Easter 2014

 

 

Easter has been around at stores since February and so when it actually arrived, my impression was "it's about time!" It didn't mean though I had plenty of time to prepare and of course Mike and I were stuffing the eggs with goodies the night before yawning.   I know the kids look forward to it every year.  They have so much fun egg hunting like it's a second Halloween.  We are not a religious family however coming from a spiritual culture like Japan, I kind of miss having the larger than life element in our lives.  I learned to be respectful to nature and be humble through Shinto and Buddhist teachings although I am not a member of neither religion.  Their teachings are sort of blended into everyday life in Japan.  It would be nice to introduce our children to varieties of customs and beliefs through Holiday like Easter not just the presents and catchy fun activities they gravitate towards to. 

We had Nana over for Easter dinner.  I served oven roasted lam and asparagus, spring beets salad with goat cheese and roasted pine nuts, deviled eggs, and sourdough bread.  Nana brought mushed potatoes, which was very nice.  I think the dinner turned out great!  I hardly ever make a lam dish but it was tender and flavorful.  I enjoy cooking very much, so it was a lot of fun to whip up a special meal for my family.

We had a very nice Easter again this year.  I am hoping Noah develops more interest in collecting eggs next year.  He found some eggs but didn't really see any point in keeping them.  The girls were adorable in their dresses.  I am glad we have two little girls to dress up.  Sorry boys only parents.  You are missing out a bit!

Sean's Walk of Fame

Sean's class had a biography presentation event a couple of weeks ago called "walk of fame".  Each student had a famous historical figure to present and Sean picked John F. Kennedy.  They all made a poster with a drawing and wrote about the subject.  I thought they are going to present it in front of the class but instead they had a mini presentation in front of their desk.  The audience was to push a "button" on the presenter's hand to hear about the subject, sort of like a recording at a museum exhibition.  I thought that was a clever idea!  Sean did great and looked like enjoying himself.  There were many parents and grandparents jam packed in the classroom and it was very hot.  Poor boy who was wearing a white colonial wig, hat and heavy jacket was sweating.  Sean opted not to dress as JFK.  I honestly didn't know how JFK typically dressed.   I was proud of all of them as I knew how hard they all worked for this project.  They thrive with sense of accomplishment and warm encouraging words.  I hope all students grew more confident and had a positive experience in their first biography project. 

Roller Skating Party

Saya's friend from Gymnastics had a birthday party the other day at a local skate link.  It's the same place we went to when Sean and Aly's school had a Halloween roller skate event.  It was therefore Saya's second time skating and she had lots of fun.  She is a careful type and prefers to hang on to the railing until she feels confident.  She did not cry nor get frustrated even though she fell countless times.  I remember sort of throwing myself out there when I was little, but I may have been much older than her.  She was sweating from all the falling and balancing, and she was so tired by the time they had cake.  The birthday girl was so cute in her pink fluffy dress and looked very content.  Next up is Saya.  She is going to be five this coming Friday!!  I've decided to not do a party for her but instead take the kids to the Great Wolves Lodge.  I will still make a My Little Pet Shop cake for her on her birthday.  I can't believe my baby is going to be five! 

Botanical Garden and Baseball Game

April is another busy month with birthdays and spring break.  We have been fully packed with parties and outings every weekend and by the end of the day, I am too tired to do anything but slump on the couch.  I wish my body can recharge quickly like my cell phone but I feel sluggish everyday.  There gotta be something I am doing wrong -- like going to bed too late and not exercising.  Humph!!

The first batch of pictures are from when the girls and I took Grandma to Bellevue Botanical Garden.  The daffodils were pretty but the main attractions were the bright baby leaves on the trees.  They were lighting up the garden with gentle baby breath green.  My girls were so happy they were running around the garden.

 

 

The second batch is from when I took Sean to his first Mariner's game on Friday during the spring break.  The tickets for Sean and I were the birthday gift for me from Mike.  He totally surprised me about it.  I thought all along he had attempted to buy me my dream professional level camera without consulting with me.  That would be a big disaster if that had been the case since I only did a brief research about which camera to buy.   Like a wedding ring, the right fit has to be carefully selected when buying a dream camera, you know! 

 

We had a great time at the game.  Mariner's won 6 - 4 and we got to see a great play by Felix Hernandez, our ace pitcher and our new expensive guy, Robinson Cano.  Cano was a much talked about addition to Mariner's this year and a quite costly one, too.  He was paid $240 million to join Seattle and that amount is beyond understanding to Sean or even me.  He played well but we didn't get to see a powerhouse home run from him.  Sean was enjoying himself by cheering the team loudly and doing a little dance here and there.  Only one lament was having obnoxious drunk people behind us.  They were loud, full off adult languages, and didn't care about others at all.  The good thing was Sean didn't notice that at all, except for the lady scream bloody murder every 10 minutes for the fun of it.

 

 



 There they are!  It feels good to put these pictures up here.  It's been bugging me that I hadn't shared.  I hope you enjoyed reading and looking at photos!

My Birthday

I was fortunate this year to be able to celebrate my birthday with my Mom.  I am her 42 year-old baby and I feel quite ancient.  It's hard to believe so many years had past by even from my college days.  I swear I still remember those days just like yesterday.  I was telling my Mom that we used to have a typewriter lab in my college and it took me hours to type up a report since the whole process involved a lot of manual labors such as looking up correct spelling in the dictionary.   My first car was 1980 Honda Civic station wagon, table tennis green.  I was compared to Kristie Yamaguchi since she was the only Asian woman most people around me knew.  I once called my Mom and told her that I want to quit college because I wanted to become a race queen (a model for F-1 racing in Japan).  Even the fashion in 90s are made fun of these days and I lived my teenage years in 80s.  How cool is that!?  I recently tried to watch MTV for a background music while cleaning, but the music and video were nothing exciting.  There used to be a storyline in songs and videos in 80s like with Bon Jovi, Tom Petty, Boy George and A-ha.  It was a very exciting time also because the world was still very new to me.  It's a very different world compared to the high tech, convenience oriented age like today and I am glad I grew up in a slower paced world.  Enough about my mumbling!  In a nutshell, I am a very happy brand new 42-year-old who is surrounded by people I love.  That is all I can ask for!

Grandma Is Here!

I've been busy for a good reason for the past one week.  My Mom descended to Seattle from Osaka last Tuesday and we are all in a special vacation mode spending time with her.  She spent the first week following me around as I endlessly run around as usual in my van.  She volunteered with me in Sean and Aly's class and even went to Sean's psychiatrist appointment.  She washes dishes, folds laundries and plays with the children.  Moms are so good to have around! 

We ventured out to Seattle waterfront last Sunday to visit the aquarium.  With three adults, we could even take Noah although he was a bit of a challenge.  Seattle Aquarium is pretty small compared to the world class marvel in Osaka, but it's a great fun for the little ones.  Sean and Aly enjoyed touching the starfish and I touched a sea urchin for the first time.  Who knew that they can move those spikes and it even has a mouth!  The staff was very knowledgeable and it was an educational experience.  Noah, once he got out of the stroller, was in a mood to explore and wanted to open every closed door, even those for employees only or ones that triggers an emergency alarm.  He was whiny and unhappy that he couldn't open them.  I had to carry him half of the time because he was so unhappy.  I want him to get used to being in a public place, so it was a good idea still to take him.   It will take many tries I am sure. 

We walked on Alaska Way and did a bit of playing tourists visiting shops and eating ice creams.  The kids found a classic merry-go-round in one of the pier buildings and had lots of fun on it.  Lucky kids got a free ride on a bicycle taxi on the boardwalk since the bike guy offered and they had tons of fun (ended up tipping him - smart guy!).  It was a beautiful day with blue sky even though the wind was a bit chilly.  We had a great time being out together.  It was tiring but well worth it.

Unfortunately, my pictures from the outing didn't get saved correctly from the SD card onto my computer and I lost all my pictures!  There were some good ones and I am disappointed!  Well, it's all in our memory and I know my kids at least will remember the day for a while. 

My sweet hubby is so excited for tomorrow since it's my birthday.  He might be more excited than me.  He is taking a day off from work so that I can have a whole day to myself.  That is a big thing for me because I don't think I had an entire day to myself since I had my first baby.  I really don't know what to do with myself.  I kind of feel nervous about it since I don't want to waste any time.  Either way, it's going to be a great birthday.  Having a wonderful family and being able to celebrate with them is a bliss.  Life is good and I feel like the luckiest person in the universe!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love America for having such a colorful holiday festivities every occasion.  It must have a deeper meaning than wearing green and leprechauns, but to this non-Irish Japanese and American family, it's all about having fun.  I made sure that everyone dressed in green this morning.  Alyson was very excited and she decked herself in all green, even her socks.  Sean had a gray shirt with green writing on it so it was all good.  Saya wore her green polka dot tutu and dressed the rest in pink.  Noah wore his green dino shirt.  I have a slow morning with Saya on Mondays, so I prepped for dinner in the morning.  Of course, I have the volunteer duty at Noah's school in the afternoon, so I made sure I have enough time to simmer the corned beef. 

Noah's teacher, Ms. Hubert, gives me all kinds of classroom materials to prepare for her class.  I have about an hour and fifteen minutes to finish all of them and it usually becomes a big rush towards the end.  I discovered that if I leave late, the parking lot where I park my car gets filled with parents lining up to pick up their kids.  I got stuck in the pick-up rush a couple weeks ago and I couldn't get out!  So, I have to make sure I finish everything on time so that I can actually leave school and get Noah off his school bus.  Somehow my brain works better if there is a deadline and I get pretty creative in order to be more efficient.   Of course, I don't want to do a mediocre job, so I don't skimp on quality.  I do the best job I can in a most efficient way possible.  It's a challenge a little different from everyday home situations, so I enjoy it very much.  I get a good brain power boost from it. 

Back to St. Patrick's Day... Sean wanted to make a Leprechaun trap after school.  I had him finish his math homework first and helped him make a Leprechaun trap.  Ever since he made one with Daddy two years ago, it's something he looks forward to doing.  I gave him a plain paper bag, green construction paper, a pair of scissors and a glue stick.  He started by cutting out a door and asked me how we can trap him inside once he steps inside.  I thought about it for a few seconds and asked him to get two magnets from his toy box upstairs.  Then I had him cut a strip of paper wide enough to go through the door.  We laid the paper down and taped it inside the door.  We made it so that once a weight is on the paper, the door flings up.  We taped the magnets on inside of the door and the top of the wall where the door closes.  Once the door comes up, the magnets shuts the door tightly.  Brilliant!!  I was proud of myself and Sean was pretty impressed with me.  Mom's not so bad! 

The girls also wanted to make one, so I helped them make their own.  They used glitter glue sticks to make theirs look pretty.  Now their traps are sitting under their chairs in dining room.  I ran to Target after dinner and bought some small toys to put inside their bags.  They will be stoked when they see that a Leprechaun came by and left a toy for them.  Do they get presents for Easter, too?  I don't think I will but I know many children in America do.  My house is starting to look like the house in "Too Many Toys" by David Shannon. 

We had a nice dinner with Nana in the evening and children were too excited about this whole ordeal.  They were being noisy and a bit obnoxious during dinner.  I made corned beef, brussels sprouts, gluten free Irish soda bread and green salad.  They were ok.  Oh and I baked gluten free cupcakes for the kids to eat in the afternoon.  They put vanilla icing and green sprinkles on top!  We had a quite an exciting day and I am exhausted again from running around too much.  See you again next year, Shamrock and Leprechaun!