"Dance Party" & "Ode to the Dude"

She does this a lot. I think that makes me officially a "crappy mom."
And so close? Really Marie? Do you have your Daddy's eyesight?

But sometimes I have good ideas. Like when Brett left for Scout Camp we had a DANCE PARTY!!!
Gucci eat your heart out. This is a "Marie Original" design.

Did she dance on the table? Yes. Did she love it?

What do you think?

But reading always out-trumps dancing. Reading really trumps everything for her. Watching TV, eating, Me, ...really none compare to the joy of reading. Somewhere Lavar Burton is shedding a tear of joy.

Had a great weekend with Marie. Brett is out of town for "Trial Advocacy Training" now though. Wow. Sounds like a snoozer. But Marie and I will keep it rocking while he's away. P.S. The house is amazingly clean. I guess we know who the messy one is...
I think I have a huge crush on this guy.

hmmm... just maybe?

OK. I do. I love this guy. And I'm so lucky to have him. I'm such a huge mess of a person and he always just keeps me together. He keeps our lives running smooth and occasionally comes home with flowers.

He looks good in a suit. Anything really. He even makes my sweaty pregnant lady bangs look good. (That picture was from a while ago, I'm not prego, I just needed to clarify why i look drunk.... as opposed to the person in the back ground who really is, at least, getting drunk).
But I cannot WAIT for him to grow out his hair. How I wished we had a better camera the summer we got married! Check out those locks. Samson couldn't compete with that. Would that make the military Delilah? Possibly, but possibly just a bad analogy. ... alright I'm rambling here... time to turn in and dream of Brett's hair all shaggy!

The Princess and the Frog

We finally built up the nerve. The last time we took Marie to the movie theater was when she was about 7-months old. She was not interested in sitting still, she was not interested in being quiet, she was not interesting in being courteous in any way, and most surprisingly, she was not interested in Will Smith's quest to donate a bunch of his organs for transplants. Rachel and I took turns walking around the hallway with her. She liked that much more.

Yesterday we decided to try out luck again. This time with Princess and the Frog. It was playing at the base theater, which is pretty enormous. So we discussed our strategy of sitting way in the back where nobody could hear Marie's commotion. When we pulled up we saw two million little kids running around. We were put at ease, realizing she couldn't be any louder or worse than these other kids.

We got in the theater and decided to try our luck with the second row. Marie wanted her own seat, so she sat in between us. And was mesmerized for the entire show. I don't think she blinked. She would bob her head and swing her arms throughout every song. Only once did she make a loud "ooo" sound and that was when some bird was trying to eat a bug, so I couldn't blame her. She was so good that I feel asleep through half of it. I woke up and suddenly the frogs were in love. Weird. Then the movie was over and Marie got up and danced to the credits.

Merry Christmas!

YAY! Santa came early just for Marie! We'll be at Grandpa Millburns for Christmas morning, so Marie's big ticket items needed to be unloaded before then.

Here she is with her new best friend. Watching her put the frog in her chair is so awesome. Being a parent and having no Santa is actually very rewarding- I would have never guessed.

Here she is on the Christmas Eve we slapped together. I have no idea how I did all the shopping, cleaning, went to a baptism, a birthday party, made a salad for a funeral and worked out all in the same day. I figure that will never happen again so it's blog worthy. Efficiency was my Christmas gift.

Now that you are officially asleep, I will report our first Christmas eve as a family:

We read from the pop-up Christmas Story and sang Christmas music that Grandma Cathy spoiled us with. That was another thing, I had no idea what to do on Christmas eve with a one-year old but we just happened to have the book and music, and bam there's your Christmas eve.

Brett and i made it to bed, blinked, and then dragged ourselves out of bed to make crepes before Marie awoke. Here is the recipe if your feeling saucy, it's the best I've ever tried:

Crepes

3eggs

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. water

3 T butter melted

1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Blend all ingredients in a blender. We use a small 6'' cast iron pan to make ours, but I'm sure you could make it in any size skillet.

If you're me you will use bananas, nutella, and whipped cream. If your brett you'll use butter and syrup. If your Marie you'll skip the crepes and guzzle the syrup from the bottle.

And to top it all off we actually made it to church on time. I know. Slap me, I must have been dreaming...

We'll see if I can't type a few keystrokes here. Over Thanksgiving we decided to take advantage a few things and slip down to San Diego. We had an awesome time. It started off a little sad, with Rachel smashing her water bottle. It was her faithful companion for almost a week.

We got through that tragedy together, and nothing else got smashed the rest of the trip. Marie likes to push everything, from shopping carts to moms...
And then we made it to Sea World...

And Marie was still able to push things...

But she wasn't sure about this Shamu character...

And then Marie dressed in a bee outfit and looked in the mirror...

And it was a happy Thanksgiving for everyone.

Still In Shock

It's true. Or as they would say in Japan: " it' 本当s"

We're still in shock, needless to say. But I will try to give you the best update I can.

We are moving to Japan this summer.

We will live there for 2 years.

To a place called Misawa.

It's a 3 hour train ride to Tokyo, or a 10 hour car ride.

We are 16 hours ahead of Mountain time. We will try to blog everyday to let you know if it's going to be a bad day or a good day.

I don't have to worry about fitting in. They look sufficiently Westernized.

Here is a photo from Misawa. This is were Brett and I will re-enact Twilight. Marie will film and direct.

I will find this and report to you what they are. Or just pretend I'm at Disneyland.

We will also take lots of colorful, yet blurry pictures that will assure you we are having a fast-paced, culturally diverse time.

Well that is all. Charles wins. But with an asterisk, because he named 3 places. To redeem himself he will have to come visit. As will you all. Again, I'm not joking and I know where you all live.

I know, I know- you were probably expecting me to lay on the Asian jokes, but seeing as they will be my neighbors I will abstain. Seriously though, we are glad and thankful.

Where in the the World Will We Go?

I AM SO NERVOUS!!!! Brett thinks we will find out where we will live next this week! AHH!!!

He keeps saying it's going to be a "less desirable location" so I have no clue where that could be.

Here is our request list, in no particular order:

Utah- of course!

Idaho- Absolutely!

Hawaii- Hello Magnum P.I.!!!

L.A. Cali- Marie and I have always wanted to join a gang!

Denver- Not sure how I feel about this place. Seems like North Cali but with snow?

Alaska- I could finally meet Sarah Palin! Maybe we'll do lunch and talk about our conservative values! And then I'll get eaten by a bear.

Florida- Eglin (near the top of Florida) Gulf Shores, Anyone?

Florida- Tampa- Micky Mouse here we come!

Florida- Cape Canaveral- obsessed much? Naturally we want this because that's where the Detroit Tigers have Spring training

Lets talk about this for a second. If you're wondering what directs our selection process, it's sports. What cities can we live in that will give us the most direct route to a baseball game? And when I say "we" I mean Brett.

Also, just so you know, when you "Google" "funny Detroit tigers pics" this will come up:

Japan- near Okinawa- yummy yummy sashimi!

Japan- the base near the capital! dōmo arigatō misutā Roboto! ... this calls for a music video!

2 England requests- I hate fish and chips, but how dumb would it be to not ask?

Italy- like that's gonna happen!

Boston- because Augustana had an awesome song about it



Ohio- again, something sports related... agh, don't get me started...

Texas- San Antonio... hmmm should be fun?.... right..?

Colorado Springs- i know a few nice people from there.... but not much else

South Carolina- it's supposed to be gorgeous, and they have cute accents ( I know, that was slightly anti-climactic)

My bet is that we go Midwest... somewhere not listed here, like Missouri or the Dakotas. Somewhere I would have a hard time finding on a map.

Where do you think we'll go? The winner(s) get a prize!