Sean and I put these shelves together yesterday. They are intended to be the start of or more like a continuation of an herb garden. We have parsley and basil growing, but have had to put the planter on the outdoor table to keep it safe from the snails. We were picnicking outside the other day at the table and Sean decided that Catie’s soup needed parsley in it. Time to get the herbs their own place. But in a childs mind, it makes a great train and everyone can have their own compartment. It has now been placed outside, the planter on the top shelf. Of course, I may rethink the wheels on the bottom, since it has already gone for a walk.

And here is a picture of our great hunter. She gets so excited when she hears the printer and is just fascinated by the paper going through. The only other things she has caught lately are worms, which if we find them still moving, we put them into the planter.

“Can I use my chopsticks? Because I’m going to have tamago for breakfast.”
“And who is going to make tamago?”
“You are, but I’ll help pour.”
That was our exchange this morning, and you can probably guess who’s lines are who’s. Sean loves tamagoyaki, and will eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our egg consumption has really shot up since I learned to cook this. This now is a large part of his bento box when they have bento (lunchbox)days. I have to make another tamagoyaki, hold on…..

I even bought one of the rectangular pans which is used for making it. I’ve tried explaining to Sean it’s the same amount as when I made it in an omlette pan, but because it’s a more compact shape, I don’t think he believes me.
Above are the chopsticks Sean uses. Catie has a pair also, but she doesn’t quite have the hand size or coordination to use them quite yet, but she is getting closer.

And here are some more random pictures from this week. Aunt Rebecca, the Old Navy skirts are a hit, and they are cute. Catie just had to wear a skirt yesterday when I had on a skort for class yesterday. So we could both be girly girls, at least for the morning.

Okay, so I’ve been bad and haven’t posted in awhile. We’ve been busy and having some occasional fun. Today was graduation at Sean’s school. The Sakura class is moving on and it was a special day for them. There was much singing (of course), some speeches and tears from the sensais.

At the end, everyone proceded downstairs and waited for the Sakura class, when they came down they were treated to a procession where everyone threw confetti as they paraded around the school grounds. Then

Sean’s sensai gave a speech to his class and passed out a little gift and the class picture and she broke down in tears too. It really has been a great year for Sean there. He was so scared and shy when he went, but he really enjoys it there now. I heard him singing a Japanese song to himself as he was playing the other day.

Jeff got back from Korea a few weeks ago, so as he had a Monday off, we kept Sean home from school and had a family day at the children’s museum.

And if you look at Jeff’s shoulder, you can see that he had a lunch guest!

And in anticipation of the rainy season, the kids have new rain boots.

And finally, can you believe these curls

It’s been a quiet week(okay, almost 2 weeks). Last Tuesday we were released from restriction. Hooray, but hopefully it won’t happen again. There is now a reasonable curfew and active duty members are not allowed to drink alcohol off-base, although family members can, so I guess I have a designated driver when Jeff is in town. We were only in a hurry to get diapers for Catie, so only made one stop out in town. The Japanese diapers are much softer and more absorbent than American ones, and cheaper too. I’ve been down to the hospital twice this week in my quest to volunteer. It’s still undecided what clinic I will work in.

Saturday, we made the trek up to Neo park again. Sean likes that you can feed the birds there. Unfortunately, they request that you only use food that you purchase there. We started feeding as soon as we walked in the door and one of the crowned cranes quickly decided that Sean wasn’t feeding them fast enough, so grabbed the bag out of his hand and ran into the water where we wouldn’t chase it and very quickly consumed the whole bag.

So I bought Sean another one, with the stipulation that he hold onto it tight! I was given the job of holding the bag, so it lasted a little longer. We made it through the entire park, I let the kids ride the train and a few rides. I’ll try not to do the train again. You see the exact same animals as when you are walking, and all the information is in Japanese and with the current yen rate, it was 10.00. We ate lunch at a little stand out in the parking lot. Sean was happy that they had corndogs and Catie did a good job of eating curry. Then I made the mistake of allowing them dessert. Sean took a good 45 minutes to eat his shaved ice. I just wanted to get them in the car so they could sleep because it was late, and he just kept eating his ice a few grains at a time. He finally speeded up a little when I threatened to start buying him smaller desserts.

There’s no more posts for probably a few days. I’ve put so many large format pictures in the gallery that I’ve run out of room on the hosting site. Rebecca’s got it set up so that in the future all the pictures will be downsized automatically (I’ve been to lazy to do it), so hopefully we will be up and running in a few days again.

This is Sean in a mask he made at school for setsubun, growling at the camera, and Catie in Sean’s mouse ears. Setsubun is celebrated before the lunar new year, when they throw soybeans to chase away evil spirits/monsters. Then the family members will pick up and eat the number of beans the same as their age to ensure happiness for the new year. At Sean’s school the teachers dressed up as onis and the children wore their own oni masks and threw beans at the teachers (if they weren’t scared to death, apparently some children ran into the bathroom crying, according to Sean. He said he was scared but he didn’t cry.)

Not much is happening here. Sean has school this morning even though it is Saturday. We are STILL on lockdown, although apparently there is no policing or consequences for not following the rules of the lockdown. Makes me really tempted to go out in town to buy Catie’s diapers, but I won’t, I’ll follow the rules.