Quiet Moments before Christmas

Noah was anticipating someone tickling his tummy and the thought of it made him giggle!
Aly the artist - she enjoys drawing cats, bears and family these days.

Daddy and kids built a ginger bread house and decorated it with icing and candies.

Malawaina with Noah - she has been a crucial part of Noah's life so far.

A little rascal, Saya. She gets into stuff with a very smooth move and we don't notice it what she'd done till much later.

Who could resist this face!? She is a doll!

A morning walk around the neighborhood. We are blessed to live in a beautiful place with lush greens and fresh smells of pines all year around!


To be honest with you, I've been avoiding this blog for a couple of weeks. Between Christmas and getting my house ready for my Mom was, I was overwhelemed. Now that my Mom's here and Christmas passed, I had no reason not to post and here I am pretty content to get back to business!

Sean and Aly love Christmas season. They love the lights on people's houses, background music in the malls, decorations everywhere in shops, Santas in all shapes in sizes... It makes things extra special to have more colors and cheerfulness in places we visit everyday. I have a lot to learn in terms of American tradition surrounding the Holiday season, but we built and decorated gingerbread house one day. Year by year, we want to add more activities to make fun memories. I am craft challenged, so Mike would have to fill in.

Alyson is getting better with Japanese and she speaks about 50% Japanese at home. Saya started to scream like a hot kettle on the stove and Noah imitates it smiling. Of course, that encourages Sean and Alyson to be loud, so our house is like an Amazon jungle these days.

Thinking back of summer, I don't know how I managed having all four children at home while school is out. I vaguely remember thinking I actually enjoyed having all of them at home. At the moment, I am not finding that enthusiasm in me. Thank goodness my Mom's here to entertain the kids.

I will write about Christmas day in the next post!