I got my first grade back for the first week of class in INT 463 (World Religions). 99.5%!!!!!! woo hoo. I got .5 point taken off because I bolded the title of the paper and that's 'not professional.' Ok...so now I can stop stressing because I'm doing fine. Thanks! That's all. :-)
Hi Here are the instructions on how to make the gussets and bottom of the bag:
First, with RIGHT SIDE SHOWING I topstitch around the neck and arms
Next, Fold the handles in half and pin at the top
Next,fold down the side by tucking the seam into the bag between all of the layers (see next 2 pics) PIN through all layers
This is what the side should look like at the bottom
Repeat for the other side and stitch opening closed on bottom
Sew a seam at the top of the handles keeping them folded in half. I sew into the seam that is already there making the new seam nearly invisible
Turn the bag inside out at flatten out like this: (sorry, not a better explanation)
Hi!
Mason just learned to do the sign language for "more." At meal time, we can not put food on his tray fast enough and he used to SCREAM when he wanted more. Now, he quietly does the sign. (click HERE to see an illustration) It's such a blessing and so neat to see him communicating this way.
Mason and I had a Fall/Halloween party at M.O.P.S on Tuesday and we had a blast. There were sweets, games and friends. On more than one occasion Mason was involved in cupcake theft. :-) The kids, that were able to/old enough, played pin the nose on the pumpkin. The kids that were too little just ran up and stole the nose off of the pumpkin. Mason was guilty again. :-)
We opened one of Mason's birthday presents early and we all (including Kyle) had a blast playing with it. Grammy Stacey and Grandpa Mike got this cute water play table and we set it up on some towels inside. Mason had no idea what it even was but was EXTREMELY excited the whole time it was being set up.
A couple of days this week, after dinner, we've taken a walk down to the SeaWall and had a great time. It's a great way to get out of the house, work off dinner and waste time until Mason's bedtime. The water is extremely peaceful and the sunsets are gorgeous. I think we just might make it a nighly routine!
Tonight we are going Trick-or-Treating on base. It's allowed from 6-8 pm. We would go out in town but Japan doesn't really do Halloween. We probably won't be gone too long, just need to get a picture.
Tomorrow morning I am going to set up a spot at the local flea market and sell some of our unused items. We have all grown out of a bunch of clothes (either by getting smaller :-) or bigger) and I hope to make a little money off of them.
My favorite holiday is only 2 months away! A few of you have been asking for Christmas lists from us so I will let you know what we would like/need.
Kyle: gift card or any clothes from PacSun or Old Navy, he would really like some Dickies Work shorts (black or tan)
Nicole: any scrapbook/knitting supply, gift card to JoAnn's Fabric or Ebay, walmart gift card, any fabric,
Mason: mostly clothes (preferable jammies and summer/fall/spring no winter please), he LOVES to read so books are great, he also loves ELMO and BLUES CLUES so those DVDS too
Also, they recommend mailing gifts no later than November 20th because of how crazy and backed up the mail gets here around Christmas time. If anything gets here early, we will just set it aside.
In case you should need them, here are some sizes: Mason:
Clothes 18months -24 months
Shoes - 4.5/5 Toddler (his feet are so cute and chubby)
Nicole: Shirts Juniors Large, Ladies Small/Medium Pants juniors 9, ladies 8/medium Shoes 8
Kyle: Shirts Large Pants 36w Shoes 10.5
LOVE YOU ALL!
So I started school, AGAIN, yesterday. I'm taking 6 week courses and 2 classes each time. So in semester terms I think it's 12 hours per semester. I know I can do it but it's really going to take a lot of effort to balance socialness, house stuff, mason stuff, me stuff, kyle stuff and school. Once again, I know I can do it because I rarely don't accomplish what I put my mind to but I'm just nervous. So, hopefully I will be finished with school and can begin teaching by the time we are done in Japan. :-)
Wow, I just realized I haven't written anything in quite some a very long time. Well, Mason is still growing up very and fast. He had a WIC appointment on the 6th and he's still in the 25ht-50th percentile in his growth so he's doing fine. He weighs 21 lbs and is 29in now. He's still saying the same things-mama, dada, but he says random things, like bababa and maaaaa, when he wants stuff.
Mason is a professional walker now. When we go out I keep forgetting that he can walk so i need to keep shoes on all the time. He loves to walk around the post office and play with all of the PO boxes when we go check our mail. He also loves it when we get a letter or something because he gets to throw it around carry it to the car.
He got his second hair cut on Sunday. Kyle and Mason went to the barber shop and both got hair cuts at the same time. He was so well behaved again and even let them use the clippers on him.
He loves to point at things that he sees everywhere we go. He points at lights, people, food, houses, and even points his finger out to ring our door bell every time we come home.
I am starting finishing college (again and hopefully for the last time) on the 27th. I'll be taking 2 classes every 6 weeks so hopefully I'll be graduated in 3 years or so. I'm going for my Bachelors in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Math so I can hopefully be a 4th, 5th, or middle school math teacher.
I'm still working out with stroller strides and have lost about 10 lbs and 2 pant sizes so I'm pretty excited about that still. We had a picnic/pool party one day after class and Mason ate some watermelon for the first time with another student Lila. They both loved it!
I had no idea that after pregnancy and childbirth women lose some hair. I lost SO MUCH hair one day in the shower when Mason was about 4 months old I thought I was dieing. Well, it turns out that is completely normal but now I have sprouts of short hair growing in all over my head where it fell out. Kyle keeps saying "nice bangs" but it's just short hairs growing back in. Oh the joys of pregnancy and childbirth.
Kyle is still loving his job. He's gone now for 4 days but we're still really enjoying it. To finish his promotion to Staff Sargeant, he is required to attend "Airmen Leadership School" (ALS). It's about a month long and he starts around the beginning of November. When he graduates from this class he will still have to wait until next year to begin being a SsGt.
A photographer here needed some children to practice photographing and she asked to use Mason...
Mason's birthday is coming up in just a couple of short weeks! I can't believe our baby is a is almost a year old. Wow, our life is flying by now that we are parents. I also can't believe we've been here 5 months! That's almost half a year! 1/8th of our time in Okinawa! WOw. Thanks for tuning in again and when I get VOX to let me post some pictures (for some reason they won't right now), I'll get some new ones up. We Love and Miss You ALL
here's a video of mason reading
Mason LOVES to take a bath. Every night before bed, he takes a bath, gets a bottle, gets dressed while he's drinking and then gets tucked in. He's a wonderful sleeper too. Lately we've been starting the routine around 6:30 and he's asleep by 7. LOVE IT! oh yeah, and he wakes up around 6:30 or 7 too. :-) We are very blessed. Well, back to him loving the bath. Here are a couple pictures of him playing in the bath.
Ok...this is a very old video. I think it's from April when we were staying in the hotel on McGuire but I thought it was really cute of him eating.
We went to dinner tonight at a barbecue restaraunt on a marine base nearby and took a family pic before we left. Love you all!
Hi! Every month at the community center on base they have about 10 drawings for free activities. Some are arts and crafts, shows in town, trips off base, shopping, etc. I've started entering Kyle and myself in all of them each month. Last month I won a free Japanese Brush Calligraphy class. We learned the history of Japanese calligraphy and their brushes. A Japanese custom is to grow your baby's hair very long before giving them their first hair cut. Once you do cut it, the hair is saved and used to make a souvenier calligraphy brush. Strange but neat. I did the word Peace at class. Japanese letters are called Kanji, so the 2 large Kanji make the word peace and the smaller Kanji on the right is my name.
This month I won a free Origami (paper folding) class that I took two days ago. I expected to come out having made a simple crane or something but we actually make a large box out of 16 sheets of paper. It was a lot of fun and took us an hour and a half to create.
The teacher made these for me to 'give to my baby'.
Hopefully I'll keep winning stuff each month! It's been a lot of fun!
Later!
So Mason and I have come down with a sniffly nose and of course that means Mason has a diaper rash too. When he's teething or has the sniffles we are guaranteed to have a lovely (TERRIBLE) diaper rash to go with it. It kills me though because I have to clean the area well to help it heal but while I am cleaning it he is getting hurt so bad. We are just keeping up with the cream and changes. I know this is crazy to say but I think the "cold weather" we've been having lately might have caused this sniffly bout. (it's been in the low 80's ) :-) cold, i know.
I went to check on Mason during his nap yesterday, after he had been sleeping for 3 hours, and found him fully asleep pulling his own hair. I had to get that on tape...
We are having a much needed rain storm now that's been going on for almost 24 hours. It's nice because it cools it off a little bit.
'til next time!
So Mason is officially a walker! He walks everywhere! He's finally made it up to 8ish steps at a time and he's so proud of himself. (as are we) Here's a video of him walking at a friends where she was bribing him with a cheez-it... it worked great!
We are supposed to be having a Typhoon sometime in the next few days so we are getting prepared for that. A Typhoon is pretty much heavy rain and winds so don't be too worried. If you want to check out anything about Kadena AFB and Okinawa, here are a couple of websites that I visit regularly. www.OkinawaHai.com www.Kadena.af.mil www.kadenaservices.com www.japanupdate.com
Oh yeah! And Mason is 10 months old today! Wow, he's growing up so quick!
'till next time
Okay, I cannot even get this far. read more
on pics for Mom