Christmas Day

This Christmas was so busy, but the day was filled with lots of fun and several Christmas miracles.

Christmas miracle #1: On a regular day, Sydney typically wakes up anywhere from 6:30am - 7:30am. On Christmas morning, the only day of the year that I would have been happy to wake up super early with her, she slept in until 8am. But hey, we'll take any opportunity to sleep in that we can get! That being said, I still had to get up early for 9am church.

The kids' dressy Christmas outfits were under the tree, so Sydney and I went downstairs so she could open them and see if Santa came. She opened most of her presents from Santa, then we took her stocking upstairs so she could go through it while Spencer and I got ready for church.

Christmas miracle #2: Whenever Christmas day is on Sunday, our 3 hour block of church is shortened to just Sacrament meeting, which is usually just over an hour. Well, this year the whole meeting was all said and done in 45 minutes! After taking the Sacrament, there were several musical numbers and that was it. Sweet.

All dressed up.

When we got home, Spencer put Shawn to sleep while I whipped up my family's traditional Christmas morning breakfast: waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.

Sydney kept trying to weasel her way into opening presents under the tree before Spencer and I were done eating breakfast. I was able to hold her off by letting her open Shawn's stocking and presents from Santa, and by the time she was done we were ready.

Sydney's "computer" was one of the first presents she opened. She was pretty much glued to it for the rest of the day.

She had some cute reactions when she opened her other presents too.

One of my favorite parts of opening my gifts was reading the tags, which Spencer got pretty creative with.

This one was my favorite.

"Daddy Handsomest" with his favorite gift.

Opening all those gifts turned our house into quite a mess! But there wasn't much time for clean up since I had to do lots of cooking. We invited 4 single guys from church over for Christmas dinner. (Well, actually our friend Cameron did, but we were on board.) They provided the ham, and I was in charge of side dishes.

Cameron came in the early afternoon to drop off the ham, and was a huge help in entertaining Sydney while we were getting things ready. She invented a game called "train" which involved lots of toys on the stairs. According to Cameron, he had to sit on the same step as Sydney, not talk, and not touch any of her toys. She is quite adept at bossing people around.

Spencer, Josh, Robert, Camdog, Casey, & Sydney.

Christmas miracle #3: We played 2 games of 5 man Rook. I won both.

Christmas miracle #4: This will only make sense to avid Rook players in the Bjarnason family (that means you Jon and Clarke!), but during one of the said games, Casey bid 180, calling yellow trump with the Rook as his partner. That happened to be me. He led with something lame, like the 7, and everyone played out their money cards... the 10, 13, 14, then I slammed down the 1 (he was clearly new to the game- who calls 180 if they don't have the 1 and the 14?). Anyway, he basically had the worst hand ever, but since I ended up having the yellow 1, the Rook, a 1 in another color, combined with the way everything played out, we totally got 180.

Christmas miracle #5: Shawn only had one very minor blow out, and it was right before bedtime so I was about to change him into his pj's anyway. Wohoo!

Christmas Eve

This was our first Christmas that we didn't travel to someone else's house, and although it would have been nice to be with family, I was excited to do our own thing. Since Spencer and I both grew up next to our extended families, most of our Christmas Eve traditions required a decent number of people. A few weeks ago I asked our neighbors if they did anything special for Christmas Eve, and when Louise perked up when I mentioned my family's traditional Christmas Eve talent show, I invited them to join us.

We started the evening with dinner, after which came the much anticipated talent show.

Emmy sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in Japanese, then did a little dance.

Sydney and I sang "Christmas Bells" and "Christmas Day," both songs she's been learning in Primary at church.

I love that when Sydney sang "Jesus is born in Bethlehem," she pronounced it "Beth-love-hem."

London showed us his sharpshooter skills with his Nerf gun.

Canon played his recital piece and some Christmas songs on the keyboard.

Krimp did the worm, which was totally awesome.

And Louise read a story that she wrote for the kids.

After talents, we sang some Christmas songs, then acted out the nativity. I was the designated reader, while Spencer headed up directing the production.

The cast: Krimp & Dima, Emmy, Shawn, Spencer, Cannon, London.

The only spectators were Louise, Steve, and me, with Sydney jumping in and out of the room. Steve was on call at the hospital (delivering babies), but luckily he was able to sneak out for a little while to do some Christmas Eve celebrating with his family.

When all of our guests were gone, Sydney got to open the last drawer of our advent box. The paper said she got to open one present from under the tree- pj's. Actually by default she opened two (even better!) since Shawn couldn't open his own.

Posing with her cute pj's- red with white polka dots and reindeer feet.

When the kids were asleep, Spencer and I watched Home Alone while I wrapped a few more presents and got things ready for Christmas morning. Being an elf sure is a lot of work!

Happy Birthday Spencer!

Last Friday Spencer turned the big 2-9. He informed me that it was the first time that he had to work on his birthday. While he was at training meetings, Sydney and I made the cake. I later decorated it the same as I always do... the only difference now from year to year is the color of the writing and border:) After Spencer got home from work, he opened presents and then we sang and did the cake.

Check out all that smoke!

We were 9 candles short, but who can tell when there's that many? Sydney sure had fun helping him blow out the candles, then also enjoyed taking them out and licking the frosting off of them.

Our sweet neighbor Ashley volunteered to watch our kids so we could go on a bona-fide date (i.e. a date that wasn't required because of a non-kid friendly Command sponsored event). We were originally going to dinner in downtown Naha, but opted to stick closer to home since traffic going into the city was pretty terrible. After dinner we went to buy tickets for the new Mission Impossible at a theater off base since it's not available yet on base, but it didn't work out because the only showing left was way too late for us. Instead we just walked around American Village to admire the Christmas lights and check out some stores, but that was cut short when it started to rain. By then we had gotten a text from Ashley that Shawn was still awake and kept wiggling his way out of being swaddled, so we decided we would just go home to rescue her. Even if it was a quick date, it was nice to at least go out to dinner by ourselves. Happy Birthday Spencer!

The Ticket Restaurant

One of the first restaurants we went to in Okinawa is called Arashi, but everyone calls it the ticket restaurant because when you go inside, you don't order from a menu. Instead there's a vending machine, and you put in money and click on your selections, then it spits out tickets that describe the items you ordered. A server takes your tickets, then you go sit down and wait for your food... no Japanese needed.

I totally crave their fried rice, which comes to the table unmixed with the egg still sizzling in the pan, and you get to stir it up yourself. Spencer prefers the garlic flavoring, but I'm a soy sauce girl all the way.

The fried rice, ready to be mixed! Don't mind the massive pad of butter they throw in there.

Syd loves fried rice too, and also like the gyozas (potstickers). Spencer eats lots of soba and is a pro with the chopsticks.

Shawn was pretty content in his car seat, eating his hands, toys, shirt and blanket while we enjoyed our dinner.

My Boys

As part of Spencer's Fleet Marine Force class, he did a 6 mile hike in full gear on a base up north last Friday. The pack he carried on his back weighed about 50 lbs. They were told to wear panty hose (good thing I had some knee highs) and two other pairs of thick socks to prevent blisters. He said the road had lots of hills, and around mile 1 he could feel blisters forming. At mile 3 they got a break and he put on a 3rd pair of socks, but his heels were still killing him. When he finally got to take his boots off, some of the blisters had popped and his heels were bloody. Almost a week later he's still wearing band aids and sometimes walking like an old man.

He also had to do the gas chamber, which sounded scary to me but he didn't seem to think it was a big deal. He did tell me to keep Sydney away from him when he got home as the gas was still on his clothes and they were told that kids are really sensitive to it. I thought he would be half dead when he walked in the door, but he came in with a smile on his face and was nice enough to let me snap a few pictures of him before tossing his clothes in the washer.

Suited up with his pack and gas mask.

My other boy is getting so big! One night Spencer busted out the fancy camera, and this was our favorite shot:

He's like a deer in headlights when that flash turns on. Ha ha.

When he's not eating his hands, he's reaching for other things and bringing them to his mouth. I think he will be cutting some teeth soon, I can see them coming down. His right arm is the only thing that's preventing him from rolling from his tummy to his back. He cries when I pass him off to other people, even if it's just for a second. He smiles at me every time I walk into his room to get him after a nap. When his arms are trapped (swaddled) and I'm rocking him to sleep, he does this funny sucking thing with his bottom lip. If I'm holding him upright and facing forward, there's a 98% chance he'll vomit all over my arm. He is sweet and mild, and just a joy to have and hold and snuggle.

There were a few times this week when I was standing up holding him facing forward while talking to Sydney, who was sitting down in front of us, and he'd just start kicking like a maniac, squealing and smiling at her. Then she and I would just laugh and laugh. It was pretty darn cute, hopefully it will happen sometime when Spencer's home too.

Helping Hands & a Christmas Party

On Saturday morning we went to a combined church service activity with our Military District and the Japanese Stake to clean up trash in Comprehensive Park. We were told to bring work gloves and thought it was funny that the Japanese people also brought tongs to pick up the garbage.

Am I so lame that I was totally excited to get one of those Mormon Helping Hands t-shirts? Unfortunately they only had XL - XXL, but still. And the coolest part was that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was written in Japanese. My first legit Japanese t-shirt.

We actually kind of had to hunt for trash... no blatant littering here. Turns out those tongs were pretty useful for picking up garbage in hard to reach places. Sydney and I found a decent amount walking through some weeds that were lining a walking path. I made the mistake of pointing out that her pants had gotten dirty, but it turned out that they were just full of stickers. They weren't poking her or anything, they just had a hook on the end and got stuck on her sweatpants. She whined about those things being on her pants for the rest of the time we were there.

After going home and getting cleaned up, we went to a command sponsored Christmas party for the kids. We thought it was weird that the flyer said "Semi-formal attire," but we got kind of dressed up anyway. I think they threw that in for the kids so they would look nice in their photo op with Santa, but there were plenty of people there wearing jeans.

Sydney decorated and ate some cookies, made a foam frame with a snowman on it, and even sat on Santa's lap! (Shocking, since she didn't want to go anywhere near him last year.)

The whole present from Santa situation was kind of lame... we were told to bring one toy that cost less than $20 for each child attending. Initially I thought that was meant for a donation to Toys for Tots as the "cost" of participating, but a friend told me it was for your child and they get it when they're on Santa's lap so it looks like it's a gift from Santa. Good thing I had a small stash of toys in Sydney's closet so I didn't have to spend any extra money.

She got a magnetic silly faces book.

Little did she know, I actually gave this book to her when she was a little over a year old. After she started eating the magnetic pieces, it was pretty clear we should save it for when she was a bit older. When she opened it to play with it, Spencer saw some of the pieces and said, "Is this used?" Ha ha.

Me and my little chunk, shortly after a wardrobe change because he blew out his diaper. Story of my life! He goes through about 3 outfits a day. We are moving up to size 3 diapers as soon as all the size 2's are gone.

Speaking of outfits, I put this Christmasy one on him. It was a hand-me-down from my sister, who said it was one of her very favorites. It's size 3-6 months, and it was about up to his knees. Methinks this kid is going to be tall.

Decorating the Tree

I put up the bulk of our Christmas decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but I saved decorating the tree with ornaments for our Monday night Family Night. Sydney loves being a big girl and helping with stuff like this.

I knew our tree was small, but it was the perfect size for our last house. Now it looks so tiny in this big room!

Sydney was a big fan of clumping ornaments together, usually 2 or 3 to a branch. Apparently I'm a little OCD about this kind of thing because I totally rearranged them all after she went to bed.

Syd standing by her handiwork. Notice the bangs, which she cut for herself the previous Sunday. Needless to say, we are taking a break from scissors for a while.

Spencer and Shawn were content to watch us decorate.

This cutie pie is almost 4 months old! Just has to document his darling chunky thighs and belly that refused to be contained by that shirt. Last time I stepped on the scale with him, he was about 15 lbs.

Thanksgiving on the Go

Thanksgiving came with another 96 (i.e. a four day weekend) for Spencer, and we were excited to venture up to cabins at Oura Wan beach on a base in the northern part of the island. There were about 10 cabins, all set on a big hill overlooking the water. There were a total of 6 families in the group we went with, so we had a majority of the cabins up there. We got a late start heading out on Wednesday night as Spencer got home from work and I didn't have a thing packed. (How unlike me... ha!) I was actually patting myself on the back for successfully making a grocery run- to a Japanese grocery store no less, since the commissary's whipping cream had been cleaned out- and making 4 dozen rolls in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. All baking had to be done before hand since only one of the cabins had an oven, and that was reserved for the turkey. As we were finally driving out the gate, Sydney said she had to go potty. So we flipped around and headed back home, took her to the potty (she refused to go), and picked up a few things we'd forgotten. I put a diaper on her since we didn't want to stop again. Then we were finally off! Both kids fell asleep on the 40 minute ride there, which unfortunately made Sydney wide awake when we arrived around her bed time. I think she finally conked out around 10 pm.

The holiday festivities started early Thursday morning. We enjoyed a coed game of flag football while our kids ran around and played. My pregnant friend Melissa was kind enough to watch Shawn for me during our game, which pretty much ended when he got hungry and I had to quit. Afterwards we did "Family Olympics." As Sydney had no interest in participating (except for the marshmallow eating contest, she was all over that), Spencer and I had to represent. Actually, Spencer had to do like 4x the work since I was holding Shawn :) Needless to say, it was the first time I had done a bear crawl or wheel barrow in a looooong time. I was sore for days!

After games, we headed back to get cleaned up and do some last minute meal prep.

Mmmmmmm.

I just have to mention that I made fruit salad (the white stuff in the orange bowl), which my family calls "yum yum salad." Spencer refused to call it that since he thinks it's the dumbest name ever, telling me that he would only call it that if people said, "Yum, yum," when they ate it. Our friend Aaron was standing nearby when Spencer set the bowl on the table, and when he saw it he said, "Ooh, yum." We both totally started laughing. Apparently the name was right on- take that Spencer! (As a side note, he now referrs to it as "walkie talkie salad" because of this comedy bit about things that have stupid names.)

The kids colored pictures while the adults were setting up for the meal.

Sydney was very focused during this activity.

The kids ate outside on the porch and adults were inside. Before taking a picture of the kid tables, Spencer asked, "Who's excited for Thanksgiving?"

"We are!"

The gang, minus the Palmers, who were tending to sick kids.

Spencer & Shawn.

Melissa was a real go-getter and brought things for the kids to make edible tepees and cupcake turkeys.

Most kids were way into using the candies to decorate their treats,

but Sydney just dug right in.

View of Oura Wan beach from the Shisa cabin.

Friday was pretty low key, with lots of outdoor activities to enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze.

We had packed our swimsuits just in case, but the water was too chilly for us to swim. We just decided to go down to look for sea shells instead.

Sydney found the best ones, and had fun digging around.

Shawn slept in his stroller while Sydney and I scoured the beach.

Spencer took on the role of photographer and took pictures of the beach.

Later that afternoon, we drove to check out some of the free stuff around the aquarium. As usual, the scenery was beautiful!

Some of our friends' kids wore their swimsuits and played in the fountains. We thought they were total maniacs because it was freezing! We were only cold because I neglected to bring our jackets.

Huddling together to keep warm.

Sydney wanted me to hold her quite a bit because she was cold. I felt bad that I didn't dress her more appropriately, so we went into a gift shop to see if we could buy her a jacket or sweatshirt. The only warm thing we found was a blanket, but she said she didn't want it.

After laughing at the crazies in the fountains (who had quite a crowd of Japanese girls taking pictures of them), we walked through an outdoor museum of a traditional Okinawan village, then through the botanical gardens.

After we got to this hut (it was the first thing we saw in the Okinawan village), the camera died :)

We checked out of our cabin on Saturday, and since Syd was bummed about not getting to swim in the ocean, we determined to go to the heated outdoor pool on base before driving home. Sydney got in with Spencer while I fed Shawn. The clouds were rolling in and it was getting windy, so she lasted about 10 minutes. After drying off with Spencer, she said she still wanted to get back in with me. So I got in (the water was supposedly 82 degrees, but still felt cold!), and then she said she didn't want to get in anymore. Haha, little stinker. Overall we had a great time, and can't believe Christmas is just around the corner!