Happy Birthday K!

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We celebrated K's 4th birthday on Monday. It was a busy and fun day!

The day started with a few presents and cards and, of course, the birthday crown, which I found just in the nick of time...






While K went off to pre-school, I made his cake. I baked it the day before, but it was the decorating that took the time. It's actually made from individual cupcakes (you can see the silicon liners reflected in the foil), placed together to form a train shape. I'm afraid I can't take credit for this great idea; I found a (reduced-price) kit like this one at Jusco!




After school, it was party-time! This was the first time K had had a children's party for his birthday; until now it's just been family. Since there are 'only' 10 children in the older classes at K's pre-school we thought we'd invite them all. With a few siblings coming along too we ended up with a guest list of 15 little ones, plus some mums, although in end illness brought it back down to 13 (including T!).

From what I hear nowadays, kids' parties back in the UK can be major events. I, on the other hand, had the advantage that no-one here really does kids' parties for birthdays and so there were no expectations. I kept it very old-school, just the kind of party that I had when I was little. We had the classic party games (pass-the-parcel, musical statues, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, balloon-between-the-knees relay...), cake and juice, and goodie bags at the end. Pretty much all of this was new to everyone concerned, who I think were just expecting the kids to be
running riot
playing freely.

thanks to A's mum for this pic - I completely forgot to take photos...

The day before the party, K announced that he wanted to play the planet game. No, I didn't know what that was either. He informed me that it involved me (the Sun) standing in the middle and everyone else holding a balloon and walking around me, in the correct order according to a list of planet roles composed by K.

So H and I spent Sunday evening blowing up balloons (he hates to blow up balloons and I cannot tie them. What a ridiculous pair), and the game was duly played at the party. It did prompt one older girl to ask 'Is this a game??' but K later declared that it had been his favourite part of the party.

Anyway, the party went well and I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves. Once all the guests left we had a quick Skype chat with Mum and Dad and then, seeing as I couldn't be bothered to cook, we went to Joyful for dinner, a treat in K's eyes. Back home again there was another cake, a gift from pre-school...

...and then yet more present-opening. Everyone who gave K a gift obviously knows him and his current interests so well. Presents included 2 space books and a set of space stickers, an inflatable globe and a couple of little books on geography and flags, workbooks for English and math, and a Chuggington annual.

K finally headed off to bed just after 9, but was still awake reading the afore-mentioned Chuggington annual at 11. I thought (hoped!) that this might mean a little lie-in the next day, but at 7:15am, K was up and in our bed - bringing the Chuggington annual with him...

So happy birthday little K! The past year has been a big one for you, becoming a big brother. This year brings many changes too, starting with Japanese kindergarten next month. The night before his birthday K said that he was looking forward to his party but was sad about not being 3 anymore. I think this means we need to dial down the 'you're a big boy now' phrases, however positively we intend them. Perhaps, especially with T around, K feels pressure to be 'big' and on his best behaviour.

Don't worry K. You can still be my sweet little, planet-obsessed, book-loving, photograph-taking, cutting-and-gluing boy for as long as you like. I love that you love to share things, that you're (generally!) so kind and gentle to your little brother and that, like me, you love to get out and about and see people. I even love it when you come into our bed in the middle of the night but shush, don't tell Daddy I said that ;-)

Clothes swap

It's been pointed out to me that I haven't posted about anything since Valentine's Day. Sorry, I'll try and do better in March ;-)

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a clothes swap party. The bad weather, various colds and sniffles and scheduling problems meant that we only had 10 swappers (plus a few partners and children), but it was still a lot of fun. We woke to a fresh fall of snow so H and I took it in turns to go out and shovel the parking space. Normally we only do the tiny bit in front of our car if we need to get out but, as we were expecting guests, we had to do it Properly this time...


Once everyone had arrived we set out all the clothes in the Japanese-style room, had some tea and cake and then drew numbers to decide the order for choosing items to take home. Vivian (who helped me organise it all) and I got numbers 1 and 2, which was slightly embarrassing but secretly rather pleasing too...



We had 3 rounds of 'shopping', with different ways to decide who would go first each time. When everyone had had the chance to choose something 3 times, whatever was left was available to whoever wanted it, first-come-first-serve. The engawa, a little sunroom at the side, served as a changing room and the men served as child-minders.

(Yes, that's K in a big box)

So, do you want to see what I got? I think I did very well, although the clothes look much better in person (and on) than in these photos. You can't really appreciate the colour or shape here, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Firstly, a long-line checked shirt, fitted and with roll-up sleeves (my favourite). It's from H&M originally and looks brand-new. Perfect with skinny jeans and boots...

Next, a black and white polka-dot jersey dress. I don't wear dresses as much as I'd like to but I think that this one could be pretty versatile. The fabric is so soft, really lovely to the touch.

And finally, a rather cool little khaki bag with what looks like an Italian subway map printed on it. Just right for when I'm not with the boys and therefore don't have to carry nappies, toys, spare clothes, snacks... Oh, wait. I'll keep the snacks.

What do you think? Good haul, right? I miss having charity shops or jumble sales to rummage through, so this was great fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and are keen to do it again. The baking I did went down well too, so maybe I'll share the recipes with you later...

Off to bed now - tomorrow is K's birthday so I must conserve energy in preparation for fourteen 2-6 year olds running riot about the place after school...

September scenes

September has been and gone and, with it, the last of H's paternity leave. He will be back at work as usual again on Monday. Where has all the time gone?

We've had a few days out, and birthday dinners for Vivian and Shuko. We paid a little visit to English School, had Lisa come visit us one day, met Chieko for lunch and Miki for dinner while she was here from Vietnam. K has been back at preschool as usual and I have been teaching 2 classes a week. Generally though we have been at home this month and there has been a lot of this...



...and even more of this...


The weather has been a big factor in what we've been doing. At the beginning of the month it was still far too hot and humid to do anything - well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. After that a couple of typhoons brought strong winds and torrential rain, but nowadays the temperature is generally in the mid-20s and the humidity is low. At night-time you can even enjoy feeling a bit chilly from time to time!

T turned 6 months old last week and is enjoying his first experiences of solid food. He's now up to two meals a day and eats anything we offer him, in large amounts and with gusto. He can now roll right over; I never seem to see him actually moving from place to place, yet he can magically cover quite a bit of ground when no-one is looking.

I had high hopes of doing a lot of Sorting Out in the house this month while H was here. Are you surprised to hear that very little progress has been made? I have gone through a couple of cupboards properly but, in general, I've simply made matters worse by starting lots of jobs but, in the words of a well-known plumber, not finishing anything. Oh well.

On the other hand, progress has been made on Project New Car. I think that tomorrow we may actually sign on the dotted line!

And so to bed...

Party, party, party

Last Sunday we held our annual Christmas party. Like last year, I roasted a turkey and prepared a few other things and all our guests brought something to add to the table. People came and went all afternoon but we always had a full house and I think about 30 people came altogether.

As always, H was chief turkey-carver, carefully monitored by K and Holly:

H worked hard throughout the party, clearing up as we went along and helping Emerson with his pasta...


Here, for example, you can see him 'clearing up' the pavlova!

K had a great time, playing to the crowd as always. He's quite the little socialite. I think he really enjoyed himself all afternoon, whether he was reading Bob the Builder books with Chan...

...pulling crackers with Pamela and Shuko...

...or just wandering about looking cute :-)

I just had to include this photo of Lisa apparently reading 'Maisy Big, Maisy Small' to Cally too, especially as I just noticed Cally is playing with a toy helicopter at the same time...

I really enjoyed the day; lots of lovely food and great company, including some people who I hadn't met before. Thanks for coming everyone!

And of course, that's not the only party of the season. The previous weekend I met up with some other 'foreign wives' for a little potluck party, and tomorrow afternoon all 3 of us will be going to K's pre-school Christmas party. This evening H has his work end-of-year party, staying overnight at a hot spring about an hour away from here. Tonight was also the night of the English School Christmas party. At first I thought I'd have to miss it since there was no-one to take care of K, but then I decided to take him along. We had a quiet afternoon so that he'd be able to stay up later than usual, and went along right at the start of the party at 8.00. How uncool. There were a lot of people there but K wasn't fazed at all. He seemed to have a great time, didn't seem overly tired, agreed at 10.30 that it was time to go home and was asleep withing 5 minutes of setting off in the car...

Anyone need a step machine? Going cheap, barely used...

On Sunday Lisa and I became shop-keepers for the day, selling our old stuff at a flea market, the Japanese equivalent of a car boot sale. Most of the things for sale were mine - clothes that no longer fit, odds and ends from around the house and, yes, unwanted gifts (nothing from any of you though of course).

We had a prime corner spot and, after an unsure start to the day, sold quite a bit. The veteran flea marketer next door to us bought several clothes from me and I wouldn't be surprised to see them on her stall at the next one! I did learn a handy trick from her though, for when you can't try clothes on for fit: your neck is about half the size of your waist so try holding the waist of trousers around your neck.

I enjoyed the day, cleared some cupboard space and made a bit of money - yeah! Maybe this time next year I'll be back with maternity wear and newborn baby clothes...

Happy Birthday to me...

It was my birthday last Friday and I had a good day. It started with an unexpected Skype chat with insomniac Mum and Dad. To be honest, Skyping can be a bit of a pain at times, with poor connections making it difficult to talk to each other and K trying to disconnect stuff or play with the mouse. But this time it was all as it should be, and we were able to have a nice, relaxing chat; even K was on his best behaviour and performed well for the camera.

After an easy class with a private student, K and I joined Cian, Lisa, Vivian, Cally and Alex for a lovely birthday lunch. K was reasonably well-behaved and I had a special birthday dessert, complete with candles (luckily not the actual number of my age. That would have been a fire hazard) and everyone in the restaurant singing Happy Birthday.


Lately the cold weather definitely encourages baking, and K is keen too. One of his favourite books at the moment is Maisy Makes Gingerbread, in which 'Maisy needs flour, sugar, eggs, butter and ginger'. Therefore everything we make now is also declared to need those ingredients too. Well, we didn't make gingerbread, but we did make a cheesecake on Friday afternoon. Yum. H came home a bit early and we had a big one-pot nabe dinner, followed by a visit to H's mum and dad's (taking the cheesecake. Yum.)

It really was a lovely day and I had some nice cards and gifts too (as in 'I had some cards and gifts. They were nice' not 'I had cards and gifts. Some of them were nice'. Don't you just love the English language?). The birthday atmosphere carried over to Saturday night's Hallowe'en party too, where Cian presented me with a birthday cake. It was slightly battered where the box had been knocked over by a drunken guitarist, but it still tasted Very Good as a mid-afternoon snack yesterday.

So now that my birthday and Hallowe'en have passed, I suppose Christmas is next on the list. Gulp.

The un-barbecue

Lisa, Cian, Gray and Holly came over for a barbecue on Sunday. Unfortunately the weather had been bad for the previous few days and early that morning it still looked like it might rain, so I wimped out and made it an indoor lunch instead. Of course, it turned out to be a lovely sunny afternoon....


I made a couple of curries, a chilli and a big pot of rice and my guests brought assorted doughnuts, cakes and drinks. It turned into one of those lovely relaxing Sunday afternoons where lunch carried on until about 4 o'clock... After that we just about mustered enough energy for a game of Scrabble. K was quite interested in the game and came to have a look sometimes, but playing with H and Holly was obviously much more fun and we managed to finish the game without any tile-scattering disasters.

Holly is 9 and K loves her. All morning he was asking after her, waiting for her to arrive. She made a great baby-sitter for the afternoon!

I think everyone ate their fill at lunchtime, but there was still enough left for lunch on Tuesday for K and I, and several portions went in the freezer too. In the evening we couldn't be bothered to cook again and nipped out in the car to a nearby noodle shop.

Here was K's summary of the day, at bedtime:

Did you have a nice day today K?

Holly-chan! Holly-chan! And cake. Eat cake. And ABC (I'm guessing that's the Scrabble).

(Quiet for a minute. I thought he'd finished)

And Cian. And Gray. And Lisa. And Mummy. And Daddy. And K!

(Quiet again)

And rice. And noodles. And car. Dark.

A busy weekend

So busy in fact, that we started it on Friday :-)

H took a half day, we met up for lunch and then drove to Misasa to spend the night at a Japanese style inn there. I won't bore you with all the details again, as it's the same place we stayed at in February and last July.

Unfortunately, the rainy season really started to kick in over the weekend, so we weren't able to do all the things we had planned. On the way to Misasa it was only raining a little bit, so we stopped at a park to play...

... and look at amusingly shaped trees.

After arriving at the hotel I went for a hot spring bath and then it was time for dinner. K had the 'Kid's Meal' which consisted of 3 deep-fried shrimp, a piece of fried chicken, a small beefburger, some salad, a bowl of soup....

... and rice, fruit and ice cream. Needless to say, he didn't eat it all, although he did give it his best shot!

Despite the rain we went for a little walk after dinner, just to hear the frogs. Here at home we are serenaded by frogs in the rice fields every night too, but in Misasa they have a less common variety which sound like this. I tried to look up the name of the frog, kajika-gaeru in English but just got 'Kajika frog'. I was interested to see that the kanji for it is 'river-deer-frog'!

On the way back to the hotel I spotted a snake crossing the road in front of us. Until last week I don't think I'd ever seen a snake on the loose in Japan and now, with the one on our lawn the other day, I've seen two...

Since Saturday brought lots more rain, we had a leisurely morning leaving the hotel, going back to the hotel for something we'd forgotten (...) and browsing round a few shops before heading home. In the evening I went out for a farewell dinner with Heidi and Steve, who left Japan today for Canada, marriage and 'Annie'! Heidi has been a great friend and yoga teacher over the last couple of years and I will miss her...

Yesterday the rain and humidity continued. I got up at 5.30 to take 2 trains to Izumo, run two children's parties, take a train back to Matsue for a couple more parties and then get yet another train and bus back home. It was a long and tiring day, and we finally gave in and put the air-conditioning on last night...

Golden Week round-up

Everyone's been back at work for a week or more now, so I think that I have to accept that Golden Week is over :-)

We mainly stayed close to home, avoiding the crowds and enjoying the good weather with friends and family. Along with our day at the beach, one of the main events was a barbecue here with friends old and new.


Meiko and David were visiting from New Zealand, Jason and Junko live here in Yonago and Marvin and Ikuno have just moved here from Australia. Between the 8 of us, we have 6 little children so it was quite a lively afternoon...

We also met up with H's uncle, visiting from Hiroshima, one evening and spent another evening at home with Heidi and Lisa playing board games, drinking wine and eating lots of yummy things (including locusts. Not really sure if they should be categorised as 'yummy' though...).

H's mum looked after K one afternoon, so H and I went out for lunch and a movie. We've failed dismally to do that every month, as I resolved back in January, but that just made this day all the more enjoyable.

H did some work in the garden and I got some more fabric for the shop, and we also had a morning at the park...

It was a lovely sunny day and K was finally able to wear the outfit I'd made for his birthday!

He loves going through the big undulating wire-tunnely thing (above), but always wants to hold my hand on the slopes. This time he did all by himself, and he went through a little tunnel that turns into a slide for the first time too.

After that there was no stopping him and he even climbed up to the top of this net by himself, with me hovering worriedly in the background...

That was the last day of Golden Week for us, but in the holiday spirit we took H's mum out for dinner on Sunday night for Mothers' Day. Then on Monday it was H's birthday and we went out for dinner again, plus presents and cheesecake at home too...

What we've been up to lately

Not blogging, obviously! I'm not quite sure where the last week has gone...

The new school year starts in April in Japan, so I started classes at university again last week. Apart from that there have been no major changes around here but somehow the time has just slipped away. Here are a few of the things we've been doing...

A barbecue with Vivian and friends, the first one of the season. Eek, that was almost 2 weeks ago now! If the weather is OK we might have one here on Sunday.


I finished off my pincushion for the swap, and sent it off with a few other little goodies. There will be pictures later but not until it has been received. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!

K's love for Bob the Builder continues, and has now extended into colouring:


H has been busy in the garden, raking all the dead grass out of the lawn. Hopefully it'll soon green up now...



K and I have been investigating all the slides in the area and this one, next to the City Office, wins first prize:

Dinner with Nicole and her dad last week produced this picture that I really like...

Last weekend I met Lisa for lunch and then we went on to a flute concert that one of my students was taking part in. The whole orchestra was made up of flutes, including the very cool-looking bass and contra-bass flutes. No photos though, sorry :-)

Meanwhile, back to K!

We've been trying a few crafty things lately, including pasting...

... and playing with rather sticky playdough.

Nicole finished packing up her house on Wednesday and came here to stay with us until her flight home next Tuesday. We had lunch out together when she arrived and it's been nice to relax and chat with her over the last couple of days.

Oh, and we've been planning holidays too! K and I will be spending the whole of August in the UK and H will be coming for about 10 days in the middle of the month. H will go with us as far as Tokyo when we leave and then he's planning a few days in Bangkok to visit an old friend. He hasn't had a Proper Holiday (not including the UK) for ages, so I'm really glad he's going to do that.

Otherwise most of my time this week has been spent fretting about an upcoming interview for local TV, and picking up Lego.