Summer Nights

Four kids and their own pizza. Super kawaii!!!!! (and I didn't tell them to do that).

Just a quick post as I only have a minute in between movies. I love Summer nights. I love nights where the kids get to have friends sleep over.. (and their parents get a night to themselves).. I love watching kids in a BIG pizza party, and love that they're now having a movie night!

All ready for a sleepover!

ER Trip

A lot of you already know (you know, the two 12 people who read this blog.. lol), but last night, our Summer took a little bit of an unexpected turn. The girls were already laying down, Tim and I were both feeling a bit under the weather, so we headed to bed too. We were in our room when we heard a blood curdling "DADDY!!!!!!" coming from Molly. Tim ran out there, and by time I got out there, there was blood all over Molly's feet. Kadie was standing next to her door, crying and saying she didn't mean too. Tim took a look at her foot and told Kadie to get dressed, and then told me she needed to get to the ER. Thank GOD we live on base BTW. :)

We took her in, and Molly is fine. She was SUCH a trooper in there last night. Hysterical for about the first hour, but what do you expect? She was in a LOT of pain. About the time where she started to calm down from the pain and being scared of being in the hospital, she actually SAW her foot, and it started all over again. She had 3 x-rays of her toe taken, and she did fabulous during x-rays, not moving her foot so she wouldn't have to have more pictures taken. You could tell how afraid of the equipment she was, but she continued to just push through all of it.

We got back from the x-rays, and the doctors came to see her. They determined before the x-rays even came back that her toe didn't look broken. (Tim and I both thought it was - it was REALLY curved inward.. I learned something new about my daughter last night - the same toe on each foot curves in like that). They did wait for the x-rays to be absolutely certain though. After that, they said they were going to send the corpsman back in to clean up her feet.  They COULD give her some injections to numb up the toe while they did that, but the injections would be more painful (and traumatizing) than just making her grin and bear it. So that's what we did, she didn't get pain meds while they cleaned up her foot. Talk about a trooper, she sat there and while she did cry and whimper, she just took it. We had our ipad with us, and she played with that. Tim said it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain while they were doing it, but she did her best to keep herself distracted. By the end of the night, we found out that her toe has a big laceration (it looks like about half the nail was ripped off), and is very bruised. They dressed it and then wrapped her whole foot up in an ace bandage that has to stay there for a few days. I told the doctor there was NO way she'd keep it on, and he said to try, but if it came off, considering her age, it came off. No harm, no fowl. Just to make sure to keep that foot clean. (so no backyard playing for her.. lol). Shockingly, while she HATED the dressing at first, she was distracted by the ipad, and has kept the dressing on. Last night, we called it a boo-boo sock and told her not to take it off because it's keeping her big boo boo from getting more boo boos, and she's been alright with it on ever since. 

relaxing with Daddy this morning.

This morning, she's still kind of out of it. She's slowly coming out of her shell, but she's still baby'ing the foot. It'll probably be a day or so before she wants to put weight down on it, and honestly, I don't blame her one bit! I'm so proud of how she did in there - she was scared, but just kept on chugging through last night!

chilling out and playing Ipad!!

Buster

So most of you know, we adopted a dog last week - a jack russell terrier named Buster. He's a ball full of energy, and we absolutely love him!

In other news, Kadie is sleeping over at a friend's house tonight. She was SO excited to get asked (after they sat together at the theater to see Cars 2) that she started jumping up and down. In the meantime, we totally broke Molly's heart, and she cried for both Kadie AND Ashlynn the whole ride home. She's happy now though, so we're hoping she doesn't notice when they come to pick up Kadie's stuff for the night. :P

Tim may or may not be leaving tomorrow. That's really up in the air, and I'm REALLY annoyed to not know the answer to the question. BUT, that's Navy life, there's not much you can do about it. In the meantime, I'm enjoying whatever time they let me have my husband home with me. :) Right now? My first Chicago style deep dish in the oven.. I'll tell you later if it turns out. 

Monday Blues

One of our last pictures before Tim left and we moved. :)

So this is me trying to get back into the swing of things. (hey look, two days in a row.. woot woot). Not too much happened around here today.. Mostly more unpacking.. Yay.. LOL We saw a friend this morning for some coffee, and that's about the most exciting part of the day! Today was kind of a boring one, but I did get a lot done.. It's a Monday blues kind of day, but you know, it's the last Monday of school! No pictures from today, but since I've haven't been around, I have loads to post. :)

Ok, so this is a chicken noodle salad thing that my friend gets from 7-11 here. Yeah, we eat 7-11 food - it's pretty tasty. Ha! Anyhoot, she brought two containers of it over here last week, I stole the second one, and I am now obsessed with this stuff. It's YUMMY!!!!

Living on base already has it's advantages. This was about a week or so ago, but I was watching a friend's daughter for her while she went to roller derby practice with the Yokosuka Sushi Rollers! The girls were playing outside, and decided to come in for popsicles, they weren't the only ones though, another friend of theirs followed in suit! Pretty soon, I had a house full of girls giggling along to whatever it was they were watching!

-Sarah

Well Then...

Well, who knew.. I was so determined to keep up with this, and I've totally fallen behind. We have had a lot going on in the past few months. After we got back from the States, Tim got word that HE was going back to San Diego for a school. The girls and I had planned on going with him, but due to circumstances, we were unable to go. Instead, the girls and I said goodbye to our little Japanese house, and moved on base!

That's pretty much where we are. Tim is in San Diego attending a school back there. He's had a chance to hang out with some friends and see both of our families. I really hope he gets to see more, but honestly, I'm a little jealous of everyone who's gotten to spend time with him. I miss my husband, and I just want him back home.


The girls and I are just getting everything settled in at our new house on base. We are in a townhouse, and I'm SO happy we chose to move back here. Everything is SO much more convenient - plus, we're saving SO much in just gas and tolls! LOL We are enjoying our location and our neighbors - I just need a little more time to unpack! :)

Molly enjoying her OWN room!

Last week, Kadie and I went out to Jogashima Island. Thank goodness for my amazing friends - one of them watched Molly all day for me while I went with Kadie. We basically took a nice little hike to some tidepools. The kids saw fish, crabs, and sea anemones - they were happy. Kadie was content with picking up shells to take home. LOL She was really happy that her best friend's class was there too, so she hung out with us all day. Overall, while it was hot, it ended up being a pretty awesome day.

Kadie and I on our way back to the bus.

That's it for now. I've got so much more to say, but considering I just got a carload full of more boxes to unpack, I have way too much to do already! Hopefully, I'll start keeping up with this again!

-Sarah

Wow

So I'd try to swear I wasn't ignoring this, but I kinda was.. LOL I still need to finish the whole earthquake thing.. As my friend said to me the other day - longest lunch ever.. ha! :)

News on our front.. The girls and I will be moving on base in just a week!! YAY! We've seen our new place and we love it! :)

We have a few things coming up, and I really need to start blogging again.. In the meantime.. Here's a picture from the girls playing earlier this afternoon..

One Month..

I realized late last night that I haven't updated this blog since just before the earthquake. This will probably be long, so I didn't start it last night.

A month ago, life was normal. We were getting ready for the Spring Festival, counting down until Tim came home, and just waiting on warm weather. Heck, I was taking pictures in my car of Sakura as the early blooming trees had already started. One month ago, we had everything to look forward to.

On March 11, 2011 at 2:46PM, everything changed. Only, I didn't  realize just HOW much it would change. That day was very routine. It was a pretty day.. Not warm, but not cold either; Winter was yielding to Spring. I woke up, got Kadie to school, Molly dressed, and headed to the base to meet up with a friend. We were ordering supplies for the Spring Festival booth. We were supposed to be selling baked potatoes, and we went through the commissary and decided on our potatoes. (Also praying they were the right size). We successfully got through everything we needed to do and headed home. I realized on the way home that we not only should pay rent (heck, I'd been walking around with $3,000 for several days), but that I should argue the gas bill. We did that, turns out, it was the right bill (I still think we had a leak that month). I stopped off at a post office and paid said bill. (while cringing at how much it was). We got back in the car, and I thought to myself about how much I loved that place, but how BADLY I wanted to live on base so I wouldn't have to deal with arguing about gas bills again. (lol). We went home, and I made lunch for Molly and I. Then everything changed. The weather took a turn for the worse, and it got very windy, and cold again. (Not all that surprising, that happens a lot where we live).

I made Molly a sandwich, closed the cabinet doors that I noticed were open, and sat down to eat some yogurt and granola. I took two bites and felt an earthquake. I started cracking up to myself - No. Japan had been getting larger sized earthquakes (6 somethings) all week, people on base talked about feeling them, I hadn't felt one. So jokingly, I posted on my facebook "hey, I'm feeling this one." I didn't think a thing about it.. Until it jolted. It was strong, but not horrible. I looked over at Molly, she was ok, so I started eating again. I realized it'd been a minute, and it was STILL shaking.. It jolted again. This time, Molly looked up from the movie she was watching, and gave me a look. Right after that momentary glance between us, the power went out. I walked over (calmly), and picked her up. It was shaking the entire time. I took her to the only place I could think of in our house that didn't have glass surrounding it - the entry way. We sat at the door, I had my hand on the door handle, ready to push us out, and it jolted yet again. This time the jolt wasn't instantaneous, and it LASTED. I looked up to see our bookcases swaying back and forth. I thought to myself "PLEASE don't implode.. Tim's coming home SOON, and I really don't want to clean up that mess." At this point, I had NO idea how strong the earthquake was. The bookcases swayed, the rocking chair was going nuts. The door in between the living space and bedrooms slammed shut. I started to realize this wasn't a small earthquake. It edged off a bit. I started to breathe a sigh of relief, and realized it was STILL shaking. It started to come on strong again, and this jolt lasted as well. At this point, I had NO idea how long it had been, but I looked up and started asking if was ever going to stop. (Ok, so really, I was screaming "ARE YOU GOING TO STOP ANYTIME SOON?!"). That's when Molly started to freak out. This jolt lasted a good minute or so. It FINALLY stopped, and I headed outside the same time I heard my neighbor. I grabbed my cell on the way out and looked at my facebook - 5 minutes had passed since I posted that I'd felt the earthquake. In total, the quake was about 4.5 (give or take) minutes long. By comparison, most earthquakes are under 30 seconds.

My neighbor and I were exclaiming over how long and big that one felt. He told me he'd been in the country for 10 years, and that was the worst one he'd ever felt! That he was holding onto his fish tank, and thank goodness he did, it would have fallen if he hadn't held on to it. I realized while we were sitting there chatting that we were moving again. That we had continued to move and stop constantly after that quake hit. I was also on facebook chatting with my Mom about the earthquake. She told me it was a 7 something first. Then moved it up to an 8.4.. Then an 8.6.. And it just kept moving up. I relayed this back to my neighbor. I tried to call the friend I'd been with earlier that day to make sure she was OK - cell signals were jammed. Thanks to my only land line being a VOIP, and no power, I couldn't call any other way. Tim was trying to get a hold of me at this point as well. I just didn't know it yet. For some odd reason, the 3G network stayed in place, and we were all able to contact family members through facebook - I have to say, thank GOD for facebook and facebook chat. I can't imagine what Tim went through until he knew he could talk to me on facebook. That unknown? I'm glad I wasn't in his shoes. I continued to chat with my Mom about what she was seeing on the news and what was happening where I was. I started chatting with Tim - he was really worried because he couldn't get through on any phone lines. I tried to get Molly to go back inside - she wouldn't. I FINALLY convinced her she was safe, and we went inside only to be hit by the first 7 something aftershock. Joy. Couldn't get her to go back in after that. Kadie came home, we hung out outside until I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. We headed back inside after that. Molly whined, but I convinced the girls to go outside on the deck and start putting things into a big bin I had just bought for our outdoor toys, etc. That was when I noticed that the water looked a little low..

(to be continued.. gotta stop for lunch).