Sarah's Big Day...

Quite a day for Sarah, pretty normal for the rest of us. Sarah's class watched her lynx dvd today. She was grinning from ear to ear telling me about it, her exact words, "They loved it. Everyone followed me around at recess after, they all wanted to play with me". Then after that was the student of the month assembly where she recieved a student of the month award. Her exact words again, "Everyone gave me high fives after school."

There's no Kiddie Kandid here, so I got creative w/a sheet on my bed w/Luke today. He was ALL grins, it was a lot of fun. All 3 of the boys had on matching sweaters today, so when the other 2 got home I thought I'd take one of them all together. That wasn't so fun. As you can see, none of them got posted.

Adam's been in court w/an assaut case all week. I was shocked when he came in at 8:00 tonight, much earlier than last night. He was happy, things seemed to have gone pretty well today. He'll finish up tomorrow.

Fern Stevens Radford

Jan. 30, 1952 - Dec. 7, 1995

Today is my Mom's 55th birthday! So, today's blog is dedicated to her....she was such an INCREDIBLE person, I just want to share a little about her w/you.

this is a pic of her at BYU....

this is a pic of her and my dad at the airport as he is leaving for his 2 year mission to Texas...so cute, she was my inspiration while Adam in the Dom. Rep.
a pic of me and my mom

My mom and I playing a duet together on the piano in H.S....

probably "Jolly Darkies" or "Mr. Ming", so fun.

Happy Birthday Mom!! My mom was such an awsome example to me. Even though I got to be w/her for 19 years, I feel so incredibly blessed to have spent those 19 years w/her. She taught me so much--how to sew, cook, can, play the piano, reupholster furniture, work, never give up, serve others, and most importantly that I can do anything I put my mind to. My mom was always trying new things, figuring out how to do things she'd never done before. I think her motto was, "if someone else can do it, I can do it", she wasn't intimidated by anything. I owe 90% of my musical abilities to her, she tricked me...she would NOT let me quit lessons until I could play the hymns for church, but it was a trick, because she knew that if I made it that far I would like it for myself by then and wouldn't want to quit. I was such a pain though, I remember so many times crying w/my head on the keys, but she endured and I am so grateful. Now it's pay back time though, because she got to hand pick 5 to send down to me....

My mom loved the outdoors--loved to camp, hike, dutch oven cook. She seemed to always be a stake leader at girls camp each summer that I went, I may not have showed it at the time, but I loved having her there. I have such fond memories of sewing w/her. She always unpicked my mistakes for me because she loved to sew and wanted her girls to love it also, and everyone knows unpicking is not fun, so she'd do it, then show me how to do it again. I loved doing 4-H every summer w/her. Cooking and sewing both, and even cake decorating one year. I have so many memories of late nights doing school projects. I remember making a sugar cube pyramid w/her till 11:00 or so in 6th grade, it was the best in the class. She always helped me put 150% into my projects, nothing was 1/2 done at our house. I'm not sure how she found the energy to do it w/5 kids. My whole childhood I thought 5 kids was a total breeze. I guess from a kids POV she made it look easy. But now here I am w/5 kids of my own and let me tell you it is anything but a breeze. I have SO much more respect for her now than I ever have in my life. Hopefully they are getting the WWW in heaven and she can read this, because I sure didn't thank here even close to enough at 19. Thank you Mom!! I love you! Happy Birthday!

Sushi anyone??
Adam took this pic of the Kintai Bridge Sat. night, it's so pretty lit up at night. Friday night was Isaac's night for date w/daddy, he chose to go to the Sushi Train. As you can see, the plates of food go by on a conveyor belt, the different colored plates are for the different prices. I had never eaten Sushi before coming to Japan...the texture was the hardest part to get over...we really like it now, although the kids aren't really big on wasabi. (It's kinda like green horseradish)

A personal favorite, cucumber w/roe (fish eggs) wrapped in sea weed.

Ok, I lied, wouldn't touch this one w/a ten foot pole. I'm still convinced that eggs should only be used for bait for fishing.

Isaac's getting pretty good w/chopsticks...

Yes, that is one nice slab of raw fish. Not my personal favorite, the one he's eating is a little chewy for me, I prefer Salmon or Tuna, but he liked it!

He just grew up over night! Rolling like a wild man, eating little finger foods....

This morning was a little crazy getting ready for church (like every other Sunday morning). We decided to wear our Kimonos, which adds a little more chaos to getting dressed. The girls went shopping with me Friday and helped me pick out a Kimono for me! So, Jakey got his on, then decided he wanted it off and we changed to pants and a sweater, then Isaac got his on, I got mine on, then Isaac had to go to the bathroom (more diarrhea) so off w/his Kimono, then Jakey had to go to the bathroom, and he has this thing where everything, even socks, come off to potty, so he's completely undressed now, what a circus!!! Why do we all have to get dressed 5 times!! Anyway, I finally get the boys redressed, Luke dressed, then I take Luke downstairs and set him on the floor in his car seat, then the girls get themselves dressed and I help them w/all their obi's and ties and everything, then I go back downstairs and Luke is crying and face down on the kitchen floor---he wasn't buckled in yet and somehow figured out how to get himself out!! Not sure how he did it, it was so crazy! I felt so bad.

Everyone is pretty much better, no more throwing up anyway. Fri. night Emma puked all night, but since then things have settled down a little bit. After puking all night, Emma woke up and convinced us that w/some Gatorade she could still play her first basketball game at 11:00. So, we gatoraded her up and she and Sarah played their first BB game. They had a lot of fun. But Emma was pretty ticked that they don't keep score--she's so competitive, there is no playing just for fun, if you're not going to keep score, what's the point?

Last night when I was getting ready to go out for my Sat. night date, Isaac asked me, "Mom, where are you going?" I said, "I'm going on a date w/daddy". He said, "That's not fair!!" I said, "Why? You got to go out w/him last night." He said, "Ya, but it's Emma's turn!!". He was pretty ticked that I'm getting more than my fair share of turns. (fri. nights Adam's been rotating taking the kids on dates, so they get 1 a month, then Sat. night is always my night.)

Tokyo--

So here are a few pics of Tokyo. Last spring we took a trip, but since we had the whole fam we just hit Disneyland, the Tokyo Tower, and the Tokyo Temple. There is so much more to see and do there though, which is one reason I am looking forward to our Marathon in 3 weeks!! The route goes through a lot of famous sites, the Emperial Palace, Royal Gardens, etc. Maybe I can talk Adam into running w/a small camera...

We also saw a few things when were were there having a baby this past summer--we saw the huge Buddah statue and the girls and Adam hiked Mnt. Fuji. I am going to hike Mnt. Fuji with the girls while Adam watches the boys this summer, probably the last thing we do before we leave....if anyone wants to come hike it w/me???

Every night I go to bed w/high hopes that everyone will be well in the morning, and go to school!! No success this morning though. I was up at 2am w/Jacob puking, we pretty much made it to the bathroom this time! Then up at 3am w/Isaac puking. I had my hand over his mouth as we were running, but was unsuccessful...I got to clean carpets/dresser/walls after. Looks like my running route will be the outside of the basketball courts in the gym again today...

Hope the pics were enticing......

The fearless deer at Miyajima The monkeys at the top of Miyajima--

The "Chicken Shack"--

The "Chicken Shack"--

A Pagoda at Miyajima--

A Tori at Miyajima--

The Kintai Castle--

Some noteworthy new: ALL 4 kids were healthy enough to go to school yesterday, and I got to take my good friend Jen to lunch for her b-day!! Today both boys are sick again. I woke up at 4:00 to Luke having a coughing fit, finally got him back asleep by about 4:20, then just as I was slipping into unconsciousness, Isaac climbed in our bed. After a few minutes he sat up and said he didn't feel good. Since I was under the effects of NyQuil, my reflexes and judgement were a little slow and I didn't react. Luckily Adam recognized the little swallowing sounds Isaac was making, and grabbed him and dashed for the bathroom. They almost made it, it was a heroic effort. But I did get to clean up chunky puke on the carpet just outside the bathroom at 4:25 am. So, my day got off to a great start. I was able to go back to sleep before Jacob woke up at 5:30 w/diarreah. I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING! Enough of this winter sickness!!! Anyway, both boys are home for the day, then the girls have the next 2 days off. (didn't we just have MLK day off? what's up w/the schools these days?) Yesterday was SO nice while it lasted.

Oh, speaking of school, Emma, my little competetive one, is very determined that her class win the box top contest at school, and it's a close race right now, so she's a little nervous. If anyone wants to send her box tops, she would greatly appreciate it.

Well, the reason for this blog actually was to post a few pics of Japan to try to entice some of you to come visit before we leave. Will/Erika, you're running out of time!! Eric, only 5 1/2 months left!! Sarah is getting baptized April 7.....

Also, I have friend Trisha who has 3 kids and just lost her husband this past fall in a car wreck. He was a Marine and lived in Iwakuni for a year before they were married, so she wanted to see some pics as well. So, here they are...

Pic 3 & 4 are at a favorite local restaurant the americans call the "Chicken Shack". Pics 1 and 2 and 5 and 6 are at Miyajima, which is an island about 30 minutes from the base w/lots shrines, temples, etc. There are really obnoxious deer at Myajima, if you feed them they'll never leave you alone!! And a mountain you can take a tram to the top of (or hike) and see monkeys at the top. There are signs everywhere not to look the monkeys in the eye, or they'll think you're challenging them and you might be sorry. The last pic is at the Kinai Castle, which is near the Kintai bridge, which you are all very familiar w/at this point after 2 christmas pictures w/us standing by it.

Later I'll blog again w/some pics of Tokyo as well. It's only about an 8 hr drive or 5 hr. Shin ride from here, so if you came to visit we'd take you there as well.

It's been a while! For some reason our computer wouldn't pull up our blog site all week, till Adam did some magic on it and fixed it...anyway, that's why it's been so long.

What a week, the kids took turns being sick all week again, and once again, I only had 1 day with them all in school! I avoided their plague cold for the past 2 weeks, but my body finally gave up fighting it, and now I'm taking my turn. And feeling a little bad for not being a little more sympathetic, it's a bad one.

So the pic is from last Monday, MLK day. Not a Japanese holiday, so we decided to really enjoy our holiday and still send the boys. We did let them sleep in though, and then Adam walked them to school. Yes, that's Jacob on Adam's back, not Luke, we've gotten the backpack out to use for Luke, but Jacob is VERY facinated with it. I've found him a few times face down on the floor, stuck, he'd climbed in w/it standing, and it fell over and he couldn't get out. One more bump or bruise, not even noticable w/that one.

So Monday, w/the boys gone, Adam spent all day organizing the patio--love it!! And I helped Sarah w/a little research project, that ended up being not so little. It was on the lynx, and she wanted to make a dvd. So after a little googling, she and Em made a back drop w/a sheet and markers, then we taped it to the wall. We threw together some lynx outfits, and Sarah a "lynx catcher" outfit, and taped the first 3 episodes of "The Lynx Catcher". It turned out very cute, and I heard at least 3 or 4 times through out the day, "Mom, this is the best day ever". Swish, 3 pointer for me. Sarah was home sick the next day, so she helped me edit and put it together. The Adam added some music...it turned out very cute. Grandmas & Grandpas, you should be getting your copy in the mail soon. Whew, glad to have it done though, and it's not even due for a week!! Yeah! That was so out of character for me, but figured we out to use MLK w/out the boys while we had it.

So the rest of the week, same old, same old I guess. A little bummed I wasn't in Hawaii, but the passport/BC is coming along, so hopefully end of Feb. I'll get there. For any of you that don't know about the surgery, I am getting an extreme make-over on my vericose veins. After 5 kids, they just aren't pretty, and painful at times as well.

Church was long, very long today. I have truly loved our small branch, but am looking forward to a real ward soon. I have moved up to CTR5-6-7 class now in primary. I have one little girl who loudly announced in the middle of class for us all to be quiet, she was trying to sleep. At least she didn't farmer blow onto the back of her chair like last week though. Yikes!

Has anyone read the book Frindle? By Andrew Clements? For you moms out there, it is a very cute book, about Emma's level, anyway, they have a book club at the elm. school, and that was the book this months, and book club is Tues, so we had to cram it in tonight. My voice is gone, but we finished it in a couple of hours, it was a very good book, got all choked up at the end. Anyway, thought I'd pass it along. Emma hates to read, it's a little scary, but anyway, after we finished, she said, "Mom, let's go to the library and check out another book by this author". Would love to hear what books your kids love, always looking for something for her to read. Well, it's getting late, I'm out....

The vacation-surgery has been post-ponned!!
I'm totally disappointed! I was supposed to leave next Monday for Hawaii for surgery on my leg. I had the kids all squared away and everything, but then we realized last weekend that Adam hadn't gotten Luke's passport yet. It's been sitting on his desk at work for the past 4 1/2 months, and only he, being the sponser, could apply for it....need I say more? He felt really bad though, and is working on the "pay extra-expedited process" now, and hopefully it'll all get rescheduled for end of February, right after our marathon. I was a little worried about running it 1 mo. after the surgery anyway, so maybe it's for the best, hopefully the sitter situation will all work out again.
Adam has been in trial all week so we haven't seen much of him. Another rape case.
I was so excited for school to start this week!! But then everyone has been taking turns getting sick, one at a time, so I haven't even had a day alone yet!! (alone=only me and Luke) First it was Jacob, then Sarah, then Isaac and Luke, then today was Emma. And Adam's coming down w/it tonight...not me though, I've decided I'm NOT getting this one.
Well, other than the usual craziness, Duchess shredding 5 diapers all over the house today after I emptied my bathroom trash, but it was still sitting in the hall waiting to go out, and everyone taking turns being sick, not much else is new. Just trying to keep the house "sanitary", gave up on "clean" about 2 kids ago.

Finally, we tried on the new Kimono's......

The kids all got Kimono's for Christmas, and have been DYING to try them on, but I didn't know where to even start, so Yumi and her mom came over tonight for dinner and to help us out. It was so much fun!!

It snowed last night!! Looked like a blizzard when we went to bed. It was the first real snow of the year, and it had to happen on a Sunday morning!! I'm such a mean mom, but I was secretly happy it was on a Sun. morning and I didn't have to deal w/all the boots, gloves, hats, snow suits, makeshift sleds, etc. We went to church, and by the time we got home at 1:30, it was all melted. The kids were so disappointed, and I tried to pretend to be.

This was taken a few days ago...the girls and their frientds love to play pet salon. How they get Duch to hold still long enough to do it all, I'm still not sure.

Sunday usually brings something good to write about, but today was actually a pretty normal day. Becky and the kids rolled into church almost on time, Isaac was wearing his suit, black church shoes and no socks, Jake was wearing his black and white Nike cleats with no socks. We are vastly outnumbered by the kids nowadays and just don't have the mental and emotional resources to fight over things like socks.

The best part about today is that the kids go back to school tomorrow. They have had just about a month off. Becky is at the end of her ropes with them. The chaos has been compounded by a dog that insists on chewing up EVERYTHING the kids won't put away, which pretty much includes everything they own.

We finally put a leash on her and told Emma that if she wanted to keep the dog then not to let go of the leash. It works as long as Emma holds her but it seems that Emma needs to be reminded about every five minutes. You would thing that having a 70 pound Doberman hooked to your wrist would be something not easily forgotten, but somehow that dog seems to sneak away from her constantly. And it isn't like Emma has a bad attitude about it, she genuinely seems surprised when we point out to her that the dog isn't there. The boys don't go back to Yochien until Tuesday. We are almost there.

A visit to the orphanage...

A few weeks ago, Emma, my dramatic, project oriented one, asked if she could collect things for an orphanage. Honestly, my first reaction was that it sounded like a lot of work, but being the Christmas season, I thought I should try to help her. So, I gave her some garbage bags and a wagon, and sent her and Sarah on their way. It kept them both very busy for several hours for about 3 days. It was great!! And my Japanese friend from church, Yumi, contacted an orphanage in Hiroshima and set things up for us. The girls collected about 10 large garbage bags full of clothes/toys, and $230 cash. Yesterday we shopped w/the $ buying soccer balls, underwear/socks, candy, bubblegum toothpaste, and tattoo bandaids. Today we drove w/Yumi to Hiroshima to drop off the goods. We took a little tour of the facility, there were about 20 babies! So sad, they were so cute!! The girls wanted so bad to take one home w/us. They assured me dad wouldn't notice. And honestly, as crazy as our house is these days, he probably wouldn't. The kids got to play outside w/some of the kids for a little while. The language barrier turned out to be a good thing when a few of the little boys kept saying words that Yumi wouldn't translate for us. On the way home Yumi took us out to dinner--she is way too nice, seriously the nicest person I've ever met. Hello--after me being late to pick her up, then enduring the drive down w/me and my kids, and the drive back, and Luke did not like his carseat today, she wants to take us out to dinner?? We went out for Japanese/Italian food. The pizza was very good but different--very thin crust, almost like a cracker instead of bready crust. Well, better go, kids are running wild and should have been to bed long ago....

My baby's growing up!! Luke started rice cereal for the first time yesterday! Everyone got a turn feeding him, he was a mess by the time we finished. He also rolled over for the first time on Christmas day. He had the best timing, it was right after he had pooped out, all up his back, through his clothes, while he was laying on his tummy on the carpet, then made his grand move of rolling over onto his back, and getting it all over the carpet. And to make it even better, this all happened right as I was calling everyone in for Christmas dinner.....poor little baby of 5, he's got to make it dramatic to get any attention around here.

I found Jacob asleep on the floor a few nights ago, w/a bag of cereal. He helped himself to a bag of Pops, then crashed on the stairs.

Just a few pics from Christmas Eve, Adam took the kids out for a few hours while Mrs. Claus finished up some work and got ready for our Christmas Eve dinner w/some branch friends. Adam's been having fun experimenting w/our new camera, especially the action shots.

Just wanted to share a few pics from Christmas....

Christmas night.... Jacob got a sleeping bag for Christmas, so n0w they each have their own, and they have slept on the floor every night since.

Luke decided this Christmas thing isn't half bad.

The girls got matching dresses for their Am. Girl Dolls, they were pretty excited. Hello--I realized why I don't make doll clothes more often, they're almost as much work as people clothes!!

Christmas Eve, after a visit from Mrs. Claus--