Spaghetti Night

We had spaghetti tonight for dinner.  I made a Turkey Bolognese sauce to go with it (from a Rachel Ray cookbook).  It is the first time that I've ever tried to make anything resembling spaghetti sauce (I'm a Prego girl).  It was pretty good, but a little too sweet - needed more salt and pepper, and maybe a little more garlic.  Guess I'll have to remember that for next time...

 

Snow!

It snowed today... maybe for 1/2-hour total.  It flurried, and then it SNOWED enough that the ground had a white tint (on the way to church).  By the time church was over it was done and gone.  Oh, well...

If you look REALLY closely, you can see little white specks in the picture...  :)

 

Happy Birthday, Miriam!

Miriam had a great birthday.  We went to Yunessun in Hakone and stopped at the "Giant Nan" (Indian) restaurant in Kamakura on our way home.  Happy 4th Birthday, big girl!

Let Them Eat Cake!

We celebrated Miriam's birthday tonight with cake and presents because we're headed to Yunessun (a hot springs water park) bright and early tomorrow morning.  Here are some cake pics.

Brrrr!

We went outside this afternoon to play for a bit.  It's chilly, but nothing that can't be handled with a little bundling up.  Hannah and Miriam both love the big slides out on our playground, as you can see here.

There He Goes

The Blue Ridge headed out today for a few days.  The girls watched as "Daddy's ship" cruised by our apartment.

Cubbies

 (This is Tuesday's photo)

Miriam is enjoying AWANA Cubbies this year.  She is doing a great job learning her verses.  Here's a picture of her vest, filling up with patches.

Silly Hannah

Hannah is a silly girl.  She loves to laugh, and she loves to do things in silly ways.  She and I were both laughing today when I caught her playing with her toy piano in a unique position.

A Sunday Oops!

Sunday was a busy day.  After church we went to friends for dinner (homemade pizza, yum!).  I took my camera, but it got left in the car.  Oops!

Indian Cooking Lesson

Today I went to a friend's house (with about nine other friends) for a lesson in Indian cooking.  It was so much fun to watch her cook - we made samosas and curry with Basmati rice and a salad.  Everything was delicious!  Her cabinets are filled with all sorts of spices, but she has one special tray of main cooking spices.  She explained that when you get married you receive this special tray as a wedding gift, and it is so important in her kitchen that it goes in her suitcase when they move.

Super Secret Shower Club

I was getting ready for an Oakleaf even tonight, and Hannah decided to crawl into our shower (thankfully it was mostly dry).  Miriam decided to join her and they had a grand old time.  I dubbed them the "Super Secret Shower Club", which Miriam thought was quite silly.  You never know what will keep them occupied...

Artwork

(This is Thursday's picture)

After the girls woke up today Miriam wanted to color a picture that she had printed the other night, and of course once Hannah saw Miriam coloring with markers then she wanted to color as well.  Here is a picture of their artwork.

Anpanman Children's Museum

Joe took a mid-week day off today, so we decided to go to the Anpanman Children's Museum in Yokohama since he has NEVER been there.  It is one of the favorite places of the girls to play, so they were excited to show Daddy around.  I was excited that he finally got to try all of the yummy character breads from the bakery.  All in all, I think he had fun.

Taken by a "guest photographer" - Joe  :)

Tulips

I passed the flowers at the commissary yesterday and the beautiful, fragrant tulips jumped out at me.  I bought some pretty pink ones to bring home so that they could add some cheer to our living/dining room.

Kannonzaki Park

Joe was off for MLK Day today, we we headed down the peninsula a bit to explore Kannonzaki park.  The park is quite large with various hiking trails (along the water, up to the lighthouse), but our destination was the playground and roller slides in the park.  We made it about halfway up the hill, to the playground and smaller two of the three roller slides that are there.  Now that we have our bearings a bit, we'll have to head back out there sometime play some more.

Miriam got the hang of things quickly

Hannah giggled like crazy every time

This is a bouncy trampoline net that was lots of fun

Back at Chapel

Miriam and Hannah spend enough time at the Chapel to feel pretty comfortable with the people there.  Tonight Miriam was chatting up Chaplain Metzger, the "head chaplain" at the chapel (who also happens to be our upstairs neighbor).  He is great about always saying hello and being willing to stop and listen to whatever she wants to tell him.

Bowling Fun

We went bowling tonight for the first time in a long time.  Primarily, that is because Hannah has been at that awkward "mobile but not quite steady" stage for a while, so she wasn't ready to bowl but she wasn't going to sit still either.  We all had lots of fun tonight, and Miriam was very excited to help Hannah bowl for her first time.  Hannah lasted 6 frames before she got bored - not too bad for an 18-month-old - and then Miriam was happy to help her finish out the game by bowling for her.  :)

Here are Daddy and Miriam helping Hannah bowl her very first frame

Tiny Dancer

Miriam started ballet classes last fall and has really been enjoying it.  I finally remembered to take my camera today so that I could get some pictures of our tiny dancer.

It's Pajama Time!

Today Miriam's preschool had "PJ Day" - all the kids wore their PJs, many brought a stuffed friend, and they had a "snow day" at school: watched "Tom & Jerry", had cookies and hot cocoa, and sang songs about snowflakes and snowmen.  I got to go read to the class during story time (in my PJs, of course) - we read "Chicken Soup with Rice" and "Pajama Time".  The kids and I all had lots of fun.  :)

Here is Miriam ready to go before school (it's becoming impossible to get a decent smile out of her for a posed picture):

Bath Fun

Just some fun with shampoo in the tub tonight...

Ready, Set, Study!

Tuesday mornings generally consist of dropping the girls off at the hourly CDC (Miriam for preschool, Hannah for daycare), and then a quick run and heading to Bible study.  This morning I skipped the run so that I could get to the chapel and get my room set up.  I am teaching/facilitating a Bible study for the winter and spring study sessions - it's basically a "Bible Basics" course, with the emphasis for this winter on the Old Testament.  So here is a shot of how the room looked after I finished setting things up.

Breakfast for Dinner

Tonight was PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) night.  We had a "breakfast for dinner" potluck.  As the president so perfectly stated it: "I love breakfast, but I'm so not a morning person so I never really get to enjoy it."  As you can see, everyone enjoyed it.

Chapel Potluck

We had a potluck tonight after the service.  Hannah very much enjoyed the pink frosting on her cupcake - can you tell?  :)

Family Date

(This is Saturday's picture)

We went on a "Family Date" with our good friends the Wilsons tonight.  We introduced them to Shabu-shabu - Japanese hot-pot style cooking.  It was lots of fun.  I tried to get a group photo afterward, but Hannah didn't want to cooperate...

Poor Baby

Hannah has been fighting a cold - coughing a lot and not sleeping well because of it.  This is what happened at lunch today... my poor, tired baby.

The Mess

I picked up the apartment tonight so that we can start taking down our Christmas decorations this weekend without having to worry about stepping on toys.  I think that the apartment has been a mess since Christmas - it's tough to find a spot for all of the new stuff when space is limited!

Christmas Cheer

I love to decorate our Christmas tree.  We collect ornaments when we travel, so decorating the tree always brings back happy, or funny, or crazy memories.  I thought I'd snap a few pictures of some of our ornaments before we take the tree down and put it away for another year.

One of the bells from our wedding reception serves as an ornament.  The Statue of Liberty is from our honeymoon and the little blue guy hanging to the right is from a ski trip to Snow Town Yeti last year.

 

Our black bear from Vermont to represent the Black Bear Inn, where we stayed on our honeymoon.

Gingerbread Mickey and Minnie from our trip to Tokyo Disneyland in November

Miriam saw me taking pictures of the tree, so she wanted to take one.  :)

AWANA or the Navy?!

The girls and I head to AWANA every Tuesday afternoon during the school year.  I work with the T&T club (3rd-6th grade).  It's great fun.  :)

Here is what happens when you have AWANA influenced by the Navy - sit-ups during one of the games that we played tonight during game time...

Sad Mornings

We love coffee.  We have a Keurig single cup coffee maker.  Our kitchen cabinets are full of K-cups.  About a week ago our Keurig broke (right at the 1-year warranty mark).  Thankfully, Keurig customer service is great and they are sending us a replacement at no cost.  Until then, mornings are sad.

The Cry Room

This is the cry room in the Chapel of Hope - where Hannah and I spend most of our Sunday evenings (and Miriam, too, for part of the service).  Hannah was obsessed with getting her shoes off tonight.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I borrowed a photography book from the library a couple of days ago, but I haven't cracked it open yet.  I do plan on reading it, so we'll see what kind of creativity it inspires...

We had a low-key New Year's celebration - fondue and watching The Sound of Music. We enjoyed fireworks from our balcony, and enjoyed the girls sleeping in this morning.  :)

This is supposed to be one photo per day, but I'll start off the year with two.

Fireworks from our balcony

The girls' strollers "parked" behind the chair in the living room - Hannah's on the left and Miriam's on the right.