He likes to crawling

Luke has a new favorite thing to do--"crawling under the bed". Paul and Luke are playing this game all the time.

And according to Paul, Luke gets stuck under the bed sometimes! Yes, he needs more training--hahaha

Before the Christmas Holiday

Before we are going to visit Mom and Dad in Virginia Beach for Christmas, each of us wanted to do things.

Paul and Luke;


Paul and Luke were walking around outside and enjoying the snow and cold air--because we are not sure when we get back from Virginia, we might not have any snow!

And me;
Time to clean up our balcony!! We got A LOT of snow there few days and we are worry that while we are gone if we get more snow, our balcony might crash! This kind of work reminds me of Japan... It's much easier here, but still I had a good exercise! And here is "Before" and "After" picture (^-^)

"Before"
"After"
Our work is done. We are ready to go to see Mom and Dad!

Heavy snow

We got our first snow early in December. At that time I was excited and took some pictures.

And this is today... it's start snowing very hard, is this the start of a snowy winter?

Luke is having a great time in the snow (^-^)

Palm Tree Project

I've been thinking about decorating Luke's room for long time. Paul and I love the beach, so at first we thought we would like to do a beach theme in his room, but there is a problem... Luke's room wall color is light green (-_-) We were considering other options, and finally decided to do with tropical jungle theme!

Now, I'm thinking about how to decorate for that theme. I decided to plant a palm tree in this room, but of course not a real one--"Fabric Palm Tree". I have no idea how to make one, but here what I did:

First thing I need to do is sketch a Palm Tree, right?
I got the palm tree design from a photo on the Internet and changed it a little. It felt so good to sketch on the wall directly! I always wanted to paint on the wall--this is not quite same--but a little dream come true (^0^)

Next, I traced the sketch and made a pattern. I put numbers each patterns, so that I can keep tack of them (because I ended up with so many pieces!).
At this point, i still hadn't figured out how to put all of it together and make it look just like the sketch. But figuring out is always a fun part of creation process for me.

I will keep you updated this project. I hope it will turn out nice (^-^)

First babysit

I never did babysitting in my youth, but today I did!--well , I was very nervous even thought I have a child now but still don't know what to do for other peoples children. But it turned out to be a very fun day (^-^)

Luke also had fun time with them--play with toys (Luke usually does not play with toys much), running around after each other and ating popcorn!! Maybe I should babysit more often.

Thanksgiving in Washington DC!

We visited Paul's sister at Washington DC this Thanksgiving. We were there for only a few days, but we had such a wonderful time. Luke had such a great time with his cousins!

Play date

My Japanese friend, Yuka came over at our house today for a "play date" with our children. Her daughter, Ayaka is getting big!!! I can't believe that time goes by so quickly --- I thought she was little tiny baby until yesterday, so does Luke... My little Luke is no longer a "little baby" --- he is walking like a gentleman, running around like a little monkey, and screaming like a crazy kid!

Yes, he is a lot of fun and keep me busy (^v^)

Since both of Ayaka's parents are Japanese, I'm hoping that Luke will practice Japanese with Ayaka when they are start talking --- this is his mother's little wish (^-^)

Birthday Party

Luke was invited a birthday party --- this is first invited party for Luke and ME!! Of course I didn't know what to do... what kinds of gift we should buy ,what to wear, should be there on time or a little early??? I know I sound like a crazy person, but still so many things are a mystery in a different culture and country! But I'm leaning (^-^)

Anyway, Olivia's party was fun! Sometimes you can't see so many cultures in this small town of Boone, but here at the birthday at Playhouse, there were multiple cultures! Olivia's mother is Puerto Rican and her father is Italian. And they used to live in Germany. It was very interesting conversation at the party!

Luke was very much enjoying painting, AND birthday cake (of course... sweet tooth...). It was a very fun first time experience (^-^)

Project is done!

My latest project -- making Luke's slippers (or room shoes) -- is done (^-^) It was a very fun project and, I think, they turn out not too bad. I had to fix the shoes pattern twice... I realized the first shoes that I was working on were a bit too small for Luke's feet. So, I had to start over again. But this one in the picture, fit Luke's feet perfectly -- yea, finally!

Luke likes bears, so I sewed a little bear face on the sole of his shoes as an accent -- when he looks at the bear, Luke makes his bear sound "Gaaaoooooo"... I think he likes it.

My request this year from Santa Claus (Paul) is for a sewing machine for Christmas. If I get the machine, I can make more of these shoes easily -- no more hand sewing... well, actually I like to hand sew, but it sure makes it easier using a machine.

Ga-Ga

We have a construction project going on outside our town house -- they are fixing our parking lot. Luke and I are now hanging out around the door a lot, sitting on the stairs and watching them work. We lead an interesting life ;)

Luke's favorite machine is the backhoe -- We call it "ga-ga". I didn't know how to say in English, but I remember my two-year-old nephew in Japan calls it "ga-ga" too. It is easy for both of us (^-^)
We think the wooden walls were getting rotten, so they had to replace the wooden beams. I was so surprised how quickly they replace them! I'm enjoyed watching their work as much as Luke -- hahaha. Construction workers are very nice. Every time they saw us watching from the glass door, they waived to us (well, to Luke). I can't wait for all of this to finish so we can park our car in front of the house again!