More Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas day together. It was laid back.

The doc is in

Dr. Liam and Dr. Alexis in the house. We gave the personalized doctor kits for Christmas. Liam was quite impressed by the personalized doc bag and lab coat!

Christmas in Japan

L- and A- were thrilled at the sight of all the goodies Santa left for them! They actually slept until 7 am! That was great for us! We were rested for presents, church, and dinner with great friends. Alexis was in princess heaven, with a princess bike, a lily dress and three pairs of princess shoes.

Twas the Night Before Christmas....

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, with hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there....Wishing you a peaceful Christmas Eve..

Ready for my Close Up!

Alexis getting ready for her debut of "Jingle Bells" and " We Wish you a Happy Holiday?" Isn't it supposed to be "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" Terry and I were surprised by this change in an old Christmas classic. When did Christmas become a dirty word? It's not like she's in public school where this is mandatory....Anyway, we're teaching her the old classic....The happy holiday song is nothing more than an old navy commercial to us.

Christmas is Coming, the goose is getting fat.....

Christmas is coming!! How excited dose A- look? We are too excited for Santa's visit!

Candyland

We decorated a gingerbread house. It was the perfect project for me and the kids. They followed directions perfectly. We used up all the forgotten candy from Halloween. The Starburst came in handy for the roofing. Liam and Alexis have a future in roofing. This would make Papi happy. They were very methodical ...Oh no, I'm rubbing off on them..

Tokyo

Liam loves his camera. He's into self portraits. We had a great day in Tokyo recently. The weather seems so manic lately. Freezing one day and in Spring-like the next. We had a Spring-like day in Tokyo!

Could it be?

Looks like our pals are BFF's with Ludacris.....

Round #2

So what happens two days after the office party? You go to another one! This time the night ended in a karaoke bar. We can't resist the siren song of those black microphones.

Office Party

We went to the work "office" party in Tokyo last week. It was a good time but a bit more tame. There was nothing scandalous, outfits or otherwise. Last year's party was conversation fodder well into the New Year! These are the wildest pics I can find..

More Ornaments

Erin, this ornament will always remind me of your friendship. You took this off your tree and gave it to me because it reminded me of Terry the Christmas he was gone. I was a mopey mess, constantly reminding you how much I missed Terry...How did you put up with it?....thanks for being such a great friend. Merry Christmas

Reminds Me of Home

Christmas in Washington......

The Tree According to Liam

Liam will occasionally take the camera, when we're not looking, and take a million pictures of whatever catches his fancy at the moment. Our Christmas tree was the object of his eye the last time he took the Canon hostage. It's a different point of view on the tree ornaments.

Winter Swimming

Liam is taking swim lessons this winter. We tried pee-wee football, but it was too much...and they say soccer parents are bad....Anyway, he's made big leaps since this summer. His instructor lets the kids "surf" on his surfboard after they jump off the diving board. He gets a huge kick out of this!

Satellite

Here is an old picture of Alexis on her second birthday. It seems this is how she's spent most of her life, next to me. She's always been my little satellite, never straying too far. I'm a little behind on current pictures but I'll remedy that soon.

HO HO HO!

Liam and Alexis visited with Santa this past Sunday. Liam was a bit suspicious of a Japanese Santa that could only say "Medley Chreesmas". They told Santa what they wanted and I rushed them off before they attempted to engage Santa in conversation. They cut conversation short as soon as he handed them a bag of cookies. Hanna and Lisa were with us, so we had a great time.

Army Chess

We bought Liam another bag of green army men, one of his favorite toys. Great for us because they're such a steal. We stopped in at Starbucks for a coffee and juice break. Liam took it upon himself to set up the soldiers for a game of chess. Yes, he is learning something at school. It was news to us, but Liam is playing a chess game at computer lab. He didn't play but the exact rules, but the interest to learn is there. There are always surprises...

Trees

Festival of Trees is so exciting for the L and A. They get a kick out of all the theme trees in the auditorium. It's a base sponsored event in which all ships and organizations decorate a tree for the weekend. Here we are in front of the C7F tree.

Speaking of trees, Liam had a close encounter with our tree at home. He was perched on the armrest of the sofa to get a very close look at the tree. He lost his balance and fell into the tree, taking it down, ornaments and all! Terry found him at the bottom of the mess. Oh, this was after bath time so he was in the buff! Ouch!! Luckily, only a couple of lights broke and Liam didn't get a scratch on him. I couldn't stop laughing. It took us an hour to get the tree upright and balanced again. After that we still had to clean up the entire mess of tree water! He's giving the tree a wide berth now. Hard lesson to learn I guess.

Ornaments

The tree decorating was fun. Liam and Alexis, not being OCD like me, put most of the ornaments on the tree without much thought. I have a bad habit of obsessing over ornament placement! With their help, I think I've been cured .

Oh Christmas Tree

We gathered up the little ones and drove our beater to the NEX parking lot to pick out our tree. Quite a change from cutting our own in CT but fun nonetheless. These trees were cut down in October, frozen and shipped in a container ship. The NEX people thaw the trees by spraying them down with water! Not the freshest trees but the only way here.

Monkey In A Tree

Liam loves climbing this tree! We consider ourselves lucky; he's only fallen out of it once! It's probably not the safest thing to let him do but who can deny a five year olds right to climb a tree?

I don't have much lap room for my little ones anymore. They just keep growing! It's nice to get a snuggle and kiss from Liam these days. It happens few and far between. He's never been much of a snuggler. Alexis makes up for this deficit. If I offered to carry her all the time, she would gladly oblige.

Kareoke

Good friends + Chouhi = Kareoke
This is the magic formula to a good time in Japan! Green apple chouhi's are the tastiest concoction in this country! We had a great time this past Saturday. We ended up in a kareoke room rental place. We essentially rent out a room with chairs and a kareoke machine for the night. Remember the kareoke scene in "Lost in Translation"? Same thing. After a few chouhis we sounded like rock stars!

Princess Sleepover

Alexis is in heaven with Hanny,her best friend (and often mistaken sister). The girls had a princess sleepover. They did the whole bit; princess movies, princess jammies, and popcorn. It was exciting for her. In reality, the M's house is her second home. They are great friends!

Warm Memories

Today was our first bitter cold day of the season! I think it's a sign of an unpleasant winter. Last year was freakishly warm so we're out of practice. Liam and Alexis, true to their CT allegiance, are asking for snow. T and I can't make promises but I think we may see some white stuff this year. They really missed out on it last year.

So what do I do on this very cold day (other than lots of grad work)? I look at pictures of spring, hoping for warmer weather. How does that line go in "An Affair to Remember"? "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories" I think we'll be warm all winter long.