Are you serious?

Oh how I used to take fresh vegetables for granted. The price of some things just astound me. Doug keeps reminding me that we get a cost of living allowance (COLA) to help off set the cost of living overseas. No matter how much I tell myself that, I still go into sticker shock when I see this...

for this...yep, plain button mushrooms. Does that really say value savings?

Merry Christmas!

The holidays, visitors and a husband on vacation all make it difficult to blog. So here I am, days after Christmas, trying to figure out how I can condense a weeks worth of info into one short and sweet blog.

Carrie and Brian flew in Late Monday night after visiting Kyoto and Tokyo. They've seen more of Japan than we have! We had a fun week of exploring castle ruins, beaches, memorial parks, fish markets, restaurants, pottery and glass. It was a jam packed vacation.

Christmas dinner was interesting. We have an Okinawan purple sweet potato here. It pretty much tastes like the orange sweet potato, but bright purple. I decided to try to make mashed potatoes out of it to go with our ham and green beans. Very interesting...and yummy. Our plates were definitely colorful. I think every guest we have that travels this far to see us, will get to partake in purple potatoes.

Well, Mary's getting restless. Time to go outside and burn some energy. Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope you had a great holiday

like mother, like daughter...

One of my favorite pictures of me as a kid.

Now, a favorite picture of my daughter. Believe it or not, she did this on her own.

The things you do for the General

Those of you who know us well, know that we are not "dress up" people. We are the ones who come as "ourselves" at Halloween parties. Well, Doug's Commanding General had a cowboy themed Christmas party today. I put out an e-mail soliciting costume help from my playgroup mommies and this is the end result. It's unfortunate that Mary wasn't invited because she has tons of appropriate country wear. Thanks, Nicole for the belt buckles. We had many compliments. By the way, we had a really good time. The food was fantastic, the General's house was beautiful and we had 2 1/2 hours of baby free time. It was kinda nice to be a wife vs a mommy. A huge Thanks to Jo for allowing Mary to join the big group of munchkins at her house.

Party time!

Mary's play group had their Christmas party today. Each kid drew names and we exchanged presents. Mary had a great time opening hers. She got an Elmo ornament and a duffle bag full of Play-doh. How fun!

Sorry this pic is blurry. Hopefully, Santa got my wish list for a new camera.

So, the mother who bought this for Mary said that her son (who is a month younger than Mary) will sit in his high chair and play with the play-doh while she makes dinner. Great! I put Mary in her chair and gave her a lump of green doh and some accessories. I turned around for a second and heard her spitting. There was a piece of wet play-doh on her table and she had a funny expression on her face. I'm sure I confused her since she normally only EATS when she's in the high chair. I took it away and gave her the plastic toys that come with it instead. It seemed to keep her occupied nicely until Doug came home. Then he proceeded to show her the joys of play-doh. They seeemed to be having a good time. She didn't put anymore in her mouth, I was able to cook dinner with out a baby clinging to my legs and Doug had some good father/daughter time. Win-win for everyone. Thanks, Nicole for the present.

Sky

Our neighbors have a beautiful dog named Sky. Mary really enjoys seeing her, petting her, and now, calling her. She slaps her thigh when she wants Sky to "come". However, I don't think she's quite figured out that the dog is supposed to "come" and not the baby. Watch and you will see.

Nuts!

Doug accidentally left Mary's bag of soy nuts open on the table. She has a pretty long reach. I guess you can figure out what happened next...

Most of them went back into the bag. I swept up the rest. Mary threw an absolute fit when I wouldn't let her eat them out of the dust pan. Ewww gross. It's bad enough that I let her eat them off the floor.

I had to put both videos on the blog. She's too cute.

She was shoveling them in her mouth as fast as possible. I think she thought I was going to throw them away. The pic's a bit blurry, but you get the gist.

Daddy returns!

Yea! It was a late night Friday, but Doug made it home. Mary was so tired, but she fought going to sleep. She wanted to see her Daddy. She finally fell asleep around 10:30pm and we were almost home. We had a nice relaxing weekend just hanging out at the park, in the yard and having one of our old Leavenworth neighbors over for dinner on Sunday. It was good to catch up with him and reminisce about Kansas. Here are a few pictures from this weekend.

How do Daddy's feet smell afer the long flight?

Story time. Doug wouldn't smile cause he thought I was taking a video.

Time to torment the cat...again. That's a sticker on her arm. She had them all over her belly too.

Ditsy moment #2

So if you will remember, ditsy moment #1 was when Doug was out of town a few months ago and I had to call the tow truck to come jump start my battery and all he ended up doing was putting it in park and turning the ignition.

Here's #2: I was driving Mary to the post office to check mail when the car started shaking and making a sound like someone was hammering on it. I seriously was praying that I would make it there. After the post office, I was hoping the car would magically be ok, but it was still doing that funny thing. I was planning on going straight to the commissary next, but feared I wouldn't make it, so we headed home to switch cars. We have to pick up Doug from the airport tonight, so I was thinking about having to get him in his car when I noticed a "!" lit up on the dashboard. "Hmmm, what does that mean?" Suddenly I looked down and realized I had my emergency brake on! As soon as I released it, the car was back to normal. Hooray!!!! Good thing I was on base the whole time and the speed limit is only about 15 mi/hr. We did a quick U-turn and went to the grocery store. It will be good to have him home again. I think I need a break.

7 kids, 6 moms and tons of snacks

Now, that's a real zoo! This morning some of us from play group met and went on a trip to the zoo. It was a beautiful 71 degrees, sunny and almost completely empty. It was great! The kids had so much fun running, looking at the animals, sharing snacks and trying out each other's strollers. We even went on a little train ride. Mary wasn't too sure about that one and cried until I sat her in my lap. She was also pretty tired. We ended up skipping lunch with the girls and coming home. Good thing, since Mary fell asleep in the car. What a fun morning. Next week, we're thinking about looking at pottery. Hmmmm, lots of toddlers and breakable stuff. Hey, I'm up for the challenge.

"I only like cheddar!"

Drive thru restaurants, drive thru banking...

drive thru flu shots? Mary and I went to our first drive thru flu shot clinic today. We actually sat in the car while they gave us our flu shots through the window. Well, they opened up Mary's door and held her in place for hers. I crawled in the backseat and held her afterward. She only cried for a minute. What a good girl. She didn't even mind sitting in her car seat for the required 15 min of observation time before we were allowed to drive away. What a good girl.

shopping anyone?

Mary and I go for walks everyday. Usually, it's around the exchange and the mini mall here on base. We have lots of room to walk and look at things and we're not going stir crazy in the house. I wasn't planning on actually going in the mini mall today, but Mary had a hold of my hand and she literally dragged me inside. The funny part of the story is that she immediately pulled me into the toy store, but when she rounded the corner to where Santa was located, she stopped, started crying and clung to my legs. That was the fastest I've ever exited a toy store. She was back to her normal happy, exploring self once we left. The funniest part is that it's Monday here and Santa is only there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. His seat was empty! At least I don't have to worry about her finding a toy that "she has to have". I'm curious how long this phobia of the store will last.

Santa - take 2

Well, we went to the toy store on Camp Foster (the marine base) today. I heard they have a more "authentic" Santa and I was hoping for a better photo. This Santa certainly was better. He was so friendly with the kids. He actually talked to them before posing for pictures. Mary was immediately frightened and clingy. We sat down close by and I just held her in my lap so she could see that he wasn't scary and was treating the other kids nicely. It didn't work. I finally decided it was "now or never". Here are the results. We went for ice cream afterward and that seemed to cheer her up. Mmmm mint chocolate chip.

The crazy things I think about

So the other night I finally turn on the heat in the rest of the house (previously, only Mary's room had the heat on). We have units in every room attached to the walls. They provide AC in the summer and heat in the winter. Of course the remotes are in Japanese, but my neighbor told me what symbol to look for and that was the heat. So far so good in Mary's room. I turned on the heat everywhere else and I'm in bed reading. I'm so stinking tired, so I decide to call it a night. It's only 9:18pm! Being a single parent wears me out. I close my eyes, the heater kicks on and I hear the motor rambling. Suddenly I start to worry about carbon monoxide. Do we have problems with that here? You hear about people dying in their sleep every winter from some faulty heater. I wonder, who will find me? How will anyone know I'm dead? Apparently Mary's room is fine, so she'll probably be screaming her head off. Will anyone find us? Am I really sleepy or is it carbon monoxide? Needless to say, I'm ok. But this is why it took me so long to go to sleep the other night. Then last night, I was talking with a neighbor that happens to be a civil engineer on base and told him my worries. Long story short, no carbon monoxide. So last night, I lay in bed trying to go to sleep and all I could think about was the crazy thoughts from the night before. Sometimes it's exhausting to be me.

Saturday fun

What a fun day. The only thing that would have made it better is if Daddy were here. Oh well, the girls had an adventurous day and lots to blog about.

I checked this video out from the library. Mary seems to be enjoying all the silly songs. This is by far the best dancing she's ever done in one continuous burst. I wish my camera could record longer than 15 sec.

After her afternoon nap, we decided to head to the Air Force base for their Christmas fun day. This week was beautiful and warm (mid-70's) and all of a sudden it turned cold and rainy this weekend. At least it felt more like Christmas. This was Mary first parade. I figured it would be in the morning and we had missed it. Ends up, we arrived just in time for the last few groups and...

SANTA!

Perfect timing. I guess people in the parade felt bad that we were sitting all by ourselves, so they ran across the street to give Mary candy. I didn't have the heart to tell them "no thanks". Mary held a tootsie roll in her hand until we left the base. It was pretty cute. And now I have lots of candy to eat or throw away. It's worse than Halloween. I don't remember all the candy as a kid.

I had to enlarge this picture so you could see her hair. Can you believe she sat still long enough to braid pigtails? It was pretty cute...until the wind blew all the straggly pieces in her face.

After the parade finished, we were a good distance from all the fun activities, but we decided to walk it instead of driving closer. Mary went running after Santa. I ran in front of her just so I could get a pic. Yes Jamie, that's the sweater your mom knitted Mary. It still fits!

I love the military. Santa had a cute little house and a nice long line for photos. I was expecting a big price tag and willing to pay it. Ends up, it was $2 for a Polaroid or free if you used your own camera. I guess you know which option I chose. No sense paying when I figured she'd do this. Of course, now that I look at the pictures, I realize Santa looks a bit creepy and I'd probably scream and cry if my Mommy put me on his lap too.

I'm going to keep my eye out for another Santa. It sure was a nice Airman that got all dressed up, but yeah...creepy.

Food

It's such a joy to watch Mary experiment and taste new foods. I love the fact that she'll try anything once. However, it can be frustrating when I figure out something she likes and then suddenly she won't eat it anymore (aka carrots). I keep offering it just like all the parenting magazines say to do. She probably sees me pushing them off my plate and putting them on hers. Anyway, this is the latest round of eating pics. Enjoy!

Mommy's sushi looks better than my noodles and chicken. I want some!

Hmmm. You like this?

Never mind. I'll eat my noodles any day.

Now, this is what I'm talking about! CAKE!

How did that get there?

An appropriate shirt for eating chocolate cake.

And this was tonight after splitting the last cupcake. Yes, that's vanilla frosting on our noses. Mary may have my eyes, but I never noticed until now how much lighter her hair is.

Future gymnast

...or Yoga instructor. I hear the pose is called Downward Dog in yoga. I like to call it Downward Mary. She does this all the time. We'll be walking down the sidewalk and suddenly she bends over. I guess the world looks different upside down.

Well, she's at it again. Climbing on everything and anything. If I forget to put the tray table on her high chair, this is what happens. Note to self: Don't forget!

"Ta-da!"

My juvenile delinquent

Oh, she's starting young...my 17 month old thief. We were standing in line at the PX and Mary started pulling the stickers off those tiny air freshener cans. I guess I created a monster when I introduced her to stickers...and when I peel off a couple of stickers from bananas and give them to her. Anyway, I caught her today, but only after a couple of cans lost their scratch and sniff labels. I found a couple and replaced them, but when we got home, I found one on her shirt. That sneaky little girl. Now someone will buy a cheap car air freshener in power scent and not know what it smells like until they open it. Good luck. One another note, why would you want your car to smell like baby powder? Hmmm

Aunt Carrie

Carrie, this blog is dedicated to you. Not too long after I e-mailed you about Mary running around with crayons, pens or pencils (whatever she can get her little mits on), this happened.

Mommy: "Hey, Mary. What are you doing?"

Mary: "Ummm, hiding the pencil."

Mommy: "why?"

Mary: "uh-oh"

Mommy: "uh-oh"

uh oh

Mary's new favorite word. Every time she drops something, throws something, or just feels like it...uh oh. So cute. She also likes to show you her belly button and look for yours. That sure is a nice size belly on that girl. Thanks Grandma P. for the belly button book. It's a super cute song on the cd, but it runs through our head like crazy. Don't worry, we'll play it for you lots when you come to visit.

We had a busy day today. We dropped Doug off at the airport for another trip. Hopefully this one will be short. Mary's been battling a cold, but it seems to be a quick one. Yesterday was the worst. Today, it's been a slightly runny nose, but she seems to be in good spirits and on the road to recovery. Yea! Doug and I worked like mad men trying not to let it spread and get us sick. So far so good. Double yea! Mary and I went for a long walk today in the stroller and played on the playground. I think I wore her out so much (that and the cold) that when I asked her if she wanted to go to bed at 7:30pm, she immediately ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Seriously, she was waiting for me to get there. How cute.

Oh! A funny...during Mary's bath, she suddenly stood up, peed, sat back down and resumed playing with her bath toys. I just shrugged. Better than when she pooped in the tub!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ah, so many things to be thankful for this year...a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, the opportunity to stay at home with her and watch her grow (thanks, Doug). We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving here with our neighbors. We stuffed ourselves full of turkey and all the trimmings. Even Dumas got to have a few morsels of turkey and then the tryptophan hit and she needed a nap on Mary's spare bed.

Saturday after Thanksgiving was the official "get ready for Christmas day". Up went the decorations and the tree. This was the tree we bought our first year together in Italy. It's held up really well. Last year, Mary was only 6 months old, so she pretty much sat where we placed her and didn't realize what was going on. This year, was very exciting. First, the boxes came down from the shelves. Then, she needed to read the directions to Daddy on how to put the tree together. What a big helper!

Then came the decorations. Mary was very excited about the tree skirt. She said she loves wearing skirts too.

Now, it's time for the ornaments. What a challenge finding all the non-breakable, non-heavy child proof ones. A quick moment of inattention and she had opened a package containing a glass ball and thrown it across the living room. Oops. Guess that one's going in the trash.

Here are a few of my favorites. What a fun day!