Wordless Wednesday

hangin' with our pal

Meet Yasutomo!  

He's here all the way from Japan.  He was able to attend my sister's wedding while he was here and he stayed with us for a couple days.  The kids just adore their buddy.  We met Yasutomo while we were living in Okinawa and we've been great friends ever since.  He's been helping a lot with relief work after the Quake/Tsunami earlier this year.  You can follow his adventures here:

http://aheartburnsfortheone.blogspot.com/

http://calvarytohokurelief.blogspot.com/

Tears when he left........

Room Re-do

Well.... I know I just posted a new shot of our room, but it's been changed again.  My brother is coming to live with us and I needed to clear out J's room for him to use.  Because J is not going to have his own room anymore, I decided a new arrangement in our room was necessary to make for a more comfortable fit (since it will be longer lasting).  I moved the crib into our room and set it up by the bed.  I like it like this because when we have our next kid someday, this arrangement will work great for that baby and at that time, J will likely be much more ready for his own sleep space.  Our room is much longer that it is wide and arranging the furniture this new way made for a much more spacious feel even with the extra stuff in the room.  I put a chair for reading in there as well.  I've always wanted a reading chair in my room.  Dreams do come true.  :)

This is the view from the doorway.  As you can see, C was already using the reading chair.

Standing in the doorway looking the other way.  

Closer look of the sleeping arrangement.  J's mattress is even with ours, so he is easily reached in the night.

View from the bathroom doorway.  See all the floor space?

I think it will work out well for us for a while.

Busy weekend

So... tomorrow my baby sister will be tying the knot.  I get to be the matron of honor,  mother of the flower girl and ring bearer, wife of a groomsman, hair stylist, and makeup artist.  It's gonna be a super fun, super hot, super busy, super blessed day.  I'll post photos on the other side of the weekend!

Cookie decorating from the bachelorette party.

In other news, we have a dear friend from Japan here visiting with us and it's so good to see him.  It's strange.... when I see him, all the feelings of missing Japan come to the surface at once.  I actually teared up saying hello.  Makes me re-realize how much I still love Japan and the Japanese people.  Please continue to pray for the people suffering in the aftermath of the tsunami.


I gotta go to bed now..... BIG day tomorrow.

Until next time~

New use for old things....

I like a centerpiece that you can see through.

Wordless Wednesday

I am once again linking up with the NPN for this weeks wordless wednesday.  The theme this week was new sibling bonding.

Remembering the first days......

Makeover...

New hair.  It's been a while since I was a blondie.... I figured I'd give it a go for a while.

Random musing....

I love my husband and I appreciate how hard he works to provide for our family.  Josh~  You are my hero, my love, my confidant and my best friend.  Smoooooch!

Moving up (or should I say down) in the world....

My son has slept in our bed pretty much since day one.  While it's been wonderful, he's getting bigger, squirmier, and a bit more restless in the night.  We decided that it was time for a change.  He's ready to have his own sleep space, but not quite ready to be all the way down the hall all night.  We were putting him to bed in his room and letting him join us in the night, but we noticed that he would come in every hour!  He was sleeping horridly and I was getting exhausted!  One night, when he came in around 12:30, I put a pillow and a blanket on the floor.  He slept there the rest of the night.  It gave me an idea.  This is our new sleeping arrangement for now.

Once he is comfortable spending the entire night in his bed, I'll move it.  It seems to be working really well.  He's sleeping better and longer than ever and I'm still close enough for comfort.  I like having more space to sleep.   I like being able to glance over and see that he is fine.  He likes knowing I'm right there.  I am able to soothe him back to sleep in the night just by saying, "ssshhhh hon... mommy's right here."  His nighttime nursing has dropped off significantly and we're all sleeping better.   Praise the Lord! 
I love watching him grow up... but I wish it would slow down, ya know?
How bout you?  What's your sleeping arrangement?  Are you satisfied with it?  If not, I highly recommend you read this book.

Smell that?

That's the smell of super clean, non funky diapers.  Horray!!!! They're finally back to being nice!  My son's nappy did not smell of ammonia this morning.  I'm sooo glad!  The trick... I put some vinegar in the pre rinse cycle.  It is an acid and neutralizes the base that is ammonia.  This makes it able to be washed out with the soap and water.  Also, I increased the amount of soap in the wash.  I then dried in the dryer till almost dry and finished out on the line in the sun.  This made them soft and fluffy and sun bleached.  My son's bum thanks me.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm linking today's photo up with the NPN.  This week's theme is "Learning in the kitchen"

Clean-up.... a necessary skill in the kitchen.  :)

Party favors

My little gal had her birthday party on Friday and we are on a tight budget.  This means we didn't have money for buying goodie bags or party favors.  And honestly, the stuff in goodie bags is either sugary or cheap anyway.  Sooo... my budding crafter decided she wanted to make something for her pals.  She decided to make cookbooks with her favorite snack foods instead.  We printed out several recipes that she enjoys, found a great photo for the front and printed and assembled them before everyone got here.  It turned out to be a hit!  So fun.
She had a camp in.... tent in the living room, camping themed movie (The Parent Trap) and smores on the patio with the fire pit (that I still need to return to my mom..... ;)
We made our own pizza for dinner.. super fun!  I let them put on their toppings and we baked it fresh for them.  Mega props to my wonderful hubby who took over leading the little girl party when I was down with an unexpected migraine.  I was back on my feet in time for smores though.  We had a great time celebrating my little girl gettin' older.  Here's a few shots of the day.

She's saving up for a nook..... maybe I should let her sell her cookbooks for a couple dollars each.... ha!

 

8 Years of happiness so far!

I was recently sent the Prefense Alcohol Free Foaming hand sanitizer.  Now, generally, I'm not a huge hand sanitizer user.  There are occasions when I like to have it on hand though.  For example... every time I go to costco, it seems my kids pick up something.  They are always sick after shopping.  Those shopping carts are crazy germy.  I'm a bit nervous to use hand sanitizer on my son because he's so little.. he still puts his hands in his mouth.  I like having the prefense on hand because I can use it on the kids, know it's effective and not have alcohol go into their mouths.  Now, honestly, I can only take their word when they say how effective it is... I only know alcohol to be the 100% germ killer, but when it comes to the kids, It's miles better than nothing!!  It actually leaves your skin soft rather than all dry like other versions.  And lasting a full 24 hours, the bottle lasts longer since you don't need to reapply as often.

Want your own bottle to try? 

Check it out here

http://www.prefense.com/

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Shower fun

I attended my sister's 50's theme bridal shower.  It was a fun time of hangin' out, sippin pop, and making TP wedding dresses.

Live Every Moment photo challenge

Wordless Wednesday

One picture of myself......

(Gasp!!!!)  LOL

Two songs.............








Enjoy!

Ten Days

Three films.

This is easy for me.

Such a great story!  I love it!  The characters, the wardrobe, the hair and makeup, the sets, the whole thing is visually and intellectually stunning. 

Sweetest story ever.  I love how real Steve's portrayal of a single dad is.  "You are a murderer of LOVE!"  Epic. Not to mention the soundtrack.... Uh-mazing.

Classic.  Good.  

Gonna have some fun today!

Yuuuummmm!!!!

What you can't see in this picture is how good my kitchen smells.  

Ten Days

Ah!!! I fell off the bandwagon for a day!  I'll do two today.  Sorry folks.

Ok... here we go!

Five Foods

1~  I love love love French Onion Soup.  It's my number one.

2~  Maguro Sushi.  Sooo good.  

3~  Poached Eggs.  Yum!

4~  I admit it... I'm a sucker for chocolate cake with banilla on top!

5~ Udon!!!!

Next up!

4 Books.

Hmmm.... Gotta think about that one.

I'll say these four are my favs.

That's all for today folks!  I gotta get to bed!  I hope you all had a wonderfully blessed weekend!