Sushi

We had the opportunity to go to a sushi making class here on base. The teachers were two grandmas who own a sushi restaurant in town, very cute and very nice. Not so much English though. I think that we were all very brave to try such an adventure.

Mom, myself and the teacher working on our ingredients. She used chopsticks for everything! I'm very impressed, my chopstick prowess is not quite up to par.

I learned how to roll sushi. I, of course, made only vegetarian sushi, but it turned out really well for my first time ever.

These are the fruit of our labors. Dad and I made a lot of these, Michelle and Mom just took pictures and notes and acted like they were excited to be there.

My first bite of sushi! This bite hovered by my mouth for probably 10 minutes while I tried to talk myself into it.

This is after I popped it in my mouth. I'm not sure what kind of a face this is, but let me tell you, it is not my 'favorite food' face.

Some of the other students made these sashimi items. Just so you know, it is a ball of rice with a piece of raw salmon draped over it. I decided that I couldn't go to Japan without trying raw fish. I don't know what I was thinking...but I popped it in my mouth. And it wanted to pop right back out. I almost died. I think that is the longest, grossest mouthful that I've ever chewed.

On a side note, we also tried a noodle soup which we all tried before she told us the seasonings were white wine, sake, and other seasonings. Oops. We were flying high. I think the best word of wisdom of the night was "When you go to eat sushi, don't ask what it is...just try it." And now I can say, I've fully embraced Japan in all of it's rawfishyness.

Japan, continued

We are having such a great time here in Japan. Michelle and Alice are doing really well, and we are trying hard to keep Helen and Jane busy so that Michelle can spend her life nursing. Ahh, I remember those days...

Michelle and Alice (9 days old)

Here we are at the Samari House museum. The grounds were beautiful, especially with the snow. Inside the house we had to take off our shoes and slip some house slippers on. It was as cold inside the house as it was outside!

This is the Samari warrior outfit that he wore. Also note, the large samari sword beside. I've been looking for one of those for Spencer, but so far, no luck. Plus I'm not sure they would be very happy with me at the airport if I showed up with that in my suitcase.

Me inside the Samari House.

Another part of our Japanese experience has been vending machines. There are vending machines everywhere! And they sell everything under the sun. They are all very brightly colored, some have flashing neon lights, and you can find them on every corner. Here I am bravely trying to pick a drink. It was a success! I managed to pick a peach/grape juice! Whew! Sometimes it is worrisome as to what we are eating. I'll go into more detail when I post our sushi making class pictures...

Did I mention that you can buy ANYTHING out of a vending machine? Dad decided that we needed some eggs. Yes, eggs. Who knew that you could buy eggs out of a vending machine?

Sushi class pictures tomorrow...

Japan!

So, I figured since I've been incapable of blogging whilst at home, perhaps I will have better luck in Japan. I'm in Japan!! The children asked me to take pictures of every single moment of this trip, so here you go...

Our seats were right next to the wings on the 747 gigantic monster of a plane that we were flying on. And apparently, it is shorter to fly north over the Arctic Ocean than it is to fly straight across the Pacific. Hmmm, I'm still not convinced. But here you can see the wing and the frozen wasteland of the ice floes. It's a good thing we didn't have to stop here. Below is a picture of Mom and Dad on the plane, it must have been the first half of the plane, they're still smiling!

Here we are at the bullet train station. The Japanese are very orderly and wait in their little lines waiting for the train. Unfortunately, it was dark when we were on the train, so we couldn't tell how fast we were really moving.

Jane and Helen with their new 'babies'. They really love the blankets and burp cloths that I made for them.

We visited the Shinto Temple on Sunday. It was kind of snowy, in case you couldn't tell. And I'm not sure why this is underlined, but we're just going to go with it.

All of the Shinto temples have these beautiful gates leading up to them. It was very beautiful in the snow. A little cold, but beautiful.

Mom dared me to pull the bell rope to waken up the spirits. I didn't really ring it, but I should have, perhaps I was afraid of what 'spirits' would wake up. Maybe my children across the ocean?

We are having such a fun time. Really this is like a vacation, with Michelle spending all of her time nursing Alice and the rest of us going from party to party.

Hunter's New Quilt

Hunter has decided that since he is a 'big boy' he needed a quilt on his bed like the other 'big kids' have at our house. Believe it or not, he picked out the animal fabric, I cut it apart and made the blocks and then finished it all up in less than two weeks. Shock, I know. That is the fastest I've ever made any quilt. And frankly, I am still suprised that I finished it. There maybe a lot of quilt-tops lying around my house that need to be finished. I just close my eyes when I walk past them. And just so you know, there are wolves, grizzly bears, moose, foxes, deer, and buffalo on this quilt. It's pretty sweet and very boyish.

Happy Birthday Levi!

Levi is three years old! What happened to my baby? Of course he recieved a 'CARS' car for his birthday. Just in case we didn't have enough cars already.

Yum!

He's three! And his cake was really easy, I love the power of a mother's suggestion. Funfetti cake in a 9x13 pan with chocolate frosting and those yucky royal frosting decorations. So be it.

Also, we had the stomach flu raging through our house this past week. Poor Levi got hit the hardest. But on Saturday I told him that he had to get better otherwise he couldn't have his birthday on Sunday. Saturday morning was the last time he threw-up. He was a man on a mission!

Belated First Day of School

I realize that it is the end of September and the children have been going to school for 7 weeks, but cut me some slack...it hasn't gotten any less busy having only two children at home with me. Miles-2nd Grade

Corbin-3rd Grade
(don't ask about the dopey look, I have no idea)

Ella-marie-Kindergarden star

The kids all love their teachers and are really happy to not be at home and bored all day. Trust me, they told me that. And at home it is still just as loud and there is just as much fighting between the two that are left. There must be a Murphy's law about that...

July Pictures!

Here are some pictures from July. I tried to put some more on, but my computer wouldn't let me. But here are some fun ones.

Shaving with Dad

Levi is practically grown up. Shaving already? I suspect that poor Levi is going to have as hard of a time growing anything on his face as Spencer does.

Hunter thinks it is so fun to have shaving cream ALL over your face!

May the Force be with you!

My little Jedi warriors at a Star Wars party this week. I can only hope that all of them want to be Jedis for Halloween as well, killing two birds with one stone on these costumes.

Miles lost his first tooth this week as well. I didn't realize that it's been such an exciting week. And if you'll note, you can see the tears streaming down his face...and I haven't even pulled it yet.

There you go, toothless!

Miles' belated birthday...

Oops, I forgot to blog about Miles' birthday before we went camping this last week. So here we go, better late than never...

Miles chose Pina Colada Pie with toasted coconut for his "birthday cake". I can't believe that Miles is seven! He's gotten a lot taller this past year, even though he's still not caught up with Corbin. That is his goal in life...be taller than Corbin! A lofty goal, but a good one.Miles recieved various sundry bug catching items for his birthday presents. Note the awesome multi-pocketed explorer vest that Spencer and I made for him. It has all sorts of pockets, loops, clips, and snaps for all of the bug equipment he also recieved. My only rule is...bugs have to stay outside!

Happy Hunter Birthday!

Hunter had his 4th birthday last week. There were some days that I was happy that he was going to survive to his 4th year...but he's doing a lot better now. Those threes are killer!

Hunter chose green cupcakes with chocolate frosting and funny circle sprinkles. And just so you know, there were 4 candles lit when I brought it in...someone got a tad bit excited! In fact, for every line we sang of "Happy Birthday", he blew out another candle. I guess we should just be thankful that there were four lines and four candles, it all worked out in the end. Definately happy and excited!

Yum Yum!

I had to take a picture of the green cupcakes. They turned out REALLY GREEN!! Hunter was in green heaven!

Atlanta Temple Trip

We had the opportunity to drive down to Atlanta, Georgia and go to the Atlanta Georgia Temple open house. We took our friends the Muncys and boy was it an adventure. Here are our happy campers, at the beginning of the trip. It was a LOOONNNNGGGG drive!

Here is the temple lit up at night. And please note the swirling turmoil in the clouds overhead.

This is a really cute picture. Corbin is growing up.

Here is right after we finished touring the temple, and right before the tornado warning the sent us right back into the temple. But really, there was no safer place to be than the temple. Spiritually and physically.

The children really enjoyed visiting the temple and hopefully they'll remember this for a long time and remember how they felt inside.

Or at least remember wearing the booties over their shoes (which is all I remember when I was a little girl).

I'm really thankful that we had this opportunity and that we had a chance to take the Muncys down with us to. It was an amazing experience!

March Fun!

I realize that it isn't March, and I apologize. I just couldn't manage to get some of these pictures loaded onto our computer. But I just thought I'd share some of my faves from the month.

This, in case you can't tell, is an apron made out of blue jeans. Spencer needed a work apron for working on instruments (apparently some are notorious for getting nice pants greasy!). I also made sure that there were LOTS of pockets for various sundry items. Including, but not inclusive to, corks, screwdrivers, hammers, picks, rags, tuning thingamagiggers, dobobs, whatchamacallits, ets. The children helped me pick out the multiple colors for putting the pockets on. I mean really, this is a rad apron and very manly, and I think that there couldn't possibly anything like it anywhere in the world.

Here's Levi on our front porch. I included this picture because of our beautiful magnolia tree in the background. Spring is so wonderful!

My kids love spinach! Can you tell?
I think that look on Levi's face is becoming his norm "say cheese" face. And no matter what I say or do, that's the face he makes for the camera.

Somehow they got the brilliant idea to put little balls in their shirts. Some are definately funnier looking than others, but they're all real cute. I mean, really strong looking!

Who needs a dog?

This is a question that I have asked myself countless times since Saturday evening. It started out as an innocent enough evening, we went on a walk through our neighborhood. It was absolutely beautiful outside and a very enjoyable walk. We got back home and the two little ones decided that they needed to go to the bathroom. No big deal, right? They then proceeded to drop their drawers in our front yard, 10 yards away from the front door. Still no big deal, I wasn't panicking yet...and yet is the key word. I went to go help the youngest not pee on his pants, but then it started getting a little hairy. He kept trying and trying and I thought, "This doesn't usually take this long, I wonder what the problem is." And then I thought some more and realized that something bad was happening. Luckily I moved my foot not a moment too soon. And yes, what you're thinking is exactly what that child did. In my front yard. In the grass. Gross. I grabbed him, carried him inside with his pants still down and promptly put him in the bathroom. I then put Spencer on pooper-scooper detail and it was really funny to see him outside with a bag in his hand scouring the yard for the "prize". So once again I ask, who needs a dog when you have children?

Happy Birthday and Happy Mardis Gras!

Ella-marie turned 5 this past week! What? I can't believe it either!

Ella-marie picked...drumroll please...funfetti cake. But at least I was able to guide her in the right direction with fudge frosting. That made all of the difference in this cake. And also I had an epiphany with this birthday cake. Kids don't care whether the cake is shaped, circle or just an easy 9x13 cake, as long as it has fantastic heart shaped decorations and sprinkles up the wazoo. It was the easiest cake I've ever done, and it received much applause and accolations. Very much in the moment. What a delicious cake!

Ella-marie requested a super-Ella cape for one of her presents. After I fixed it (when Hunter got a hold of my scissors and "trimmed" it for me) it turned out quite nicely. Note to self: when sewing and have to go downstairs to iron, TAKE SCISSORS WITH SELF!!

Oh yes, it's a princess sing-along CD. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to sing along, only Ella-marie.

Mardis Gras

Mardis Gras this year was also my sister's birthday, so we decided to go all out for our Mardis Gras party. We had delicious Cajun chicken club sandwiches, sweet potato pancakes, and a beautiful (cough, cough, ugly) cake. It was all very delicious. And the kids wanted Michelle to know that we were thinking about her, and thus the picture. Happy birthday Michelle!

February Fun!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Where did February go? I celebrated my 29th birthday (you can count the fingers below). And no, I did not have a cake because I still don't like birthday cake. But instead we had some delicious hot fudge malts. Oh so delicious!
And in other news, Ella-marie won tickets from the library to go see "Disney on Ice: Princess Classics." She and I got to go without any other siblings or smelly boys and it was a wonderful adventure.
When you ask her which princess is her favorite, it's always answered "All of them!" And she and I have decided that when we grow up we're both going to be ice skating princesses. Yes, that's right, I want to be one too. The above picture is her in front of the rink with the "castle" behind her. They did a great job making one castle work for all of the princesses with just a few tweaks. It was great fun and I'm so glad we had a chance to go.

Princess Aurora and her fairy godmothers. Ahhh, each princess had a prince to fall in love with! It was like Ella-marie's dream come true.

This was the grand finale when all of the princesses and princes came to Cinderella's wedding. We won't think about those logistics too terribly hard...