Wednesday, December 02, 2009

he got it right!!

Because all of my friends are moms of small children the only time we can get together and talk uninterrupted is in the middle of the night. And we do just that. About every two months or so we'll meet at one of our houses around 10 and then talk until 4 or 5 in the morning. It's totally cathartic and even though we're tired the next day it's totally worth it.

We got together last Sunday and during the course of our conversation we were talking about how our friends seems to know us better than our husbands. It started off with birthday and Christmas presents but then morphed into a conversation about our likes and dislikes and how it feels like our husbands have no clue. Of course we can tell them what we want them to do but that misses the point. I get nervous for my husband when we get to this time of the year because I know he feels a lot of pressure but telling him what I want for Christmas just takes the fun out of actually opening the present. Does that make sense?

So I was mulling this over when I was driving back home after my Tuesday English classes and wondering how I could help out my husband. He's really sweet and he tries so hard but sometimes he just totally misses. As I pulled into our street I noticed that someone had put up their Christmas lights and I thought that we need to make a time to do that until I realized that...


IT WAS MY HOUSE!!!!!


My husband put up our Christmas lights while I was at my classes. I was so excited! Without having to ask he totally did something I was hoping he would do. Of course I ran right in and gave him a big hug and kiss. I really hope he knows how happy that made me. Then today I called my friends and gave them hope that husbands do occasionally get it right!!


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Thanks for the advice about the Wii. I'm going to think about it some more but I'm leaning more towards getting one.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

all I want for Christmas...

So I brought up the Wii conversation with Chikara. Is anybody else having a hard time deciding what to get their kids for Christmas? Maybe it's just me. Can I explain? Yes, because this is my blog (even though I haven't written for awhile).

We have four girls and although they have different personalities for the most part they play with the same toys. Which means that Natsuki is playing with toys that Emi played with when she was the same age and really, if you want to get into it, she wears some of the same clothes, too. But I don't have space for more toys. We have dolls and accessories, Barbies and accessories, kitchen toys, princess dress-up clothes and accessories (four pairs of Princess heels!), shelfloads of books, Sylvania Family toys and accessories and Lego plus a neverending mountain of miscellaneous toys. I also keep them in constant supply of paper, crayons, color pencils, stickers and playdough. They enjoy the toys that we have and they take good care of them so that really Natsuki is playing with the same toys that Emi did. I even rotate the toys around and keep some hidden away in our loft so the kids don't get bored.

So my problem is what to get them for Christmas and also Emi for her birthday (the 16th). Emi is turning 9 this year and Chikara really wanted to get her a normal-sized guitar but I talked him into waiting until next year. If she got it this year it would be nice but I think she'll appreciate it more next year plus it's the perfect memorable 10th birthday present. I've been making lists of possible Christmas presents and they're all "side presents" or presents that would build up to the "big present" so I'm totally stumped.

Up until now, we've avoided DS and Wii on purpose. We have a lot of reasons but the biggest are that we want the girls to interact and play with each other and learn how to use their imagination and creative side. I'm crap at drawing but Chikara is very gifted and I want the girls to have time to explore that area of their DNA. Actually Misaki won 3rd place for a drawing she did at school last year and my first thought was,"Wow, she definitely got that from Chikara". Also playing together develops social skills and problem-solving skills. And if all that isn't enough we want to teach the girls music and also work on their English reading and writing skills and if we buy a Wii set I just can't picture how we're going to do all of this is in the amount of time available each day.

So my reasons for not buying a Wii are plentiful and my reasons for buying a Wii are that I don't have any other good ideas for Christmas presents and I think it'd be fun. Arghh...

While I think about it, take a look at this. I love the Muppets!