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!