Sing With Glee, Sara is Three!!!

The celebrations started off with this great sign made especially for Sara by one of our new neighbors. I gave it some color by painting it and placed it on the fire place mantle so that Sara could see it when she came down the stairs.

She also received an early present from our friend Michy in Japan. She was so excited to get her own mail with her name on it. She also received a card from Aunt Anne.

Monday morning the festives began when her little friends showed up for her tea party. The first thing we did was paint. The girls painted different parts of tea sets. They all seemed to enjoy it very much.

Sara was so excited to be painting!

The boys painted their own ties to wear later.

There ended up being about 20 kids at the party (it was Spring Break)

Then my camera went dead so I can only tell you what else we did. We played pin the lid on the tea pot and had a relay to set up a tea set.

It was time for lunch. RJ helped me cut out fun shapes of cheese, turkey and ham. We also had crackers, apples, carrots, broccoli...all of Sara's favorites. Plus pink lemonade to drink.

After lunch Sara opened presents and was very excited to receive some Princess band aids and panties. It is funny what excites little ones!! After presents was cake time. Sara was waiting all morning to eat cake. She loved it.

After her friends all left, we took naps and geared up for another party that evening after RJ's T-ball game.

Grandparents and aunts came over to help Sara celebrate her special day. She was able to open her presents before cake again. Very happy little girl.

She received a princess table, umbrella and chairs from RJ and a small computer from one of her friends.

We sang Happy Birthday and RJ helped her blow out her candles. (yes, I made the cake and decorated it with a tea pot on it).

The next morning Sara was very happy to be able to play with all her new toys including her new dress up high heel shoes...

She even let RJ wear a pair of her new high heel princess shoes (Mitch said it was evil of me to keep this picture, I think it will be fun to show his wife in about 20 years)

All in all, I think Sara had a great 3rd birthday. She had her pictures taken at the Photo Studio on Tuesday. I will post them as soon as I get them scanned in.

Meet the Newest Leister

Sara was so excited to meet her new cousin, Kennedy. She was giving her kisses all over so I had Mitch capture it on film. I think the 2 of them are going to get along well.

RJ's T-Ball Fun

A few months ago, Mitch asked RJ if he wanted to play a sport. His choices were golf or T-ball (just like baseball but no one pitches the ball to the batter, it is stationary on a T so that the young kids can learn to hit it). He chose T-ball. Mitch signed him up for the 4-6 year olds and the started practice just a couple of weeks ago.

This past Saturday they had Opening Ceremonies. The teams were paraded around the bases. You can see RJ marching with his team.

Then all the teams went into the outfield and had a snack (pizza and drinks). The coaches then played a quick fun game (running backwards, batting with the wrong hand).

Jordan (RJ's cousin) and Sara were there to cheer him on.

Then Monday, RJ had his very first game. He was so excited to finally get to play.

Sara was just as happy to be relaxing with her grandmas and parents.

RJ batting

Running to 1st base



waiting on 2nd base to run to 3rd base

Fielding the ball

Throwing it to 1st base.

They do not keep score or outs so all the kids played and had fun. RJ can't wait for his next game!!

My Goals for Spring Break

So, I had some pretty big goals for myself for this year's Spring Break....and I am happy to say that one of them was to update the blog...hope you enjoy the next few entries...

Great Friends and Great Citrus

What do you do when your great friends give you A LOT of oranges from their orange trees....

You juice them and eat them at the same time...

Thanks Frances and Scott for the great memories you provided my family today!

I'm Still Here...

No, I haven't gone anywhere, I just haven't posted in like forever. I apologize (again) to anyone who regularly checks my blog to see if I have anything new. It's funny how I get upset that the blogs I frequent when they haven't updated....

Life is just weird these days. I don't want to complain because I know that we are very fortunate with all we have, it just doesn't seem normal. Who would have thought 6 months after returning from an adventure of a life time, we would be so home sick.

We have been busy getting our new place ready for us to really live in it. We finally had a few friends over to see the finished floors and paint downstairs. Now I just have to get in gear to finish the upstairs. I know new carpet is a LONG way off, so what is the hurry to paint. Except I hate the ceilings and the blue walls.

Since the old house is vacant (tenants left Jan 2 and never paid Dec's rent...uugghh...), we decided to reclaim some of our things we left behind. Mitch has graciously agreed to bring over the cabinets so now my craft room is starting to take shape. Now we just have to construct Mitch's office so he can feel like he has a space too.

I guess having to pay 2 mortgages takes more than a financial stain on anyone. Here's to hoping we both still have jobs come next month.

I hope to get back to my regular days of blogging soon. We don't have reliable wireless Internet which means if I blog, I don't even get to see Mitch let alone spend time with him. My 2 hour commute is starting to drain on the kids and I.

OK I am going to end this post before I make myself anymore depressed. We truly are thankful for all we have and our family and friends. We are glad to be home, but we sure do miss Himeji!!

Merry Christmas

For those of you who are avid blog followers, I apologize for being absent...life has just been busy.

I wanted to take a moment to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! For those of you who have not received our Christmas card, do not feel alone...I have not sent them out yet...Maybe Valentine's cards will be nice :-)

For Christmas Eve, Chef RJ invited my family over for Hot Chocolate and Cookies. In preparation, we had to make cookies

Daddy helped the little ones decorate.

RJ did a great job all on his own.

Sara had to make sure some of the frosting ended up on her so she could enjoy it later.

Then the guests started to arrive. RJ put on his Chef outfit and served hot chocolate and cookies.


After the goodies were eaten, Grandma Leister played games with the kids.

It was a great night!