Sacramento's Festival of Trees and Lights

If any of the family in Sac are even thinking about going, GO! My friend is the festival director! I thought she was doing a school carnival or something like that. This is HUGE! She's amazingly creative, the mom of 3 small kids, her husband is in his second year of residency, and she's doing this amazing feat. I'm floored. GO JULIA!

Designmom giveaways

Ok, since I love you all and know that there's only about ten of you, go to Designmom this week and sign up for her awesome giveaways. She's giving away 4 things each day. Today was a necklace, $150 gift certificate to Zutano, and a whole lot of cool stuff. And if you win, you can maybe share it with me?

Give Thanks

Of course I forgot my camera, but the Americans in our ward managed a stuff your face Thanksgiving as good as home. Or better, since there was no football on tv. We got to hang out with the Otsujis, Porters, and Hutchings. The only people we haven't found a connection to is the Mylroies, so if I write their name, I suppose one of you will tell me how we know them. The food was awesome. I'm thoroughly enjoying the leftovers. I have to get Miss M's recipe for gingered pumpkin pie. Delish! The guys played video games (even our little J). The kids played for hours unsupervised. The moms watched a chick flik. How much more perfect can you get?

Mitake-san

Only one and half hours from our place by train is this little mountain with the gorgeous scenery. It's amazing how renewing it is to get out of the city. Jesse took this shot of the girls and I. It was quite cold, especially when the wind blew. M hiked all 11 kilometers. Jesse says it's too bad she says she doesn't like hiking because she's exceptionally good at it. G spent 10.8 km on Jesse's shoulders. Ouch. The one thing we wish we had brought, gloves.

2 moments last week

Where G did her first load of dishes. In true Bekah form, she's also sounding out words. She has yet to make herself her own pb & j sandwich, but she does have a whole year before she's 4.

And M dressed her self in this fabulous ensemble. She's been dressing herself for awhile, but this outfit has got to win some kind of award. G's was probably worse, but she refused to get her picture taken. Smart girl.

Bento III

I'm getting faster and more proficient at making Obento. I'm out of carrots, so the orange color is missing. The fried concoction is cheese filled chicken nuggets that I get from Co-op. They're frozen and you just have to fry them in the morning. It's an incredibly unhealthy shortcut, but I no longer wake up at 6 to make chicken katsu. My cucumber flowers are getting nicer. I also got some precut nori from Co-op. They're shaped like animals, flowers, cars, etc. I put one on each side for the girls. My friend Kara gave me the triangle shaped onigiri press. It's so tech. The inside is textured so that the finished onigiri doesn't stick to the press. Stay tuned...

10 Good Things on a Not So Good Day

Good Things

1. Sweetened condensed milk flavored popsicles. Yum. A definite score from Co-op (said ko-poo)
2. Autumn leaves, crispy air, blue skies, 60 degree weather. Perfect.
3. Cooler temperatures mean my fingers have lost the summer sausage look so I can wear my Wedding Ring!
4. Found the cutest Christmas dresses for the girls thanks to Designmom and Leila & Ben. Ordered them, and thank goodness they ship internationally for a reasonable rate!
5. Am getting my hair cut tomorrow. Last time was right before Sienna's wedding. Just in time for their 5 month anniversary. Yikes, been awhile.
6. Fab dinner tonight. Rosemary chicken, mashed potatoes, spinach, and chicken gravy.
7. USB phone WORKS!!!!!! So now you can Skype me! (Just remember the time difference, por favor)
8. Saw Jared's L's new twins from the webcam. I'm jealous. They are delicious.
9. Looked at Nohea's Etsy Store. I found these earrings which I think I adore. Is there a cousin discount? (these are on her timelessnohealaboy.etsy.com store)
10. It's almost bedtime!

Everything's happening at the zoo

The Ueno zoo was pretty crowded for a Wednesday. M got out of school early, so the kids and I made a short jaunt on the train to Ueno park. We finally got our Suica passes, so I don't have to figure out how much the tickets cost between stations. I just have A LOT of $$ on my pass, pass it over the turnstile and am on my way. I'm getting very good at knowing which stations have elevators and where they are.

Anyway...We saw half of the zoo. We'll check out the other half next time and go on the kiddie rides just outside the entrance (curse them). It was fun, though hectic. We left at 4 since it gets dark early and we wanted to beat the rush. It's the joy and bane of living in the heart of the city.

The panda volunteers gave a cute little speech about how much they grow and how their poop shows if they are healthy or not. They even had a fresh sample of Ling-Ling's poo for us to smell. I pretended to and got an enthusiastic response from the volunteers. We also got some postcards, so I guess it was worth it.

The Asian elephants. The zoo has 4 of them in a very tiny enclosure. I felt claustrophobic for them.

My monkeys pose by their gorillas

The monkeys climb the giant stuffed panda. (do you love the knee socks?)

I don't know if this trip makes me FUN mom. At least we got out of the house and out of our neighborhood.

In response to Brooke's walks

In response to Brooke's walks:

Started jumping rope since I can't seem to get myself out of bed without knowing people are waiting for me. I keep tripping over the dang thing and can't really get a sweat going since I get tied up every 10th jump. It's giving me shin splints, too. Kind of pathetic, huh?

good news: lost all the weight I gained over the sedentary summer.

bad news: no longer fit fat jeans or skinny jeans so I'm either showing a ton of crack or can barely breathe.

More bad news: No way I'm finding jeans here in skinnyville. I'm a freaking Amazon. They sell clothes for full grown women that almost fit M. She's 5.

Better news: Found a cute pair of shoes that fit if I suck in my feet. J says that means they don't fit. I think it means there's hope.

Randomness

I went to the temple tonight and was grateful for all the hard things that people did for me to make my time there pleasant. It was especially sweet since sometimes I feel like just being here in Japan is hard. It was uncomfortable for them to speak English, but they did it. Kind.

G's been calling me Mommy-chan or Mommy-yo. She claims to speak Japanese if you ever ask her about it. She does speak some sort of jibberish with Japanese intonations though. Very odd.

I'm Jesse's new dissertation buddy. We miss RJohn.

We went to the zoo today. Will post pics tomorrow. I'm trying to be FUN in TOKYO. Instead of BLOGGER MOM, get off the COMPUTER! M wanted to go to the museum there. 2 tired kids in an art museum. 1 adult. NOT FUN.

Mission Complete

On the way home from dropping of Agent M to school, Agents B and G located above pictured dark blue Poang chair cover. Agent J had been trying to talk Agent B into sewing a new cover (though she doesn't have a sewing machine, thread, cloth, etc). Agent B quickly ascertained that said chair cover, though on top of its broken frame, was in excellent condition. However, the cushion was in a conspicuous area, heavily traveled by high school students, elementary school students, and Agent M's classmates and their mothers. Agent B ran home, but Agent J had already left. What if someone else took it? When did the trash men come? Time was of the essence. Agent B and Agent G would do it alone...

In the land of packaging, Agent B quickly found a bag large enough to hold the cushion. Bike would be the best mode of travel. She rode past the spot. The cushion was still there, but ahead was a mom from school. Agent B smiled, waved and rode past the spot, looking down the street for more moms. They were gone. Agent B turned around, parked the bike, leaving Agent G as a lookout. Agent B folded said cushion into thirds and jammed it into the bag. It took a bit longer than expected, and several witnesses passed. At the crosswalk, Agent B met up with the mom again, but the evidence was in the bag. Agents B and G arrived home safely. Will report to Agent J when he arrives home. Expect Agents B and G will receive commendation. Mission Accomplished.