There Arose Such a Clatter!!!

How many elves does Santa need? Shelly and I almost got it done by ourselves, but we had to call John for backup.

Christmas Eve Dinner with the Atkinsons was awesome. Thanks Jenn, Lance and Landon!!!!

Ok, for all you mom's and dad's out there, you know this is the best part. I am so excited that I can hardly sleep. The kids however are nestled snug in their beds! I Can't Wait!!! Merry Christmas to all! For all of you in the States-we are now going to bed on Christmas Eve as you are waking up. Love you all.

Thoughts on Discipline

Thanks Amy for the tag. Well, although I love all of the posts I have read so far on the subject, I guess I can't steal ideas.
My number one thought on discipline is learn to appologize! This comes into play quite often in my life. We have a tendency to be a live by the seat of your pants family and so when it comes to discipline I often find myself letting things go until I loose my patience. This then turns into loud noises coming from my mouth and some slamming of things. I am sorry. This is something my kids hear a lot. I am hoping that I am teaching them the art of forgivness. i guess that is something right?
Secondly, remember that they are people too. They have feelings and thoughts on the way things should go in their lives. Let them feel free to have those! I think families who discipline harshly and constantly take all of the control away from the kids. They need to fell that they have some influence in the way their life is going.
I am blessed to have two pretty great kids who seem to know the boundaries even if I don't remember setting them. Maybe my husband was busy doing this when I wasn't looking?


Miche does not spare the rod.
Jo-N wants to be her children's best friend.Tot's Mom spares the rod and believes in patience.Huckdoll spares the rod and believes there are more effective yet gentle ways to discipline than spanking.Kelly at Ordinary Art has a three-step approach that does not always work but leaves tiny tushes mark free.OhMommy has spanked and never will again.Amy spanks when necessary.The Sports Mama found it depended on the individual child and the situation.Karen thinks that each situation needs dealt with differently.Maria sets high expectations and likes "the talk".
AmyC uses choices and a sense of humor. Stephanie apologises alot and thinks kids are people too.

Tis the season!!

Thanks mom for the Christmas gift!!! I love it!!!!

Hello all. Well tis the season to bake cookies, go to school plays, eat lots of candy canes, shop, and WRAP!! Oh, how I wish Santa would do the wrapping all by himself. This is what my neighbor and I have been up to. My room has been turned into wrap central. I wish John could have taken a better picture of the amount of presents we were drowning in. She has three kids and with my two, man I am tired. Here is also the cookie deco from yesterday. Let me be the first to promote egg nog.

Seriously, I am missing my family and friends terribly right now. I am missing Amy and the boys decorating cookies with us and right about now we would be driving to Louisiana to see our family. I miss all of the family get togethers too. As much as we use to wish we didn't have to go to so many places all at once. I have a baby niece that I haven't seen since July and that makes me sad. I am excited however that John got the webcam working and I was able to see my mom this morning. We are doing the best we can here and I am sure there will be some great memories to come from this, so I am okay. Well, to all who reads this Have a Blessed Christmas and when I get off of the egg nog I will post more. Love from Okinawa

Wow!! This is fun! Would you believe that I finally figured all of this out. After figuring out how to change the lanuage from Japanese to English I am now on my way! Ok, so I got stumped at the name your blog section. This is where you are suppose to be clever. You know that "she's so creative" section. This is where my perfectionistic views come into play. I have this very strange view of things that cripples me at times. It is called if it can't be done just perfect right now then don't do it! Well, this often causes me to just not do alot of things that I would love. At the urging of my very best friend in the world I am here. I made it past the "it's ok it doesn't have to be perfect" speech that I must give myself before any new endeavor. Amy, I really envy the way you can just jump head first into anything and not have a fear or reservation about trying new things. It is also one of the things I love most about you.

Ok, so here I am. Now what? I am an Air Force wife with two kids. Boy in 6th grade, girl in 4th. We are now living in Okinawa Japan curtosy of the Air Force of course. We moved here 6 months ago and I feel that I have just been stuck. I am hoping to tap back into some of the things that gave me pleasure before the move. You know, get back to normal. I guess now I feel a sense of home and the life I once led can commence to get back to some sort of normalcy. I am a scrapbooker and my new love is cooking. The food here is strange and expensive, so I am now having to learn to get my creative juices flowing in that area. I am easily bored with things, so volunteering is my life's calling. That way my job is constantly changing. If it gets too boring, I can walk away and find somewhere else interesting to try. This month my job of choice is the Post Office. Very interesting and hard work. Overseas military bases are covered in packages at Christmas, so they beg for help. Anyway that is a little tidbit of myself. I am new to this and so not sure how to sign off for the post, but the day awaits!!