Grattitude Friday

What I'm trusting

I'm trusting the school is going to help out my boys. Both of them are getting speech help pretty soon here. They just sent home the papers so they can be tested and so we'll see what happens.
Masaru has had speech problems ever since her could start talking. It doesn't seem to be getting too much better. We'll see what a year can do for him here with this teacher.
Takeshi is showing signs of speaking like Masaru and having the same tendencies. I'm no speech therapist and so have no idea how to help him.
Takeshi also got tested and is a little behind in his reading, not much, but a little, and so they're pulling him out for 30 mins a day to get extra help from the reading specialist which I'm fine with. He seems to be reading better in his homework. So hopefully he can continue to grow with his reading. It's tough to put your trust into someone else when you think you should be able to help your kids. But like I said, I've got no clue how to help their speech, so we'll see if things can improve.

What I'm grateful for

I'm grateful for Dru's job and the money it brings into this family. The education he got and the field he went into proved to be a success when it came to the finances of our family. I'm grateful that he's loved at work, that he has job security and that he loves his job so that I feel a sense of security and we can save.
We have a blessed life and I know it, but it came with sacrifice and decision making that, for now, has worked out for us. For this, I'm grateful.

What inspires me

There's this woman called Kim Lyon's who's a Boise mtb'er and she's fast on the DH. She just did a DH on a trail I love called Cobb and got a #2 trophy. They've changed the trail and she's the first one to break the old school riders since the change and that's inspiring to me. It makes me believe it can be done and that I can totally do it. I love it and was so excited to see it done. It was so inspiring to me and it makes me believe and want to be better. I love her for that.
Masaru yesterday inspired me as well. Check this out.



This is a huge rock pile on Hulls gulch here in Boise. I've never had the backbone to try it. Masaru went riding last night with Dru and his mates and tried it with them. Sure he failed, but I'm so proud of him man. What a rockstar. He had a bump on his knee and his hand had a scrape and that's it. Next time he'll get it for sure. This is inspiring to me. The no fear factor that Masaru had to just try it is amazing to me. Next time I come up on this, I'm going to try it. So inspiring.

How I'm practicing my faith

Yuki came home with a part to say in the primary programme and I wasn't ok with what was said on it. I thought about just leaving it and not making a big deal out of it but the more and more she read the part the more I knew I had to say something. So I emailed the primary leaders and told them my concerns and they changed it for her without a hassle. That was me practicing my faith. It's tough sometimes to stick up for what you believe in, you have a fear of judgement and fear of what people will say or think, but at the end of the day you have to take faith in what you believe and what is best for your children and stick to it, which I did. I'm pretty proud of myself and grateful that it wasn't a big deal, seemingly, only time will tell I guess.
I think that faith and spirituality are an individual thing that as a collective church we sometimes forget and push each other into a 'group' situation and think we all believe the same things. Turns out when you talk to people, that couldn't be further from the truth. I think as we listen and are kind to each other we can be a better group collectively. It starts with little things like this.

Yuki's 9th birthday

So Yuki wanted a 'Stitch' cake.
Our friends had a 'Build a Bear' cake tin that we borrowed, then we carved it out to look more like Stitch, then got to work covering it.
Dru did 98% of the cake.
Cake's always take a while to make. This took Dru roughly 4 hours and that's not including baking it the day before.
Yuki LOVED it though and that's what makes it all worth it for us I guess you know.
Usually Dru is at work and I have to work on it myself and simply don't have the time these days.
Yuki got a sweet cake though, made by her Dad and it all worked out wonderfully.



He used a wire coat hanger for the ears and just covered it with fondant.



The cake was made from scratch as well and tasted really good. So we're gonna keep that cake recipe and use it for other cakes as well. A box cake isn't that dense and this cake was and that makes all the difference.





Yuki's pretty pumped.  All her friends thought it was wonderful as well.



I love where we put the candles. Me and Harper came up with that idea.


Yuki was counting down for about a month to her birthday. I didn't realize that she cared so much. My guess is this means we do a good job at making her day special?
She woke up that morning and opened her presents from Dru and I and her NZ Grandma. She was so excited.









Gift from me.

Lego set she had her eye on.

Gift from Dad.




Art set with sketching pads that she really wanted.



She then went to school and had a great day. I dropped off some donuts for her class to share for her special day. I usually make ANZAC biscuits but I've been making those constantly for Masaru's fundraiser and am burned out on making those man!!! So donuts it is.

She came walking home from school with 2 of her friends. She left one at school that I had to race back and get. The rest of her friends arrived and started playing in the back yard.

Only one friend couldn't make it. So that was a pretty good turn out for a school night.

Silly faces. Hahahahaha I love it.

I fed the kids pizza and then we headed to the movie theater to watch 'Kubo and the two strings'

Everyone loved it. It was so good. I shed a few tears man, which isn't hard. I'm excited to watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

Lucky it was tightwad Tuesday night and it was cheap to go.

We were going to go to BFG at the dollars, then they changed it up on us, so this was our plan B and it worked out just fine.

We got home and opened presents and sang to her and had cake and ice cream. Then the kids played out the back yard until their parents came to get them.

They had so much fun, you should've seen them. Lucky we have a sweet back yard man. It made the party super easy for me.

Really all I did was cook pizza and drive them to the party, Dru made the cake, so it was way nice and stress free for me AND the kids had the best time ever!!! So fun man.

The next day she had off of school to help celebrate. She was pretty pumped for this. She slept in and loved it, then we went and picked up Dad and had some breakfast together at McDonalds. The kids got themselves a toy each. Yuki's was the batman mask. Dru's trying to get his finger up Emiko's nose!!

After that we went to the park with my mate Nawang. This is Yuki taking a selfie with one of her gifts from her mates. He told his mum that Yuki isn't a girlie girl so she won't want dolls and stuff, so he got her this tooth necklace. She loves it.

Then Nawang took her to Blue Cow frozen yogurt for her birthday. 

We then went to pizza pie cafe, since that's where she wanted to go for lunch. She barely ate anything though cause she was so stuffed from the day of eating she wanted to do.

We came home and she worked hard on her legos for the rest of the afternoon until she finally had it finished. This is the first time she's done a project on her own without getting help from Masaru.

She did a great job. There was one point where she was frustrated and I said "Just wait till Masaru gets home and ask him to help" She said "No Masaru isn't helping me" and got more determined and finished the whole thing on her own. I guess she wanted to do it by herself, and she did.

Well done to Yuki.

So Yuki had a great 9th birthday with her family and friends.

We love Yuki and are grateful for her being in our family.

She's a huge help and does a great job with whatever she does.

She's happy, athletic, smart, determined and a great elder sister for Emiko. Those two still sleep in the same bed and haven't complained about it much lately. Dru and I were going to change them into a bunk bed, as they were beginning to fight, but the fighting has stopped. So we'll draw it out as much as we can. 

She loves to draw and has always done well at school. It's my boys who are getting speech and reading help, which is fine, but Yuki seems to fly under the radar because she's a natural in the school system.

Watching her play soccer is a privilege and I'm glad she likes it. I secretly want her to mountain bike, but if she likes soccer then I'll have to get over it. I'd love to change her into the mountain biking club instead of soccer, but I'm sure that's not gonna fly too well. We'll see.

I love that she's self motivated and strong.

She loves shrimp and my mac and cheese made from scratch. There were some organic boxed mac and cheese and the kids were excited to try it, cause we never get it, then once they tasted it they quickly realized that mum's home made mac and cheese can't be beat and semi turned their noses up at the boxed stuff.

I was secretly pleased but told them to finish of that portion they had.

It's my goal to have Yuki confident in the skin she's in and at church the other day for the programme they're doing in sacrament, I talked to the leaders and told them she wasn't going to say the part they wanted her to and that they had to change it. So they did.

I think as long as Yuki continues to trust herself and come to us when she needs to and the Lord, she'll continue to do great things in her life.

I'm glad she's a part of us.

I love her.

Latest and greatest

So last Sunday night Emiko threw up.
Dru and I worked as a united front to get it sorted out as quickly and painlessly as possible.
She only threw up once but for the next two days she was very lethargic and didn't wanna do much. So we didn't. We spent those two days at home helping her to get better.
It worked out well and by Wednesday she was feeling herself again.
I dunno what it was but I'm glad it was only one throw up and that's it.

My mate gave me this top and so I thought I'd take a picture and send it to her and say thanks.

So I did 'Art Mum' for Takeshi and Masaru's class this past Friday.
I loved it.
In Takeshi's class we did these tissue leaves. They turned out so cute and they kids did really well with them.
In Masaru's class we did some face sketching. I've forgotten how slightly weird 6th graders are. Masaru's class is a crack up man.
It went pretty good I feel. If Masaru ever gets embarrassed I'll quit, but for now he greets me with hugs in and out of the classroom, so I figure I'm ok for week one.
Takeshi's teacher wants me maybe once a month, but Masaru's teacher would like me to come in every friday for an hour. So that's great. Yuki's teacher hasn't called on me, so I dunno what's up with that.
It was a little bit of prep. time for me, but that's alright too. It's nice to be in the class and teaching the kids one of my most favourite subjects.

This is my BFF in NZ's little girl Cooper. It was her birthday last week and I sent her a BS T-shirt which she wore for me. She doesn't like pictures, so this is the best way to help out with that.

Check out that supergirl outfit for her bday shindig.

Her cute brother sporting the supporting outfit.

Look at that sweet cake.



Big party.

Rainbow's End party. Rainbow's End is our theme park in NZ. I would dream of going as a kid and when I got the chance I loved it.
In comparison to other countries themed parks it sucks, but for us kids in NZ who don't know any better, it's the bees knees man. I'm gonna take my kids there one day.

How every good party ends.

I was talking to a mate the other day and Emiko says to me "Mum do you think next time you talk, you could talk a whole lot less? You really do talk a long, long, time"
I was cracking up. It's true. Sometimes it's tough for kids to hang around while their mother is doing some talking to a mate. We were just dropping off cookies for Masaru's fundraising he's doing for his 6th grade camp next year, and I ended up talking to one of my mates for a while.
Emiko said "Mum you're a talker and I'm a playa" It sounded like she was a little gansta, but what she really meant is she likes to play a lot and not sit around and talk a lot, and I'm just fine with that.

Dru's sore is healing up really nicely thanks to the magic ointment. Talk about miracle cream.

After our little 'incident' on Wednesday night, Dru spent the next night playing with the girls for the whole night. I think sometimes you realize that getting things done aren't as important than spending a little time with your kids just doing whatever they wanna do.
We need to continue to do better at that.


Masaru's still going in every 6 weeks and getting his teeth worked on. See that bottom tooth that's still pointing in? Well if it doesn't move in the next 6 weeks they're gonna do something about that. They told me, but I didn't understand and figured I'd just smile and wave and see what happens in the next 6 weeks and worry about it when the time comes.

The kids decided to do a pyramid and then Masaru came upstairs and wanted to join in.



They were trying to figure it all out together. It was pretty funny.




Pretty cute right?

Dru and I went for a group mtb ride Friday night with our homies. It was nice to be out.
I thought we were going to be shuttled up but we decided, last minute, to bike up. It was quite the work out. Dru got a flattie on the way down so we had to wait around for a second, then it was kinda dark which is always a little sketchy but fun.

Saturday was soccer games. Takeshi is continuing to play really well. He scored a goal which is always nice. Yuki's team continues on their losing streak which they're not used to. She twisted her ankle twice which sucked for her. No goals this week. I think that's the first time ever for her, which is just fine. They enjoy it and it's only 4 more Saturdays, so that' something I can commit to.

We went to the green jello festival on Saturday night as a family. That was exactly what it always is. So no surprises there. The kids had a blast and it was nice to catch up with some people.
Dru and I watched the movie "Now you see me 2" later on that night. I thought it started off rough but I liked it in the end.

Sunday we went to church, baked cookies and Yuki's bday cake and hung out with our mates for dinner and part of the night. It was nice.
Good weekend.

Grattitude Friday Blog

What I'm trusting

I'm trusting I'm in the right spot for my family. I love Boise and I love the area we live in. I'm happy here and I know this is a great place to trust my family in. It's a great mix of outdoor life and a great neighbourhood that doesn't kidnap little girls walking home from soccer practice cause their parents forgot them !!
Thank goodness for a great neighbourhood and great people that we are surrounded by. We're truly lucky.

What I'm grateful for

The outcome of Wednesday night.
I'm glad Yuki is with us, safe and sound, back in her normal routine. I'm grateful for the normal routine. Give me normal routine any day.

What inspires me

The love that people have for me and for my family. It puts a light in my life like nothing else can. It builds up my own love of others as well as my kindness and service towards them and passing it forward.
Thank you to all those who have made room in their hearts for me and my family, what a gift that I treasure.

How I'm practicing my faith

I think the sheer fact that I called out to Heavenly Father and Dad first and foremost in my time of need shows that I have faith that they are there for me when I need them.
Enough said.

Yuki

Last night at around 8:20pm I got a phone call from Dru that Yuki was missing.
I was at young women's and Yuki had had soccer practice from 6-7pm. Dru had forgotten to pick her up. He was hoping that I'd picked her up on a whim. But I hadn't.
It was an hour and 20 mins since practice had ended and Dru had rung the coach and he said he hadn't seen her and didn't have her.
So he started ringing around the parents.
I raced to the park and searched everywhere. There's a creek there and was searching in the reeds, just in case, you know................
I was bawling my eyes out. Not Yuki man, not my sweet Yuki, if something was to happen to her a piece of my heart would be taken and not replaced.
I was calling her name, inbetween yelling at Heavenly Father and my Father to protect her and not take her from me.
I was reassuring myself that it's a safe neighbourhood and she'd be ok.
But I knew if a parent had taken her home she would've been dropped off by now.
I yelled at Dru, which I feel bad about now, and said "Who forgets to pick up their daughter? How could you forget that?"
Then inbetween all my emotions and yelling at God, Dru and my Father I had this sense of peace, amongst chaos, and the words "She's walking home and she's safe" come into my head.
Of course you wanna fully believe that and I stopped crying and rushed back to the car and started heading home.
Dru had thought he'd scoured the streets a number of times already. Things weren't looking good.
But I raced back in the car and Dru and I made plans to go alternative routes.
Then I get a phone call from a random number and it's Yuki on the other line. I started bawling my eyes out and asking her where she was.
She told me she was at a certain crossing point near our house and a lady had seen her crying and had stopped and let her call us on the phone.
She had walked almost all the way home!!!
She said she'd seen Dad go past twice!! I guess Dru was panicked too much to have noticed her. At least she knew we were looking right?
I called Dru and let him know that she was fine and rushed to go get her.
Dru got there first, picked her up and took her home.
Who knows what that lady was thinking, probably what you're all thinking right now, boy what crap parents.
When I got home and saw her I ran to her and hugged her for a long time and cried like a baby. Our mates, the Braun's, were there as Dru had asked Keith to stay at the house while he left and searched. Masaru was at scouts and wasn't home yet. When Masaru got home he said he'd seen Yuki walking down the street and so Keith rang Dru to let him know.
The Braun's quietly left while I cried uncontrollably.
The whole ordeal was probably around 20 mins, but it was a horrible 20 mins, one of the worst in my life, maybe second to losing my Dad. But that was longer than 20 mins and I had actually lost him.
I hesitated writing it on here as I know Dru and I will be judged for our crappy parenting.
But maybe make a plan B with your kids, just in case? So you know if they're not there, they're doing or at plan B.
There's a meme that was floating around fb for a while and it read 'Hey at least your not addicted to cocaine' So I said that to Dru last night while we were in bed and still upset about it all.
So maybe we're the second worst parents in the world, cause hey, at least we're not addicted to cocaine.