I am dreaming of.....

warm sunny beaches! It is so flippin cold here! According to my trusty Weather Geisha (to the right of my blog) it is a mere 55 degree. That, with rain and wind make me cold, brrrr. Whatever happen to my tropical paradise? ...sigh...
Since I didnt start this blog until last Fall, and some of you may actually like looking at my pics, here are a few from the beach last year. Now I think I will go shop for new swimsuits, beach towels, and flipflops! About 8 more weeks and here we come Ocean!!

Some random pics....

A huge airplane Keegan built out of legos. He had to walk it down the stairs sideways!!

Braden's K'nex Dinosaur. I made this!! I was so proud of myself! It only took half the day, and caused me to curse more than I ever have before in my life.









And this my friends, is Dayton passed out after eating his weight in cheerios.

Reflections....

of bored kids......
Yes, this 'period of reflection' is still going on :P Booo! They will revaluate the situation on March 3rd, so I guess we still be locked down this weekend :(

Here you go Mom

Not being much of a 'secret keeper' heres the necklace I bought you Mom. I will mail it soon promise ;)
Its a sea glass necklace, the sea glass was found at OuraWan beach, here in Okinawa.



I love how she made the clasp, with the yen coin :)



Mrs. Bea Muranaka created this, if anyone here in Oki wants one, her email is bea.unique@yahoo.com or she has them for sale at the Torii Gift Shop

誕生日おめでとう

The title says Happy Birthday, well according to my MAC translator it does :)
Yesterday was Braden's 4th Birthday! I cannot believe he is 4 now. He just seems so grown up all of a sudden. In the past few weeks he has learned how to spell his name, memorized our phone number, and has finally began to recognize all of his letters, and a few sounds. He is so smart! Now, if I could just figure out which one will be the doctor, the lawyer, and the nuclear physicist.
We had a few close friends over for cake and ice cream. I hope the kids had fun, I know Braden was happy with the goodies that were brought for him.
We are still in our social 'time out' and can't leave the base. As soon as the order is lifted we will be headed to Toys R Us to let him spend some of that Birthday cash. MAybe I can talk him into buying me something too ;)

My awesome dinosaur in the green icing jungle cupcakes

Mom, do you seriously think I am going to wear this hat??

I HATE taking pics of myself (notice I have acquired a second chin)

Too Busy opening gifts to look up..

Whoa...is that a pirate or Braden?

Some of the crew eating pizza

When will I learn...

..that silence isn't golden, it is deadly. You would think after three kids, a moment of silence would send me into panic mode to find my childre. But no, I still try to enjoy it, even though I know I will have to pay for it later.
A moment of silence here ultimately gives me either a child covered in puke, a child covered in poop, a child covered in marker, a child wasting enough shampoo and other toiletries to last us another week, a child eating an unknown substance, a child teetering on the verge of sudden death by hanging from the top bunk, a child about to tasting dish detergent, or my all time fave (and this was Keegan, remind him when he is older) a naked child decorating their nether regions with scotch tape and fingernail polish (red fingernail polish at that).

my moment of reflection....

One of our not so smart military counterparts, alledgedly raped a 15 year old local a few weeks ago. As if that werent enough, a few others decided to get DUI's and one broke into someones house. Geez people...
So as of this morning, we are on lockdown. We arent allowed to leave the base. This is being referred to as a 'Moment of Reflection.' So frankly we are all in timeout because of a few idiots. uuggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!
I guess Bradens birthday trip to Toys R Us will be postponed.

Zampa Lighthouse

Monday Thomas was off work and for the first time in weeks, the sun was shining! We decided to take a little trip to the lighthouse. It was absolutely beautiful there. The views from the top were breathtaking, the water was so blue.

My reading goal

I made a goal to read 20 books this year. I have read six complete books so far, and started three, I couldnt complete. The ones I didn't finish were The Lovely Bones, Middle Sex and Baghdad without a Map. The Lovely Bones was a strange book, a bit too morbid for my taste. Middle Sex was just strange, and not at all interesting to me. Baghdad Without a Map, was interesting, but it was more of a travel journal than a story, and didnt hold my interest.
The last two books I read were The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. These are two amazing books. I came away from reading them feeling eternally greatfulf ro the smallest of things I take for granted everyday. I enjoyed them both in different ways. I felt I could relate more the A Thousand Splendid Suns, as it is more about women, but The Kite Runner had such a great story and lesson.
So, after reading those two books and watching A Mighty Heart (teh story of Daniel and Marianne Pearl) in the past two weeks. I need something to read that is light hearted and funny. I picked up The Men I Didn't Marry at the library yesterday. Hopefully it will make me laugh!
Any suggestions for my next read?

Happy Anniversary to us....

Our anniversary was Tuesday. I didn't see my love all day, but we were able to go out on a little date last weekend. Eight years! I cannot believe it has been 8 years since we married, where has the time gone? When I sit and think about it, we have been through so much in eight years. Both attending college, Keegan was born, buying our first home, Thomas lost his father to ARDS, Braden joined our family, Thomas joining the Air Force, Moving to Okinawa, losing my dad to lung cancer, Dayton coming along...wow, I think that is alot for 8 years. I cant imagine going through any of that without Thomas by my side. He has been there for me through alot the past year, when I could have easily driven a sane person crazy.

Thank You Thomas for letting me cry my heart out day after day when Daddy was sick and when he passed away.
Thank You for giving me three of the handsomest little guys in the world.
Thank You for standing beside me and supporting me as I attended college for 5 years, doing homeowrk every waking hour I was at home.
Thank You for not getting frustrated with my lack of planning and organization skills...oh how many times have we gotten to the BX to realize I have left my ID at home.
Thank You for being a wonderful father to our boys.
Thank You for allowing me to stay home and be the Mom that I have always wanted to be.
Thank You for not caring when the dishes dont get washed and the beds arent made.
Thank You for eating my burnt fish, so then I didnt have to cry about it.
Thank You for teaching me to use my iPod and iTunes.
Thank You for helping me create a loving home for our family.
Thank You for putting the toilet seat down...oh wait, you dont do that, I guess the above makes up for it though ;)

Thank You for being my husband and Thank You for loving me unconditionally

Nothing New Here

Just wanted to update my blog with a big fat dose of NOTHING. Life has been pretty simple (some might mistake it for boring) here lately. It is raining for like the 100th day in a row. Please Sun, shine this week!
We have been checking in with friends and family in Memphis and Jackson TN. Seems everyone we know survived the tornadoes with no injuries. Our one friend Misty, her work was destroyed. Keep them and the other families who lost even more in your thoughts and prayers.
Thomas Mothers birthday was this past week. Happy Birthday Mom!
I will leave you with a funny story
Yesterday Braden was on the computer playing Webkinz. These webkinz were the best Christmas present ever! They are these stuffed Beanie Baby looking animals. You g oonline and register them. They are given a empty room. The kids play games, get jobs, and do various other activities to earn 'kinz cash' and buy things for their animals, including food, games, furniture. Anyhow, he was playing with his webkinz online while I showered and did laundry. I came downstairs and he jumped up to go to the bathroom. He came out of the bathroom, with this shocked look on his face. "Mama, come here, to the bathroom, NOW!" I always get an extremely dreadful/scared feeling when I am called to the bathroom. There are very few good things that can come from that. So I get to the bathroom, Braden is his most serious voice says, "Mom, when I pee, it feels like dancing in my feet." His mouth is wide open, "Seriously Mom, Dancing in MY FEET, when I pee" Hmmm, I asked him what he thought it was, completely mystified he said "I don't know." He suggested he pee again and see if the sensation returns. It didnt. In case you didnt figure it out, he had been sitting on his feet at the computer for about an hour. So it was just the sensation when you feet 'fall asleep.'
until next time.......

Evolution of Monday Night Dinner @ the Lewellen's

It all started a few weeks ago, when Shannan started craving blackened Tilapia. Seriously wanting to head to head to Outback and order some while chatting with some of her long lost buddies that still work there.
Fast Forward to 10 am today....found what promised to be the most awesomest recipe for blackened Tilapia there ever was.
11am off to commissary to buy 5 bottles of spices to add to the 10 or so I already have to make some super duper spicy mix stuff to put on my tilapia
4pm get all my ingredients laid out, mix the spices, rub it on the tilapia, heat the skillet....
4:15pm dang that grease looks REALLY hot!
4:16pm, ohh crap a grease fire
4:16pm mind racing.....grease fire...smother it, dont use water, yell for the kids to get out of the house
4:17pm fire is gone, smoke in the house is so thick you cant see across the room
4:30pm I boil hotdogs
5pm nice fmaily dinner which consisted of hotdogs, doritos and kool-aid
9pm my house STILL smells like burned fish

Hahahahahaha...

Insomnia

equals Old Navy shopping spree