Life in the Grieser House

Updates!!!

2008-05-14T19:31:00.002+09:00

Well there really is not much going on around here. We thought it was going to warm up but unfortunately it is still pretty cool, I don't think it has gotten above 60!!! But even though it is still pretty chilly everything is turning green and looking beautiful!!!

Work is going okay at the daycare; I'm starting to realize again why I didn't like working at Kinder Kottage. I think it might be better if I had a different class but my class has 8 boys and only 2 girls in it so they are constantly going. The boys do a lot of biting and hitting so I'm constantly chasing them around the room. There are two other classes of pre-toddlers (which means one year olds) and they are so much more calm compared to my class. Oh well I have some things in the works, I would tell y'all about them but I don’t' want to say anything until things are for sure.

Mother's Day was great!!! Tyler let me sleep in and when I woke up he had made us some awesome omelets. For my gift Tyler got me Sex and the City season 5 and part one of season 6. After breakfast we just relaxed around the house and watched TV. Saturday I went to a Japanese hair salon off base that I had heard was really good and made an appointment for the next day (Mother's Day). So at 12:00 on Sunday I went and got my hair colored and trimmed, while Tyler stayed home to give Bella lunch and put her down for a nap. Sunday evening we went to the BX to just poke around we didn't really need anything but Tyler and Bella wanted to get out of the house.

Speaking of Bella we found out today that she will be moving to a different classroom at the CDC sometime in June. The classroom that she is in now only has like two 3 year olds and the rest are five year olds that will be starting school in August. In the past two weeks Bella has developed some really bad behavior problems that we think are coming from her being around so many older kids. The room that she will be moving into consists mostly of 3 year olds and the kids behaviors in the new room are so much better than they are in her present room. I had a talk with the CDC director yesterday and told her about my concerns and this morning my supervisor came to my classroom to let me know that she will be moved in June. This makes me and Tyler extremely happy, we were thinking we were going to have to pull her out and put here in home daycare.

Well I think that gets y'all up to date on what is going on in the Grieser house. Not sure what our next adventure is going to be, we were suppose to go camping on Memorial Day weekend but we think that it is still going to be too cold at night for Bella. So whatever our next adventure is I will try not to wait as long to share it with y'all as I did with the Cherry Blossom Festival!!!

Cherry Blossom Festival!!!

2008-05-09T22:24:00.008+09:00

Ok so I know this post is like extremely late but I have a good reason. Ok maybe not a good reason but I do have excuses!!! Since I started this new job at the CDC I am extremely exhausted at the end of everyday and all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV with Tyler and Isabella, so blogging as kind of been pushed to the back burner!!!

Anyways back to the Cherry Blossom Festival!!! We went on the perfect weekend, the weather was beautiful and the pedals were right in the middle of falling off. If we would have waited another weekend like the base ITT trips were planned we would have missed all of the beautiful pedals falling.

As I said in my previous post we decide to go with a couple that I work with the wife and Tyler works with the husband and also another couple that I work with the wife at the CDC. We woke up at the butt crack of dawn so that we could met them in the BX parking lot at 7:00 a.m., guys on Saturday Tyler is lucky if I'm out of bed at 9:00!!! The town that the festival was in is about 3 hour’s ways so that was the reason they wanted to get such an early start. When we got to the festival it was just beautiful, the pedals were falling all around us!!! Bella loved it; she was running all around trying to catch them!! The only down side to the whole day was that I got a migraine in the middle of the day and by the time we were driving home at 5:00 p.m. I was in excruciating pain. I was sitting in the car with a plastic bag to my face because it hurt so bad that I thought I was going to throw up. But besides that it was an awesome day filled with beautiful sites!!!

This was at the entrance to the park!!!

Bella watching the Koi fish in the little pond at the park!!

Our little group!! Not sure what the guy on the ends name was (how terrible is that), Diane, Elvie, Kiana, Jack, Me, Bella and Tyler.

Tyler, Bella and myself in the cherry blossom tunnel!!

Everyone was sticking their heads in these so Bella wanted to do it to!!

Tyler rowing the boat on our canoe ride!!!

Bella standing in front of the tulips!!

They had all kinds of food booths in the part and this one was selling octopus on a stick and live snails!!!

I just had to take a picture of these kids; it is just like you see on TV!!!

We took a ton more photos and these were just some of my favorites, if you want to see the rest of them you can go to my MySpace page here http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=52480866&albumId=2099945

Work Work Work

2008-04-25T12:29:00.004+09:00

For the past week and a half that is all I have been doing!!!! As you all might remember I started a job at the CDC on base, so far it really isn't all that bad. My only complaints would be that every night when I get home I am dog tried!!! I am on my feet almost all day and I am constantly moving around, there is no time to stand still when you have anywhere between 10 and 20 children to look after. Since I am so tired and Tyler is also tired because he has to work all day nothing gets done around the house. Last weekend we had about 5 loads of laundry to do, which is a lot compared to the 2 or 3 I use to do during the week. Yesterday the dishes where piled so high, it took me about 45 minutes to get them all done. Anyone that has ever been to our house or knows me and Tyler knows this is way out of the ordinary for us; our house is usually very clean and tidy. We just really need to find our grove with combining work and keeping up with the house work.

Due to the lack of time I have also decided to put off school for a little while. My first semester back I had to drop one class because I didn't have the time to put into it. I kept one class but I don't think I did very well in it; I haven't had the courage to look up my grade. This semester I started a Computer class but again I don't really have the time to put into it, I know I could make time but that would take away time I could spend with Tyler and Bella. Besides I just don't think I was mentally ready to start back to school.

In other news Bella is loving daycare!!! She is in the 3 to 5 year old room which is mostly 4 and 5 year olds and Tyler and I aren't very happy about that. There are three different rooms that have ages 3 to 5 or as they call them preschoolers and the other two classes have a good ratio of ages. Bella is barely a month into being a three year old and to some point still acts like a 2 year old, so I really don't think she is ready to be with kids so much older than her. I also talked to one of the other teachers at the daycare and she said that they usually don't transition them up to the preschool room until they have been three for a month or so. Tyler and I have talked about it and we decided we would give it a couple of weeks and see if things change because starting Monday there will be a new director over the CDC so who knows what her plans may be.

I got a day off today, well actually it is not a day off I'm on call but if they didn't call by 7 or 8 this morning they are probably not going to call. So I decided to keep Bella home with me because I have been missing her with all this working I have been doing!!! But she is taking a nap right now so I'm going to leave y'all with some pictures and then I'm going to go enjoy the peace and quiet!!!

This picture and the one at the top are of Cherry Blossom Trees behind our apartment. There is a festival in Hirosaki Japan starting this weekend and we plan on going to it with guy Tyler works with and his wife which I work with. We have heard so much about this festival and I can't wait to see all of the beautiful trees. I was so afraid that they weren't going to bloom by this weekend but they are in full bloom. The sad thing is that all the pretty flowers will fall off in like a week or two!!!!

And this is what happens when you let a 3 year old stay up by herself while you try to sleep in!!!! This didn't happen today, it was a couple of weeks ago before I started working but I just kept forgetting to post them.

She said she was giving herself stripes and later when we took a shower and I washed them off she ask me where did her stripes go!!! Kids....there never boring!!!

Hopefully I will have time to get on here Sunday and so y'all pictures of the Cherry Blossom Festival!!!

Annivesary Gifts!!!

2008-04-15T15:15:00.012+09:00

I guess I could have posted this one awhile ago but I was so focused on getting the last post up that I didn't really think about showing y'all the gifts Tyler got me. It's probably a good thing I waiting because this week Tyler anniversary gift finally came in the mail. It was so cute I was sitting in the car while he went into check the mail; he was gone for a while so I knew there had to be a package to pick up. When Tyler walked out of the post office he had the biggest grin on his face, he looked like a little kid at Christmas!!! Anyways I'm getting off topic here!!!

Last summer the band of my engagement ring broke, they said it was from where they had to resize it so small. Anyways they fixed it and then about a month later is broke again, so we took it back and they said they would fix it but we should look into getting a new setting because this was going to keep happening. Luckily they were having a mounting sale in a month, personnel I think it was just the sales lady trying to get us to spend more money!!!

This is what my original engagement ring looked like. I know it's hard to see but it's a solitaire marquise with a white gold band.

And this is what my new and improved engagement ring looks like!!! Of course we had to spend more money but I had been wanting a wrap to go around the solitaire so instead we just changed the mounting and added more diamonds!!! Well the reason I am telling you guys all this is because this was supposed to be my 5 year anniversary gift. Due to the price of it Tyler and I decided that since it was so expensive I didn't really need anything on our actual anniversary. But being that I have the most awesome husband in the world he didn't stick with that decision!!!

The morning of our anniversary Tyler got up early to cook me breakfast and when I finally decided to crawl out of bed this was sitting on the dining room table!!! I can't believe he bought it for me, every time I tried to look at these purses in the BX he would say that's crazy to spend that kind of money on a purse. But against his better judgment he bought it for me, of course I got the lecture, " I don't want to see this thing on the floor, on the ground and I especially don't want to hear in a month that it is not big enough" lol!!! But did I mention I have the most awesome husband in the whole world, almost every weekend he gets up with Bella at 7 or 7:30 and lets me sleep. I don't think he knows how much I appreciate that!!! Anyways back to the gifts, so I go into the kitchen to tell him thank you and give him a big kiss and then I go on with my morning routine: take my pills and pour a cup of coffee. While I'm getting my coffee he says "aren't you going to put your stuff in it" and say "Oh yea". So I open it up pull all the paper out of it and sitting at the bottom is a jewelry box, I think to myself what did he do now!!! The picture below is what was in the box!!!

DIAMOND EARRINGS!!!! I can't believe he bought me diamond earrings!!!! They aren't very big but if you know me then you know I'm not all that into earrings, so these are just the right size and perfect to go in my top holes. Actually once I got the earrings in my ears they looked a lot bigger than they did in the box!!!

And now for Tyler anniversary gift let me just tell y'all after everything he got me I kind of feel bad about his gift and the situation. First of all I ordered all his gifts from the same website, the first things to ship were his two guitar stands and some new picks but these didn't get here until the day after our anniversary. The actually guitar didn't ship until like a week and a half later and just came in this past week, a week after our anniversary. So what did I give him on our special day you ask, three pieces of paper with pictures on them: one of the guitar stands, one of the picks and one of the guitar. And to make matters worse when he finally got the guitar and opened the box one of the strings had broken during shipment and put tiny scratches on the body of it. Guys I felt terrible after all the great things he got me and this is how his gift ends up. I told him to send it back but after thinking about it he decided to just keep it because he doesn't want to take the chance of the next one having something worse than a couple of scratches. Here are some pictures of the guitar and the guitar collection Tyler is starting.

The one in the middle is the new one!! It really is a beautiful guitar I just wish he could play it. He called the website and they said they would send his a new set of strings but who know how long it will take them to get here.

I just wish he had more time to play them!!!

Well guys I have been very busy this past week, I started my job at the CDC and every night when I get home I am completely exhausted. My whole body hurts and my feet feel like they are going to fall off, luckily I got a pedicure the day before I started so they don't look as bad as they feel!!!

" The night I met the man of my dreams"

2008-04-15T15:08:00.005+09:00

Finally I finished the post, it's not everything I wanted to say but I didn't want y'all to have to read a book about our life!!!

Monday April 7th was mine and Tyler's 5 year anniversary!!! I thought this would be the perfect time to tell y'all the story of the first time I met Tyler.

In November of 2001 I moved to Italy, when I got there Tyler had just left for 7 level school back in the states. So while he was gone I became friends with two of his friends Kristen and Joe (not a couple). The whole time Tyler was gone I heard so much about him, mainly from Joe. So I was so excited to finally meet him. He got back from 7 level school at the beginning of January and on the day he arrived Kristen and Joe had planned for us all to go out to dinner so I could meet him.

Let’s just say the night didn't start out so well. I was living in the Pensione (Italian hotel) at the time and their hot water level wasn't so great. I was in the middle of taking a shower, I was completely soaped up and all of the sudden the hot water goes out. So I have to go to the phone soaking wet, full of soap to call the front desk. They send someone up to my floor, luckily they didn't have to come in my room, but they fixed the hot water and I was able to finish my shower. But this put me way behind schedule so I was late getting to the restaurant. For the readers that are familiar with Italy we were having dinner at the Western House, not my favorite Aviano restaurant but Kristen loved it and she was pregnant so you have to give into the pregnant women. Once I finally get there I walk in and I can't find them so of course I'm frustrated. I finally spot them so I go over and meet the man of my dreams (not knowing it at the time). My first thought of Tyler was he’s cute and I love those ears (sorry baby but you know it's true). Later Tyler would tell me his first impression of me was that I was a snobby blonde b***h, who says first impressions are everything.

Now comes the funny part!!! I sit down at the table and we are looking over the menu when all of the sudden someone lets out a huge fart. It sounded very close but I didn't want to embarrass anyone so I didn't say anything. Then there was another one and this time Tyler says "Sorry airplane food always does that to me"!!! I think to myself well can’t you hold it in or go to the bathroom we are in the middle of a restaurant. So the waitress comes over to take our order and as she kneels down he does it again, by this time I'm thinking this guy is very rude and extremely disgusting. Who would have thought 3 months later I would be head over heels for him. This whole time Kristen and Joe are laughing their butts off and I'm thinking guys this really isn’t that funny it's kind of gross. So after we finished dinner and several more farts later Joe pulls out this remote control and hands it to me. I asked him what is this and he says just push the button and when I do Tyler farts. I must have looked really confused because Tyler pulls out this little black box and hands it to me. I push the button again and the box farts, so all this time I thought Tyler was farting and it was actually a "Fart Machine"!!! Tyler had picked it up in the states and they all thought it would be a cool trick to play on me, of course after that I thought it was hilarious!!!

Once we were done with dinner we headed to a place that would later become mine and Tyler's bar, Johnny's!!! The whole night Tyler and I played with the machine, when one of us would go to the bar for drinks the other would keep the remote and the other would have the machine. As we would get up to the bar the one sitting at the table would push the button!!! I should have known from that moment on my life would be filled with farts...lol!!!So that's the story of the first night Tyler and I ever meet!! I was also going to write about how we almost broke up and how we ended up together and the story of our engagement and wedding. But since I already made this post super long I will save that for another time. I hope y'all enjoy the story, I think it is a great example of how first impressions are not always lasting impressions.

A little update!!!

2008-04-13T15:48:00.002+09:00

Well I'm still working on the story of how Tyler and I met; hopefully I will get it up before our next anniversary...lol!!!

Last week was very busy and this coming week will probably be just as busy. Y'all probably remember that I found out Wednesday that I got the job at the CDC; well I had to make an appointment for Thursday to go in and sign all the papers that Services needs to get the ball rolling. I had to wait until Thursday to do it because Wednesday night I had my final in my Psych class and I wanted as much time as possible to study for it. Though I don't think it helped anyways, I don't feel very confident in my grade on the test, but we will see!!! If I don't do very well in this class then I will just know for the future that I have to spend more time on my school work now that I am at a university and not a community college.

Thursday at lunch time Tyler came and picked me and Bella up and we went to Services so I could do the paper work. Then we went by the CDC to see what we needed to do so that Bella could start school, they gave me a whole big packet of papers to fill out!!! Tyler dropped us off at the house so I could fill the papers out and then when he got off of work we took them back by the CDC. They said they couldn't tell us right then when she could start or how much it would be but the front desk lady (the job I want) would call me tomorrow (Friday). Well of course by 10 o'clock I hadn't heard anything so I called them and they gave me the run around. Eventually at about 1:30 the director called me back to tell me that Bella could start on Monday. I was extremely excited about this because we are so ready for her to go back to daycare. While she was in daycare she seemed to be a better behaved child, the only thing I'm not looking forward to is her always being sick or always having a runny nose. With her not being in daycare I have realized that she is hardly ever sick and I don't know when the last time was that she had a runny nose. Anyways after the lady told me when she could start I asked her how much it was going to be she said she didn't know I would have to wait until her front desk lady got back from lunch. Well I waited and waited and then at like 3:00 I called back because it was obvious no one was going to call me back. When she told me the price my jaw dropped to the floor, $129 a week, Holy Cow!!! At the daycare we took Bella to in the states we paid $95 a week, give it that was a less quality daycare but still!!! I guess the CDC goes off of how much the whole house hold makes, I couldn't imagine how much we would have to pay if we were both military!!! Oh well....hopefully they will teach Bella more than the previous daycare did, I guess it is worth paying that much if she gets the education she deserves.

Friday when Tyler got off of work I went to register for my next class, I am going to take a required computer class!!! Friday night we didn't do much, Tyler cooked a great meal out of his new Pampered Chef cookbook "Crispy Parmesan Shrimp with Spaghetti"!!! After dinner we watched American Idol, which sucked for me because on my way home from the education office the stupid AFN guy said who went home. How dumb can you be, he knows that we don't get it until the next night why would you tell everyone who went home 3 hours before the show was suppose to air. I asked Tyler to call AFN and complain about it, he said it was my battle I should fight if I wanted to so of course I didn't...lol!!!

Saturday I woke up with a migraine so we didn't really do much, just hung around the house. It started to go away by about 4:00 in the evening, so I helped Tyler cook another delicious meal. Chicken Quesadillas with Corn Soup and of course I had a couple of margaritas, which was probably not a very good idea because by Bella's bedtime my migraine was back. But I couldn't resist, there is nothing better than a frozen margarita with a delicious Mexican dinner. So I went to bed at about 10 p.m. because my head just kept getting worse.

Luckily I woke up this morning headache free!!! We decided to skip church and drive to the Statue of Liberty Park (as we call it) so that Bella could feed the ducks and the swans. After we were out of bread we headed to the mall to eat lunch, I had delicious "Pepper Lunch"!!! Once we were done eating we just walked around the mall, of course we didn't buy anything because the prices for clothes are outrageous. Bella started to get tired and cranky so we left and came back home. So we are home now and I need to get going so I can help Tyler make another delicious dinner, I'm his little sou chef!!! I think we are making Beef Stew...yummm!!!

Asamushi Aquarium

2008-04-08T09:43:00.008+09:00

Things have been so busy!!! I have a couple of blogs I want to write but I don't really have time so I will try to squeeze them in when I get a chance!!! This means they will probably be a little out of date!!! Well Monday was mine and Tyler's 5 year anniversary so he took the day off of work and we took Bella to the aquarium that is about an hour and a half away. We have heard that it is really small but it is fun for the kids. We had a great time, it was a little small but nice. Bella loved looking at all the fish but I think her favorite and I know my favorite were the sea lions. They put on a great show for us and every time we would bend down to get a closer look at them this really fat one would come up and get really close to the window...Bella would laugh so hard at him. The aquarium also had a dolphin show and we made it just in time to see it. Bella wasn't as interest in it as I thought see would be, we had to keep telling her "Bella watch the dolphins, look they are going to jump". I think by the time we got to the dolphin show she was just pretty worn out. After we left the aquarium we just went for a drive in the town. The town that the aquarium is in is called Amori which I think is kind of the capital of our prefecture. It is a coastal town so we found lots of places to go fishing and hanging out at the beach this summer. We ended up eating at MacDonald’s, which is kind of silly being that we are in a foreign land but I don't think we are comfortable enough yet to just try any Japanese restaurant. Because as we have found they can have some really weird stuff on the menu and also we never know how Bella is going to act. After we left MacDs we headed home and stopped by the Universe for some of our favorite Japanese food.

I plan to write about the story of how Tyler and I met but I don't really have time right now. I need to do some more reading in my psych book because I have my final tonight at 5:30. I also have to write a paper for that class that is due by Sunday and I just got an email from my Computer class that I am taking next term. I say next term like I have a break; it actually starts Monday so no break for me. Maybe I can write that tomorrow morning and also post pictures of my anniversary gifts; I would post pictures of Tyler's but his big one hasn't arrived in the mail yet.

Oh big news!!!! As I was writing this I got a call from Services HRO and they said that I have been selected for the job at the CDC. I have to go tomorrow and fill out all the paper work, so that just adds to my list of things I have to do. I am really excited about this because now Bella can start back to daycare. She really needs it, I think a lot of her behavior problems here lately are due to being stuck in this 2 bedroom apartment all day with me. Well I have to get going here are the pictures from the aquarium...I hope to write more tomorrow.

Bella on the way to the Aquarium!!

I don't think I have ever seen a sea turtle this big in my entire life!!!

Tyler and Bella next to the huge sea turtles...she didn't want to sit next to them!!!

Tyler and Bella in the tunnel!!

Me and Bella in the tunnel!!

This is the only good picture I got from the dolphin show....I hate our camera...I want a new one!!!

This is a sign they have up as you walk into the dolphin pool area!!! Sometimes the translations here are so funny!!!

This dolphin was such a ham....he keep coming back so that I could take his picture!!!

These were our favorites!!! This picture is of the really fat one that kept swimming up close to the glass every time we would sit down to look at them.

Bella in front of some fish!!!

On the way to MacDs....she got a big stuffed dolphin that cost like 10 bucks!!!

The coast on the drive around Amori!!!

And this was Bella on the drive home from the aquarium!!! I think she had a good time!!!

Sorry!!!!!

2008-04-01T15:31:00.007+09:00

Ok guys sorry I haven't posted in awhile but last week was really busy and the next couple of weeks are going to be even busier.

I had a couple of headaches last week due to the fact that it was the week before my period. I also had a job interview at the CDC (daycare on base), I finally sucked it up and put in an application with them. Last May after I graduated I went to work at Bella's daycare for several reasons: they were hiring, it was close, the hours were flexible, they knew about my migraines and because no one else would hire me because we were PCSing in like 6 months. I worked there for 4 months and I told myself and everyone else that I would never work in childcare again but desperate times call for desperate measures...lol!!! Not really but I applied for a secretary job at the CDC through USAjobs and haven't heard anything from them. So I'm thinking if I get a job as a teacher then I can eventually move up to the front desk which is where the original job I wanted is.

This weekend was pretty busy as well!!! Saturday morning we got up early, went and got Starbucks and some breakfast then headed to the Bazaar they were having on base. We spent way too much money but got some great decorations for the house. Then Saturday night we had a baby shower/party to go to and we didn't get home until late. Sunday was spent going to church, cleaning house and relaxing. Sunday night friends Jason, Jenn and Caleb came over because I am in a online statistics class with Jason and we had an exam due so we wanted to check our answers. By the way we didn't do very well on the exam so I am going today to drop the class.

School is also the reason I probably won't be posting very much in the next week or so!!! Finals are coming up and in my psychology class I haven't been doing what I need to so I kind of have to cram. Plus most of the term I was dedicating all my time and attention to the stats class because it was a lot harder but in the end it didn't pay off. I think next time I will try to take the stats class in the classroom instead of online, I am not very good in math to begin with so trying to figure out the problems on my own didn't work out so well.

Other than that not much else has been going on here. Mine and Tyler’s 5th anniversary is coming up on the 7th....I can't believe it has been 5 years already. I got Tyler an awesome gift for our anniversary, of course I can't tell you what it is yet because he reads this and I don't want to ruin the surprise. We asked Jason and Jenn to watch Bella so we can go to dinner on Saturday night. Also Tyler took off work on Monday our actually anniversary and I think we are going to try and take Bella to the Aquarium.

I will leave y'all with pictures of the items we got at the Bazaar. Tyler and I both got things that we have really been wanting and we got Bella something that will remind her of her life in Japan.

Tyler's Samuria Swords and my Japanese lady and little girl!!!

My Japanese women!!!

This is hanging on Bella's wall in her bedroom!!!

We couldn't pass up this picture....we still have to get it framed but I think it will look awesome hanging above Tyler's swords and my Japanese women!!!

Easter/Migraine Weekend!!!

2008-03-24T08:47:00.007+09:00

A beautiful Easter Weekend and guess what I had? Yep...you guessed it a migraine!!! I had it all weekend. Saturday morning I woke up with it pounding so I stayed in bed and sleep until about 10:30 but still no relief. I didn't want Tyler and Bella to have to spend their Saturday sitting in the house while I slept so I sucked it up, showered and got ready and then we all went to the BX for lunch and so Tyler could pick some things up for Easter dinner. When we got home Bella took a nap and of course I still had a headache so I laid down as well, I think we got up at about 3 and you guessed it my head still hurt so I took some more meds and laid down on the couch while Tyler took Bella to the play ground across the street. Surprisingly when they got back I felt a lot better so we enjoyed a couple hours of headache free mommy time by coloring Easter eggs. After Bella went to bed Tyler and I just relaxed, watched some TV and went to bed early so we could get up and go to church Sunday morning.

Guess what I woke up with Sunday morning...yep you guessed it a migraine, man y'all are getting good at this!!! Well I knew how much Tyler wanted to go to church and we also spent like $30 on Bella an Easter dress and new shoes so she was going to wear it headache or not. So we went to church, we tried to keep Bella in service with us but she would not be quiet so Tyler took her back to the nursery. I feel bad saying this but I think that was the worst church service of my life...not due to the preacher or the message he was giving, it was the fact that I could not get comfortable and my head was pounding!!! There were a couple of times I just wanted to tell Tyler lets go but I didn't want to ruin it for him just because of my stupid migraines.

After church we went to the club for Sunday brunch and then the club was doing a members only Easter egg hunt. I was really happy about this because Bella was actually able to hunt Easter eggs, which I didn't think she was going to get to do because we don't really have a yard to hide them in. Once the egg hunt was over we waited in line so she could take a picture with the Easter bunny, the whole time I was praying she would actually sit in his lap!!! Last year we tried to do the picture thing and she was having no part of it, she didn't even want us to stand in line to see him. She actually did really well this year; she sat in his lap and just looked at him. Services took pictures that they would email to you but i don't think the picture is going to be very good because the lady taking the picture didn't even give Bella time to smile. Oh well...Tyler took a picture for us and it is really cute!!! After that we came home and again I took a nap with Bella, she woke up at about 3 but I didn't wake up until like 5 or 5:30. For the most part my headache was gone but I still didn't feel completely normal. Tyler made a great Easter dinner to include Ham, mash potatoes, green bean casserole, and for dessert peach cobbler!!! We ate until we couldn't eat anymore and then just vegged on the couch until it was time to go to bed.
This morning I actually woke up without a migraine, which is good because Bella is the one that suffers when I have a headache during in the week.

I have to tell you guys about this...I am just so excited!!! Last night at about 2 I got up to pee and heard Bella's door opening, I thought to myself crap now she is going to have to sleep with me and Tyler and I'm not going to get any sleep!!! But when she walked out of her room she said "Mommy I got to go potty", so we went in the bathroom and of course we both went potty. After she got done she pulled up her pull-up and went back to her room and climbed in her bed. Now those that know Bella really well know this is very unlike her!!! So I went into her room and covered her up and she went right back to sleep. By God I think she is potty trained!!! Friday I had some things to do around the base and I knew it wasn't going to take long so I put panties on her instead of a pull-up like we usually do when we leave the house. Guys she went the whole two hours without an accident. While we were at Burger King I took her in the bathroom and she went on the big potty. Then on Saturday when we went to the BX Tyler put panties on her and again she went the whole time without an accident. Y'all don't know how excited I am about this...I never thought this day would come!!!

Tyler and Bella coloring Easter eggs!!

Bella and her busted lip!!! She fell off the chair while coloring Easter eggs and hit her chin on the table and bit her lip!!

Bella and her Easter basket!!! It looks like she is yawning but I think she was talking.

Isabella in her beautiful Easter dress!!!

Hunting Easter eggs!!!

She did such a good job with the Easter bunny!!!

Free Cell Phone!!!

2008-03-20T09:44:00.003+09:00

I finally got the free phone yesterday!!! I love the color of the phone but it is very big compared to the cell phones you see in the states. It is a prepaid phone so it will be a lot cheaper especially since I don’t see us using it all that much. The best thing about it is that I will feel much better having it when we go on trips away from Misawa. The past couple of times that we ventured away from Misawa I was always worried that we would get lost and not knowing very much Japanese no one would be able to help us get home. Now that we have the phone I will feel a lot better because we can just call someone to come find us lol!!! Here are a couple of pictures of the phone, don't you just love that color. The other colors they had to pick from were white, black and a silvery white!!!

I don't know if you can see it but above the English letters there are Japanese symbols!!!

Bella's Birthday Party!!

2008-03-19T09:17:00.005+09:00

I know it is a little late but I have been really busy the past couple of days!!! Ok that is not entirely true, I could have found time to write but when I did have a spare minute I just wanted to relax. Anyways we had Bella's party on Saturday the 15th and it was great!!! We just invited the friends from Tyler’s shop that had kids, so there really weren’t a whole lot of people. The commissary made a beautiful Little Mermaid cake and Tyler with my help cooked a delicious spread of party treats. I told y'all about the octopus hotdogs but we forgot to take pictures of the food so I stole one from the internet so y'all can see what they looked like. Bella had a great time at the party and she got some great gifts. Tyler and I had a pretty good time to but everyone was gone by 7:00 p.m. and we were left feeling lonely!!! We knew that if we were still in NC several people would have stayed late (The Oaks) and we would have had some fun adult time as well. Anyways Sunday was actually Bella's real birthday so Tyler got up and made pancakes for us. He made Bella a special one that looked like Mickey Mouse and had chocolate chips for his eyes, nose and mouth. We were going go to church but decided against it so that we could spend all day with Bella doing whatever she wanted to do. After breakfast we played with her Backyardagins play dough set and watch the Bee Movie. After that we got dressed and went to the BX for lunch and then took Bella swimming at the base pool. Sunday night Tyler made a awesome steak dinner with garlic mash potatoes and corn on the cop. Well the steak was as good as it good be with cooking it in the stove which is why we went Monday night and bought him a new grill.

The past couple of days I have spend at the BX trying to get a free cell phone. They were having a special going on that if you buy a prepaid phone card you get a free cell phone, but they are were only giving out 50 free phones. So Monday morning I got up at 7:15 and got me and Bella ready, we got to the BX at 9:00 because the phone place opens at 10:00 and I didn't want to have to wait in line all day. Especially since Bella had to come with me and here lately she has been running away from us every chance she gets. Well at 10 till 10 the lady comes out and says the phones didn't come in but she would put our names on a list and the phones should be tomorrow. So yesterday I got up early and we went to the BX but this time I didn't get there until 9:30 and there was already like 10 people in line...I was so mad!!! But Bella was actually pretty good...the food court here has a play area with tunnels and stuff for kids so I kept telling her that if she wanted to play in the tunnels then she had to stay by me. Once I finally got to the counter I picked out the phone I wanted and paid for it...then the lady told me I had to come back tomorrow to pick it up urrrrgghh!!! Right now I am willing to just pay for the phone and sign a contract, but I don't think we will really use the phone that much. We barely used the cell phones we had in the states. So when Tyler gets home for lunch I am going to go drop off some applications at services and then stop by the BX to see if the phone is ready. Which means I need to get going to I can take a shower and be ready when he gets home. I will leave y'all with pictures from the party and I promise I won't be such a stranger!!!

This first one is of Bella and her friend Caleb; I went to Tech school with Caleb's dad Jason!!!

The birthday girl opening her presents!!!

Opening the Hello Kitty piano!!!

I can't believe how good of a job the commissary did on this cake!!!

Singing her "Happy Birthday"

Saturday night playing her piano!!

The famous Octodogs!!! We actually made Shell n Cheese so it would look like they were sitting on the beach!!!

Curly Sue!!!

2008-03-14T09:32:00.004+09:00

So last Halloween Bella was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. My mom had bought some of those foam curler things and we curled Bella's hair. Well I didn't get it curled in time and when it was time to go trick or treating her hair wasn't completely dry, so it really wasn't that curly. Back to the present...Bella and I went to the BX the other day to get hair ties because somehow during the move here I lost all of my hair ties. While I was looking for them I saw a whole bunch of those foam curlers and thought to myself I want to try and curl her hair again. They had the big pink ones and then they had little blue one, my thinking was that she is little so I will get the little blue ones....bad idea. So yesterday after Bella and I got out of the shower (I don't know when the last time I took a shower by myself but that is another post) I decided to curl her hair, I dried her hair a little bit, put some mousse in it to help it hold and then put the curlers in. I was really surprised that she stood there and let me put them in, I thought for sure I would have to fight her to be still but of course there were cartoons on TV so she was like a zombie. Once I got it all done we sat and watched TV for about an hour and that's when the problem came so I thought. It was now nap time and her hair wasn't dry yet, so I decided to just try and lay her down and see how it goes. I was sure she wouldn't fall asleep and I was going to have to take them out and it would be a failure once again. Again she surprised me, she came out of the bedroom once but as usual I put her back in bed and in no time she was sound asleep. Well once she woke up and Tyler got home I decided to take them out and see how cute she would look. I really think I should have gotten the big pink curlers!!!! I took some pictures so y'all tell me what y'all think????

Before

After

Well that's about it for now...last night we went to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant Angelo’s. It was delicious I had tomato and toast, which is their version of bruscetta and I also had salmon in cream sauce which was yummmmmy!!! I guess we didn't learn our lesson from eating out so much last weekend....oh well!!! Tonight we have to go to the commissary to pick up the food for Bella's B-day party tomorrow. For the kids Tyler is making octopus hotdogs with blue mac and cheese, jello cups with gummy fish and chocolate goldfish party. I think it will be really cute with the Little Mermaid party theme!!!

It's been awhile!!!

2008-03-11T15:53:00.003+09:00

Sorry guys I just haven't felt like writing, no real reason just haven't been up to it. Last weekend was a very low key weekend.

Friday night we went out to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant "New Miyaki" then we went to the BX to waste money. We got Bella a new Strawberry Short Cake DVD and Tyler the Cars DVD because he has been wanting it for a while. I got the new Stephen King book "Duma Key" which I can't wait to start reading but right now I just don't have time with school and trying to finish up my current cross stitch project.

Saturday morning I woke up with a terrible migraine so I stayed in bed until about 1 or so. When I finally got up I felt a little better so we took Jackson to the dog park for a little while. After we dropped him off at home we went to the commissary to pick up a couple of the things then we stopped by the bowling alley for some burgers. Once Bella went to bed Tyler and I watched the movie American Gangster, a great movie by the way!!!

Sunday morning we skipped church because my headache had come back and we just weren't up to it. That afternoon we went to the BX so Tyler could get his hair cut and I could finish getting the rest of Bella's B-day presents. We came back home after that so I could drop Tyler and Bella off to take naps and I went BACK to the BX to get my hair colored and cut. I didn't get anything new done; I just got my roots touched up and the ends trimmed. Sunday night Tyler cooked a great beef stew and we eat that and just relaxed.

Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment for my migraines and some menstrual problems. For the most of 2007 I was on Depo Provera birth control and most people know that you either have no period or you always have your period. Well I was the one that didn't have a period. Back in December Tyler and I decided I wouldn't get my next shot because we wanted to start trying for another baby. In January I had a very light period and then in the middle of February I had a full period but 2 days after it stopped I started again for another full week. Again 2 days after it stopped I started again but this time it was just spotting. During this whole time I was fighting with a lot of migraines, which is normal for me during my period. When I went to the docs yesterday we discussed this and he said the best option would be to start a different birth control to get my cycle back to a normal. Once my cycle gets back to normal and I get the migraines under control we plan to start trying again for the second baby.

After I got done at the doc’s office I came by the house to pick up Tyler and Bella and we headed to the 100 Yen store, which is the Japanese equivalent to the Dollar Store. We wanted to pick up some toys to put in the gift bags for Bella’s B-day party. After that we stopped by Mac Donald’s for dinner. It was so cute....they have a play area at the Mac Ds just like they have in the states except you have to take your shoes off before you can play on it!!! Jess you would love this place :) Bella was playing with the little Japanese kids and they keep talking to each but I don't think any of them knew what she was saying. At one point a little girl was pointing at the trash can and speaking Japanese, Bella went up to her and said "No that's a trash can"!!! I wish she could spend more time around the Japanese kids, I think she would really learn the language and then maybe she could teach me and Tyler!!!

Today Bella and I went to the BX to order her B-day cake and pick up bags to put the party favors in and also candy to put in the bags. We ate lunch at Subway...man I just realized we have been eating out a lot, Tyler has been wondering where all the money is going...maybe we should eat at home a little more huh!!!! After we left the BX we stopped by the Youth Center because they have a program called Smart Start and it is for 3 and 4 year olds to play sports. We wanted Bella to play soccer and cheerleading but they said there is a really long waiting list for soccer and they are not doing cheerleading this summer. But they also have Jazz/Tap and Gymnastics for her age group, so I think we are going to try and sign her up for gymnastics.

Well I guess that catches y'all up for now, tonight we are actually going to eat at home and after that we will probably plant our butts on the couch and not move until bed time!!!!

Not Much Going On

2008-03-06T14:22:00.005+09:00

Well as you can tell from the title not much is going on around here. We did go to the gym yesterday and I got a really good workout. I started out on the stationary bike but I wasn't feeling anything from it so once a lady got of an elliptical I hopped on that and burned about 300 calories in just 20 minutes. But man today I am feeling it, my legs and my back are very sore.

This morning I got the whole house cleaned, I vacuumed and dusted!!! Tyler is going to be so happy that I got it all done in one day. Bella is taking a nap right now and I just finished the homework for my psych class, so now I am going to enjoy a little bit of quite time and some cross stitching. I will leave y'all with a picture of the best cup o noodle I have ever had. It has wontons and bamboo shoots in it!!! Yummmmy!!!

One last thing I just looked out the window and guess what it is snowing again yeah (sarcastic)!!!

I RAN!!!

2008-03-04T12:35:00.003+09:00

Yesterday Tyler and I went to the gym to work out in the mommy and me room. It is very frustrating because we usually go when Tyler gets off work, of course at that time the gym is full. You are only allowed to use the mommy and me room if you have a child. The exception is between 3 and 5 in the afternoon because that is when most flights work out together so at this time anyone can use the mommy and me room. Well we got there at 4:15 and of course it was packed the only thing that was open was a stationary bike but when we walked in one nice lady said she was done with a treadmill and we could use it. I tried to give it to Tyler but he said he wanted an easy day and that I should use it. So I hop on and start at a fast walk and after about 5 minutes of that I decided to raise the speed a little. Guys I ran, me and Tyler have a saying that I won't run unless someone is chasing me and this is so true. If I am in a hurry to get some where I will just walk really fast, I hate running with a passion. When you have a big chest it is very uncomfortable to do, grant it I have had a pretty good portion of mine removed but they are still anything but little. Before my reduction I had to wear two sports bras and that still didn’t keep them still, now for the elliptical machines I can just where one bra but if I am going to keep up this running thing I will definitely have to wear two again. I can't believe how well I did with the running, in the 30 minutes that I was on the treadmill I ran for about 10 of 30 minutes, the rest of the time I did a fast walk. I would really like to get a treadmill here at the house but we don't have anywhere to put it our apartment is way too small. Tyler has promised me that once I get pregnant and we move to a bigger house we will get one. That is great but my whole plan is to try and lose as much weight as I can before I get pregnant again. Oh well we'll see what happens, maybe I can find one that folds up really small and we can get it with income tax money.
Well that's it for now, I am just so proud of myself and I wanted to share it with y'all. But I don't think I will be doing anymore running for a couple of days because today I can barely walk my shins are hurting so bad!!!!

A Weekend of Exploration!!!

2008-03-03T09:46:00.009+09:00

We had a great family weekend!!! Friday night was spent getting some groceries from the commissary and eating Chinese food. Japan has some of the best Chinese food!!!
Saturday morning we got up and headed to Hachinohe, a town about an hour from Misawa. Misawa itself is not a very big town but there are several decent size towns close by and Hachinohe is one of them. There is a Toys R Us there and since Bella's B-day is coming up (in two weeks WOW time flies) we decided to look for some presents there. Things in Japan are usually more expensive than in the states and that was the case with Toys R Us. Bella has recently found Pokémon and she loves it so Tyler was going to get her a little stuffed Pikachu but it was $20 so we decided against it. Since the toys were so expensive we decided to only get her big present there and get the smaller ones at the BX. For her big present we got her a small Hello Kitty grand piano, she loves to play the piano and any time she sees one she wants to bang on it. Before we went to Toy R Us we went to the mall that was next door and had lunch. It might sound silly but we had MacDonald’s, it is strange but the MacDs here doesn't taste anything like the one in the states. We didn't buy anything in the mall mainly because there styles are so much different than ours. But when we got ready to leave we did stop and get some donuts. There is a donut shop in the food court and several guys that Tyler works with have told him about Mr. Donut. They were right it was awesome; I would say the best donuts I have ever had!!! Once we left the mall we decided to find the famous Fish Market, so many people have told us about this place and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. They had so many vendors selling many varieties of fish and seafood. They had some of the biggest fish and squid that I have ever seen. We have been told there is a live Octopus there and the guy will take it out put on the floor and let it crawl around but I guess he wasn't doing it on that day. So we plan to go back sometime soon to see it for ourselves!!! After walking around for awhile we decided to leave and stop by the Harley Davidson shop we saw on the way to the fish market. It was a very small shop but we just thought that it was cool they had a Harley Davidson shop in Japan. We wanted to get T-shirts but we didn't have enough Yen so the next time we go to the fish Market we are going to stop and pick up some. By the time we left the HD shop we were all pretty worn out and Bella was getting really cranky so we head home to eat leftovers and watch some Prison Break.
Sunday morning we got up and got ready for church, once we got there the lady in charge of the nursery informed us that is was our Sunday to be in the nursery. Since we haven't been in a couple weeks we were pretty bummed because we felt we really needed to be in service. But it kind of worked out for the better because since we hadn't been in awhile Bella wasn't really digging staying in the nursery by herself. After church we went to the base club for Sunday brunch, and then headed home for Bella to take a nap and so I could finish up some homework. After Bella woke up we got ready to go to the Swan Festival. When we got to the Swan Park there was no sign of a festival so we just feed the swans and the ducks, which was ok because Bella loves to feed the ducks. After all the bread was gone we walked around the park for a little bit to take some pictures and wear Bella out. When we were leaving Tyler saw a poster that said the Swan Festival was from 10 to 2 so we missed it by a couple hours. We don't think it was very big because by the time we got to the park there was no sign a festival even occurred. On the way home we stopped at the Universe to pick up some more sushi and noodle cups and by the time we were done there it was too late to go home and cook dinner so we decided to try the Tex-Mex place right outside the front gate. It was not the best Mexican food I have ever had, remember I am from Texas. But I will say that for Mexican food in Japan it was pretty good.
So that about wraps up the weekend, now it's back to school work, potty training and trying to find a job. I will leave y'all with some picture of the wonderful weekend!!!

The KFC in Hachinohe.

The MacDonalds in Hachinohe!!! The sign on the MacDs in Misawa is in English so we thought this was pretty cool.

This place is so unlike Italy...Japan has so many of the American restaurants and stores.

The Harley Davidson shop...as if you couldn't tell!!!

Tyler and Bella at the Swan Park!!

Me at the Swan Park!!!

Look at all those Swans!!!

They kept getting her fingers...I guess they looked like little pieces of bread!!!

A beautiful rock garden at the park.

Looking out over the Swan Park from atop a big hill!!!

This is a video Tyler took of Bella and I feeding the ducks!!!

Cooking with Mommy!!!

2008-03-01T17:25:00.008+09:00

Some of you might know that I make awesome Chicken and Dumplings. Seriously it is the only thing Tyler lets me cook on my own and it is the only thing I cook that he loves. So Thursday night we decided to have them for dinner and of course Bella wanted to help cook. She always wants to help but most of the time there is not much she can help do. But with my C & D I use can biscuits and put them in flour, then use scissors to cut them up. So there was finally something she could really help me with, her and Tyler smashed the biscuits out, then rolled them in flour and I cut them up to put in the pot. At the end of the biscuit part this is what Bella looked like!!! At one point she was trying to eat the raw flour.
Today we did a little exploring, we found the Toys R Us, the famous fish market and a Harley Davidson shop. But I plan on writing about that tomorrow because we are going tomorrow after church to the Swan Festival, so I want to wait and do it all at once. Until then I hope y'all enjoy Bella in all her silliness!!!

Does the snow ever end!!!

2008-02-28T12:19:00.006+09:00

The first month we were here I thought all the snow was beautiful, the second month I was used to it and it didn't bother me now were on month three and I can't wait until it stops!!! I asked Tyler today when does it stop snowing and he said it can snow until April. That’s 2 more months of snow!!! I can't wait until spring but that means summer is close behind, which I'm not looking forward too. Base housing does not have AC and temps in the summer can be in the upper nineties. When I was in Italy they didn't have AC either and it got pretty hot there as well but I have put on some weight since then so I'm not looking forward to sweaty rolls lol!!!

I am trying to work on losing the extra weight, especially if I want to get pregnant soon. Back in December I signed up for Weight Watchers online, I did really well for the first month but I only lost like 2 pounds. It was so hard keeping up with the food journal and most of the time they didn't have the food I ate on the list. So I canceled my membership and we are just trying to eat better and workout. Tyler has to go to the gym at least 3 times a week so Bella and I are going with him. The base gym here has a mommy (or daddy) and baby room, the front of the room is set up with a TV, tumbling blocks, and a little kitchen; the back of the room is set up with treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes. This base is so family friendly!!! So far this week we went to the gym on Monday and Wednesday and we plan to go tomorrow. It is so nice because we can put Bella in the play area and Tyler and I can work out together. We also have started going to the pool on the weekends, last week me and Bella went twice during the week, so maybe we will try and do that on Tuesday and Thursday.

Tyler read my disappointment blog the other day and we had a talk last night, well he talked and I listened. He thinks the reason I am feeling so down on myself is because I'm not getting out and doing things, I think it is because the medicine I take for migraines makes me fell sluggish. Anyways he suggested that I take Bella outside and let us both get some fresh air. So this morning I got her all dressed up in her snow gear and I got all bundled up and we headed outside. For the most part I think he was right getting outside and doing something helps but I still think my meds are keeping me down. The good thing is Bella had fun and I definitely got a workout. Tyler didn't have time this morning to get all the snow shoveled before he left for work so while Bella played in the snow I shoveled our parking spots and the sidewalks. It took me about 30 minutes to do it all; I never would have thought shoveling snow was such work.

This is looking out our apartment window!!! I shoveled that whole sidewalk along with the a sidewalk on the opposite side of our yard that leads to the garbage cans. Our parking spots are the one with my car in it and the one that is for the most part clear (to the right)!!! I tried really hard to get all the snow off but under the snow was ice so I didn't get very far.

This is a picture of my new favorite drink, cold green tea!!!! I think I mentioned it in an earlier post!!! I love the bottle, I thought I would share it with y'all!!!

Well I just put Bella down for a nap so I'm off to get some homework done. Maybe I can get somewhere in Statistics today...Wish me luck!!!!

Don't feel like writing!!!

2008-02-27T14:48:00.003+09:00

You Are Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person.

You seek and almost always achieve a really sound balance in your life.

You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm.

You are the perfect mesh of contradictions.

No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life.

People know that they can truly depend on you.

You should live: In Europe Maybe one day soon!!!

You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world I want to be a Social Worker

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Crazy how true this is about me!!!

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted, and moody.
And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

What's" Your Ideal Pet?

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need.
You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law.
While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top.
You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Alright that's enough of those...maybe tomorrow I will feel like writing something!!!

Does the disappointment ever end!!!

2008-02-26T15:18:00.003+09:00

I applied for a job at the club on base about a month ago and finally got an interview last Wednesday. I haven't said much about it because I didn't want to jinx anything. Today I was kind of wondering what was going on with it so I called the girl whose place I would have been taking. Guess what she said, "Sorry we hired someone with more club experience"!!! I just want a freaking job!!! Don't get me wrong I love staying at home with Isabella but I get so depressed sitting at home day after day. Yes we could go do things around the base but I don't want to spend money and most of the time I just don't feel like leaving the house. The truth is I don't feel like I have a purpose most days. I know my purpose is to take care of Bella and I really need to get her potty trained but I guess I'm just not that kind of mom. I loving being with her and she can always make me smile but she can also drive crazy. I think maybe if it was warmer outside things wouldn't be as bad, we could go to the playground which is about 100 yards away, go for a walk around the block or walk to the BX which is about a 15 minutes’ walk from the house. But right now it is way too cold for any of those activities.
On top of me not getting the job today I tried to do some of my homework while Bella was sleeping and couldn't get anywhere in Statistics. I have figured out the method we need to be using but when I try to solve the problem I don't get the answer in the back of the book. I HATE MATH!!!
Maybe I should have let everyone know that I am in school before I started talking about it. While in North Carolina I got my Associates Degree and am presently working on my Bachelors in Psychology. I am only going to school part-time because the tuition at UMUC is a little too high for our income right now and the GI Bill will only pay my tuition. This means my books have to come out of our pocket or should I say Tyler’s pocket since I can’t seem to find a job.
Anyways enough complaining for now!!! I put an application in for a secretary job at the CDC (Child Development Center or the daycare on base) but the reason I haven't heard anything from them is because I need to fax a copy of my transcripts and my DD214 (prior military service form) to the main office in San Antonio. So when Tyler gets home from work we are going to go the base Library and fax it off. Hopefully I will get somewhere with this job, if not I don't know what my next plan of action will be.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!!

2008-02-25T13:01:00.010+09:00

Ok so I know I'm a little late...his birthday was February 21st but I really haven't had time to blog about it. Unfortunately I woke up Thursday morning, Tylers B-day with a migraine but at least I did remember to tell him "Happy Birthday" before he left for work. Guys I felt like such a bad wife because he came home for lunch and all I did was sleep the whole time he was home. I had taken some of my migraine medicine before he got home and had been fighting sleep because I had to take care of Bella. Then once he got home I was able to relax and went right to sleep. I knew when he left I had to stay awake until Bella’s nap time so I just wanted to sleep a little to try and get rid of the headache. When he got home I told him how bad I felt about lunch time and he said don't worry I had told him Happy B-day a couple of times and I don't even remember it. Once Bella’s nap time finally rolled around I couldn't hold on any longer so I put her down and crashed on the couch. We sleep for like 3 hours and when we woke up I felt a million times better. I couldn't wait until Tyler got home so that I could give him birthday present. I had bought it 2 days prior to his b-day and had asked him a couple times if he wanted me to give it to him early, of course he said no!!! Here is a picture of what I got him!!!

I wasn't sure if he was going to like it because he had told me about them before and said he didn't really think he wanted one because we would have to load a new program on the computer. But once he opened it I knew I had made a good decision by getting it for him. He loves it!!! Supposedly it is a lot easier to use than my iPod and getting the music from the computer to the zune is a lot easier as well. Since I was feeling better we decided to go out to dinner, Tyler’s pick. He wanted to go to one of our favorite place to eat in Misawa...so far!!!

This place is just a little whole in the wall restaurant that only has like 6 tables and I little bar but that have the best cheese rolls and awesome shrimp yakisoba. The lady that works here is so friendly she will talk Japanese to Bella and just play with her while we decided what we want to eat. This isn’t very hard because we always get the same thing. But Bella loves her...we tell Bella to tell her "Domo" which is Japanese for thank you and Bella says "Domo thank you"!!! Tyler says he thinks Bella thinks her name is domo. Anyways all in all I think he had a good B-day despite my illnesses. He is such a great man...he is so forgiving of my migraines and willing to take care of me when I can barely hold my head up. I love him so much and I am so thankful I married such a wonderful husband and father.

I better get going I need to get some homework done while Bella is sleeping. I will leave y'all with a picture of the delicious cheese rolls from the Cheese Roll House!!!

A Long Weekend!!!

2008-02-20T15:30:00.010+09:00

This weekend was a long weekend, which means that Tyler had Monday off for Presidents Day. Friday night was spent just relaxing at home watching some TV. Saturday morning we headed out early because there was suppose to be a Snow Festival in Misawa. The internet said that it was at the local lake recreation area so we printed the directions out and off we went. Once we got to the area there was no sign of a snow festival so thinking we were in the wrong place we decided to drive a little further. After about an hour of driving we decided that the internet must have had the wrong dates for the festival so on the way back to base we stopped by the Universe a Japanese grocery store. Everyone we talk to says that you can find some really good food there but you can also find some really weird stuff as well. We wanted to try it out first hand and we didn't want a day of adventure to be wasted. For the most part it was a typical grocery store, they had their different sections: frozen food, meats, canned and bag food, and vegetables. We picked up some sushi my favorite and also some dumplings, we got a couple bowls of dried noodles that you just add water. We also got a small bottle of sake because I have never tried it; I have to say it wasn't too bad; it just tasted like a shot of whiskey without the strong bit afterwards. I also found my new favorite drink there, it is cold Green Tea, and the Japanese are very big on green tea. This one taste kind of like the Lipton ones you can buy in the states but it doesn't have that extra flavor. Tyler can't stand it and doesn't even like the way it smells but I think it is great, plus it is good for me!!! After our little adventure in the Universe we decided to head to base to do a little shopping at the BX. Tyler wanted to get a new DVD player because for Christmas we got a new HD TV and our old DVD player wouldn't show moves in HD so we had to get one that is compatible. And since we were getting a new DVD player we had to get a new DVD so we picked up the first season of Prison Break. While in the states we watched season 2, but we missed season 1 and wanted to get caught up on how it all happened.

Saturday night one of Tyler’s co-workers had invited us over to play games and of course do a little drinking. We had a very good time, I didn't drink they live on the opposite side of base from us so someone had to drive home. We played Phase 10 and guess who won....Me!!! Megan if you are reading this it was nothing like game night with the Oaks!!! We didn't get home from there until midnight and can you believe that Bella didn't fall asleep until we were like 2 minutes away from home...she is such a party animal.

Surprisingly Bella let me and Tyler sleep in on Sunday until 10:00, we couldn't believe it!! At about 12:30 Sunday afternoon Tyler had to take his boss to the airport for emergency leave so we decided we would all get ready and once we dropped him off we would head out to find another snow festival. This one was about an hour and half drive away and we didn't want to be out to late at night because driving in Japan can be a little difficult at times. Mainly because they don't have street names and I imagine if they did we probably couldn't read them anyways. All the directions we get off the internet use land marks such as: go three stop lights and turn left, at the gas station turn right, and at the Homac (a Japanese version of Wal-mart) turn left. So driving some place new can be very challenging. So we got there at about 2:30 and finally a snow festival. This was the Lake Towada Winter Festival and it was amazing. Small compared to world know Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo, Japan. The one in Sapporo is said to have hundreds of Ice and Snow sculptures, they say you can walk for hours and still never see all the sculptures. I think the Lake Towada Festival was good for our first experience, maybe next year we will be able to get up to Sapporo. We really want to go because Sapporo is known for brewing one of Japan's best beers. Anyways back to the weekend we got back to the Misawa area at about 5 and decided to head home to get warm, do some relaxing and watch a couple episodes of Prison Break.

Monday was spent getting groceries at the commissary and Tyler getting his hair cut. The base has an indoor swimming pool so we tried to take Bella swimming but I guess they are closed on Federal holidays. Since that didn't work out and she was pretty upset because we had been promising her all day that we were going to go swimming, we took her to the Weasels Den. Which is an indoor recreation are for kids, they have jumping castles, indoor miniature golf, a small soccer field and tons of video games. She loves going there so once we got there she forgot all about the pool.
So that takes me to the end of our weekend, Monday night we just cooked dinner and got ready to begin the week. I will leave y'all with some pictures of the Lake Towada Winter Festival!!!

This was the entrance to the Snow Festival.

There was another wall on the other side just as big!!!

Me frezzing my butt off!!!

Bella and her little Japanese friend

Not sure what it said but the art work is amazing!!

I love this picture, the horse is as big as the little Japanese Man!!!

Look at the guy at the bottom, that is why we didn't let Bella go on this one!!

I still can't believe how tall they can get these things!!!!

Tyler and Bella in the Ice Bar!!!

Such a cute little church, they even had a ice sculpture of the Virgin Mary inside!!!

Bella and Pokemon

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!

2008-02-15T09:46:00.000+09:00

For everyone in the states V-day is today but for all of us on the other side of the earth V-day was yesterday. Even though it wasn't a typical Valentine’s Day it was a great day. Tyler didn't have to work so he was home with me and Bella all day which was great in itself. Tyler and I had decided not to worry about gifts because money has been tight, with us not having a tenant in the rental house in North Carolina. But as usual Tyler had something up his sleeve!! I had decided to try and get a manicure and pedicure this weekend because my toes and feet were getting pretty bad and about 3 weeks ago I got fake nails put on and after I took them off my nails looked like crap. I guess Tyler had already planned to give me a gift certificate to the base beauty shop but since he didn't have time with the exercise and all I just went and paid for it myself. It was great I spent 2 and half hours by myself getting pampered!!! I felt kind of bad about not getting Tyler or Bella anything so once I was done being pampered I went into the BX and got Tyler a new cooking pot that he has been saying he needs and I also got him a set of high quality steak knives. Of course for Bella I got her the new Diego DVD and her all time favorite candies "Reese's Pieces"!!! When I got home the house was completely clean, mopped vacuumed dusted, the whole 9 yards...my husband is the best!!! And Bella had made me a cute little Valentine's Day card!!! Then we cooked a homemade pizza and sat in front of the TV to watch "American Idol". Well I hope everyone as a great Valentine's Day!!!!