Reports

So I got the kids second term report cards last week.

In a nutshell the system thinks Masaru is excellent in P.E, Music and Writing.
They think he's average at reading. (Can a person be an excellent writer and an average reader?  Is it just me or does that seem impossible?)
They think he's below average in Math.
So, as always, when the system says Masaru is below in anything I run to my family in NZ and ask them for their imput.
I talked to my sister and then my brother, Haydn, who teaches in NZ.
Haydn skyped Masaru yesterday and did an evaluation test (NZ test) on Masaru to see if the system here was telling the truth, since for his reading, they weren't!!
Turns out, in this case, they're right.  Masaru is below in his math skills.
I get upset with this kinda thing, I know I shouldn't, but I do...............
BUT..........................luckily I have competent family members who know what they're talking about who I TRUST and who LOVE Masaru and I know they wouldn't lie to me, telling me what to do.
So after the evaluation test Haydn laid it out straight for me and told me he's lacking in this, this and this and how to repair it is by doing this, this and this.
Phew.......................it'll take a little bit of work on my part but I'm not afraid of hard work and I'm a true believer in educating at home and NOT relying on the system to educate your child fully.
So starting tomorrow we'll work on the things Haydn told us to work on.
Hopefully Masaru will then start showing signs of 'getting' it so math can make more sense to him.  He's smart enough and if he can be guided correctly then I know he'll be ok.
I need to be that guide, and Haydn needs to be my guide.
I emailed Haydn and thanked him.
This morning I got a reply saying "It's not over Milz, I've been thinking about Masaru all night and have more ideas, I'll contact you later"
What did I say right?
My family are the best, I honestly don't know what I'd do without them in my life................BFF's for sure.
Here are some of his writing samples {below}  They're pretty cute.

 "What do snowmen do at night?"
I think snowmen drive snow cars and snowmobiles.  They go out of town.  then have a party in their special spot.  When the sun comes up, the snowmen go home.  Now the kids play and the snowmen sleep.

 I would like to go to Japan.  I would fly on a plane.  I would want to see a ninja shoot.  I would want to see where my Dad lived in Japan.  I would want to meet a person who makes Japanese movies.  I think his name is Hayao Miyazaki.  I have lots of his movies.  His very first movie is called Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.  I forget the second.  The third is called My neighbour Totoro.

This cracks me up {above} because all my kids LOVE those Japanese movies thanks to their father and Uncle Llewellyn.

 If I could go anywhere right now I would go to Greenland.  I would take a cargo boat and bring 10 four wheelers and 10 snowmobiles.  I would bring my Dad, Uncles, Luu, Robby, Casey, Warren, CJ, Jack and Kaleb.  When we would get there I would put chains on the tires for the four wheelers.  We would have one four wheeler and snowmobile.  We would race and drive up snowbanks.  I would have food for 2 weeks and 18 gallons for the boat and 10 gallons for the vehicles.  Then we would go to Hawaii.  I would find a good spot to drive the four wheelers. 

This one {above} has me laughing.  He's been totally indoctrinated by his father and this writing is proof of that.  I'm a little sad that me and the girls aren't invited, but I guess he's allowed to have a boys only get-a-way right?
Maybe the girls and I could meet them in Hawaii?

Now Yuki's report was absolutely stellar.
Scored above the highest score in all the testing and is perfect in class and good at everything and is friends with everyone.
If I'm not going to believe them fully for Masaru then I have to not believe them fully for Yuki as well right?  Otherwise that'd be hypocritical? 
So Yuki and I are still working on things at home.  She's a willing participant though and loves doing whatever I give her.
Honestly man, Yuki's like a rockstar in this system.
I'll be interested to see how the future years seem to go with her.  Time will tell I guess.
Yuki IS a great girl and I'm very proud of her and I love her a ton.  She's obedient, helpful and simply wonderful.  I need her to be strong as well.  She's a little emotional and when I watch her play with mates I see she basically does whatever they want to do.  I thought she was different from that, so I need to instill in her strength and self esteem.  Don't get me wrong, she doesn't lack in self esteem, and maybe being a laid back friend isn't a bad thing?  I need to keep a close eye on her I guess.  She needs to know who she is and what she stands for.  So hopefully she'll continue to progress in this area.  She's got many, many examples of strong women in her life, so things will be ok.

I just enrolled them in the spring soccer season.  Both Dru and I talked about it and since we sold our house, can afford it now.
We didn't think we'd be able to do it and the kids were sad but understood.  So when we told them the house sold they asked "So does this mean we can play soccer?" hahahaha
So we signed them up a couple of days ago.  They love it and Dru and I need to suck it up like the good parents we are and support their soccer dreams.  Well and since Masaru's going to be a professional (in his words last season) we really don't have a choice right? ;)
Thank goodness it's only 6 weeks and it's at the local school so Masaru can take care of practices himself.  We'll only have to take him to games.
Last season Yuki's team didn't have practices and that was fine by us as well hahahahaha
So we'll see what soccer has in store for us starting April I guess. 

Emiko is showing us what I'll be doing by the end of soccer season in Dru's arms!!!! ;)

Derby

So last night Masaru had the derby for cubscouts.
This is the car and him and his father made together.  I think it turned out pretty awesome.
I've never been a part of this, however, so what do I know right?
He wanted a batman car.
Remember last time he wanted a wolverine car?  That was for an Elders Quorum derby, this is cubscouts, so  little different.

Here it is displayed with the other cars at the actual derby.  They must've made this things before hand right?

I love the reflector lights at the back.

He wanted to be number 1, but I guess the leaders had other ideas and he ended up being number 510.  I'm not too sure what that's about.

He was way pumped though and there were tons of people there supporting their kids.  It was a fun night.
Dru was nervous.  He goes "I hope Masaru just wins his heats, that's all I ask for, I don't care where he gets, just win his heats"  I'm like "Nervous maybe?"
I honestly didn't care where Masaru got, but then got thinking and figured the same thing, I hoped he'd win at least one of his heats you know.

There were some pretty awesome cars.
My favourite was still Masaru's though.

He got this certificate.  Everyone got something.  In the opening prayer the child said something to the effect of "we hope everyone gets an award"  So every kid got an award!!
We couldn't get the car under the time of 3.  I know that's Dru's secret goal for next time!!!

Here's Masaru's second heat race.  I missed the first one cause of technical failure.  I'm glad I got the second one.
In the end they did another race as well.
This video shows Masaru's car winning.
Turns out he won all of his heat races, so he felt really happy about his car.  I don't even think he cared about his placement overall you know.  It was about winning against the car he was placed against.  And he did.
He also did with the wolverine car as well.
So technically he hasn't been beaten ;)  right?!?!?!

They had some cool treats.  It was derby cars made out of a twinky and some cookies for wheels and skittles for the top part.
It took my kids a while to 'calm down' once they got home though, I think they were ramped up on sugar a little!!!
We all had a great night together and I'm glad I went and Masaru came home happy.
Thanks to Dru for making it happen, cause if it was up to me.........................Masaru would be getting a block of wood, at least Dru's a part of this culture and knows how things work.  Cubscouts is all brand new to me man.  Being married to an Eagle Scout has it's advantages that's for sure!!!

Look what Mum sent me..................

Turns out I'm a little early on the toilets, but in my defense it says 'clean bathroom' which he isn't, so toilets is ok right?
Man check out all the other ones.
Turns out my kids aren't doing ENOUGH!!!!  I need to work them harder.
I need to get Emiko to bring in the firewood!!
Takeshi should be cleaning all my silver and disinfecting my doorknobs!!
Yuki should be raking the leaves and making our salad!!
Masaru needs to hurry up and change all our lightbulbs and bake me some cookies ;)

Thanks mum, you're awesome.

Here's what she said about our chores.

  I would like to say I had a brilliant system week to week but I would be lying. Just keep your rooms tidy( that never worked with some of you, yes you know who you were!) help with the dishes( always a fight and a moan) , put your washing out ( no that stuff is folded, you have just scooped it up with the rest of the mess in your room) put your clean clothes away ( already covered the success with that) , sweep the floors( no not into a pile is the corner for me to finish), vacuum ( ok, lift your feet while I vacuum) But the most successful system was " Murray take these kids away for the day so I can get the house tidy". Or just before Christmas " Murray take these kids camping for 4 days so I can get the house ready for Christmas". That is why I rarely went to Saturday sport with you ( something that has been commented on as a failing in my parenting) lolol. Not that I am bothered now, I have realised service was part of my personality in order to show my love for my kids. No amount of words can make up for being kind and helping out. Maybe I should gave had this list. Lol. I might have done better

 Mmmmmm. Sounds like a bit of a moan but it's not, it's just how it was. You all turned out more than OK, so it's all good.

And she's right ;)

It's about time.................

 So I've been meaning to teach Masaru how to clean the toilets since summer '13.  For whatever reason I never did.
I guess I figured he was 8 now and he can help me out with it.  For whatever reason I can do dishes and washing all day long and it doesn't bother me but the BATHROOMS.......................well, that's another story.
YET when I actually DO them, they don't take long at all!  Usually I put my earphones on and blast the music while Emiko is sleeping and Takeshi's watching a movie or playing the ipad and clean away to my hearts content!!  Sometimes IF I'm SUPER lucky I'll have a mate/family member ring me and I'll get it all done while chatting away about life's problems to be solved ;)
At any rate the bathrooms need to be cleaned once a week and if I could get help with that?  I should totally do it.
So the other day I taught him.  Yuki wanted to learn as well, so she stayed and watched.  Then today Masaru and Yuki told me they needed to clean the toilets.  So I said alright and watched them clean.  They did a pretty great job for their first try and I think this is going to be a great relationship I'm going to have with these kids.
TODAY they were excited.  I'm sure 2 months from now it'll be part of their chores list and just become the same status as the rest.......................but for now I'll relish in the fact that I'll never have to clean the toilets again!!!
Well..............................not anywhere near as much right?

 Emiko helping out with............er..............................cleaning the toothpaste?  I dunno.
Anyway if I have the toilets cleaned then the bathroom doesn't seem so bad.  Then I just need to do the shower/tub, floors and vanity.
I think I can handle that.  The kids already do the mirrors!!
I'm sure in a couple of years I'll be able to just hand over the WHOLE bathroom to them.  I can't wait.

Now some of you may be thinking 'Gosh my kids have been cleaning the bathroom for YEARS, I'm a way better mother than Melissa'
This maybe true BUT I don't remember chores as a child. Weird right?  I don't remember doing more than the dishes and occasionally keeping my room clean.  My memory is shot and I'd have to talk to my mother, but I can't remember a system of any kind.  I don't remember doing sweeping, bathrooms, vacuuming etc
So what I'm trying to tell you is I'm flying off the seat of my pants here.
I'm not too sure the 'right' age to get your kids doing the EXTRAS you know.
I know when Masaru's 12 he'll be doing his own washing as he needs to start learning for his mission/life as well as being part of the cooking!!
But Masaru already does a ton.  He keeps his room clean, puts his clothes away, practices piano and does his homework daily, makes his bed, babysits a little, and other things I tell him to do, with very little complaint!!
My hesitation with giving him more is that I feel like he already does SO MUCH and barely has a LIFE after everything is done.  Sometimes I just want him to BE A KID and do KID things and have a relaxed atmosphere.
But life doesn't work like this and the sooner he learns how to work harder the better I guess.
Sometimes I feel like the 'bad' mum making him do ALL this stuff ALL the time.  It's like I'm ontop of him constantly with his responsibilities.  I expect a lot out of Masaru and he rises to the occasion time and time again.
He's such a good kid and I question my mothering skills on a daily basis but try to keep it at bay the best I can.
I love him and appreciate him so much.  He's not perfect, but he who is cast the first stone right?
I'm realizing he's good DESPITE me being his mother and I'm grateful for his example and him being a part of my family.  I don't deserve him, but I got him and he makes me a better person and I'll always be grateful for that.
So here's to me having a slightly 'easier' life with help in the bathroom!!
Hip, hip horray!!

And I just thought I'd throw in this ADORABLE picture of Emiko gripping me for dear life just incase I run from her ;)  She's a muma's girl alright.

For the blog book

 Christmas party pic's with Santa.
I'm not sure where Masaru was..............

 For the life of me I can't rotate this.  I've spent 10 mins on it and I'm done.  It's just a certificate Yuki received for her artwork.  Since I like to throw things out I need to make sure I at least take pic's of them and get them in the blog book.  Otherwise I might have counselling sessions to pay for when they're older right?

The good, the bad and the ugly.............

So today in junior primary at church it was a nightmare!!  And that's an understatement!
I dunno if it was a full moon last night but the junior kids were on fire, and not in a good way.
To top it off the cute primary leader who was teaching the section before my music time finished 10 mins early (by mistake) and I had these 'crazy' kids for 30 mins.
It was a disaster.
I barely made it out alive.
One of my girlfriends who is a teacher said to me "It was like watching a comedian slowly lose the crowd and then get booed off the stage"
LOL
It was crazy town man.
I walked away feeling like a complete disaster and wondering why on earth I was in this calling and what I can better do to benefit these children.
It's always nice to be told, in so many words, that you've got a long way to go and that you can lose a crowd like the rest of them, no matter how confident you feel in yourself.
Lesson learned..............................I'm not as good as what I think I am.
So the senior kids came in and were calm, collected and 'with it'.  They sat down and were awesome.
I talked to them for a little bit and told them they were 100% better than the junior kids today and briefly told them that today with the junior kids I felt like I was in a fox hole and was thrown a grenade and it exploded.
They thought that was pretty funny.
I thanked them for being so good and that it felt like I could at least put my head out of the fox hole with them and not feel like I was going to get hurt.
They sang and sang and did a great job and I felt the spirit and actually had a 'learning/teaching' moment where one part of the song rung true to me so I shared my thoughts with the kids and bore testimony of the Savior and what he did for us and how important it was for us to sing that particular part the VERY BEST we could.
 So they sung it the very best they could and it was AWESOME.
I had to stop myself from losing it infront of them due to feeling the spirit so strongly about the Saviour and his sacrifice for us.
I'm grateful for the senior kids today, cause they helped me feel better about myself as the music leader.
At the end of church when everyone was filing out and I was contemplating the disaster that was the junior primary today and what I needed to do to better serve those little ones, one of the senior boys came up to me and said "Thanks for being our music leader Sister Nakaya, I really like it"
I gave him a hug and said thankyou and that I really needed to hear that today.
What a cute boy.

*sigh*
We all have our bad and good days right?  Well today, for me, it was both!!

Our kids

So here's the kids with their preferred blankets of choice.
Masaru was at school, but he doesn't have a blanket like these.  His favourite blanket is the quilt I made him a  few years ago while at law school with his fathers help.

They love these things and I don't blame them.  They're cozy and warm.
They begged me to take a picture of them.  So I did.

Here is a picture Masaru has been working on for the last 3 days. Dru's work had a bunch of huge printing errors and so he bought home a ton of big pieces of paper for the kids to draw on.
Masaru's been working on the Arctic at the moment and so decided to draw a picture of various Arctic animals in almost a panoramic picture.
This picture doesn't do it any justice but I just wanted to shed some light onto how big it was and how hard he's worked.

Here's a closer view of some of his drawings.
The huskies and their sled on the right and and igloo with a person inside and a hare on the outside with a polar bear on the other side there with a seal and fish in the water to the left.

Then we've got some arctic birds, walrus' and sea animals.  It's pretty detailed and awesome I think.  But I'm bias and think Masaru's pretty awesome.
He's also taken some written notes on each animal and made it into a book like thing with facts and figures in it.  I'm not sure where it is, otherwise I would've taken pictures of that as well.
This is all in his 'spare' time after things are all done.
Impressive.

So Yuki decided to get in on the drawing action and made this picture of all the arctic animals.  She even named them for us, which was nice of her.  Her spelling is correct as well.
I mean HOW CUTE ARE THESE PIC'S?
Pretty cute if you ask me.
Side note:  Did you know that ONE walrus can eat up to 6000 clams in ONE DAY?  And think about how many walruses there are?  That's a lot of clams man. 

Then here's a video of my kids dancing to one of their most favourite songs.  If you listen to the words it won't make any sense to you.  So if you'd like you can watch the WHOLE thing which will explain the background to this song and THEN be funny and mean A WHOLE lot more to you.
It's done by one of my favourite bands.......................Flight of the Concords.
Here's the link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py_30jZGUYk

#2

So this is my second project finished but third started.

My mate hooked me up with help in another area into life, and loved my headband I had on that my sister in law made me.

 I had made another one for my mate in Utah, but for the life of me couldn't remember how to make it again without my sister in law sitting right beside me *sigh*  

 So I just knitted this up and found this knitted flower pattern that I love. 

Here's the pattern for the head band. 

http://tmatthewsfineart.blogspot.com/2011/11/free-knitting-pattern-headband-ear.html

And here's the pattern to the flower. 

http://mackandmabel.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/knitted-flower-tutorial.html?m=1

It was a quick project. But not as quick as crocheting it. But turns out I can't remember how to read crochet patterns so knitting it is for now I guess, which is ok. 

Running

I'm THINKING of doing a half marathon in May.
Just THINKING.
So what I need my thousands of readers to do...............is to convince me why I SHOULDN'T do it.
Then I"ll make my decision hahahaha

Ready.............................GO.

Just stuff.......

 We nickname Emiko our 'disabler' as I am constantly finding my phone looking like this {above}
A couple of times I'll find it saying 'try again in 15 mins'.  Now that's a hassle.
She'll find my phone, hide under the coffee table and then press numbers until I find her or one of the kids find her and grab it off of her. 
It's actually pretty funny, but also a pain.  I guess I should do better with keeping it out of her reach, but I'm not a perfect mother, even though I try to portray as much on my blog right? ;)

 So here's Yuki's Christmas present in action.  You can't see but those are stars that change colour all around her window.  I would've LOVED THAT as a child.  Lucky duck.

It's so bright.  I feel bad for Emiko.  I guess that's her lot in life though, to put up with her 'scared of the dark' sister.  My sister had to do the same with me and we're still ok right? I taught her patience.  You're welcome Sarah!!!

 Masaru brought this home from school the other day and I loved it.  So I thought it should get a place on the blog.

 And.......................that's it.

Primary

Dru went visiting last night to a couple of families in the ward.  He was talking to one particular family and the wife commented (nicely) about me (which I'm very grateful for) and said my 'talents' were wasted in primary and I should be teaching the adults since my lessons were so good.  (Bear with me, this isn't an arrogant post about how awesome I am)
I can't remember teaching her, but I've subbed in gospel doctrine and relief society over the years here and my guess is she was in one of those classes and enjoyed it.
Ok I'm gonna be totally honest here, I'm sure you expect nothing less, and give you some inside scoop into my thoughts.
I LOVE teaching adults, like LOVE it.  I get to study deeply into the gospel and share it in discussion with others.  It's so awesome.  Plus the side benefit to this calling is adults come up to you and tell you thanks for your service, tell you you did a great job, pump you up and basically make you feel good about yourself.
It's pretty awesome.
But I got thinking about her comment more deeply and came up with some thoughts.  So bear with me and read on at your own risk I guess.

If I'm so 'talented' then shouldn't I be with the kids?  If I'm such an 'awesome' teacher, then isn't with the kids/youth/new members who I should be with?  Can't adults look after themselves?  Adults who have been brought up in the church 'should' be able to study during the week, they 'should' be able to work on their relationship with Jesus Christ with all the foundation of years and years below them.  They should be on their journey right?  We're just there to guide and create discussion.  It's the children that need the most help and influence right?  Isn't that where we should be putting our 'superstars'?  Isn't that where the spirit should be felt the most, the lessons should be the most rock solid?  Isn't primary/youth where the most important work is being done?  Isn't primary EXACTLY where I should be?  I think the answer to that is a profound Yes.

Primary gets the shaft man.
Now I understand that if you've been working in there for almost a decade that you need a break and you deserve it.  Everyone needs change and if we're feeling tired then we can't do the best job can we?  So this isn't about those who have served diligently and who have been a superstar for years and years.  I can understand that 100%.
But time and time again primary gets completely looked over and it shocks me over and over again.
THESE ARE OUR CHILDREN yet they struggle ALL THE TIME to have people accept a calling to be with them.
I'm dumbfounded about this and always have been.
Let's look more into this.
Children are harder to teach than adults in a lot of ways.
Maybe a little scarier?  All arguable.
Maybe teaching children is more work? Who's afraid of hard work?
Also working in the primary is out of the limelight.  Not many see all the work you do.  Not many are telling you how awesome you are and making you feel appreciated (we're all too busy doing our thing right ;)) You don't get as much payback in primary..............am I right people?
Maybe this is offputting to some people.  Maybe for these reasons above they say no?  Maybe there's something more to it, I'm not sure.  But I have little tolerance for it.  I guess that's my own judgments I need to work through.
I've actually heard people say "I hope they don't' call me into primary"
What do these people thing the gospel is about?  A pick and choose thing?
I dunno man, you can get mad at me all you want but let me explain my thoughts a little more.
When I was on my mission missionaries would ring up the AP's and President to let them know WHERE and WHO they wanted to be moved to and with.
I found this out WAY later on in my mission and was dumbfounded.
Who are these people?
Also in another ward earlier on in my life a lady said to me "When they asked me if I wanted to be a visiting teacher I said I would but ONLY if I had ZERO LESS ACTIVES, I can't do less actives."  I almost fell over.
I believe that the gospel doesn't work like this.  I was taught this from my parents. We don't get to pick and chose the 'easy' ways the 'more limelight' callings the 'better people' WE THINK we should be working with.
That's not how I see how the gospel works. You can disagree with me all you like man, and that's fine but here's more of my thoughts.
I see the gospel as service and of love and of bettering ourselves through Christ.
Now correct me if I'm wrong but if we only accept easy callings, only visit teach easy people, only ask for people we know we are already mates with or an area we know is productive then how are we going to grow to our full potential?
I look back on my life and it's the tough times that have made me the person I am today.
Why is that?
Because I realize I can't do it by myself.  I wish I could learn this while things were 'easy' but unfortunately most of us only learn this concept the hard way.
Because when it's tough I lean on the Lord more, I study more, I pray harder, I work harder, I rely on the spirit more.  I realize it's not about me and my 'talents' at all.  It's about utilizing the knowledge I've gained and relying wholeheartedly on the Lord to help me be the best person I can at this time in my life.
I havn't said no to a calling yet and I don't plan to, because no matter how tough it seems or how reluctant I am to accept it at times, I know that with the Lord I can do it.  This is the lesson I've learned time and time again over the years and I wish others would give themselves a CHANCE to learn by accepting callings as well, especially in primary.
It breaks my heart all the time.  I wonder how Heavenly Father and His Son feel when they hear people say no to these children?  When he hears them say how they hope that they won't be called into there.  I get upset just thinking about it.
Those children are so great.  They're honest and pure, they love you and sometimes are rowdy hahaha.  I love them and look into their eyes and want the very best for them with all my soul.  People are missing out, they really are, and that breaks my heart as well.
I love primary and this is probably why I haven't been called into there until now.  I had to be groomed and stretched, learned and tried, I had to be a better person to be worthy to be with them, to be worthy to have the responsibility to teach them, to be in the same room as them.  I had to be my better self.  I had to serve in other areas until I was ready, ready to serve in one of the most important callings in my life.................with the children.

Emiko talking

Emiko has been 'talking' lately and it's pretty cute man.  It's frustrating for her because we can't understand everything she's trying to tell us.  But she gets better and better all the time.  My baby is growing up I guess.
So I took a video of her trying to say family names.  She gets kinda over it by the end but I started so I had to finish hahahahaha
Enjoy.

Kids....................a ramble.

 Takeshi couldn't choose which T-shirt to wear today as he had so many favourites.  So he just chose to wear all three of them.  He's sporting a new CTR ring as well from his new class on Sunday.  I keep reminding him to 'choose the right'  It's semi working ;)

 Yuki decided to build her own snowman 'Olaf' yesterday while she was playing out in the snow.  He's pretty cute man.  I had to ask Dru how to SAY Olaf cause I was saying it wrong and the kids were getting frustrated with me.  Go figure.

 Here's all three of them out playing in the snow.

Emiko only lasted about 10 mins though and she was inside following me around all day.  I play with her, hold her, try to entice her away with other toys she got for Christmas..........
She's just not interested man.  She just always wants me and always wants to be held.  I'm semi used to it, but the other month Mum was skyping me and saying "Is she always like this Melissa?" and I was made more aware of it and went "Yeah Mum, she is"  Mum was like "You need to do something about that" LOL
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree man I'm telling you, but I'm doing my best with a needy child and hoping I don't crush her soul in the process ;)
Maybe it's good she's the youngest and will get me for a FULL YEAR to herself before she goes to kindergarten.  We can do things together like learn how to read LOL
She's so cute man so usually it's pretty easy to hold her.  Just not at dinner time when I'm making dinner!!!  Or when I'm in the shower, or trying to vacuum...............................
Takeshi is a chatterbox.  He'll talk my ear off all day.  Yesterday he just wanted to play guitar hero and listen to this NZ song on youtube and also play the game 'Sorry' with me.  So we did all three.
He keeps me on my toes.  He doesn't like doing his chores but will eventually.  Some days are better than others, but the same can be said about me.
I've noticed that Yuki is very laid back.  She's super social and has tons of friends whom she loves a lot.  I'm sure it's a good thing and hopefully will continue to be.  She's got a great imagination and hardly has any fights with her friends.  She's REALLY good with Emiko and semi good with Takeshi.  She has a soft nature and her feelings can be hurt pretty easily.
She sleeps with around 20 soft toys on her bed, has a special rock under her pillow for nighttime help, a dream light toy, a moon light a night light and those stars twinkling around her window that she got for Christmas!!  Yet she still struggles some nights.  I would've loved all that stuff as a child to help with my fear of the dark.  When it's time to take Emiko out of her crib I'll put those two girls in the same bed together and I think that'll be the solution.
I said I was going to potty train Emiko in the new year but now I can't be bothered.  So I guess we'll see when I can and then I'll tackle it.  For now I like my life and don't wanna mess with it.
Well this post ended up being a big ramble about my kids.  I guess the title is appropriate. 

You're welcome...............

I read this and thought I'd share..........................you're welcome.

God will give you more than you can handle: I guarantee it.

By Kayla Lemmon, January 5, 2014

There’s a certain phrase I’ve come to really dislike.
All my life, I’ve heard this phrase whenever I go through a rough patch. *And by rough patch, I mean a prickly, gnarly patch that leaves me bleeding to near death*. You’re probably familiar with those kinds of “patches”.
“God will never give you more than you can handle” is the phrase I’m referring to.

And it’s a sweet sentiment, really. The people who say it are speaking from caring and concerned hearts.
BUT–it isn’t true.
I know that sounds harsh, but I promise I haven’t suddenly lost my mind or have become an angry-with-God bitter woman who hates the world. Actually, when I realized the simple fact that God can–and will–give us more than we can possibly bear, it got easier.
And it all started to make more sense.
I’ve often trudged through trials that overwhelm me. Ever since my childhood there have been trials that have made me “grow up” pretty fast. But granted, I know for a fact you’ve had your own fair share too, because that’s the reality of life. But this last trial is the one that shook me to my core and had me searching like a mad woman for answers as to why it was happening–and how I could possibly even survive it.

I lost my Dad to cancer last month–if you’re a follower of mine, this is old news. But–it was absolutely horrific.
Every day leading up to his death was like walking through every level of hell–slowly– for lack of a better term. There’s no other way to describe it. The images…the sounds…the sleepless nights…the cries for God while we look on, helpless…the torment of rubbing morphine in his cheeks, praying it’ll absorb–but to no avail. The horrible, wrenching pain that came with lifting him up, laying him back down, lifting him up, laying him back down…because he became so restless and cried out for “home” every few minutes. And all along, in the back of my mind, I reminded myself that millions of people go through this, and have already gone through this, very thing. And it is simply unbearable. If you disagree–it’s because you haven’t been there.

This trial was so consuming that I hate to even put it in the past tense–sometimes it still consumes me. Yesterday, at my Dad’s memorial service, it consumed me all over again.
I’ve suffered from nightmares where I relived the memory over and over mercilessly–I sometimes see his face on strangers that pass and worry that I’m going crazy. I cry over sad songs in the car and torture myself with stacks of pictures and yellowed photo albums. It’s beyond just missing him. And even with a firm testimony of the gospel and with peace that he is exactly where the Lord prepared him for, it is still too much for me to handle at times. It steals my breath–and it can steal my joy.

So, the other day, I turned to the scriptures. I needed help.
I wanted to know where that phrase was that people kept repeating to me in church and at work and over the phone. Why did the Lord “trust me so much”?! Why did He think I could handle these kinds of trials?
And then I realized: I couldn’t find that quote because it isn’t there.
It never mentions anywhere in the scriptures that the Lord won’t give you more than you can handle. Yes, in 1 Corinthians 10:13 it speaks of Him giving us an escape from temptations so that it’s not too much to bear. But when it comes to pain, trials, heartache, and burdens– not once does it say it won’t be more than we can bear. Instead, it beautifully says this instead:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11: 28-30)

The words struck my heart, as you can imagine. Christ is speaking to those of us who are carrying burdens much too heavy for our own shoulders. And in that one verse he simply states the reason why we are given more than we can handle: It’s so we can come to him. It’s so we can trust him enough to hand over our heavy, crippling burdens and let him carry the load.
You might be heavy laden right now like I was before reading and re-reading and re-reading once again this scripture that has never stuck out to me as much as it has lately.

You might be shrunken with sadness or drowning in debt. You might be overwhelmingly angry at someone at church or aching under the pressures of raising children or maybe the inability to have them. You might be dealing with a terminal disease and you still have young children. And chances are–you might need your Redeemer to find you on the path and take up that heavy cross you’re dragging. Besides, even he tells us that he’s more equipped to carry it, so why not hand it over?
I’ve come to learn–slowly but surely–why I need Him.
I suppose it’s because of pride that I always thought I could just do things on my own. I’m strong, I’d say. I’m a tough cookie. I can help others through their tribulations while carrying mine all by myself. Well…wasn’t I wrong.

I didn’t really know what needing him meant until I had no other choice. I didn’t know what it meant until I wrapped my arms around my middle so I wouldn’t fall apart–or the time I choked on tears and yelled toward Heaven. Or the times when I was utterly alone, and the silence was too much to bear. Those are the times that taught me he’s not just a want or a convenient symbol of love or a reason to do good deeds.
No, he’s the very air we breathe.
And he’s the only one who can make it bearable when life is simply anything but.

Style for the day............

Takeshi:  Mum can you do my hair in a mowhawk today?
Me:  Sure bub.

Takeshi:  Mum my hair has gotten a lot longer for mowhawks right?

Me:  Yeah, you need a haircut

Takeshi:  It's a SUPERLONG mowhawk.

Me:  Looks good

Runs away yelling for the girls to look at his hair.

I love Takeshi.

My knitting project

So my mother in law liked my blanket I knitted her and proceeded to tell me about how her feet are always cold and her ankles. 

She asked if I'd knit her some slippers. 

I don't think I committed to anything cause, I know me, but then when I came home and was having such a great week I was itching to do some more knitting. So I started on her slippers. 

Three days later they're done and are super cozy. I hope she likes them!!

Now onto my next project for my neice. I'll post that one soon. 

Hey man, when I'm in the knitting mood I gotta run with it, cause I know soon I'll be burned out and then maybe start that pile of books that have been sitting, waiting to be read, for months ;)

I should put up the pattern sorry. 
It can be found at the site below:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/non-felted-slippers
They took around 5 hours each slipper.  This is why I try not to commit to knitting projects for anyone cause sometimes I'm in the mood and sometimes I'm not and I'm no good with pressure ;)  Plus sometimes the yarn can be spendy as well then I have to weigh it up blah blah blah you get the jist...........