Almost a year

Looking sweet and pretty!
Her famous nose wrinkle!

For Kara's 1st birthday I am wanting to make her birthday invitations with pictures and photo shop, but it may be harder than I thought. She is quite the little busy body and could care less about doing the perfect photo shoot like I want her to do. As a test run, I took a few pics of her in my best friend's daughter, Caitlyn's 1st birthday dress. She let me borrow it in case I couldn't find one for Kara. I did end up getting Kara her own personalized birthday outfit,

but couldn't resist taking some pics of her in Caitlyn's dress. So I set everything up perfectly and got to snapping. She was being silly as usual! I wanted to share what pictures I did get, so I hope you enjoy them. I am hoping to get her invitation pictures done tomorrow, but I am waiting to see how her mood is... Stay tuned!

Her showing me that she pulled her bracelet off.

Showing her destructive side....

Who me, destructive? No way! (Notice her little ring on her finger, it's so sweet!)

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

Queen O' The Green

Playing with her green block!

She looks so beautiful in this pic!

Who me? No way mom, I would never do anything that crazy....

For Kara's 1st St. Patrick's Day we did a little photo shoot. It was quite challenging being that she hates things on her head, because I got her the cutest little headband to wear. As soon as I would get it on her head and get the camera ready she had pulled it off. After a half hour of doing this over and over I finally managed to get a few shots. The balloons were a great attention getter. The only problem was getting her to stop trying to eat them. She's teething pretty bad these days and EVERYTHING finds it way into her mouth. I am most certain she has swallowed at least one hair rubber band. It's kind of scary how many times I have caught her with things in her mouth that most certainly don't belong there. On St. Patrick's Day her daddy had to leave for a trip so we had to find something to entertain ourselves. What better way celebrate than to make some lasting memories with pictures? Here my little Queen O' The Green!

Mommy and me class

Every Thursday we attend a playgroup for an hour. Kara loves seeing other kids; she begins squealing when we walk in the room. (She's the loudest in the group!) She is very much a social butterfly. She is also very aggressive in her playing. I am constantly having to call her down or give back toys that she takes from the other kids. One mom joked that she was a girl that knows what she wants. I guess so! I keep telling myself that I shouldn't be upset or embarrassed that she does these things. It is her personality. She isn't like me at all in that sense. I am usually really shy around new people. She on the other hand tries her best to get there attention, and usually succeeds. Every where we go people flock to her. Usually they tell me how pretty her eyes are or how she looks like a baby doll (or cabbage patch kid). I think we may be in for living with an entertainer. Last week another mom told me about some other play groups on Monday and Friday that I think we will start attending also. Kara needs an outlet for all her energy and I think it will provide that. I will keep you updated....
Playing with a ball

On the parachute waiting for some bubbles!

Alli the Alligator giving her a kiss.

Watching the bubbles. Look at the little guy in the back right corner. Isn't he so cute? Chubby little thing!

She was clapping her hands! Bubbles are her favorite!

My little graduate

Playing in the balls
Kara, Ms. Larrissa, and Bebo the bear.

So proud of her certificate!

It's been six weeks since we began our baby sign language class and now it's over. I enjoyed learning the signs and Kara loved playing with the other kids. So far Kara has signed "more" a few times and "brush". I couldn't be more proud. She has really started to pay attention to the signs that I show her. From my understanding she will be signing on her own before I know it. I have always wanted to learn how to sign. I tried taking a course in college, but the class didn't have enough participants. Then I tried to learn at church a few years back but the class was canceled due to the teacher having some issues at home. Therefore when I found out they were teaching a class here, I signed up as soon as I could. I was even more excited that it was a class for babies. I learned about 50 signs that I can use with Kara everyday. Things like: eat, drink, milk, sleep, bath, dog, cat, cheese, cookie, and toothbrush to name a few. I've been teaching them to Nick every week. He has really done well using with her too. Studies have shown that teaching your child to sign cuts down on tantrums because they have a way to show you what they want. I am really hoping this is true. Also it's supposed to help them learn to talk sooner. It was a great experience for us ; I can't wait to take the next one. Since yesterday was our last class Kara received a little diploma. It was so cute!!!

Pizza inn

Good food at good prices!
Our taco pizza after we took a slice to eat!

Being that it's our last year in Okinawa, Nick and I have decided to take advantage of this time to try new things. Last weekend we ate at two new restaurants: Obbligato (Mexican-obviously) and The Pizza Inn. Obbligatos is known as the best Mexican restaurant on Okinawa according to local papers (although we love Mike's Tex Mex). Nick and I love Mexican food so we gave it a shot. It was actually pretty good. The tacos tasted like the ones you make at home. The chips and salsa were pretty good. They make their own soft shells right here in Okinawa. We wish we wouldn't have got the same thing as each other so we could have tried more, but overall it was a good experience. I will have to take pictures next time!!! On Sunday we went to the Pizza Inn. The waiter tried to encourage us to try the buffet but we opted to order our own pizza. I LOVE taco pizza and haven't had any in ages, so we chose to order one. It was really good! The sauce was just right. As you can see (in the picture)they have an array of different foods. Next time we want to do the buffet so we can try all the different things they have to offer. I was so surprised at how good the food was that we had a both places. I wish we would have tried them sooner. Hopefully this weekend will bring some more good memories that I can share. Have a nice weekend!!! :)

Thomas Kinkade Gallery

It's my 300th post and to celebrate I am going to share some pics from my visit to the Thomas Kinkade Gallery. My sweet husband brought me there, knowing I would love it, while we were visiting Texas this past winter. It was so beautiful and breathtaking. It wasn't a large gallery, but big enough to get me excited. They have dimmers that you can mess with so that you can see the lights in all the pictures. Thomas Kinkade is known as the "Painter of Light" because he paints his pictures to light up even in dim light. It's hard to explain but really breathtaking once you've seen it done. He is my FAVORITE artist of all time. His paintings make you want to go to a place with little cottages and cute stores. Anyone know a place like that? If so sign me up!!! He makes sure that he puts an "N" in each painting in honor of his wife, Nanette. In my Sweetheart Cottage II painting there are actually 5 "Ns". How sweet and romantic is that? I love doing his puzzles and am reading a book series that he helped write. So anyway, on to the pictures. These are for my dear friend, Samantha. Enjoy!!!

How pretty is that?

I would love to have a piece of land like this with a little log cabin!! SO pretty!

Snow White's cottage, love it!

Looks like the gate to heaven...

I love the snow!!

I just finished this puzzle!

One of my most favorite places in the world!

Some new scraps:click to enlarge!

My mom wanted to see some of the pages I have been working on and this is the easiest way to share them. I have been sticking to my one page a day rule pretty well. I am happy to say I have done 48 pages since I got home from the states. Pretty impressive huh? I am going to apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. I took them in a hurry and didn't take time to edit them, but you get the gist of it. Enjoy!

I apologize that this one isn't turned the right way. I am too tired to change it.

Born in Japan

Kara wearing a Japanese outfit that I got from a friend before she was born! I had to do a photo shoot of her wearing it! Great scrapbooking later....

She looks like a little doll, doesn't she?

She loved this fan!

Happy to have been born in Japan. You can't really tell but I put her hair in a little bun. It was so cute!

Japanese grocery store

We took a trip to the grocery store off base yesterday. I was really wanting some fresh veggies/fruit. I heard they had some good deals, so off we went. We went to a smaller store rather than the large one, since it's closer to where we live. It's always an interesting experience. Next time I really need to bring my camera; I didn't even think of it today. Anyway, we got some strawberries, lettuce, kiwi, broccoli, and Aussie beef. This was our first time buying meat off base. I am really anxious/curious to use it. It looks like the leanest beef I think I have ever seen. Nick wants me to make it into beef tips. I was thinking of making some soup with it. We will see.... Anyway here's a pic of what the packaging looks like. Not too different, but kind of cool. Don't you think?



PS I meant to take the picture before the beef was frozen, but time got away from me. OOPS!