More February Fun

Before we head for our family fun weekend in the snow tomorrow, I thought I should update with some more pictures of February fun. Daddy went to play in the snow up in Hokkaido last week (where he went to a bar/restaurant made of ice - pic below) so the kids slumbered with Mama. However, the K Man lost his opportunity one night by not letting the rest of us sleep, so instead he slept in Miss M's big girl bed! I think he is due for a big boy bed. He has been complaining of being scared of his crib and waking up consistently through the night for about 3 weeks now. Bunk beds are in our near future! I am still trying to obtain to the notion of staying home more. I find on the days we are home, playing in a local neighborhood park or play area, or simply staying put in home, mama is a much better mama. We do lots of extracurricular activities right now so it helps when that is our only activity for the day. Sometimes it cannot be helped, like when we wanted to go ice skating one last day before the outdoor rink closed which meant a morning and afternoon activity. However, I do find that when I do that, I am tired and worn out and fatigue is never good for this mama. This week we made forts with pillows, did some painting, wrote lots of stories (Miss M is into writing "books" and she draws with them, telling me she wants to be an author one day), made our first "selfie" on the train to Bible study, had an indoor picnic, and used the cushionless couches as  our "houses" where the kids stored plenty of toys and pretended to go back and forth to each others' homes and ring the doorbell. We have enjoyed the park behind our building for scooter time and bike riding time after lunch on warmer days, and just the other day ran into some old yochien friends so while the kids rode bikes and scooters, the mamas chatted a bit. They all want me to teach them English and I want to take Japanese a little bit more seriously, so I am trying to figure out how that can be worked out so we all benefit! I just finished a great book called The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. This was my first book of hers that I had read and I really enjoyed it. I hope to read more of her books, but in the meantime I am going to start Bread and Wine : A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes. I love to host even though I am an introvert and get re-energized by time to myself (maybe that is why at the end of the party I am at the sink washing dishes by myself while everyone else is sipping coffee...so I can decompress a bit) so I think this book will be a fun read for me. My sister-in-law recommended it to me and we both share a love of reading so I am diving into it, finally! This about covers it for us...just wanted to post before we head away as I know I will have loads of fun snow pics to showcase when we get back.