Lazy Day

In case you're wondering, the pumpkin bread pudding never got made.

I was glued to this chair, or my couch, for most of the afternoon.

I did make it to the commissary to stock up for the week, but that was about it.

I feel guilty; I feel lazy; but it had been WAY too long since a Saturday had come up with absolutely NOTHING on the schedule. And so I relished every single second.

I even cancelled our zoo trip for tomorrow. And I'm going to do a repeat of today. All over again. Plus a trip to church, but that's a GOOD something.

Autumn Festival - Japan Style

Last Sunday we did a little sightseeing in the nearby town of Nikko*, in time for its annual Autumn Festival. We also checked out the Toshogu* Shrine, which is dedicated to the spirit of Ieyasu*, the first shogun of Tokugawa. Ieyasu* founded the Tokugawa* Shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 200 years. We got to watch a big parade that is a re-enactment of the Ieyasu*'s funeral ceremony. Very interesting stuff, although it makes you sad to become so aware of how deeply engrained false beliefs are in this culture.

The highlight of the trip:
I had put a pull-up* on Josiah and had packed a bag full of extras, because although he is now "officially" potty trained and doesn't miss a beat around the house, we had a (very) long drive there, plus I wasn't sure of the availability of public restrooms once in the town. He had used the potty maybe twice on the ride up and kept his pull-up* dry. However, upon arriving at the shrine, my brain just forgot that I have a newly potty trained kid. Forgive me, but it's been about 6 years at least since I had to think in that mode. You know, scoping out where every bathroom is ahead of time, constantly asking if they have to go, so on....

Well, there was a bathroom right by the front door, but I TOTALLY missed it - I wasn't really looking. About 30 minutes after we entered, Josiah starts doing his little dance and saying URGENTLY - I have to PEE!!! I really didn't feel like running around like a madwoman searching for a bathroom, so I reminded him he had a pull-up* on, and he could just go in THAT.(Oh -don't judge me. You know you've told your kids the same thing). And he gave me a weird look, but he did it.

So, instead of scoping out the bathroom now, to be ready for next time, I just forgot about it again. We proceeded to climb about one million steps to the top of some massive hill, where they had this magnificent statue thingie. It was like the center of this entire shrine. We are WAY up there, surrounded by all these locals who consider this a "sacred" place - and he yells again "I have to PEE". Definitely NO bathroom anywhere near us. So I cooly say - "Hey, you've got your pull-up, just go in that." To which my way too smart for his own good two year old replies "Did I ALREADY go pee???" Because, you see, he can feel the wetness already there and that causes him some concern. So mother-of-the year says "It's OK, you can go again" So he does. And it all just completely flows right down his leg, soaking the ground beneath him.

And then mother of the year did the only thing left to do. I tapped Daddy's shoulder, pointed at the two year old, and ran as fast as I could in the OPPOSITE direction.

"Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil" monkeys originated with this carving.

Meant to Be

The families in this video are all adoptive families who received a grant through Show Hope (and the Chapmans themselves). Two of my favorite things come together: the Chapmans, and VeggieTales!!

Mommy For Sale

Since I'm sure everyone on FB is tired of my status being the latest cute (or not so cute) thing my two year old said, I'll delight YOU with his latest.

Josiah just informed me that HE NEEDS A NEW MOMMY!!!!

I asked him why and he said "Because you are being NAUGHTY"

All this because I asked him to sit down.

Parenting is SO rewarding.

Not Much of Anything

Well, things have been rather dull around here lately.

Not a lack of busyness, mind you.

Just same old stuff type of busyness.

Nothing much worth blogging about.

Other than, I guess with all the insanity in this house the last several months, boring is GOOD.

Jacob has some changes coming. He will be starting a paper route tomorrow. And sometime in the near future he will be getting braces.

Josiah is keeping his pants dry most of the time. And has decided that he loves Kai-Lan. Must remind him of someone dear to him, I guess. He continues to crack us up with his off the wall comments. Today, he picked up his toy dog and said "He's a very active puppy". We kind of stared at him in disbelief for a minute (I mean, the kid is TWO for goodness sake - where does he come up with these words?). Then we realized he was quoting this Arthur book he loves.

James is enjoying X-country, improving every week, and consistently beating a few of the juniors and seniors he's running with. Loving youth group, probably as much for the free dinner as for the Bible study and social part of it.

Lanie had a photo shoot for some Japanese modeling agencies that come on base to find American faces to put on their stuff. We'll see if anything comes of it. It looks like as she wraps up the soccer season she'll be picking up volleyball.

Abby's English is improving more each day. I am learning more and more each day about how she best learns, and I'm able to help her move along even more as I figure this out. This teaching thing is really a dance, a back and forth between teacher and student. I wondered for a while if she wouldn't get so much more out of a regular classroom, but I really think the one on one from someone who can really get to know her learning styles is more beneficial right now. I also think it's great for her to have the added family time. I have finally realized that even though she can read pretty fluently at this point, making all the right sounds, obviously a lot of the meaning behind what she is saying escapes her. Just because she can say the right words doesn't mean she understands them. So if I hand her something and ask her to read it, even though she can technically read it - the understanding is not always there. We're taking a lot more time to read together, to make sure she can "get" what she is reading. I am still in complete awe at the fact that this sweet girl has only been learning English for less than 9 months, and she can do as much as she can. As a matter of fact, her English has come such a long way that I sometimes forget she is still a language learner and ask WAY too much from her. She's too smart for her own good, I'm telling you. So this teaching "dance" is a work in progress, and we're both learning in the process.

Another noteworthy piece of Abby news: today, she was talking about not being able to choose her clothes when she was in the orphanage. I guess there were only a couple of dresses or skirts available, and that's what she always longed to wear. But it was a random pick by the nannies, and so she just got to wear what was handed to her. I asked if she ever told the nannies that she really wanted to wear the dresses, and she said she hadn't. She said there was this one really cute outfit in particular for the boys, and all the boys always wanted to wear that one. Anyways, this discussion led to talk about perhaps sending some clothes to the orphanage, as we thought it would be fun to send some "cute" things for the kids to wear. Abby was very excited about that possibility, so I'll have to look into it and see if it is possible.

And I guess that's a lot more than the nothing I thought I had to share : )