Oct 7-20

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Here is a quick update with some photos.

Ellen turned 2 on the 10th. She is such a fun girl and we are so blessed to have her in our life.

On the way to the mall for her birthday date...she wouldn't leave the house without a purse. She is such a girl! :)

Japanese birthday dinner

This girl loves her fried rice!

The only thing she loves more than fried rice is ice cream!

We took her shopping for new shoes. This girl was in HEAVEN!

Daddy bought her "Pickles the Frog." She was so cute with him and had to make him "walk" everywhere.

Our cute 2 year old!

Her new baby doll. She is so excited that she can take the clothes on and off.

Kiss Kiss

I am so grateful for Skype and the internet! It makes it possible to party with family from the other side of the world!

We love Gigi!

We love you Papa and Grandmother!

Dancing with cousins!

In the past couple of weeks, Ellie has insisted that "Baby" do everything she does. She is going to be such a great big sister.

We also had a Relief Society activity where two Japanese ladies from church taught us how to make Bento boxes. Japanese mothers often show their love for their kids by making beautiful bento boxes for them to take to school. It really is an art form. It was a lot of fun. Ellie loved the food, so I am going to try and make some of it at home.

Check out the hot dogs cut like octopus, squid and crab!

I haven't taken many prego picks, so here is one of me at 30 weeks:

Last week was a busy one too. Among other things, Ellen and I went to our monthly MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting and I had book club with sweet friends. We read Sarah's Key. I enjoyed it, but was disappointed with the ending. I mostly love having a night to chat with the girls! :)

We also went to a Spouses Day on base. They had lunch and activities for the kids. The best part was they provided flights for spouses in either a C-130, Huey helicopter, or C-12. I was lucky enough to get a flight on the helicopter around Tokyo. It was my first time in a helicopter. It could not have been a more beautiful day. I loved it! Thank you USAF! I haven't downloaded  pictures from my camera yet, but when I do, I will post some.

October 30-November 5

We had a good week. It went by so quickly! I have been in project mode this week (Ellen's birthday, decorating stuff I have been meaning to do forever, etc.), so Ellen has had a great time destroying the house. I am so grateful that she has a wonderful imagination and plays well on her own. :) We got a lot of projects done and a lot of errands run in-between all the festivities this week.

Despite myself, I really enjoyed Halloween this year. It is so much more fun with kids! :) Ellen and I went to a fun playgroup in the morning. That night we carved pumpkins and went trick or treating with friends on base. Ellen had a great time, but was afraid of kids with masks on. The base allows people to host Japanese children to go trick or treating. It was fun to see all of them in in costume and loving this American tradition. It was crazy busy. I heard from several people that they ran out of candy in an hour. Unfortunately we didn't get any trick or treaters in our tower. Here is a picture from our church trunk or treat and from Halloween night

Ellen and her friend Peter Pan :)

Ellen with her loot :)

You can tell she is seriously concentrating by the tongue!

Ta da!

Wednesday Ellen and I went to bible study in the morning and then Jon and I went to culture class that night. We learned about Japanese New Year's cards and made our own stamps to use on them. I stuck with an easy leaf pattern, but Jon carved his name in Kanji. It turned out really good!

Friday our culture class went to Hachioji to a supermarket and out to dinner and karaoke. We tried a lot of new things and had a great time!

No, we didn't sample any of these! I think they were medicinal.

Fish filled with eggs. I made Jon eat the head, but I tried it too. It wasn't so bad. Kind of tasted like couscous stuffed mackerel. 

Our friends, the O'Briens, trying sting ray fin. Not a bad flavor, but it was chewy like jerky.

Saturday the base hosted a Oktoberfest (yes, it is November and Japan, but who cares?!) Ellen enjoyed the music and the brautwurst was actually pretty good! It made me miss Vienna. That night Jon and I went to a meeting at church. I felt a little bad for leaving Ellen with a babysitter three nights this week, but she did great. I am grateful for good babysitters that I feel comfortable leaving her with.

Ellen loves a hat of any kind, especially one with a feather!

We hope you all have a great week!

Taiko Drums Video

It is a little distorted just because it is so loud. They were so good! Talk about an ab workout! A few of us commented that if they offered this as a class at the gym, we would totally go! 

Also, if you click on the title ("Taiko Drums Video"), you can watch it directly on YouTube. (The screen will be bigger.)

October 23-29

This was a great week. Sunday was the children's primary program at church. I am the primary chorister (I know--ha ha that I have a musical job at church. I have NO musical talent! Luckily the kids don't care.) We have been working for most of the year learning the songs. The kids did such a great job! I was really proud of them. Our chapel is small enough that I could sit with Jon and Ellen and stand at the back of the room to conduct the songs. Ellen loved standing up with me. She would hold on to my skirt and wave her arm back and forth. It was really cute. At least it got the kids to smile!

Monday we met some friends for a playgroup in the morning. Ellen loves playing with all the kids and it is a nice break for me too. I really am going to miss the community when we leave here. It is such a support. I feel like I have more friends here than I have had since college.

Tuesday I went into the clinic to do a fasting 3 hour glucose test (my numbers came back high for the first test for gestational diabetes.) I was so grateful to my friend, Cara, who kept Ellie. Between fasting and the glucose drink, I really was not feeling well, so it was nice to not have to keep her entertained. Jon was sweet and came to sit with me during his lunch. The results came back normal. I wasn't really worried, but I am relieved that the baby and I are healthy. :)

Wednesday was our regular bible study morning with Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) on base. Ellen and I both enjoy going. They have a great nursery program for the kids. I am currently doing a study on prayer. It is a really nice spiritual boost midweek. Afterward we met some friends for lunch. Jon was able to join us for a bit, which was nice. Wednesday nights Jon and I are taking a culture class at the Airman Family Readiness Center (AFRC). This week was a Taiko drum performance. This is the traditional drum of Japan. It was so good! They even gave us a chance to try it out. I really want a drum set now! Baby P loved it too and was kicking and dancing around. I will post a video separately.

Thursday I took Ellen in for a doctor's appointment. She has had a cough for about a month, but no other symptoms really. They have decided that it is allergy related and we are trying some medicine for a month to see if it helps. That night Jon was on daddy duty and I went to a spouses social at the squadron. I haven't been to one in a while, so it was nice to get together and chat. I love those ladies!

Friday I had my regular OB appointment. Everything looks good. Baby P is measuring well and the heartbeat is strong! :) I really have felt pretty good this pregnancy and am loving being pregnant. We also tried out a new ramen restaurant. It was delicious. Best of all, it is really close to where we live. Ellen loved the Japanese style dining because the table is so low and she gets to sit on a pillow. She also loves gyoza and fried rice. I think she ate more than I did.

Saturday Jon worked for a few hours because they brought a group of Japanese children to base from northern Japan.  The kids were coming to thank the US military for the assistance after the earthquake and tsunami, but the Air Force tried to make it a fun, special day for them too. They had two planes and a helicopter that the kids could climb in and test some things out. The kids had a special performance prepared with music and dancing. Ellen and I came by for that part. The kids were so cute! I wish I had my camera with me so I could have gotten a better picture of them in their costumes. The camera on my phone just doesn't do it justice. I loved the grins they had on their face as they climbed in the airplane, tried on the helmets and sat in the cockpit. That night we had a Chili Cook Off and Trunk or Treat party at the church. We combined with the Japanese ward. It was a little chaotic because our parking lot is so small, but it was really fun to see everyone in their costumes. We also went to a Halloween party that some friends were throwing. We had a great time. Can I say again how grateful I am for all our friends here? It makes being away from home so much easier.

(Please remember I am pregnant in this photo.)

I know there was more, but that is enough of our boring schedule. We are so grateful for the opportunity we have to live here and all of our friends here and all over the world. Have a great Halloween. We love you!

Ellen enjoying a chocolate covered marshmallow at the Halloween party.

In case you can't tell, Ellen is a butterfly fairy, I am a Magic 8 Ball, and Jon is mine and Ellen's Sugar Daddy. :) We will have to try and get one on Halloween with Jon's eyes open.

Where has this year gone?

Seriously...it is November this week!?! I honestly feel like it should be September at the latest. My New Year's resolution for this year was to do a post once a week. I don't use a journal anymore, so I wanted to keep track of our time in Japan. If nothing else, I wanted to do it for parents, grandparents and the rest of the family--especially those not on Facebook. I think I was good about doing it for about 3 weeks. I have so much that I have been meaning to go back and blog about (exploring Japan, trip back home, all the cute things Ellen is doing), but that is too overwhelming, so I never get around to it.  I decided instead to just start blogging once a week, starting this week, like I had originally planned. I have said this before, but I will give it a try again....we will see how long I stay dedicated.

New Kitchen

Ellie was pretty excited to wake up from her nap to find that we had put her kitchen together!

Yokota celebrates cherry blossoms, hope with community

We did some more exploring of springtime in Japan this weekend. It was breathtaking. I fall more in love with this country every day! I will post some photos as soon as I download them from the camera. My favorite part was seeing Showa Park in full bloom! It was so nice to see so many people out, happy, relaxed, and just enjoying each others company! We continue to pray for those working so hard to fix the nuclear plant and those struggling to rebuild their lives. I am feeling so grateful for all the little things today!

This Sunday, the base opened up one of its gates to invite our Japanese neighbors to walk with us beneath the beautiful cherry blossoms. 1300+ Japanese nationals attended. It was a nice break and it felt good to feel like part of the community. Here is a link to a story about it:

Yokota celebrates cherry blossoms, hope with community 

http://www.yokota.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123250980

A Quick Update

We are still doing well here at Yokota. Life has returned to a parallel universe kind of normal. We have occasional earthquakes, but they aren't as frequent as they use to be. Those that volunteered to evacuate are still gone, which makes it kind of lonely, but traffic and parking has been much better. We still have a lot of visiting military personnel on base. I love seeing all the different uniforms and guessing where they are from. We occasionally hear bad news from the nuclear power plants or random rumors, but it usually turns out to be nothing. Our air and water are clean and are being monitored multiple times a day. To be honest, I have stopped following the news. First of all, most of the attention has turned to Libya, and second, it was just too stressful for me. I couldn't deal with the drama any longer. We decided that the best thing for our family was to stay here together and it was just too much to remake that decision everyday. Now I check the official postings from the base on their website, facebook or our emergency channel. If there is something that concerns me, then I do the research to see what the full story is. I prefer to focus instead on helping where we can with the relief efforts for those that are really suffering in Japan. Everyone here is so willing to help and there are many opportunities to serve. With Ellen, it is hard for me to volunteer with the Red Cross or other organizations, but we have been helping with donations and cooking meals for the people at the squadron who were working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our church has started a program this week to make quilts and put comfort backpacks (for kids) together. I will write more about those experiences in my next post.

One benefit to this whole situation is that Jon has been in town more. Although his schedule has been irregular, he has been home during the day sometimes, which has been nice. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

The weather has been so beautiful so we took a walk down by the river.

A Japanese cemetery we found on our walk.

In the cemetery

Now that Ellen has decided to walk, she loves to practice...

...and now she is getting ready to run!

Ellen and her friend Matthew bowling :)

We had a fun playgroup at our house with friends who are still here.

Napoleon and Ellen at the library

After bath time with Daddy

This is a bubble blowing toy that Jon brought Ellen back from Thailand. It had loud music and flashing lights. It worked for about 10 minutes, but then it started to short circuit. I am a little surprised it didn't start on fire! The kids loved it though! (Ignore my messy kitchen, it was my birthday!)

Ellen is ready to evacuate if there is ever a need!