so, the week before the birthday party, we joined some AFWJ friends at hard rock cafe in fukuoka for a halloween party. even though it's quite noisy, it's great to have a party there! and, because it was the boys' birthday month, we had the staff sing happy birthday to them, and bring them an ice cream dessert!

before the party, the kids and i walked around the hawks town mall. there is a 'trick art museum' there, which we tried for the first time. most of my pictures from that day are from that!













hiro was dressed up at iron man, sasha as cinderella (disney) and tommy as....nothing! lol

so, every year the boys have a halloween birthday party.  this is good for us because there's only one party, and we get to celebrate halloween!  yay!

everyone except tommy got dressed up in halloween costumes.  i made an orange and black cake again this year and it was fabulous!  the cakes were from mixes, but i made the frosting myself.

for their birthdays, hiro got a DSi and tommy got a bike!  i think they were well pleased with their presents (although hiro was asking for a 3DS almost right away....*sigh*)

as always, pictures!




when i pulled the cake out of the oven, it looked like a face!



cupcakes, too, as usual!



which the kids decorated! fun!





we also made pastry mummies that bled when cut open! so much fun!

i just started writing a post about undokais, when i realized that i didn't write about sasha's birthday! oops!

my little girl turned six this year. six! she will be starting elementary school in the spring. we have already started preparing. yoshi got her a 'randoseru', a kind of japanese schoolbag with german influences. usually they are made of leather and meant to last for six years and are *outrageously* expensive, but we got a bag that sasha likes, so that's out of the way!

we invited kuri (and her kids) and rachel (and her kids) for the birthday party, which was the first weekend in september. sadly one of rachel's girls fell ill just before and they couldn't make it, so it was kuri and her kids.

as usual, i was pretty busy with 'entertaining' (read: chatting with kuri) that i didn't take many pictures. i also didn't make the ice cream cake as i had intended, but there was cake and ice cream, and the kids played for hours, so in general it was a success! a happy birthday for a happy girl!

so, i had a birthday in september. it was hardly surprising, it happens every year in september. i decided to get a ham to make for dinner, because i have a 'late' class on thursdays and it takes quite a while for the ham to bake in the oven (i used the steam roast option, have i mentioned lately that i love my oven??)

tommy kept giving me presents in the morning, lots of old or useless things, but it made me laugh which is a good thing. sasha made me a picture and gave me some money (12 yen), which was really very sweet of her.

the kids also loved singing happy birthday to me. i managed to get some on video:



i don't actually make my children call me by my first name, she just thought she was being funny.



with the ham i also made potato salad (which always goes with ham, yum!) and green bean casserole, because i love it. it was really quite fabulous!

the kids enjoyed it, too.



lastly, i made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. my all-time favorite!

had a fun day today, with a halloween birthday party for hiro and tommy. the kids were great, dressing up in costumes and actually keeping them on for most of the party. by the time we cut the cake, though, i made my kids take theirs off (difficult to clean!)

only a few pictures today, basically the cake!



my mom did a great job sending me things to decorate the cake with. these were buttons (except for the jack-o-lantern candles) and were just perfect!





i colored a white cake orange and made a small round with that. then i made a chocolate cake in a larger round to make a two-tiered cake. it was supposed to be a kind of graveyard. i thought it was cute!



next is the jack-o-lantern, from the pumpkin i bought the other day at the japanese class outing. not too fancy, but the kids thought it was great (their first jack-o-lantern!)

on wednesday, sasha's fifth birthday, we went to hard rock cafe in fukuoka city. kuri, the pinglet and the littlest ping joined us there! we had a great time, with great food (yum!) and lots of loud music. we got sasha's birthday sunday, which the kids shared. after lunch, we went to toys r us, mainly because i needed to get some wrapping paper for sasha's presents (oops! way to be organized, illahee!)

we will be having a small party on sunday. i will be attempting to make an ice cream cake. wish me luck!!

although i remembered my camera, i only got the one picture. hope you like it!

we had a fun birthday party this year! only two invited families could make it, but that's ok. so many colds going around this time of year, sadly. anyway, we got together, dressed the kids up in costume, but after pictures were taken, the costumes were off! hiro wouldn't let me take his picture.



then we had cake and ice cream. the birthday boys wore birthday cake hats.





and then we decorated cupcakes!











special thanks to my mom for all the fun things for a halloween party! and also, thank you very much to our friends who made the party so much fun!

i know, i know, i owe a post. or two. or perhaps more. but, i didn't write them. such is the life of a blog.

i wanted to write a bit about hiro's birthday, but the thing is, we haven't celebrated it yet. tommy's either. i have planned a birthday party for the two of them (didn't really want to do that but here we are, three years after tommy joined us, having a joint party). it's halloween themed (couldn't really help it since it actually *is* halloween, but i never wanted to do that, either. the thing is, it's not really done in japan--though the idea is catching on, i doubt trick-or-treating will ever actually happen--so here we are, a halloween birthday party. *sigh*) i just realized yesterday that all our invited guests are girls. seems like none of my friends and neighbors have boys!! (ok, this isn't strictly true, because kuri has a dumpling of a boy, our neighbor across the street from the neighbor behind us has three boys--but there was no way i was inviting them!!--and i did invite another friend who has two boys, but they couldn't come) good thing we love these girls so much!! anyway, no birthday post, but here's a baby photo of hiro:



and tommy for good measure:




**************

i went to the hospital today. it's been four weeks since i last went, and the doctors asked me to come 1 month after that so...i know it's still october, but i had the day off from japanese class and work, so i went in. the kidney doctor was less than impressed and said to come back in a couple of weeks since it was still october *rolls eyes* yeah, they just want more money from me (i don't know how it works, but the hospitals/clinics here charge you a fee when you go in. they can only charge this fee once a month so i was trying to avoid paying it again, but i guess that just doesn't fly with the kidney doctor. harumph.)

anyway, i went over to internal medicine and the doctor there didn't really have anything for me, either. they did ask me if i had any pain (and to be fair, the kidney doctor also asked me if there was anything i wanted to talk about) but not really, i've been really fabulous, actually, with only a couple of twinges since i got out of the hospital at the beginning of september. BUT, i haven't been to the geka (geika?), the surgeon, so they sent me over to that part of the hospital. the doctor i spoke to was really nice (though he used some japanese i didn't understand *sigh*) and seemed sympathetic about working with my schedule. also, i think i'm looking at a week's stay, a day or two before surgery (maybe??) and then a few days after. i may have misunderstood, though, because i have to go back next week over two days for some kind of test (and it looks like a stomach camera thing. not looking forward to that!!) so that may be the two days he was talking about. hopefully we'll be able to schedule the surgery that will not impact our lives too much. fingers crossed!


********

last night i was reading 'the velveteen rabbit' to the kids when i suddenly realized it was going to make me cry. and yep, sure enough, when the bunny was taken away behind the garden shed, the waterworks started. of course, the kids were asking me why i was crying and all i could say is that it was sad. it's such a touching story and yes, i'm a sappy sack, what can i say? it's really long, though, a rather old story with lots of composition, and tommy was less than impressed. hiro has asked me to read it again tonight, hopefully i got the crying out of my system yesterday!!


*********

today hiro got his birthday book from school. this is something they give the kids on (or near) their birthday. it's a silly little story but there are also sections where the kid puts in their favorite food and animal, what they want to be when they grow up and the most important thing to them. once again (for the third year running), hiro wants to be mommy when he grows up. his most important thing is....mommy. oh my goodness, what a sweet boy!! of course, this morning when he was shouting that he didn't love me anymore, i guess that was a different mommy!

the other night i was on my bed with the computer, just working on a couple of things. it reminded me of a feeling i had several years ago (just before getting pregnant with hiro). i had been snuggled up in the futons, reading a book when i suddenly had a feeling of wanting a child (my child) snuggled up beside me with her own book. it was rather odd, though i thought i one day wanted children, it was the first time i really longed for a child. anyway, there i was with the computer when hiro came in my room. he hopped up on the bed and lay down beside me. then he popped up, grabbed up a blanket and gently put it across my shoulders. it was very sweet, and quite a surprise, since i was having a memory of a dream i had....anyway, hiro is a kind boy and i feel very blessed to have him in my life!


*************

this weekend promises to be very busy, so i will wrap this up. i still need to clean the dining room and bake cupcakes! plus, there will be a halloween party at the school where i just started teaching. my kids will be coming along with me and i never know how they're going to behave! then hopefully we'll have a party on sunday with lots of friends, food and fun. wish me luck!

today is tommy's birthday! he's three already. phew! we had a really low-key day today. there's a birthday party planned for the 31st, so although we wished him a happy birthday and gave him lots of cuddles, no presents for the time being. i don't think he noticed!

in other news, somehow yoshi killed part of the computer and i cannot access iphoto! this is killing me! i have lost ten kilos and want to do a before/after photo on the weightloss blog i am contributing to. *sigh* i guess i'll have to wait! fingers crossed he can work it all out...

the next few days aren't looking good as far as the weather goes. that does not bode well for laundry. weekends are not good days for rain!

so, i was going to write about the undokai today, but the camera is acting up and i couldn't upload all the pictures. *sigh*

hiro and sasha had today off from school, so we tried once more to go to hard rock cafe for lunch and the birthday singing thing. no baseball game today so yay! we managed to go. the kids were really good this year and actually managed to eat most of their lunch! we had a lot of fun in the city and managed to have some nachos, so i think we're good for a while!

back to school for the kids tomorrow, and tommy and i hope to visit kuri. i am looking forward to seeing her again, it's been ages!

we had so much going on last week! my birthday, my brother visiting, two holidays from school and a weekend in oita. we were so busy!!

i didn't have a great birthday, and i still don't want to talk about it...then my brother came to visit on wednesday. that night the kids and i went to yakiniku with him (yoshi had a drinking party). then we went home for ice cream and cake. ever since monday, when she found out it was my birthday, sasha had been asking about having cake. i finally made the cake on wednesday and every ten minutes she was asking about when we were going to eat cake. she was driving me crazy! yoshi was home for the candles and singing (in between work and the drinking party) so that was nice. after getting the kids hopped up on sugar and more sugar, it was time for bed! what fun....

thursday was a holiday (autumnal equinox) and we didn't really have any plans, but we thought we'd go to an onsen at the hotel. it turned out to be a really rainy day, so an onsen visit worked out really well. first we all went to lunch together (udon) and then drove to genkai.



on the way we stopped at the beach, but it was soooooo windy that we couldn't enjoy it. seriously, the sand nearly tore our skin off! yoshi spotted a baseball, though, so i put on my sunglasses and got it. then i saw another, so i started beach combing. i found four baseballs and all sorts of junk! it was so weird! the waves were pretty wild, that must have been why there was so much stuff. anyway, we went to the hotel and had a lovely bath. tommy and hiro went with the guys so it was just me and sasha in the onsen. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?? heheh. we pretty much just relaxed for the rest of the day, and had nabe (first nabe!) for dinner.

john was heading back to tokyo on friday, but not until the evening. first we took pictures, all of us together including yoshi. yoshi went to work, john and i put the kids on the bus, and then went to breakfast (me, tommy and my brother). then we went to japanese class, even john sat down to learn (he has studied japanese before). i think he actually really enjoyed it! then it was time for lunch, and then we went home to relax. after sasha got home on the bus, we jumped in the car and went to the school to get hiro. then we were off for the airport. we got there just in time, and the kids had a great time looking at airplanes. they were sad to say goodbye to 'unka john' but, he had to go. then we went home, had a quick dinner and then off to bed.

i know it's cliche, but i can hardly believe it! my first baby is five already. *sigh* my, how the time flies.

we had a pretty low-key day. he already got his present from us (a red bike) and today he got some lego (not duplo) from grandma, so he's pretty happy with pressies. and, we had cake and ice cream this evening so he's satisfied with blowing out candles. and now, one of my favorite baby pictures:



happy birthday hiro!

wow, i can hardly believe that my baby girl is already three! i can remember when she was just a little scrap of a thing, and now she's a walking, talking little girl. *sigh*



sasha is very spirited, and wants to be with me all the time, so sometimes she drives me quite crazy. i do love her to bits, though, and try to cherish this time. who knows when she'll hate her mom and be embarrassed by everything i do! LOL



she loves her little brother very much, and loves hiro, too, except when they're fighting! and maybe even then, she loves hiro. she's a curious girl!



yesterday we had a birthday party. some friends couldn't come (hope you're all feeling better!!) but rachel and her girls did come. thanks so much for coming and making sasha's birthday fun! we had loads (and loads!) of food, lots of balloons, and even splashed around outside for a bit, though it wasn't really very hot. hiro really loves rachel's older girls, they're like instant older sisters (ones who actually play with you, not shut the door to your room and tell you to stay out! LOL). this morning he said he wanted friends to visit again today! sasha had fun once she warmed up and laughed a lot!



we are very lucky to have sasha in our lives!! happy third birthday, darling girl!

yesterday we went to the hard rock cafe in fukuoka for sasha's birthday! we were very lucky because kuri and pinglet was able to meet us there. the kids didn't really eat their lunch, though. *sigh* i had ordered the HRC cheeseburger and was disappointed in it (too bland) so i ate sasha's mac & cheese. i also had them box up hiro and tommy's spaghetti and actually managed to get all three of them to eat it for dinner! (score!!)

we had a great time hanging out, walking all over the mall, although i had a raging headache. i got some aspirin and soon felt better. i also got some cute clothes at the gap, i love getting things there for the kids. the summer stuff is pretty much gone, except in the infant boy's section. i got a few t-shirts for hiro. i also got a few things for sasha so i got my gap fix in! i rarely go and i'm probably missing out on cute stuff all the time, but it's so far to go to fukuoka city, and even farther to go to the gap in kita-q. *sigh* i wish one of the AEON malls around here had a gap...

anyway, today, i feel like i'm walking around muddled, i am quite tired. it's like i hit a wall at around 11 and i really hope i'm not coming down with a summer cold. it's like i didn't sleep enough, though i went to bed at 9:30, and got up at 6....keeping fingers crossed i'm not sick. the kids have been trying all morning, too, though not as bad as usual. tommy was a bit warm so i'll be taking his temp once he gets up from his nap. hiro and sasha went to sleep quite easily at 12:30 so i should probably take their temps as well. *sigh* please, let's not get sick right before sasha's b-day!

anyway, about the pic above, i should have made some adjustments. obviously the camera is set up to take stunning photos outside, indoors not so much. but i don't always have time to fiddle around with the damn thing when i have small children to deal with.

wow, four years have passed so quickly! my little baby is growing up. he'll be starting kindergarten next week! *sob* want a birth story? hahaha, so nice, i really enjoyed giving birth to hiro.

today has been a rather laid back day, we went to the mall for a while. the first year we haven't gone to the aquarium! maybe we'll go tomorrow if the weather stays nice.

and a montage, though i guess ya'll are getting montage'd out, since only one person commented on sasha's. oh well, that's what i get for not getting hers done on time!

one year has passed, i can hardly believe it! such a wonderful and beautiful boy who has brightened our lives so much. let's relive his birth story!

i have baked a cake and some cupcakes, which the kids and i will enjoy later. and i think we'll go to toys r us and get some freebies, as well as a birthday present from us. *sigh* my last baby is almost no longer a baby.

i wanted to make a montage for sasha, but i never got around to it (i know, i know) and after this one, i think i'll make one for her. this is so beautiful (to me anyway!) look out, there's a picture with me in it in there!

well, it wasn't promising to be a great birthday, but it turned out really nice. this morning i woke up and asked yoshi what the plan was today. he said that he wanted to give me time this morning to go to a movie, but beyond that he hadn't really thought about it. then he said that he wanted to get a bread machine, so maybe we could go in the afternoon after i got back. but oh! we have the birthday coupon to royal host, so maybe...

well, i didn't go to a movie after all, but that's ok. i don't even know what's playing in the theaters! we went to a couple of denkiya-sans, and got a bread machine. woo hoo!



i actually don't mind making bread by hand, but this will certainly save a lot of time. and if we want fresh warm bread in the morning, i don't have to wake up at 4 am to make it. very nice.

while we were there, i wanted to check out the cameras, because i have been lusting after a DSLR for some time. well, wonders will never cease because we got one! and not just a camera, but a kit that came with two lenses. i am over the moon! yay!



a really good beginner's SLR, i think i read on the internet. hopefully i'll be able to learn how to use it and take amazing pictures!

our plan was to go to kagoshima for the holiday, but as life gives you new twists, we are not going. the holiday is tuesday and yoshi got monday off, so what to do...we are going to oita! yay, that fun prefecture to the east. well, we are going to yuufuin, to the youth hostel. we haven't been there in nearly a year, and i think it will be nice to go when it's not bitterly cold (because it's a bit in the mountains). i am really looking forward to some onsen time! we will leave tomorrow morning after yoshi does neighborhood cleaning, so expect some keitai posts soon!

p.s. you may have noticed my blogroll is gone. ack! i was trying on templates and i guess the darn thing got erased. i saved the original template, but who knows where i put it....i'll try to get that fixed soon.