Getting SO Big!

Grace is really growing up! She can recognize all of the letters of the alphabet and knows their name/sound. She is a GREAT helper, especially when it comes to throwing something away or putting something in the dirty clothes. She also LOVES to help load/unload the dishwasher but that is a task that I would rather do when she is busy with something else. I am not so sure if the dishwasher can hold all of her weight when she climbs in :-) She helps sort the laundry on Sunday mornings and she can put some things away on her own. I have just decided I better get used to the dish towels being crammed in the drawer since she will often unfold them before she puts them in.

Dustin took a few really cute pictures of her last night so I thought I would share them!

She has been practicing being a good big sister by taking care of her babies.

Do you like her little pig tails??

A couple of weeks ago she was wanting to play in her crib and when I walked into her bedroom she was climbing on the outside of the rails. I put her in and sat with her for a few minutes but I needed to check on the dinner I was cooking so I told her I would be right back. Not a minute later she was fussing and wanted to get out and come find me. I walked back in her room and her leg was over the crib and she was trying to climb out! We decided that since she is pretty fearless and is also a little monkey it would probably be wise to take the rail off before she fell out trying to climb out. After about a week of her rolling out of bed onto the pillows on blankets we had in the floor we finally put up the bunk beds we were planning on saving until she moves into her new room in our new house.

She loves her new bed!! She got so excited after I had the bottom bunk set up with her Dora sheet on. She likes to play in her bed and run from one end to the other.

She has a Dora pillow that she now has to sleep with. When we go to check on her she is normally laying with almost her entire body on the pillow!

Birthday Cake!

Whenever we mention the words "make a cake" Grace gets SO excited. I don't think she really cares much about putting the ingredients in the bowl as much as she does about taste testing them! When we made my birthday cake she helped pour things into the bowl and then she would try to take some of the mix out of the bowl while we measured the next ingredient. And then, of course, there was her favorite part - licking the bowl.

Then when it came time to blow out the candles she was ready.

She even helped blow!!

House!!

It's official! We are now homeowners!!!

My Dad closed for us with power of attorney this morning our time, which also happens to be my birthday. So now I can say I got a house for my birthday!!!

We are so excited to get back home. We haven't actually seen the house in person but we have seen several pictures and my parents have been out several times to check it out.

3 bedrooms + office, 2 baths, sits on 1 acre and comes with a riding lawn mower!

{Front}

{back of house... plenty of room for a swing set and garden!}

{Entry}

{office}

{living room - mount for TV above the fireplace}

{bathroom}

{Kitchen}

{island and part of the dining room}

{bedroom - love the ceiling!}

{whirlpool tub in the master bathroom}

{master bath}

{back yard}

{back patio}

{front porch}

Fireworks!

On Saturday we drove up to Nago (about an hour away) to watch the largest fireworks display on Okinawa! Every summer, the Ocean Expo Park puts on a show lasting about 45 minutes with about 10,000 fireworks. It happens the Saturday before Marine Day, which is always on a Monday and last year fell on my birthday. We had decided to just found a place to park and watch the fireworks from the car. We didn't want to go early and pay to get into the park and then have to deal with the loud booms which frighten Grace. We saw a little spot along a sea wall with a lot of locals and after driving a little further and finding several roads had been blocked we turned around and went back to join the locals.

{Getting ready to watch the fireworks}

We saw a few fireworks and then they stopped and we got a little disappointed but everyone seemed to be staying so we stayed a little longer. Then we saw a few more across the ocean at a different location and then they stopped. Again, everyone was staying put. Then the real show happened! I guess we just got a little warm-up before the real show began.

This was by far the BEST display we have ever seen! I am sure it would have been a lot better if we were closer since we were not able to see some of the fountains because of buildings and trees between us and the show, but then Grace would not have enjoyed it near as well since we would have really heard all of the booms.

Here are a couple pictures of Grace enjoying the show. Her expressions are priceless!!!

{Oooooh!!!}

Summer Fun!

Since I have not posted in a while I thought I would just post some pictures of Grace enjoying the warm weather. We play in the water almost every single day and she LOVES it!

She has a pool, a wagon, a slide, and a water table all on our balcony!

And sometimes we even make it to the big swimming pool!

Last weekend we went to the beach to celebrate Maggie's birthday. They had a bubble machine and Grace got to enjoy lots and lots of bubbles!

And she got to spend some time in the water. Someone found a BIG starfish and she got to touch it!

Christmas in July

It sure did feel like Christmas to Grace last night! She received a package in the mail from her great-grandma and I couldn't get it opened fast enough. When her Daddy carried the box through the door she started screaming "PRESENT, PRESENT!"

As soon as we got it opened we started to dig in and we found all sorts of goodies! There was an adorable dress for Grace (which she wore today!) but she was screaming "DORA, DORA" Then I saw the dress that had Dora on it! After checking out the Dora dress we pulled out a Tinkerbell dress but she wanted to see what else was in the box. We pulled out a pink tutu and put it on followed by her princess crown. Then she saw a puzzle at the very bottom which she wanted opened right away. The excitement still hasn't worn off today. I had to almost pry the tutu... and the bathing suits and hats... off of her this morning when it was time to leave the house...

{Waiting patiently on Mommy to open the puzzle - "Oh-pee, oh-pee"}

{Showing off her crown}

{Finally time to play with the puzzle}

{She found a wand!}

Wonder Museum

Dustin had the day off on Monday so we decided to take Grace to the Wonder Museum at the Okinawa Zoo. After spending a lot of time outside on Sunday we wanted something that was indoors and I only have about 2 weeks left to use my annual pass so this was perfect!

Every time we go Grace enjoys it more and more! There were not many other people there at all so we got a private tour of the first floor and part of the second floor by one of the staff. We finally learned what some of the things do (almost everything is in Japanese)!

Here are some pictures from our day

{You are supposed to put you hands together with the wire between them and then run your hand in a circle. The 3 sides have different sized holes which all make it feel different on your hands}

{Having a tea party... there was a donut that Grace was excited about!}

{There were about 3-4 of these ramps set up and a bucket of balls. Grace had a great time with this!!}

{Start by putting the wooden circles on the top and they roll down... the goal is for it to make it to the end which is where the small triangle is}

{Another ramp for the balls}

{and another ramp}

{We raced our balls down this one!!}

4th of July Pictures

These are some of the pictures we took at our church's BBQ on the 4th of July. They try to bring a little bit of America to Japan each year and they did a good job!

There was a kiddie pool set up and we didn't think Grace would want in since there were so many kids in it but she proved us wrong!

After some time in the water she decided it was time to swing!

And she played basketball with her Daddy and several Japanese girls (one of them was playing in HEELS!)

She was SO independent! She would just walk around, check out the pool, go play with other kids. There were a couple of older girls who would tell her she needed to go back to her Mommy when she would go to play with them.

After it got dark we went up on the roof to watch the fireworks. We were far enough away that they were not too loud, which made Grace happy. But there were some clouds that blocked about half of the fireworks.