Pic's and stats

 So I took Emiko in for her 'well child check up' and she got some dreaded shots.
She did great though and only cried for a second then ripped the sucker outta the nurses hands and sucked on it like she meant it.
So turns out she's 30lbs which puts her in the 80th percentile for weight yet her height only puts her in the 30th percentile. 
So she's bigger and shorter. Hahahaha awwwwwww but oh so cute right?
Here she is eating some s'mores at our mates place last week.
This is the face {below} she pulls when you tell her to 'smile' for the camera.  We need to get those teeth checked out.

 My brother Bevin sent Masaru a 'stash' card with three different kinds of 'statshes' for him to try on.
Here's the first one {above} which is called the connoisseur.

 Here's the 'strong man'

 And he had two poses for the 'trucker' stash hahahahaha
This kid cracks me up.
Anyway he also went in for his well child check up and it turns out he's just like he has been for ALL of his appointments since 9 months old.....................90th percentile for height (almost 5ft) and 90th percentile for weight (almost 80lbs).  The doctor asked me if he's one of the tallest in his grade, to which I responded, 'Why yes he is doctor'
Dru and I aren't short, but we're not HUGE, so I wonder when this 90th and 90th will come to a screaming halt?
He asked me on the way in if he'd have to get shots.  I told him no.  I don't think he needs anymore shots until he's 12 right?

Anyway I thought I'd put their stats up so I had them down.  We haven't been to the doctors in a while due to not having insurance so I'm not sure of the kids growth in 2013, but we're back on track now!!

Dressing themselves

 So it should be a well known fact that I'm pretty loose when it comes to what my children wear, as demonstrated above, very nicely, by my third son, Takeshi.  He's wearing two more layers, which you can't see, underneath what you can see.  I welcome it.  Why do you ask?  Because it means that it's one less thing for me to do and they get to take some initiative and do something for themselves and be in control of something for themselves as well.  It's good for them, and I don't mind one bit.
I'm a control freak in other areas outside of clothing, such as getting homework done, getting their rooms cleaned and bed's made daily, brushing of the teeth, things of this nature.
When Takeshi walked out with this outfit on today I knew I needed to record it down.
Each of my kids dress themselves after around the ages of 3ish.
Some days Takeshi looks normal and other days he looks 'out there'.  He'll get better at it, and if not, I don't mind, I'm sure the general public will inform him.

 Yuki does a great job of dressing herself these days and I still dress Emiko, so the girls usually look pretty good most days.  Sure I don't necessarily match things up correctly according to my sister in law, but it makes for a good standing joke between the both of us and it's nice to see her laugh at my expense.

Masaru dresses himself of course and usually does a great job.  He get's, like the girls, really nice clothing from his Aunties.  They know how to dress their kids and to our great delight, our kids are dressed nicely because of it, so it's easy for Masaru to choose a decent outfit these days, such as the one above.  Look at those white legs................they need to see the sunshine right?
He had soccer practice that night so thought he'd get ready in his soccer gears.

So that was the great ramble of a post about my kids and their clothes.

More Dad journal stuff

 So here's me in Dunedin as an 11 year old with my gymnastics team mates.

 I didn't particularly like my coach but I did it for 3 years and did really well in it.  Look at how much taller I am than the rest of them!!!  In the end, that's the reason I quit, my body was not meant for gym, it was meant for other sports better suited for taller women.  But it was fun while it lasted.

 

Look at my Dad in the back?  Dad broke his two front teeth trying to bite a gobstopper when he was a kid.  He had like a fake teeth mouth thing that he'd put in and out every morning and night.  So when he wanted to be silly, sometimes he'd semi take his teeth out and protrude them in the front like some crazy person.

 Here's mum and Dad in Dundedin, looking like the handsome couple.  Such tough times for them in Dunedin for those three years.
We were super poor.  Our lives in Invercargill were pretty good.  We had money and were doing well, but once Dad decided to go to teachers training college we were dirt poor, like dirt poor.
We lived in the 'poor' area of town.  We barely got anything for our birthdays and christmas, actually the ward sponsored us for one of the Christmas's.  Mum would round up our toys 3 months before christmas and then we'd open them on christmas day.  I was the eldest and I barely ever saw a new piece of clothing my whole life.
We lived mostly off of our food storage for those three years.  This is the time we started only drinking powdered milk.  That's it.  We kept up the powdered milk until Llewellyn started working on a dairy farm.  I hated powdered milk, has anyone reading my blog ever tried just straight up powdered milk?
I'm sure if I drunk it it'd bring back memories!!
We simply used it for cereal and that's it.  I think this is why still to this day, I'm not a huge milk drinker.  If there was any REAL milk in the house it was a sacred thing and not to be touched.  If and when I DID get the chance to drink REAL milk it was a HUGE deal.
THIS WAS MY LIFE!!!!   Hahahahaha
So poor, so sad.  Yet I was generally happy.  Go figure right?
My own children's lives are so different from my own.  I dunno if it's a good thing or not.  I don't think we spoil them, but in comparison to my upbringing, I guess they are spoiled.
Dunedin is the place where we lived in the burnt out house with holes in the walls and floor.  We'd hear the wind whistling through our rooms all night.  Mum said it was why we were never sick in Dunedin, because we always had fresh air coming into our rooms!!!
Waitta look at the glass as being half full mum!  Hahahaha
To be honest though this was an extremely stressful time for both my parents.
I can't even imagine the stress they were both under and how they survived to be honest.  Now I'm a mother I don't know how my mother did it.  4 kids under five,  worked for survival, supported a husband who was so stressed out he had insomnia and was an emotional wreck, barely made enough money to survive!!  I think I'd be on some hard drugs, and then there's church callings ontop of that?  How did she stay sane?  Maybe she didn't...................
My 'stay at home mother' life looks pretty easy street in comparison.  I have a lot of respect for my parents.  It's been making me think about my mother a lot and the kinds of stresses she was under with no extended family support apart from her sister............................NO help from either hers or Dad's parents actually quite the opposite, they abandoned them due to them being against racism and walking a protest against it.
My father's parents wrote him a letter telling him he should be ashamed of himself and they wanted nothing to do with mum and him.
These are the stellar grandparents I had growing up.  Alright man alright I'm getting upset I need to move on.

 

This was my Dad's favourite poem about NZ.  So I thought I'd put it up here.  I really like it as well.  It probably won't make sense to most of the American's but to us kiwi's it hits right at home doesn't it?

 Here's all 6 of us making silly faces for the camera.  Llewellyn making some kinda crazy pig face and me lifting Delwyn high into the sky but I don't think he's liking it then Sarah doing a semi pukana face and Haydn giving some gang signs hahaha then Gareth making a normal silly face.

 Here's Llew and I in our softball uniforms.  I really liked playing softball.  I'm glad we did it.  The panthers hahaha great name.

Here we are out at my Dad's sisters place.  I'm at the front there holding Delwyn.  Apparently I held Delwyn quite a bit.  Llewellyn is at the very side there and Sarah, Gareth and Haydn are right by me at the front.  My cousin is right beside my head there and my other cousin is right above my head and my third cousin is the boy in the back second in on the left.  The boys name is Graham but I forget the girls names  maybe Kayla or Kylie or Tara something?  I dunno.  Bad right?  We very rarely had anything to do with them.  I went to highschool for a couple of years with the one right by my face.  She didn't acknowledge me at school, just like Grand-dad when I'd see him uptown.  I'd say hi to him and he's ignore me.  I remember telling him 'it's me Grand-dad, Melissa, Murray's eldest................just walked faster.  Delwyn one time asked me 'Who was that?' and I'm like 'that was your grand father'  Top quality folks.

So I've finished Dad's second journal.  I found it interesting.
Two of my brother's have warned me that I'll see a downward spiral.  One brother stated he cried a ton when reading the last two.  So I've got that to look forward to.
The good thing about reading these journals so far is it's given me some insight into my parents lives and thoughts and it's made me appreciate and look differently at my mother that's for sure.
It's nice to hear Dad's voice in the journals but Dad struggled a bit and it's made me thinking more deeply into who he was and what his struggles were and his life and stuff.
So I'm about to start #3 today.  Wish me luck.

Crazy hair day

 This is how I did Yuki's hair on Friday.
I put wire in it to keep the style up and it worked.
She really liked it and got a few comments.
Masaru just wanted his hair messy, wild and carefree.  So almost the same as he wears it every day ;)
We tossed it a little more than usual and sprayed it.  By the time he got home from school though it looked normal.
Yuki's held up pretty well.
Fun, fun.

New things

So I went and tried out this new class today with a mate.
The first hour was kickboxing which was awesome.  I always love punching things as hard as I can.  It's so therapeutic to me.  Yes I'm aggressive, it's mostly a good thing ;)
We did other stuff as well.
The second class, however, was an obstacle course type class with various things I either haven't done or haven't done in a LONG time.
So turns out I'm still as suckie at the rope climb as what I was back in highschool.  It's cause I can't get my feet figured out to stand on that damn rope stupid nemesis.
BUT what I'm most proud of is it turns out that I can totally get over a 10ft wall on my own.............TWICE.
TAKE THAT WALL.  Oh yeah...................so empowering.  I thought for sure I couldn't get over the wall, but turns out I got over it almost easily!!
THEN I tried some handstand pushups which I totally did as well.  Sure I only moved down around 2 inches but I counted those bad boys.  Did that twice too so did 20 of them.
I also did 55 jumping push ups..................try it,  then you can applaud me.

I know your probably rolling your eyes right about now but there's something so empowering about being able to do something you didn't know you could do.
And that was my experience today.
I feel really strong and I love it.  Here's another secret I'm going to share.................when I'm working out with others I compete (in my head) with the other people in the room, if they're doing better than me, then I up what I'm doing and try to either keep up or do better than them.  This surprises me cause I'm not a competitive person (at least I thought) but this is what I do at every bootcamp and at this class today.  I get super disappointed when no one is better than me cause then I have just myself to compete against.  I love it when there's other strong women around because then they push me (without knowing it) to do better and I love and appreciate it.
 My running is getting better too.
I'm going to do a 10k in May not a half marathon just yet.  I'm sure eventually I'll do a half marathon.
I think, right now, I could do a 10k but it's all about trying to be consistent and getting faster.  I'm only a high 9-10 minute mile.  But, for me, that's good enough and I know as I keep trying hard it'll get better, maybe not easier, but better I'm sure.
There's something about being outside with my music playing in my ears with the sun on my face that's so relaxing (in a way) for me.  It's so nice and I love it.

I hope everyone has something, whether exercise (for me), or whatever, that makes them feel this good, empowered, relaxed, self confident and strong.

Dad

So I'm reading Dad's journals and it's going well.
But Dad was fine at the beginning of his journalling, so it's been a pleasant read and an interesting one.
I've been enjoying it so far.
I decided to take some pictures and put them up here of us together and my Dad.

This man here is my Dad's Dad.  I was glad for this newspaper article about him that my father placed in his journal, as it told a general history of his life.  Most of it I had forgotten or was learning for the first time.
It was interesting.
Mr Don Wright (I felt) was never interested in me and neither I him.  Never called, wrote, or showed any sign of any affection towards me at all. 
To be honest I don't have any kind of affection towards him.
But I need to get over it.  He's my Dad's Dad, he's my grandfather and so he's a part of who I am in a way.  So I need to find it in my heart to have a place for him, no matter what my judgmental thoughts are on the man.
In my Dad's journals he was saying how he remembered his life being a good one and his parents treating him well and having a good life.
 I've heard a few negative things over the years and so have held onto those.  So hearing these positive things said about them, through my father, has softened my heart, slightly, towards them.  I guess we have a lot to discuss on the other side and will need some 'visits' for me to trust and love them.  Until then, I guess I'll have to work on my heart being softer so that if they choose to meet me through the next door I can try to have good feelings and a clean slate so they can have their time to explain to me about their choices and actions towards my father and his children. 
I feel the same way about his wife, my dad's mother as well. Let's just say that life wasn't peachy in the grandparent area for us kids growing up.
This is what makes me grateful towards my own mother, Pete and Dru's parents for how they treat my children.  I know they love them and that's more than what I had.
The sad thing is, is that having grandparents, good ones, would've been so beneficial to us kids growing up.  It would've been nice to have had other adults who took an interest in us and helped my parents out.
There was only one who was there and that was my Auntie Maree, and Dad talks about her and how much she helped them out.
I'll always be grateful for Maree, always, no matter how much we disagree on............right Maree hahaha
Moving on.............

 Here's me at 5 and my brother Llewellyn at 4 and then a family shot of the 4 of us with Sarah and Gareth.
This photo makes me laugh.

Here's my Dad in his rugby uniform!!  Hahahaha look at those legs.  Both Dru and I couldn't figure out what he's wearing on his feet either, cause they're not rugby boots that's for sure.  That's me hanging out the window in the background.

Here's me on my baptism day.  My mum is on the left corner with a smile and the lady in the middle is Sister Sands.  She was a family friend of ours for years.  The other 4 were missionaries for the church who were serving in our area at the time.  They were all americans except for the one in the very back.  He was a kiwi.  The Sisters taught me the lessons and I loved them.  They were good to me.

Here's my father and I on my baptism day.

This is what I wore to my father's graduation in '89 from teachers training college.
I was 12 here,  Llewellyn was 11 and Sarah was 9 years old.  I have no idea where my other siblings are.
I HAVE NO SHOES ON!!
WHERE WERE MY SHOES?
The sweet life of a New Zealander man.  Mum looks good and Llewellyn looks like he needs 'extra' help if you know what I mean ;)
At least I'm wearing a skirt!!
It was hard for Dad to go to college and get his education.  He left school at 15 and worked for many years until he decided to go to college.
Mum was in full support of it and was a trooper throughout the whole thing, and Dad says as much.
He came out with great reviews and good scores I feel.

So far, so good with the reading.
Various siblings have told me that I'll start reading the change in Dad within the next few journals and will see a downward spiral from 'normal' dad to 'sick' dad.
So I'm not looking forward to that.

Triple whammy

Look at Takeshi holding on for dear life.................
Sunday was one of the best days I've had in a while.  Dru and I lay down on the trampoline with the kids and talked for a couple of hours.
It's true that Dru ended up falling asleep, but not before telling a couple of stories of his childhood to the kids.  They couldn't get enough.  So Dru and I would take turns telling them some stories from our childhood.
The one the kids liked the best was when Dru was a child they used to have big wheels and ride down the huge hill at the end of their street.  Dru said his mother used to get mad at them because it was dangerous.
One day they were doing it and he saw his mother walking towards him and got so scared he lost control and drove into a parked RV and then woke up in his room.
The kids were laughing and laughing and keep telling the story back to me.
I told them my embellished story of how we met and fell in love, which they were fascinated by, and were giggling and asking follow up questions the whole day.
The sun was shining on our faces and we had a really fun time together.

Last night for 'Family Home Evening' we learned about St Patrick's Day.  Very interesting!!
Then they all played a leprechaun game outside laughing and yelling out.  Finally they came inside and jumped on Dru's back and Takeshi wanted to get on as well so Dru was like "Hurry up bud, find a way on, I can't stay like this forever"  He quickly scrambled around and got himself up on the back and held on for dear life as long as he could.................which wasn't too long.  I very quickly got a blurred snapshot of it.

Sunday night Dru and I were lying in bed talking and I told him how happy I was, and I really am.  I told him if I was to die, I'd die a happy woman, to which he replied he would NOT be a happy man!!  I'm not planning on going anywhere but I simply restated that I'm really happy in our life.
I'm grateful for Dru's awesome job and the fact that he's happy and we have $$.  I'm happy in this place we rent, sure it's small and we're busting out at the seams, but it works for now and I love it.
I'm happy my kids are healthy and happy and have their childhood innocence still in tact.  The more and more I talk to random people the more I realize how blessed I am to have the marriage that I do.  Dru's my BFF man, we laugh and laugh together, dance together, talk, dream, plan and thoroughly enjoy each other's company.
I'm loving my fitness challenges and am working hard towards new goals and it makes me happy.  I'm happy with my body, how I look and my job as a stay at home mother.
I've started my Dad's journals and they've given me more insight than I would've imagined and I've barely started!
I've almost finished reading the New Testament.  I'm one chapter away from being done.  Can I just say how awesome it's been for me to have read that scripture?  Well it's been awesome and I highly recommend it.  What insight it's brought me and perspective on the Saviour and his mission and what happened afterwards.
I like my calling at church.
I love my extended family.
Side note:  My brother Haydn just got a job as a deputy principal at a school closer to my other brother Gareth.  The name of the town, population 400, is kaponga I think.  They may live in the closer, bigger town called Hawera in Taranaki.  Such a huge blessing for him and his small family.

Now we don't have the house we want and Dru doesn't have his mountain bike he wants, we aren't the perfect parents we're striving to be just yet and we're far from perfect BUT we're content and I think that's what it's all about.
I realized I'm blessed with much and I'm very grateful for it.  I thank the Lord daily for being blessed with so much.
Often times I look out at my children laughing and giggling on the trampoline and get a wave of gratefulness and joy surge through me.  I know those are the moments that I need to inhale like fresh air and remember, for I know it won't last much longer.
I love my life, and I'm grateful.

66

So it's Dad's 66th birthday today.
My brother's put up these two songs to tell us their feelings.
Delwyn put up this song due to the words it said.  He said this expresses how he feels.




My other brother, Bevin, put up this song due to the fact that it was one of Dad's favourites.  This song was also played at his funeral *sniff, sniff*


Then I put up this song and said this:
 This song reminds me of Dad. Every time I hear it, if I'm running, I think I can go faster, if I'm sitting, I cry, if I'm doing weights I think I can lift heavier, if I'm in the car, I sing it at the top of my lungs.
I remember Dad loving this song and pretending he was playing the guitar at the beginning and singing his heart out to it.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD.
Miss you xox
If I was to be in a race......THIS song would be the last song I'd play so I could race fast home.
I know this is going to sound crazy....................so take it with a grain of salt, but if I'm running/biking and this song comes on I can go faster because I think of Dad pushing me (now you're getting into the mind of crazyville) and I gain strength.  I envision Dad running/biking with me, pushing me, willing me, motivating me and I find a surge of strength that rushes through.
There........................I've said it outloud.
Now you know one of my secrets.


I think I might start reading his journals today as my birthday gift to him.
Wish me luck.
If you'd like to know what happened with my Dad I've written it down somewhere.  Your more than welcome to read it if you so desire.  I don't mind.  But if you've got follow up questions, I'm not making any promises ;)

Love you Dad
Always and forever.

PS My NZ family are sleeping right now.  So if they put up any songs then I'll put them up here as well.  I like this idea we've done this year.

Llewellyn put up this song.  He's right, this has Dad all over it.  He LOVED this song and this group.

Tooth report

 Yuki lost her second tooth last night.
I wasn't around so there's no play by play pictures.  It was all her and her father, as per usual.
She got up this morning though and said the tooth fairy had visited.
Also all her father, I didn't even think about it!!
I can't believe she's losing teeth!!
6.5 years old is old enough to lose teeth?  Hmmmmmmmmmm

Side note:  Went to the temple last night and they played the old video!!  What's up with that?  Anyone know?

2013-14 classroom pic's

So here are the class pictures for this year.
Pretty small class again this year for Masaru.  I love it.  His teacher is great this year as well.  Ironically most of the kids at church are in his class this year.  He's never had that before.  It's been a good year for him.

Here's a close up of his face.  He didn't believe me when I told him it was picture day and he should do his hair.  Masaru has a problem trusting what Dru and I tell him if he thinks he knows better!!  100% of the time we're right, you'd think he'd learn, but nope, so it is what it is.  He looks like he's laughing at something. I don't think it's a bad shot.

Here's Yuki's class.
Like Masaru, it's pretty small, and I like being here, in this part of Boise, for this exact reason.
This is her teacher's first year teaching kindergarten and I think she's a little scattered, but whatever.  Masaru's kindergarten experience was a joke so it can't be worse than that!  Yuki likes school and so that's good.

So this close up picture gives you a better look at Yuki's face.  This cracks me up man, cause usually she's all smiles and poses.  But I dunno what's going on here, is she a little scared?  Is there some crazy person behind the camera that she's not sure about?
Not the cutest picture of Yuki, but that's alright man.  Nobody's perfect right?

And just for some added cuteness I'll add this picture I took of the girls yesterday at the bottom.

I'm not too sure what's growing out on the tops of their heads, but they're cute, nonetheless.  Look how different their eyes are.  That's their biggest difference from each other.  Love them.

Saving Mr. Banks

I watched 'Saving Mr. Banks' last night and I really liked it.
It gives a whole new perspective on the movie 'Mary Poppins' doesn't it?
I need to watch it again with the kids, Mary Poppins that is not Saving Mr. Banks.
Dru liked it but was frustrated at the beginning when she was so hard to work with.
I think I went through a couple of tissues cause, to put it simply, I'm a wimp.  But I've come to grips with my sensitivity and am fine with it.
So if you haven't seen it, I suggest that you do.
There was a little insight to Walt Disney as well which was interesting.  I found him to be slightly arrogant but still nice.  It sounds like his life was rough as well.  I'd be interested to know a little more about how he came to BE you know.
It's a movie I'd like to own, and now we do.

And just to add some cuteness to this post, I'd like to present another shot of my daughters sleeping {below} enjoy!!

World famous in Boise

http://woobox.com/rx8wws

So if you click on this link you'll see Emiko representing the 'downy' tide. Pretty cute right?

World famous in boise!! 

A friend in the ward at church approached me and asked me if I'd be interested in submitting pictures of my girls for a photo shoot. So I did. 

As a mother of two beautiful girls I naturally thought both would get picked but alas, only Emiko was picked :(

Yuki submitted for the 'febreeze sport' tide but I guess they went with another girl. Dru looked her up and showed me and goes "paleeeze, Yuki's way cuter than her". We know where his loyalties lye right?  I totally agree with him but it's ok. 

So we went in for Emikos photoshoot and got her changed and dressed and she totally rocked it. It was like she was a pro. She was so awesome. After about 10 mins they had plenty of cute pictures and were so happy. I'm telling you man, easiest $100 I've ever made. They were all gushing over her and then saw Takeshi and said he was pretty good looking too and asked me how many kids I had.  It was pretty funny. 

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad Emiko had this chance, not that she cares or even knows actually, but she did a great job. 

I'm not planning on pushing this or making it a career of hers or anything, I'm far too lazy for that, but it was fun and we got $100. Win, win right?

I stand all amazed

So this is the song I'm teaching the kids at church this month.
If you haven't heard of it, click HERE to listen to it.

So I pretty much lost it with the senior kids on Sunday.  I was crying while talking to them about the ultimate sacrifice the Lord made for them.  I had to breathe deep and try not to 'feel' as much, to get through the rest of the lesson.  The kids were really good about it.
I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to cry infront of the kids, but if it gets in the way of being able to teach them, then I need to 'get it together' you know!!
The junior kids were easier as they're more of a handful and it's all I could do to keep their attention for 1 minute straight.  There wasn't much time to 'feel'.

Side note: (mostly to my Auntie) Do we spell junior juniour and seniour?  I thought we spelled these words different in NZ.  Am I right?  I'm a useless speller as it is, so I can't remember.  I couldn't spell in NZ either, so I have zero advantage.

Alright back on topic.  Sometimes I sing the primary songs around the house while I'm tidying, getting breakfast, dressing the kids etc.
This morning I was singing 'I stand all Amazed' since it's on my mind at the moment.
Well I started thinking about the words while singing it and got all teary eyed and emotional about the whole thing while the kids were asking where their socks were and if I'd made them lunch!! Hahaha

So my challenge to all my 10 readers is this.....................YOU try singing this song while thinking about the words and see if you don't start getting slightly emotional about the whole 'Jesus saved my wretched soul' aspect of our lives.
It's a pretty powerful song and I'm glad I get to focus on it this month and really take a good look at how beautiful this song really, actually is.
I can get through this song IF I'm not really thinking about it, or busy wrestling my children during church, or thinking about other things, but when I'm really thinking about it, I can't help but be super humbled and very grateful for Jesus and what I mean to him and what He means to me.
That's the power of music and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Masaru turns 9

 So it's Masaru's birthday today.  He's 9 and that's just a little crazy to me to tell you the truth.  I don't really like this whole growing up thing, but there's not much I can do about it right?  So I need to enjoy it.

This morning Dru and I were lying in bed with all the kids around us sitting on my hair, elbowing Dru in the tummy, playing all around us and I'm like 'Won't it be nice when we have Sunday mornings in bed alone just to sleep?'  Then I quickly said 'But then I'll miss the kids, and I'll miss this life that I have right now, where the kids loves us, obey us (sort of) and want to talk to us and be with us'  Then I said nothing and just sat there in the chaos that is out bedroom on Sunday mornings.

Masaru opened his much awaited gift from us this morning while we were in bed and I SO WISH I'd gotten a picture of his face when he saw what it was.
He's been wanting this Temple Ninjago lego and it's kinda spendy and so he didn't want to ask us for that as he knew it was a lot of money.  So we got that for him and you should've seen the surprize/elation on his face.  It was pretty awesome.  The anticipation for me is so amazing when I know the kids are gonna be so happy, and he was.
He's almost finished it and I need to get a picture of it all done. 

 We decided to celebrate it yesterday with a couple of mates.  I told his mates that he doesn't need anything.  I said he's saving up for something so if they want they can throw in a couple of bucks into a card or whatever.
Well I feel bad cause he made out with $40 from all his mates.  I couldn't believe it!!  He told me he's going to get a lego, airsoft gun and bullets and a cubscout bears hat.  So we'll see if he has enough for all of that.
Here he is {above} with his lego set from Grandma (NZ)

Gift from his neighbour/friend.

 Me.........regulating the money he's getting from his mates and making sure it's going straight into his wallet for safe keeping.

 Opening cards from friends.

 Our kids get two gifts.  One from me and one from their father.  The lego set was from Dru and this scooter {above} was from me.  He loves it.  It has bigger tires.  I'm not sure what the benefit of that is.  He simply said he wanted it because his twin cuzzies had it. 

 So after friday's fiasco I feel quite redeemed with Masaru's cake.
He wanted a sushi cake.  So Dru and I put our heads together and came up with this.
It's a california roll.  Can you see it?  The ginger and wasabi are on the side there.  Pretty cool right?

 Here in the middle we have avacado, watermelon rind, beans, egg, crab meat and tobiko (fish eggs).  It was really yummy as well.
His mates thought it was awesome.

 The rice was coconut flavoured jellybeans.  They were yummy.


We watched 'Frozen' and had hotdogs (his request) and chips.
We had one sprained ankle and one bloody nose.
Now THAT'S a real party right?
Poor kids.  I felt bad when the parents came to pick up their battered children.  We'll be waiting for the lawsuit ;)

Here's some of his lego's he's made up in the last 24 hours.  I think this one {above} goes with the one {below}

This is the one from Grandma and Grandpa Pete.

This is the monster robot or whatever from the Temple lego that we got him.  His Auntie is sending some $$ so he can complete his Ninjago dreams and have the FULL SET in his hot little hands.  When her $$ comes he'll have the last piece to his collection.  I'm not sure what lego's he'll want after that.
One thing can be guaranteed though, lego's will be a part of our family for a long, long time and I'm fine with that.

I don't know what I'd do without Masaru. Between him and Yuki I get a lot of help with the other two kids and running the household.  I'm indebted to them, but on the flipside they're indebted to me for getting cut open for them to live right?  So we're all even steven's ;)
He tries hard, is obedient, smart, loyal and shows great potential.  He's also bossy, moody and rough lol
We take the good and the bad in this house and work it out together.
He's liking school and his teacher and loves his piano teacher (thank goodness) and is doing well in all areas.
We've been trying super hard with his math and he's showing improvement thanks so some idea's and games from Uncle Haydn.
He's still loving the 'Magic Tree House' series and we just finished reading about the Titanic.  I was crying cause it was sad and Masaru just carries on and loves reading these with me.  We get excited reading together and learning so much information these tiny books hold in their pages.  I'm just glad he likes to read.  Cause that's what it's all about in the end.
I enjoy Masaru, he's tender hearted and likes to snuggle while we're reading.
And that's just fine with me man.
He wants to be just like his father.  I'd say that's a pretty great goal to have since I think his father's pretty spectacular myself ;)
Love you bub xoxoxoxoxoxo
Happy Birthday!!

[update]
He just finished his Temple lego building.  So here's pic's of it.

 Slider at the back for the trap door.

 Trap door at the front.

 Closed {above} Opened {below}

 I love all the little details in it.  Crazy man.