This is the cake I threw together in the morning before the party. I had a more elaborate vision, but it turned out cute! I made chocolate fondant, but the humidity (I guess?) made it SO goopy/drippy and it was impossible to work with. I would've added more sugar, but the grocery store was closed so I just scrapped it and frosted the cake. Heron's party was bug-themed, so he got a little buggy cake!

He had a cute bug outfit from Mom & Dad and there were bug stickers for the bigger kids and big bugs all over the floor for the little ones. We had blue, yellow, and green balloons on the floor and the ceiling to play with and some cute Japanese paper lanterns. Heron had fun crawling around with all his baby buddies! Rhino was in need of a nap halfway through the party, though.

We had some other cute treats. I made some rainbow Jell-o cups (kind of like these but without the condensed milk) with hidden gummy worms. I actually wouldn't recommend doing that. The Jell-o reacted strangely with my gummy worms and "stuff" flaked off the worms and they got really hard, too. It wasn't what I was hoping for. We also had "ants on a log" (peanut butter piped into celery sticks, topped with chocolate chips) and a variety of toddler-friendly treats. Yum!

Heron had a blast opening his gifts! He didn't quite understand what was going on, but seemed to enjoy the attention. The older kids helped him rip open his paper and play with his toys! The older kids had fun playing with Dad's cool RC helicopter. We didn't have any planned activities, just a general play time. First birthdays are the only ones that I want to invite this many people to. When he turns two next year, he'll get two guests at his party, then one more added each year!

Happy birthday to my big baby boy!!

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Our church had a Memorial Day picnic at the park up by Matt's work. I made some patriotic cupcakes (the insides are red, white & blue too). I made the cake and the frosting from scratch, but I don't think I've perfected it yet. My cake is denser than a box mix and my frosting was too stiff. I'll get it one of these days!

I spent most of the day with Heron and taking photos of everyone. I passed him around to some friends and he didn't seem to mind at all. He enjoyed some treats and liked crawling around in the sun. Matt and Rhino played some frisbee and with the balls. I chatted with the ladies a lot, but there was also softball and volleyball, lots of fun things for the kids, and delicious food!

I'm so glad the weather is finally nice and we can get out and do things like this. I love our church picnics and look forward to more throughout the summer!

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I met Muriel just a few weeks ago at her birthday party (we had “met” on Facebook months prior to her moving out here.) She wanted to learn, so I offered to have a knitting get-together. She had a friend I didn’t, Keri, who wanted to join us too. The more the merrier! So today Muriel and Keri (and her sweet daughter) came over to learn the basics of knitting.

I made mini blueberry muffins and just had to try out my new lens. Sneaky Rhino tried to ruin my photo, but I like it better with his cute fingers reaching for the muffins! The gals and kids and I chowed down while I taught them the long-tail cast-on. Muriel and Keri did great and by the end of the session they had cast on a few different times. Then we started learning the knit stitch, which we’ll continue practicing next week (unless they become masters during the week at home!)

I’ve become more friendly since moving to Misawa and really love getting together with other ladies. I do playgroups and church things, but I think a weekly knit-together would be a blast. It gives me an excuse to have my downstairs clean on a Thursday and to bake. Plus, we can all do some sweet projects together and motivate each other. First we’ll do dishrags, but then we’ll move on to awesome hooded pocket scarves and whatnot. I can’t wait until next Thursday!

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It’s been two months since my last letter to you and of course, you’ve changed so much! We haven’t had you measured in the past two months, so I’m not sure how much you’ve grown but from carrying you around so much, I’m guessing quite a bit!

You had your first Easter earlier this month. You didn’t enjoy coloring eggs, Sunday School or the Easter Feast, but you were so sweet all day and loved playing with your new Easter toys. Next year will be fun when you’ll get to hunt for eggs and enjoy church and chocolate with your brother!

You’ve finally developed a taste for food! You love apple slices, Cheerios and baby rice snacks as well as all sorts of baby food, especially peaches and peas. Your brother likes to feed you as well as share your food!

Just two days ago you really started to get mobile! For about a month you’ve been getting on your hands and knees and rocking to a sit. Lately you’ve started taking one crawling “step” before falling to your tummy. You just started getting around now! It seems that any food or dangerous objects nearby really motivate you to get going! Diaper changes are near impossible too, since you squirm so much and want to get away (and you’re stronger than I ever expect you to be!) I can tell I’m going to spend a lot of my time chasing you down soon!

You babble a lot, but aren’t yet forming real words. We constantly hear “babababa” and “dadadada” from your little mouth! Your big brother likes to imitate you and have conversations with you and you both find it so funny. You adore Rhino so much and he can almost always bring a smile to your face. He beats up on you a little bit too, but it’s out of love! Whenever I rush in to stop him from treating you like a drum or squishing your face, you start to giggle so I just let you boys be. You’re a tough little guy!

You’ve made some little baby friends lately, too. We go to playgroups together and you seem to care a little bit more about the kids around you. We’ve met some babies lately that are just a little bit younger than you and some that are a little bit older and you seem to be really interested in them. You were hanging out with a little 6 month-old the other day and scooting over to him, touching his face, and leaning in like you were going to give him a big kiss, then just rest your face on his. You two were laughing at each other and waving your arms together for most of an hour! There are lots of babies right around your age that we know and it will be fun to see you all grow up together over the next few years.

This stage you’re in right now is so fun. Your sometimes-grumpy / sometimes-ecstatic personality is really shining through lately! You’re demanding and you’re hilarious and you’re temperamental and you melt my heart and I love you so much.

- Your Mommy

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The cakes were adorable and done by a lady here on base. I love the idea of mini-marshmallows and orange M&Ms for Elmo’s eyes and nose! It was quite a chore keeping Rhino away from the cakes before the birthday kids got to blow out their candles!

Heron was so sleepy for the second half of the party and definitely needed a nap. I put together two of the armchairs to make a chair-crib for him and another baby. Isaac fell asleep eventually, but Heron wouldn’t have any of it.

It was such a fun party and I’m so glad that the boys have little friends that they get to see regularly. The playgroups on base are just the best and we’ve met a ton of wonderful families! The pop-up tents were a fantastic idea for a toddler party that I think I might have to steal that for the future. Rhino had a great time and Heron was worn down after the party. When we came home they both crashed for almost three hours and gave me a much-needed break!

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On Easter morning we woke up to bake Resurrection Rolls for breakfast. These were such an amazing idea and we will be making it our Easter tradition from now on. What a fun (and delicious!) way to teach about Jesus’ resurrection! Rhino had fun coating the marshmallow and placing it on the dough and, of course, loved chowing down on the empty, cinnamon-y rolls!

We went to church for Sunday School and the morning service at Faith and it was wonderful and uplifting! I stayed late to take photos of almost all the families at church, per Pastor’s request, so he could look upon our photos as he prayed for the church members. We invited Katy and her boys over for lunch afterwards. We had a symbolic Easter meal of rosemary chicken, asparagus, and potatoes. I couldn’t find purple potatoes, so I just roasted up some yummy new potatoes.

Rhino and his buddy Carson hunted for Easter eggs that Matt and Casey had hidden in the yards. Rhino was on such a mission and zipped from egg to egg, really cleaning up. Carson was so adorable and would stop to thoroughly celebrate each egg he found! They had such a good time running around and cracking open the eggs to find all sorts of goodies. They crashed quickly for naptime and Katy and her family went home.

We recuperated a little bit in the afternoon, but really should have napped with the boys. We returned to church for the evening service. The choir and some church members performed an Easter Cantata, which was beautiful and powerful. Matt worked the sound for the performance and had spent the last few weekends practicing with the choir. It was really something!

It was Heron’s first Easter and I wish I had made a bigger deal out of it. I didn’t buy the boys snazzy new clothes or take special photos. I did decorate eggs for each of them and we read the Easter story together. They received Easter baskets from Grammy and gifts from Grandma and Grandpa (lots of chocolate, a truck with dinosaurs, a stacking toy and a rubber duck for Heron, and some cute paints for Rhino. Thanks, Mom & Dad and Mama!!) Next year I want to do baskets for them, too. I didn’t want to have fancy baskets this year because Heron’s not eating sugar yet and Rhino didn’t really need any more with all the candy-filled eggs he collected. I do want to get them little gifts and sweets later, though.

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There were lots of balloons on the ceiling and the floor. Blue, green and yellow.

There were cheese and crackers, veggies and fruits, heart-shaped cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, ants on a log, and an assortment of juices. All of Rhino’s favorite snacks. For lunch the kids made mini pizzas. Rhino really loves his cheese!

Rhino loves to color and paint, so after lunch we took out large sheets of paper. There were carefully thought-out blobs of color on one, a beautiful rainbow and mother and daughter on another, gentle strokes of light blue and yellow on a third, then Rhino’s: large marker circles and goopy smears of handfuls of finger paint.

We were going to do presents after the cake, but Rhino snuck away and tore into them without us. I heard from the other room an overjoyed “Elmo! Elmo!” as he discovered his new Elmo microwave! I couldn’t say no then, and let him open up the deluxe Mister Potato Head (40 parts I never knew about!) and tote bag of Play-Doh and accessories. The kids were all mesmerized by the microwave until we drew them away with the cake.

I wanted to make a Blue’s Clues cake because it’s his favorite show. Tanja loaned me a dog-shaped pan and I dyed the batter and the frosting blue and did my best to resemble Blue. Rhino was so overexcited as he danced in his chair and sang along to the birthday song (“happy, happy, happy, happy …”), immediately blew out both candles, and lifted one out of the cake and bit off the bottom of the candle. After we recovered the wax from his mouth, we directed him towards his slice of cake and he wolfed it down in record time!

He’d never seen a party blower before, but it didn’t take him long to figure it out. Soon enough he was blowing it so the extended end would knock his cup over, poke friends in the head, and dip into his fingerpaint (and then roll up again, and extend on the blank paper making little party blower paint marks.) We partied for about two hours and then our friends left and he crashed on the floor, with blue on his face, next to his Elmo microwave. What a party!

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Today you are two years old! You are having a great day so far! We are having a family celebration right now and next week you will have a small party with some of your good friends. Last night you went to a party while Daddy and I went to our church Valentine’s Day Banquet, so you were out late and playing hard! You got to color, listen to music, play games, hit a pinata, and have lots of snacks! So you wanted to sleep in this morning. As soon as you woke up, we went to the Weasels’ Den for the Pajama Jam, where you played on the playground and bounce house, had a big breakfast buffet, saw some friends, and watched some Ice Age on a big screen. When we came home, you opened presents from us, from Grandma and Grandpa, and from Grammy and Uncle Ron. You were given some fantastic toys, snazzy shoes, and a Blue’s Clues DVD and CD! We talked to Grammy on Skype while you opened gifts from her, then we traced your hand and you painted a picture. We have more fun lined up for you, but right now you’re enjoying playing with Heron and your new Blue doll.

I thought it would be nice to keep track of some of your favorite things and see how they change from year to year. Love you!

Favorites
Fruit: mandarin oranges; apples
Vegetable: carrots
Snacks: cheese; tuna salad; scrambled eggs; peanut butter
Meal: breakfast
Drink: apple juice
Songs: the Itsy Bitsy Spider; Skinamarinky Dinky Dink
Movies: Aliens vs. Monsters; Potty Power
TV Show: Blue’s Clues
Cartoon Character: Elmo
Book: I Love You Through and Through
Friend: Carson
Toy: Duplo blocks
Stuffed Animal: Yellow Bear you got from Uncle Matt your first Christmas
Playtime Activity: blowing bubbles
chores: sweeping; unloading dishwasher
Place: the Thursday Playgroup room at EDIS

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The ladies of Faith Baptist Church regularly have a fellowship, with potluck snacks, our pastor’s wife giving some sort of devotion, and lots of chatting. This month’s was a Christmas fellowship, of course, and we were all to bring ornaments to exchange. Mrs. Popwell stood in front of a decorated tree and spoke on ornamentation while we sipped punch and munched sugar cookies. Then she set a wrapped ornament in front of each of us and read to us the story of Jesus’ birth. Each time she said the word left or right (which was quite often!), we were to pass our ornament to the person sitting beside us (right or left, depending on which word was said.) This was fun and got moving pretty quickly, it was a little confusing at times! When the story was over, we unwrapped our ornaments. I got a sweet, little Hachinohe horse (like the horses here.) It’s red and has Misawa and the year painted on it. I love ornaments like this, that will remind of us where we’ve been and what we were doing. I made a felt gingerbread man, which turned out really cute. I wanted to do a snowman also, but just didn’t have the time. I just freehanded the figures onto paper, cut it out and pinned it to the felt as a template. Then when the felt pieces were cut out, I embroidered details on to each side and blanket stitched around the edges. I like it a lot and think I’ll make more (and snowmen, reindeer, etc. in the same fashion) for next year’s Christmas for our own tree!

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I’d never thrown a baby shower before and haven’t even been to that many of them. So I called up my friend Katy to see if she would co-host with me. She always makes wonderful cakes for these sort of occasions, so I thought it would be fun to work on one together. For a while I’ve been thinking what fun it would be to decorate cakes, but haven’t really had many occasions to do so. Katy and her boys came over on Thursday and Friday to put together an awesome cake! We made the buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant from scratch. Caden’s nursery is jungle themed, so I wanted to do a cake to match. We molded all the decorations out of fondant and piped frosting for the grass, name, and vines. I think it turned out beautifully and it tasted really good, too!

I also wanted to try my hand at a diaper cake. I’ve seen these for sale on base and online and I think it’s kind of a cute way to gift diapers to someone. I didn’t want to spend hours rolling and tying each diaper individually, so I laid diapers flat and spiraled them inside different size cake pans, then secured with ribbon. I didn’t have a lot of little goodies to decorate the cake with, but I threw a couple on there to make it pretty. I think looked great and only took me less than 30 minutes to whip up!

I had a great time at the party! We played some games: a blind cotton ball scooping game, a baby items memory game, and a baby name race game. Katy and I had goodies for all the game winners. We also had a great baby-themed devotion by Mrs. Popwell, our pastor’s wife. Everyone brought some finger food, so we ate lots of yummy treats and then had our cake. Then Jessica opened all her gifts. This is their first baby, and shopping for #1 is the most fun. She received lots of cute clothes and gifts!

It was a fun time and I always like hanging out with the church ladies. We had a whole lot of babies due over the summer (I was one of six pregnant ladies at one point) and Jessica is the last of the church pregnant ladies that I know of. I hope there are more soon so we can enjoy more fun showers and sweet little newborns! I just had a turn though, so don’t look at me!

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