a shoulder to the cheekbone. I got a little beat up during the game but loved every bit of it. It made me feel like a kid again getting so many bumps and bruises but I can definitely tell I don't heal as fast as I used to.

The night before I was taking Tatum up to bed. She was asleep in my arms and I slipped on a nerf gun at the bottom of the steps (Tayson got in some huge trouble for that). I landed really hard on the stairs. I sacrificed myself to save Tatum and got a huge bruise that was a big lump for several days on my thigh, bruised my elbow and a big lump and bruise on my other shin. These battle wounds didn't keep me from playing football but when I fell trying to block the ball, I could've cried. I didn't (had to be tough) but ouch!!!!! We had the old people (adults with kids) and the kids play against the missionaries and youth. We kicked some butt. The little kids were great at rushing the quarterback. I guess 5-7/8 yr olds are pretty intimidating. They were so antsy it was hard for them to count to 5 Mississippi before rushing in.

After the game we headed home to get food ready. I made 2 sweet potato pies, a cherry pie, watergate salad, creamed corn and a veggie tray to take to the dinner. It was the first time I've made my own pie crust and it turned out really good.

The kids and I were able to spend Thanksgiving with our great friends the Cox Family and Jeanne Downing and her girls (her husband was TDY as well). They feel like family to us, so it was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. Sadly I didn't get too many pictures but I did get one of the beautiful table setting.

Tatum was the only one who wore a dress to dinner. She really wanted to get dressed-up for the special dinner. What a cutie and such a girl. I love it.

Tayson Falls asleep in Crazy place

Tayson was supposed to be getting ready for bed. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, came out and this is what I found. Kids fall asleep in the craziest places and positions.

Tatum's Crazy Hair

One day, Tatum decided she wanted to do my hair. We got out all of the hair things and had a great time. We tried to put as many hair things as possible in her hair. Isn't she cute?

Marine Corps Ball and Sleeping Tatum

We were invited to the Marine Corps Ball by our awesome friends, Bill and Lisa Cox.

I was so excited to get all dressed-up. We had a great time. We always do hanging our with our awesome friends. There was a great ceremony, good dinner and dancing.

Hopefully we'll be able to see the professional pictures from the ball soon, so I can post them up.

Bill and Lisa Cox

Jay was being naughty and needed a little spankin'

Lisa, me and Maria (another good friend from church)

I had such a good drink while we were there. I had heard of a Shirley Temple but never knew it was non-alcoholic. Well, Bill hooked us all up and I really liked it.

What handsome guys

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the ball, but it needed to be posted. I came home a couple Saturdays ago and asked Jay where Tatum was. He said something like I think she's upstairs playing. I looked around for a while and this is where she ended up. She is on the backside of our table (that's why we couldn't find her for a minute) asleep, standing up. She has her head lying on the chair. What a cutie. When we woke her, she was really disoriented and it was funny. I would be disoriented too.

Okinawa Zoo and Children's Museum

The kiddos didn't have school last Friday, so we decided to go to the zoo and Children's museum. We had a really good time and I was completely worn out by the end. We were able to have our little friends over for the entire day and my kids just loved it.

Halloween 2010

We had a really fun Halloween this year. Friday, Tayson had a party at school and he and Tatum had a great time. That night we had the Branch Fall Festival. We had some fun carnival games, haunted house, cake walk and a Trunk-or Treat. Saturday Jay was able to make it back from TDY just in time to be able to go Trick-or-Treating. We had some friends come over for Pizza beforehand and then after trick-or-treating a scary movie.

Tatum was our cute little princess, I was a witch (80's rocker for the Fall Festival) and Jay our sexy, white trash man. Many people wanted to take pictures of him while trick-or-treating and some people weren't quite sure if it was a costume or just a white trash father takin' his kids tricker treatin'. Of course Jay played the part very well. Also if you look really closely you'll get to see the pizza stain on his shirt that added just the right touch. To get this perfect look all you do is smash the pizza you are eating for dinner onto yourself and then eat the rest. Very simple.

Tatum loves to do her cute little princess poses.

Here's Tayson our scary mummy. Whenever the camera came out, he was in character.

Tatum and her best friend Katherine at the Trunk-or-Treat. That's our van. It looked a little scarier in the dark. It was a good time.

Tayson doing the cake walk in mummy mode.

Tayson's school class.

I love making my kids costumes each year. Of course I try to make it simple. Tatum's dress was actually a teen dress off of the clearance rack that I shorted the straps on and added sleeves. The length was perfect.

Tayson's was just cream pants and tan shirt with strips of white cloth tacked around the clothes. I added a little brown spray paint so that it looked aged.

We're Still Here & Crazy Hair Day

Wow! It's been a while. We really are still around. I think I need to make a new goal to post once a week because at this moment I'm looking at all the pictures we've taken since Tayson's birthday and feeling a little overwhelmed. So, I'm going to just start off from the most recent.

Yesterday, Tayson' school had Crazy Hair Day to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Tayson's hair turned out awesome and as you can tell he thinks he's pretty awesome too.

I love this kid and his poses!

Just a side note: yes, Tayson is wearing a jacket, but the weather is still around the eighties. For some reason we have such a hard time getting him to wear weather appropriate clothing.

Tayson's 7th Birthday

Can our little Tayson really be 7? I can't believe it. On May 19th, Tayson turned 7.

Tayson said he wanted a Lego party, so we tried to play some games that included legos.

We were pretty sure it would be raining considering it had rained for the last 2 weeks, but miraculously it was a beautiful day. Too bad we hadn't planned anything for outside. The sticker weeds outside were a little too rough for a balloon game The kids still had a great time though.

The following pictures are not in order because it's just too much of a pain to try and arrange but you'll get the idea.

This is my attempt at a lego cake. I'm obviously not a professional but I had fun doing it anyway.

Tayson loves Legos (I think everyone already knows). He wanted the Lego Atlantis set this year.

In our family, we play "Heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head. What do you wish this person with a bump on the head". Basically the person giving the gift recites the statement above and then bumps the birthday kid on the head with the gift. Then the birthday kid wishes the giver something like, "I wish you a cruise" or "I wish you could be a professional baseball player". The point is for the birthday person to really think about the giver for a moment and wish them something they would want. In this moment, Tayson wished Jay (and me) and new baby. How sweet. Don't worry, Jay really didn't hit him that hard but I got him pretty good earlier.

While we were waiting for kids to arrive the ones already here created their own balloon game. They had a blast being crazy.

Here's a "little" about Tayson.

Tayson has a Jekyl 'n Hyde type personality. We never know who we're going to get. Either the sweetest, caring, responsible, thoughtful, son and big brother or "something else entirely". He definitely keeps us on our toes.

Tayson is very smart and does well in school. Tayson loves Legos. I know I've said this a lot but it's true. He researches about them online, he gets books on the history of them from the library, he keeps up-to-date with the latest releases and they are pretty much the only toy Tayson ever asks for at least in the last 3 years.

Tayson recently has changed his future job to a marine biologist from the former rare archeologist (although he says he can do that on the side). Tayson's new change has come because he is really excited about sharks and a lot of other sea creatures. He reads many books about sharks and loves to share what he has learned.

Tayson enjoys playing basketball. I didn't realize he could even play until we were at the park and he made 4 or 5 baskets.

Tayson enjoys reading and recently he and I have been reading the Fabelhaven books together. It's so exciting to see him enjoy reading and using his imagination.

Tayson is a very inquisitive child and so I am amazed by his questions about the gospel. We have started to talk to him about his baptism. I think it's great that he shares what he knows with his friends and let's them know he loves to go to church and that he's getting baptized when he turns 8.

We love Tayson and are blessed to have him in our lives.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Was your Mom mean?

Was your Mom mean?

I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said, we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labour Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.

Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

It was so fun to hear this poem in Relief Society today. Now when my kids tell me I'm mean, I will say, "Thank you! And thanks to all the little people who made it possible."

February 28th Tatum Turned 2

I can't believe our sweet Tatum just turned 2. She is such a blessing in our lives. She is a ham and is full of personality. Here is a "little" about our sweet Tatum:

Tatum can count to 13 all by herself. I don't know why 13, but that is what she is up to.

Tatum can sing the ABC's and has quite the repertoire of songs memorized. We sing 5 songs before nap time and 5 before bedtime pretty much everyday (we would sing more but I had to set a limit) and that doesn't include songs sung throughout the day as well.

Tatum's favorite songs to listen/sing to in the car are: Castle on a Cloud (Les Miserables) and Calling You (by Blue October).

Tatum loves books and she is actually excited for nap time most of the time because she looks forward to reading a book. In her high chair, after lunch, she says, "I need to go nappy, nappy" so she can go pick a book.

She is a girly-girl through and through. Her favorite color is most definitely pink. She loves anything pretty and is very complimentary if she think what I'm wearing is pretty. She loves to play dress-up, barbies, ponies, house. She's a great little mom to her baby dolls as well. She loves makeup and applies her "lipstick"(chapstick) several times a day. When she likes something she states that it is: cute, darling or beautiful. She loves having her picture taken and lets us know after each shot, "That was so cute!" She is such a cuddler and loves kisses.

Tatum is such a little talker and has quite the vocabulary. Her new favorite topic to share with everyone is about our new pet tortoise, Nemo. She loves to tell people how funny Nemo is and how she likes to read books to her and that Nemo is funny when she eats and you can see her cute little tongue. People get confused because she never tells them it's her pet, so they think she is talking about the movie.

Tatum's favorite movie is Spongebob and she likes to tell us she's a goofy goober. If you have ever seen Spongebob the Movie you will understand when she occasionally asks if she can brush her eyes with her toothbrush. This used to be a serious question several months ago because she really wanted to brush her eyes; it has now turned into a funny joke.

Tatum loves puzzles and is getting good at them.

Tatum loves her best friend, Kathryn, and talks about her all the time. When family is talking on the phone with her, she usually mentions Kathryn's house at some point in the conversation.

Tatum is such a wonderful girl and brightens up everyone's day!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

This is pin the crown on the princess

On February 28th our sweet, angel Tatum turned 2. We had a party for her on Friday evening because Jay was going to be leaving for a while. She asked for a "princess party".