Goodbye, Haru-san!

This is our dear, sweet mamasan, Haru. She has come to my house every week for the past 3 years and done all my dirty work. For ¥6000 she washed and folded laundry, washed dirty dishes, cleaned my bathrooms, dusted, swept, vacuumed, changed the beds (all 6 of them) and ironed our clothes. She was a workhorse stopping only for about 15 minutes while she ate lunch. 8am to 5pm was a long day for such a cheap price and we miss her already. Now when Noah sees me sweeping he's like, "I didn't know you knew how to clean, Mom." Awesome. She loved Kate too. So sweet with her. We miss you Haru-san!


On another note, we got Kate this sweet bike. Actually, it's a prebike. It has no pedals and the kids scoot along. It teaches them balance which is the real skill to learn when first riding a two wheeler. She loves to scoot around on it.

Soccer Mom

Rob had to evaluate me for a root canal the other day and I brought Kate with me. She thought she'd give dad her own exam (after he gave her one). I love how this picture shows how they have the same color eyes (Ignore the tears in her eyes. She doesn't love going to the dentist as much as I do).

Ben and Noah decided to match for school the other day. Gotta love those Japanese shirts that make no sense whatsoever!

Okay, this post is really about soccer season that just started. Ben and Isabella are on the same team--the Dynamites. Noah is the next age class up and he's on the Thunderbolts. The kids vote on team names themselves. They were all soooo excited for their first game!

I had to miss most of Noah's game since both their games were at the same time on different fields and Rob is out of town. I felt so bad! I missed Noah playing offense (it would help if I learned the positions for soccer), but here's a shot of him playing defender (#19). He didn't let anything pass him!

Ben was so different than last year. He was one of the best on the team and attacked that ball. Last year I think he was intimidated by Noah. Now he's the older kid and has matured into that role.

I love that this girl is sooooo much bigger than him, yet he is totally going for it.


Ben is the only Dynamite among all those other team players. I love how he has no fear this year!

Isabella, on the other hand, is totally clueless. Here she is checking out her uniform.

Here she is looking behind her as the rest of the pack chases the ball.

Here the coach is explaining what she should be doing. In her defense, he told her to stand here and don't move. So she didn't chase the ball and "defended" the goal. When the ball actually did pass her by she didn't move to stop it because he told her to stay right there which she happily obliged.

I love the look on her face here like, "Why is everyone going that way?"

Here she is actually going after the ball. I think she would be really good if she just payed attention and stopped being so girly.

Soccer season is in full force! Twice a week practices and games every Saturday until May. Yippiee!

Old Memory card

We took our nice camera in to get it fixed. When we got it back a few months later I found a bunch of old pictures on it. Here's Kate trying on some dress up shoes.

Halloween. Yes some pictures are really that old. I was a witch, Rob was a disco guy (note the spray painted chest hair), Noah was Abraham Lincoln, Ben was a scientist, Issy was a ballerina and Kate was a nurse. This is Halloween night right before trick-or-treating.

The loot.

Kate's favorite place is on top of the kitchen table (which is an extra high one. She's fallen off it before and you'd think she'd learn her lesson, but she hasn't). I love that she's got a face that screams, "I know what I'm doing is wrong!"

Rob teaching some friends how to tie a bow tie. Funny story.....Issy was drawing a picture at a friends house and put a "bow" on Daddy. When the mom asked why she put a bow on her dad (a boy) she said it wasn't a bow, but a bow tie. Only Isabella Kiser would draw a picture like that.

The kids love drawing on the window with window markers. Me...not so much. They are a pain to clean up.

The kids like to hide in this cupboard. Where is it? See the picture below.

Yes, you can fit multiple children into this space and they love it.

Ben, Noah and their friend Caleb with red little pieces of paper taped to themselves and a sign that says, "Beware of bloody zombies". I think they are supposed to be dead. I don't know where they come up with this stuff.

Isabella actually wore this to school one day. Could we get some hot pink, please?

We did a lot of overnight babysitting two weeks ago. I guess all the excitement got to Issy because she fell asleep on her friend Brynn's shoulder while watching a movie. I was so impressed that she didn't get bugged about it. Too cute!

Rob won some Boy Scout leadership awards. I should have paid more attention to exactly what they were, but it was so long ago that I don't remember now. Sorry Babe....way to go!

I got to babysit some newborn twins awhile ago. I don't know who enjoyed it more, me or Kate (note the pack and play acting as a protective barrier around the boys).

And finally, another freaky faced picture of Noah. He has some good ones.

Bullfighting, Chinese Stuff and a couple cute kid pics

We got to check off another "thing to do in Okinawa" a few weeks ago. We went to an Okinawan bullfight! First you sit your kids on a real, giant bull for the traditional picture (yes, this was a tad bit scary):

Then pose with the cartoonish mascots:

After some Eisa dancing and taiko drumming that went on way too long, the fighting began. The bulls don't charge a guy in a red cape like in Spain. They have ropes tied through their noses and a trainer controls them this way. They charge and lock horns until one gets too tired and cries mercy. I thought it was very entertaining, but the kids were bored.

I bought some "stuff" lately. You can get Asian antiques at a very good price over here so I've been planning to buy stuff before we go back to the US. Rob gave me these authentic Chinese foot binding shoes for Christmas. The bucket is from around 1900 and was used to measure rice at Chinese markets. The mirror is from Vietnam from reclaimed teak wood.

My favorite happy buy was this beautiful wardrobe from 1920 China. I just love, love , love it!


And just for fun, here's a picture of some Kate cuteness. Doesn't she look so big in this picture? She's 20 months today.

And some of my eldest too...

He can really ham it up for his siblings. We gave them a camera to "entertain" themselves while we were shopping for the wardrobe. He's such a goofball.

Sumo

The senior missionaries at church rented some sumo suits for the singles. Afterwards they invited families to come and participate. We were the only family who showed up so we got to wrestle and laugh to our hearts content. The kids had a blast, but could barely move.

1st week of January 2011

The first week of the New Year started off with a bang. We got together with some great friends and actually stayed up until midnight this year. We could see the fireworks going off at Sunset beach from where we were in Kishaba housing. It wouldn't be New Year's without a New Year's kiss.

My sweet friend Correna went into labor with her 3rd baby on January 6th. This is her second baby while her husband has been deployed. I had the privilege of being with her during her labor and delivery and, man, was she a trooper! I have never been in the delivery room for a baby being born except with my own kids. It was a tender experience and I'm so glad to have been there to share it with her.

Rob was awarded Junior Officer of the Year for 3rd Dental Battalion. He is an amazing dentist and officer and I couldn't' be more proud of all the hard work he puts in. Here he is talking to the other dentists and enlisted (I think) at his clinic. Standing with him are the XO and Master Chief of 3rd Dental.

Speaking of Rob, he turned 33 on January 9th. Rob spent the day in true Rob fashion....serving others. He attended two branches for church meetings and then spoke at a fireside that evening. Here we are catching him for dinner and a song. In true quintessential Rob fashion, he's got his bow tie on.

There is a cave that supposedly houses hundreds of bats that we decided to explore. Thankfully (uh, I mean, unfortunately) there were no bats there the day we explored. We had fun on our little adventure trekking through some mud and water with our little flashlights. Rob went back the next weekend with the boys and our neighbors and they did indeed see some bats.



New Years Day we went to the Chula-U spa with our rockin' friends, the Neals (same folks we hiked Mt Fuji with). We had fun in the hot mineral water pools and skinny dipping in the single sex bathrooms (there are two pools in the women's bathroom that are purely for women skinny dipping---it's a cultural thing, folks!) There are also two pools in the guys bathroom. Afterwards, we did Doctor Fish as evidenced in this video.

The year is off to a great start. It's weird to think we are moving in just four short months back to the States. We sat down and scheduled out things for the rest of our time here. Whale shark diving, a Keramas trip, a whale watching trip, a bike ride around the circumference of Oki and a Battle of Okinawa sites tour are all things on our bucket list before we leave. I think we'll be able to do it! I know the time will fly by.