Oh the Horror!

I was merrily cutting up the veggies and chicken for dinner, and I knew Clark was pulling the spices down, but didn't think much of it, until I turned my head and saw this!



It turns out that he had chanced upon the red food coloring. I was freaking out because I thought he was bleeding. I couldn't think of anything that was sharp there(I keep the kitchen as baby proof as possible), and was at a loss as to how he got cut and was still smiling. Guess it helps that it was dye instead of blood.

Why I love living here..

...summed up pretty well in this article. I especially like the last few points.

hint: We live in the Yokohama area.



Can you detect the sarcasm?

Church was called on account of rain!

Wow, Japan, the land of natural disasters. Yesterday we had 2 out of three hours of Church canceled because of a typhoon hitting the area, then this morning there was a large (6.8) earthquake in Niigata Prefecture. We are far enough away that we didn't even feel it, but it is really rough because that place was hit with bad quakes back in 2004. We'd been feeling more small quakes than usual for a few weeks, and they got the worst of it. We'll check in with Masaki's Aunt and Uncle next door to see if his cousin and her family are OK. She and her two kids are supposed to oget here on Saturday for a week long visit.

Other than that we sent off Grandma to the airport today, and she should just now be entering the friendly skies. We had a good time having her around, and once she got over jet lag and lack of sleep she was absolutely an angel around the house. Clark really enjoyed playing with her and I think he'll be in for a bit of a surprise when he discovers she isn't waiting for him in the living room anymore.

We had a fun Saturday shopping....because what do you do when it is pouring outside? You go to the mall of course!

So here is a sampling of what Grandma saw from her perspective(we got pictures from her camera)

I'm crafty...AND I get around

...Japan that is. (For those who don't know, that is a line from the Beastie Boys)

So we are going for our next big adventure tomorrow. We are going to the Enoshima Island aquarium. We were going to go to Hakone but since it is likely to be raining and yucky we are going to do something a bit less outside with our friend Yuko from church(speaks great English and she and mom totally hit it off). We've had two days to recover from our trip to Tachikawa, so our sleeping, or rather Clark's sleeping, is starting to look better.




That was the getting around part, now the crafty part. I made cake for mom's birthday, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was well recieved. Instead of oil I used yogurt and it was a very complimentary taste. Today while my boys were sleeping(Masaki fell asleep when Clark went to bed) I got to do this little project I've been wanting to do.



oopp! Masaki's awake, poor guy, hope he can fall back asleep.

Uno, Ichi, Eins, One!

That's right! The munchkin turned one today! Happy day for Clarky. Daddy had a busy day, but was able to spend some time in the morning playing with Clark and watching him discover his presents. Then durring his nap two packages came, one from Great Aunt Michiko and one from Obaachan and Ojiichan. I must say everything he has recieved was a big hit. He loves it all. I'll let the pictures do the talking!


















Oh on more thing though. I made a cake without eggs from barley flour, pumpkin, apple sauce, milk, vanilla、honey and baking powder. I wasn't too keen on it, but he loved it! Also loved the frozen mango yogurt(no sugar added). Yea for baby!

DisneyLand!!

Grandma got into town on Thursday, so we of course had to go to the happiest Japanese place on earth to celebrate. We rode on Small World twice, Dumbo, The Haunted Mansion, TeaCups, and Snow White together. He really wanted to touch Dumbo, but wasn't as keen about riding on it. We did discover that Snow White is a BIG NO for him. It was way too scary. I guess next time Peter Pan will be worth the longer wait.













Today we are off to Tachikawa to visit Grandma's place of birth...it should be fun!


Oh and I got some of my cloth diaper covers in the mail! YEAH!

One more thing, look at this rad Mango! Go go mango leaves!



Ok, I lied, two more things, Sunday we got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Noyes. We were very surprised! We opened it up and Clark immediately fell in love with the Cookie Monster/Elmo cell phone. He'd seen a baby cell a few days earlier and I was starting to look for one for him, and viola! One came in the mail. Thanks for listening to the spirit Grandma and Grandpa!

On the Farm

Not much to report. My house is clean, thanks to the lovely sister missionaries. I fed them homemade pizza, they cleaned my shower for me (I can't do it while Clark sleeps or he'll wake up, everything else I can handle on my own). They also washed the lunch dishes, so I had time to pot the mango seed! YEAH! I'll take a picture in a few days after I know it has survived the transplant. In the mean time I'll show you how tropical this part of Japan is becoming. We are in the midst of rainy season so it is especially green and lush here(it finally started...thank goodness!), but I need to show off this.




I started this tree last year from an avocado seed. I love trying to get avocado seeds to grow. Usually they'll do ok, and I can have a bush for a few years, but NOTHING like this. This tree sprouted...only sprouted...shortly before Clark was born, and this is what it looks like now. It is freaking growing branches! Holy Snappers! I am stoked. Wish us luck.

Oh and hey, if anyone knows why all the flowers fell off of my zucchini plant...let me know...does anyone think it was bugs, or does that naturally happen sometime?