Oh Christmas Tree

I absolutely love the day after Thanksgiving...Black Friday! Not so much for the shopping, but the official launching of the Christmas Season. I always try to put up the Christmas tree that day. This year is exciting because Zach is more involved in activities. We started the day off by taking Zach to daycare for a few hours so I could work in my classroom. Clara stayed with me. After getting squared away for the next week, we decided to stop by the exchange to see if there was anything worth grabbing. We did gather several articles of clothing for the kids, I put them back and said we might try later. There were very long lines at the few registers at the exchange. So off we went to pick up Zach, eat lunch and put him down for a nap. While he napped, I brought in our Christmas decorations and made sugar cookies (okay, I cut up ready-made dough compliments of Pillsbury) and downloaded a couple kid's Christmas albums. Honestly, my vision of the fun was a bit grander than our actual experience but it was still nice, we have a tree up and the kids are loving the finished product.The kids, just before we left for the annual Christmas Tree Lighting at Cherry Blossom Triangle. Clara, so happy to be sporting the much anticipated lighted up Frosty Christmas hoodie from Nana, and Zach in front of our finished Christmas tree.
The rest of the pictures document our process of putting up the Christmas tree.
We have very tight living quarters, so we started out putting the tree up in the most open space we have. Zach and Clara both helped with the stand. Zach absolutely loved the Christmas music.
This has to be the saddest tree around. I bought it with very limited funds in Hawaii when Charlie and I had been married just six months. I was so proud to be able to bring this tree home and set it up. We have often considered replacing it, but ultimately decided to try to hold out until Charlie retires from the Marines. Anyway, both kids helped "spruce" it up by spreading the limbs.
It was at this point I pulled out the Christmas lights and realized we needed to purchase more. This was rather frustrating as I remember these were quite economical and the ones at the exchange seemed rather expensive. Regardless, the tree stayed in the middle of the room and we ran out to the exchange and bought a set of 300 lights for $20 which I was very annoyed about but did it. When I got home I realized that that string of lights was just not long enough. So, I gave up for the day and the house remained a mess. The kids were not bothered at all as they enjoyed the cookies. Clara later enjoyed the very difficult-to-find hot cocoa after I put Zach to bed.

Saturday, I woke inspired to complete the project. I undid the strand of lights and pulled it a bit tighter and managed to salvage one of the better strands of lights by "hiding" the blown bulbs to complete the tree lighting. Putting the ornaments on was easy and enjoyable as we now have several ornaments other than the super cheap balls I have purchased in the past. The kids will be making new ornaments today after church.
Zach, enjoyed the ornaments.
Zach is very drawn to the tree and alternates between being sneaky and trying to get behind it and being respectful of not touching.
Just a funny tidbit, but Zach knows to say cheese for the camera, but he is not intent on smiling. He just delivers a very powerful "cheese" so I think I'm going to have to work on that.
Blaze has a serious love of the Christmas season too. He chews on this sad tree and lurks beneath the branches. Zach has discovered this. Poor Blaze.
You can see the love Blaze has for Zach.
Cute though. Zach is actually quite concerned about Blaze being hungry. I'm going to try to upload the video I have of our conversation at this time. The battery just gave out so I have to charge it before doing more updates.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Hollowell family wishes you all a Happy Thanksgiving. We have so many things to be thankful for and are so blessed. I've never had such a low-key Thanksgiving Day. I woke early only because I had homework that was due and wanted to complete it before the kids woke. Fortunately Zach woke right after I finished submitting it so the timing was perfect. We hung out all morning, doing a few chores and trying to begin potty training Zach. We had 11:00 reservations for the buffet dinner. Zach was a sport and tried a variety of dishes while Clara stuck to the tried and true. She was thrilled to discover they had a special menu with kids in mind of corn dogs and chicken strips. Zach did fairly well and uttered a few "mmmm mmmm mmms"and Clara Grace acted very much the proper young lady. I dug in and enjoyed the traditional holiday fare. I even ate cornbread dressing!

Desert was delicious, however Zach took over my pumpkin pie. Luckily they neither one were interested in my sliver of pecan pie. He must have gotten plenty because he actually fell asleep as I read The Cat in the Hat to him after we got home. That is the first time I have ever actually put one of the kids to sleep while reading.

We miss all of our family very much. We especially miss Charlie and hope he had a good day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hooray for PetFoodDirect.com!

You may recall Blaze was sick some time ago. Well, he had been on prescription food since Beaufort until we came here. I made a judgement call and thought I'd just switch him to regular food once we made it out here and the base vet did not sell it. That worked for two years until the Japanese vet said to keep him on it. So, we have been making frequent trips to Dr. Morisake's since you cannot get this at the base vet. It was expensive and this is a little bag! I was paying nearly 1500Y (which is currently nearly $20 with the current conversion rate) for this small bag. I decided to search for alternatives and discovered that Pet Food Direct would ship it to me over here if I supplied them with a prescription. I had our base vet write up a prescription for me when I took Blaze in to get the blood work done to prepare him for our next move and placed the order. Today we stopped by the post office to see if the food had finally arrived. It had! That was great because we were on our way to Dr. Morisake's for yet another bag. I ordered the 35 lb. bag. Check is out in comparison to the little bag I get from Dr. Morisake.

I took a close up of the Japanese bag.

I am so glad that I do not need to worry about his food for a while! As you can see, it is the little things that light up my day. So, here is my shout out to PetFoodDirect.com:

Clara Grace

Clara Grace likes to sing. She likes to dance too. Unfortunately, I cut off the video before she added the dance moves. She is a hoot! What do you think of the flower in her hair? She picked that out at a craft fair we went to today. This was not candid video, she was totally putting on the show for the camera. I wish I could catch her doing it more naturally.

Gonna Fly Now

Our grade level took a field trip to Miyajima Aquarium yesterday. I just love the use of the Rocky Theme Song aka Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti. Yes, I looked that up just for this post. This is the same island we visited in this post entry. It was a rainy day and the kids loved it, however getting the kids on and off the ferry was rather tense for me as it was a really busy so lots of people present. Luckily, we made it there and back safely!

I took a lot of video and pictures, but just thought you might enjoy the familiar music paired with a sea lion doing sit ups.

Rain Rain Go Away

I've been meaning to take video of Zach riding his tricycle. He mastered the big one at daycare first, but now he is riding his like a pro too. He is so independent. We rode over to a nearby playground, but never made it in. The playground is in front of a friend's house and on a street that has no through traffic. The kids ended up riding bikes up and down the short street and Zach snagged a girl's big wheel to ride too. He was so tired by the time we came home.