We survived!!

One more week down, by the skin of our teeth, but we did it. Praise God for amazing friends and family who support us through it all, oh and Skype for making it all possible. I don't transition well, I never have. I do very well with the stress of moving but once I get settled and life slows down a bit it always catches up with me and I start to struggle with all the new. It becomes very hard to keep moving forward and connect with new people. It makes it even harder when I'm doing it on my own. As my kids get older they have a harder time adjusting as well. With that said, I got Hannah and Kol signed up for some activities and we made it to the football games again Friday night. The kids wouldn't let me get away with not going they had so much fun last week.  We also did some retail therapy today at the Hard off. It is a second hand store, with clothes and bags that range from 50 yen to 100,000 yen Louis Vuitton bags. This particular store also had a second floor with housewares. We are now preparing for the Typhoon that is headed our way early Monday morning with possible winds of 50 knots. The kids school has been canceled for Monday. We will have to find something to keep us busy while stuck in doors. I am praying we don't get hit too hard, and if we do that we are ready for it.

Friday night lights.

Hannah played with the high school band at the varsity game. She stayed after school to practice and hangout with friends she had a great time. She is excited for next year when she can play in the marching band. They have awesome uniforms and they did a great job.
The younger 3 took the bus home by themselves and didn't have any problems. Evelyn said she was worried when Hannah didn't get on but Kol said he didn't even notice.
When I told the kids we were going to the football games they complained and said I was ruining their Friday night. I assured them they were going to have so much fun they would be begging me to take them to every game. I made sure they still got their Friday treat.
Evelyn was very entertaining all evening. In the car on our way to base for the first game
Evelyn: You know you can't find true love at a football game.
Me: really who told you that?
Evelyn: A boy at school today, on the playground.
I didn't realize she was looking.
Then we get to the game and
Evelyn: When is the streaker coming out?
me: what, do you even know what a streaker is?
Evelyn: Ya it's when a guy comes to a baseball or football game and takes all his clothes off and runs across the field. When is he getting here?
Really? Who teaches her these things? I have one good guess, Kol. He also had a few good moments last night. He was standing by the fence in front of the cheerleaders and he looks up at me in the full bleachers and he yells I didn't come here to watch cheerleaders I came to watch football. I told him well then get to the top of the bleachers where you can see. These are my 2 kids that have no filter.

All three younger kids found friends from class to play with. Kol invited himself to play football with some 8th graders who were scrimmaging on the sidelines. They were picking him up and tossing him and he would keep going. He was very proud of the fact that he could keep up. He didn't end up watching much football but by the end of the night he smelled like a locker room. We had to ride home smelling him. It brought back memories of stinky hockey equipment. You can see in the picture of Hannah that she forgot to wear a red shirt, she said to me ya I'm a rebel like that. We all had a great time. I love football. We will be going to see more home games, I don't think they will put a fight anymore.

Beginnig of School Pics

Well we are all feeling better and no one else got sick. Praise the Lord.
We had open house for the kids schools last night and I am hopeful this is going to be a good year for all of them. Their teachers are great. The kids are really enjoying them too. Kol was taking full advantage of Hannah's teachers last night and asking all sorts of questions concerning curriculum, because he has any vested interest in 8th grade science. Ever time we moved classrooms I would remind him no questions, but as soon as a teacher would open the floor for questions he would be raising his hand or blurting something out and I would be kicking him under the table. At one point a kid outside the school was making a loud calling noise and the teacher stopped speaking to listen. Kol then thought it to be appropriate for him to cup his mouth and return the sound back 3 times. What am I going to do with that boy.  Hannah was taking it fairly well, she is normally very embarrassed by some of her siblings behavior. She did say however, thank goodness a lot of the teens didn't come last night or she would have been.

I finally got some pics of the kids and yes Kol needs a haircut but he is fighting me on it. I am going to try and take him this weekend. I think I have him convinced to get it trimmed. I tried a couple days in a row to get some good pics but 6am is early and there was always one of them that was not in the mood to cooperate. I think they realized they better just give in and get it over with.

What a week so far

I used Tuesday and Wednesday to clean and get organized now that all the kids are back at school. I have been sending the kids with healthy some what paleo lunches because I believe some of them have the same food allergies that I do. They do much better without bread but it takes some extra planning on my part to not send them with a sandwich but still something they are willing to eat. With all that said, last week Lily brought home some yucky bug from school and made Evelyn and then myself sick along with her. Last night I felt terrible and all I wanted to do was go to sleep, but Evelyn's body had other plans. She complained before bed that her ear was hurting. I gave her some Tylenol, she fell asleep for a bit and woke up crying so I added motrin to the mix, well that didn't do the trick either. She was up all night crying and moaning. We tried everything I could think of blow dryer, hot compress, wheat bag nothing helped. My alarm went off at 5 and she said mom my ear is bleeding. I got the other 3 ready for school and then off to the ER for Evelyn. They took us back right away and she started vomiting. Poor thing I think it was all too much. They got her some pain meds and she was able to sleep. I still feel like crap and the pressure in my head is bad I can't imagine how bad she must have been feeling. We came home and her fever got worse, but by bedtime tonight she seemed to be doing better. Now as long as Lily doesn't fall out on me I am hopeful we can all get some sleep.
I started out so strong. Why, when I decide to get organized does life have other plans for me? Now my house is falling behind again and I just don't feel well enough to get ahead of it.
Oh well "this too shall pass."

A week in review.

It was my birthday on Saturday, it was a very relaxing and a great way to start the week. Kol made me fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. I would have enjoyed eating the grapefruit but it was delicious. The produce here is so good and Lily made me coffee. They also made me lunch when it came time. One of the best gifts a mom can get is acts of service, well and hugs. Liam gave me my gift early as he was not going to be here to celebrate with us. My shinny new purple bike with a basket. I was hoping to get more use out of it in the last 2 weeks but we live at the top of this massive hill and walking my bike up in this sticky heat just didn't seem like fun. It comes with a lock on the back wheel and a pretty decent kickstand as you can see. That night I met some of the ladies from the ship and we went to a luau themed dinner at the O-club, it was good to get out.
The 3 older kids started school on Monday. Yay! It has been an extra long summer for all of us.  I drove them for their first day but it was a zoo. It was a pain to get on base and there are so many kids and no drop off line. I had to park at the NEX and walk them over. The next day I made sure they took the bus. It comes at 6:45am,  this is an early time to be up after the summer we have had never mind catching a bus, although we would have to leave that early if I were to drive them anyway. I also found a new way down the hill from my place a back road it is winding and narrow. I have to say, I have never before said so many times to myself I wish I drove a smaller car. We have always needed bigger and although the van is not big in comparison to many American vehicles it is big when you are trying to pass another vehicle on said narrow road.  
They all really like their teachers, well Hannah says the verdict is still out on a couple of hers. She did get the classes that she asked for band, algebra and Japanese. The algebra and Japanese give her high school credits.  She also says the Japanese is hard but I'm sure she will pick it up quickly and if not I can find her a tutor.
Evelyn doesn't start until next week. I think she will have lots of fun this year in kindergarten. Her teacher is a gem, along with her para pro.  We went and enjoyed some 100 yen sushi after meeting her teacher today. Evelyn's favorite is the omelet and rice and pulling the sushi off the sushi-go-round. Liam and I usually take that spot in the both to prevent unwanted hands touching the food, but when I have just one with me it is much more manageable. I did not get a first day of school pic, I will have to do that with Evelyn and call it the first week photo. I think I did it on purpose so you would all have something to look forward to for next week. :)

CHU-HI

Not sure if my massive migraine today was caused by this one delicious Chu-hi or the fried chicken I ate out of desperation because I took 4 kids school clothes shopping and was exhausted and starving afterwards and so were they, very cranky.You would think they would be kinder to thier mother who just bought them the store. I didn't buy anything for Hannah, she requested to be done on her own day. I may have to enlist a babysitter so just the 2 of us can go. I will however try to never eat fried chicken again, who knew a bit of wheat on the outside would poison me? Oh that's right, I did.

Randomness

Mos Burger.
A very good Japanese chain. Their largest outside of McDonald's but much better quality, I think. They have a rice burger which is very good and I love their fries.

Dad's bunk. They loved seeing the ship and helping him carry all his stuff. It's not often they fight over who gets to carry the bags.

Us girls rocking out to music in the van waiting for Kol and Lily to be done with their AOB class. They had lots of fun learning to count to ten and dressing up in traditional Japanese clothing.

The Cicadas bugs in Japan are very loud. Ear piercing noise. The first time I noticed them was when we walked through the trees at the Imperial Palace. This is what I believe one looks like. It was on the wall outside my front door.  I left it alone, it was gone when I came back later.