Emma’s 6th birthday

Tuesday was Emma’s 6th birthday. She was so excited. I asked her how it felt to be 6: She was pretty sure she was taller, her hands and feet felt bigger, and she thinks that she is almost 7! We were in a rush to get to school...and we had a lot to remember: paperwork from the first day, school supplies, birthday treats, a snack, etc. And her backpack was smelly from a snack she got in culture class (in July) that never made it out of her backpack. So we got her suitcase Rapunzel backpack, and loaded her up. I was planning to surprise her with Pizza Hut for lunch...but when I got there she already had school lunch, which she decided she wanted more than her very own personal pan pizza! 😧  Who knew school lunch was so exciting. Oh well. She picked macaroni and cheese for dinner. We didn’t do too much else since I had a headache and she was tired. She did take the rest of our truffles to our neighbors all by herself, they had just returned from vacation. We found a present outside our door the next day. :) And this weekend we will do presents with family, so she is celebrating all week long!

We had to fill out a paper for her teacher, telling her about Emma: we said she was silly, caring, helpful, independent, chatty...sometimes too helpful/bossy. 

I didn’t giver her the residence her new clothes from grandma and grandpa, but I surprised her with one new outfit for her birthday.

Her lunch that she picked over pizza!!!

Taking a walk with dolly.

I’m not going to take a picture every day she goes to school, but I had to yesterday. She wore her school shirt (from CA), because she says they give you candy sometimes if you wear it....which they do...in California. 

First day of school

Monday was Emma’s first day of first grade. I think I was more nervous than she was. She is always ready to be bigger and do things by herself. Plus she gets to meet new friends...and apparently eat school lunch and walk by herself. She loves eating school lunch for some reason. I am curious to hear how this year goes...I have heard conflicting things about her teacher, and I’m a little nervous that she is behind. But I know that she enjoys school, and we can help her learn what ever else she needs. So far she has learned about personal space, and the rules of the classroom are: be kind, be clean, be honest and do your best. Her favorite part of school is recess. They don’t seem to get a lot of time for lunch though.

Other random happenings

I have a couple extra pictures and videos, so here they are:

She helped me paint the glue on my puzzle. It worked, mostly. But I still don’t think I will keep it. Some of the pieces area sticking up even with the glue, so t doesn’t look right. 

We did lots of puzzles on Thursday, since we were exhausted from our trip to Harajuku the day before. 

Happy birthday Emma! Part 1

We celebrated Emma’s birthday today, since Daddy is working on her birthday and is leaving to hike Mount Fuji tomorrow.  She had a fabulous day. We made pancakes for dinner, and opened presents once Daddy for home. We got her the Quiddler Junior game, and a new fancy doll stroller. She loved it. She told us at dinner it was the best present ever, it was her favorite part of life...or something ridiculous like that. It was fun to watch her play with it. She picked Chili’s for dinner, because she wanted a corn dog. Daddy told them it was her birthday, and they surprised her with ice cream and singing happy birthday to her. She was so shy, just sat there looking at me the whole time, with this sheepish grin. But she loved it. I did not get a video, sorry, I was too busy enjoying it. I did, however, get a video of us singing to her, which she also enjoyed. It was a good day, and it feels like the birthday festivities are just beginning!

Making birthday pancakes!

New dolly stroller

She wanted to cut up her own corn dog

Her birthday truffle.

Meet the teacher

Today we met Emma’s first grade teacher. The first thing she told her when she met her was that her birthday was on the second day of school. 🤦‍♀️Nice to meet you, too. Her teacher said she would send allergy info home with her on Monday. This will be an interesting year. Emma recognized a couple names of kids in her class, but I didn’t. The names are all so unique now that I had trouble deciding which ones were girls or boys. She is also a whole head shorter than the rest of the kids...get used to it kid. I am also hoping that the kid I heard reading the board in the classroom is in another grade, because if not we will have a lot of work ahead of us! She didn’t notice these things, she was just happy to see her teacher. I think whoever gets Emma in their class is a a lucky teacher, she is a very eager student. 

Sorry, this is the only picture I got. 

We made banana bread. Emma was in charge of the dry ingredients.

Silly girl.

She was a happy girl! We have tried to do a lot of cooking the last couple days so we can have some leftovers to eat off of this week. I am filling in for the Protestant Coordinator this week. I honestly think I will be nice and bored sitting in her office for 12 hours while Emma is in school. I am not working on Tuesday, of course. ;) 

Harajuku

Well, we tried to get out again today. Playing tourist can be hard. It was hot, again. We were going somewhere new. We went to Harajuku, and we got there without any problems. Once we got there it was just so hot. Steven wanted to go see a shine, but it ended up being quite a walk...too much for an almost 6 year old who just wanted the ice cream we passed on the way in. So we decided to just find Harajuku street...I knew there would be yummy things. But we couldn’t find it. (It was right by the train station the whole time.) After walking in what felt like 100 degree heat for a while, we asked someone. Japanese people are so nice. I asked A group of girls and they said, “We can take you there.” We never would have gotten there without them...especially since it was right in front of our faces. Unfortunately we were all hot, sweaty, tired and hungry...so walking up and down a crowded street was beyond what we could handle. We ended up just going home...after learning some new lessons about train riding....don’t get on the local trains...they don’t go very far. It was a hot long day. But now we know how to get there, and it would be much more fun when it’s not so hot.

Walking into the shrine. 

Long, longer, longest....it’s a store. I was just sure she would want the foot tall ice cream come, but she picked this. It was barely edible. We ended up throwing most of it out. But it was fun to see it. 

I got the rainbow curled ice cream, or whatever it’s called. Emma ate most of it. You can see how sweaty she is in this picture. Harajuku is an interesting place. Not sure I would take Emma back...it’s so crowded. Lots of interesting people, that’s for sure. 

New store

Japan has lots of interesting places to shop, you never quite know what you will find in any given store. They have stores called “Hard off,” “mode off,” “hobby-off” really anything-off. They are thrift stores. Today we went to one that was recommended to us by a friend, so that Emma could spend her chore money. It was a small adventure getting there, as the GPS loves to redirect us if there is heavy traffic, even for a minute. And I mean it will take us on roads that we are not really sure are roads. But we made it, and even found free parking! It took us a while to find the toys...multiple stories, multiple stores connected....but while we were looking she found the baby section. After finding the toy section she wanted to go back down to the baby section, apparently here was a toy down there that she wanted. So she bought it and we went home. We had a pretty good day...didn’t do hardly any work, but we have been needing fun days. We played at the park a couple times, and even got rained on when we had walked to a new park. She made us tea this evening and we drank it in the recliner. “Isn’t this relaxing?” she asked. 😊 Only one more week until she is 6! 😁😭😊

Hey new toy. If you press the rainbow the star lights up.

Tea Party

Today Emma and I went to a Victorian Tea House with some friends. We had a lovely time. I had mentioned to my friend that Emma wanted a tea party for her birthday, but I just could do a party. So she offered to take us to a tea house. We got all dressed up, and discussed proper manners for having tea. In the word of Emma, “It was delightful.” (And then she asked was delightful meant.) 

All ready to go!

We sat on the balcony outside overlooking the river.

The girls checking out what was going on below.

Bridge

She liked the lemon bread and lemon cookie. 

She had peppermint tea. I had a Godiva tea.

We each had our own little tea kettle and cozy.

Such a delightful afternoon.

Videos

Here are some recent videos!
This was at the Japanese festival...when it was 105 degrees or something like that.

Swimming lessons, round one. She still won't put her head under every time she is supposed to. 

Singing at VBS.

Playing Catch-up

We are still here. VBS has knocked us out for a while. It was two weeks ago, but last week we were recovering. I have decided that I just need to say no when anyone asks me to do something. My brain is just fried. But here are som updates from our last couple weeks:

VBS

This week is VBS at chapel. The theme is Shipwrecked...which is appropriate since there is another typhoon that is supposed to hit tonight. (They have actually cancelled tomorrow because of it.) We have done a little better than last year...Emma waited until Thursday to go crazy. VBS is exhausting. I am not a crew leader this year...they put me in the sound booth! 😳 It has gone ok...it’s not a lot to manage, but technology does not always work the way it is supposed to.  I have enjoyed the breaks in between sessions for sure. 

They ended up putting everything in their worship software so it’s easier to manage...not double screens and switching programs. Much better, when it works.  But why oh why did I not pay attention all those years my dad was in the sound booth?!

I happened to see Emma in her group. I haven’t actually seen her much, but I think she is having fun.

Trying out her toy. 

I am documenting that she doesn’t always act crazy. Last night we watched a show and then did the dishes together. Then we had tea. And yes, I know I only have one earring in...it was getting in her hair on the couch. Daddy was at his Japanese classs.

Hot Weekend

It is HOT here this summer. Super humid. Not fun to be outside. On Thursday we went to a friend’s house to play in water. It was fun, but even the kids were done being outside after an hour. I will take dry heat any day over this. Thank goodness for AC. Friday we went to a Japanes festival that wasn’t too far from base. But, it was HOT. When we were leaving I checked the temperature and we had a heat index of 105. And there isn’t much of a breeze walking in Japanese urban areas. No wonder we were so hot and tired and not hungry. Emma just wanted anything cold. Today were exhausted and decided to stay inside. Steven was at work, but Emma and I played with Paris most of the day. We colored, played a new card game, ate lunch, and watched Pioneer Woman. I think Paris likes to come over here and do girl things. There are only boys in her house right now. Emma likes it, too. It works out for everyone. 

On a side note, our weather has not been all bad. Last night we had a real thunderstorm!!!! You have no idea how excited I was. It just kind of popped up on top of us and so we had some pretty close lightning strikes, lots of loud thunder and good rain. We agreed with our neighbor that it was better than the typhoon. There were even power outages on base, not for too long though. I tried to take a video, but the cicadas steak loud you can barely hear anything. (If it’s not posted then check back,  I will post the videos tomorrow.) watch till the end...or fast forward to the end. 

Our friends set up swings on thei porch. The baby swing was the favorite. 

Running through the sprinkler.

You know, just kitty and caticorn.

Emma loved the decorations at the festival.

Eating her shaved ice.

Float

Yokota had a float

HOT. Early sun. And another typhoon on the way.

These were a hit Papa Steve! 

Playing the new card game...it involves spelling words and adding pints up. Both of them need practice on both.

Tired week

I am not a walking zombie today, so will update you on what we have been doing. Our typhoon was a disappointment, at least for me. It rained hard for a little bit Saturday afternoon, but other than that, not much. Most of the bad stuff went south of us.  We have been tired around here, for various reasons. Emma was so tired Sunday that I made her come home and take a nap after church. The kids led singing at church, but she didn’t hardly do any actions, I could tell she wasn’t herself. Then we all went to the bowling alley afterwards, but we came home after eating because she was super whiny. Steven was also having a desk delivered that afternoon, so it worked out. I was tired because, well I’m always tired. I was so tired last week I was having trouble keeping my eyes open in the morning. Friday I went for a run/walk to wake up, and it helped. So Saturday we ran the stairs 3 times, as it was raining. I was awake. However, I have also not been able to walk without pain or sleep much/well since. ☹️ Yesterday was so bad I had to let Emma watch the iPad in her room while I went back to bed. Today I finally felt more normal. (Note to self: no more stairs.) They have recommended me for a sleep study, and I need to go by the clinic to set it up. 

This morning I noticed that Emma had obviously dumped out some salt on the floor, so I told her she had to vacuum it up. Well, as sometimes happens when I make her clean..she enjoyed it! Today she and Paris had to clean up their mess in the hallway, and I had to stop her from using all our Swiffer wet pads to mop the entire hallway. 

This is from the weekend, it was warm and super humid outside, while we had our AC and dehumidifiers running. Foggy windows happen occasionally. Sometimes you can’t even see out of it. It was worse in the evening. Steven and Emma had fun drawing in th condensation.

She did the actions for a second at the very end of one song, that was it.

But she did sing!

Steven’s new desk. I think he said it’s from the 1920s. Another firefighter was moving and gave it to him.

All ready for swim lessons! Thanks for the cover-up Grandma Joy! 

This turned out not to be punishment. 

Chillin with Daddy and Green Dolly in the hammock after dinner. 

She is getting so big! Can’t believe she will be 6 soon!