Miss Marie, You Are THREE!

Yep. I'm gonna say it. I can't believe my baby is three. I'm sure you, the reader, can totally believe it.

But I just can't get over how far we've come!

Last year we celebrated Marie's 2nd birthday with jet lag and a store bought cupcake. A single, store bought cupcake. It was sad.

So this year we gave her a shiny new birthday party. Dad worked on her real birthday so we got two; one on her real bday and one on a Saturday.  I love two birthdays!

We had SIX three year olds over. Uh... no one told me the "age rule," that is, no more children than the age they are. Hence, I should have only invited 3 kids. Yikes! But it was fun, some of my nice friends stayed and help "herd cats" with me. It was really fun though. However, my favorite part was that before the guests even arrived Marie sat alone at the head of the table,  "waiting for my party to start!"  What a ham!

We decorated Mickey Mouse ears, face painted, played pin the tail on the my little pony, and played duck duck goose. Apparently that game is super complex because no one really got it. Next year I'm renting a bouncy house ...for myself. Just kidding. For just Marie. HA... actually she would love that...

A few days later we celebrated with Daddy by going out. Mina loves spicy curry!

We then went to "Children's Land," a sort of pay-as-you ride park. This fun contraption cost Y200 for a few minutes. Not bad as long as you only have one kid.

Afterward we raced home (did I ever mention we moved?) to have cake with a few close friends. I almost gave up on making Marie a cake. It's so much work. But I got a new cake book for my birthday last year and had to try out, "Santa Fe Cornmeal Cake" -spicy and yummy and "Cream Cake with Peaches." Yay. It was fun.

Thanks for everyone who reads and tries to keep up with us. I know it's probably not very interesting seeing as we hardly even talk on the phone to anyone, let alone see people. Life with two kids is never not busy. Holy cow. How am I even blogging? I have to create at 30 min workshop for Young Women camp on Thursday.... oh yah. I love procrastinating.

Other things I want to tell you, but may not get around to blogging are:

We moved. YAY This townhouse makes me feel like a "real" person. Ironically, it was a day after I had given away a bunch of furniture and bought tons of storage containers so that we could really fit in our old apartment. I also declared myself at peace with anyone who is allowed to live in a house off base (something they no longer allow).  The next day, Housing called and offered us this little beauty. Our new neighbors are so nice. And having a backyard is magical.

I also started "teaching" (if I can call it that) English in a town 20 minutes away. It's once a week for an hour. I love it. I just read books to them and teach them primary songs (I try to ease up on the religious ones...;) ). It's a good help for me to try to learn Japanese. Which I know none of. The best part is that I get to take Marie and Mina and they watch them for me (it's at a daycare I that I teach at).

Brett and I got new callings. I finally left primary teaching after 5 years. Maybe it was because they realized I was playing "heads up 7 up" for the last half of the class. Who knows?

I feel like burying some important information in the bottom of this post. Couch cushions are half way done! Hmm... not juicy enough. I discovered Brett hates popsicles after 5 years of marriage. That's weird. Hmm.. well it looks like I am lacking in juicy gossip so I will just tell you that if we're related that I love you very much and you have no idea how much we talk about you. If you're a friend, thanks for being mine. That's all from the land of the rising sun.