Christmas time is here!

Today we decided to decorate, or well, I decided to decorate for our last Christmas on Guam. Everyone else just went along with me reluctantly. Maybe one of them will catch the spirit some day. We started with Christmas music and hot cocoa. I know, you're probably saying, GUAM?!? HOT COCOA?? Sure, if you turn the air conditioning up so it's coooold! Feels like Christmas already! This helped to get the boys into it.

Logan helped Ryland hang ornaments.

Tyler was very specific on where he wanted to hang them.

Ryland enjoyed some quiet time reading Christmas stories.

Don't you just love the haphazard way the tree is decorated? I'm not even going to try to have a Martha Stewart tree until the boys are old enough not to pick the ornaments off! Like the palm tree in the window?

A Weekend of Festivals

Our first night was at the Dance Festival down in Tumon. The streets were closed off and vendors filled them with lots of yummy food. We opted for a sit down dinner of pizza at our favorite pizzeria, Vitale's. I even managed to talk him into giving me his famous sauce! BUT I can't have it until I'm set to leave island. He guards that secret recipe well! He says it's been passed down from many generations in his family. Chris said it's probably Prego. haha! We managed to have a great spot just outside of the restaurant but weren't able to stay there because security was moving everyone out so we went to the roof. It wasn't set up very well. I think bleachers would have been nice to relieve some of the crowd congestion around the dancers. We didn't stay long but what we did see was pretty cool. There is a video of dancers from Hokaiddo, Japan in the web album. I'm hoping to put a larger video of the Chamorran dancers after uploading it to youtube.

Chamorran Dancers~They did really well. I enjoyed this performance a lot.

Next event was on Saturday and it was the Japan Autumn Festival down in Tumon at Ypao Beach. Good food, good fun, and good performances. There's a video of Japanese school children singing the Japan National Anthem. We met up with the Simmons Family and the Ramirez Family there. The babies had a great time dancing. We usually keep Ryland in his stroller because he doesn't seem to mind and it helps with keeping up with the other two. Remember that movie with Chevy Chase called Funny Farm? He got a dog, brought it back to the house, let it out of the car and it just took off. Ran, just ran and ran. Well that was Ryland, as soon as I let him out he bolted.

Me drinking some Oolong Tea. *bleck!* It was unsweetened.

Japanese school children carrying the shrine (I think that's what they called it.)

Eating some yummy shaved ice. He proceeded to lap jump between me and Chris for a differ in flavors!

On to the next festival, same night, Starlight Christmas Festival in downtown Hagatna. The whole park was lit up with a giant tree in the center. There were carabao rides, performances, and SANTA.

Ry usually never knows a stranger but this man freaked him out!

Ry and Dani right before the carabao ride. Dani was such a help and rode with Ryland.

He was a little apprehensive about the ride and wanted off halfway through but he was a trooper and stayed on. He's from Guam, he's GOT to learn how to ride a carabao! ;-)

Check out the web album for many more pictures as well as some videos. Also keep checking Dot's and Tori's blog for similar posts and more pictures.

Jump On It - Fresh Prince

We went to a dance festival tonight (I'll post pictures tomorrow) but each time I saw the commercial and heard the song they used for it I was reminded of a dance I saw a long time ago. Well here it is....

Elf Yourself 2008

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Our last Thanksgiving here on the island was by far one of the best. We went with the Simmons family to our friend Dot's house where we were pleasantly stuffed with lots of good food and fun...can anyone say ROCK BAND!?! That was an absolute blast. I totally stunk at the guitar but had loads of fun singing. Phew...didn't know I had it in me! We were all so relaxed that before we knew it five hours had flown by. Now that's when you know you're having fun! A BIG thanks to the Ramirez family for opening your home to us. When you're so far away from family it's good to know that we've got "family" right here. There are a few videos in the web album along with a lot more pictures. Here are a few random pics of the day...

LC rockin' out to Rock Band

There are no words.......

The Ladies

Nick, Howie & Tori

The Ramirez Family

Mia doin' what she does best...chase Ryland!

Chris gettin' down with the drums!

The dudes!

I was taking this entirely too serious.

The kiddos chowin' down.

Thanksgiving Celebration

Both boys had a Thanksgiving party at school and now I'm getting a taste of what it will be like when they are little older. I bounced between classes and tried to give each equal attention although Tyler's class was just a kids only party to I didn't spend as much time with him. We had a fun time, ate some good food and now I'm ready for a nap. Which is where my little Tonto is right now....

Tyler and Jordin

Tyler's class

Hangin' High (Literally)

I was headed to the commissary yesterday when I had to make a u-turn and get the boys because there was a helicopter behind our house with 5 men hanging from it. They were doing some sort of training where the men had to hang suspended from a helicopter while it flew them around for awhile. It was crazy! I wasn't even sure if they were really people until one of them waved at Logan...which he was so excited about!

Pinkeye

My poor baby has pinkeye. I think that this is a first for any of my kids. He doesn't fuss much when he's sick so I didn't know anything was wrong until he woke up with a bunch of gunk on his lashes and the whites of his eyes were pink. I brought him in yesterday and sure enough...he's got it. He's been pretty good about the eye drops. Even having to do it by myself today was easier than I expected. Let's just pray that we are all healthy before we head off to Hong Kong!

Diving

Yesterday I discovered scuba diving. It was actually a free crash course in diving to see if you like it and want to continue with certification. I have to say that I was a bit nervous but once I went under water it was fun. The breathing part took some getting used to but it's a very cool experience to be able to just sit under the water and still breathe! My mask was not working well for me towards the end of our lesson and right before we were about to actually dive, water started to pouring into it. I thought, it's ok, I've learned how to clear it but it just wasn't sealing properly. I headed back to the shore but then went back out again after I thought it was fixed but it was still a no go. I was very disappointed to say the least. I am glad that I got a taste of it though. Maybe I can get the courage up enough to do the full course. That would require a new mask though....

Tori, me and Dot

PMM (Proud Mommy Moment)

At church we had our Thanksgiving Potluck and the kids were asked to come up and recite a Bible verse for a prize. I knew that Logan memorizes different verses each week so I wanted to put him to the test. While he recited it I happened to look over towards Pastor Steve and I saw a look of amazement come over him.

Here are the verses that he recited from Psalm 34:

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the LORD , you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD .
¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;

My son, the trash picker

Our neighbor, Deb brought over some yummy cupcakes tonight. Look who wanted to continue eating after the remains were thrown in the trashcan...

The guilty looking chocolate grin

A star is born!

Daniella invited us to her play at school followed by an ice cream social. She was chosen to be one of three hosts for the play. She did a superb job of memorizing her lines. She did a really good job and I'm so glad that I was able to see her in her first of many(I hope!) performances.

Great job Daniella!!

The kids enjoying some ice cream. Don't feel too bad for Logan...he already finished his!

Early in the evening the two babes hitching a ride together.

Chicken Stroganoff - A kid pleaser

Tonight we had the Ramirez family(minus daddy Dale) over for dinner before we headed out to Daniella's play at the school. I wanted something that wasn't going to take a lot of fuss because I wanted to hang with my girl, Dot. This was a super easy, make-ahead-in-the-crockpot recipe with only FOUR ingredients. I did not have any reduced fat cream cheese on hand but I'm sure you can substitute it for the regular.

Mix the soup and dressing mix together.

Add the chicken and spread some soup mixture over it.

About an hour before serving I plopped the cream cheese in and left it to melt. I removed the chicken to dice up and whisked the cheese and soup together.

Here's the finished results. I completely forgot to take a picture of this served over noodles. I was too busy eating it!

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed (I used frozen and cut into pieces after cooking)
  
• 1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
  
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix soup and dressing mix in slow cooker; Add chicken and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
2. Remove chicken to dice up if using whole breasts. Add cream cheese to the crockpot and mix together. Add chicken back to crockpot and cook on high for another 1/2 hour or until heated through and warm. Serve over buttered egg noodles.

VERDICT: This was very yummy. Although I think that I might add another half packet to the mix next time. All the kids seemed to like it which is always a great sign!

"Car" Wash

I talked Logan into riding his Johnny John (this is what he calls his truck) since he hasn't ridden it in a while. He backs it out of the garage and said, "Um, mom, this is dirty. We need to wash it." Sounds just like his daddy, doesn't he? Tyler, LC's shadow, had to follow in on the washing fun so he pulled out the lil 4 wheeler.

Mia stopped by so she could go for a ride with Ry-man.

Aunt Shell Shell gave gift certificates to Logan and Ryland for their birthdays. Here's Ry's present. Logan got a I-Dog that he LOVES. He's shown it to everyone. Wait until he sees his little I-pod that we got him for Christmas!

Coolness

Well apparently I've been informed by my six year old (and the echo of a three year old) that I'm not cool. I kinda figured that out once I had kids but I wanted to hear his reasoning for it. He said, "Because you don't have a hoodie and sunglasses. Only that makes you cool." Oh ok, guess I'm not cool then.... I wonder though...do I gain any cool points for BUYING the sunglasses and hoodies??

Check out Logan's cool pose. He sees the high schoolers standing like this so I guess they are his epitome of coolness.

Poor Tyler. He has no idea that his big brother is acting "cool" while Ty is giving me the ninja pose. Guess L is too cool for that. I wonder if he'll start making me call him LC.