I meant to post this Christmas day.
We mailed this DVD to both our Mom's but in case you didn't see it.
All of the pictures are between when we were home In June and now.
A Little Late, but Happy Holidays.
This had to be one of the best Christmases yet for our family. We were all here together, and that makes everything better. The boys only got a few gifts but it was the ones I know they will use the most. Christmases past I have tended to start out conservative and in a mad rush a few days before splurged on junk out of fear my kids would feel like they weren't getting much. This year I finally realized the quality over quantity thing. I guess thats what being 26 is all about, maturity (my birthday was a few days ago, Happy Birthday to me!).
I made them Christmas pj pants last week, and to my surprise they really liked them. Good thing they don't know how to appreciate a good straight seam. Dayton loves them most because he loves snowmen this year. Forget Santa, he looks a little scary. But snowmen rock. He sees them and yells "ack, ack" Kinda like a ducks quack quack. I think he has that carrot nose confused with a beak. Our neighbor has an inflatable snowman in her front yard and he will go sit by it and pet it.
When I was little on Christmas Eve we opened 1 gift from my parents and then Santa brought all the rest of the goodies the next morning. We have tweaked that a bit over the years. I personally don't like Santa getting all the credit. So this year he brought them 2 things they had asked for or in Bradens case, 1 thing he asked for in his list and 1 thing I didn't want to wrap. Cause you know Santa doesn't have time to wrap gifts.
Anyhow, on Christmas Eve night they were allowed to open their gifts from each other and the gifts from grandparents pack home. Keegan and Braden both got wallets with a little money tucked inside from my Mom. They are so proud of them. Dayton got a Thomas and Friends book that he absolutely loves. Thomas Family sent them a bionicle, a tent, and yet more books for Dayton. He loves book, I think he is destined to be our little scholar. Look for him to be on Oprah reading the Wall Street Journal in a few months.
I was so bad this year at doing gall the crafty things I had planned. We didn't make our snowflakes or our handprint wreath, or a gingerbread house or even make cookies for Santa. We made the dough, stuck it in the fridge, then the neighbor brought over a plate of sugar cookies. Keegan decided that we could eat 1 each and leave the leftovers for Santa. Works for me.
So after playing with these new toys for a bit they were off to bed to dream of things to come in the morning.
Santa delivered some very nice goodies, and the boys were allowed to open the things from Thomas and I. I didn't take many pictures Christmas morning since I had the video camera in my hands.
Keegans favorite gift was his iPod. He loves it, although we keep having to tell him to turn the volume down on it. He may ruin his ears before he is 9. Braden got a scooter that he loves! Now he can ride with the big boys. Dayton got a table and chair set he really likes and a few elmos. He loves "Melmo" as he says.
Thomas got a new cabinet for his coins, now they won't be scattered about the house.
The boys got hooded bath towels with their names on them. In July I decided I wanted to do mostly handmade gifts for Christmas. It didn't turn out that way with the towels and pj pants being the only things i made and I did them just a few days prior to the big day. 
Notice how most of my gifts are for my benefit? No more coins lying about the house, no more towels thrown all over the place!
Dayton got this little Cozy Coupe car that he was very excited over. He instantly took the doors off and started cramming his foot into it. When he finally realized he couldn't fit and he wasn't going to be able to ride in it he was a bit disappointed.
He was also very excited over this Thomas book. He loves Thomas, good call Mamaw.
Braden got some new books he was really proud of.
Keegan received an iPod. He loves it. 
Dayton had to borrow the headphones and listen for a minute while Keegan called back Home to wish Grandma a Merry Christmas.
Our family gift from Santa, a fire pit. We love to sit outside and this helps keep us toasty on these cool nights. Keegan and Braden have really enjoyed helping Daddy build the fire and roasting marshmallows in the backyard.
Christmas night we had a dinner here at our house. I cooked a Turkey, Missy and her family brought a ham and some side dishes and Bekah and her family brought Desserts and a few other side dishes. We also invited a family that was new to the island that we had just met. The food was delicious. This was the second time I have cooked a turkey, the first one being about 5 years ago. Well, Missys dad was kind enough to carve it for me and I noticed as I was cleaning up later that night that I had left the little plastic bag inside, oops. I took one out and didn't go digging for any more. When I mentioned it the next day he also told me I had cooked it upside down. Oops.
A few posts back I said I would explain out half naked tree.
The week leading up to Thanksgiving we all had a horrible stomach virus. The worse this family has ever experienced. From Saturday until Wednesday night we were all sick and the kids were randomly vomiting all over beds furniture, etc. It was a mess.
Finally Thanksgiving day we were all feeling better, and we were able to put our tree up Thanksgiving night.
Later that evening I came downstairs only to discover that our tree had caught the stomach bug too...
and puked half it's ornaments.
I caught this picture of Dayton making faces in the mixing bowl. When Thomas was in Hawaii we talked on webcam a lot. This was his favorite thing, making faces. He has three faces, I will try to capture them all later.
The masterpiece I found in the bathroom a few days ago. Three different toothpastes on one toothbrush. Now that is creativity.
I told Braden he was kinda like Santa Clause when we went to deliver all of our Holiday packages to the Post Office. We mailed home lots of goodies and I think everyone has received theirs by now.
For the boys and the grandparents I think these were the most treasured gift.
We took clear plastic ornaments, cut our Christmas card picture out and out it inside with some pretty holiday scrapbook paper on the other side that said "Merry Christmas Lewellen Family 2008." The boys gathered sand and little pieces of coral and sea glass from Toguchi Beach to put in. I think we may make this a tradition, making a family Christmas ornament.
Speaking of ornaments, our collection here is starting to grow finally. We had left most of our Christmas decorations at my Mom's house on accident. Not really sure how it got there or why it didn't get packed? I think she kidnapped it!
Thomas has started picking up an ornament from each place he visits, and we let the kids pick out their own ornaments this year. There are some Okinawan themed ornaments I want to get them, maybe next year since it will be our last one here :( I think it will be so much fun 10 years from now to be reminded of all the places we have been and all the things we have done each year as we put up our tree.
Braden made this ornament at school. You can't really tell but it's his handprint. There was a cute little poem attached also.
Our ornament from Alaska, showing the Northern Lights.
A pineapple from Hawaii.
One of our Oragami Cranes from the tree upstairs.
The famous Ferris Wheel. I know it has been shot thousands of times, but here is my take on it on a blustery day in Okinawa.
My three favorite little guys.
My favorite three guys feeding/chasing/torturing the birds in the parking lot. Dayton was so excited 'playing' with these birds.
The last week of November and the first week of December we hosted Japanese Students from the mainland several days. The boys love doing this as they are the center of attention all day. It has been a wonderful opportunity for our family to share our culture and learn a bit of theirs. They love to cook, and play with the boys. We made Enchiladas once and it was the most exciting thing for them. They also enjoy baking as the Japanese don't bake at all. No ovens :(
Notice our tree that is bare on the bottom..I will explain that later.
Once Saturday we were able to shop around in an area known as American Village. We shopped at Jusco in the grocery section and then walked around to all the little shops. We also walked to the beach for a minute. It was a cold windy day, but we still had fun!
Oh, and for the title. We always cal the Japanese students our friends. So now every time Dayton sees Japanese people he calls them friends. It's really cute. He also calls everyone in a uniform "Daddy's friend."
As I said before we went to the beach Thanksgiving day to take pictures for our card. I wasn't very happy with them though and ended up using a picture taken back in April. When I just uploaded my pictures from my camera I found these! Apparently I had taken the boys back to the beach another day to try to get better shots. There were a few good ones, but I had totally forgotten about them until just now.
I didn't blog for almost a month. The reason why? I never had time to upload pictures from my camera. Until my memory card ran out of room yesterday and I was forced to. Then and there I realized why I like taking pictures. It helps me to remember! I also like blogging for this same reason, I hope to have my blog printed into a book one day so my kids will be able to read it and be mad at me for writing overly personal things and showing the world pictures of them in their underwear. I Love You Boys!!
I am going to attempt to blog a little about what has been going on the past few weeks.
Thomas went on what was suppose to be a three day TDY to Hawaii, ended up being gone 4 weeks and missed Thanksgiving with us. Thanksgiving morning we went out to the beach in a sad attempt to get a Christmas card picture. The boys weren't very cooperative though and I didn't get any I was very proud of. So I ended up using a picture my dear friend Katherine took back in April. How lame is that? The picture is beautiful and I was very proud to show it off, but the kids look so different now! Oh well! Next year I will start that process in October.
Oh, and in case you didn't receive one in the mailbox, here you go :)
Anyhow, back to Thanksgiving. We went to take pictures and left the beach just as it started pouring rain! The Biek Family was kind enough to have us over last minute for a Thanksgiving Dinner that was so delicious. Thank You Bekah!
Soon after Thanksgiving we started putting up Christmas decorations. We haven't made it to putting the lights outside yet and I am thinking we probably won't as we only have a few more days until Christmas. The boys and put up two trees this year. The one downstairs has all of our ornaments on it, then a smaller one upstairs with origami ornaments we made. Cranes are no easy creatures to make out of paper!
We have also been very busy making gifts for neighbors and friends. I found a recipe for homemade marshmallows. Did you know you could make marshmallows at home? I had no idea!? It was alot of fun and the boys really enjoyed watching the process, it was fun to see it go from dry ingredients to a liquid then a fluff and then our final products, peppermint marshmallows. It was a huge sticky mess, and not something I think I will do except for at Christmas time.
After they were all ready to go we packaged them up with some homemade Cocoa and gave them to a few friends, then made more for Teachers, and last night I made the 6th batch to give to neighbors. I'm marshmallow'd out!
Ok, I think thats enough for this post, I will try to do one more tonight!
I assume the rest of you have seen enough dancing elves that you don't want to spend 5 minutes watching mine.
But If you do, here it is :)
A side note: I think making this was the highlight of Dayton's life so far. He has laughed until he can't breathe.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you back in the states, here in Japan its a bit after midnight so our Turkey day is over. We had a wonderful day, took pictures this morning, hopefully going to send out cards this year (send me you address if I don't have it). Then had a nice Dinner at a friends house. My good friend Bekah was so kind to invite us over last minute when we realized Thomas wasn't going to make it home in time. He is still in Hawaii. He has been in for a little over 2 years, and this is the first holiday we have spent apart, so I'm not complaining. I'd already bought a Turkey so we will probably have a nice dinner when he gets home.
This morning I was reading a Thanksgiving book to the kids, and on one page it showed the mother and children preparing the food. So I stopped to talk about all the different foods we eat on Thanksgiving. Carrots, Turkey, then Braden pointed to the potatoes and said "rice balls". "No sweetie, those aren't rice balls. Those are potatoes." "What are potatoes?" I think he has been here too long. It turned into a long discussion because he just wasn't quite sure why the family didn't want rice with their dinner. The funny thing is, he will rarely eat rice. Dayton shovels it in his mouth though. Put some curry sauce on it and he will eat it until he physically can't move.
Today we also talked about the things we are thankful for.
I am Thankful for my Family. My children of course, each one of them enrich my life in a unique way and I simply can't imagine who I would be without them. Thomas, just for putting up with me. If you know me, you know that in itself is deserving of a congressional medal or something. Seriously though. He takes care of us. He works long hours and sacrifices a lot so I can stay home with the kids.
I am thankful for my family back home. For my Mom, her husband, my Brother, Thomas Mother and his Brothers and Sisters. I don't see them often enough, but I know if we ever need anything they are there.
I am thankful for my friends here that have become my family. Friends that will watch all three of my kids at a moments notice, friends that will bring by gatorade and saltines when we all have tummy aches, and friends that keep me company when Thomas is gone or working his funky hours.
I am Thankful for mine and my families good health.
I am Thankful we have a steady income.
I am thankful Gas is dropping almost $2 here tomorrow! Yippe, no more $4.06 a gallon.
I am Thankful for my nice warm concrete house that keeps me dry and safe from nasty typhoons.
Lastly, I am thankful for my nice warm bed I am leaving to crawl into now.
Oh, and here is a picture I took this morning. Not the Christmas card one, just another cute one of the boys. I promised them drinks from the machine if they were good, and boy were they.
They love Japanese soda. Dayton drink has Jell-O in it!
Dayton, where is your belly?
*insert his snicker from him because he knows his tongue isn't his belly*
Dayton, that's not your belly! Where is your belly?
Good Job!
Dayton, where are your fingers?
Good Job!
Dayton, where is your mouth?
Wow! You are so smart my little wonder child ;)
Dayton, where are your ears?
Good job boy!
Dayton where is your (pause for suspense and excitement on his part) HAIR?
Ha, he knows where his hair is!
Dayton, do you have feet?
Ahh, you do have feet! Those are good for walking right Dayton? Uh-huh!
Hmm, what about your hands, where are your hands?
Oh, there they are! I bet those hands are good for playing and eating! Dayton agrees, uh-huh!
What about your nose? Do you have a nose?
(imagine you hear him snorting)
I love your nose Dayton, and all the rest of your perfect little parts!
My little weather Geisha over to the right? It says it is 61̇̇̇̇̇º. I think it just barely made it to 70º today.
LOVE IT!
Thomas left on a little mini-vacation disguised as work yesterday. As he was packing, I wanted to send him with a camera. I found my little silver p&s, loaded it with batteries, and noticed there were pictures on the memory card. Apparently Braden's pictures. Since I have nothing fun nor interesting to write about I will take it upon myself to narrate from his point of view.
This is where we go to find cool sea glass and crabs. It's my favorite beach. 
I gave the camera to Mama and she took this one of me and my amigos searching for sealife.
Some of my finds.
Keegan's finds.
Dayton freeing the crabs. Run away crabs...ruuunnn aawwwwaayyyyyyyyy
This is my little brother Dayton. He looks like he might be trying to find his belly. When you ask him where his belly is now, he sticks his tongue out. Weird.
That's Moms arm making a grand appearance. Notice the nice Fossil watch. She bought it at the BX, the only American place to shop here. She paid too much for it I am sure. I think I heard Daddy tell her that. The, when we went back to the states earlier this year, it quit working, then it started again, then it quit again. She bought 2 new batteries. Still didn't work.
The Japanese Emina (not to be confused with enema(I, Mama, added that part, not Braden) mini van. This van has a partner that looks just like it, can't remember the name, but everyone we know has one. Except us of course. Mom HAD to have 4 doors. Oh, and the only vans here with 4 doors have 4 doors that open like car doors and you have to fold the middle seat down to get into the back. So, while being greedy with the number of doors, she has caused herself alot of headache having to fold seats up and down and down and up and where was I? Oh, and the fact that each and every time we stop she has to walk around the van and open all 4 doors, because there is generally only a few centimeters between us and the vehicle we are parked next to. Mama says if I hit another car with my door I have to walk everywhere we go for the net 2 years, or ride on top. I will choose to ride on top. I wonder if I will be going faster than birds if I am on top.
Ohh, this is a great angle for me. In Japan Mama lets me ride in the front seat. No airbags and everyone drives so s l o w. Score for me.
This is my Mom's computer. she spends too much time here looking at pictures, reading blogs, reading news. She doesn't let me play my webkinz enough either. We need another one of these.
That's her hands on the keyboard. Probably writing a blog or IMing with Rachael
This is our parking space out front. I took this shot because I am an art genius and totally see the abstract beauty in this particular angle. Mama made it blank and white for me.
This is the garbage man. He is showing his peace sign. Everyone shows a peace sign here when a camera comes out. Weird. Japanese people are so nice. I want to be Japanese when I grow up.
Practicing a headshot for facebook in a few years.
...kitchen floor, garbage can, Keegans ultra skinny leg with (clean?)socks, Daytons magnetic letter 'Z'. Not sure why this one made the cut.
Base housing, ghetto ceiling tiles, 1980's mini blinds. Curtain rods that are warped because me and Dayton tried swinging from the curtains. Note for those interested, it didn't work.
Who is that girl?
My toes, no Cocoks for me.
The neighbor trying to fix Daddys car. Mama broke it while he was in Alaska.
Already explained this. A friendly smile and a peace sign from a complete stranger stopped behind us at a redlight.
