The cutest MICKEY ever !!!

My baby turned 2! Feb. 20 

We had a great 3 day weekend , but there was no relaxing at all , I want a DO OVER! Saturday we had football and prepping for Preston's Birthday on Sunday . Sunday was his Mickey Party , he had so much fun and was so excited when we started decorating and when the cake arrived. I was very fortunate to find the sweetest lady here on island to make his cake, like  I said before no more cakes for me . I think I will limit myself to 1 a year ..heee hee

This cake was perfect in every way , she nailed the details perfectly ..as I had a specific CAKE in my mind and she was able to totally create it for me!!!  I was putting off cutting it ,it was just too cute!

Like i said before , shopping here pretty much sucks and I have to order just about everything online.

Thank goodness for ETSY, I found this fabulous shop last year and ordered all my cupcake liners and sprinkles from JENNIFER , and she had the perfect things for me this year too !!   Make sure to check her out !I ordered a bunch of cupcake liners from her so I could make these little mickey ice cream cups ,they were a hug hit with the little ones. I put them out on a cupcake stand right before serving the cake.  

here are a few cute photos of him from the day . This one where he is saying WHY IS EVERYONE SINGING TO ME!!! It was priceless to see this look on his wittle face!

This is where he decided he LOVED the reaction he got from all of us when he did this over and over opening his presents! 

and here he is learning from a friend how to use his party blower!

It was a great day and we are so thankful  to have such great friends here on Okinawa to help celebrate our sweet boy!!

A year and then some ....

Wow I left blogging land well over a year ago , but not completely! I still read everyones blogs just about everyday! I know what is going on in....just about everyones world ..lol
I am not quite sure why I felt the need to take a break from it all . And I do mean from everything . No crafting , scrapping anything of that sort was happening for me. I think this Island has a little bit to do with it. This summer will make 3 years for us on Okinawa and we are here until the summer of 2013 ...whooa
To say I have island fever is an understatement!  

I have been trying to get the motivation back to start scrapping again , crafting is out of the question pretty much until I get outta here . The shopping is HORRIBLE!!!!!! I did order some new scrap stuff not that I needed any but hey maybe it will help with my mojo issue.. Any excuse is good to shop right???
My Bestie decided she was going to start scrapping again as well and even keep track of it . So I am following in her footsteps and am proud of myself for actually finishing one page so far!

I am going to add a little tracker on my side bar . I haven't set a specific GOAL for myself really , except to get back into creating again! So hears to that :)

My boys are growing like weeds and my daughter just turned 18 ..holy cow did I just type that ???? Here are a few recent photos of them :

Britni and some of her cheer buddies , at one of their last games . She is a bit saddened that this is her Senior year when it comes to cheering ....  She is the one in the center

Heres Austin last month turning 11! His dad and I worked hard creating that cake from scratch and I think I learned my lesson ..no cakes in my future! 

And last but not least here is our little Pnut who is turning 2 this Sunday!!!  

I ordered his adorable invite from this great shop , Thanks Melissa!!

And I was able to find a lady here on island to custom make his cake, I told you no more cakes for me !  

Well I have lots to share , but unfortunately I have lots of laundry too!!

So thats all for now , off to do the laundry and read some blogs :)

weekend recap

Have I mentioned I hate Mondays..even more so when you had such a nice weekend. DEAR MONDAYS: PLEASE GO AWAY ...lol

Friday hubby went in to work for a few hours and then came home so we could finish up Christmas shopping and had a quick lunch. Of course I forgot a few odds and ends that I will need to still pick up but for the most part we are done! YAY .. Christmas shopping is not so fun anymore for me when I have to order almost everything on line!
We got all the lights and tree up and decked the halls. It looked like Christmas exploded in this teeny house we know call home. I was quite surprised that our little Pnut is afraid of the Christmas tree. I thought it would be a constant battle to keep him out of it, but so far he has not wanted much to do with it and has had a few shouting matches with the Angel hanging out on top..lol

I did put him down in front of it to snap a few pics on Saturday and he wanted to rip open presents instead!





Community center where we saw Santa

Saturday I spent most of the afternoon wrapping gifts while hubby entertained the boys. Then we took them out to see some lights and Santa. Austin didn't sit on his lap of course( all though ) he still believes. Preston we thought would scream so daddy did the quick hand off so I could snap a pic or 2. He did so good not one tear or holler he just kept staring at him and then would turn to look for daddy. It was too cute! Santa told him he was the best baby he had seen all day and would be getting a lot of presents haha :)




we headed back home and dropped off the boys with my neighbor and hubby and I had a date night afterward.
We went to see

Ja had never seen the previews and thought it would be a chick flick but it wasn't. We both really liked it a lot! Its based on a true story about
Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
A definite must see !

Sunday was my day to get out with the girls , a bunch of us go once a month for our pedicure and massages . Great way to relax on a Sunday afternoon! All the girls got some sort of snowflakes which I got last year so I opted for a simple red white and silver design with polka dots super simple and still holiday ISH ..hehee


later that night we headed to the other side of the island (where we had never been) to try out a new Thai place with a group of friends. This is one of my friend Joannes favorite spots to eat on island. We ordered a fried rice dish and some Thai Pad at a zero spice level , it was still a tid bit hot for the both of us but tasty! Austin loved his garlic chicken and rice meal and wants to go back he says. That rarely happens here we have the hardest time finding anything off base he likes. It was a fun night and we are lucky to have such great friends here!
That brings me to MONDAY ...back to reality and grocery shopping ooh how I hate that part!

Hope you all had a fab weekend as well!
I am off to hopefully get a new banner up on this blog before I leave!

A must Share for Sweet Kate

This brought so many tears to my eyes reading her story. Please stop by her amazing website if you can .

Pray For Kate

Her parents have started a wonderful Toy Drive


To bless the kids on the oncology floor of the pediatric hospital (Phoenix Children's Hospital) who are in the
hospital during the Christmas Season with fun gifts & toys!
Such a wonderful idea! Click here to find out more.

Please share with your family and friends, so we can help make this effort a successful one!

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

Hows that for a CHEESEY title???


(Sesoko Island Bridge)

Well the weather has been beautiful here in Okinawa for the past few days , didn't last long though , the rain is back.
We enjoyed the nice temps over the weekend by having a BBQ with our neighbors. The babies had a blast hanging out after dark and especially liked the music and the Tiki torches..

We decided to head up north a bit since it was so nice out. I had read about a hamburger place called CAPTAIN KANGAROOS and wanted to give it a try . So glad we did! It was the best burger we have had since we landed on this rock!

It was not very BABY friendly , we sat on couches and ate at coffee tables , So it was a task to hold on to him , next time we go we will be bringing his little chair for sure. Ja says we have to go up that way and grab a burger at least once a month ..haha

few random pics from inside






One of the burgers

Austins Chicken and fries

When done there we headed over to Sesoko Island one of our favorite spots on Island.
There is not much there it is just smaller island off of the main one. The beaches are always less crowded and the water is beautiful , shells are usually abundant . So it was a fun afternoon walking on the beach for us. Preston seemed to love it this time now that he is older. I even put his feet in the sand :)
He loves when Daddy lifts him up in the air!

I <3 <3 this pic !!!

The kids are out for the rest of the week here and I am sure we will be busy. Lots of Cub Scout activities this week including a Vetrans Day Flag ceremony.
Hope everyone has a awesome week where ever you are !

My Monkey and Mummy Mohawk boys

Thankfully I took these few pics a couple of days before Halloween. Otherwise I wouldn't have any, due to terrible weather! In Austins 9 years of Trick or Treating it had never rained..oh yea BECAUSE we lived in Arizona and not on a dern tropical island! We didn't keep the boys out very long because we were all getting soaked and Preston was fit to be tied having to be in his stroller with the top down , when he could here all the commotion around him! I did get to take him to a few doors and he was all smiles . Austin had his buddy Tyler with us and they were more concerned with going to the SLAUGHTER HOUSE afterwards. Needless to say we paid 25 bucks and only Tyler and I made it through ... it was pretty scary!!!







Well just a quick share of my little tricksters ..off to try and watch some of the SAINTS game . My dad's family lives there and they are all HUGE fans! Weird to be watching MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL on a Tuesday morning! Wish I was there at my dads with the rest of them:(

Have a great week everyone!

End of Oct. , REALLY?

I can not believe we are nearing the end of October all ready! Where did this month go? All the cute ghosts and monkeys will be out soon :)
It rained cats and dogs here this weekend. Kind of a nice change though we got to bundle up in coats and all ..when we went out. You know mid 70's to us on this island is FREEZING ..haha

We had a busy weekend with lots of birthday parties . 2 of my good friends both had little guys turning 1. Preston had tons of fun and partied it up till about 11 pm that night. No crying or anything I was super impressed!Here he is with his Pretty Princess girlfriend Zoey at Roberts party. This is his new KISSY FACE he constantly makes, we think its just too cute!

Before the rain we had a nice weekend with lower temps and we decided to take the boys to the Okinawa Children's Zoo. We hadn't been there yet . It was a fun a morning. Not a zoo like we are used to back home but it worked. I was laughing at the fact that there were roosters and peacocks in glass cages , don't those usually run around free at zoos?



Austin liked the alligators and the hippos we got pretty close to both of those .



Oh and I wanted to show you these. Okinawan Fruit bats. They are everywhere here , we have them in our trees in our front and backyards , they are more common here than birds!


And this , well the Japanese have some seriously funny signs all over the place here but this one takes the cake! Posted out in front of the Tigers cage!



Preston got his first ride on a Choo Choo train and loved it





My babies

And somewhere in the middle of the busy weekend I managed to watch this movie twice!!! So dern funny!



Looks like it will be another busy weekend ahead , with Halloween coming up(hoping we get to a haunted house with Austin ) and I am having a Scentsy Party. Gotta get planning the food for this one.

Before I go I took these when he turned 8 months!










Hope your weekend was good one!