Merry, Merry, Christmas

Hanging a candy cane

Finished Xmas tree

Did I mention how excited I am about Christmas.  We bought our first fake Christmas tree, since real ones don't last too long here.  The choices at the BX were limited, but I am REALLY really pleased with it.  Per my Mom's recommendation, we got one with lights built in, and it was much easier to put together and it still looks great. Reina really enjoyed putting up the ornaments (and she still does).   And after a talk about not taking the bows off of the presents, Reina has left most of the tree alone.  She loves talking about Christmas trees and santas, and even requested a christmas movie yesterday.  This makes me want all those Christmas movies I grew up with (and by all I mean, Rudolf in cartoon).   It is so fun to share the Christmas spirit with a little one.  I tried to get some cool, creative shots, but I think perhaps they just turned out bad!  Check the slideshow for more.

Creative? Or just a bad picture?

Jeff arrived safely last Sunday evening, and has been able to pick up Reina for half-days of daycare.  This has been great since Reina sleeps so much better at home, and of course she gets to spend some time with Grandpa.  We haven't had too much time to get out and get pictures yet, since we worked all week, but we will. We are planning another trip to Yomitan village today (per uncle Paul's request) and perhaps I'll get some more shots from there with Grandpa.

Since Romeni was here, I finally got started on one of my "life" projects (as in, I will do this once in my lifetime).  I am making a quilt for Reina from her old baby clothes.  Its cool because there is a story about each different fabric, that Chris and I can tell Reina about.  It has gone pretty well, and hopefully it will be done in time for Reina's tenth birthday!   Here is a shot of what I've finished thus far.  Thanks to Romeni for helping me get started.

La la la...

I've been having a hard time making these posts exciting, which I'm not sure why I'm compelled to even do.  I read other blogs, and am always so impressed with their writing skill, or there quick wit.  But, we still have things to report, so I will just do that.

Kiln smoking at Yomitan

In preparation for Christmas, we went to Yomitan Pottery "village" to look around.  I got some cute pictures of Reina running around with a kiln smoking in the background (don't worry, the building isn't on fire!).  We also had a bbq to try ribs on our own and they turned out fabulous.  We had some friends over (for Reina too) and I think everyone had a great time.

"Inai, inai....BAH"

Recently, Reina has been trying to do "peace" with her fingers, since many other people (especially Japanese) do it often in photos. So far, Reina essentially just holds up both hands with spread fingers! Silly girl.  I've also figured out how to get Reina to smile for pictures (rather than squint)....you just have to pretend like you are playing peekaboo, and then she laughs!

Grandpa Jeff comes in from England tonight.  We're all excited to see him and share this Christmas with him. I'm really excited to put up the tree tomorrow night.  I know Reina is going to love it.

Leg hug for Daddy

Sorry for the randomness.

Peace (Reina's best so far)

Christmas!

I"m so excited for Christmas this year. I think Reina is just going to love it. She already likes all the singing and Christmas trees...and I am pretty sure she's going to love all the new toys, etc.  We got her a play kitchen for Christmas (with accessories) and then legos and a big puzzle (man does she LOVE puzzles) for her Birthday (having these two holidays close together sucks by they way).  I used to not like since I would get one gift for both holidays (since my birthday is the 28th).  But now, with Reina, we get TONS of toys in Dec/Jan and then nothing the rest of the year (this is all relative of course - Reina is PLENTY spoiled; And lets be real here...I SHOULD NOT BE complaining about this).  A july birthday would have been much more convenient.

At the zoo

Feeding the fish

Merry Christmas (she is actually learning to kick the ball!)

ANyhow.  I dont' have much else to say (or complain about). Dad and Romeni left last Tuesday and I know Reina misses them during the day (since she got to spend all day with them). I think she mainly misses sleeping in (which she of course does not do on the weekend) since several mornings last week she said "ne ne" or "sleepy" after Chris went and got her (and then she pointed back to her bed).  The weekend before Dad left we went to the zoo. Reina loved it. She mostly loved feeding the fish, looking at the giraffes and going on some of the kiddie rides.

Next weekend we are looking forwards to spending about two weeks with Grandpa Jeff.  Reina is so lucky to have so many dotting relatives.