Aquarium-ne

With the yucky weather this weekend, we opted out of the Nago Cherry Blossom festival, and opted in to the aquarium this weekend.  Reina loved it.  I have to admit, doing anything with a 2 year old is fun.  Everything is new and exciting.  Reina loved the touch pool - she didn't even hesitate (unlike Chris).  She touched all of the star-fish and even a sea cucumber.  She also correctly identified Nemo (aka clown fish) and saw her first real shark and sea turtle.  We also bought her a very expensive, but adorable shirt that she points out is a shark in the picture.

Reina holding the star fish.

Reina pointing out the shark on her new shirt.

Reina has a cute new habit she started....adding "ne" to the ending of her words. Kind of like, "oishi-ne." It kind of adds emphasis to whatever you might be saying, "this is good, right?!" Reina adds it to the end of "pee-pee" which she must get from daycare.  She also says, "iipai" if she doesn't have to go to the bathroom. "Iipai" means "I'm full," so I'm not sure how this word fits into not needing to go to the bathroom.

Chris sleeping with Skyla

The finished stroller - Reina couldn't wait to get in.

The very large tank at the aquarium.  

Reina loves to visit baby Skyla.  Plus, Kaori isn't supposed to leave the house until Skyla is one month, so she is house bound (until this weekend).  This, I think, is more of cultural tradition.  Anyhow, Chris, Reina, and I went over after school this past week and helped with Skyla.  Chris held her, while the rest of us put together Kaori's new stroller system.  Chris passed out with Skyla, just like old times (aka Reina and him).

Determined

I've posted about my quilt before, but I felt that I needed an update.  I apologize in advance, if any of this is a repeat!

On my bucket list (which is still growing mind you), I've always dreamed of making a quilt.  Mrs. Halley, one of my best-friend's moms growing up, was an avid quilter.  Jessica and I would spend hours in her sewing "room" at the bottom of her Stearly Heights house making clothes for our dolls and horses.  So, I had the inspiration from early on to make a quilt.  Unfortunatly I lacked the motivation, dedication and skills needed to actually make a quilt.  Since Reina, I've finally found some motivation (I still lack the skills, and I certainly have less time now, but I'm not getting any younger).  As soon as I saw THIS  quilt, I knew that it was perfect for what I wanted to do with my favorite, but too small used Reina clothes.

Playing with her kitchen

I've since completed 25 squares and am half way done.  I usually get about two squares while Reina naps on the weekend, and occasionally I'll finish some after she goes to bed.  My next dilema is what to do with the back and edge after the squares are complete.  Should I go edgeless, like my inspiration picture did (and coincidently most string quilts)? I found hardly any with an edge, but I think after looking I actually like it better without an edge. Do you KNOW what that means? MORE squares.  Ack.  Alright, I just did the math, and if I want to make a twin sized quilt (and I WILL), I need it to be 8 (little) squares wide and 10 squares long.  Oh man.  80 squares. I've finished 25.  Maybe it will be smaller after all, that is too many.  Well, we'll see what happens. I'm going to have to cut up more clothes.

Putting Dolly in the stroller.

There isn't much new going on in our house. We're still working on potty training, which means Reina is in a warm top and not much on the bottom.  We have to put her in a diaper during sleeping times and when we go out, as she still doesn't quite get it.  But, when we're at home, she's pretty good at peeing on the potty when we remind her.  Not much else, I'll just put in a few pictures!

The First Bonfire

Reina's flashlight!

Reina and Terry

Cassidy DeVries in front of over 100 Xmas trees

Every year there is an annual bonfire (at least, we found this out last year), from our old friend's the DeVries (well, they are older than us, and their kids have babysat Reina the most at this point...but old since they knew our parents).  They invited us last year to go camping and watch the Xmas trees burn, but Reina was only 1 way back then, and had just gotten several shots, so a cold beach with lots of inebriated people, didn't sound like a good combo.  BUT, this year - it sounded like great fun. I couldn't convice Chris to camp, but I did make a deal with him (I said I'd drive), and off we went.  We packed up the car with all sorts of goodies....blankets, chairs, and my good friend Terry, and off we went.  We went to a beach, on Miyagi-jima (same island chain where Chris and I were not a month ago)and we had a very good time, despite Reina falling asleep on my shoulder for the first time (other babies do this in the store, on walks...I just don't get it...how do they fall asleep - I think the key is getting them tired enough). Reina was definitely tired enough, one of only a handful of times she's been up way past her bedtime.

Finishing off their soba.

In other news, Reina continues to be a silly toddler.  She is increasingly independent, is adding more and more words to her vocabulary, and copies everything everyone else does.  Yesterday, I caught her on camera (as she's been doing this with her cereal milk for months), slurping up soba, just like Dad.

The best party I've ever thrown!

Reina's expression during "Happy Birthday"

We had Reina's 2nd birthday party today.  It couldn't have gone any better.  In attendance were Emily and William (Emily goes to Reina's daycare and her dad, Brent, used to work with Chris), Emme (whose mom I work with), Albert, Andrew, and Malia Calamug (our old down-stairs neighbors), and Ako and Rana (our Japanese next-door neighbors).  Now, I've not been to too many birthday parties, so I was kind-of guessing what type of activities to have and what to eat.  It turned out perfect. We had golf, bowling, chalk, bubbles, and soccer outside, and some drawing and of course all of Reina's other toys inside.  The party started at 3pm, so we hadn't planned on much more than finger foods. It ended up being quite the spread, with chips, mikans, fruits, veggies, sushi, gyoza...and the Calamugs brought Popeyes (which is always good).  The kids had a great time playing outside; it made me really appreciate our house and nice yard.

The best picture of all of the kiddos!

I think I'm going to go ahead and say I've never seen Reina happier. We had been talking up the birthday party for a week or so now. I even stopped by the library and found two birthday books.  We practiced singing, blowing out the candles, and giving out the party favors for when everyone arrived. I think Reina's favorite part (aside from playing with everyone), was when we all sang Happy Birthday to her.  She had the biggest smile.  You could just tell she felt special. It was....precious.  She also loved opening her presents and wanted to play with each of them rather than opening the next one.  She thanked everyone and made sure to say good-bye to everyone. She made me proud.

The slideshow has been updated, so that most of the pictures in the January slideshow are from her party.  Hopefully they can say, what I cannot put into words.