Tokyo Disneyland, December 2014

It has become quite a seasonal tradition for us to attend Tokyo Disneyland for the holidays. I love to check out the Halloween decorations, experience the large Christmas tree at Christmas, and check out the Easter eggs in the spring. So a few weeks ago Daddy took off work and we headed to Tokyo Disney. It never disappoints us. We happened to attend on a day where the park was closing early for a private party so we had to leave at 6:30. Most people would say pick another day so you can stay longer. However, when it is colder, mama is pregnant, and you have small kids, you are quite ready to leave the park at 6:30 and be home by a decent time. At least we are. When you live so close to Disney, you do not feel this need to exhaust yourselves and get there when it opens and stay until it closes. We picked the perfect day! Because other people did not want to come to the park when it was closing early, it was not crowded at all. The sunshine was out and we saw three parades, well at least Miss M and I did. The K Man and daddy opted to just watch the Christmas parade. For the other two parades, the K Man rode the roller coaster over and over and drove the cars. He loves all the rides and Miss M likes the four rides she is used to and parades. We have reached the point where we have to go together with daddy because if I go by myself with both kids, makes it kind of hard to split up. And let's face it, when you go to the happiest place on earth you do not want to spend the day fighting with kids on what rides we are going to do. We went with our friends who are sadly getting ready to move back to England in just a little over a week. We are thankful we got to spend a magical day with them. It was a fabulous day. To top it off, Miss M lost her fist tooth when we got home that night biting into a banana. She hardly ate the entire day at Disney and the tooth had been loose for quite some time. Finally, it came out. Mama was ready for it to come out as with the loose tooth came lots of drama from our princess.

Thoughts...

There will be no pics on this post, just some thoughts...

God made us for community, to share lives with others and to help others. This week, this truth has been so apparent to me. On three different occassions this week someone has helped me regarding the kids. On Monday, a friend watched them (she even picked Miss M up from sports class after playing with the K Man at the park, took them home, played and fed them dinner) while I got a jump start on Christmas shopping and enjoyed a gingerbread latte with my advent book at Starbucks. This was much needed as Monday had been a rough day. I blame the pregnancy hormones. Whatever it was, a little respite and time away encouraged this mama deeply. And I needed it because the K Man was up most of the night Monday with a horrible cough which meant little sleep for Mama. I could not get him into the doctor until 4PM on Tuesday and did not want to take Miss M. Our friends who come play on Tuesdays offered to have Miss M come to their apartment instead. It was such a blessing. She had fun and I only had to travel with one child on the bike to the doctor. I have longed for this y'all...to have a neighborhood type feel in our 50 floor high building....for Miss M to have a friends' apartment she can go to and just play. Blessed. We stayed home from BSF Wednesday to ensure the K Man did not spread his germs to other children. We did well staying indoors and did some Christmas crafts, including our gingerbread houses. Today, Thursday, is the K Man's sports class day. Although he feels fine, he is still coughing so we thought it best to keep him from running around and continue to heal his congestion. But poor Miss M - she needed to get outside. So what happened? A friend offered to take her to a nearby climbing gym while her child is in school. She chose to play with Miss M when she could have had a free afternoon! I am blessed. Not only did Miss M get out of the apartment, run some energy and have a good time speaking Japanese the entire time, I got to cuddle with the K Man and read books, a rare occurance with two of them home most of the time. 

We are made to live in community. It takes a village. Sometimes you have to ask for help, which I did today. Sometimes people simply offer and you need to be willing to accept the offer. I have been on the receiving end so much this week and it makes me want to give back to others in return - whether that is offering an encouraging text message, making someone some brownies, or offering to have their kids over so they can get something done. When God has given us so much, don't you want to give back? It is beautiful, and I am thankful God showed me this today. Think about a way you can encourage someone today...you may never know what they are going through, but a small break from the kids may just really help that weary mother, or that simple text message of encouragement may just help them to persevere through the day. Give back, because we have been given so much. 

Thanksgiving 2014

How did you spend your Thanksgiving? We celebrated twice...once on actual Thanksgiving day and then the following Saturday with our community group from church. You would think one meal would be enough but even after being here for four thanksgivings, I have to eat turkey on actual Thanksgiving day. We had two friends from church over to help us celebrate on Thursday. They are both American and considerably younger than us, young single professionals living life large in Tokyo. And we had a fabulous evening with them of fellowship. One has started a coffee business and convinced the husband to order his fabulous coffee once a month as it is much better than our typical starbucks. He brought some for us to sample and he was right...it was delicious and so smoothe. Our second thanksgiving dinner was on Saturday with our community group. It was a lot of work to organize and I am often asking myself in the process "why did I agree to this," but after it was over I was glad we did it. We had an amazing time of fellowship and the food was tasty as well. We are really thankful for this group of people in our lives to share with and encourage one another. They have become some of our dearest friends here in Tokyo. Below is a picture of some of the ladies on a recent girls night out in Azabu Juban, enjoying the Christmas lights in Roppongi Hills. The meal always taste the same here in Japan as it does in America, but this year I was a bit more homesick than usual. A friend from high school passed away the Saturday before Thanksgiving suddenly. We went to both high school and youth group together and I was missing being able to attend the funeral and reunite with our friends from long ago. We had such a special youth group so it was a bit hard to not be there. But this is life abroad - you cannot do everything or be back for everything. Another difference this year that we noticed is that we did not tape the Macy's Day parade or a NFL football game to watch. In years past we have always done this and I have shown the kids the parade and the husband and I have enjoyed a pro football game once we put the kids in bed. This year we did not do either of these. I remembered the parade and opted not to tape it simply because last year it seemed like I fast forwarded through 90 percent. My kids have no interest in current musical talents or broadway shows - they just want to see floats. And lately it seems like the parade is more music, entertainment and commentators than floats...much different than when I was growing up. But we both completely forgot about the football game which is quite a shock. I think it is a sign we have been in Tokyo for awhile when we forget about football games on Thanksgiving day. And I do not think it is necessarily a bad thing. I have yet to upload pictures from our community group dinner and I forgot to take pictures of our first meal, but I can leave you with pics of some pretty cute kids who I am so thankful for, one of whom has her first loose tooth and the other who got stuck in a bucket in the bath. CUTE!

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.

 

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.