the last few weeks in pictures

First, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. After reading all of the comments, I felt very encouraged and also a little relieved that this thing with Misaki can be overcome and it will pass. Maybe one day when she's a mommy and dealing with her little ones, she can come back here to be encouraged, too.

I haven't written much the last few weeks because we've been all over the place. There were a variety of national holidays and school events but from today everyone's schedules go back to normal and stay that way until summer vacation starts. I tried to take pictures along the way but I didn't always succeed so let's see what I've got.

First up, isn't Natsuki turning into a little girl. She had a growth spurt and she's jumping, running and talking up a storm. She's also fighting with her sisters and pulling their hair, etc., but then the next second she's smiling, dancing and singing so we've got quite the rollercoaster of emotions going on over here. I trimmed her hair in the back now that her bald spot has grown out and maybe that's what's contributed to the change in her look.



The first holiday that came up was just one Tuesday in the middle of the week at the end of April. I had decided to still teach my English classes that day so the night before, after dinner, we went out for ice cream and a walk. It was almost too cold so we took refuge in a Starbucks. The girls were on a sugar high from their ice cream and hyper since it was past their bedtime so on the whole, I'm not sure that going out was the best idea but we wanted to start off Golden Week with a little something special so in the end, I was glad we went out. Here's the girls hogging up all the comfy chairs at Starbucks.



The first weekend in May was the second half of our Golden Week vacation. My pastor's wife had asked if I would sing a solo with her gospel choir for the Takatsuki Jazz Street Festival so that was what we spent Saturday doing. This next picture is mostly for my mom.



Yes, that's me in the middle singing. The festival is really cool. They have over 40 different sites, some in parks, some in bars or restaurants, some at shopping centers and open-air shopping centers and then different jazz or gospel groups sign up to participate and are assigned an area and a time. Basically for two days you can just walk around this 1 square mile and listen to jazz or gospel all day long. We wish we could have taken more time but it wasn't really fair to the kids. I took this picture of Emi while we were having some ice cream (it was hot that day) and listening to a band. They played some Eric Clapton and some James Taylor so it's hard to say if they were trying to be jazz or rock. Anyways, I love this picture of her.



The next day was church and then in the afternoon we got together with one group of friends and then in the evening we got together with another group of friends. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time Sunday was over. We had planned to go to Kobe on Monday but the weather looked less than promising and everyone was so tired that I knew it would end up being not fun at all so we decided to take a relaxing day at home. This doesn't usually work because it's rare that all of us are tired enough on the same day but this day was perfect. Everyone slept until 9:30am (totally unheard of!) and then we all took a 3 hour nap and then everyone was back in bed again by 9pm. Even with all of that extra sleep, Natsuki fell asleep waiting for lunch (again, totally unheard of).




Tuesday was a family day spent with Chikara's parents going to visit Chikara's grandparents. We decided to meet early and have lunch and doing something fun before going to grandma and grandpa's house. My FIL knew of a lake that was on the way so after lunch at a restaurant (at which Natsuki screamed through the entire lunch because she wasn't allowed to hold her own drink - sigh...) so we stopped there. They had paddle boats so Emi and Misaki went out with my in-laws.



We waited at shore and I was less than thrilled to see Emi trying to climb out onto the front of the boat. There were no lifejackets and I didn't know how fast my in-laws would react so I was totally prepared to jump in and swim after them if something had happened. Sakura was totally OK with not going on the boat but I think Natsuki would've liked to go.



After that we headed to grandma and grandpa's house. Amazingly they were ready to go within 10 minutes of our arrival and we headed out to the one and only restaurant in our town that grandma will deign to go to. I've mentioned before some of her OCD tendancies and while we were getting our shoes back on I managed to take a picture of the entrance of their house and the hallway leading to the living room.





Do you see the newspaper taped down on the floor? Under the newspaper there is tissue so it's a little padded. The bottom picture where the blue slippers are is the entrance to the bathroom. I really wanted to get a picture of that but I didn't have the guts. Also, do you see the tissue stuffed into the slippers in both pictures? It's always like this. Although this trip was the first time that grandma praised grandpa for doing a good job with cleaning and laundry so he must be getting used to all of this.

Here's a picture of all of us (except me, the picture-taker) after we ate dinner.



I know that grandpa turned 80 this year so grandma must turn 80 later this year or next year. It seems, despite all of their complaints, that they are in good health. They polished off an a la cart dinner before I was even halfway through mine and they carried on conversations while giving orders to everyone. Fortunately Natsuki didn't scream through this meal. Well, actually she did but they were screams of joy and she thoroughly entertained both of them. I was worried that she might be too loud for them but all of the rest of us were tired so she really carried the entertainment all by herself!

We got home not too late but Emi and Misaki had school the next morning so we got everyone right into bed. I had been looking forward to Wednesday morning all week because Chikara had promised to clean the balcony for me. In an effort to prepare for cockroach season in the summer, I had really wanted to scrub the floor and walls of the main balcony of our house where I put out our laundry. Last year we had two cockroaches come in the house and we can only guess that they came from this balcony. All of the garbage has been moved down to the garage but just in case there were any leftover eggs or bits of garbage that would attract them, I had asked Chikara if he wouldn't mind cleaning it for me. He hates cockroaches just as much as I do so he was more than willing to tackle this project. This picture probably doesn't look like much so it's mostly for my mom who was here in February and can probably appreciate the difference.



Thank you Chikara!

From Thursday (last week now) everything went back to almost normal. Chikara had to go to work and the girls were in school but they were coming home an hour early each day because of parent/teacher conferences. There are two of these each year and the one in May is when the teacher comes and visits our house and the second one is in the fall (right?) and the parent goes to the school. Both Emi and Misaki's teachers were coming on Friday and I wasn't sure if they would just want to talk in the entrance of our house, which is what has happened in past years, or if these teachers would want to come upstairs. I couldn't decided how much to clean so in the end I took some extra time and cleaned up everything which is good because both teachers asked to come upstairs. Chikara was shocked but I knew from reading the blogs of other expat moms that this happens, too.

Both of the girl's teachers had really good things to say about my girls. I had been worried about Misaki and if she was paying attention or not but the teacher said that she was doing really good. Misaki's teacher also said that she was surprised at how good Misaki's writing had gotten in just a short time. I explained that after the first two days of homework, I noticed that Misaki wasn't writing *on* the lines but *around* them so I told her that probably the teacher wanted her to follow the lines to learn how to write her characters correctly so by the third day she had started doing it properly. Emi's teacher was totally fascinated by me, of course. I had actually been relieved to meet Misaki's teacher because she was very focused on Misaki but Emi's teacher was all, how did you meet you husband and where did you get married, etc. She also asked if we could possibly translate a song from English to Japanese for her to teach to the class. She was really sweet though and I don't think Emi cares if her teacher is focused on her or not so it seems like both of the girls are going to get on in their classes very well.

I had actually had a dream the night before they came that Misaki's teacher had showed up at 5am in the morning (instead of her 3:30pm scheduled time) and basically talked badly about everything I was doing. In the dream she was shocked that all the kids weren't up and dressed and I was trying to say that 5am is way too early, etc. When I woke up, I was in a bit of a panic and it took me a few minutes to orient myself. I was very relieved to meet both of the teachers and find out that they were very nice ladies. I hate it when my subconscious interferes with my sleep!!!

What else? Oh, we bought an airconditioner for Emi & Misaki's room and Natsuki and Sakura loved the box.



Also, this week Natsuki started playing with dolls. She's pretended to be interested when her sister's had played with their dolls before but this was the first time I saw her get out the dolls and accessories by herself and have imaginary play. It was so precious and she didn't even care that I was taking pictures. She kept saying, "baby, baby" and one time she said, very sternly, "NO". I wonder where she gets that from...





Since we didn't get to go to Kobe last Monday, we decided to go this Monday after the girls got home from school. My friend Abigail had her second baby on May 1st and we hadn't gotten a chance to visit them and since they live in Kobe, too, we decided to just make a day of it. We visited with Abigail first. When Natsuki saw the baby, she thought he was a doll and she wiped her hands on her shirt and held them out to me. She really totally expected me to hand him over. I did let her hold him later (with my help) and I think she was unprepared for the fact that he was real! I wish I could've captured the look on her face at that moment.

They named their son Joel, which is the name of my youngest brother and when I told Emi and Misaki that we were going to go and see him their immediate thought was, "Uncle Joel turned into a BABY!". Uhhhhhhhhh, no. I also told Abigail that my brother likes to be called Joel the Magnificent and it seems like they might just borrow that for their little Joel!

OK, I'm totally losing steam here so I'll write all about our Kobe adventures (including a visit to the new Ikea) later on.

pants on fire...

In general I really enjoy the challenges of parenting. There are times when I feel like giving up or giving in but usually my mommy instincts kick in and soon I'm back on track. That being said, sometimes I have no clue what to do about some of the behavior issues that pop up from time to time. Although I think our children are well-behaved, they do have their own personality quirks and/or stage-of-life issues. Emi is bossy, Misaki is forgetful, Sakura is searching for her place in the family and Natsuki is learning to obey. For the most part their bad behavior falls neatly into these categories so it's easy to see it coming and both Chikara and I know what to do about it, plus the kids know that their behavior is wrong since we've gone over it a lot. But occasionally bad behavior comes out of left field and not only did we not see it coming, we also have no idea what to do next.

Case in point is Misaki's behavior over the last few weeks. I had anticipated that "something" would happen because she was starting elementary school and there are a lot of new experiences and new emotions that go along with that. Emi was the same way last year. She suddenly got more bossy (even though I didn't think that was possible) but after the first couple months of school and a lot of time-outs, she calmed down, got into the groove of her new elementary school life and peace returned to our house. I wondered how Misaki would react to this new stage in her life. Up until now, most of her bad behavior includes teasing and not paying attention to us and the consequences thereof so I thought we would get more of that. Boy was I wrong!

One night after Emi and Misaki had moved into their new room and we were putting them to bed, we couldn't find the nightlight. They don't really need it but since they're not used to the layout of their room, I thought it would be a good idea to have one so they could see if they had to get up at night to use the bathroom. But here we were, four days after moving into the room and it's already gone. I asked both of them if they had seen it or played with it and when I asked Misaki, a weird look flashed across her face for a second and then she said she didn't know. All my mommy instincts said she was lying but she's not usually like that so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and we just left the curtains open a little bit. About an hour later, Emi came down to use the bathroom and when she went back upstairs all of sudden she was yelling for us so I went upstairs to see what had happened and Misaki is standing on the ladder for the bunkbeds holding the nightlight with a guilty look on her face. She was trying to put it back while Emi was out of the room. It was so out of character for her that I just put the nightlight in the socket and put them both in bed with a stern warning to Misaki to "cut it out". It was late and I really didn't want to get into it but it was really weird, even for Misaki.

A few days later school started and things were going smoothly. The second week of school, Misaki's jacket disappeared. This is not unusual since she often forgets her things. But by the third day of it being missing, I started to realize that it wasn't at school, maybe it was in the house or the car. I looked all around but I still couldn't find it. When I asked Misaki when she had seen it last, again the weird look went across her face. What?!? I stopped what I was doing and met her eyes and asked her again.

Me: Misaki, do you know where your jacket is?

Misaki: No.

Me: If I find out that you actually know where it is and you've been lying to me you will get a spanking because that kind of behavior is definately not OK. Do you understand?

Misaki: ...what if I find it right now?

Seriously, she said that. Suddenly it was clear to me that she was, in fact, lying. My sweet, sweet Misaki was lying (badly) to my face. What should I do? What should I do? Ahhhhhh! (deep breath, deep breath) So I told her I would just be mad and she stood up, walked into the living room, pretended to look around for a second and then pulled her jacket out from BEHIND THE TV! She had hidden it there because she didn't want to wear it to school. It's not that she didn't like the jacket but after one warm day the week before, she had decided that she didn't want to wear a jacket but the weather turned cool again so I wanted both her and her sister to wear their jackets to school and if it warmed up then they could just put it in their bags.

We had a little talk about how lying is wrong and she cried and apologized very nicely but it was all very bewildering for me since she hasn't ever really lied to me like this before. When Chikara came home from work, I told him the whole story and we talked about what we should do. Obviously, lying is totally unacceptable and even if it seems benign at this age, I would never want my children to get into a habit of lying that would be hard to break as they got older. Do you know adults that lie habitually? It's not pretty and we definitely don't want that for our children. One Scripture I constantly remind myself about is Proverbs 22:6,

"Train up a child in the way he should go
And when he is old he will not depart from it"

This is it, childhood, our big chance to teach our kids all the things they need to know. But how? How can we reach Misaki and let her know that lying in any form is wrong? Misaki usually learns by indefinable means. As in, I have no idea how she finally figured out how to use the toilet, or write letters or jump rope. We tried any way we could think of to describe what we wanted her to do, showed her, drew a picture for her, talked about it, etc. but all of a sudden one day she could just do it. I've talked before about the owie on her left forearm. One day, after two years of encouraging her to stop picking it, she just stopped. Out of the blue. I have no idea what finally clicked for her and most milestones in her life have been like that. So although I'm grateful that she finally figured out all of that stuff, I have no idea what process she uses to learn things so again I'm at a loss as to how to explain to her, meaningfully, what we want from her.

But on the other hand, maybe I'm overreacting. Two lies in the space of two weeks during an emotionally charge time in her life. Give the kid a break. Maybe this won't turn into a new habit but is just a result of everything else that is going on in her life. I turned to these nice thoughts in an effort to calm myself down.

After the coat incident, Chikara and I decided that maybe she needed a little sleep occasionally in the afternoons to regain her equilibrium. At that time she was still coming home at 11:30am and so between 2 and 3, I had her lay down for a little sleep. That evening when I took her upstairs to get her stuff ready for school the next day, she was blah-blahing as we were walking up the stairs. Yes, I was thinking but other stuff but as I tuned into what she was saying, our conversation went like this.

Misaki: Oh, sorry...

Me: What for?

Misaki: Actually, I don't know, I think it was Sakura.

Me: Sakura what?

Misaki: I don't know but there's black stuff on my bed. Maybe someone drew something.

Me: What?!? (not overreacting at all - yeah right!)

It turned out that during her naptime, she had taken her pencil and gotten the tip wet, drawn on her stuffed animals and then worried that we would find out so she hid the whole thing under her pillow and, the icing on the cake, hid the pencil under her futon. Unfortunately for her, I found the whole thing and she had that same weird look on her face. There we go. Three lies in a row, each worse than the other and each time she tried to cover it up and did not succeed. I guess I should be glad that she's a bad liar so at least this is all out in the open and we can deal with it. What did I do? Well, I had told her that if she lied again she would get a spanking so I gave her a spanking, held her afterwards while she cried, we prayed together, I told her I loved her and she apologized. But I knew that none of it had sunk in for her.

A few days later while she was playing in her room, she called Sakura and gave her something and then called her a minute later and gave her something else. Sakura was all excited and showed us two superballs. It was all OK until we realized that actually the superballs were Emi's superballs and Misaki was secretly giving them to Sakura. Now this time there was no lying but still very odd behavior for Misaki. So I had a talk with her and she had to apologize to Emi but again, I knew she didn't get it.

Then yesterday morning, while Chikara was getting ready to go to work, he calls upstairs and asks if I know where the toothpaste is. Now I admit that lately I've been absentminded but that one totally stumped me. I went downstairs to check it out and sure enough the toothpaste was gone but a similarly shaped tube of hand lotion was in it's place. Misaki. Why? When Misaki and Emi came home from school, I asked both of them together about the toothpaste and Emi's face was a total blank but the weird look flashed over Misaki's face. She was all, "Toothpaste, what toothpaste, I don't think I've ever seen Daddy's toothpaste, etc." while smiling the whole time. So we walk downstairs together and I show her the lotion and where the toothpaste should be and she's feigning innocence the whole time but I know that she's lying. But what I can't figure out is why on earth this would've happened in the first place. It's so totally and completely random. She wouldn't tell me so I spanked her and then in two seconds she "found" it. It was behind the washing machine. I was so in shock over the whole thing that I could hardly form a coherent sentence. She could produce no reason as to why she had taken the toothpaste, hidden it behind the washing machine and replaced it with lotion. And I totally believe her. I think there is absolutely no reasoning to it which is why it's going to be so hard to put a stop to it. I gave her another spanking, held her while she cried, prayed with her, told her I loved her and she apologized to me and later to Chikara after he came home from work. But again, I don't think we reached her. She actually tried to pretend that she couldn't remember what she was supposed to apologizing to Chikara about even though I had reminded her only a few seconds before.

So here I am today, bewildered. I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised. In preparation for the grade school years I've done a lot of reading and I knew that these are the years when children start lying, cheating, stealing and bullying. Maybe not all of them but all kids will try at least one and if parents don't step up right away then what started as an experiment could turn into a lifelong problem.

I also talked to my mom about it. My parents have been teachers since the year I was born and they've worked with all different grades and now my dad is the principal of a private school in Canada and one of his main areas of responsibility is to deal with behavior issues of his students. My mom said that lying in girls is a pride issue. They don't want to look bad so they create elaborate lies to cover up the teeniest thing. I can see how this relates to Misaki. She likes her image of being cute and sweet and she enjoys being well-liked by her friends and adults that she knows. None of the things she did were in themselves exceptionally bad but the lying to cover them up and her unwillingness to tell the truth even after we knew she was lying are the part that scare me. Another part of this that makes me sad is that I can't trust her. I could always trust my kids that they were trying to do the right thing. They might make mistakes from a lack of knowledge but never from willfull disobedience. It's not fun at all.

So why am I sharing this with all of you. Mostly just to share and get it off my chest. Some of you may be upset by my methods of dealing with it and that's OK. Maybe someone has some good advice for me, too. Maybe someone has been through the same thing and has come out the other side and can encourage me. Maybe no one will comment at all but at least it's not bottled up inside of me anymore.

I love my sweet Misaki and I know we'll get through this but right now, in the middle of it, I just have no idea what to do next.

some pics

What a poser!!!

Finally, a quiet corner just for me!

Isn't this a cool shot?

I love the look of joy on Sakura's

Emi hates to lose...

bs

Did any of you other moms living in Japan have to do the bum sticker test this morning? And we get to do it tomorrow morning, too. Woo-hoo.

I don't even know what they're testing for. Sheesh...

if my life was a reality show...

If my life was a reality show then there would be someone there to catch all of those unpredictable moments on video. I wish I had known that...


...Misaki would come home so excited on Monday because she had HOMEWORK! Then I could show it to her a year from now when she learns that homework never ends. Ever.

...Natsuki would be so excited about being allowed to drink juice from a cup on her own. And that she would do so well and then say "yeah" and try to give me a high five.

...Emi would dance so well to the Hannah Montana song on the video I taped for her.

...our family would quietly (because I just gave everyone a warning) clap for Natsuki when she drank from a cup all by herself when we ate out at our favorite ramen restaurant. We must've been a sight!



Does anybody want the job?

an addition

I almost forgot the most amusing moment that I wish I could've capture on video. It would be the look on Misaki's face at dinner when Sakura told her to scoot over to make room for Sakura's new imaginary friend, Sakorika-chan. Even for Misaki, our creative child, this was out of the realm of possibility!

I've read about imaginary friends and children tend to create them after a big move or after older siblings go off to school and younger children lose their playmates. As much as Sakura likes playing with Natsuki, it's not the same as playing with her older sisters. Through some nonchalant questioning, we found out that Sakorika-chan is an one-chan (older sister) and that makes total sense to me.

I had imaginary friends when I was little, too. Actually I had three of them. I don't exactly remember their names but my parents clearly do since they've reminded me from time to time. Somehow I'm glad that at least one of my girls has created an imaginary friend for herself. Maybe the same will happen with Natsuki when Sakura starts preschool next year. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Hee-hee!

Sakura-speak

Everyday brings surprising things from Sakura's mouth.

Sakura-speak: I want to watch jo-nuts! (This is funnier if you say it out loud)
Translation: I want to watch Jonah (VeggieTales)!

Sakura: What day is it today?
Me: Thursday.
Sakura: You mean "cute" Thursday?

Sakura: Where are my craycils?
Translation: Where are my crayons?


Also, Natsuki's favorite new word is "woah". She says it for anything out of the ordinary.

how long will this last...

Last year I didn't create any kind of organizational system for all of the papers that Emi brought home everyday other than putting it all in one place in the closet in the living room. Although that worked well because it was easy, by the end of the year there was a pile a foot high of papers that didn't really require keeping. I just kept her school books in the same place and every morning we would take out the books she needed for the day and leave the rest on top of the pile of papers. This worked well until before Christmas when we lost her music book. I thought for sure that it got left at school but two weeks ago when I went through the pile I found it. Oops!

But last year's experiences did help me figure out what to expect this year and I am determined that all of the girl's books, papers and bags will be stored and organized in their room instead of my living room closet. I spent most of March looking at and contemplating storage units, boxes and filing systems but nothing really suited our specific needs. Although maybe if we bought a desk like every other first grader that would be the answer but there just isn't space for a desk (never mind two desks or four - yikes!).

After thinking about it for a whole month, I realized that I wasn't any closer to making a decision so I decided to go back to square one and write a list of what I needed to store and how often it needed to be accessed and then work from there.

School Books - need to be accessed every day as they bring different books depending on what classes they have.

Completed Homework - this is homework that has already been checked by the teacher and therefore serves no further purpose except to create a pile that I have emotional issues with (should I throw it out or not). Although they need to add to it everyday, I don't need to know what's in there.

Backpack - obviously they use it every day but different things need to go in there depending on the day and what they have scheduled so it needs to be easy to get to.

PE Clothes - once school really gets going they will take their PE clothes on Monday and then it home on Friday if they used it during the week. Then I just wash it on the weekend and they take it back again. But I also needed to have a place to store their extra shirts (long-sleeve and short-sleeve for different seasons). This doesn't need to be accessed all the time but we do need to know where it is!

Napkin, Hand Towel and Tissue - I had a crash course on napkins last year. I though napkins were paper napkins that they took each day but they're actually a 50cm x 50cm handkerchief that they put on their desk to protect it when they eat lunch. Last year Chikara had to rush out the night before and buy a few so that Emi had something to take the next day. I think most kids take a new napkin everyday but Emi and I decided that if it wasn't dirty then it could be used again so we go through 2 or 3 per week. The kids are also required to have a hand towel (for drying their hands after using the bathroom) and tissue in their bags but Emi has informed me that she "never" uses them. She just air dries her hands. But I try to make sure it's in their bags anyways. So obviously these items require easy access, too.

Book Bag - this is a separate bag that they take only when the teacher requests it, usually to bring back a whole bunch of extra stuff that won't fit in their regular school bag. They use it maybe once a month.

Other - last year we bought a painting set for Emi that is all neatly contained in a cool bag with a handle and shoulder strap. It hasn't been asked for yet so we're just keeping it at home. Also they both have a kenban harmonica that they will eventually need, too.

Backup School Supplies - both girls have a wide assortment of extra pencils, erasers and other supplies to be used as replacements in their pencil case if somethings gets lost or used up.

OK, I think that's it. The room is pretty small so I had to be creative but I think what I came up with should work pretty well.

I bought these plastic see-through containers to go under their beds.



They pull out easily from under the bed.



The front part of the lid flips up so they can have easy access to the front part so that's where I put their books, napkins etc. and backup supplies go in the front while their extra PE clothes are organized in the back portion.



I found these colorful trays at our local 100yen shop so everything doesn't slide around.



Their book bags and school bags (not pictured) hang on the end of their beds. These hooks don't fit securely on the board at the end so I'm still looking for something that I trust more. But for now it's good.



Underneath their bags is the other stuff that they'll eventually take to school. The pink bag is Emi's paint set and the yellow things are their kenban harmonica cases.



I put these two black trays in their closet to collect their homework but I don't really like it so I'm still looking for something that can tuck away out of sight. Hmmm...



I put these clear cases on the inside of their closet door to hold their school schedules so we can easily reference what they're supposed to be bringing everyday. Eventually they'll be writing in their renrakucho (a notebook for communication between parents and teachers) each day so we'll refer to that instead.


I really like it because it's all of the storage items I bought were able to tuck away into unused spaces. Because the room is small I'm trying to keep any floor space free and clear so the room feels bigger. So far this system is working well but we'll see how long it lasts....

I didn't really write much about how the walls turned out because they turned out great and I didn't have much to add. Repairing the hole in the wall tried all of my patience and I had to try a few different things until I felt it would be long-lasting so it was a great relief when it was finally finished. My FIL used to be an electrician so I asked him to come and replace all of the switches and outlets for me. I knew I could do it by myself but my in-laws had been totally uninterested in the project (even though the girls went on and on about it) so I wanted to include them somehow. Anyways, he came out one afternoon and switched them around and when I went into check them I saw this:



Can you see the line leading out from both sides near the bottom of the plate? When he was screwing in the backplate he did it too tightly (which is normal) and it moved back the piece of sheetrock that I had added there and now you can see a line even though before it was very smooth and impossible to know that there had ever been a hole there. I should've warned him to be careful but I'm new at this and I didn't think about it. I am very heartbroken and it's taking all of my willpower not to take it apart and do it again. Grrr! Oh well, I learned something for next time.

the beginning of a new school year

I have been looking forward to this last Monday for over a year now. Both Emi and Misaki are in elementary school together. No more trying to follow the schedules of two schools. This will only last for one year and then for the next 15 years I will have kids in at least two or more schools at one time. For example, next year Emi and Misaki will be in elementary school while Sakura will be in preschool and then the year that Natsuki finally becomes a first grader, Emi will go into junior high school. So not until the year that Sakura and Natsuki are both in high school will all my school age children be in one school again. And even after that there's still three more years to go. I'll be 50 when Natsuki finally graduates from high school. But that's looking waaaaaay too far into the future. For now I'm going to concentrate on this year of respite from "the schedules" and try to enjoy myself. I'd love to take on another DIY project, either the stairs and hallway leading up to the 3rd floor or Sakura & Natsuki's bedroom.

But my main goal for this year is to find a pace for our post baby-making lives. We've talked before about building a house but we're feeling more and more like we need to learn how to manage this life before we try to take it to the next level. I'm talking about household chores, ministry, community events (there's a lot of these), family, husband/wife relationship (dates? what's that?), budgets, work, teaching the kids English, etc. There are a lot of things that I feel we should be doing that we have put on the shelf each time we had another baby.

This Spring Break almost every afternoon I set aside one hour and worked with Emi and Misaki on their English reading and writing skills. The school that my dad is the principal of in Canada uses a great program called Spell to Write and Read. I've modified this program for my ESL classes and have found it to be very successful but I wanted to use the full program for my kids. Last year it was totally out of the question but this year it's a real possibility. I decided to jumpstart the program during Spring Break and then carry on throughout the year once or twice a week. Emi and Misaki already know their ABC's and can write most of them from memory so we started in on phonics and within one week they could read any 3-letter word I put in front of them. It was a good start and they participated wholeheartedly. When my mom visited two months ago she spent some time reading to the kids and Misaki especially was really interested in picking out and reading words that she knew. Anyways, I hope I can keep this up!

In preparation for the start of school I took Emi and Misaki to get their hair cut. I do not like the cut Emi got. It's not straight for starters. It looks good from the front or the back but definitely not from the side. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to take her back and get it fixed. She doesn't like it because it's shorter than she thought it would be and she cried for a whole hour after it was cut. I've taken the girls to the same salon for the past year and I've always like their cuts so I'm at a total loss as to why we got such bad service this time. I'm a little nervous to try again.

What do you think?


Yes, I took this picture without her permission. Yes, She'll freak out if she knows I posted it here!!!

On Monday was Misaki's ceremony for the start of school (Nyugakushiki). Compared to last year's experience with Emi, this year was a breeze. Misaki knew exactly what to expect so she just sailed around with a big smile on her face. Her favorite friend from preschool was in her class and sitting beside her. Kazuki-kun! If Misaki was a cartoon character her eyes would turn into little hearts everytime she says his name. He is a sweet boy and I can see why she likes him. He's exactly the same as her! They both tuned out everything that was going on and just fiddled with their clothes and stared around the room with big, huge, lighthearted smiles on their faces. Funny kids.

It was impossible to get a good picture during the ceremony. The weather was awful outside so there wasn't a lot of light inside the gymnasium. I tried different settings with my camera but nothing came out right. I like this picture anyways. This is Misaki and Kazuki-kun walking out at the end.


This picture is in their classroom as they were getting ready to go back to the gym for their class picture.


This picture it the best I could do under the weather conditions. You can see the cherry blossom tree a little bit in the corner.


The next morning we woke up early and met all of the other kids in our neighborhood to walk to school together. There are almost 60 boys and girls in our immediate neighborhood who are in elementary school and they are divided into "hans" led by an older student and then they walk to school with their group. I took a few pictures but Emi and Misaki wouldn't let me take a picture of them together outside and Misaki refused to smile. I'm not sure why.

all shades of pink

I am very proud to say Emi and Misaki have moved into their new room! It's not exactly like what we first talked about but it's beautiful nonetheless and the girls are really excited about it. The room kind of looks like an explosion of pink and honestly, a little too much pink for my tastes, but it's perfect for the two of them.

I painted the room last Saturday (two Saturdays ago maybe). I painted the light pink first and I was so proud of it but when I showed it to Chikara and the girls they couldn't see the difference. Then I painted the last wall the dark pink color and after the first coat it was too much. Chikara asked if he could see it and I wouldn't show it to him! It looked like the circus had come and thrown up on that wall. So I mixed some of the light pink with the rest of the dark pink paint and tried that on the walls and it was much better. It's still bright but I wanted it to be contrasting. And it is!

Then on Monday I took all the girls to my friend's house in the morning and Chikara and I started in on moving the bunk bed from one room to the other and putting everything else in place. We were shocked by all the dust and pieces of paper that we found behind the bunk bed. I think I've cleaned back there maybe once since we bought it three years ago. Obviously I'm going to have to be a little more diligent from now on. The more I worked on the room, the more I liked it. The bedspread is a little darker than the light pink walls but not as dark as the bright wall and the curtains have a white background with different color flowers and then the rugs are another shade of pink and red.

We finally finished around 3:30 in the afternoon and I went to pick up the girls. They had had a lovely time and weren't even curious about what we had been doing. I hadn't told them because I wanted it to be a total surprise. Also, I was worried about how Sakura was going to react to being left out. Once we got back home, I asked Misaki and Emi to take some folded laundry up to their rooms and put it away. I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with my camera but no sound came from upstairs. I waited and waited and still nothing so I went upstairs and Misaki was already sitting on her bed and Emi was standing in the doorway with her mouth hanging open. Then she turned to me and said, "So *this* is why we went to Ruri's house!". Can't slip anything by her!

They were so excited. They said thank you and exclaimed over every part of the room. Misaki kept saying, "I don't know what to say!", and they hopped from the bed to the closet and back to their beds again. Both of them said they wanted to go to sleep RIGHT NOW! But it was only 4:30 so they had a little more to go. I told them that this was their room now and that Sakura and Natsuki weren't allowed in. They are allowed to come up whenever they want and they can put all their "private" stuff" on the shelves in their bed. Already I can tell that there will be more peace in the house because everyone will have a little bit more space from each other. We enjoy our time as a family but sometimes six people in one room is too much!

Anyways, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

I have yet to buy the mirror or make the picture frames for their drawings but I haven't seen anything that I thought was right for the room. Ikea is opening in Kobe in two more weeks so hopefully I'll be able to find something there.


Special thanks go to my mom for making the curtains and duvet covers when she visited in February and for the advice about the changing the light fixture. Also, my friend Kelly brought the pink and red rugs from the Ikea in Tokyo this weekend. Thanks Kelly!


Here are Emi and Misaki in their special room.






Amazingly, Sakura has had no problem with the fact that Emi and Misaki got a special room and she didn't. Since she is now sleeping on the single bed that used to be Emi's, she thinks that she got all new stuff, too. I'm a little worried about Sakura and Natski sleeping together but I'm sure they'll figure it out. Natsuki's never slept in a room with anyone before (except for special trips) so she's waking up early in the morning thrilled to find a friend to talk to. We'll keep working on it!

Thank you everyone for your encouragement along the way!