Miss M's Actual Birthday Festivties

In addition to her birthday party, Miss M's birthday falls on a national holiday in Japan so daddy had off work. She chose to go to her favorite restaurant in Ginza, Fujiya (Pecko-chan's) for lunch and then we played at Hibiya park. It was a beautiful day to be outside. After a short rest at home, we went back out for bike rides (the K Man is now riding without training wheels) and dinner at the local mall next door. We also enjoyed a beautiful flower display they have every year on this holiday. I am so glad she had both a fun party and actual birthday. We have taken a week off of school for fall break and we are enjoying time to just play, relax, read and be lazy for a few days before our final push until Christmas break.

Happy 10 Years to us!

Today marks our tenth anniversary. And how do I choose to celebrate it...by pulling my back! Seriously, I bent over and my lower back started hurting. Thankfully the hubby had a low key day and no meetings so he is working from home and taking the kids to their afternoon activities. I am hoping it is better by tomorrow before we head on a car trip to Nikko. 

Since we are away this weekend, we chose to celebrate early two weeks ago with a lovely dinner at the Four Season hotel. Our friend runs the hotel and made us reservations. It was perfect. It was small, quiet, and had a beautiful view looking at Tokyo station and Tokyo tower from a distance. We love the Maranouchi/Tokyo station area and it is in our neighborhood so to speak so it made for a special evening. The food was phenomenal (so nice that my husband said to enjoy it because we will not eat like this again for another ten years:), the presentation was beautiful, and the evening was so fun. We reminisced about our wedding day and our wedding party and all of the great friends we have. We chatted about every day life, the kids, and dreams we have for the next ten, twenty and thirty years. 

You know, when we got married, on our wedding day, I thought I was the happiest I would ever be. But that has proven to be false. Each day, I grow more in love with my husband. He is more than just a partner in life, he is my best friend and I truly enjoy him so much more today than I did ten years ago. I look back ten years ago and the image I had of marriage is so different than what I want now. I love just talking to him, laughing, watching shows together, ordering Chinese take out, riding bikes with our kids...just doing life together. The Lord has grown our marriage so much over the last ten years through good times and tough times. I wait expecting God to do great things in our marriage over the next ten years.

Here is to you, my best friend, the one I truly cannot imagine my life without. Thank you Jesus for your grace over us and our marriage and for allowing us to journey on this earth together as husband and wife.

Miss M is 7!

How is Miss M 7 years old already? Some days I feel like she is 17 and other days I feel like she is a newborn. They were not kidding...the days are long but the years are short. She is growing into a lovely young lady. She can be quite spunky and feisty which makes things difficult at times, but she is also very loving and such a caretaker. As much as she fights with the K Man, she really loves him and looks out for him at social settings, making sure nobody hurts him or makes fun of him. She likes being around younger kids and taking care of them. She has a very nurturing heart. She is progressing in school and is reading really well for her age. Homeschooling can be challenging at times, but I find it so rewarding to watch her learn and grow and develop. She loves princesses (which you can see below in the princess themed birthday party), legos, and writing stories and art. She is gifted in so many ways, it will be interesting to see what of her many interests becomes a great passion. She is quite chatty in a small group but gets shy at times in larger group settings. Miss M, we love you so much and are thankful for the gift God gave us in you. You are quite a treasure and we look forward to seeing where God takes you in this life.

Undokai October 17, 2015

On October 17th we celebrated the K Man's undokai at youchien. Undokai is the sports festival and is a HUGE deal for Japanese school children. Mothers rise at 4AM to prepare beautiful bentos to be shared with the family at the event, and many members of your family attend to watch the children display their sports talents. This year, rain caused our undokai to be held indoors. They did most of the events, except the race, which the K Man was most excited about. For weeks leading up to undokai he would make me ask the lady at the door greeting us each morning if they were going to practice running that day. If she said yes, he would excitedly run into youchien without looking back. In a sense, I am glad the rain came. It meant I did not have to prepare bentos as we finished at 11:30, and the K Man was finished at 10:30. I am not sure how he would have handled it outside going from 8:45-1:30. They made up the outdoor activities on the following Tuesday at school and parents could come watch. He loved the race part, and finished second, out of three kids at a time. :)At one point during the indoor festivities, the parents were supposed to do something with the children. We originally sent daddy because it involved lifting the child and mama did not understand the instructions. You can see in the photos, the K Man did not want daddy so mama and daddy switched.