Almost forgot to show our tree!

Well, actually... trees! Here's the bigger tree in the living room and my little 3' pink, girly tree in the front entry hall:

These pictures make them look like the same size!!! But... the green tree is actually 7' tall and the white tree is only 3' tall! The little tree is in the hall and I couldn't back up any further because of the wall! The big tree is in a corner of the living room so I had lots of space to get the picture!

The white tree has mostly pink ornaments, with some special ones from friends at ScrapLove and a few of my own "unique" ones... a Starbucks coffee ornament, an iPod ornament and pink bead garland that I made last year!

The green tree is a mix of all sorts of ornaments! We buy the boys a new ornament each year & had to start our collection all over again two years ago, so we went a little overboard with them since then! Tom has a few military plane ornaments and I just bought two Japanese ornaments! There are also some ornaments from spouse group ornament exchange parties. I got a really cool chicken ornament this year!!! I think it's my favorite on the whole tree!

Had a good Christmas!

I was really worried about Christmas this year since Tom isn't here with us, but it actually went very good. The boys loved their presents and my parents are here so that helped. I'll admit, I wasn't very "jolly" this year, but it was better than I expected.

Dewayne got a digital video camera that he REALLY wanted... this is the reason he cut his hair a few months ago! He also got a new skateboard (well, all the parts for him to build his own skateboard!), a backpack, new skateboard shoes, some shirts, some video camera tapes and some cash & yen!

Andrew got a samaria helmet & two samaria statues that he was begging for back in the summer when he first saw them! He also got a bunch of GI Joe collectibles, some books, some clothes, 2 video games, 3 computer games and some cash & yen!

Noah made out like a little bandit! He got an art desk with paper/paint/ crayons/markers & a big dump truck from Santa. From Grandma (in Ohio) he got a Play-doh desk with a bunch of accessories for Play-doh, a bistro grill... it's like a huge play kitchen... with all sorts of food items to go with it, a Little People pirate ship & a BUNCH of wooden toys including a paddle ball that is GREAT fun!! From Grammy & Papa (visiting us from Florida) he got 2 packs of Hot Wheels cars, Rescue Heroes fire truck, Leapfrog alphabet magnets & a learning Leapfrog stuffed toy, a fireman dress-up set and a piggy bank! And from me & Daddy he got 3 puzzles, 2 books, a Little People zoo set with animals for each letter, Legos & K'Nex, Whack-a-mole game, Leapfrog "Learning to Write" electronic learning toy, a wind-up flashlight, Bob the Builder toys (3 different tractor things!) and a stuffed Bob the Builder!!

I got a leather purse and some $$ from my parents, some iPod accessories from the boys and my mother-in-law sent some $$ so I could get the amazing green tweed coat I was drooling over!! I also got a stocking filled with some great girly stuff & scrap stuff from Aimee in Alaska for the stocking swap on ScrapLove! And... by way of the US Postal Service... I got a beautiful pearl necklace from my husband! He purchased it while in Thailand & mailed it to me on his way to his deployment location. He has amazing taste in jewelry! I love my new necklace!!!

Tom hasn't received his package yet... so I won't tell what he's getting! ;) And when he returns home from this deployment, he'll get the rest of his presents. Some things just can't be mailed to him right now! Tom had a pretty good day too... he got to spend part of the day/night/whatever with KID ROCK!!! He was in the area to spend Christmas with the troops and caught a ride on the plane with Tom & the guys. Tom said he's a great guy and even sent me some pictures of him & the crew with Kid Rock. I'm glad there are good moments while he's there... just so it's not all the "work" stuff, ya know?!

(Tom w/ Kid Rock.... the whole crew with Kid Rock)

l-r: Brian, Fuj, Karl, Kid Rock, Tom, Jeremy... and Brian in front!

All in all, it was a good day. Not great... because I really missed having Tom here with us... but the kids enjoyed it so that's all that matters.

Never thought I'd say...

MY PARENTS ARE IN JAPAN!!!!! They arrived on Wednesday, December 20th, and will be here for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!!! I am so excited for them to be here. I really, honestly never expected them to come all the way to Japan... and I'm SO SO SO happy they are here!

Mom is just in awe of the city... Tokyo is quite impressive! And seeing Mount Fuji is like nothing anyone can describe! Pictures just don't do it justice either. I think she's just in love with the tiny little cute cars here!! :)

Dad is just happy to be here with the boys. He's even been brave enough to ride in the car with Dewayne a few times!!! hahaha!!! I've had a few conversations with him about Japan and the culture/history here. I'd forgotten how little I get to really talk to adults lately!!!

I'll have to add some pictures of them later... since they each have a digital camera, it's going to take a little coordination & thinking to decide which pictures to upload! :)

My favorite photo!

I think this may be my favorite photo ever! I'm going to print it for a frame.

Christmas Party for the kiddos...

We went to the squadron children's Christmas party last weekend. Noah had SO much fun. He decorated Christmas cookies, made a candy cane ornament, colored, made a snowman goody bag, made magic reindeer food and even watched Santa arrive via a C-130! :)

I didn't think he'd actually sit on Santa's knee, but he did! And smiled really big for pictures too! Santa delivered books to all the kids and got a huge list from them all!

Here are a few pictures...

one of Noah & Tom watching the C-130 land,


one of them watching it fly over before landing,


and one of Noah with Santa!



And since this party was just two days before Tom left, I am adding one of Tom on the morning of his departure. It was early & still dark so the picture isn't the greatest, but you get the idea.

Family pics are in!

Our family portraits are back! Getting one decent picture of the five of us was nothing short of a miracle... especially since Noah was determined to act like a complete maniac! He spied this little fire truck ride-on thing the minute we walked in... and that's ALL he wanted. Getting our group picture first was nearly impossible. And then when we let him get pictures on the fire truck he didn't want to look up at the camera. He only wanted to pull the string that rings the bell... *sigh* Just wish he'd gotten his hair cut BEFORE our portraits... but I learned to pick my battles a looooong time ago! ;)

So... here's our group family picture:



Here's Noah in that @#$%#%^$^& fire truck ;)



And here's the first professional picture of my husband & I alone together since our wedding...



Then... the photographer kept snapping when we were acting goofy... I like these pics best! :)



Noah... being Noah! Just look at the way he's looking back at the photographer! The guy was trying really hard to get him to smile, squeaking some little rubber toy... and Noah was looking at him like he was a complete idiot!

Monday's 5 Good Things

1. Noah slept till 9am today!
2. The zit on my chin is gone!
3. My oldest took out the trash without being asked!
4. Tom cooked dinner!
5. I'm the new president of the basewide Enlisted Spouses Club!

Hope the rest of my week is this good!!! It's gonna be a BUSY week with several meetings but it's at least off to a decent start!

This picture...

DESERVES A POST OF IT'S OWN!!!!!

When she went to shampoo his hair, there were about 20 "capes"... and she just happen to grab the ONLY pink one for my 16-year-old boy!!!!

heehee... I laughed... out loud... and so did half the salon! ;)

THE HAIRCUT!!!

Dewayne got a haircut!! Now that you've all recovered from fainting ;) here's some pics!

BEFORE:



AFTER:



Here's him on October 28th for Homecoming:



And now:

ARRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!

Our little pirate!! I'll add details when I get a chance!