A Leprechaun Came to Visit

He brought us some Lucky Charms for breakfast...

He used our bathrooms...

(thanks pinterest)

He left some treats on the kid's beds...

And he escaped out our back door...

The kids were hilarious when they found these things...they were squealing and screaming! Tia was so nervous she'd find the leprechaun that she wouldn't use the bathrooms for a while. What a fun morning ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

My FAVORITE store in Japan!!!

The Daiso

(Japanese $1 store)

This is seriously my favorite place to go. Sometimes I'll go there just because I have nothing else to do...and I always leave with a huge bag of stuff (even when I don't have anything on my "list"). This place is AWESOME!!! And, I feel like the quality of most the stuff is WAY better than $1.

I'm a dork, I know...but I had to take pictures of some of my favorite isles so that I will always remember them. Boy am I going to miss this place when we move.

Flowers

Organizational stuff

(this is only 1 of the many isles)

Felt

Gift bags

Gift boxes

Kitchen stuff

Wood

We made these for the YW from this $1 store wood. The little one's came in a pack of 6 for $1. Way cheap & fun gift.

Kitchen Utensils

Bento isles

Ties...that's right...now Shane doesn't stress out when the kids ruin one of his ties because it only cost $1.

School Supplies

Fun Notebooks

Candy

The yellow drink in the middle is my favorite Calpis drink.

None of these things were on my "list", but that's what happens EVERY time I go there. The plastic mini forks and spoons are some of my new favorite things. They are perfect for lunches and when I'm in charge of the classroom snack.

These Flower Paper Balls are some of my most recent "favorite things". You get 14 of those puff balls for only $1. My friend decorated for a Youth activity using the yellow & white ones and it only cost $4.

I saw this the other day and had to laugh. I actually bought one because it was so funny. Hopefully I'll use it soon.

I can literally spend hours at a DAISO! I've already started stocking up on my favorite things so that I can take them back to the states with us!

Happy Birthday Shane!

Happy Birthday to the cutest and coolest man in the world!!! he he

I love you more and more every day Shane! Thanks for being the husband, friend, and father that you are!

Our kids have been in Japan too long.

Thanks Tricia for the FABULOUS Red Velvet cake! You are the greatest! I love having such talented friends!!!

38.5 weeks

38.5 weeks =

- swollen ankles

- 5 bathroom breaks every night (and I'm only asleep 7-8 hours)

- really excited kids

- huge belly that every stranger has to comment on

- no name yet

- pregnancy hemorrhoids (let's be honest, not my favorite)

-pinched nerves (down both legs)

- always thirsty

- dropped belly :)

- polished "green" toenails (to celebrate having a March baby)

- glad I nested 2 months ago because I'm way too uncomfortable to do it now

- mom that keeps poking baby to make sure he's okay

- baby that doesn't like mom poking him

- ordering last minute things on Amazon

- packed hospital bags

- still feels like a dream that we are having another kid

- SUPER SUPER pumped for his arrival

Surprise "NON" baby shower

A month ago I was invited to a Girls Night Out dinner to celebrate our friend Mikal's birthday!

We were all meeting at my friend Alisha's house to carpool to the restaurant, but when I walked into Alisha's house this is what I found...

Everyone was standing behind the table smiling at me. Looks a little more like a baby shower than a birthday party!? WHAT?!

This is how I reacted...

And then this...

I think at this point I just called my friends "dorks". Sorry guys, you know I really didn't mean it! I had told all of them I didn't need a baby shower, so apparently when I'm caught by surprise I call my friends "dorks"...I'm a great friend aren't I???

But, it was NOT a baby shower...they all kept telling me it was just a party helping me celebrate our baby :) so I couldn't get mad at them.

The FABULOUS food & cake!

The napkins...loved them!

Me giving Mikal her gift & birthday balloon that I brought for "her party". Ha ha...I was the only nerd that showed up thinking it was her Birthday Party.

I received lots of REALLY fun gifts for me, the baby, and my kids! And...I will NOT have to buy diapers for months now...serious!

You ladies are AWESOME...thanks for the wonderful surprise & the fun night together!!! I love you all!

Fun in the Snow

It rarely snows here in Tokyo, so when it does....everyone (on base) goes crazy! You'd think we were all 5 years old. The best thing about it is...husbands get to come home from work! Why work when it's too dangerous for people to drive to your work?! So, last week when it started snowing and Shane was released from work at 2:00 p.m. he was in snow clothes before I could blink. The kids were so excited!

The snow was AWESOME!!! It was soft, fluffy and did not stop coming down. I don't know how much snow we ended up getting but I'm pretty sure it was at least 6-8 inches. It's all melted and gone now, but we had a good 2-3 days to enjoy it! I'm a wimp and have to admit that I like when it snows, but melts just a few days later. I don't know what I'm going to do when we live in Colorado and the snow doesn't go away.

Dad & Tia

That's Tia way out there. I guess she needed a little bit of alone time with fresh, untouched snow :)

Jayden and his buddy Luke.

Somehow Shane convinced Tia it would be cool to bury her in the snow. She wasn't too excited when she realized it was not like being buried at the beach.

The fort that Shane and Jayden built in our backyard.

Dr. Seuss Week

I had the kids for Preschool these last two weeks. They were so excited to celebrate Dr. Seuss. Here are some pictures of "silly sock" day and their "Horton Hears a Who" ears. We practiced listening the "1st" time and played the game Hullabaloo (thanks ReAnn). We love that game...it's a great one to play when you are practicing how to listen (or colors, shapes, objects, etc). I don't have any other pictures, but we had a fun time reading Dr. Seuss books and playing some games to do with Dr. Seuss. I love our Preschool kids. Chloe & Samuel had to leave early, so I don't have a picture of them with their ears :/ I don't teach again for 2 more months because of the baby coming. I'm going to miss these little kiddos.

Jordan, Tia, Blakely (a visitor for the day), & Briley.

I love being in Young Womens!!!

We just had New Beginnings a few weeks ago and it was a blast. I don't have any pictures yet, but it went fabulous. Our Laurel President (Clari) conducted the whole thing and was such a cutie! Our 3 Laurels made Candy Bar Poster Boards to introduce the 4 incoming Beehives. It was so fun to watch them welcome the new girls.

One of the best parts about the night was watching a video that our Laurels & Mia Maids helped us make. It was clips of ALL the Young Women telling about Young Women's, the motto, the theme, the classes, all of our activities, and sharing their thoughts and testimonies about Personal Progress. Our YW Secretary and her husband (our District President) put the whole video together and amazed all of us. It was AWESOME & so professional! I Especially loved that all of the girls were involved in the whole thing. Our Young Women are truly wonderful! I have loved working with them this past year!

Everything was delegated that night and all I was over was..THE GIFT!!! I was really excited!!!

Here's the gift we gave them:

Every YW received an 8X8 for her room and a 4x4 magnetic one for her locker (or fridge).

We really wanted to give them something that could be a DAILY reminder of the 2012 Mutual Theme. I was bummed because everything online (necklaces, prints, crafts, etc) was so expensive ($7-$9 per girl) and we just didn't have that in our budget. Our gift only ended up being $2 per girl....SCORE!!! I was also hoping to find something square because we made these rectangle ones with them last year. So, when I found this FREE square printable I was SO excited!

I found this printable at Proclamation Pictures. I am so grateful for people that share their ideas and make it easier for the rest of us that aren't so talented!

Our YW like crazy, bright colors, so I tweaked the color in photoshop and somehow came out with these 5 colors.

I printed them out on Matte Photopaper (more like cardstock) because I had a ton I hadn't used in 6 years. I found MDF wood & paint at the $1 store...I was super excited! Then, I Mod Podged the pictures onto the boards and let them dry overnight. In the morning I put 2-3 more coats of Mod Podge on (I like it thick).

Finished!

Each girl received 2 different colors.

Super cute, super easy, super cheap craft thanks to Proclamation Pictures. Feel free to use the prints as well...if you can't save them from the pictures above please let me know and I can email them to you!