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".

Blessed

This weekend has been kind of crazy. Saturday at 5:30, an earthquake woke me up. My bed was shaking intensely and it took a second to register what was even going on. I then stood up trying to figure out what to do next and the house was swaying back and forth. By the time I was headed to the kid's rooms it was over. So many things went through my mind afterward. I was thinking that I don't have enough water in our storage. I was thinking I really need to be faster at getting my kids to safety and maybe having a family home evening on what to do during an earthquake. I was also thinking how thankful I was that we were all safe and life could go on as usual. I couldn't believe that it was a 7.0 earthquake about 30-40 miles from here. We've also had a couple of tsunami warning because of the earthquake here and the one in Chile. I had called Jay at work to see how he was doing and we were both amazed that, that had just happened. It was disconcerting to feel so out of control. I don't think I need to go through one of those again but if I have to I'll be better prepared. Tayson said it was fun and went right back to sleep. I heard Tatum rustling around in the other room and she also went right back to sleep. I keep thinking about the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and how blessed we have been to be safe. It definitely gave me a drive to get better prepared. Not only physically but spiritually as well. The people in these other countries lost almost everything. On Saturday morning I went to a Relief Society training and they showed a video of the Latter Day Saints in Haiti and how their testimonies and faith have given them strength to move forward. They were in church on Sunday with clean clothes and smiles on their faces and most of them live on the streets but they knew where they needed to be and they had faith that the Lord was going to help them through. Would I have the same countenance of faith and hope if our outcomes had been similar? I know I will have a different attitude when it comes to being prepared and realizing that I've been given a chance to be better and do more of what the Lord has asked of me and my family with a brightness of hope and faith that he knows what is best for us.

Kara's 29th Birthday

I had a great birthday and Valentines. Friday (my birthday) we went to Cocoks with Bill and Lisa Cox (are wonderful friends). Cocoks is a nail salon. The boys joined Lisa and me. For great laughs the boys got their toes done as well. We had a really fun time and enjoyed our excellent pedicures. We went to dinner at CocoIchibanya afterward (because the Cox's hadn't been there before). It was delicious as always. We all ordered pretty much the same thing. Chicken cutlet curry. Jay level 4 spicy, Bill level 2 and Lisa and I got level 1 (we like to be able to have taste buds after we eat. We got the all-famous naan bread and mango lassi (mango milk). We then headed back to the house to open presents and have cake and ice cream. I got to open one present right before we went to Cocoks, my new camera. It's a really nice Nikon D5000 camera and opening it was bittersweet. It was like, "Whoa! This is way too expensive" and "Wow! What a sweet camera." I definitely need to study the manual that came with it to figure out how to take great pictures. The next gift was a really cute birthday kokeshi doll. It is so beautiful and fits in perfectly with my Japanese/Okinawan souvenir collection. Then I opened my Cricut Expressions. I'm excited to use it. It is a cutting machine that does pictures and letters. I'm especially excited to cutout vinyl lettering. I forgot to mention that Jay gave me a gorgeous orchid plant earlier in the day. It is so beautiful. I don't have much of a green thumb and I know that they are sensitive so I'm hoping I can keep it alive. Hopefully my online research helps. This birthday I was way too spoiled. We may need to make next year's a little less extravagant or the next many years to come. Next everyone sang to me and my cake looked like it was on fire. Lisa made a delicious red velvet cake. You can tell Tatum enjoyed it. We then played Settlers of Catan. We love games and this is probably our favorite. We love playing it with Bill and Lisa. It's a great time. Thanks to my sweet honey for the fun birthday and my kiddos for celebrating with me. Thanks to the Cox family for sharing this special day. (The Cox's have 4 kids. Their 2 boys somehow eluded any pictures that were taken.)

Tatum update

I haven't taken many pictures lately so I'm just posting a few recent ones. I need to be better about taking pictures.

Tatum is such a little ham. I love when she gets dressed up and talks about her makeup. She loves pretty much anything that is girly.

Here's our little sweetheart putting away the utensils. She enjoys it and states what item it is she is putting away. Not only is she helping me out, she is learning how to categorize.

Yesterday she vacuumed the living room for me and did a good job. Once they are able, I let them try any job they want and if they can do it pretty well it can be added to their list of jobs.

If Tatum hears me open the dishwasher, she is running in the kitchen to help. She hands me the dishes and does it so fast. I have to be able to keep up with her so something doesn't get thrown to me on accident. She is the same with the laundry. Loves to load the dryer and push the start button. This probably won't last too long but I might as well teach them while their young and find joy in it.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve. We ordered pizza and watched, "A Christmas Story". Then we watched "The King is Born" and read Luke 2 and talked about the birth of Christ. Then each of us wrote on a piece of paper what gift we were giving to Christ this year and put the paper in our special Christmas box. Next we opened our PJs.

Tayson and Tatum look so cute in their little Asian PJs. I couldn't pass these up. You have to have ninja PJs if you live in Japan right?

We ended up just getting regular PJs for us because the fancy Asian ones were like $40 for adults. But we look cute and comfy any ways.

Here's Jay helping the kiddos sprinkle reindeer food (oats with glitter) out. They really enjoyed this.

Here is the Lego table that we built. It's holding only a third of the legos that Tayson possesses. These are the legos that Grandma and Grandpa Barney sent that belonged to Jay and his brother David when they were little. Tayson loves it.

Christmas morning. I don't know about you, but pictures never do Christmas trees justice in my opinion.

This is us after sprinkling reindeer food.

Tatum is surprised by all these presents

The kiddos opening their gifts to each other.

I love this. It even has little tags that hang from it that say where we've been stationed and extra ones for the future.

Tatum was super excited about her makeup sets. One of her very favorite gifts was a plastic lipstick.

I'm so glad Tayson likes to get clothes.

I love this perfume and have worn it for about 5 years. Jay got this for me just in time. My other one only has a few sprays left.

Jay's favorite gift (besides his socks). He has a fetish for accessories like: watches, sunglasses and belt buckles.

Tatum loves her new baby. It came with a highchair, stroller and crib and interacts with each. When in the stroller the baby says, "Let's go to the park Mommy". You get the idea.

Here is Jay and Tayson working on Tayson's new lego set. Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. They were there for quite a while, so Tatum and I had fun with her new dress-ups.

Here she is doing a little dance.

Several times during our little fashion show she needed to stop and reapply her makeup. Funny girl.

Here is Tatum in her new Dora outfit. She was just shaking trying to get this opened and so of course she wanted to wear it that day. I don't know why we don't have a picture of Tayson's finished lego project but I'll have to take one and post it some other time.

We had such a fun Christmas spending time together and celebrating the birth of Christ.