Happy New Year!

We get to say it first!

Hope all of you have a fun and safe New Years Eve.

Slow day...

But really so great. Doing nothing is like a little piece of heaven.

Sat at home most of the day doing odds and ends, then the girls and Kevin went to Gab Gab for a bit and I went to the commissary.

Chatting with a friend in the ethnic food isle- I get a phone call that the car won't start! I checked out with what I had and raced home to get the portable battery (thanks Gene! That thing has come in handy way more than once.) Turns out someone (no names to be mentioned.....Ellie) left the sliding door open which probably caused the headlights to be left on. Alls well- except I will be back at the commissary at 7 am to finish the grocery shopping!

The Staples puppy is finally home! All thirty pounds of him-and he is only 9 weeks old! His official name is Albus but his house name is Sheldon.

Beyond cute. Welcome to the family Sheldon!

Quick Update....

All is well in our neck of the woods. The girls have been busy playing whatever games they got for Christmas. I think trying to jam it all in before they go back to school. Ellie was bit by a red ant on Christmas day, caused her foot to swell up a lot- so she spent yesterday with her foot up and lots of Benadryl doses. Today her foot is much better, a little swelling left but nothing bad. I was glad we got to miss the Dr. on this one.

Maddie went today to get her first military ID card- its a 10 year old thing... You would have thought we were asking her to go to her slaughter the way she cried about it. " I don't want to be 10, I don't need an ID card, I won't turn my head to the camera" and on and on. After I explained that she couldn't have it both ways- if she wanted to do "big girl" things like stay up later, read certain books and watch Harry Potter movies- then she needed to do the other things that were all part of the growing up package. I feel bad for the girl- she really fears growing up- but man it wears on ya! At least I got her to smile for the picture I took!

Had a day with the Thorntons. Went to Pizza Hut for lunch, and tried to go to the base pool. It was of course closed for 24 hours- I believe the words "explosive diarrhea" were muttered as the reason. So we headed to Gab Gab Beach instead and had a nice time.
Afternoon movie and swim practice rounded out the day.

Really busy! Again, trying to jam as much into our days off as possible!

Its noon.

And the girls are still in their pajamas!

You would think it was the first day of Christmas vacation rather than one week into it. I will say this is a well deserved down-day. Its nice to see them do a whole lot of nothing. I am having a slow day too, but that consists of 4 loads of laundry (sorry Barb, I got behind), two bathroom scrubbings, and a lot of putting things back where they belong.....happy to have a day to do all this.

We had a sad farewell to Coco. The girls (all three of them) had tears last night. Kevin took her to the airport early this morning. If it all works out we may be able to have her stay again next year as this is an annual thing......thats assuming she didn't mind being with us, not understanding a lick of what she said.

I am hoping for a less busy week on the back half of vacation. A lot going on with people back home this week.

Dad and Esther will be starting their annual winter golfing spree- I know they so look forward to it. They will be followed soon after that by Barb and Ross.

Micki and Greg back from their cruise, will be going to pick up their new addition tomorrow. Hope you guys have a great last full night of sleep. I know the sleeplessness will be worth it though- really excited for your new puppy.

Ann and Gene are traveling back to Mississippi, and I am hoping for better weather for them this time.

More folding awaits me on this perfect "down-day".....

Two days later....

....and I am still recovering! It has been SO busy, so I apologize for not blogging but we have been running! Christmas day went well. We opened gifts in the morning and I moved on to cooking for the Thorntons coming for a late Christmas lunch. Before I knew it we were running out the door for swim practice- home by 9 pm with three girls to shower and get in bed. Day after Christmas was a swim meet followed by swim practice in the evening- again home by 9. These people take their swimming seriously! Today- yup, swim practice.

Coco I think had a really nice time here. As far as I can tell she has learned five words/phrases from us, "laundry" "ok" "yes" "stop" and "oh my gosh". Very nice girl. It has really put my miming skills to the test but we got along fine with no mishaps. And gotta say- one of the more disciplined children I have seen, which would account for her being so fast! Her swimming is amazing- all strokes with great form and LOTS of speed.

Here are some pictures from the last two days:

Also have to put out a huge thank you for the gifts sent- the girls enjoyed all of them- here are some pictures of the girls and their gifts:

We are off to dinner with the Japanese team as a "farewell" to the visitors. Should be interesting for the one english speaking family!

Merry Christmas!

Pies are done so I am officially calling this Christmas Eve over! I am sure to have a lot of pictures to post of Christmas Day. Hope all is well with you and yours- and that you have a blessed Christmas Day.

Busy but good....

Got out to see my friend Melda who is only on the island for a few weeks. Really enjoyed that. The kids really enjoyed playing with the boys out at their beach house. Zion is so similar to Ellie and Isaac very well paired up with Maddie. Their eldest, Michael is not in this picture. He is older than the rest, so was more into his own thing- he caught a little lizard and was really thinking that was great.

Later in the day went to the airport to pick up CoCo. She is our Japanese exchange swimmer. Seriously so cute! Kevin wants to keep her. She knows very little english. The cutest is when Coco is trying to teach up Japanese. So mature and even keeled for an 8 year old.

Its hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. All of a sudden I am out of time- I have an exchange student here, Melda and the boys coming again tomorrow and pies to bake. Gotta feeling tomorrow will be even busier....but still good!