What rabbit?

This past weekend, Hana's preschool had their Christmas pageant. Hana was a bunny rabbit in her portion of the program. She came home today with her little rabbit hat on her head and has been wearing it around the house since then. After dinner Daddy and Hana were playing. Daddy had a huge cardboard tube, that came from the middle of a roll of wrapping paper and he was pretending to use it as a fighting stick. This is the conversation that took place...

Daddy: "Mommy, you need to wrap some more presents so that we can have another stick!" (so that he and Hana can pretend to fight together)
Mommy: "Well from what I understand, you have a present that needs to be wrapped!" (One for me that has been sitting in a bag in the hallway for a few days! LOL)
Daddy: "Oh, yea, I do!"
Mommy: "So go get it out and wrap it!"
Hana: "Huuuhhhhhhh? What rabbit?"

LOL!!!! get it?

Funny line for the day...

Mommy: "Okay Hana, bath is ready!"
Hana: "ummmmm, how 'bout next week Mommy?"

Hilarious laughter erupts from the adults in the room!

Momma...

This girl is a TALKER! It seems especially so lately. She is full of questions and loves to have a conversation. I wish I could keep a written record of all the cute things she says.

Last night at 4a.m. Hana began hollaring out for me. I went and got her and put her in bed with us cause she was a little scared. She started asking random questions and for a good 30 minutes the conversation went on like this...

Hana: Momma, how you spell Mommy?
Mommy: "m-o-m-m-y"
Hana: Wow that's lots of M's!

Slight pause, maybe she's going to go to sleep???

Hana: Momma, that a person in that closet?
Mommy: No that's just Mommy's clothes
Hana: Momma, what's that?
Mommy: That's the ceiling fan.
Hana: Why?
Mommy: So we can keep cool in the summer.

Slight pause, maybe she's going to go to sleep???

Hana: Momma, how you spell Robynn?
Mommy: r-o-b-y-n-n
Hana: How you say inhaler in commo estada? (commo estada - Spanish)
Mommy: I don't know you have to ask Daddy.
Hana: Daddy, how you say inhaler in... Momma, what that words?
Mommy: Spanish
Hana: Daddy, how you say inhaler in that Spinach?
(Mommy chuckles, Daddy answers in a groggy voice)

Slight pause, maybe she's gonna go to sleep????

Hana: Momma, what's that light over there?
Mommy: That's the apartment building outside.

etc. etc. etc. That went on for like 30 minutes before I finally told her it is time to try to fall asleep. She kissed Mommy and Daddy good night and eventually went to sleep.

So fun to talk to my girl, but I prefer conversations in the daytime, not at 4 a.m.

Today when she got home from preschool she said...
"Mommy, I love you!" I said thank you and she said, "THAT is a present!" I agreed that her love is surely a precious present to Mommy!

Last night as I was taking her up to bed, she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and said, "Mommy, you my friend and I'm your friend! YOU'RE my BEST friend!" Mommy's heart melted into a puddle on the floor!!! :)

She is too precious for words!

First game of Go Fish!

My dearest cousin Robynn is here right now and she's got the gift of teaching a child. The other night she got Hana interested in playing cards and before long they were playing Go Fish! I was amazed that Hana could do it. For months and months and months I have been trying to get her to want to know her numbers again (she used to know them all and then totally lost interest). This has been PERFECT for getting her to review her numbers. She has 6 and 9 mixed up and for the life of her sometimes can't remeber 10, but otherwise she does great with the game!

Here are some pics of her playing!

"Yes, Mommy, I have a 3, here ya go!"


"hmmmmmm, which card should I ask for?"


"I'll ask for THIS ONE!"


"Oh, wait a minute, is this a 6 or a 9???"


"I got a match!"



"I WIN!!!!!!!!"


She's a great sport. If she doesn't win, it's no big deal. She encourages others if they get sad cause they aren't doing so well. And she is so happy when she has a card in her hand that you asked for! She loves to give her cards away! It is so fun to be able to play games together. She's wanted to play everyday since she learned how! Thanks Robynn for getting my girl interested in her numbers again!

A few recent pics...

For your viewing enjoyment ;)

On a recent concert road trip Hana fell asleep with her crown on! It was soooooooo cute!






We won a Wii and Wii Fit in a drawing recently. Hana likes the soccer game (she still holds the high score) and the ski jump. Her favorite part of the ski jump is to NOT jump so she rolls down the hill and becomes a snow ball! Silly girl!


getting ready to NOT ski jump!


Daddy is becoming a professional photographer (of sorts) and this is one great shot he took recently!



On a recent trip to the park...









Talking on the phone with Mommy! Her voice sounded as sweet as she looks in this picture!

Sports day...

Sports day is a BIG deal in Japan. You might remember last years sports day and a video here! They spend weeks practicing and preparing for sports day here. They PRACTICE every event! So that the big day will be perfect! And it shows, it is always such a major production and I am always soooooooooo impressed!

This year Hana was a little more into it than last year. Last year she was just smiling and laughing and being directed where to go and what to do. This year, it seemed she knew what she was doing, and she got serious about some of the events! We hope you enjoy the pictures...

On the way to Sports Day she was so excited it was hard to get her to slow down, as you can see by how far ahead of us she was!




She was the first student in her class to arrive and after putting on her team hat, she had to sit and wait patiently for the rest of her classmates to show up!


Below is Hana's poster of herself, which she colored! All of the children had colored a self portrait and they were all strung in a zig-zag pattern above our heads across the preschool playground.



Hana's class parading around the grounds.


Hana getting ready to show us her class dance. She spent most of her time during the dance just looking at us and smiling and waving. Her teacher says that everyday they would practice the dance outside she would stand around and suck her thumb. On rainy days she when they would practice inside she would join in the dance! No one can figure out why she won't dance outside!!!


THE RACE!!!
This is the beginning of Hana's race!


She pulls ahead of the pack...


and rounding the first corner, it's Hana in the lead and gaining ground!!!


She just makes it look so easy!


The winner is... HANA!!!!!!!! (she won her race last year too, I wonder if we have a track runner on our hands)




This is where the white team and the red team compete to see who can get the most balls in a basket up high over the heads!


The basketball player in Mommy can't help but be excited about that follow-through! Just look at that! We have to work on squaring up though ; )


And she will surely be good at rebounds!


thorough at rebounding too!


and don't forget to make sure Mommy's watching!


Then the grandparents got to join in the game, and here is Hana with her Baba!




Next up, the parents in the centipede race! Daddy was the leader of the orange team. GO Orange! (unfortunately they lost cause the lady behind Rocky wouldn't let him speed up, she kept screaming she was gonna fall down everytime he tried to speed up! LOL)



And finally Mommy and Hana in the obstacle course!

The balance beam...

Jump through the hoops...

and a piggy back ride to the finish!


You did such a great job Hana-baby! Mommy is so proud of you!!!


Let's go eat lunch, I'm starved!

recent funnies...

Just wanted to blog a quick little update about some funny things Hana has done lately, before I forget them.

The other night after dinner, we put some praise music on and we were dancing to it. She loves this, the CMA girls obviously had a big influence on her ;) She has her own moves though. One is the "butterfly dance" as she calls it. I gotta get a picture of this. But basically, you spread your arms out like your flying, bend over and stick one leg up behind you as high as you can! It's hilarious! She'll then instruct me in our dance. We have to dance together for a while, then she'll go and take her place in a corner and bend down and wait while I do a solo, then she declares it is her turn and I have to go bend down in the corner while she has a solo! This also definitely comes from watching CMA perform! Well towards the end of our dance time she suddenly turns to me and says, "Mommy you no pretty good dance, I am pretty good dancer!" HA! EXCUSE ME! Evidently I am not as good as she is at dancing!?

Today we were at a friend house for dinner. I was sitting on the couch and she came and plopped down in front of me and says, "Mommy, massage!" Totally cracked me up. She gets this from me, cause I do that to Daddy all the time!

Last night her good buddy Kouki came to spend the night. They had sooooooooo much fun! I'll have to share pics of that soon, when we get them loaded onto the computer!

She is such a blast!

She's almost 4!!!

Can you believe this girl is going to be 4 years old in like 11 days!!!!!??? I'm still in shock. Where did the time go?

I just wanted to come and upload a few pics since it has been a while. Our summer has been sooooooo busy, hopefully there will be more time for blogging after this month is over! Enjoy the pics...

SUMMER EVENT AT PRESCHOOL




JR HIGH/HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER CAMP






Coloring at English Circle...


SECRETS WITH MOMMY






A little Princess...


TRIP TO THE RIVER