Let Me In

Jacq, or better named, Bad Cat, pleading to be let back into the house. She spends a lot of time out in the garden, seeing as she gets thrown out for scratching the walls or other naughty cat behavior. She will be celebrating her 1st birthday in a couple of weeks and we all love her dearly--even Daddy though he pretends he doesn't. Jacq likes turtle food, we have to put it in the fridge or else Jacq will gobble it all up, but fortunately Jacq's not too interested in our goldfish. Speaking of which, we are leaving the goldfish and turtle and Mommy's house plants in Daddy's care, and we hope to see them all alive in September when we come home.

Clean Teeth Winner

Julia won 2nd place in the 52nd Wakayama Prefecture Clean Teeth Contest. Out of all the schools in our prefecture, how many hundreds of kids, probably thousands, she came in second! Here she is with her prize (a doinky pen-set, come on!! Give it more incentive to win!!) and her winning smile.

Rare Sibling Shot

Actually, any shots of us siblings are rare, so if you have a printer you should print this one out. Jerry, Aimi and myself. The black and white effect was done on purpose cause this was first thing in the morning and I didn't do anything to my hair or face, thus the need for no color, hehe! And slightly blurry helps too. God, beauty is wasted on the young, how true it is!

Sisters

You gotta see the resemblance between us! I know it's there, somewhere. Maybe it's the nasty smiles? Can you believe there's a 20-year gap between us, same as between my Dad and I! Unbelieveable--I could easily have had a 17-year old daughter by now!! That's a bit of a scarey thought.

Auntie and Niece

Auntie Aimi, or rather Sis-Aimi, with Julia. Do you see the resemblence? I don't, hehe!

Goodbye Aimi

Baby sister Aimi is moving to Hawaii!! I already miss her! L-R is Julia (8), Aimi, Janina (12), Jerry, front is Jason (10)

Last trip to USJ before summer

A few pics from our last trip to USJ before we leave for the summer. We will miss you USJ!! Many hours of fun and entertainment! I wonder if our 1-year passes are valid to Hollywood's Universal Studios?? That'd be awesome!

quilt in progress

Not such a good picture, but this is my most recent quilt in progress, I actually have the backing on and will start quilting it hopefully soon.

A day at the park

We spent KodomoNoHi at the park, here's everyone doing something they enjoy. Janni of course read manga the whole time, Mommy took pictures, and daddy and the others played ball.

Cat Tales

Our cat Jacq, who is now going on 1 year old and is a really naughty cat, loves to drink the water flowing into the toilet. Japanese toilets are designed to have a little spout at the top where the fresh water flows through so you can wash your hands real quick before you leave. As soon as she hears us in the potty, she runs and scratches on the door, then jumps up behind us waiting for the flush. It's sort of weird and I usually yell at her to stay out until I'm done. But once in awhile I don't realize she sneaked in behind me, until I feel a brush of fur on the small of my back, which is usually around 6:30 am, freaking me out and waking me up with a shock.

Before and After

Jason refused to cut his hair for about a year, letting it grow longer and longer. It started out as him not liking the buzz cuts I gave him, and grew into a stubborn refusal to do anything with it. After spending a day out downtown with me, getting his passport taken care of, and being told what a cute daughter he was, and how old is my daughter.... he decided it was time to chop it all off, personally, I like it short, and I think he does too.

Gaijins

We have quite the little group of foreigners living in our city, we just found Claire, and the rest of us have known each other for going on 5 or 6 years now. We try to get together every few months, so here's a picture of about 80% of the foreign population in our town.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

It was my birthday last month, 37 years now, amazing! Here's a few pictures, of me blowing out my cake, made by my good friend Patti, and browsing at a nearby local flea market. There's Jason on the side and my friend Renee behind me, it was a nice party, with friends and family and lots of sweet and wonderful little gifts! Thank you everyone!

It's been awhile

Wow, it's been awhile since I did this. Life goes on, same as always, with a few minor happenings along the way. The major happening is that I'm pregnant, with number 4, wow! Two months along now, complete with morning sickness and tiredness. At 37 this will be a big event I think, and Julia will be 9 when baby is born. Our due date is January 15th, but I tend to be late. Although it was a surprise, we are happy about it and our family is excited to have another addition.