Saturday, November 15, 2014

Miss M Turns 6!

Miss M turned 6 a few weeks ago! I took her for her 6 year old check up and she was 20kg and 111 cm, pretty average for her age. We celebrated with a Frozen party, probably like every other little girl across the world. We had an Olaf cake made and invited four little friends over for pizza and cake. It was very simple and very laid back. On her actual birthday we went to lunch at her favorite restaurant, Peko-chan's, and visited a Planetarium nearby that we had been wanting to try. We have ventured into the smaller legos now that she is 6 and she is really enjoying them. I was afraid she would need my help but she seems to follow the instructions pretty well and enjoys building the princess towers. The problem is once they are built, I do not know where to put them! Any lego advice out there would be appreciated...how long to you let these masterpieces take over your 900 square foot apartment? It is hard to believe she is 6! The husband reminded me we only have 12 more years with her at home. :) She has a very tender heart and really is a great care taker. She will be so good with her new baby brother coming in February. She is still a bit shy around new people or new situations. But once she gets to know you, she will talk non-stop with you. Her language continues to amaze me. I love watching her switch from English to Japanese so quickly and it amazes me how their little minds work! We love her so much and am so thrilled to see the little girl God is growing her to be. What a gift to be entrusted with this sweet child.

Nikko, Japan November 2014

Last weekend we ventured to Nikko, Japan with four other families from our church community group to have a weekend away from the city in the woods. We had so much fun! It is always fun when we rent a car and get on the interstate. I love the rest areas in Japan - they are clean, have everything, and we ate at a restaurant in one rest area on the way with a kids area next to our table so the kids got to play a bit. It was as if we had our own personal play land at our table. We arrived Friday evening and spent all day Saturday exploring around our cabin, playing by a creek, and grilling out for dinner. We sipped lots of coffee and made smores which is a rare treat since nobody has fireplaces in their apartments. Sunday we were hoping to enjoy the city and show our friends around a bit as the fall colors are beautiful at this time of year in Nikko, but the rain kept us away. We managed to see the waterfalls, eat pb and j and then all of us got on the road to head back to Tokyo since the weather was bad. I am so so thankful for our church and specifically our community group. We are all quite unique but we all really enjoy each others company. And it is always fun to get outside the city and spend some time in nature for a few days.

Miss M's first race - a 1K!

The sports class Miss M attends organized a race for the students and we signed her and Daddy up to compete. It was a 1 K and you could tell she was really nervous. It was such a funny environment. Some parents were decked out in the most fashionable sports wear and were warming up with their kids. You could tell they trained with their kids. Other parents were wearing tennis shoes from the 1980's. My husband and I found it quite comical. Miss M was nervous but she did great. I will be honest, I was a bit nervous at the beginning as every other child started sprinting really fast. I thought she was going to come in last and we would have a crying daughter on our hands and we would be teaching a lesson on how to lose. But she kept a steady pace, chatting the entire time with daddy, and the other kids started to slow down so she was able to gain a little space between them, coming in second to last. :) As a runner, I got tears in my eyes when she crossed the finish line. I was so proud of her. I hope once we have this baby in February I can start taking her out on some short runs around the neighborhood.
 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Scrapbook Day November 14, 2014 - a Friday

This year the November scrapbook day fell on a Friday. If we have music class in the mornings then Fridays are fairly busy. This one proved to be just that. In the morning, Miss M and I did three subjects of school before heading out to music class. While the K Man and I attend his music class, Miss M attends her Japanese lesson at the local library with her teacher. Her Japanese continues to improve and during class today she wrote thank you notes in Japanese to her Japanese friends for their birthday gifts they gave to her. She even signed her name with her kanji. Her Japanese writing is better than her English writing as her teacher has been helping her for quite some time now with writing. After her lesson, we switch and the K Man takes Japanese and Miss M and I spend time together reading books at the library. The K Man is following in Big Sister's footsteps as he LOVES his Japanese teacher and classes. It is so cute to watch him speak it with her. We enjoyed lunch at the local bakery, came home briefly to finish math for Miss M, and headed back out to soccer for Miss M. We used to do swimming on Fridays but we switched recently to soccer. One reason I wanted to switch is because the swim class for Miss M was a lot of younger kids. I wanted her to be with kids more her age. Plus, the soccer has a class for the K Man at the same time. Right now there is no availability for him, but I am hoping come spring when the new academic year starts in Japan, then he can get in a class also and I can combine activities. I think it will help having as many combined activities as possible once the third child comes along. Miss M is still a bit shy at soccer because it is new. It takes her a really long time to warm up to new environments and people. But I also love with the soccer that she is outside and running (at swimming there was lots of waiting in the pool as people took their turns with the teacher). Daddy and her are going to start swimming at indoor pools nearby on the weekends to keep up her swimming and make sure she stays comfortable in the water. Later in time I may try to get her in a different swim class but for now we will do sports class and soccer. We came home from soccer and enjoyed some dinner and relaxed after a full day. Here are some recent pics of the kids from the past few weeks. Love these sweet gifts from The Lord.