Emiko

 So this little ray of sunshine is 11 months old.
In a way I can't believe how fast the time has gone by, yet in the same breath it makes me happy that I'm not in the new born stage anymore.
I think I'll be content hugging other's newborns and stick to my plan of being done.
Alas she's not 18 months so we can't trust me.......................but I'm pretty freakn sure man.

 I was looking at her today and thinking how cute she is and thought I should probably take some photo's since I haven't been doing that a lot.

 Don't be fooled by the smiles she got peeps she's my neediest baby and I do a lot of ignoring her behaviour.
She just wants all the attention on her the majority of the time.
That sounds sneakingly familiar *shifty eyes*

I love her though and am glad she's in the family and in my life.
She makes me happy.
Love you bub
Mum xox

Snowman

 There's been a lot of snowfall in Boise this winter.
It's been amazing.
And since they don't plough it's been 'interesting' driving around on an ice rink for the last few weeks in the car.
We had a day of pure ice as well.  That was fun. 
Masaru said he skated to school that day.  Then coming home he fell in a puddle and was wet up to his waist.
It was just getting clear and then it snowed again yesterday. 
It was beautiful.  So the kids decided to make a snowman.
And here it is.
I love the snow, but with the roads being so bad it's hard to go anywhere, not that that really matters since I don't go out much, but still, one does like options if one wants them right?
I like the snow but I can't wait for nicer weather.
NZ summer here we come.

Shepherds Pie

Over the course of my marriage I've tried about 6 different shepherds pie recipes, none of which Dru or my children like.
I love Shepherds pie and have liked all of the 6 that I've tried.
None, however have passed the Dru/kids test.
NONE.
Tonight was REAL meat SLOW COOKED to perfection.
Nope, still a thumbs down.
It's so odd because both Dru and my kids like meat and veges and potatoes and cheese.
So WHAT THE HELL?
So to ALL MY THOUSANDS of readers out there I give you this challenge.
IF YOU CAN give me a shepherds pie recipe that get a thumbs up from my picky husband and children then I will bring you back some NZ chocolate when I go there for the month of March.
I love the 'all in one' meal and how easy shepherds pie is but I'm done feeling like a crap cook after I make this meal, with all the forlorn faces of my family.
If none of you can succeed in this I will FINALLY give up on the shepherds pie endevour and simply never make it again.
*sniff, sniff*

2nd Tooth

We just discovered Emiko's second tooth this morning poking through. 
She'll be 11 months tomorrow.
So now she's got two bottom middle ones.

She's grumpy.  I find it hard to be out of the house with her.  She's good in the car, but at mates places, church etc she's just a pill.
It's easier to stay home. 
So my friend pile is diminishing.
I'll have to re-visit the friend pile in about a year, for now I'll concentrate on coping with losing weight, 4 kids, church callings and a household to run.

Motivation

I've started a 12 week weight loss challenge with my sister and sister in law and sort of sister in law. 
I've been doing it for a week and my motivation is still high.
Some of you may scoff, but my motivation hasn't been consistent or even lasted longer than 4 days for a long, long time.
My sister in law on Dru's side started off basically the same weight as me and is at least 20 pounds lighter than me now.
My neighbour who trains with Chris started off at the same wieght as me and is now at least 20 pounds lighter than me.
They both tried to motivate me to lose with them, and they lost alright, and I stayed the same.
So if I'm to read this right, and I'd like to think I am, right now I should be 20 pounds lighter, and I'm not.
I'm not sure what my problem is.
Like I really don't know.
Maybe I don't want it bad enough?
I dunno.
So my sister and I were having a talk and we decided to start doing something about it.
We decided to have a competition between us, then we decided we'd invite the family.
My two 'sisters' replied and now we're going for it.
It was $25 per person so the winner gets $75 NZD.
One is is Aussie, I'm in USA and two are in NZ.  So we're spread far and wide but it's going really well.
Our final weigh in is April 15th and I'm excited.
We 'talk' daily and send recipe's and motivate each other.  We've put up pic's and weights and measurements.
I'm excited..............not to win, more than just to find my mojo again you know?
So far, so good.
Love these women.
This is gonna be awesome.

Sleeping on the job

 Emiko is showing signs of not wanting the two naps.  She's only 11 months and it makes me sad.  So I'm doing the transition into just one nap.
I'm still trying to figure out the best time to put her down.
Poor wee thing.  Check me out trying to force her up and feed her when all she wants to do is sleep hahahaha
So cute.

Singing

So Takeshi's been going around the house the last week singing.
They do a lot of singing at church and he's changed classes from the 'baby' class to the 'big kids' class.
His teacher is completely in love with him and comments to me every time she sees me at how handsome, wonderful, well behaved, cute and what a GREAT singer Takeshi is/has been for her.
We sing every day before scripture study and I've never really heard him sing too much.
So to hear him impromptu singing around the house has been really sweet.
He doesn't know the words to much but he doesn't care as he just starts making up his own sweet words of love for his family.
Honestly ......................... CUTEST THING EVER.
So today I managed to be able to convince him to let me record it for all to see and bask in his cuteness.
It'll make you smile and say 'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww'
His fat lip is from the dentist yesterday.
He got a filling and his lip was numb and when he ate he totally bit through his lip by mistake.
Poor thing, it just makes the video that much cuter cause he's all 'fat lipped'.............lol
LOVE YOU TAKESH xox

I just want Gyoza by Dru Nakaya

Our old blender bit the dust, so I got a Ninja with Mum's Christmas money--way choice, but that's another post. So I chucked the old one out cause it wouldn't do smoothies anymore. Well, it had a food processor attachment, and not really thinking, I tossed the blender to make room for the Ninja. Now I'm out a food processor. Ugh.

So we picked up a new 7 cup Kitchen Aid at Costco, sweet. Whip that bad boy out to make some Gyoza and nothing. Trick or snap it broke I don't believe it. So I took it back to Costco and bought another one. This time I thought I'd be smart and plug it in before leaving the store. yeah, same thing, nothing. I looked at it, the guy at Costco looked at it, we both read the manual to see if we were doing something wrong. Nothing. So I got my money back on that one too and moved on to another store.

The food processors were mad budget at the other store, but I was on a quest to make Gyoza. So I bit the bullet and bought one--how bad can it be right? But, by the time I got home, I wasn't in the mood to cook anymore, so left it in the box. Melissa got it set up the next day and she couldn't get it to turn on. What? Not again. But she finally got it working.

So last night I decided that 'tonight was the night for Gyoza.' I got out the food processor and...nothing. "Melissa!? Can you show me why this isn't working?" She comes into the kitchen smiling and says "well its cause the lid has to be locked in."
"It is locked in."
"Move aside buddy."
After fiddling with it for a second she rotated the lid 180 degrees so that this little nub on the outside of the lid slots into a little notch in the handle of the bowl.
"See this has to be in there."
"So that's probably what was wrong with the Kitchen Aid one, aye?"
Smiling, she says, "yep, I'd almost guarantee it."
I put my head down, slightly in defeat. "This budget one doesn't have an adjustable slicer, so it won't do sunemono and apple pie."
"You want to take it back and get the Kitchen Aid, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Well hurry up then."

So off I rush to Costco to buy the third Kitchen Aid and return the budget Black and Decker one. Back to the house at about 8:30 to start Gyoza.

So I'm doing my thing shredding the cabbage and Melissa says, "did you buy some ground pork?"
My immediate reaction was, 'are you serious? You were supposed to buy it.' Then I quickly remember her telling me that she didn't buy it cause I think I forgot to put it on the list. Ugh.
"I'll go get it, you keep working."
"aww thanks babe."

Long story short, the new food processor is awesome and we made Gyoza. We had to cook up a couple last night, you know, to test the goods, make sure it didn't need a little more of something. Melissa ate hers and said, "oh my goodness. You've just ruined the frozen ones for me. These are so much better." I'm like, 'yeeaah'. She was slightly poo-pooing the idea of making gyoza, cause it is somewhat time consuming, but the end result is fantastic. And now I think she's convinced that making Gyoza is a good idea. Plus it's enough for four dinners, so really it's just a lot of front end work.

Can't wait to eat the Gyoza tonight!

Side job

Masaru tends to like to have something warm on his legs at night.  We have rice packs but he's always getting up AFTER HOURS to re-heat it and I get sick of it.
So I started thinking about what I could do and I remembered A HOT BOTTLE!!!!!
I was raised with having a hot bottle in my bed every night of winter.  It really helped a ton to keep us warm.
I even had one when I went back in October cause apparently I've turned into a pansie!!
So I ordered one and then started knitting a cover for him in hopes I could get it done before it turned up in the mail.
I used up all my scrap wool which made me really happy.
It turned out perfect and Masaru loves it.
Dru looked at it and said "Melissa, it's perfect, no seams and it hugs the bottle just perfect, honestly you're awesome"
A high complement coming from Mr. A type indeed ;)
I'm still knitting my blanket, but this was a three day side project I did in my spare time.
Want to make one?
Here's the pattern.
It's in the round.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/all-you-need---a-classic
You could do whatever pattern you want, the world's your oyster.
Now go knit my little minions mwahahahahahaha
*ahem*
Sorry.

Snow

 So while SOME (who shall remain nameless) are at the beach getting tanned/sunburned and generally having a great time in the sun WE, back here, are experiencing the most snow all winter season right here in Boise.
It's been nice really.
Yesterday Takeshi went outside and played in the snow for around 45 mins by himself making snow angels, driving trucks, making roads, digging, ploughing, it's been awesome.
My kids are obsessed with riding their bikes in the snow as well, I'm waiting for them to really hurt themselves...................
Monday it snowed ALL DAY and so our driveway was packed with it, well for Boise it was packed, and so I asked the kids to shovel the driveway.
So they did.
Then their father got home and they shoveled their neighbours driveway and footpath and then the next neighbours driveway and footpath and would've done the other one but they'd already done theirs.
It took a while, but they had fun doing it.
I asked Dru to get some pictures but by the looks of these he was too busy to take any really.
I stayed inside and made them dinner and then when they went outside to finish off I stayed inside with Emiko and knitted.
Knitting in silence is my solace at the moment.

I hope my kids learn the value of service.
I dunno if I'm really doing a stellar job you know with this whole parenting thing.
I need to try better.
Wanna see the blanket I'm knitting?
Of course you do.

Here it is.
I love it and it's easy, so I can mindlessly knit while doing things like, talking to mates, watching a movie, sitting in on a meeting or lesson, listen to Masaru complain about his homework without getting upset at him ;)
It'll take FOREVER to knit, but once it's finished IT'LL BE SO BEAUTIFUL and cozy man.  I can't wait.

The 'new' old bike

 Ok, so we bought this bike about 2-3 years ago for Masaru's Christmas present.  It WAS a girls bike with flowers etc BUT Dru painted it black with flames.
Now he's out of it and Yuki's up for it.
So NOW it would've been the PERFECT girls bike for her.................................go figure.
The only down fall to having boy, girl, boy, girl that I can see so far in my life.

 So Dru stripped it down and sanded the hell out of it in order to get all the black off..........................well MOST of it.
Looks kinda like a mess right?
Anyway he talked to Yuki and asked her what colour she wanted her bike.
He showed her the paint wheel thing we have and she chose out BASICALLY THE SAME COLOUR.
LOL

 Which worked out well for her bike seat, which we saved at his brothers house for years.  Lucky he still had it in some obscure corner of his garage.
So here she is painted.

 Then we called our mate Lacey at http://strawberrypearlstudios.blogspot.com/ and asked her if she could send us some cute girlie stickers for Yuki's bike.
She obliged with some really neat ones.

 So Dru went about sticking them on EXACTLY in the right place.
I didn't actually see him DO IT, but I can only imagine the measuring tape out and the eyeballing going on to have these stickers fit perfectly on BOTH SIDES of this bike.  I'm not going to show you the other side because you can guarantee it's JUST THE SAME.
It's Dru we're talking about people.
If you had given me the chance to do these stickers the bike would've looked VERY different.  I don't need matching..........................it would've driven Dru nuts LOL

So for any out there who would think to steal her bike THEIR NAME BETTER BE YUKIKO or they'll be TOTALLY BUSTED.
It looks awesome and OF COURSE Yuki thinks it's SO AWESOME as the rest of us do as well.
Not surprisingly Dru is still completely smitten by Yuki and also came home from church on Sunday saying "So Emiko is so cute Melissa, there was this other baby I saw that's the same age as Emiko and she had nothing on Emiko"
Smitten I tell ya, smitten.
On behalf of the Dru Nakaya women in the family....................we love you Dru and thanks for looking after us.

Dentist

So we went to the dentist yesterday.
I booked all three of my kids in for a check up.
This dentist was SO AMAZING.
I mean the whole place was meant for children.
There's paintings all over the walls and games and movies and toys.  It was impressive, which is a good thing since it's SO FAR AWAY.
Boise has this place called 'Eagle' and it's out there man, it's like it's own little village really, shops, houses, malls.  I really don't go much beyond my South East Boise parameters so it was like discovering a whole new place!!!
No thanks.
Anyway, this dentist was awesome and all my kids had a wonderful experience.
They got a t-shirt, floss, toy and toothbrush in the end, but no toothpaste?  LOL
My boys have cavities and Yuki doesn't.  Takeshi has one and Masaru has two.  At least his two are in his baby teeth, so we're still good on his big te
eth.
My kids brush twice a day and floss at nights AND use mouthwash everytime.  I'm not too sure what else to do to prevent these cavities.
Takeshi's one is in a molar in the back and it's deep, the dentist said that even with brushing there's not much you can do about that,  Masaru had a similar one when he was little.
Then Masaru's are between his little teeth where it's hard to floss.  Oh well.
So back to the dentist another day with my boys to endure the fillings.  I may try to find a babysitter for Yuki but the place is so fun she could just sit and watch a movie!?!  Who knows.
I just can't believe my kids have had cavities.
 My first one was at 21years old!!!
Either my teeth were awesome, or I brushed great, or barely had any junk food (very true).
My kids don't have much junk food, they brush great, so my conclusion is they didn't inherit my 'good' teeth.
The one of two things I asked them to inherit!!!!
Genes......................what a crock.                         
$278 for three check ups, we think that's fair in our country ;)
Lucky I got them in before we're up on our insurance.

Missing out

So my brother Delwyn is back home in New Zealand right now, introducing his daughter and her mother to the family.
My family are having the time of their lives together.
And I'm not a part of it.
I'm not sure if many can understand the feeling of 'missing out' when it comes to these kind of get togethers.
I've endured it my entire marriage and it doesn't get any easier.
I hate it.
I think only those to are close to their family, yet live far can somewhat understand.
They've shared numerous nights together laughing and talking and getting closer with feelings shared and time spent together. 
I can't help but feel sorry for myself over here for not being a part of it.
I know I did this to myself by marrying Dru and it's 'my fault' but sorry people, that reality doesn't help any.
It actually really hurts my heart, but I am alone in my feelings as I have no one close to me who understands fully.  So I contemplate and cry to myself about it.
My brother Delwyn has made an effort to contact me a few times over his break which I appreciate.  It's nice to know that you're being thought of.
But when push comes to shove, I'm missing out.
I don't get to see my niece or her mother, I don't get to hang out and talk or be a part of the 'bonding' moments, my children don't get to know their cuzzies, my family doesn't get to know Dru a little better. 
I feel like an outcast who's allowed to look longingly into a small window and view others having fun and laughing while still remaining behind the wall.
I'm not sure what the answer is, I just don't think most people truly understand what this feels like, so have little sympathy for me, and that's fine, those people are just the lucky ones who have their loves ones around or close by all the time or who simply don't like their family and so are fine with never seeing them.
That's not in the cards for me, so yet again, I have to figure out a way to deal with my feelings of loneliness and the feelings of abandonment I have with my family.
For the most part I do fine.  There's skype and email but with times like this there's little things said by my family to each other like some 'inside jokes' that I don't 'get' because I wasn't there and that always makes me really upset.
I'm glad that Delwyn has this chance to introduce his family to his family, but I missed out and to be honest have no idea when I'll ever see my niece due to the fact that she lives in Perth.
She knows I'm her Auntie but there's only so much you can get to know someone without it being face to face with hugs, kisses and such.
I also have no idea when I'll get to see Delwyn again because he's in Perth.  Perth is a long way from anywhere.
Sometimes it just really upsets me.
I feel sorry for my kids as well.
I guess it's good they don't really know what they're missing out on, like me, so then it doesn't really bother them like it does me.
So there's my 'real' feelings for the day.
Bit of a downer, but since this IS my journal I see it fitting.

Shogatsu

The children had a fun day on Saturday with their cuzzies at bouncy places.  The littles went to a bouncy house place and the older kids went to a place with tons of trampolines everywhere.  The all loved it.
Sunday was a lazy day and the day that Dru's mother and sister and her family left town.
Monday Dru worked on the house putting in new windows and then we stayed up all night making food for Shogatsu the next day.
I've blogged about this a few times in the past and am glad for the tradition.
Dru had a headache and so was asleep for midnight.
I'd say the whole 12 years we've been together on New Years Eve, he's been awake for MAYBE half of them.  He simply doesn't get into it.
We're very different that way.
I was up with a couple of members of Dru's family and we were just hanging out.
I looked outside at the fireworks and that was about it.
Dru's family are so busy getting ready for the next day that the night before isn't really a party.
They don't really get into it or do anything.
I miss NZ for that reason.
My family always stay up, light their own fireworks and party till midnight.
I love it.
The next day we prepared for the party till 12 noon.
The food was fantastic, as usual and the day worked out great for the most part.
I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the food.  It's SO GOOD.
Yuki, however, was throwing up since the night before and was really, really sick.
She hovered in the bedroom or corner the entire day with her bowl and periodically threw up into it while sipping ginger ale throughout the day.
A couple of our friends and their families came over and it was great to catch up with them.
We were going to go home that day but decided that putting Yuki in a car for five straight hours might not be the best thing.
So we opted to stay another night.

 So the cuzzies hung out and watched a japanese aname movie, quite fitting for the day, until their parents packed them up and shipped them out.
There was school the next day, and with staying up late the night before, another 'late night' wasn't a good idea.
Dru worked from his parents place the next day and we slowly packed up and headed back to Boise later on that day.

Dinner

On Friday night we had quite the night.
I'm still waiting on pictures from my SIL but we did the yearly visit to Market Street Grill.
I did a horrible job this break of remembering to take my camera to barely anything and I really need to remember, it makes life more simple.
I'll slot the pictures in once I get them.
But if I don't record this now I know I'll forget and it'll go unnoticed, which would be sad.
I put Emiko down for the night and the other three I left watching a movie in the care of their nephew.
My BIL went to pick Dru up from the airport and I was so excited to see him.
The problem was that the first time I saw him was in front of everyone at the restaurant.
Dru's family already give us a hard time about being to 'affectionate' in front of them, so I was extremely self conscious so just gave him a quick kiss.  Not nearly what I wanted to do.........................
Market Street Grill is always touch and go for me with their food.
Some years I get it right and others I don't.
This year was kind of a 'blah' year with my food and with how expensive it is I always feel bad when I just don't 'love' it.
Last year was an awesome year, and for the life I me I can't remember what I ordered, go figure.
It was nice to sit and chat though and just be around Dru again.

I'm always very grateful to Dru's parents for shouting us to this restaurant.  It's a nice tradition.
His parents then went home while the rest of us went and saw Les Miserables at the theatre.
I hadn't seen the play or read the story before, so I had no idea what the story was about.
All I knew was that Hugh Jackman was in it, and that's always enough for me ;)
Turns out it was quite brilliant and I recommend every.single.person to go out and see it.
What a wonderful production to say the least.
So much feeling and tenderness and emotion.
It was unbelievable.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and was really glad that we went.  I'd love to own it at some stage when it is released for us to purchase.
I think I'd like to read the book at some stage as well.  I hear there's a condensed version, so I'd take that route I think.
I'm assuming it'll get plenty of awards this year, if not, I'm boycotting the academy awards for good.
It was a great night and I was happy that Dru was with us again.