Broken Bones. The Saga Continues...

(in reference to the cast on Porter's arm in the previous post)

So, guess who broke their arm this last summer? 

again.

If you are counting, that is time number three! yup. super awesome. 

Third Time's the Charm right? 

Well, in Porter's case, I guess "the charm" means getting surgery. Poor guy.

(these pics taken right before he left for the hospital to get the cast finally taken off)

But let me take you back to the very beginning. 

It's a very good place to start...

When you sing you begin with Do Re Mi,

and Porter broke his arm so bad he got

SUR-GER-Y!

sur-ger-y fa so la ti do!

ok, enough silliness:) 

So for real now. This was a a fun Japanese adventure. If you are not familiar with Japanese health care, then all you really need to know is that they love proper procedure, rules, and schedules. These are all great, but at times can get in the way during an emergency situation. 

To spell it out quickly for you,  our experience consisted of lots of hours at 2 different Japanese ERs, 7 vials of blood, 1 chest x-ray, 1 EKG,  lots of doctors, 1 potential  5 day hospital stay for our little 9 year old by himself (because they may or may not  have allowed a parent?, and did NOT check people in on the weekend); followed by us then convincing the Embassy Health Unit (which took some doing) that we didn't mind driving down to the Navy Base for a third visit to the American Naval Hospital. It was still super stressful for Porter, as what nine year old really loves the thought of their first surgery at all, let alone by yourself in a foreign country with 3rd grade Japanese skills? but, when we told him we were taking him to the Navy Hospital instead, this boy found a new belief in the power of Prayer! It was pretty tender actually. 

They still had to put him under, and fix that arm- but it was just one night in the hospital, everyone spoke English, he could watch American TV, and they gave him spaghetti. Needless to say this boy who had been freaking out, was MUCH more comfortable at the American hospital. Mommy and Daddy were much more relieved as well. This was a time I will admit, that I could not have been happier that we were safely taken care of by Uncle Sam. Thank you, thank you to the awesome staff and nurses who helped our little guy through it all!

dinner time! 

not so bad if he could play his DS in recovery

ready to head home- so excited it's blurry:)

The awesome local staff that Noah worked with also sent him this fantastic get-well package! They were the sweetest, and completely made his day!

another view of the last day of cast. See ya later broken arm! 

(Not pictured also was the neon orange full arm cast that came between the post-surgery splint and the blue half cast. somehow we missed a photo of that. sorry!)

Now,

Onto the other broken bone of the year!

This time it was Ronan. His first. And so it begins....

He followed his big brother's footsteps and broke his nose on a set of stairs! Only he broke it when he was walking down the stairs (Porter was going up). Poor guy tripped on a step about four from the bottom and caught himself smack on his face!! aack! It was awful. I felt SOO bad for our little man. 

as did he...

He was NOT a fan of the tape. But he toughed it out eventually. 

Thankfully he handled it all better than I thought he would, and he is now all healed up nicely!

Let's hope for zero broken bones in 2015! 

Everyone cross their fingers and toes for us!

Back to School-Tokyo Style

So, as I sit here with my beautiful babes running amuck, and dreaming about the end of Christmas vacation- I decided it was the perfect time to finally blog about Back to School. You know. Back at the beginning of the school year!

I can't believe my kiddos are another year into school.
 P in 4th and R in 1st. Wow!

Things have gone well so far this year, and we are happy with both of their teachers!

(sidenote: I don't think their faces will be quite so happy to go back to school after Christmas break. ha!) It's been a great year so far though! My little men are sure growing up.
sniff. sniff.

Pokemon Partytime

yes, I'm months behind. I know.

We did have another birthday though!

Porter is Nine!!! Yikes!!!

(and sporting broken arm #3 in all the pics. poor guy. that is another post though)

 My baby is disappearing and turning into an amazing boy! 

This was his last birthday in the single digits.

 Not going to lie, I'm very upset about this.

We celebrated with cozy decor and treats on the day of,

 and then had his big Pokemon Party on the weekend.

 He was thrilled for both. 

Since we are in Japan, and he and his friends are basically obsessed with POKEMON, 

it was an easy choice for a  Pokemon themed bash!

the Cake

the Decor.

Also, a huge shout out to my awesome friend A who made all these awesome posters and Pokeballs. 

She's my hero, and I totally took these from her back in DC and brought them all the way to Japan with us, just for this occasion! Now that's thinking ahead!  They looked fabulous!! 

I think Porter had more fun helping me pick out the goodies for the goodie bags than almost the rest of the party! He handpicked Pokemon for each of his buddies. He was so proud.

First up on the party agenda, was a giant Pokebattle. 

Sure made my life easier

 having that be the main thing on his agenda. 

I didn't have to do anything for this party game. Win. Win. 

Then we ate lunch, to fill their tummies...

before some hardcore Pokemon BINGO!! 

It's no secret that Porter loooooovvees BINGO. 

(Thank you Oakwood Bingo nights)

And really, who doesn't love a good round of BINGO? 

All the boys had a blast! It was also quite the scene as I barely sounded out each strange Pokemon name, they all instantly knew what I was saying and found the picture before it was even out of my mouth. I will never understand the world of Pokemon. It is a whole different world, and a whole different language. These boys all apparently speak it fluently! 

My big showcase was the Bingo. After that we just went for straight fun, not necessarily "theme". I chose a couple of Minute-to-Win-It games to round out the afternoon. 

They were awesome, if I do say so myself!

We did the Oreo on the Forehead game next.

They had to get the Oreo from their foreheads into their mouths using only their facial muscles. It was hilarious! I think I will employ this again when I'm needing to occupy them during summer or Christmas break!

We also did the Spaghetti game. They had to string at least 3 penne on a piece of Spaghetti using just their mouths. This was pretty hard actually, but totally worth it. It helps build their concentration skills, that for sure!

My beautiful birthday boy!

Now, special mention to the fact that we are in Tokyo,

 and have access to such places as the Pokemon Center.

Yes, that Amazing pink bag, courtesy of his cute friend K- 

had some super awesome exclusive Pokemon gear in it, 

that is sold no where else in the world but the Pokemon Center. 

Porter was SO excited about that! 

He absolutely loved everything else he got too,

and we feel so lucky that he has such a sweet group of friends. 

Thanks so much again guys! Porter is one lucky boy!

And a classic group shot- Japanese style!

Now this cutie gets a special shout out-
both to him, and to the wonderful Japanese culture.

After lunch, when all the rest of the boys hurried into the other room,  K stayed and insisted on cleaning up the entire dining room with me! Needless to say I was very impressed. I made sure to tell Porter that he was a friend I wanted him to keep forever! ha!

(if you want to know more about this awesome cultural trait, just google how the Japanese team acted at the most recent World Cup. so awesome!)

Porter and his buddy K. 

They opened up the loot bags at the end, and enjoyed some trading card time to finish it all off! 

Happy Birthday Porter!

We love you so much- Pokemon obsession and all!!

Kindergarten Graduation

We have a Graduate folks!

And it was a fantastic day. Mom cried. A lot. 

People noticed. I didn't care.

 I was SO incredibly proud of my amazing little Ronan, for not only completing his Kindergarten year, but for also doing so great in the Graduation Ceremony! He marched, he sat, he performed, and most importantly of all- he just participated!!!! This was the first time he did something like this without getting upset and truly tried hard to do his best. He made SO much progress this year, and the Graduation Ceremony was just icing on the cake. They had practiced for weeks, and he knew that he did a good job! I was SO HAPPY for him! He also snagged the award for most improved this year, and even made his teacher choke up a little while awarding it. We feel so grateful that he had such incredible and loving teachers this year. They were angels sent straight from Heaven.

Crossing his tassel from one side to the other-

receiving his diploma

and he even sat nicely for TONS of pictures

Ronan was all smiles!

what a good sport.

TEAM RONAN

we couldn't have come this far without them.

there are no words

thank you doesn't even begin to cover it.

Congratulations Ronan!!!

We love you so much and couldn't be more proud of you!


and on one last separate note:
I'll leave you with this pic of Ronan in his terrifically cute giraffe costume that the aforementioned teachers made for him for the Spring Concert. They are so talented, and it was such a cute costume. Ronan was not so much in the mood at the moment to participate that night- but he did put the costume on and smile for me at home. We'll take what we can get. It was too cute not to mention.

Ronan Rides

 So this little man had a major milestone this summer.

He learned how to ride a bike!!!

(parking garage style)

This was a HUGE accomplishment for him, and we couldn't be prouder!

The pictures are terrible. The lighting was bad. 

But Ronan was awesome!

Great Job Buddy!

Sir Miles the Knight

So, a *while* ago, Miles turned THREE! 

I simply can not believe time has gone by so quickly. I know I say that with all of my boys, but seriously. This time, it has really thrown me for a loop. He will always be 6 months old in my brain I guess. That's what happens when you are the "baby"!

We celebrated with a Knight themed party
 and couple of his best buddies.

It turned out so cute, and I pulled out my Cake skills again, 

after having last year full of more simple frosting productions. 

He had a Shield Cake, complete with grommets

Now, the cake took me forever- but I love how it turned out!

I just made some simple Knight's Tunics for the kids to wear,  and they enjoyed some balloon "swords".
We also had a fantastic pizza "feast'!

I carried this incredible wrapping paper around the world from Turkey, and have been saving it for just this special occasion!
 It was totally perfect!

He was SO excited to blow out his candles....

And SO proud of himself after.

Teamwork. That's what brothers are for.

And for the big surprise gift from Mom and Dad- he was completely over the moon!

Finally his own "big boy scooter"!  

This kid now can't live without it. 

Three little Knights. Miles is being "tough" here.

Happy Birthday Sir Miles!

We love you SO, SO, SO much and are so happy for the amazing imagination, giggles and spunk you bring into our lives. 

MILES AT THREE:

-Loves popcorn,popcorn, popcorn

(and "nilla" ice cream)

He will ask for one of these two things without fail if you ever ask him what he wants to eat.

-He has an incredible imagination. He loves to play pretend and dress up. He will role-play for hours and absolutely loves to be with his friends. Definitely the most social, and imagination focused of our boys at his age. 

-He makes us laugh all the time. He is definitely a performer, and will try any new word of trick to make us laugh. He absolutely loves the spotlight.

-He talks all the time, and uses hilarious catch-phrases that he has picked up on.

-He loves to sing and dance. 

-He is very kind and sweet to all of us, and likes to give compliments about how "great" we are at things. 

- He likes to sleep with a small stuffed skunk (courtesy of our last trip to Boston).

-He has no fear. We will have to keep a close eye on this one.

-He is a Daddy's boy!

- He has the best pouting face ever. When he gets mad, he frowns his best frown and does a low "growl". I will miss this I think, as it is actually very cute. It takes everything in me now to giggle every time he does it. 

Love you buddy!