No more tape on the wall!

 

This is what a typical morning in our house is like.  Colorful and messy!  These kids love to create...especially with paints!  The only problem (other than having to clean up after) is figuring out what to do with all the art work when they finish!  Katie LOVES to display EVERYTHING she draws/paints and she usually runs directly for the tape and adheres her paper to the nearest wall.  Not my idea of decorating, but it makes her pretty happy.  However, I'm running out of scotch tape.

Magnetic Photo Rope from photojojo.com

So I got this idea from a friend's house.  (Thank you Laura B!)  Then when I got home, I saw a similar post on Pinterest...my newest addiction.  There are these amazing magnetic photo ropes that I could use to display the kids' artwork!  Just attach to the wall and change out the artwork periodically.  No more tape on my walls!  The down side is the price.  These things are $12 a piece plus shipping....times HOW MANY pieces of artwork this week?  They're nice and all, but, contrary to my husband's belief, I actually do try to save us some money.

 Then, while saving us some money at the BX the other day...  ;)  ....I ran across these!  Picture hanging kits!  They're intended to be used on the back of a picture frame to hang individual pictures, but they're basically a metal rope just like those pictured above!  Not as colorful, but only$2!  I could always go buy a can of spray paint if I decide they need to be something other than silver...and they would STILL be less than half the cost of the others!
All I did was take each end of each rope and twist together to create a tiny loop, then hung them on nails.  SUPER easy! 

 Above is a close-up of them attached to the wall with a few random paintings.  Below you can see where in the kids' playroom I have them hanging.  You can also see a couple of drawings still taped to the wall!  Those will be coming down soon.  We'll also get some more artwork up there and arrange it a little better when I get some more magnets.  I may even have a rope going down each side for more display space....we will have quite a few Easter things to display soon!

Now I REALLY can't wait to get to Happy Quilt and Dream Depot this week and get started on my next project for the playroom!

Going back home...

 Yep, that's CJ on the floor of the airport.  Then there's me and Katie playing with the camera, trying to make the best of our time in the waiting room....because we're heading back to Japan!
One of my great friends, Laura, was having a baby shower that I DID NOT want to miss, so I decided to pack the kids up and get to Japan!  I'm so thankful that there is a military flight available between Osan AB and Misawa AB and it's only about a two hour flight!  All I have to do is sign us up in advance, show up on the day I want to fly out and hope, hope, hope there are seats available!  Which, there were...thank goodness! 
Then there's just the matter of where to stay, which worked out wonderfully this time!  (at least for me, I won't speak for Laura!)   Laura's husband isn't in Misawa at the moment, so she offered to let us stay with her during our time in Misawa and it's been great!

Laura, Katie and CJ enjoying fresh snow in Misawa

 What a welcome we received too!  I've been a tiny bit bummed that so far in Korea it's just been bitterly cold/windy with little snow, so I've really been looking forward to this trip for a while...and the day after we arrive Misawa gets an extra 19 INCHES of snow on top of what they already had waiting for us!  It was beautiful!  We've been playing in the snow, making snowmen, snow angels, sledding, having snowball fights and loving it!

The snow plow covering up our little snowman with our new sled hill!

While in Japan, we're trying our best to eat lots of great food, see lots of people we miss and just have a good time!  Katie was able to have a sleep over with her friend Hannah Jane on Thursday.  CJ also stayed for a bit so Laura and I would have a chance to go to one of my favorite Misawa restaurants.  Unfortunately, they don't allow children, so Rick and Mary were kind enough to keep CJ for me.   Thanks guys!!
Katie also had a sleepover with her friend Skyler last night!  She has just been having a ball running into old friends and getting to have lots of playtime. 
Last night, CJ also had his first sleepover!  CJ was staying with Katie at her friend's house so I could attend a squadron event.  I didn't originally plan to leave him all night, but after the meltdown he had when I dropped him off (for the second time in as many days,) my friend Joan and I decided it might be better to just let him stay the night since I would be dropping him off again the next morning for a baby shower we were going to.  I'm sure that was a good decision...and THANKS SO MUCH Joan, for offering your home to BOTH of my kids last night!

Today was the baby shower that I've been looking forward to!  A few of Laura's friends here in Misawa hosted a Mustache Bash Baby Shower and it was absolutely amazing!  There were mustaches everywhere and the shower was a lot of fun.  Great food, great friends and a great time.  I'm so grateful that I was able to be here to share this day with my friend!!  Happy Baby Shower, Laura!!

Jenny and Laura at the baby shower

Tomorrow will be a day filled with shopping!  I have a list of things to buy for myself and some friends who also moved from Japan to Korea....and it's no short list!  I'm so excited to get back to some of the stores I used to frequent during our time here and stock up!  Then the kids and I will be heading back to Korea on Monday....hopefully...as long as there are seats available!  :)

This is why Mommy says...

R.I.P. my lovely Starbucks coffee cup that I just got for Christmas.  I was so sad to have to say goodbye, but better you than my son's fingers.

Yep.  I tell them all the time, "don't lean on the elevator door."  "Don't touch the door!"  "Yeah, you!  Get your hands OFF the door!"

But, as I looked away and took the first sip of that perfectly blended coffee he put his hands on it anyway.  Then, the next thing I knew, my cup was laying spilled and broken on the floor and I was pulling his fingers out of the teeny-tiny space in the elevator door.

It was horrible.  The door wouldn't open and I was afraid I was going to pull his little fingers off if I pulled any harder to get his hand out.  Katie was screaming.  Full-on movie style.  I glanced back at her for a second to see her screaming with her hands to her face and her little feet stomping.  That's how I felt too, but I couldn't leave CJ with his hand stuck in the door.  I was finally able to free his little fingers.  Then I had to go back home to get a towel to clean up the big mess of coffee on the floor.

We finally get fixed up, get back on the elevator to go up three floors to a friend's house and the elevator doors only open about three inches.  Seriously?  So we go down one floor and walk up one flight of stairs to get where we started to go about half an hour before.

Luckily, CJ was fine.  Favoring his hand a bit, but fine.  We stay at our friend's house for a while to finalize some things for the Fiendette Show we'll be hosting in a couple of weeks (hopefully some amazing pictures will be shared soon after that and I can explain then...)  We say goodbye and head to the elevators again and CJ pulls his hurt little hand to his chest and yells, "OUCH!"  Yes, baby, it will hurt you if you don't listen to Mommy.

Run-down on the last 9 months

Hi.  My name is Jenny and it's been 9 months since my last "real" blog post.
And what a "Three Quarters of a Year" it has been! 

May 2011-DADDY'S HOME!  This may explain why my efforts to blog more last time failed.  After Daddy got home from his deployment (nearly 8 MONTHS!  ugh) the whirlwind began!  CJ also turned ONE this month!

This was taken at around 4am.  The SECOND time we went up to the hanger in the middle of the night to meet Daddy.  The perfect ending to the longest deployment in the history of the world.  (Please take no offense if you've actually experienced a longer deployment.  This is just the way I felt about it!)

June 2011-Celebrating the end of the MOSC Board Year.  This was a really great experience.  I volunteered to be the Administrative Treasurer for the Misawa Officers' Spouses' Club.  The timing probably wasn't the best (the board year started just days after CJ was born and shortly before Trevor deployed for 8 months.)  But the experience was invaluable.  Not always an easy job but it was great and I had great friends helping me along the way.

 July 2011-Katie's last day at Misawa Daiichi Youchien.  Katie started at this school when she was only 20 months old in Hiyoko Gumi, the Little Chick class.  She had such a wonderful time, learned so much and was involved in many Japanese activities that made our time in Misawa that much more special.

Katie and Junko Sensei

 August 2011- We said goodbye to the only home Katie remembers and the only one CJ has had.  We said "see you later" to all the wonderful friends we made, because we KNOW we'll be seeing them again in the future....some of them very soon since the kids and I will be visiting Misawa, Japan next week!

Jenny, CJ, Meg, Cassidy, Katie, Mary and Hannah Jane having out last picnic together at the Air Plane Museum

 September 2011- We visit Washington D. C. and Texas!  Trevor had to do a TDY en route to Korea, so we had the chance to see family along the way!  First, we flew into D.C. and were able to stay with Trevor's parents for nearly two weeks before Trevor had to leave for a school in Alabama.  The kids and I stayed a bit longer, then hopped a flight to Texas to visit my family. 

Trevor and Jenny at the Washington Monument.  It was post-earthquake, so we were unable to get any closer.

The kids while visiting Texas.  This is actually in Oklahoma while visiting the buffalo!

 October 2011-Halloween on the ROK!  We arrived in Korea mid-October and stayed in a TLF FOREVER, it seemed.  The kids had a blast trick-or-treating with friends and had their first 'apartment living trick-or-treating' experience.  Not quite the same as trudging door-to-door in the snow!  :)  We were also able to sign for the home we're now living in at the end of October.  We're living in a tower on Osan AB on the 5th floor and trying not to stomp on the floor too much.

 November 2011-Our first trip to Seoul, South Korea!  This was such a good time!  We hopped a train with our good friends, the Youngs, and headed for a festival in the city.  The Youngs have two daughters who are just about our kiddos' ages and make the perfect traveling companions!  We were able to walk along the river and check out the lantern festival where they had stationary floats similar to those at the Nebuta Festival in Aomori, Japan, but on a much smaller scale. 

Seoul Lantern Festival

 December 2011-The Nutcracker!  Katie and I, along with my friend Anna and her daughter Clara, drove into Seoul to see our first ballet!  Katie was so excited and had a really great time...aside from during intermission when she exclaimed, "I miss my brother!"  It was really sweet!  :)  After the ballet, we managed to find a TGIFridays for dinner!  I know most of you are cringing at the thought of Friday's after the ballet....but those of you who have been overseas for a few years know what was going through our minds when we found it!

Katie and The Nutcracker

 January 2012-Katie's 5!!!  Yep, our sweet baby girl is now five years old.  I can't believe it's been five years already!  Things have been a little crazy since arriving on the ROK and the holidays were nuts, so we just invited a couple of friends over (good friends from Misawa!  Who also happen to be stationed at Osan now, too!)  We enjoyed a little pizza and cake and lots of fun playtime!

Well, that about wraps up the time since my last post, and, hopefully, I can keep up with this and not have to post quite so much at a time!

Blogging..AAAHHHH!!!

I love blogs.
Food blogs, bento blogs, craft blogs, travel blogs, random blogs I accidentally find while googling something really random.
But I especially love my friends' blogs!
Sometimes it feels a little "stalker-ish," but, even if I only live in the tower next door, I enjoy reading my friends' blogs.  And....I admit....sometimes, when I'm alone at night and the kids are asleep, I get a little bummed out that there isn't anything new to read when you haven't posted in a few days.  :)
With that said....I'm going to try again...TRY...to post more regularly.  Because I can't very well insist that you post fun, entertaining things for me to read if I don't at least TRY to keep up with my own blog.

New Year's Resolution?
Maybe.
I'm just getting a late start.

Hirosaki Castle - Our 4th Spring!

We woke up today to incredible weather with lots of sunshine, so I decided to load the kids up and head to Hirosaki Castle to check out all the cherry blossoms!  We originally had plans to go with friends on Sunday, but I couldn't pass up a trip with the weather like this after so many days of rain...then, when I checked the forecast and saw rain all weekend, I knew this was a good decision!  I felt a little bad at first because I would have to take Katie out of school today to go, but I decided it was a great "cultural field trip" and totally worth it...come to find out (and I didn't realize this until after our trip today) today is a Japanese holiday and Katie didn't have school anyway!  No wonder the secretary wasn't answering the phone at school!!  :)

Getting ready to walk around the grounds at Hirosaki Castle

Luckily, my friend Mary (who I was supposed to go with on Sunday) saw an email I sent this morning begging for directions to Hirosaki (the only ones I had are quite safe on the laptop that crashed recently...) and decided to hurriedly get her kids in the car and join us!  I ended up following her to our destination and she lead us to the best parking spot EVER!  It's right next to a beautiful park that I didn't even know existed until today.  There's a huge pond with Koi fish, a beautiful red bridge in front of a big waterfall, and flowers just waiting to bloom everywhere (it will be even more beautiful here in the next couple of weeks.)  We may have to go back again very soon and take more pictures like two below...can you imagine what these would look like with all those tulips in bloom?!

After checking out that hidden gem, we walked over to Hirosaki Castle.

 We've seen the "insert your nugget here" photo ops here before, but this is the first time I've seen one for the WHOLE family!  Too bad Daddy wasn't with us for this one, but the kids look cute!

  It's been kind of a rough couple of days here...too much missing Daddy!  It kind of carried over to our trip today.  It was quite difficult to get smiles!

 

 Poor CJ...being stuck in the stroller doesn't allow for very many photo opportunities!  He was able to roam around a bit while we were having our lunch!  And, as you can see below, he finally realized that if he looked up while in his stroller he could see me!  :)

While the weather was beautiful, it was still quite windy.  We didn't really notice the wind though, until we sat down in an open area for lunch. The ladies pictured below nearly blew away while trying to put their tarp down! 

The blossoms were beautiful and I always enjoy going to Hirosaki Castle.  I'm so glad Trevor was extended here and we are able to spend one more Spring and Summer in Japan.  ....and I was able to capture a few smiles, we DID have a good time!  :)

 

While there were quite a few trees that had blossoms, there were still many that hadn't bloomed yet....so there will probably be another installment of "Hirosaki Castle" ...if we can manage to get Trevor back home soon!

Sakura Yabusame April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!
Holidays just aren't the same without Daddy around, so we've decided that it's much easier on everyone when we do something completely different than we would normally do...like take in a Japanese Archery Festival on Easter Sunday!  So I packed a lunch, piled the kids in the car, met up with some friends and headed to Towada to check out the Sakura Yabusame. 
  At this festival, we watched Japanese women and girls in amazing 'costume' galloping fast down a lane shooting arrows at targets along the way.  It's all beautiful.  The horses, the riding gear the ladies wear, the bright red umbrella that is opened to show a hit target. 

 When we arrived at the festival, we happened to walk up to the end of the lane where the riders gathered after their run.  The ladies were nice enough to let the kids pet the horses and take pictures.

 Katie even got to dress up like a Samurai and ride a pony!

 CJ...was not impressed with the Samurai.

 Unfortunately, it's been raining quite a bit the last few days and the grounds at the festival were pretty muddy.  There were plenty of places to walk though that weren't covered with many inches of water....however, Katie prefers to make a splash.

 We thought this little girl was just adorable in her outfit.  She was even cuter on her little pony!

 After the competition was over, all the riders and horses lined up for photos.

Definitely a memorable Easter.  I can't believe we've been here for three and a half years and this is the first time we've made it to this festival!