What we did in December 09

We did a lot in December but I was being lazy.....so here is our picture that you can see what we did this month.
It was Kota's 4th Birthday on beginning of month.
Daniel and Emily had a school winter sing. They sang cute christmas songs and did very good job! I really love to hear kids singing songs. (makes me smile a lot)
We went to Bryan's grandma's for Christmas Eve as always. It was nice to see all our family there. Kids were happy to see grandpa, grandma, and aunts, uncle, cousins.
Our car navigator brokedown near the Grandma's house on Christmas Eve.....thanks to our family's help to get us home that night.
We spent time with Bryan's mom on Christmas day.
I got a Wii Fit from Bryan. I'm so excited to do this! I don't know this will be good work out for me or not but I know this is gonna be entertainmet to our family.

Happy Halloween

Kindly our neighbor gave us 5 pumpkins.
We were able to carve our family pumpkins this year. It was fun!
Daniel carved one all by himself. Accidentaly he cut his finger also, but it was just like a scratch.

On the 31st, we participated in our ward Halloween dinner as usual.
We had cornbread and chili then we started trick or treating when the sun went down.
Kids walked hard and they got buckets full of candies!
Happyly ever after....I also had some candies from their bucket.(hahaha)
Happy Halloween!
FYI-Bryan was not really dressed up he was Dr House. Yes he had a bottle of Vicadin in his pocket too!

Kota Bear

Halloween is coming up soon.
Kids are so excited to go to "Trick or Treating".
Since September they were telling me what they wanted to be for Halloween this year.


Daniel wanted to be a Robot in first place then he changed his mind to be a ghost until we went to search for costumes at DI. His final choice was a Vampire! He is going to be the Count Daniel.


Emily wanted to be a dolphin but she changed her mind to a witch.
She is going to be "KiKi" the cute girl witch from the movie "Kiki's Delivery service". If you know Studio Ghibli, it is one of their series.


Kota wanted to scare all his friends and especially his brother and sister so he kept telling me that he was going to be a skeleton.
But, he totally changed his mind at DI when he saw the Bear costume!
Kota loves his costume and he just wears it all the time, anywhere, everywhere since he got his costume.


He is such a cutie.
(Bryan's comment- It looks like the bear is eating Kota's head)

もうすぐハロウィーンがやってきます。

子供たちは今年も仮装して近所の家を回ってお菓子やキャンディーをもらうのを楽しみにしています。

9月からずっと子供たちはそれぞれ自分は”あれになりたい、これになりたい”と言っていました。

そして先週ついに古着屋さんに行ってコスチュームを買いました。

ダニエルは１、ロボットになる・・・そして２、お化けになる・・・に変わり、結局なるのはドラキュラ！

えみりは最初イルカになりたい！と言っていたのがやっぱり魔女になる！と言うことで、魔女の宅急便の"キキ"に決定。

こうたは友達と、特にダニエルとえみりを怖がらせたいから骸骨になりたいんだ！！とずーっと言い続けていたのが古着屋さんにあったクマの着ぐるみのようなコスチュームを見た瞬間から、僕はこれにする！！で即決定。

クマのコスチュームを買って以来ほとんどいつでもどんなに暑くても一日中着ています。今日も着たまま昼ねしていたので記念に写真をとってあげました。こうた、かわいいぞっ！！（親バカです）

Bad day

I popped my car's tire the other day.
I was going to my mother in law's to drop the kids off at her house so that I could go get Bryan who was at the hospital.
I needed someone's help to put the spare tire on but I had no idea how to do it. So I called Bryan and as I was talking to him the missionaries came by and offered to help me change the tire. They really are God's servants.



On the day before Bryan's birthday he had an unsuspected surgery. He was lucky enough to spend the night in the hospital too. What an unlucky birthday...he was waited on hand and foot and had all his meals brought to him. Unfortunately he did not get to spend it with the kids because they were not allowed in the hospital because of the Swine flu scare. He is getting better and unless you want to lose your appetite don't ask what happened. Suffice it to say, he spent a week on Extra Strength Vicadin(yes there is such a thing) and layed down 24/7 for a week.

Birthday

Daniel turned 7.
We usually celebrate his Birthday as a Family, but we decided to invite his friends.
Daniel was so lucky that lots of friends came over for his birthday!
The party went well and we could make good memories for Daniel's Birthday especially himself.

Sewing Machine

This is my new and first sewing machine since I got married.

I did not have a good experience with sewing when I was in Junior High.

I sewed my first PJs at the class but it was too hard for me to sew curves and collar.

Anyway, I finished sewing my PJ but I never wore it because I didn't like it.

I thought I needed to improve my talent and skills so I decided to sew again.(especially since I'm a mom now...)

My mom sewed dresses and skirts for me and my sister.

I still remember my favorite shirt and skirt which my mom made for me. It was white cloth with black polka dot. I thought it was the cutiest outfit I've ever had!!

The memory from my mom gave me courage to sew my princess Emily's skirts.

I went to Walmart and grab some material to make her a skirt.

I sewed a pink skirt and a flower print skirt!!

It was so much fun to sew more than I thought.

Now, I wanna try some other things to sew sometime soon.

結婚して以来ようやく自分のミシンを購入しました！

中学校のときの家庭科の時間にパジャマを縫う課題があり、あまりいい経験にはならなかったのでミシンを使うことからできるだけ遠ざかってきた私です。

出来上がったパジャマも結局一度も着なかった気がする。（出来栄えが悪かったのです・・・気に入ってなかったしなー）

私も3人の子供の母親になり、何度も”ミシンがあればいいのにー”という事もあり、ミシンを使う腕も磨いた方がいいと言うことで購入しました。

私が子供のときに母が私と妹のために服を作ってくれていました。

母が作ってくれたシャツとスカートのセットのことを思い出します。

白い布地に黒の水玉模様で、”このシャツとスカートのセットはなんてかわいいんだろう！これを着ている自分はかわいく見える！！”と信じていたいたくらいお気に入りでした。

この思い出がえみりのスカートを作ろう！という勇気をくれました。

ウォルマートに行って生地を買い、さっそくピンクと花柄のスカート2種類を作ってみました。

初めてにしてはなかなかのできかな？？と自己満足中です。

ミシンを使うのも、思った以上に楽しくできたのでまた近いうちになにか作ってみようと思います。

Coon Bluff

We went to play at Coon Bluff with our friends,this labor day.

Bryan and the kids played in the river. They found lots of shells and they learned to walk side ways in the river.

The kids got to drive a cute little Jeep and had fun with a zip line.

We were planning to do rappelling also but it rained a lot so we couldn't do it.(bummer)

Kota had so much fun that on the way home he fell asleep in the car and he drueled all over his shirt.

Back to School

Daniel is in 1st grade. Emily is in Kindergarten this year.
I asked them how was their 1st day of school when they got home.
Daniel: "It was lots of fun, more than Kindergarten! I like it in 1st grade!!"
Emily: "It was fun, but it was too easy."

It's been almost 2weeks since school has started and both of them have made new friends in class.


The picture below is a group of kids at same bus stop to go to school.

From left Daniel, Jayne, Emily and Rachel.

Trip to Yuma/San Diego

We visited our friends in Yuma last weekend.

Their kids and our kids are same ages so we had loads of fun!

Emily enjoyed playing with Kylie. Emily was crying when we have to go home, because she still wanted to play with Kylie. (I guess she needs a sister like Kylie)

We drove down to San Diego to play at the beach.

It was bit a cold at the Cabrillo beach last time we went but this time in San Diego's beach was just right.

Daniel enjoyed riding a body board a lot and jumping over the waves. He had fun swimming in the ocean more than digging in the sand.

Kota had a great time with digging in the sand and carrying sea water. He liked San Diego beach because his most favorite TV show is "Go Diego go". The word "Diego" is very special for him I guess. His name is Kota of course but sometimes it does change into "Diego". If you say"Come here Diego " then he'll come to you. He is a funny boy.

It was great trip. Our kids want to go visit their friends in Yuma again.

Thank you for having us Daniel and Kimmy. You guys are great!

Daniel's Bodyboard riding. He did pretty good!

Bryan rode a bodyboard also.

Reward

Daniel made a goal which was to read 300 books during this summer vacation.
We didn't force him to read 300 books.
I have never read 300 books in my whole life.
I thought it was a really big number for him to read, but he is the one that decided, so we let him do it.
We decided to give him a prize, if he read 300 books.
We told him that we will take him to "Chuck E Cheeses" if you complete your goal during this summer vacation.
He was so excited and he tried his best for a month and half to finish reading 300 books.
We are so proud of him to achieved his goal!!
We had lots of fun at Chuck E Cheeses last Saturday.

アメリカでは特に夏休みの宿題がないので、ダニエルに何か課題をあげようと思い彼自身に何がしたいか決めさせました。ダニエルが決めたことは、夏休みの間に300冊の本を読むことでした。

私は子供の時、300冊の本を読んだことなんて一度もないぞっ。（今でもない・・・）

目標が大きすぎると思ったけど、本人が決めたことなのでそのままやらせることにしました。

ブライアンと話し合って、もしダニエルが300冊読めたらチャッキー・チィーズィーズに連れて行くというご褒美をあげることにしました。

そこは子供専用のゲームセンターで、ピザなど食事もできる子供にとって楽しい所です。

ダニエルはチャッキー・チィーズィーズに連れて行ってもらえると聞いて、頑張って約一ヶ月半かけて300冊の本読みを達成しました！
何よりもダニエルが目標を達成してくれたことが親として一番嬉しいことです。

先週の土曜日は家族みんなで楽しんできました。

Vacation

July 11-13, we went to camping at Lakeside AZ. It was our friend's property and they made a tire swing, long zip line, hammock, playhouse and huge Ramada. Our kids had lots of fun with their friends. Emily had a chance to ride and drive her size of quad. Daniel was able to ride his size of motorcycle with his friend. It was heaven for the kids because there were trees, sticks, rocks and dirt, and a campfire with smore's. They played with flashlights as long as they wanted and also they had a chance to watch a deer !!
We are glad that our kids love to go to camping.

July 14-17 we went to Los Angeles, California. This picture above is Cabrillo Beach. The water was still cold but it was pretty beautiful. It was nice to go to the beach. We went to the beach more often when we lived in Japan. I was so happy that our kids had some great experience with beach this time. Daniel was brave enough to swim in the ocean. Emily was kind a afraid to swim in the ocean but she went into the water with Daddy. Kota had fun with digging sand. He made holes and mountains, and he carried water from the ocean.
We enjoyed to visiting little Tokyo, China town and fashion district in LA.
My favorite part of this trip was the food and we enjoyed tons of Japanese food!!

Swimming Lesson

Daniel, Emily and Kota are taking swim lessons this summer and they love it!!

Kota is in Sea Sprite class, Emily and Daniel are in Sea Star class.

They are building more confidence in their swimming skills through these classes.

Kota and Daniel got their hair cut last night. They chose to get their head shaved because they think they will swim faster.

この夏、子供たちは水泳教室に通っています。アリゾナは今とても暑く、公園の遊具は太陽の強い陽射しのせいで焼けてとても熱く遊ぶことができません。（遊具に直接肌で触れると焼けどするぐらいです）　
この時期にできることと言えば、我が家はやっぱりスイミングです。水泳教室は月～木で1回30分のクラスです。我が家の子供たちは力のあるかぎりいつまででもプールで泳いだり、遊んだりし続けます。おかげで私も子供たちに負けず、もうすでに真っ黒に日焼けしてます。私が夫のブライアンの横にいると、私たちが白と黒のオセロのコマのように思えてきます。

こうたとダニエルは昨日ダディーに髪を刈ってもらい、お坊さんスタイルで本人たちは大満足！（えみり同様髪が短いと早く泳げると思っているらしい・・・）

これからも子供たちの成長と水泳のスキルアップを楽しみにしながらアリゾナの夏を満喫するぞー！！　　　　　　　　　

Emily's Hair cut

This picture from our camping trip in end of May but the topic is Emily's hair.

I want you to look Emily's hair.

Her hair was nice and long but since I got my hair cut about 2 or 3 month ago, Emily wanted to cut her hair also.

I thought I was going to take her to a barber or something but I changed my mind and I cut her hair.

The good thing is, she still doesn't care if mommy cuts her hair, and she was so happy to see her new hair style.

Oh, one more funny thing is she loves swimming and when she grows up she wants to be a mermaid. Now she thinks that she can swim faster than before because her hair is short!

Kota and Penny

We go outside and play almost everyday.
Today, Kota was riding tricycle and somehow he found a penny.
The other day, we went to park and he found a penny on the sand.
Again, other day we were at park and he found a dime.
He finds coins almost every time we go outside and now he started saying this when we are outside..... "Mommy, where is my penny? I'm looking for my penny"

If he can't find penny then he starts drive me crazy like this

Kota "I can't find my penny,Mommy!!"
Mom "........."
Kota "Where is it Mommy !?"
Mom "It is very special so if you can find it then you are very lucky"
Kota "No! I want to find it now! Find it for me, Mommy"

We look for the"Penny" for a while then...

Kota "Did you find it?"
Mom "No" " I'm sorry we couldn't find it today but maybe next time if we are lucky then we'll find a penny. okay?"
Kota "No, no, no!"

He starts to cry and have the same conversation with me over and over until we leave that place.

Bicycle

Emily started practice to ride a bicycle this week. She've been practicing so hard and she never gave up even she fall off her bike a lot. She still need some help to ride her bike but finally she rode it all by herself! Good job Emily !!

今週えみりが自転車に乗る練習を”自分からしたい！”と言って始めました。何回も転んで、泣いて、怪我もあちこちしたけどあきらめることもなく頑張って続けて練習しています。まだ乗り始めのときに手伝いが必要だけど自分で乗れるようになりました！
よく頑張ったね、えみり！！

Mary had a litle lamb in Japanese

The kids sang "Mary had a little lamb" in Japanese for us tonight.
Daniel started taking keyboard class and recently he was practicing "Mary had a little lamb".
Emily is interested in playing the keyboard also but she is not old enough to go to keyboard class yet so she is learning how to play keyboard from Daniel.
Both of them love to play "Mary had a little lamb" right now. I taught them how to sing "Mary had a little lamb" in Japanese since they love the song so much.
It's fun to hear my kids sing or speak in Japanese.

今晩子供たちが「メリーさんのひつじ」を歌ってくれました。
ダニエルはキーボードクラスに通い始め、最近「メリーさんのひつじ」を練習していました。
えみりもキーボードに興味があるのですが、まだそのクラスに通える年齢ではないので、家でダニエルが練習するのを見たり、ダニエルからどうやって弾くかを教えてもらっています。
「メリーさんのひつじ」は二人の中で大ヒット曲で毎日のように弾いているのでついでに日本語の歌詞を教えてあげました。歌うときにメリーさんの”ひつじ”ではなく、”ひちゅじ”と歌うところがどうしようもなく可愛く思えて特に直さずにそのままにしてあります。そのうち正しい発音を教え直すけど、結局私も阿波弁（徳島の方言）をしゃべるのであんまり意味がないかな・・・。
子供たちが日本語をしゃべったり、日本語で歌っているのを聞くととても嬉しくなります。

Please enjoy their song in Japanese!!

Field Trip Album

Field Trip

Daniel's kindergarten went on the field trip to the zoo.
The children split up with their parents and walked around instead of staying as a group.
It was part of cloudy and temperature was 83degree today. It wasn't too bad but it was hot in the sun.
Kota fell from the log at the playground and got scratches on his knee and ankle.
He tried to cry so hard and he couldn't breath. (poor baby)
We enjoyed our first field trip except Kota's sad part.
ダニエルの幼稚園の遠足があり、家族みんなで行ってきました。
幼稚園のクラス毎で行動するかと思っていたけど、そうでもなく子供たちはそれぞれの親や責任者と一緒になりすべて自由行動でした。
今日は28度で少し曇り気味だったけど、少しでも太陽が出てくると・・・肌がじりじりするのがわかる天気でした。（私のように黒い髪の毛は5分も帽子をかぶっていないと頭がとても熱くなって耐えられなくなる、ブライアンには決して分からない熱さです）
こうたが動物園の中にある公園の丸太で遊んでいて落ちて足に怪我をして大泣きしすぎで呼吸ができない状態で泣いていました。かすり傷よりも少し深めの傷でそれほどたいしたことはなかったけど彼にとっては痛くて痛くてしょうがなかったみたい。
こうたの怪我以外は楽しい遠足でした。

Japanese Festival Album

Matsuri in Phoenix

We went to a "Japanse Festival" last Saturday.
It was in Central Phoenix so we took the light rail to get there.
The kids had fun riding it.
There was a lot of Japanese stuff, some food, and we saw lots of "Cosplay"people(people were in japanese animation character costumes). It was fun to watch them.


This picture is "Omikoshi"(a portable miniature shrine) with us.
In Japan, usually men/boys are carry this on their shoulders and walk around the town on the festival days.

This picture is "ame-zaiku"(candy sculpting). This guy made this dragon candy.

It was amazing I don't know how he did it but he did great job.
This is Taiko(Japanese Drum) with "Tengu"(long-nosed goblin) which is japanese monster.

I love Taiko sound because it reminds me of my home town and japan.