Spring!

These pictures aren't in the greatest order, but can tell you a little of what has gone on here recently.  We were honored to have Willis and Lois Ehnle stay with us several nights during their stay in Japan.  It was great to just sit and visit with them very comfortably--just like old times!

 Tomoki helped me make cookies for White Day--the return day of Valentines day here.  On Valentines Day, the girls give to the guys.  Akihiro always gets cookies from the pharmacists at one clinic where he works, so we made cookies for him to give in return.  I had never tried dark chocolate and mint chips, but somebody had brought me some from the US and--ooh, were they yummy!  I was reminded of why I don't make cookies and sweets much--they don't last long--and I am the problem!

 Here's Tomoki and Michitaka-kun, his little cousin.  He is just a little over one year old now and toddling around so cute.

 Here he is building towers with Grandpa Ito's beer cans!  Who needs blocks, anyway!

 We had a great time with  Carol and Michelle and they got one of the greatest views of Mt. Fuji I think I have ever seen.  Here it is from the visitor center.

 Here at Nenba village, they donned kimonos to make for a great shot with Mt. Fuji!

 Tomoki being very patient and sporting his panda backpack from Grandma Ito.  He insisted on carrying it though it was very heavy with his toys!

Koshin came for one week of spring break.  They had a great time together, these little buddies!

While Ehnle's were here, the cherry trees were just beautiful and we had a picnic down by the river near our home with Noriko Mizuno-san and her little girl--friends of the Ehnle's.  There was a lady who saw Tomoki and Noriko's little girl throwing rocks in the river and asked if she could take their picture.  She was really into it and had a nice camera.  I asked her if she liked taking pictures of children and she said she was in a photography club and yes, she loved it!  I have been looking for someone like this!  I asked her if we could hire her to take some pictures of Tomoki at our house or at the park another time--as we didn't really like our studio experience a year and a half ago, and neither Akihiro or I are very good at photography.  She was overjoyed and sent me a CD of some of her shots from that day!  Can't wait to meet her again!

Look at my sticks, Mama!

 Note the beautiful cherry blossoms in the background!

 My Mama's boy!  Sometimes it is a pain, but I keep reminding myself that I'll probably want more attention from him when he gets older and he won't be so snuggly!

We have been battling sickness around here off and on.  I had a cold and thought I was over it, but it came back with a vengeance and now poor Tomoki has it. He's taking an extra long nap now and I can catch up on some computer work while I try to take it easy.

Tomoki and Papa doing exercises--he's counting in Japanese

It's a.......!!!!

Dr. Ito would have liked to get a little better angle to determine the accuracy of my doctor's judgment on the sex of our baby, but it looks like it is a...well, we'll let Tomoki share the news!

Extremes

After a beautiful snow, we headed to Guam for a few days with Akihiro's mom.  It was wonderful to be warm again and do some shopping.  Most people hit up the brand stores, but for me it was the grocery store, Motherhood Maternity, and Kmart!  The grocery store is the most tempting.  I fell for some pop tarts and have already devoured them!  I can't even let myself go down the cereal aisle!  Anyway, here are some pics of recent days/weeks.

 This picture is taken looking from a bridge near our home toward Takao-san mountain.  It was gorgeous!

 We enjoyed getting together with Gen and Eri and Ai and Utaro for sushi!  If you haven't noticed, Tomoki has gotten the hang of "peace" like all the other Japanese!

 We had visitors from the U.S. for a weekend.  This is the only pic I got.  It is Sis. Reiko teaching Derek how to make green tea from powder.  We enjoyed our visitors very much!

 On to Guam...Tomoki liked the beach, but wasn't as sure about the ocean!  The adults, though, had fun doing lots of snorkeling!

 We met up with some friends of ours for Mexican!  It has been a long time since we have been out for Mexican!  For some reason, Japan doesn't have hardly any Mexican food!

Tomoki scooping snow

Tomoki didn't like the snow at first because it covered up the sandbox at the park.  I think he thought it was going to always be snow!  Once he got into shoveling, though, I couldn't hardly get him to stop.  I was cold, and kept asking him if he was "daijobu" (ok) and he said he was ok and that he was working hard!  It is funny to see him scoop snow onto the concrete because that is what they do here in Japan.  Everyone puts the snow onto the road to melt!  There's no other good space!

Can make comments

I didn't realize I had somehow shut off the ability to make comments on this blog.  It should work now.

Finally able to get to update this blog.  I am finally feeling better as far as pregnancy goes.  Recently visited the clinic and all looks well--baby is 14 cm long!  Tomoki says he has a baby in his tummy too!

Here's Tomoki trying out his training chopsticks.  It didn't go so well.  He prefers his fingers--even over spoon and fork!  It's kinda funny--if he can't do something, he says he is "too big".  Today at the park, he said he was too big to ride on the swing by himself.  He told Charity K. he was too big for her to pick up too!

A picture of those who gathered for fall fellowship meeting.

Christmas was extra special this year as Tomoki could talk about Jesus' birth and play with the little manger set that was my family's.

At the beginning of December we made a trip to China.  We arrived in Beijing one evening and met Li-san and Chi-san and their daughter Jin-Lin for supper (also Li-san's brother).  It was wonderful to see Li-san united with his wife and daughter.  He seems to be doing well in China, though is very busy with business trips.  When asked about what he misses about Japan, he didn't hesitate and said, "the church people".

The next morning we flew to Hong Kong.  We went there because Akihiro's cousin was getting married.  The flights were made more tolerable by some discreet use of the IPad and watching Shimajiro (a Japanese children's learning tiger) and youtube excavator videos!  Really, though, Tomoki was a little trouper with our tight travel schedule.

In addition to the IPad, his trucks got a lot of use.  We weren't able to attend the wedding, but attended a reception dinner the night before.  Tomoki kept our table entertained with his skilled use of his cherry picker, etc.

Here we are with the couple to be married--Masahiro and Eriko Honna.

Back home to Japan the next day.  The next week Tomoki and I took the train out to Yamanshi to meet Akihiro for lunch and visit some friends out there.  I thought Tomoki looked quite dapper in his little hat!

During Christmas break, Koshin (9 years old), from our Shioda church came to spend the week with us.  He is a great kid and we had a nice time with him.  He and Tomoki are best buddies and Tomoki learned so much from him.  His Japanese language skills grew in leaps and bounds.  Some things I wouldn't have cared if he didn't learn....One morning my nose was a little stuffed up and my voice sounded funny.  In Japanese it is called "hana goe" (nose voice, I guess).  Koshin started plugging his nose and saying "hana goe des".  Tomoki followed suit of course.  Well, it was fine for home, but when we joined Marie I. for lunch at a restaurant that day and Tomoki was hollering "hana goe des" in a fairly load nose and plugging his nose, I was a bit embarrassed!  Oh well!  It's interesting to see his language develop.  One day he saw me cutting up some strawberries for our dessert and said to Akihiro, "strawberries".  His pronunciation wasn't the greatest, and Akihiro thought he said cabbage.  He tried again, "no, strawberries!".  Poor Papa still didn't get it, so Tomoki sighed loudly and said, "Papa, ICHIGO!!!"  (That is Japanese for "strawberry".)
     Actually, Koshin ended up coming back one week later for a week because his grandfather in Malaysia passed away and his mother went home for a week.  I put him to work and was able to get some extra things done while he was here.  The below picture was taken at the zoo.  Akihiro took the boys to the zoo one day and I had some blissful hours to myself!

Another day we hiked a nearby mountain.  It was cold, but we had a great view from the top.  Cup of noodle never tastes better than on the top of a mountain on a cold day!