Long before Arabella turned two, a Disney-loving friend of mine posted photos of her son’s “Oh Twodles” Mickey Mouse-themed birthday party, and I thought it was genius. (For those who don’t know, Mickey and friends all say “Oh Toodles” several times per episode on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, summoning a magical helper thingy). And since Arabella […]
Moving halfway across the globe is never easy. But add in a global pandemic, a stop movement order, local travel restrictions, and children, and a permanent change of station move outside the continental United States becomes pretty overwhelming. In 13 years as a Marine Corps spouse, I’ve been through more than my share of moves; […]
We’re having a Winnie the Pooh tea party at home, and you’re invited! When I canceled Arabella’s first birthday party in March, I thought I was just postponing it. But as restrictions increased and our time in Okinawa got shorter and shorter, I realized we weren’t going to be able to have her party there. […]
I am not a fall person. I mean, I like plaid. Coats and boots are cute. Pumpkin is delicious. But I don’t like being cold, and I had never really seen leaves change before moving to Maryland when I was 16, so that isn’t something I look forward to every year. But since we spent […]
I’m not sure how it happened, but a year passed in the blink of an eye and our baby doll turned one! Her birthday was near the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions in Okinawa, so we had to cancel her party. But luckily, we had gotten professional photos taken by Heather Johnson Photography a few weeks […]
When I first moved to Bahrain, I was surprised to discover how many restaurants served afternoon tea. But after further reflection, it makes sense: Besides the fact that Bahrain has tons of restaurants and nice hotels in general, it also has a significant population of British expats, and a long history of British influence. Because […]
We had decided early on that we wanted to have Arabella baptized at Toby’s church in Kentucky, so when we decided we were going to go to Kentucky for Thanksgiving, it seemed like the perfect time. My family was able to come, too, which was awesome because we were all together for the ceremony. Arabella […]
The idea of visiting Disney with a baby may be pretty intimidating—we definitely got a lot of “you must be nuts” looks when we told people we were taking Arabella to Hong Kong Disneyland when she was 100 days old (this was before the protests got big and before coronavirus). But visiting Disney with a […]
We have spent New Year’s Eve at Disney World in Florida and at Disneyland in California in the past, so when we were thinking about what we wanted to do this year for New Year’s, we had pretty much decided on either Shanghai Disney or Tokyo Disney. We settled on Tokyo Disney… and then learned […]
Well, I managed to be late not only in sending our Christmas cards (which turned into New Year’s cards, and still haven’t gotten here!), but also in posting these photos. But I wanted to share them anyway, because Heather Johnson did a fantastic job and I love them all! You should definitely book a session […]