Earthquake!

OK, it was only like a 3 magnatude but it still was freaky. I am told they happen here all the time but this is the first one that I have felt. I heard a rumble and then something banged in the kitchen. A few minutes later the same thing happened but this time the dining room chair I was sitting in moved with me still in it. Apparently there was one last Saturday at 4:30 in the morning. The people who felt it said their beds moved. Glad I missed that one.

Samantha's Happy Birthday!

Samantha got to celebrate her Happy Birthday twice. Her birthday was on a Tuesday so we let her open presents and have ice cream. On Saturday she had her party. It was a Mickey Mouse party. We bought her 25 balloons with long ribbons. The kids loved playing with the balloons. She had some friends over and we had pizza, ice cream cake, and made a craft. Mickey Mouse called her on the phone too! Her friends that came to the party were: Maggie, Nate, Izzie, Eva, Abbie, and Alani. Samantha got cranky towards the end of the party. She fell asleep on the couch with her balloons after everyone left.

Sami's first pedicure

I took Samantha to a place called Cocok's to get her toes painted for her birthday. If you are in Okinawa or have been here before, you know about Cocok's. They do awesome pedicures with free hand nail art. I think it is a rite of passage for little American girls to get their toes done at Cocok's.

Samantha loves when I paint "sparkles" on her toes but she was a little afraid to go before we left. She liked when they soaked her feet in the pink water. She picked pretty balloons to be painted on her toes. They look so cute!

Shocked!

There was a double murder in my small little hometown and I know the person they arrested for it! Isn't that crazy? I can't even believe it. I have known this guy for probably my whole life. My parent's knew his parents. His dad was my junior high guidance counsler. He was a PE teacher in the county. He has two kids with his ex-wife. From the info they have gathered so far, he beat his pregnant girlfriend and her 4 year old son to death with a baseball bat. The bodies were found in a car in the woods somewhere near his house. He apparently called his friend and asked for help with deposing of the bodies. His friend called the cops. I am wondering if the sherrif's department even knows how to conduct a murder investagation. I think they need to call Grissom for some help! Here is a link to the news broadcast and story. http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=22662

Easter Fun!

We had a good Easter. It rained all night and most of the day, so the Easter Bunny hid Sami's eggs inside. She was very excited for the rabbit to come and woke up at 5:00 AM. We had a cookout with the neighbors for lunch. It was raining then too, so Tommye was nice enough to have everyone in her house. The rain let up enough for us to have a big egg hunt with the 5 multiplex buildings on the hill. Samantha, Maggie, and Izzie had a little girls egg hunt in front of our building while the big kids hunted around the other buildings. Everyone had alot of fun!

Playgroup Easter Party

Our playgroup had an Easter party on Thursday. "The Rabbit" came and we had an egg hunt. As you can see in the picture, Sami was not too happy about "the Rabbit." After the picture, we had to go back twice to pet him though. She won't call him the Easter Bunny, she calls him the Easter Rabbit or just "the Rabbit." The hostess had a ton of helium filled balloons floating around the house with long ribbons. Samantha loved the balloons. She played with them the whole time and had to take some home. She played with them until bedtime and had to leave them in her room. When she woke up, she was very upset that the balloons would not fly anymore. She kept asking Sean to put them back up.

Sami, Izzie, and the "kite."

Samantha and Izzie (our neighbor) were outside playing. They found a long pink nylon streamer and Sami said it was a kite. They stood in the backyard, each holding one end and waited for the wind to move the kite around. They thought it was very funny.
All that kite flying worked up an appetite. So they needed a snack but they still had to hold on to their ends of the kite. After a few Teddy Grahams, they took the kite for a ride in the car. They are so cute!

Bye bye crib, hello bed!

Samantha said goodbye to her crib on Saturday and finally got her new "big girl Hello Kitty bed." She was still sleeping well in her crib but we decided to go ahead and move her so she can get used to a big bed before our trip to the states. We had bought the bed along time ago at the furniture store (PX rule #1 from Sand table saga below). It had been in boxes clogging up our spare room. We picked out and ordered the Hello Kitty bedding a while ago too. Samantha helped her Daddy build her new bed. She held the wrench and the screws and got to push the button on the electric screwdriver. Of course she wanted to jump on the bed as soon as it was up. She ended up not napping on Saturday because she was too excited.

We left her crib up in her room until Sunday afternoon in case she had a change of heart about her "little bed." She was concerned about where it was going to go, so we put the crib mattress under her bed to "keep it safe from the kitties."

We still need to take the Pooh wallpaper border down and put up the Hello Kitty decorations. I will take more pictures of her room once it is all done.