25 days of Christmas

Grandma Taylor spoiled my boys with 24 days of presents leading up to Christmas.  Cole's Grandma use to do this and he loved it, and now my boys are loving the tradition as well.  Here are just some of the presents, but they loved all their fun toys, book, and clothes(not as exciting but they were grateful) that they opened.  Thanks Grandma T.

Cole got the Sports Medicine Fellowship

Well, Cole won't be working in the White House, but we will be moving to the DC area sometime this summer('12).  Cole is super excited that he got the highly competitive fellowship and I am excited that he will be accomplishing his dreams of becoming a Sports Med. Doc.  Cole found out that he got accepted on Dec. 15th to the USU sports medicine program, and we will find out in another month which University he will be following.  Which will help us decide where to live.  We are way excited for our next adventure, but we are cherishing our last several months here in Misawa.  Way to go Cole, I am so proud of you.  Cole also found out that he got the PACAF clinician of the year.

Bryce's 1st Birthday

I can't believe my baby Bryce turned 1 already on Dec. 22nd.  And Bryce decided to officially start walking on his birthday.  He had taken a couple steps here and there, but Bryce started taking more than a couple steps at a time on his B-Day(which makes it easy to remember).  We had a great night celebrating Bryce's birthday with the Brough Girls and Baby Josh.  We fixed some chicken and noodles which was one of Bryce's favorite meals and Cole made some really good homemade Peppermint IceCream(sorry Bryce, but I did make you some dairy free cupcakes).  Chase was also loving Bryce's birthday for the fact that Bryce lets him help open all his presents and lets him play with them as well.  Happy Birthday Bryce!!  We are so glad you joined our family, you brighten our life every day with your smile.  Here are some things about Bryce that we love:

-Loves to laugh and smile, Bryce gets so excited over the littlest things

-Loves food as long as it is dairy free, Bryce is a machine.  He eats just about anything you put in front of him.

-Loves his mom, dad, and brother.  Bryce gives the best hugs and is a great snuggler.  I just can't get enough of them.

-Loves to clap, dance, read books, and play with toys

-Loves to take good naps for his mom

-Bryce seems to be really smart.  He figures things out and catches on to things really fast.  

Bryce's 1 year stats:

Weight: 22lbs 11oz.(50th%)

Height: 29.3 in.(50th%)

Head: 18.7 in.(50th%)

Chase's Last Day of Soccer Practice

Team Photo, Chase was the youngest kid in his 3-4 year old Smart Start Soccer Team.  But he was one of the best.  It was amazing to see how much Chase learned from a couple of practices and practicing at home.  He is a natural soccer player.  And he can dribble the ball really well up and down the field and score it into the goal.  He had a great coach.  And the coach thought Chase was pretty awesome as well because he would use Chase as the demonstration kid most of the time cause he knew Chase would nail it.

Chase is so stinkin cute as he poses with the ball.

Chase excited to get his soccer medal.  I could be wrong, but I think he will be seeing a lot more of these in his future because he has skills.

Brunch with Santa & Med Group Santa

Bryce and Chase enjoying their brunch.  My boys love to eat and they both love to make mmmmmm noises when they are eating.  Cole and I just laugh.

 Round 1 with Santa.  Bryce not into Santa.

 Chase was cool with Santa.  He told Santa that he wanted a "Big Black Train" for Christmas.

Round 2 with Santa.  Bryce still not happy.  One look at Santa and he was in tears.

Pictures with Santa at the Med Group Christmas Party.  Chase loving all the presents.  But Round 3 for Bryce was not any better.  Guess we will have to hope for better Santa pictures next year.

Chase as Joseph

Chase got to play the part of Joseph in the Nativity play that his Joy School did for their Christmas program.  It was a lot of fun.  It was my turn that week for Joy School so I had a lot of fun working with the kids.  The girls were way more into dressing up than Chase, but he was a good sport.  His favorite part was being able to walk around with Mary(Becca) to find an inn, and then he like bringing the baby Jesus over to Mary.  I video taped the whole thing so I didn't get the best pictures, but the video sure is comical. Chase was a little fried since we had practiced it way too much. After the play the kids sang a couple of Christmas songs which Chase got really good at singing, "Christmas bells are ringing" and "Jingle Bells".

Chase's Fall PreSchool Pictures

 I can't believe Chase started preschool this year.  He looks so old to me in these pictures.  We are still waiting to get the class picture, but they had a photographer come and get his class photo this past fall and then we signed up for individual photos.  I love these photos, they are so Japanese.  So I had my first parent/teacher conference a month ago with Mrs. Yuli.  It went really well.  Apparently I found out that Chase is not shy and loves to sing she said even when they are not suppose to be singing.  Apparently he is doing great in all the categories(verbal, art, cognitive, etc.), we still need to work on sharing but thats a work in progress.  Chase is also getting really good at writing his name, which they practice at the start of each class.  Chase loves his preschool and his teacher, Mrs. Yuli, and he loves to pick up his friend Becca in the morning to go to school with him.  And now he told me he wants to invite another friend over from school, so we will be setting up some play dates soon.  Chase just seems to be getting smarter and smarter each day, and he is developing a sense of humor.  Tonight Cole was trying to back the car into a parking spot and was having a hard time, and then we hear Chase in the back seat, "Just try again Dad"!

The photographer was really nice and took a few photos with Bryce since he was wearing the same outfit as his brother.

Misawa Science and Aviation Museum

My dad's last day with the boys. The boys and I had fun showing him the Misawa Science and Aviation Museum. It was a little too cold to play outside and see the planes, but there was plenty to do inside. Chase loves this room with the hands on crane and cart.

My dad was a great sport, he was trying it all. He was in a wind tunnel in the picture below.

Harlem Globetrotters & Pepper Lunch

Pepper Lunch is the name of a restaurant in our nearby mall. It is so good. They give you a hot plate with raw meat and vegetables that you cook yourself in a matter of minutes. It is delicious. Our favorite is the beef with corn and rice.
Cole, Chase, and my dad got to go see the Harlem Globetrotters. They came and did a free show at our base. It was hard to get tickets, but we have a great neighbor that hooks us up with tickets.

Asamushi Aquarium & Dolphin Show

Massive Sting Ray and his buddy, the shark.
Love the clown fish
Watching the dolphin show, not sure who is more excited, the boys or Grampy and Grammy. You can't understand a thing that is said since the show is in Japanese, but it is a very entertaining 20 minutes. It is amazing how they train dolphins to do all their tricks.


Bryce watching the turtle intently. These are some huge turtles.

Grammy and Chase found Dori and Nemo in the same tank.

Watch out Grampy, its' alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Took this photo at a stop light in the car. It is the road that the aquarium is on. Such a neat Tori across the water.