Well....

It's been almost a month and a half since I updated this thing. I guess I should get on it!

Brad came home on the USS George Washington for 5 days at the end of September. It was the first time a U.S. nuclear powered ship has pulled into port in Japan. This caused quite a stir. Coming home from swim lessons that night took me over an hour because of all the protesters marching in the streets. They are peaceful protesters, so it's no big deal. In fact, I heard that most of them get paid to protest and they could actually care less that there is a nuclear ship here. Oh well. Here are some pictures from while Brad was home:

I have been keeping busy with school, teaching swim lessons on Tuesday and Thursday nights, staying active with my Family Readiness Group, and my Pampered Chef business. I started to get back into it this month after not holding a show in over a year. The day after tomorrow I will be doing a fundraiser for my FRG. It should be fun, and I hope to book some home shows off of it. I already got a recruit to sign on as a consultant under me! If I can get 4 more consultants to sign up, I can become a director. We'll see how that goes.

Last week Jocelyn had a temperature of over 102.5 on and off for a couple days. I'd give her Tylenol and it would go down, only to come back again in a couple hours. On the third day, it went up to 103.7 and she wouldn't eat anything all day. We went to the Emergency room and found out that she has a urinary tract infection. Don't ask me how a 6 month old gets a UTI, the doctor couldn't even tell me. Poor baby girl. Anyway, she is on antibiotics for 10 days now. Here is a picture of how she fell asleep in the ER while we were waiting on the Doc:


Oh, Jocelyn's first ad came out in CREA magazine on October 7th. It's not as exciting as I thought it would be, but here it is:


They also did a section, in the same magazine, about baby models in Japan. I can't tell if they gave Dean the photo credit or not, because it is in Kanji. But, it should say something like "My name is Jocelyn. I was born on 29 Mar 08. I like sweet potatoes and bananas and boob juice. I love to smile and play. My favorite song is 'You are my Sunshine'. And my favorite animal is a giraffe (at least until I am old enough to choose for myself." Who knows what they really put, but that is what I sent them. Here is that page:


Well, today was the Halloween festival on base. My friend Kharisa was planning on dressing her kids up as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. Last night I was pondering what I would dress Jocelyn up as. I figured I would join in on their theme. I considered Wendy, a mermaid, Tiger Lilly, or even Smee. This morning, Tiger Lilly won because it would be the easiest to make in a short period of time. I got out some black yarn to make her hair, I cut up an old brown t-shirt to make the dress. I sewed on some excess pieces of dresses that I had hemmed...and we had a little Indian girl! Here is the end result:


















Here is a picture of Tiger Lilly from the movie, Peter Pan:


Well, my creativity paid off. She won best overall costume!!! We got a little stuffed pumpkin and ghost for her and two free movie passes for me and Daddy!

I don't know if you are all aware of the upset I suffered last year when I lost the balcony decorating competition on base. Anyway, I slaved over my decorations. The prize was $150. So, I didn't want to spend a bunch of money trying to win. I got a bunch of old boxes from the furniture store and drew, cut out, and hand painted a giant sleigh, 9 reindeer (complete with felt harnesses, jingle bells, and name tags), and each individual letter for 'HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!" I attached reins from the sleigh to the reindeer. I hung up all of my extra lights. I twisted lighted garland around my drain pipe. I put giant, lighted candy canes in front of my sleigh. I went all out and only spent a couple bucks. When I found out who won, I about cried. Actually, I think I did cry. This person's balcony only had a couple of light up figures; a snowman, a santa, and an elf; and a couple strings of lights. Now those figures probably cost quite a bit, but it doesn't take any creativity to plug in a couple things and sit them out on your balcony! I was so disappointed. It may seem childish to be this competetive...but mine WAS the best. See below:

Anyway, tonight I proved that it doesn't take expensive things to win first place. I know there were people at this festival that spent a pretty penny on their kids' costumes. But, guess who got the movie tickets!!! Now, I am setting out to prove once and for all that I don't have to spend $500 on Christmas decorations to win this contest!!! It will be mine, oh yes...it will be mine!

So, Brad will be home in time for Thanksgiving. He missed it the last two years and it is his favorite holiday. I can't wait for him to come home and see how much Jocelyn has changed in the short time that he has been gone. She is so adorable!!! Here are a couple more Jocelyn photos before you go: