Disclaimer!!

Ok so I need to write a disclaimer cause I'm kinda feeling bad about my last post about my kids.
It's not these guys fault that they think my kids are 'hard' cause I guess they're right you know. They really are hard at church.
I think I was just feeling sorry for myself and wanted some help with some ideas and a little sympathy like 'your kids aren't bad Melissa, they're great, your not a bad mum, this is normal, everything will work out'. So I got it and thanks. So still send your ideas my way if you have any that work for your kids.
I need to say that the ward I'm in is great.
I'm officially the oldest girl in the ward............bar Bishops' wife.
I think how I feel about that can be another blog another time.
Dru and I are now officially the longest married couple and when we have our third kid we'll, officially have the biggest family.
So, in a way I'm the Grandma with lots of wisdom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah right!
So it's for sure DIFFERENT for me, you know.
But that being said.............I've been received with open arms and everyone's been great to me.
We have a BRILLIANT R/S Pres. who knows her stuff and couldn't be any better if she tried.
Everyone's friendly and willing to be friends with you.
Everyone's concerned for your welfare and has a smile on their face and wants to help.
It's been really fun and I'm grateful to have them helping me pass the time here in Moscow.
It's good to hear everyone's perspectives and I need to remember not to voice my opinion too much because I'm older and 'ahem' wiser!!!!
I've definatley got a lot to learn from these women and am looking forward to spending the next couple of years with them.
They all have such different talents and are more than willing to share them with you.
It's pretty cool.
I love meeting new people. I love hearing their stories. I love making new friends. It helps me to be a better person.
Now if I could work on my dam and hell's we'd be all good and there'd be less wide eyes and gasps from the women.
(sigh) One thing at a time right...............................one thing at a time. They'll get used to it...............or I'll change ;)
It amazes me how big our hearts are.
I thought I had enough friends, really, you know. But the more and more I do with my life the more and more I realize I have a lot more people to meet and things to do.
It's pretty exciting.
It amazes me how big our hearts are for your old friends and for new friends.
I love my mates from 20 years ago 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 5 weeks ago and my heart just grows with each new person that comes into my life.
It amazes me.
How can I love so many people?
How can our hearts be so full yet still have so much more room?
I guess it's a tiny glimpse into our Heavenly Fathers heart and how much he can love each of us, individually, so much.
Some times I don't think it's possible.
But sitting here right now, thinking about all my friends and how much I love them old and new, it really is possible!

Outta Control?

So at church on Sunday Dru and I got three comments about our children and how 'hard' they seem.
It seems like we're the only ones that struggle. I know that's not true but when three people comment, it makes you start to think you know.
Given TWO of those people don't have any kids at all and the other couple had ONE.
Now that Yuki is walking/running everywhere there's no stopping her.
She knows where she wants to go and that she can get there.
I bring books, quiet books, toys, little finder thingie's, paper and crayons, they only occupy her for a couple of minutes.
I bring food too. That works out well.
So we sit in the back and try to baracade her in.
Masaru sees that she's running around and tries to stop her as well and so then she starts screaming and then we have to tell Masaru to stop so he starts crying so loud we have to take him out.
Masaru is old enough for me to put on my lap outside and explain he can't go inside until he's quiet and ready to behave. This worked for the rest of the time.
He still needs a lot of attention though. So one of us is trying to cater to Masaru while the other is keeping an eye on Yuki that she's not sitting up on Bishops' lap at the front of the room.
I'm not sure what we're gonna do with three. Hopefully I've figured something out with the other two by then.
Then you've got the whole 'spiritually uplifted part' and trying to listen to the talks.
I always get maybe 50% of them on a good Sunday.
In Sunday School I basically let her run around. It's in a small room and she doesn't do any harm.
Masaru loves nursery so that's all good.
Then my calling is the music person in primary for TWO kids. It's wonderful. I love it. This past Sunday we learnt the song 'Autumn Time' and went outside and collected leaves and made a collage of them on the paper. It was great and the TWO kids loved it.
So that's for half an hour each Sunday.
Dru looks after Yuki in Elders Quorum. She's pretty bad in there as well.
The thing is.......is I don't think my kids are bad. They're both pretty good kids.
You just can't ask them to sit still for long amounts of time.
Megan was telling me the other night when she went to the R/S meeting that this one lady had a kid, about 2 sit beside her for basically the WHOLE BROADCAST................yeah................just sit there happily on the seat playing with ONE TOY.
Do you think there's something wrong with my kids?
My disciplining?
Any ideas?
Masaru CAN sit still.
Yuki however doesn't for very long periods of time.
What do all of you do to keep your kids under control during sacrament time?

Family time

The other day I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and peered over to the couch and Masaru and Dru were both giggling and had big smiles on their faces for about 3 minutes or so.
I walked over to have a look at what they were watching and it was the Cosby show.
I'm so glad they have that on re-runs.
I was brought up watching the Cosby's and wishing our fridge looked like theirs when it was opened. Unfortunately it never did.
How come they don't have any new shows on that Dru and Masaru can watch together and giggle that are not cartoons?
I know there's fun shows on like the Office and Seinfeld BUT they all are way over Masaru's head and they have sex content and sometimes not great morals for a 3 year old.
So does anyone know of a 'Cosby' type show that I don't know about that is safe for Masaru to watch that has wholesome activities and teaches respect to parents as well and having fun with your family?
Remember, we don't have cable!! Just your joe average, regular channels!
Why isn't something like this on?
Why isn't something like this popular and have all the magazines interviewing them for it?
The Cosby show WAS popular, would it be now?
What do you guys think?

Activity gone wrong!!

So Masaru is struggling. I think he's exerting all his, couped up energy, for whenever we go out. I try to explain to everyone that my kids really are good kids, but it's hard when they're both running a muck wherever we are.
So he obviously needs more than I'm doing with him. So I'm gonna start going to storytime and swimming and this co-op club Wed, Thurs, and Fridays. Hopefully this will help. I'm also gonna start pulling my 'school' stuff out and using an hour while Yuki's sleeping to do things with him until we hear from the pre-school.
You need to undersand, back in Bountiful, Masaru would play with his friends about 3 hours a day and it was all outside just running around and exerting a bunch of energy. Since being here he's doing nothing close to that and I really think it's affecting him.
So I went to Michaels to get this foam activity set but they didn't have any there. My mate Mandi did one with her son. I thought it'd be great and Masaru was excited. So we couldn't leave empty handed.............so I got a gingerbread HAUNTED HOUSE to do together.
We were super excited.
We got started and just to set the house up took 2 hours cause you gotta let the joints set for an hour each. So Masaru got bored with that.
Then we finally got onto doing the rest of it and he helped out a bit but got bored with that too once he found out he couldn't just eat all the lollies.

So here's the result. Hahahahhahaha. Masaru kept saying to me "Mum it's falling..............it's falling mum....................why's it falling?"
I was laughing so much.
Dru thinks it looks better.
I thought since I did such a good job of Yuki's cake that this'd be a 'peice of cake'. Can we see a patern here people. When Melissa starts getting prideful she gets humbled. And usually it has to do with her kids.

So it's hanging out on our table with our HALLOWEEN TREE with decorations. They're our two decorations for this year's Halloween. The place is too small and Yuki's too busy to put anything in a reachable position.
Oh well, it's the thought that counts right?

4th and 4th

So my mate Tiffany did this tag thing and what you do is go to your picture file and go to the fourth folder and open it and show the fourth picture and write about it.
So I went into my picture file to the 4th and 4th and found this.
Man I was laughing my head off.
Does anyone else think this is so funny? Or is it just me?
Look at his face!!!!
It's like he saw a ghost or something.
These were Masaru's 2 year old pic's we took at the park a year and a half ago.
This was not one of the ones we framed.
Maybe I should though. And when I'm having a bad day (like today) I can look at it and just start laughing hysterically.

So if you wanna join in, be my guest. I think it'd be fun to see the 4th picture of the 4th folder in everyone's computers.

Six Quirks

I really thought I'd gotten out of this one and was pretty happy about it.
I know I'm gonna get it from some people cause I basically thought their quirks were so strange.
So now here I am, having to confess or come up with some of mine.

I asked Dru and he gave me two
#1 I can't, not talk.
I said "So what's that suppose to mean?" And he seems to think that that's just it, I can't, not talk.
I know I'm pretty bad. To tell me that I wasn't allowed to talk all day would be like torture. Yet for some people, like Dru it'd be easy street. What is it? Why do I talk so much? What's my problem? Maybe I just think my opinion is so important it needs to be said. Which would mean I'm up myself.
Maybe I don't like silence, which makes sense, coming from a family of 7 and there ALWAYS being noise. I was brought up with whoever spoke or yelled the loudest got heard.
That might have something to do with it.
Maybe I think if I don't talk the world's going to end.
Truth is I love listening to people and their stories and beliefs etc. I love learning!
A lot of my talking is my ideas or questions spewing out and just plain random nothingness talks.
We were going down to Moab one time and I asked Dru what he was thinking and he said NOTHING. Now come on who out there actually is thinking about NOTHING?
We're all thinking something right?
Cause if we're not then I guess that could be another quirk, my mind is constantly thinking.
I could actually talk more, believe it or not.
So let me know if that can be a quirk too.
Who's thinking about nothing? Is this common?
Then Dru came up with another one so
#2 I think we figured out I am extremely impatient, like so much so we think it's a quirk. And here's why.
Whenever I read a book I read the last page first. Like in the last Harry Potter book. I read the last page to see if he was still alive. Then once I knew I could relax and enjoy the book.
I did the same with the Twilight books, read the last pages just to see.
A lot of times the last page doesn't make sense. So I don't know why I do it.
Also if I buy or recieve a gift BEFORE the actual birthday IT MUST BE OPENED. I remember I got Dru a present 2 days before and I was so excited he just had to open it RIGHT THEN AND THERE. I just couldn't wait. It'd go CRAZY. Luckily he's comply's with me and my quirkiness I guess. Then on his actual birthday I COMPLETELY forgot about it till dinner time.
Brooke sent Yuki a gift about a week early and I had all the intention in the world to wait till her birthday to open it. It lasted about 3 minutes and I was ripping it open.
Also Dru threw me a surprize party one year and I appreciated it but didn't really like it.
I was so upset at him that year for not thinking about me for my birthday and being so relaxed about things that I got so worked up I didn't enjoy the party, due to my being impatient for this surprize I guess.
I've got no problem finding out the score to a game before I watch it. I know, I'm nuts.
#3 If I'm eating meat and come across a piece of fat or grisle then I almost start throwing up right then and there and am completely put off the entire meal and can't eat.
I'm a very fussy meat eater.
#4 I can't have my leafy salad touching ANY foods. And this has just come about within the last year or so. And I don't know what my problem is.
#5 I talk with my hands. I can't help it. Maybe if someone would tie my hands up, I'd talk less.
#6 I can't do certain multitasks. I can't talk on the phone and chat with someone on the computer. I can't talk on the phone and then listen to someone else telling me to tell that person on the phone something without getting flustered.
I can't be watching a movie and listen to someone talking to me at the same time and get both!!
If I have to be focused on something I can't do the other thing.
So I can't study with noise.
I can talk on the phone and tidy the house because tidying the house takes no focus.
Anything to do with me having to do some focusing though and don't expect me to be able to do anything else.
So I guess I'm not a 'true' gifted woman.
Cause I'm told ALL woman can multitask.

Ok so I"m gonna ask Evette, Celeste and Jodi
I'd love to know their quirks!!

The Big 'ONE'

So today was my busiest day here in Moscow.
7am I had a meeting with the girls in Creekside apartments to sort out our Girls Night out events.
We're doing it once every two weeks at each of our places.
So we put all our names in a hat and I pulled out MY NAME!!
So looks like this Thursday I'm hosting our very first Girls Night Out!!
So that'll be a post.
9am we had a stake primary activity. Now I know my two kids aren't primary age BUT they have like 10 kids in the WHOLE stake so the nursery kids were invited.
Masaru and Yuki spent half their time at the activity and the other half in the nursery room playing.
They love it in there.
1pm I went to a baby shower for a girl 'Piper' in the ward while Dru looked after the kids, did some last minute shopping for me, and tidied the whole place!!
What a man!
4pm Yuki's VERY FIRST birthday party!!
So if you can't figure it out her cake was a haystack with chickens on it on some grass with the barnyard animals around it.
I thought it turned out great.

Dru helped me do it all and he was pretty excited about it. He loves helping with the kids birthday cakes and I think it's cute.
We had 8 adults and 2 little girls with us. Friends from the ward and school. It was great and we all got along brilliantly and had fun with each other.
The kids had fries and chicken nuggets!!
And us adults had hamburgers and I had a veggie platter for all of us, just like a trough of slops, but nicer looking!!
Yuki wasn't really into her party too much.
She didn't really care about the cake, or the candle, or blowing it out.
It just proves the point that this party was really for us adults to have an excuse to hang out and have some fun at Yuki's expense!!
She got a bath bubble blower from the Kent's, so hopefully her bathtimes will go better this second year than the first year. We put it on and she ran away and hugged me and wouldn't look at it. *Sigh* Hopefully it changes.
The neighbour, Brittanie got her this cute little yellow top, Auntie Brooke got her hair accessories and two outfits, Grandma got her books, Mum got her a card and says she's holding onto her 'present' until we go over for my brother wedding in November. And we got her 3 outfits, hair accessories and books.
I think she did really well.
Thanks everyone!!















So we gave her the top of the 'haystack' and she DIDN'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT.
I tried a few times but she was making faces and crying and putting her arms out for me, so finally I gave up and let her down. So the haystack never got eaten.
It's the first time she's tried cake and looks like she wasn't into it. So, oh well.
Maybe her second birthday will be different.
The kids played 'Pin the tail on the donkey' and 'Find the Barnyard animals'
I couldn't really find any barn yard animals though and so they were finding baby jungle animals!!
Kids don't care though.
I thought it was a HUGE success for the adults but like I said earlier...........................I honestly don't think Yuki was into it.
Oh well, she'll look cute in all her stuff.
Maybe I'll try some cake tomorrow.

Avoided it, I thought.

That's how Yoda from Star Wars would've said it!
So SOMEONE, and he shall remain nameless, put Yuki to bed last night with no PJ's on. I know, I know I should just appreciate the thought right?
Anyway I get woken up with a "Oh no, Yuki" from Dru and a "It's not my fault dad, it was Yuki's fault, not mine dad" from Masaru.
Now THAT'S never good.
Well Yuki had pooh's ALL OVER THE CRIB AND HERSELF!!!
I mean how come when this happens it's never just a small poop? Why is it the BIGGEST POOP THEY'VE DONE IN THEIR LIFE.
I mean honestly, I really think that she had done enough in there for 2 other kids!!
The only thing that wasn't covered in pooh was Brooke's quilt, and thank goodness for that!!
So all the toys, bumpers, sheet, 2 other quilts are in the washer RIGHT NOW.
You know it really is therapy writing about it, so thanks for listening and being, in a way, my therapist!!
So I got poop on my finger, once again!!
Masaru's also pooped twice this morning, I hope he's alright.
I HONESTLY thought I had avoided it and it would NEVER happen to me. I'm so stupid. The minute I get a little pride, BOOM, I've got poop on my finger or something like it.
Well it keeps me more humble, which I always need.
Man I'd be so prideful without my kids!!
I'd like to say though, and this is triumphant, that I did not harbour any ill feelings towards Yuki, or any anger!! So that's great.
I mean just look at her..............................who could be mad at that face..........................she's just so cute.
Even with pooh on her face!!!!

Swimming in Pullman

So the Moscow pools are closed for the year! WHO CLOSES THEIR POOLS RIGHT WHEN THE STUDENTS GET BACK INTO TOWN AND THEY COULD POTENTIALLY MAKE LOTS OF MONEY?
Ahhhhhhh Moscow, that's who.
So I go to pick up Megan and Gwen and realize that I forgot my suitcase with all our swim gear in it. It was the only bag that could fit all our things in it, plus it's got wheels so it's easier to pull around with Yuki in my arms!!
So I looked a little funny but it was worth it.
So we decided to go to the Pullman Aquatic Centre and give it a go. The kids were free, so we were sold.
Pullman is 8 miles out of Moscow BUT it's in a completely different state. The state of Washington!!
Ok now remember that Yuki screams the house down at every bath, and it's a race against the clock to get her cleaned and out of the bath without her going into a state of shock as she grips the side of the tub, tears streaming down her bright red face!!
So with that in mind, I had no idea how she was gonna do. But there's no way to really know unless you go for it and take her swimming.
We get there and I changed Yuki first, into this cute little number, and she decides she's going to try and get into the toilet stall with Megan trying to discretly do her business!!
That's all you need right, a kid poking their head under the door while your doing your stuff. Poor Megan!!
Then I get the two older kids together for a picture and Masaru does the, arm around the friend pose, to which Gwen wasnt' having a bar of. She kept pushing his arm off and Masaru was getting frustrated. It was pretty funny.

So I decided to get my own shot of Gwen and this is the best I could do. I just think this picture is so cute. Don't you just wanna squeeze her, mullet and all!!
Anyway we head out to the pool and no one was in their because there was a power surge and they were checking it out for us. So we waited patiently till all the lights were back on.
So Masaru jumps in and is loving it and I get in with Yuki and she was not impressed at all. She basically held onto me for 90% of the experience. She cried for maybe the first little bit and then settled for little wimpers and blowing rasberries on my arm!
Masaru almost drowned, right beside Megan, jokes Megan jokes, and I saved him. He really did a good job of saving himself actually he was kicking and bobbing up and down. Thank goodness for swimming lessons this past summer! He actually went quit pale for about 2 minutes, his lips were white as white. I'm guessing this was shock? Does that happen? Carrie might know. Anyway I taught him how to put his arms around the 'noodles' and he was fine the rest of the time.
We got kicked out of the 'kiddie' section and into the COLD big pool. I'm surprized the kids lasted as long as they did in the big pool. Masaru and Gwen just swam around with their noodles.
They had tons of toys for the kids, so that was good.
Pullman's pools are open ALL YEAR ROUND, too. So maybe I'll make it a habbit so Yuki can get used to it. Otherwise this is gonna be a serious problem.
All and all it was fun, I think and I'll for sure be going back.
It's just a matter of figuring out their schedules which change EVERYDAY because of various classes!!

The Moscow Fair!

The fair went from Thursday to Sunday so we went a couple of times. The first day we met Megan and Gwen and just went to see the animals.
Masaru's favourite animal is the pig, or piggie, as he calls them. They were having competitions and he thought that was pretty cool.
I'm telling ya, they were the cleanest, best looking pigs I've seen!!
It was pretty interesting.
They had a horse, cows, rabbits, chickens, geese, ducks, ducklings, rosters, chicks, sheep, bulls and of course the pigs.
I think it's so awesome for kids to see these animals up close and personal.
We then had some lunch in the park.
This day was Masaru's first encounter with a port-a-loo. I think that's what they call it here, or is that what they call it in NZ?
Anyway it took him about 4 times going to it to actually do his business in there.
He looked down at the blue liquid at the bottom of the toilet and said, "Mum there's fishies down there mum"
I didn't have the heart to tell him the 'fishies' were poop from other humans. So gross man.
Anyway then the whole family, so Dru, went on Saturday night and we did the rides.
It was a lot more expensive than the one in Bountiful but Masaru had so much fun it was worth it.


Here he is going on the big slide. I can't believe he did this by himself. There's me at the top. Initially he went by himself but he couln't figure out how to get the HUGE black mat on the slide and then get himself on it as well. So I quickly went up there and helped him and he waved all the way down and loved it.
ONE TURN FOR $3.
I'm not bitter!!!















Then here he is on his helicopter ride. Evertime he would go past up he'd lean
out with his hand and wave at us.
He was having the time of his life!
So cute.













Then here he is on the 'roller coaster' giving us a wave.
They were all pretty budget but he LOVED them and that's the important thing.
We met the Kent's afterwards and finished out night out at Mac Donalds with the kids playing in the playground there while Dru and Jake talked Law!!!
Fun stuff.






Oh and the answer to the eggs is 3 freshest, 4 oldest.
Looks like I'll be having eggs at a few of your houses.

Do you know eggs?

So we were at the town fair last night, that post is coming soon, and I saw this poster.
I think I know a thing or two about eggs, so I gave it a go.
Turns out I got both questions right on the button.
Yaaaaa for me.
So I wanna see if there's any other eggs knowers out there.
I don't think whoever was doing the poster knew how the number thing worked, but oh well, it's a small town and no one really cared!
So peeps, tell me out of 1 2 4 and 3 which one is the oldest and which one is the freshest?
Let's see who's gonna make me the freshest scrambled eggs!

The Nakaya's are on the map!

So Carrie told me about making your blog into a book on Blurb.com! I looked into it and downloaded their stuff and played around with it.

So all of my posts from the blog were transferred onto their programme and automatically put into book format. I just went through and played with each page so it looked how I wanted it to.

And this is the result! Our very own Nakaya book. I love it and so does Masaru. He went through it and saw pictures of himself and laughed and pointed. It was wonderful to see. It's his new favourite book.

So now the last year and a half of our lives are documented in this book. We can put it on the bookshelf and refer to it as many times as we want. I'm sure it'll be a hit for future generations as well.
I'm pretty excited about it and will do it with my other blogs for sure.
Pretty cool aye.
Maybe I'll write my own Childrens book. I've always wanted to do one!!!

You're stuck with me now America!!!

I'M A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
It's official people so now, whether you like it or not, your stuck with me.
No more having to deal with the government. That's the most favourite part of it for me.
They weren't very nice, sometimes, and it was a tough process and it's been a long time coming but today I pledged my life to this country and now it's all documented and I have the paper to prove it!
I CAN VOTE!!!
I'm loving that one. And I can hold a fed. job now, cause, you know, I'm gunning to be FBI, 'secret agent Melissa is on the case.'
It was a whirlwind 24 hours but it's done, finished, over. And thank goodness.
I, along with 749 others, became a citizen and another 750 after us.
I didn't think I would, but I actually got a little emotional at the ceremony.
I just saw it as a chore, something to scratch off the list. But to see all those people and hear their stories was great.
So write it all down on your calendars people.............................Melissa Jeane Nakaya, official United States citizen, starting....................................now!
Look out America!

My Dad

So in New Zealand today it's father's day. So I thought I'd write a little about my dad.
Suposedly I look like my dad. Big round head, cheeky smile and huge calf muscles!
I also get my stubborness, wild attitude and sweet tooth from him.
His birthday is March 14th, a little after Masaru and all he ever wanted was lollies (candy) or fizzy (soda) for his birthdays.
He loved anything we made for him and kept all of it. All on his dutchess in the room.
Dad said when I was born he almost threw up when they cut the ambilical chord.
He also said it took a day or two to get feeling back in his hand from mum squeezing it so hard during child birth.
He never said anything to mum though. Nice work dad.
He was super fast at sprinting as a kid and won all the races. He broke both his front teeth biting down on a gobstopper as a child so has always had fake ones.
He's the middle child and his parents never really liked him much.
He could never please them and they were a tough crowd. I always think that bothered my father and in a way I resent my grandparents for it.
He has two older brothers and a younger sister and a brother who never made it!
His grandparents meet over in England during the war. Grandad was English and Nana was Welsh.
Dad got kicked out of school at the ripe old age of 14. He shot a burning arrow and it went through the school bus.
His father was a principal!!!
Dad loved playing tricks on everyone. You know like wrap cow poop up in a nice box and put it out on the road and wait in the bushes at the side of the road for someone to pick it up.
He always said he laughs when he can imagine them opening it up and the stench.
He used to do the same thing with a box on the front porch and have a string attached to it and when they bent down pull it and watch them fall over then run away laughing with his mates.
My dad was all trouble.
He also joined the army.
Lots of good stories came outt've those few years!
Funnily enough I almost got kicked out of school at the ripe old age of 14 as well. It wasn't for a burning arrow though. Just a bad attitude and smart mouth (shock, horror, gasp, I know)
Nobody loved us kids more than dad did. He always wanted to be around us.
He was our hero.
He was so strong and tough. I mean he could open up a bottle just with his eye!! We couldn't believe it.
I didn't find out the trick till many years later.
We could punch him in the tummy and he didn't flinch. He could hold two of us hanging on his huge biceps!!!
Dad was the toughest guy I knew.
I always felt safe with him around as a child.
Dad was the emotional one.
I remember always cringing as he stepped up to the pulpit. He had a firm testimony and always cried.
So I cried.
How embarrassing!!
Thanks dad.
Dad loved Christmas. He loved sneaking around and putting all our presents on the end of our beds.
One time to 'help' us catch Santa he helped us set us a rope in the hallway so we could trip him up.
We never did catch Santa. Hmmmmmmmmmm
We'd run into their room early as 5am in the morning and dad was up and more excited than us it seemed like.
He'd rub his hands together really fast and get all anxious for us to open them all up.
He got us really excited.
No one can make this one weird noise dad can. He'd use it to jump out of the bushes to scare the hell outt've us.
It worked........................time and time and..................time and time..............again!
Dad was a brilliant teacher. He could have a whole class of naughty kids silently mesmorized by one of his made up stories.
He always held a folder like he was reading it. Then the kids would go up and snatch the folder out of his hand and there was nothing in it.
He was the best story teller I knew. I still have yet to meet a better one.
And he would tell us stories almost every night in bed.
On Saturday mornings we used to sprint into his room and duck under the covers me on one side of his chest and llewellyn on the other and sarah on his tummy and beg him to tell us stories for about an hour.
He always did. Every time.
We were the most important thing to dad.
He always stuck up for us. When a neighbour thought we were naughty, a teacher or someone at church, dad would always be on our side.
A couple of Sunday nights we stayed up till midnight and gathered all our change and walked down to the local store to buy lollies AFTER the sabbath.
We would walk to church with him and play games with the cars passing by.
It was the best.
We were poor but not in love.
Dad did all he could to make sure we had what we needed. He was a hard worker.
Dad loved mum.
Dad was our biggest fan. No matter where we played or what we were playing dad was always there in the crowd.
He also would go as far as being our coach.
How embarrassing.
Thanks dad.
When we became teenages it was a little harder for dad cause he wasn't our hero as much anymore. I think it really hurt.
I had a couple of doozie fights with him.
You know, you can't have two blazing personalities without a couple of blazing fights.
If things were different and he was able to have been around he would've realized that he would've been our hero again.
He would've been the best grandad to our kids. The stories he would make up.
It'd be a hoot.
He'd love Dru and I can't wait for us to be together again as a family and to watch him interact with my family again.
He was just a small man physically but HUGE in every other way.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD.
Love your favourite child
(Hey it's my blog, I can say what I want right!!)

Bestest, cheapest, easiest?

So Yuki's big 'number one' birthday is coming up.
About the only thing I really want to do for my children EVERY year is make them an awesome cake.
So far so good with Masaru.
We had the fish for 1st (Sorry don't have a pic, it looked like the fish from the story 'rainbow fish' it was a piece of art, just if I do say so myself, and my favourite)
We had the 2 for 2nd
We had the Thomas for 3rd
But I have another child who's a different sex.
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I was wondering if all of you out their had any awesome ideas for a cheap and easy but VERY BEAUTIFUL little girls cake for the most beautiful little girl in my life!!

WinCo vs Safeway

There's this place here called 'WinCo' and it's a grocery store. I had never heard of it before.
There's also a Safeway.
Anyway WinCo is sooooooooooooo cheap it's not even funny.
Safeway is soooooooooooooooooo expensive it's not even funny.
You know it really surprises me that anyone would even consider shopping at safeway here in Moscow.
I mean why wouldn't you want cheaper food that's the same?
Why, if people have a choice, do they pay $1 more FOR THE SAME THING?
Please tell me cause I don't understand it.
WinCo is my new best friend.

Trouble?

Is anyone having problems seeing my blog and being able to comment?
I've had a friend say it blinks and she tries to comment and her computer shuts down?
Weird.
So if your having problems, please let me know!

Ahhhhhh

I hate linolium!!

More than wheat feilds?

Since seeing this chair, one of the first days here, I've wanted to get a pic of the kids! It's taken about 2 weeks but we finally did it yesterday.
I wonder how many photo's have been taken up here? Probably thousands over the years.
I told Dru we should do our Christmas, family photo on it. I think it'd be awesome. You wouldn't really see our faces properly. Maybe that's a good thing!!
Anyway things here are going good.
We've applied for food stamps, medicaide and WIC. So if we get all of those it'll help out for sure. We've got a bunch of paperwork to still hand in by the end of September!! Then they'll let us know.
The more help the better I say. We're already gonna owe the government around 100k when's all said and done, with some interest, so in return if the government can help us out, my arms are wide open baby, let the giving begin!

The weather's been CRAAAAAAAAAAAZY!! (That's just for you Laura)
One day it's 100 the next it's 50 the next 70, raining, windy, sunshine! It's a lot like my personality really.
So we get up in the morning and look outside to see what kinds of things we can accomplish for the day.
This is Yuki in her fluffy princess hat, she looks pretty happy about it aye. We put it on and she gave us the biggest scowl. I could read her thoughts immediatley "What the @#$% is this thing your putting on my head?" So it didn't last long.
Basically at church Yuki is on the village plan and we just let her wander......................pretty much wherever she wants. Everyone ooooo's and aaaaaaa's at her so we figure we'll use it for as many weeks as we can. She's better behaved for others than her own parents. So if they're all ok with it, I sure am. Now she's walking it's 'no holds barred!' (Just for all you wrestling fans.)

So just incase your wondering.......................yes this is Masaru. It was suppose to be a cute mask that turned into a kind of horror mask if you ask me. But we won't tell Masaru and try to keep it away from the neighbourhood kids!! He said he wanted to show all his 'mates' and began to rattle them all off. Poor Masaru, I feel really bad for him cause I haven't really made too much of an effort to get him any playdates yet. We've hung out with Gwen a few times, which has been great. Masaru towers over her though. It's pretty funny. It's like Gigantor and his little friend.
Megan and I went to the park the other day and looked in the phone book for them all. So we choose one that this guy told me about, said it was THE BEST and all this other stuff. Megan gets there first and calls me and is like "Ah so I'm here and there's a tire swing and some dirt" I was cracking up and we ended up going to another one. It was nice cause Megan ended up feeding our family. Thanks Megan.

Here's the law school. It's really pretty and really small. I don't know how they have three years worth of classes going on in there all at the same time! It's working though so they've got it figured out I'm guessing.
Dru looks so handsome every morning when he goes to school. It's a big change from kissing him goodbye in his construction clothes. I'm waiting with baited breath to see if he puts on any weight!!!! So far he looks the same.
Looks like I'm still alone in the battle of the bulge!!
Speaking of which I just went to the gym today for the first time in HOW LONG? I joined the rec centre. It's really nice. I worked out on this weird machine and it felt like I was leaping over clouds and getting a work out at the same time!!
I also am riding the SCOOTER. I was really scared and Dru and I practiced last night in the car park when the kids were sleeping.
So I didn't get much sleep last night cause of the worry about the drive in the scooter.
I'm happy to announce, however, that I'm home and safe and it was great!
We've got a BBQ with all the law students tonight. We're thinking of bringing the cricket set!!
I've got enrichment tomorrow night and we've got a stake activity this friday night. So it's a busy week for us.
I'll let ya know how it goes.
Love you guys.