Scrapbook Day 11/13/13, Wednesday

Our Wednesdays are pretty busy. We leave the house at 8:15, hopefully, and catch a 8:28 train to BSF, Bible Study Fellowship. I am a group leader and need to get there early. If we catch a 8:38 train we are okay but I like to be on the train by 8:30. This means I typically have to wake the kids. Right now it is 8AM as I type this and they are still asleep. If they would stop playing at night and go to bed when we tell them to, they would be up before now! So, we have BSF. My kids LOVE BSF! IT is such a great program for both parents and adults and it is a highlight for our week. After BSF, we have lunch with some other moms and friends in the class. Then we get back on the train and head to Roppongi where Miss M has Japanese for one hour and the K Man and I play or meet friends for a coffee. On this particular day, our friend from church came over for dinner and the kids love Miss Annika. It is a full on day as we usually do not get home until 3:30/4. So once we are home, we relax, watch TV and enjoy our toys we missed from being out all day. I am so thankful for BSF here in Tokyo. I hope it is something I can always be a part of. We are studying Matthew this year. Last year we did Genesis so it has been great to see the plan of redemption from the Beginning in Genesis and now study its fulfillment in Christ in Matthew. I will post a few pics from the month here now of the kiddos.

Nikko

This fall we took a weekend trip to Nikko with our Aussie friends to escape the city and enjoy nature. We stayed at a place called Woodsman Village in a cabin and had such a great time. The kids got to play in the woods, roast marshmellows, see some pretty leaves, and play Jake and The Neverland Pirates and search for treasure. Our kids get along fabulously and so the adults could really enjoy themselves as well. We had lots of treasure hunts and lots of fun. The leaves were beautiful and it was so nice to get away from the city for a few days. It is a shame our friends move in 2 weeks as we would love to go back there next year with them. We may have to go back without them though, because it was so great! We rented a car now that hubby has his Japanese license. I loved just throwing our stuff in the back of the car and not worrying about carrying luggage on a train. So so nice! Such freedom! Miss M said her stomach hurt 90 percent of the time we were in the car. It was hard to tell if that was just her drama or the windy roads in Nikko. From the pictures, you can see how beautiful the area was and how much fun we had.

The K Man's Music Debut

The K Man started the same music class Miss M was in for the past three years. She has since graduated and now he is doing them. He had his first recital on 11/4/13. When it was time for him to go on stage he wanted Daddy to take him. Rather than participating, he just put his head into daddy and sucked on his fingers. After all the classes went, he did participate with me in some of the other activities. For the last few months, he has not really engaged in the class. He wants me to hold him in the beginning and is a bit shy and reserved. However, last week, he did not ask to be held one time. He did all of the motions for the animals and sounds and participated in everything. He LOVED it and I loved not having to hold him since he is a bit heavy! He even started doing the animal sounds at home and since his big sister remembers them, they started doing them together. It is fun for me to have a class with just the K Man. Miss M is in Japanese while we go to music class so it gives the two of us some time together.

Miss M is 5!

You know those older ladies who tell you "Enjoy the moment, the time goes by so quickly." They often tell you this while your kid is screaming and you are trying to drag them home and you think, "Right...enjoy this moment...I will enjoy moving in day at a college campus in some 13 years." But it really is true, huh? How can Miss M be 5 years old already? I heard someone say, "The days are long but the years are short." True, very true indeed. We celebrated Miss M this year on her actual birthday. Her birthday fell on a Sunday and she was SUPER excited about it. In the morning we skyped with grandparents back in America, opened gifts, and played with said gifts. At 3:00 we had a small party for her at our home. In the past I had rented party rooms for birthday parties but this year I did not want the hassle of doing that and loading things back and forth between the party room and our home. Our house is not huge, but we have enough space for a few of her friends to come enjoy some cake and snacks. She wanted My Little Pony decorations with a Melonpanna-chan cake. Melonpanna is one of the characters in her favorite Japanese show, Anpanman. My mom brought the Pony decorations from the US when she visited in November. From 3-5, she had five of her favorite friends over to play and enjoy cake and snacks. They all played together nicely and loved the cake. I met a new friend recently whose sister makes cakes, so she is where I got the cake. It was both so cute and very tasty. We did not do much in terms of games. I hid some small Anpanman balls around the house and they had to find one and take it home with them, but that was about it. Miss M loved her party. She loved having her friends over, opening presents and being the center of attention. Of course she did...she is 5! After everyone left, we ordered pizza at her request for the birthday dinner and played with the new toys. When I took her to the doctor for her 5 year old check up, she had to get 3 shots...chicken pox, MMR, and her flu shot. She cried at first but once the doctor gave her a lolly she was fine. She weighs 38.5 pounds (17.5kg) and is 41.5 inches tall (105.4cm). She is average for weight and slightly less than average for height. What can I say about her? She is one special and gifted little girl. She is smart...too smart for me, and I think she would make a great attorney one day as she likes to negotiate. She is doing well in her Japanese, starting to read some on her own and write thanks to her amazing tutor we have 3 times a week. I love watching her play with our Tuesday party friends and speak Japanese. It is so fun to see it develop in her and I hope no matter where we go in the future we can help her maintain it. Recently she is interested in playing with dolls and doing their hair and changing their clothes. She has a love/hate relationship with her brother. She has a hard time dealing with her emotions, and I know she gets that from me, so I am trying to help her with that. :) She loves to pretend she is Melonpanna, her brother is Anpanman and daddy is the bad guy, Baikinman, and they run around the house giving each other Melonpunches and Anpanpunches.She loves playing with her My Little Ponies and Callico Critters. She wants me to tell her stories all the time, but she wants the same story over and over. It usually can last for about 40 minutes on a train ride and it wears me out, but I guess it is better than playing on the Iphone. She gets scared at night and wants to come in our bed. Some nights I let her and other nights I take her back to her bed. It just depends on how tired I am. Her little brother repeats everything she does, even the bad things, but you can tell he really likes her for the most part. I love to watch them waltz together. It is so cute. She has lots of activities and I wonder if it is too many sometimes, but since she is not in school I want to give her lots of opportunities to be with other kids. Right now we do sports class and ballet and we are getting ready to start swimming. She is afraid of the water so I want to ensure she learns how to hold her breath in the water and at least doggie paddle. We have been on a wait list for the swimming class since April so I thought this would be good to add in the winter months when it is too cold to do much outside. She loves all things Disney and wants to work there one day like our friend. She is a pretty sensitive little girl, does not like change so much, and when she is with a large group would rather play with her brother than the other kids. I am okay with that because he is the one who will be in her life 30 years from now. She is a care-taker. I was feeling horrible the other night and the husband was out of country, and she would bring me ice packets wrapped in a wash cloth and told me not to worry about her brother, she would take care of him. Not sure if she was worried about me or just wanted me to get better to go to Disney, but it was sweet nonetheless. She is doing well with our pre-school at home. I only work with her about 3 days a week for about 45 minutes at a time. I found every day was too much and we were not having fun, so I am just trying to teach her to sit with me for a bit. It seems to be going better for us now. She just wants to play, and play and play, and I want her to be able to do that and foster that as much as I can. Miss M, I love you. You are such a delight and bring us so much joy. Happy 5th Birthday!