Back to the grind

Well, Singapore is over with which means it's time to get back to the grind. Back to schedules, cooking, cleaning, and facing responsibilities. It's always fun to go on vacation, but then again it's always nice to come back home.

Abby started her "terrific twos" ballet/tap combo class. I have been waiting for this moment since the day I found out I was pregnant with a little girl. I now get to relive my dancing days through her... or so I thought. She was the only girl in her class that screamed when I left and didn't listen to the teacher. I was mortified that MY child was the "behavior issue" child in the class. Luckily I am good friends with the teacher and we talked about how Abby struggles with separation from Kyle and myself and that hopefully she will get better. I am hoping that next week she does better so my stage mom dreams don't get squabbled.

She did love her new tap shoes from grandma Kaye though. It was quite the ordeal to get them off her feet after class! She looked super cute and sweet. Now we have to hope she starts behaving that way as well during class. Hopefully it was just adjusting back to a schedule after a vacation that made her so cranky.

My little man is 11 months old!!! When did that happen? He is almost a year and that completely just snuck up on me. He is such a little lover though. He loves mommy, Elmo, pears, bear crawling, and his special blue blankie. He tries so hard to keep up with his big sis and play with the other big kids. If only he could walk, which should be any day now! He can stand and takes one step but then falls down. Of course he will walk if he holds his mommy's hand though. Oh Connor, my little boyfriend. He always gives me snuggles and sleeps in the bed with me when Kyle is gone. He is doing a great job to fill in daddy's shoes and be the man around the house when Kyle is TDY.

Lately these two kiddos have been loving their bath time. Every morning they beg to get in the bath together so they can splash and play and more importantly test their vocab knowledge. We have a japanese bath chart that we use to quiz the kids during bath time to learn new words, colors, shapes, and numbers. THEY LOVE IT! Abby is getting so smart and recognizes everything on the chart. Connor just wants to be like his sis and randomly points to everything when I ask him. He will get there, but till then it's cute to watch him try.

And so the obsession with Sesame Street continues. We introduced the kids to Elmo right before the USO put on a live Elmo show here on base for the kids. Since then they LOVE Elmo. We picked up a Elmo video back in the states when we went back for grandpa Don's funeral and it has been their favorite movie since. The only way I can get a shower in during the day is to put on Sesame Street, plop the kids in front of the screen, and pray the house doesn't burn down during the 2 minutes it takes me to shower. As you can see from the picture it seems to be a good system cause the kids don't even budge when Sesame Street hits the screen.

I finally finished making the "toddler learning tower" that I started a couple weeks ago. I have always wanted one of these learning towers for my kids but couldn't bring myself to pay over $200 on one of them! So with the help of Pinterest, spare wood, ikea step stool, and some spray paint I made one that matches my kitchen perfectly. Now the kids, well only Abby so far cause Connor can't quite climb up yet, can come up to counter height to help me cook, bake, and clean in the kitchen. I am so glad I made it cause Abby loves it, and poor Connor gets upset that he can't climb up quite yet... Soon little buddy, soon. We have been making lots of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies lately and Abby is turning into quite the little baker.

We had a typhoon, tsunami watch, and earthquake all in one day this week! So the kids and I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and went outside to play in the pouring rain and puddles. It just gave an excuse to come inside, take ANOTHER warm bath, drink hot cocoa and watch a movie in our Jammies afterwards. We are trying to enjoy the sour weather that is starting to hit Misawa, and I am trying to be a fun, interactive mom my kids will remember. I can't remember who said it, but I have been trying to live my life by this quote, "be the mom you want them to remember."

Thanks to us visiting Kyle on his TDY this time around, it seemed as though this TDY just flew by! We only had about 2 weeks without him here at home. When we stay busy the time seems to go by much faster. 

Saturday came and we were so excited to go pick up our Daddy/husband again. We got to watch him land and taxi in. Of course once he was done doing all his check lists on the jet he got to check off hugs and kisses from all of us! The best part to any TDY is the moment when he comes back home. Finally our family is complete again for a little bit till the next TDY come November.