Baby plants

 

I thought I should post these pictures of baby plants because they are all growing up so quickly! We have a greenhouse full of plants in all their stages, and a cold frame outside filling up with flower seedlings and then the very first cold frame inside our greenhouse where the seeds that really need to be warm to sprout start out. We are always planting or transplanting something! Not to mention watering.....It's good to see green!

This week finally felt like spring had arrived. I heard more birds, the fields are greening up...and the weeds are sprouting up everywhere! Today we had sunny weather in the 60's, yeah! The boys wore sweatshirts instead of coats and spent all day playing outside with Rita and Coco. They were very exhausted by the end of the day. But what is better than a day spent riding bikes, crawling barefoot on the straw bales, trying:) to fly a kite, visiting the neighbors' as they put together their new garage/house, climbing trees and any combination of being with someone working on the farm putting up a greenhouse, transplanting greens into a greenhouse or planting seeds, etc, etc. Oh and then walking the dog of course, wow, no wonder they were exhausted! 

Spring walk in the woods

  

Images from my day

Hey, mom I finally found a "normal length" broom!







My link with the rest of the world!








buying diapers at the home and garden store, with a bit of a Walmart to it





Nai-Nai making lunch

naptime after Lyle, Lyle the crocodile

Sage planting the morning glory seeds he harvested from the plant he grew in his first grade class, more than 50 seeds:)

Kai helping

Lucas helping get some soil for Orie-san

Orie-san planting

Sage helping Kai practice Japanese letters so he is more competitive in this card game:)

Sage's homework, kantan, kantan he said(easy, easy), he loves telling time

Kenji eating a late supper after a long delivery day"what are you doing??

First day of second grade and first lost tooth

 

It had been a long time in coming, wiggly and then tight, for months! He takes after his mom, losing his teeth late, but for all the waiting, when it decided to come out it was ready! It started bleeding at breakfast and when I thought he would never quit playing with it to eat his breakfast, he leaned over to drink some tea and plink! it fell in his cup! And on the first day of second grade to boot!

That was April 6th by the way and second grade is starting off well. We were all sad to learn that his beloved 1st grade teacher would be transferred to a new school instead of being his teacher again. But, God knows best, right? We were truly blessed to have such a wonderful teacher, and Sage truly loved him, he spent much time writing a thank you note in Japanese and English "homework":) for him when he left, and the teacher told Kenji later he cried over them. And much to our surprise, he was transferred to the next town's school to teach Orie-san's little girl who started first grade and is Sage's best buddy! It was a year of learning for all, we all, the school, mom and dad and Sage were worried at the outset, but God is good and He created children to learn, learn, learn, and adapt, and it was a wonderful experience, with its bumps and worries of course. Sage had only one teacher he didn't want to be his teacher in the school, the only one he struggled with last year, and as God would have it, that's his teacher! We all just had to laugh when he came home and told us the first day of school, even Sage. Not what WE would have planned, but she is a good teacher, and Sage being adjusted well to school life, he will do fine I believe. Not to go into details about his differences with her, but she is very nitpicky with details lets just say! So I've pointed out the great chance this will be for him to LEARN to be disciplined, oh kids just love a parent's perspective! So..I also added that maybe he could think of it like a board game, forgot that detail, hmmmmm, go back 5 spaces, and sit out this turn in the toilet and Don't let it happen again! He had a good laugh at that, he likes board games, hopefully he can keep a good perspective this year! He has really grown up since last year, I realized, when I attended his class for parent's visiting day. His whole class sat quietly and attentively during the 45 min. and I didn't see much squirming and no silliness or peeking at parents like last year the same time. Of course, it could be that this teacher just doesn't tolerate such things and the kids are quite aware of it! Not a bad thing.

Well, it was hard to say goodbye to his 1st grade teacher and the wonderful mothering school nurse who touched my belly when she was saying goodbye and said, keep having beautiful babies...(what???are you serious, did I just hear what I thought I heard?? I just might cry a bit here, I mean do you know this will be our fourth! but yes, you must, they're all right here with me! from a Japanese woman no less-and just when I needed confirmation that being a multipara plus three does not solely cause shock and wonderment ie: were they "really planning this one" or "still trying for that girl, huh!", or other less appropriate comments, well wait, that was in the States with the others,hee, hee! Yep, folks, being parents is tough, absolutely nothing in my life has been tougher, I'm right there with ya, and we have never been called sane, but just when I was thinking that very thought the other day I remembered, "children are a gift from God" and if what God says is true, we are soon to be some very gifted parents! by the way, that was a slight exaggeration and oversensitivity on my part, truly thank you to all of my lovely family and friends on both sides of the world who welcomed our announcement with sincere congrats and love....), whew, long slightly, well way off topic, aside to the side, where was I?? oh, yeah, despite the sadness, including Sage's sadness and regret to see the 6th graders go on to middle school(it's such a small school and everyone knows and interacts with each other)-it was a good time to remember the blessings we received and the answers to many prayers. I cried just thinking of our concerns last year and how our prayers have been answered. Thanks to all of you who prayed for Sage and all of us in the adjustments. You can keep praying by the way....:) 

Bug Store

Do you remember days spent thinking of ways to earn money as a kid? I remember thinking, if only we lived in town so we could have a lemonade stand like in the books! (We picked up and sold walnuts to the traveling buyers instead, a less romantic, but nonetheless profitable venture, in a relative sense of course,earning our own money to pay for some very exciting sibling Christmas presents. Remember those lisa frank folders and fake jewelry girls? just to name a few?)Well, the boys and their Saturday playmates(Orie-san's-our fellow farm worker's-two children)decided one of the first warm-enough-to-play-in-the- greenhouse spring mornings, that selling bugs would earn them some spending money. Of course their mothers quickly deflated their demands for "real money", but they had lots of fun all morning setting up store anyway and sold a few bugs to boot, and here're pictures to prove it! Check out the custom "bug bags", matched to the bug(my kids are paying attention to that immaculate Japanese packaging:) and Sage's handwriting, labeling the store and bugs for sale, with-exorbitant-prices listed!

from one creative process to the next

And this is what I've been doing in the last few months...one of my friends told me that the energy and motivation for doing creative things is temporarily diverted in pregnancy-to the work of creating another work of art. We are expecting our fourth child, due Sept. 25th. So if you were wondering if I'd ever be back,I'm dusting off the keyboard now! Into my 15th week, the "big stuff" is done, and now that "the details" are being meticulously sculpted and less of my energy is needed, I can focus more on details instead of just the big stuff too! This is our first baby picture(for those of you unfamiliar with ultrasounds, the baby is looking down, head to the left, backbone, etc:)...after my Dr's visit last week. It confirmed my due date and gave us a dose of reality, not just my symptoms to prove it anymore, there's really a little life in there, kicking and swimming, we love you already little one. Life is amazing isn't it?!