Christmas 2013

Christmas came and went so fast for me this year! We were so busy packing up the house and traveling  that I feel like I didn't really get to soak it all in. Lily is still too young to really get excited about Christmas but she still managed to enjoy herself!

Danny and Lily surprised me when I got back in town from a bachelorette party with a Christmas tree and stockings in the apartment! It was so sweet and helped make this Christmas feel a little more normal for us.



We headed out for Christmas Eve mass and of course church was packed so we had to stand the entire time. Surprisingly, Lily was really well behaved and made it through the entire thing. She looked like a little angel baby!



After church we picked up dinner and changed into our Christmas pajamas for a cozy night in while we waited for Santa.



Lily doesn't watch much TV, but she did manage to sit still for about 5 minutes of The Polar Express.




Before Lily had to go to bed, we set out our cookies and milk for Santa. Of course, Lily had to do a little taste test. Two minutes after this picture was taken she erupted into tears when we took her off the table to take her to bed. It's all smiles until you take a toddler away from a plate full of cookies!



Hugs for her new doll.




After presents, we got dressed and headed to the grandparents house for lunch with the family. The wild animals patiently waited for lunch.



Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. Now it's time to get ready for all that 2014 has in store!
 

One Last Look

We officially moved out of our house last week. As I was getting the house all cleaned up, I caught Lily taking a peek out of the front windows. I ran to grab my phone to get some pictures of her. This was her favorite spot in the whole house. I would find her here countless times a day either sitting on the ledge talking to her toys, standing on the ledge to get a better look outside, slamming the shutters open and closed or just licking the window (babies are gross).




So glad I caught her in her favorite spot one last time!

Packing up the Pieces

Today we started the process of moving out of our house. Well, the process didn't really start today. I have been de-cluttering, organizing, cleaning, and re-organizing what Lily pulls out for what seems like forever! But today, the movers came and started to actually pack up our stuff and take it away.

They took our air shipment today, tomorrow it is our sea shipment and Thursday they will take what goes to storage and will leave us with an empty house.

The movers took Lily's high chair so we had to have a picnic on the kitchen floor for dinner. We were super fancy and had a banana, string cheese and a hot pocket. Lily was really into that hot pocket.




It feels really strange to be living in a half empty house. It kind of feels like this isn't really even our home since there are no pictures on the walls, the dogs aren't here, the bedrooms and closets are empty and we don't have our Christmas decorations up. Maybe that will make it a little easier for me to drive away from the house that we have loved for the past 4 years in a couple of days.

Until then, I have a toddler tornado to try and keep out of the way of the movers. Wish me luck!

It's December!

I love December! It is so much fun when you are little kid and then as you get older it becomes not as exciting but then you have kids and it becomes amazing all over again!

We kicked off December Eve with pictures with Santa. I was worried Lily might not cooperate since our picture time was really close to her nap time and because Santa probably doesn't look like a normal person to a one year old but she did great. We didn't get any smiles but she stayed calm and looked at the camera which is really all you can hope for with a toddler.




It is crazy how much she has changed since last year!



The next morning we welcomed the month of December with a snowman breakfast in our Christmas pajamas. Lily doesn't normally get to eat junk food, especially for breakfast, so she scarfed down her snowman as fast as she could! I am pretty sure she ate more powdered donuts than I did.






Can't wait for more holiday fun with my favorite little elf!

Thanksgiving 2013

This year we started our Thanksgiving celebrations a little early with a super fun Friendsgiving potluck with some of our very best friends! We are so going to miss these beautiful people!


This year we did Thanksgiving with my family, so we loaded up the car early in the week and made the 9 hour drive down to Kingsville and Brownsville. We ate so much the whole time we were there that I don't think there was ever a time I actually felt hungry the entire week! We always over eat when we go there and throwing in Thanksgiving food put us over the top.


Lily was so great the entire trip. She was pretty good in the car and was so friendly to everyone even through she only sees my family every few months. I just love that about her!




We have so much to be thankful for!




Now it's time to start getting ready for the most WONDERFUL time of the year!

Halloween

Holidays are getting more and more fun the older Lily gets! Even though she is still too young to get super excited about holidays at least now she can actively participate.

This year for Halloween Lily got to carve a pumpkin and go trick-or-treating with friends. She even got to eat a little bit of chocolate!

On Halloween Eve we carved Lily's first pumpkin. She was way more interested in tasting it than helping out.



On Halloween night went over to the Stanley home to meet up with our baby friends and ride in the neighborhood parade. The babies went as the three blind mice but the only one who was really cooperative was Parker! The girls were a mess, of course!

We loaded up the wagon with babies and beer and headed to the parade with our trio of rodents to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids. Parker and Hannah were to young to enjoy any candy this year but Lily had the best day ever just chewing on a mini Hershey bar! It was pretty impossible to get a picture where everyone was happy or even looking at the camera.

6 Days, 4 Countries, 3 Continents

Hi friends and family! It has been over a year since the last time I blogged but we have some huge changes coming up so I figured it was time to start up again to keep everyone updated!

Danny and I just got back from a whirlwind trip that took us to 4 countries in 3continents in just 6 days  to decide if we will be moving our family to Morocco.

We talked to doctors, checked out grocery stores, Danny's office, clothing stores, rode a camel and looked at more villas than I can remember. We ate delicious food and were thoroughly confused by all the languages being spoken around us but we found a house we love and come January 2014 the Tsukaharas will be moving to Agadir, Morocco for 2 years!

While we are really sad to leave our life here in Texas, we are so excited about this new adventure and all the amazing things we will get to see and do.

While Danny and I were in Morocco last week I got to cross one thing off of my my bucket list... riding a camel on the beach!



And just because I know Lily is really the star of the show around here, here is a recent picture of her at the Dallas Arboretum.