The NY Ball Drops at 9 pm Around Here

We have fantastic friends in Misawa. That is what makes living in this rural part of Japan such a unique experience. We especially feel blessed with love and friendships around the holidays. Honestly, we don’t just party all the time. And life is not that peachy all days long. It’s just because we blog about our highlights—that’s why it may seem that way:) I am only saying it because sometimes I read other people’s fun blogs, look at my family and question my own ability to be as fun/creative/hard-working/patient/organized mom and wife as the other blog writers are..

So our friends, the G. family, decided to throw a New Year’s Eve Bash for families with young children. We had such a blast with all the food, games and chat. The G. family ordered a ton of decorations and activities from Oriental Trading (they have the most expensive shipping charges to APO, guys!)

Kids were occupied by crafts, movies, and, of course, by Just Dance Wii game.

 

Actually, watching adults dance to the tunes was even more amusing:)

The G. family turned the clock three hours forward. So although it was only 9 pm of Dec. 31, we did all the celebration stuff that normally people do at midnight.

The kids were very excited to be part of it all (I mean, look at Mark’s facial expressions!)—dozens of balloons, noise makers, beads….Great idea!

Keaton, Marie and Mark—the little guys:)

I cannot believe mom let me stay up till 9 !!!

After the party, kids were in bed by 10 pm. Robert and I stayed up till 1 am or so, mostly talking to family on Skype. It’s quite exciting to be some of the first people in the world to meet the new year.

It looks like I am checking if Robert had too many treats:)    

  

Happy New Year everyone! 

Mark turns 2!!!

There is no end to parties in our house these days:)

Today (December 28th) is Mark’s birthday. Technically, as I am writing this, it’s early morning in the states. Exactly, two years ago at 4:55 am Mark was born in Fort Walton Beach, FL.

Possibly confused, but Mark gave us a huge birthday present this morning—he slept in till 8 am! I know….in our house it’s a very rare occasion. We opened gifts from family right after breakfast. Mark got a set of horses, a ride-on stick horse (do you get an idea of what he likes yet?) and a wooden car garage/ramp. We tried really hard to make sure that our third child doesn’t just get leftover toys from the older kids this time:)  

  Mark loved his special birthday balloon! I know it’s not a horse balloon, but I got what I had available. In Misawa, balloons are crazy expensive if you want them to be blown up. Thankfully, they had a sweet after-Christmas sale going on at the Arts and Crafts store.

Katya and Alex were more excited about Mark’s birthday than Mark himself. They were constantly singing “Happy Birthday” to him and telling him that he is a “birthday boy”. Very cute. Alex didn’t even squish Mark as much as usually.

After Mark had his good three-hour nap, at 5 pm, we had his best friends and their families over—Rebecca (and the Webers), Keaton (and the Shoafs), and Marie (from the Millburn clan). A total of 8 adults (2 of whom were pregnant:)) and 8 kids+baby. Mark  squealed with delight every time a new guest showed.

 

Showing off his mad skills in drinking from a cup:)

We had an easy Mexican taco dinner with cake.

Oh yes! The cake! You are all waiting to see the cake, I’m sure:)

Ta-da! 

Did I mention it it was made by Robert? No sweat at all.

“It’s kind of weird to be eating horse’s hair…”.

Happy Birthday (baby) Mark!!!

Who needs new toys anyway?

When Mark comes upstairs and and I am blow drying my hair/doing make up in the mornings, he loves to play with our bench cushion. He throws everything off it and pretends it’s a slide.

Funny boy.

 

Do you see those doors to the right? Those are our bathroom sliding doors—to save space:) Then we have a sliding door that leads into the closet and one that goes to the toilet/shower area as well. They are loud.

While I am at it, I will post a picture of possibly the most mismatched kids’ room you’ve ever seen:) We have no access to a variety of furniture here, unless we are willing to pay loads for shipping or settle for Japanese-made kids’ furniture.

 

Ugly brown curtains are the only way to keep the sun out at 3 am in the summertime.  Dark green curtain hanging from the ceiling (Robert’s invention) is a curtain that keeps away the hot air blowing from the vent right next to Katya’s head. It also gives her a bit of “my own space” feel.  Green blanket with blue sheets and blue blanket with pink sheets—no one cares, right?:) And of course, a spare mattress under the bed in case someone comes to visit us….EVER!! (people, you’ve GOT to come visit us:)).

Someday, we’ll have matching furniture…maybe:)

Christmas 2010-Open Up!

Katya and Alex got up at 7:30 Christmas morning and went downstairs.  They were quiet enough that we slept in till 8:00 (a Christmas gift in itself).  When I got up and went downstairs I discovered all the gifts had been categorized and arranged based on the receiver’s name.  One thing’s for sure – Santa didn’t bother arranging presents when he dropped them off.  He just threw them under the tree in a heap cuz it was late and he wanted to go to bed.

 

Katya’s BIG (little) present: a real digital camera.  Two days later: camera + bowling alley floor = send to Canon for repairs

 

Katya’s gift to Mark: a slinky!!  He loves it.

The castle he “always wanted,” but only after he saw it in the store.

 

Watching us open our gifts (we’re on the couch).  Alex can hardly contain himself.

What kid wouldn’t want a plastic hammer that squeaks?

 

Alex’s gift to Katya: a framed portrait of himself.

 

And it’s a . . . bag of sea creatures!!!  He “always wanted” these too.

That’s a squid.  Every kid needs a squid.  Maybe he can hit it with his squeaking hammer.

 

Waiting patiently.

 

No need for a caption here.  It’s a ball.

 

It took a good five minutes before she realized she liked the dollhouse.  Here she is during the initial analysis.

“Oooooohhhh!  I always wanted a drum set!” 

“All right, Tato, it’s playtime now.”  That’s my favorite part.

Oh what fun . . .

Rob

Cuteness!

Baby Mark absolutely loves Katya. Katya, in turn, loves to feel like a mom (or like a boss).

A couple of weeks ago, Mark was “helping” me cook dinner wearing this fun apron that I brought Robert from Ukraine when we were merely dating.

Katya decided to check if Mark can copy her.

   

 

What do you think?

Christmas Eve-2010

 Robert and I love having people over. We like the planning, the preparation and anticipation of yummy food, and most of all we love fun conversations. When we lived in Maple Grove (Minnesota) going to dental school, I was always so jealous (in a good way) of people who could host a big dinner, invite a ton of people and decorate their table and house nicely. I always dreamed of a day that we would be in a position to do the same.

Now we can do all that. And we do that often, except on a smaller scale. We simply have NO room:) Our dining area is very tiny and our kitchen is basically a walk through kitchen with cabinets. Feeding kids and adults at the same time is tricky. Nevertheless, this year, we decided that the Watson’s house is THE place to celebrate. We invited the “M” Family, the “S” Family and the “G” family to our mansion. That meant a total of eight adults and seven kids (seven kids seems like such a small number compared to other dinners we hosted:)).

  

We made it easy—appetizer/salad/dessert style dinner. Lots of appetizers and bite sized food. In Ukraine we call it “Swiss table” style. So you load your plate up with food, sit/walk around and chat. It worked great!

The kids reenacted the nativity story, of course (Alex was a shepherd, Katya was Mary).

After our guests left and kids got changed into their pajamas, we took a few pictures with them and cookies for Santa.

Alex saw something very interested on the ceiling…

Katya keeps pretending to drink “Santa’s milk”. It’s incredibly difficult to keep Mark standing in one spot.

“Aw….My favorite sister…trying to pick me up….AGAIN… At least Alex is chilling in the background and not squishing me this time.”

“Well, that didn’t last long….Don’t worry, I am used to this…!!!”

“I do outweigh her but she IS older”. 

Cheesy smile. We’ve got to find another word to tell Alex to say when we are taking pictures of him.

“This is my second Christmas EVER….although I don’t remember the first one…!!”"

    “SQUISH!!!”

   Busted!

Merry Christmas!