Our big pumpkin

So there's actually a story behind this big pumpkin. They have them at the commissary right now for "decorations." We walked in to do our shopping and the twins went ballistic. They were so excited and couldn't stop yelling, "Mommy look at that big, huge, pumpkin." The workers there were just watching them laughing as I tried to shush them up a bit. They can be a bit of an embarrassment if you know what I mean. All that yelling and such, but the workers loved it.

A person from the produce department came up to me and asked if I cared if the he took a picture of the kids with the pumpkin. I thought they would love it. I pulled them out of the cart and they both ran and sat right on the top of it. Taylor scooted his way on it too and he snapped a few fun pictures. He then told me that he wanted to give the pumpkin to the kids and that someone would help us out to the car with it. They were so excited! Sometimes it pays to have cute kids. :)

Catch up-

I feel like we have been extremely busy lately. We just had company come over for a week and we have had a blast getting ready for the holiday.

We did get a babysitter and take a break away from the kids though. We met up with some great friends and went to eat at Jack's place. I chose the king crab legs and they were AMAZING. The music made me laugh. They had this older Japanese guy playing an electrical keyboard. He was actually pretty good, but it still sounded so much like elevator music it gave me the giggles. After we had finished eating he started playing Happy Birthday and me and Rhett just started cracking up. I thought what a weird song to play. That's when our friends started singing and they brought me over dessert. Very sneaky, James! It was a fun night away from the kids. 

Sometimes, I come downstairs to things like this. Why eat a whole apple when you can have bites of every one of them? 

The culprit to my apples always being gone? None other than this little cutie!

These two still wear us out... big time! I usually take a nap with them, but thought it was cute when I came home to this one day. They love a little Daddy snuggle time.

 We also went over to Foster Fest a couple weeks ago to see this guy perform. We loved David Archuleta in American Idol and were excited to see him sing. He is just so stinking cute. We only have one radio station here so we hadn't really heard much of his music, but it was very fun to get to see that he hasn't changed too much since the show. He was fun to watch. We also played a few carnival style games and each of the boys won a blow up sword to fight with! Oh Joy!

 What a great example he is though. I am happy for the youth to see someone who is successful and is not willing to change his standards for the world. We also had the great opportunity to have him come the next night and give a fireside to the youth in our branches. He sang two hymns and bore his testimony. I thought it was really cool for the kids to get to meet him. I thought a couple of the girls may pass out and I'm sure he got a couple of marriage proposals that night during pictures. lol. :)

Answering Machine-

We have Vonage and I love it. It never really drops a call and has made me miss home just a little less. It's hard to live in Japan and have my loved ones so far away, but this makes it easier being able to talk to them so much. The time difference can be a little confusing and we have received plenty of middle of the night calls, but overall we are so blessed to have this. We don't really have an answering machine, but through Vonage... they take a message and write me an email with it. They always make me die laughing reading them. Vonage is not GREAT and putting your words down on paper.

I'd like to share two that I got yesterday while grocery shopping.

(1) From my Mom-

"Hey Pat, I missed your call Helen and didn't test, hope is coming okay babe love you. Bye"

Isn't it awesomely hilarious! 

(2) This last one is from my sister-in-law Steph-

"Hey Jack, it's Chad. I'm sorry missed your call. Gimme a holler when you get this it's only what 720 here so I don't know if you're out and about running errands around the other line or what. But give me a holler. I will be up for quite a while. Happy new year. Bye" 

I can't tell if my favorite part is where Chad wishes me a happy new year or the fact that every time I open up a new email my name is different. :)

I just thought I had to share since I couldn't stop giggling last night in bed. So maybe if my callback time is a little slow it's because I'm trying to decipher who has actually called. ;) Keep calling though. I love you guys so much and it is so fun to hear how everything is back home! What a blessing that technology has come so far since letters. I love being able to talk and maybe we can even try to skype one of these days. I tell you... these kids are growing up to fast. You'll be so surprised how big they are getting.

A lost hidden treasure-

Roller Slide Madness- Don't forget to pause the music in the top right corner to hear the video.

Park Weather

I Love going to the park with the little boys. They always have such a great time and can be as wild as they want. There's no yelling, just relaxing together as a family. 

I love it when these two play together. They truly are such great friends and can be found hunting bugs, jumping on the trampoline, or playing video games together quite frequently. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

It has been so hot this summer that we didn't get to play outside as much as usual. We did go to the beach quite a few times, but the park was to miserable in the heat. It is finally starting to cool down a smidgeon and we can't wait to take advantage our all the fun parks in Japan. This is just a close one on base. All the really great treasures are found off base.

 Taylor loves the monkey bars and it getting pretty good at them. He swings back and forth and loves to hold on with one hand. It's probably an accident waiting to happen since he falls A LOT, but he loves it to much to tell him they are off limits.

The big hit at this park is the tire swing though. It is by far the most popular thing to do here and my kids go nuts when Daddy pushes them super high on it. He will load up all four and really get them going. It is a blast to see them all giggling together.

Hunter is such a sweet little twerp. He is also my most stubborn. He always says, "Cuz I want that right NOW." If you tell him to say please he just repeats, "Cuz I want it." He doesn't forget either. My other kids I could distract with something else, but when he or Ryker have their mind set on something they let  you know it.

Poor Ryker fell asleep on the way to the park and just couldn't open his eyes long enough to play. They seem to be adjusting to not taking a nap during the day. I'm having a hard time with this. I'm not ready to give it up quite yet. They will take one only IF I lay down with them. I'm usually out before they are, but they will still sleep. Taylor also loves nap time. This is the only time during the day I let him play video games. :) Anyway, we are excited to play at the parks all Winter long. I hope we find all sorts of really cool ones like last year. Let the exploring begin.

My kids are so excited for this...

It's all they can talk about lately. We just put up some decorations the other day. We have some fun Jack-o-lanterns hung up and a spooky spider web with spiders. The kids love them and every time we walk in the door they exclaim, "Look how spooky." It's really cute.

I love the holidays with little kids. They really make them a lot of fun! 

Divide and Conquer

I feel as though me and Rhett have been doing this a lot lately. He has something for work or that he needs to get done and I have something entirely different to do. Well, last week Rhett had volunteered to help supervise the "Skate Party." I really needed to run over the grocery store so Rhett took the two big boys with him. They had such a great time.

 I also had a great time with the babies. They are growing up so fast. We started our date with a bear hunt. We saw a couple, but thankfully we run so fast that they didn't get us. We then caught 12 grasshoppers, 3 crickets, 1 spider, 2 butterflies, and a lizard. I have to tell you I am one AWESOME bug catcher. This is a favorite past time of all my children and we always have such a great time doing it. 

We then hit up the commissary for some much needed food and ended the date at the donut store. I bribe the little ones with donuts all the time. They were little angels at the store so I let them each pick out a donut on the way home. It was a fun relaxing evening. Rhett and the big boys still weren't home so we decided a wagon ride was just the adventure that we needed. I ran up and down little roads and they giggled with delight pointed out all the bats we saw flying around. I love when they see one because they both point right at it and shout, "OOO loot at that spooky bat." Times that by 100 and it was hilarious! I'm pretty sure most of them were the same bat flying back over, but to the babies they loved it!

On another subject- I LOVE bedtime. I mean really love it. The few hours that me and Rhett get to spend together in the evenings is golden. We had started watching the old Dexter's and it has been fun just cuddling on the bed in each others arms. It is so great that I get to see Rhett this year. The residency and dental school was super tough and I have missed being able to snuggle my baby! Now if we can just get the babies to stop coming in our bed EVERY night at midnight that would be Heaven. :)

 Notice that our kids are the only ones without a helmet. Oops!

I love love love this little skater dude! Thanks for sending him his skates in the mail. He uses them daily Melanie. :)

Top off the evening with soda and hot dogs. It was a great hit with the kids. I'm so glad that Rhett took them with him. He has been so great with them lately. They sure enjoy their Daddy. Their favorite thing is playing on the trampoline with him. They play steamroller at least every other day and he is so great and patient with them. Sometimes I wish I was more relaxed like Rhett. He just gets to play with them and love his guts for it!

My date partners aka partners in crime. They still are so sweet and I love that they love us. Hunter just last night as we were putting him to bed asked in his sweetest voice, "Will you snuggle me in my teddy bear and hold me like a baby?" Seriously how do you say no to that? Well, let me tell you... you don't. You just grab that pooh bear blanket and snuggle the heck out of him. I'm sure it will be soon enough that they wont want those snuggles and hugs. I dread that day so much! :( Why do kids have to grow up so dang fast? It seems just yesterday I was waking up every 2 hours to feed these little monkeys.

BBQ with friends

I have been in this horrible blogging funk lately. I have had just a touch homesickness and in all honesty life has just been crazy. With all the messes that the three little ones have been up to lately I have been overworked and exhausted. I guess when I pull up my computer at night to get ready to blog I either (1) have nothing nice to say or (2) choose sleep over blogging. I apologize for my lack of updating and hope in the future I will be a little bit better. 

I have found that Ryker is my little mess maker. I used to blame the twins, but as they are getting older Hunter is getting smarter. The minute he sees Ryker trying to do something naughty he runs to get me. That's right folks. He totally will rat out his best friend to avoid a spanking. Smart smart boy. :) Unfortunately this has not slowed Ryker down in the least bit. 

I have learned a couple lessons lately. The first and most important is that I CANNOT sleep in longer than the babies. The minute they start to stir I had better be getting my rear end out of bed or there will be major consequences. The other lesson that I learned this week is that I CANNOT go to the bathroom while the babies are awake or suffer the consequences. :) They can make the biggest mess in the smallest amount of time. It is actually a very great talent. If I could just harness the naughty energy and make them do nice things... it would be fantastic. They really are so very creative. 

Some of the messes the tornado aka Ryker has done this week. He is still very obsessed with eggs and had blown through a dozen in the last two days. The first six were the worst though because they were on the carpet and behind the couch. Had I not snuck up on the little stinker that could have been a HUGE disaster. Could you just imagine the smell if I had missed out on that catch. Phew. I promptly stuck his butt in time out and he stayed there the entire time that I was scrubbing carpets. He was crying about how sorry he was so I thought he may have learned his lesson. Nope! The next day he threw the rest of the dozen on the kitchen floor. I guess he thought I was just mad about the placement of the eggs. I'm pretty sure if he ever plays with eggs I will follow through with my threat. I told him that if he got my eggs out again I would crack an egg on his head. This freaked him out a little. I know he's curious and has a blast watching them crack and the yolk ooze all over, but even he knows it will not be fun on his head.

He also loves toilet paper. I mean loves to unroll the stuff. He then throws it ALL in the toilet and I have a huge unclogging mess to clean up. I need to still call the housing unit due to one poor toilet that hasn't been able to recover from the madness. I should be happy that we don't own a home. By the time we actually will be able to get into one I have high hopes that my kids will be old enough to take better care of it. Here's to hoping! 

He also climbs into EVERYTHING. He gets into the fridge and pulls everything out. He climbs into the cupboards and pulls out all the snacks. I have to hide the potty treats every night in a new spot due to him finding and snarfing all of them down. He even climbed on top of the fridge the other day while I was vacuuming the living room. I heard his crying and went to rescue him. He is just so darn curious about everything. It is driving me to an early grave for sure. I now have to dye my hair twice as often. I fully blame the babies for all the unwanted gray hair. 

He also went to town on the walls with markers that Carter had left out from doing homework. When I say left out I mean they were up high, but still within Ryker's ability to locate and have a ball with. I was so mad that we had outdoor time. We went outside and they were having such a good time hunting grasshoppers that I decided to mow the grass really quickly. While I did that Ryker dowsed the lawn in the back with gasoline. He had gone into the outside closet and found the can. I guess it looked like a watering can so he took it upon himself to water the lawn. Seriously, I cannot take my eye off this little terd for one minute. 

All of my kids have really had a hard time not drawing on the walls lately so I thought maybe it's me. Maybe I need to pull out paper and crayons more often so they can go to town on that for awhile and get all the coloring out of them. I cleaned out the closet under the stairs and made a cute little school room for the three of them. I put a big bin of coloring books and crayons. I explained that whenever they wanted they could go in there and color. Then I explained that we color on paper not the floor or the walls. They were having a blast so I went to do the dishes. I went back in 15 minutes later to crayon ALL OVER the walls and floor. I feel like my family alone has made Mr. Clean a millionaire, but bless his soul for making those AWESOME magic erasers. I will gladly shell out my money for something that works so well. I will probably get cancer of the hands from all the scrubbing I have been doing the last year. I made the little boys help this time. 

I do have one thing that I really love. I still play volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday. It is bitter sweet. I have a blast going and playing, but sometime that mess isn't worth it. Like this week they destroyed the house while Rhett slept on the couch. They also took scissors to the exercise ball. Rhett has been pretty good so I will cut him some slack on falling asleep this one time. :)

Other happenings since I last blogged. Carter asked me for an iphone for his birthday. The conversation went a little like this-

(C) Hey Mom, for my birthday I want to get an iphone.

(M) Yeah right buddy. You're turning 8 not 18. 

(C) There is this girl in my class that has one and she is only 7.

(M) Well, she must not have any brothers or sisters. I gave you something better. I gave you three brothers to play with.

(C) I hate having brothers. Remember when it was only me and we were all happy?

We have been watching home videos lately and he loves the ones with him as a baby before all the other kids. I guess to him that's when he was the happiest. lol.

We had a few BBQ's with friends lately. It has been such nice weather. Rhett set up the slip n slide and we had everyone over for a nice visit. The second time we had like 18 kids here. No one died so I consider it a success. They all had a really great time. Here's a few pictures of my munchkins heading down the slip n slide. 

Alright with that I am going to sleep. The babies still come in every single night and I still let them because lets be honest they are my babies! They won't want to snuggle me or have me hold them like a baby soon enough so I will sleep like crap for a few more months until they grow over me. Plus when they are sleeping they are absolute angels. It's only during the day that their horns show!

Mommy turns 30

I turned thirty! Yikes. How did that happen so fast. I remember it wasn't so many years ago that I thought thirty was so OLD! I guess it's okay though. They say you're only as old as you feel! Well, lately I have felt more like forty or fifty. I'm in trouble!

The little boys helped me celebrate ALL DAY LONG. I got to sleep in until I woke up. Huge props to Rhett. That is the only thing I really wanted for my birthday. I also came down to a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and a dozen donuts. ( A couple of major addictions I have) Along with some beautiful flowers and a great birthday card from Rhett. Rhett can be very sweet when he wants to be and the words he wrote in the card made me cry. This worried the kids until I explained they were tears of joy. :)

He also brought home this yummy cake later in the day! It was so relaxing and just the perfect way to bring in getting older.

I also had some fun gifts in the mail. Thank you Mom and Melanie for being so thoughtful!

Zoo Passes

I debated whether to get zoo passes again this year because we really have seen EVERYTHING this little zoo has to offer, BUT it is such a relaxing fun place for the kids to be able to run around in. I bit the bullet and decided to get them. We definitely got our moneys worth last year. 

It is starting to cool off a little bit! YAY! We decided an outing was just what we needed. I have had a few stressful weeks with babysitting drama to online ordering problems. I just needed a break to forget everything and just to realize how much I enjoy my children. They really do light up my life, even when they are naughty. I still can't get enough of them.

We had such a wonderful time. We did get caught in the rain, but that just made for more excitement. We got there a few minutes before opening so we had fun walking around the top looking at the zoo pictures. I let the boys pick their favorite ones to stand by for a quick picture. I tried not to take too many pictures of the zoo because I already have a billion from here, but please enjoy the very few that I took.

The babies both picked the giraffe to stand by. They really love the giraffe and we actually got to feed the reals ones some leaves. I love being able to be so up close and personal with the animals here. It makes for a neat experience!

My sweet Taylor picked the Rhino as his favorite picture. He seriously melts my heart. I love him so much!

Have I ever mentioned my absolute FEAR of spiders. I HATE, HATE, HATE them. They scare the heck out of me and we see a lot here in Oki. I believe they call this beauty a banana spider. It's hard to tell the size of it from the picture, but it was way bigger than my face! I had a hard time getting a great picture of it because honestly I thought I was going to die for sure. I was sure that it would see me taking it's picture and dive right onto my face for the kill. Scary little devils for sure. The boys LOVED it though. They wanted to touch it so bad. I said absolutely NO!

Very fun day at the zoo though. I'm glad that I bought the year passes again and can't wait to take the kids for more fun adventures here!