Playing at Shimoda Mall

The boys and I took Grammy over to Shimoda mall the day after she arrived, a couple of weeks ago.  We love Shimoda for its yummy Pepperlunch, and the boys love it for this fun kiddie area filled with games, balls, slides, and all sorts of toys.  Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, but the boys have no time to stop. 

 Bryce and Chase playing a bulldozer game.

 Chase is back there buried, he likes to dive off the side and bury himself.

 Bryce loves making ice cream cones, there is also a sushi station that the boys play with as well.

Happy Birthday Tig

Cole turned 32 last Saturday.  But we actually had to celebrate the weekend before he left for his Humanitarian mission to Laos.  It is turning into a running joke that we are always apart for his birthday and our anniversary(#8 this year).  So we celebrated Cole's birthday by going out with our good friends Brad and Liz to Phada's for some really good Thai food and games.  And then the boys and I celebrated his birthday the night before he left.  Happy Birthday Dad!

My Sweet Easter Boys

I love my boys.  Even though they can be tiring, they are both so much fun right now.  I just try to enjoy every minute.  Here is what they are up to lately:

Bryce-He is on the move.  Whenever he can't find me, Bryce will just start yelling, "Ma, Ma, Ma" as loud as he can until he can find me.  And he is usually holding a book in his hands for me to read.  It is hilarious, it makes Cole laugh.  He has learned some animal sounds lately.  His "meow" is so darling, and he can roar, and quak.  Whenever he wants some food he says, "Caw, Caw".  He sounds just like a baby bird, it is so funny.  Don't know where he learned that one, but at least I know when he wants some food I guess.  Bryce loves to give Chase hugs, but he also likes to hall off and bite him when he is not sharing.  So we are currently working on that problem, and I think Chase is slowly learning not to make Bryce mad.  Bryce loves to snuggle and give me hugs which is so wonderful.

Chase-This past week it finally started to warm up outside, hooray.  So we have been outside a lot, and Chase and I have been playing kickball and baseball.  And Chase and Cole made a sports video together that is really cute.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8tCvTG-tg

Chase is my little buddy.  He loves to ask me if he can help.  So he helps me a lot in the kitchen and around the house.  He loves to sing, especially "Itsy Bitzy Spider."  And I taught him "Little Bunny Foo Foo" so he has been singing that song lately.  Chase does get moody and emotional, I think that is just being a 3 year old.  But Chase still loves to give me hugs and is such a sweet kid.  He is a keeper.

Easter Fun

Chase was really excited to color eggs this year.  Since we have been reading a lot of Easter books and we have been talking about Easter in Joy School, he pretty much asked me every day if today was Easter.   And he was excited to leave some carrots out for the Easter Bunny.

Cole took a couple of cute pictures of Bryce while I was getting the eggs ready to color.  Bryce just loves his books.

My favorite Chase line of the morning after his Dad pulled out an egg.  "That is beautiful."  I had never heard him use that word before, it was too cute.

 Chase's two favorite colored eggs.

The Easter Bunny found our house.  The Easter Bunny hid all the eggs inside this year so he did not freeze his little tail off for our 40 degree Easter weater.

 Chase and Bryce's favorite Easter gifts were a couple of action figures.  Spiderman and Ironman.

 Easter brunch at the Club.

Wasn't sure how Bryce was going to do with the Easter Bunny, since he was scared to death of Santa.  But he loved the Easter Bunny.  He gave him high fives and he kept wanting to go back and sit on his lap.  Too funny.

 Chase picked out a special egg, so he got to pick out an Easter basket with some fun toys.

Bryce's First Haircut

Bryce was amazing for his very first haircut.  Maybe it helped watching Chase go first, but he just sat on my lap and let the stylist cut his hair.  I didn't realize how much hair he had.  Not so much up top, but he was sporting the mullet in the back.  This was a much better experience than Chase's first haircut when Chase and I walked out of there in tears.

 Bryce instantly went from my little baby to a little boy.

Med Group Easter Egg Hunt

Congrats Major Cole Taylor

Congrats Major Cole Taylor.  Cole, is no longer a Captain, he is now referred to as Major Cole Taylor in the air force.  And he gets to wear pretty gold leaves on his lapel.  Way to go Sweetie.

We surprised Cole at work with some Ice Cream cake to share with his co-workers and some balloons and a card.  The boys were loving the cake.  Chase had fun helping me pick it out.  At first he kept thinking it was dad's birthday, but then he figured it out and told Cole really clearly "Congratulations" when we saw him.

Making Japanese Rice Balls

Chase and Becca learning how to make Japanese Rice balls at preschool by Mrs. Yuli. They first scooped some rice into their seran wrap.  Then Chase put salmon flakes inside of his rice and Becca put tuna inside of her rice.  Then they rolled it into a ball and wrapped seaweed around it.  They both ate them up and wanted more.  And Chase kept telling me that he wanted to make some more at home.  My little Japanese boy.  His Daiichi days really helped him to like the Japanese food.

I love getting to see Chase at preschool.  He is so talkative, a little too much, but he livens up the room.  Chase has been telling me the sweetest thing lately, "Mommy, you're my best friend.''  Then he will follow up that Becca, Caid, and Ryan are his best friends as well.  But Chase is the sweetest kid.  He is so much fun.

This was too funny.  Chase ate about 3 of these long strips of seaweed plain.  You usually eat them with the rice ball.  But Chase was the only one eating them plain. His teacher was cracking up.

They are singing a Japanese song here and I think are talking about a little temple.  The last couple weeks of preschool they have been learning about Japan and their traditions.

Dad's Home

Cole's first night home from his little over a week long trip to Vegas.  Thought this was sweet so I took a quick snapshot.  We survived the week but it was good to have Cole back.  He said he had a great trip.  His conference went really well, and he enjoyed seeing his parents, and had some good times with his buddy Bill.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I am one lucky mom!  We had a good St. Patty's Day, although we were sad that Cole left us for the states for a week.  But we had a lot of Green going on.  Green pancakes and green shakes for breakfast.  Green shirts to wear and books to read.  Don't think we had anything green for dinner, but we had some green popcorn that we made the day before and some green cupcakes left over from our little party that we went to the day before with some other kids and moms from our branch.  One thing that is funny lately.  Chase tells me every time he picks up a book or toy that his "Grammy/Grandma gave this to him".  I just say yes, and laugh to myself, cause it usually is true.  These boys are super lucky to have such great grandparents that send them fun gifts and clothes.

 My boys love their books.  I love it when Chase reads books to Bryce, so precious.

My leprechaun is trying to find his gold through the web he created, with my help.  Chase had a blast with this game.  Since it continues to snow nonstop we have to find a lot of indoor games to keep my guys busy.  We play a lot of duck, duck, goose(Bryce loves this one too), tag your it, racing, hide and seek, etc.  It is a good thing these boys are so cute.

Sneaky Bryce at 14 1/2 Months

So this is Bryce at 14 1/2 months.  I walked by the bathroom to find him standing up on the stool for the first time and playing in the sink.  He just seems like he is getting older each day and we are just in love with this little guy.  Few things about Bryce right now that we can't get enough of:
-He loves books.  Bryce walks around with a book in his hand most of the time and plops in your lap and wants you to read him a book.
-He loves to cuddle and gives great big hugs.
-He loves to say, "Ma Ma Ma".  Chase said Da Da before Ma Ma, so Bryce is just the opposite.  When you try to get him to say anything else, he will just say ma ma ma and laugh.  Although I got him to say "Go Go Go" the other day.
-He loves to nod his head when he is saying yes.  Especially when he is eating something that is good he nods his head in approval and smiles.  It is too funny.  Chase was the opposite here as well, cause he learned to shake his head side to side to say no, and Bryce does forward and back for yes.
-He loves to laugh.  He has the cutest giggle and loves for mom, dad, and especially Chase to tickle him.
-He has had a few bites of ice cream, he still has is dairy allergy so he can't have too much, but he thinks ice cream might be the best thing ever.  He is in heaven.  Chase and Bryce are just alike with their love for ice cream.  We caught Chase one morning with the ice cream carton out eating it for breakfast.

More Hakkoda Fun

Cole had another awesome day at Hakkoda.  Although, he was full of good and bad stories when he got home.  One being losing his snow shoe, no backpack, and only having one pole and a group of Japanese finding it and asking "What happened". And Cole being totally embarrassed and sheepishly saying, "I don't know."  And their response being, "What do you mean, you don't know?"  

Cole's Australian buddy Josh, who is moving to Australia for good this week.  We will miss him and his wife, Crystal, and their new baby.  Maybe in 20 years we will be able to pay them a visit in Aussie land hopefully. 

Hiking up to a new peak that Cole said was untouched and just amazing to board.

Green Eggs and Ham

Today I got to be a part of Chase's Dr. Seuss preschool day.  The kids all wore their jammies to school.  I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with Chase in his classroom and watching him in action.  Chase is just so animated and just loves it all, I am so glad he is my mine. He would pick out 3 books at a time and bring them back for us to read in one of the little tents they had set up for all the moms and kids.  

Then we got to join in on snack time which was Green Eggs and Ham. Chase instructed me on their snack time routine which was really cute. And Ms. Yuli had them say some things in Japanese, and Chase said everything back to her really well. I had no idea what he said, but it sounded cool.

Then we got to watch them do a little bit of their circle time with Ms. Yuli.  Chase loves to sing.  Here they are singing the "Going on a Bear Hunt" song.