Grandma's 1st Visit- Day Four

Our last full day with Grandma and the sun was partially out. We went to the Seaside Cafe for breakfast and it was very yummy. Then we went to Toguchi Beach to walk around. Toguchi is one of the prettiest places on the island to walk around and explore, especially early in the morning or at sunset. We found lots of the creepy spidery starfish. The boys were very happy about that!

We spent the day hanging out and talking. Josh finally was feeling better and was able to join us. We took Grandma to CoCo's for dinner. No trip is complete without eating at CoCo's. We ate dinner then went down to Sunset Beach for the sunset and to play in the sand. After that we walked around American Village and looked at all the Christmas lights.

We had such a wonderful time with my Mom. It went by way too fast. The next day we woke up at 5am to watch the Civil War game. We had breakfast and then took Grandma to the airport. We are so grateful she was able to make the trip all the way to Okinawa to spend a few days with us. We can't wait for her next trip here with Grandpa!

Grandma's 1st Visit- Day Three

Day three started with a very sick Daddy. We were all so bummed he was sick and in bed all day. Also, it was another raining day but we didn't let that stop us from exploring. We headed out early to Okinawa World, Carson's favorite place on the island. It's pretty touristy, but he loves it. We walked through the cave, watched the Eisa show, checked out and the snakes. And of course, Grandma said yes to holding the big yellow snake. I was completely freaked out but the kids thought that was so cool!

After Okinawa World we stopped by Shuri Castle for a few minutes. It was pretty rainy, so my camera didn't get to capture everything we saw. After the castle we drove down to Kosuki-dori and walked up and down the street. Of course we stopped at the fish market and showed Grandma all the cool things there.

Our day ended with dinner on the beach and a walk at sunset.

Grandma's 1st Visit- Day Two

Of course our second day with Grandma was spent exploring the aquarium. Cooper had been looking forward to this for weeks. We checked out everything and watched the dolphin show. It rained off and on so we didn't get to walk around the beautiful Ocean Expo park grounds or on the beach. Still, the kids had so much fun showing Grandma everything.

Grandma's 1st Visit- Day One

Grandma finally made it to Okinawa after a very long flight. With only a few days to fit in as much as possible, we were very busy. On Wednesday Cooper had a field trip and did not want to skip it, so he went to school for that. The other kids of course chose to stay home. After dropping off Cooper we went to Starbucks then Sunset Beach to walk around.

After touring Josh's work we picked up Cooper then headed over to our friends side of the island. We decided to do Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday night so I didn't have to cook on Thursday and we could use the day for exploring. We ate a very yummy dinner with a ton of food at the McMillan's. We took Grandma to the Lighthouse to walk around and then a sunset walk on the beach.

Clothespin Chore Charts

With the kids getting older and Josh and I being a little slack on the chore duties, it is time to change things around here. I knew the kids needed something visual for their chore lists. On pinterest I saw a chore chart using clothespins. I thought this was a great idea. I wrote each chore/to do on a clothespin. The kids, especially the boys have asked about an allowance. We decided that would be a good idea for them to start learning about saving money. However, we will only pay for 3 things on their list. The chores/to do that need to be done everyday and will not be paid for are: brush teeth in the morning, make bed & pick up babies (stuffed animals, which they are have special ones that go on the bed), put dirty clothes in the laundry, do homework with complaining, for Emma and Parker they will have a special writing or drawing project to do during homework time, read for 20 minutes, practice their AWANA bible verse, brush teeth before bed and say their prayers. We will be paying $0.25 each day for 3 things: chore #1 which consists of cleaning 2 things in your room, chore #2 is helping with something in the rest of the house- clearing table after dinner, helping with dishes, cleaning the white table, and picking up extra toys, and finally we are starting buddy time which they can earn a quarter as well. The boys all get along really well but sometimes Emma gets left out. We want them all to get along with each other and be nicer to each other. Monday thru Thursday they will take turns spending 20 minutes together, away from the other kids doing something fun. We are really hoping this works. The final clip on their list is Saturday clean-up. They will get $0.50 for helping with whatever we ask, cleaning the playroom, cleaning under their beds, etc. If they do all their chores the entire week, on Saturday they will earn $4.00. They will be allowed to spend $1.00 but the rest will be saved for our trip back to the States this summer.

When they have completed that task they can move the clothespin to the other side. This way they can look at their list and see what they still need to do. The boys are really excited about this whole plan. They had the first 3 things done on their lists before I got up this morning.

To address bad behavior I made up some clothespins with not so fun chores, a few funny things, such as rub Dad's head for 10 minutes, a few free passes, and some writing practice. The kids will get 1 warning. After that they have to close their eyes and pick a clothespin. They will have to do what it says before bed. The boys read through them this morning before school. They kept laughing and saying I want to do this one, oh I would hate to do this one, oh no, no way I will do this. Since time outs do not work very well around here, I'm really helping this helps stop some of the bad things happening in this house.

We are all looking forward to a new and fresh start in 2012!

2011 Year in Review- January to June

January: Playing outside, watching AJ, lots of jumping on the bed, watching the Ducks play in the Rose Bowl, last minute decision to apply for an assignment in Okinawa, Japan, lots of Wii playing

February: Parker started speech therapy, huge family trip to Disneyland (16 of us in all), Cooper turned 6 with a Pirate Party, fan appreciation day at the Giants stadium, found out we got the assignment to Okinawa, Japan

March: whirlwind of paperwork, doctor appointments, dentist appointments and scheduling, Carson and Cooper started baseball, T-ball for Cooper and machine pitched for Carson, Carson and Cooper both got awards at school

April: Josh went to Florida for training before the big move, the kids and I went up to Portland for Spring Break, we had so much fun at Grandma & Grandpa's house, fishing, trip to the zoo, lots of Easter fun, and visiting the tulip fields, Back to school night for the boys, 2 baseball per boy each week plus practice

May: Josh came back from Florida and we surprised him at the airport with signs, lots of pool time, more baseball games, my friend Erin visited us, my Mom visited and we went to Napa for the first time and it was amazing, last trip to San Francisco, the house was packed up and the boys worked on finishing up school

June: Cooper graduated from kindergarten, Carson finished 1st grade, we had a big going away party with our friends, we spent 2 weeks in Portland spending time with family before the move, Josh and I went on our first trip alone to Vegas and it was fantastic, headed up to Seattle and flew across the Pacific ocean to Okinawa, Japan- 16 hours of traveling, lived in TLF for almost 2 weeks

2011 Year in Review- July to December

July: we moved into our new house off base, we set up the house and started to explore the new country we are living in, numerous trips to many different beaches, explored castle ruins, the aquarium and Japanese navy ships, lots of searching for crabs and lots of swimming practice, one typhoon and one earthquake, Emma turned 5 with a Hello Kitty birthday

August: Josh went on his first TDY, the kids and I continued to explore Okinawa with adventures to Naha, the fish market, Okinawa World, and the water park, Parker turned 3 with a Toy Story party, Carson started 2nd grade and Cooper started 1st grade

September: Emma, Parker and I had special days at the beach while the boys were in school, Josh went on his second TDY, we went to the zoo, played at the beach and searched for crabs, stayed busy playing in the bathtub on rainy days

October: we explored a lot more since the weather cooled down some, boys kept very busy with lots of homework, I turned 30 and we celebrated at a flower garden, lots of pineapple eating, lots of painting, had our first Halloween in Okinawa and trick-or-treated on base

November: Josh went on his 3rd TDY and missed his 29th birthday, the boys had a lot of school off, all 4 kids got really sick while Josh was gone, it was horrible, we had a large earthquake and it was crazy, Josh got home in time for Thanksgiving

December: Josh went on his 4th TDY, kids and I kept busy everyday with our fun 25 days of Christmas countdown, lots of present wrapping, played at the park and beach a lot, had an amazing Christmas, Carson turned 8 with a birthday on the beach