North Meets South; East Meets West

Flat Juliette - A Travel Log

2012-02-28T22:02:00.001+09:00

Dear Jessica,
I've had a really nice time in Japan. It was a long trip over here (especially jammed in an envelope), but I'm glad that you sent me. I had a really good time with your aunt, uncle and cousins, Maximo and Lola. Let me tell you a little bit about what I did with them;

First, it's winter here, so it's pretty cold. It's almost like Connecticut, but they get almost no snow in Kobe. I spent the first week in Aunt Julie's classroom where I watched her middle schoolers build and create machines for Design class, but after a while, I got bored sticking out of her pencil holder on her desk.

I was lucky enough to get to go on the 7th grade Ski trip to Shizukuishi Ski Resort in Iwate, Japan. This is north of Tokyo in Japan. We flew into Sendai airport, which was demolished last year in the big earthquake, but it had been rebuilt. Then we took a three hour bus ride into the mountains. It was a great experience, although I only got out on the ski hills once with Aunt Julie. It was really cold and I didn't have a proper jacket.

When we got back, I just hung around and got to know your family better! You REALLY need to convince your mom and dad to let you come visit them! Japan is cool. They live on a man-made island and bike to school and to the grocery store or they travel by train, when they leave the island. The seasons and flower blossoms are especially important in Japan. The plum blossoms are starting to come out right now, so the first signs of spring are here!

(Strange Colors due to iPhone Camera effects)

The last week, we just did family things. I got to go to Maximo's first soccer practice, but Lola tried to use me as a shovel on the playground when her mom was trying to take a picture. (Luckily, Aunt Julie grabbed me and I survived!)

Then we bought sushi and meat on a stick called yakatori. It was delicious, and I tried to eat using Maximo's children's chopsticks.

By the time you read this, I will already be in an envelope coming back to you!

Can't wait to see you,

Juliette

Note: To anyone else reading this besides my brother and niece, Jessica had a "Flat Juliette (Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts) project she sent to us to get a Brownie Badge. She hung out with us for a couple of weeks to learn about our lives in Japan.

The Apple Tree Song

2012-02-26T09:09:00.000+09:00

Aquarium Saturday

2012-02-19T18:55:00.000+09:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's been a rough few weeks. The Ski Trip was nice, but then John and Maximo got pretty sick and were out of school almost all week this week.

Yesterday we went to the Suma Aquarium. It was surprisingly empty and we're glad we got out of the house to do something fun after a rough week!

Max and John feeding the turtles

Maximo feeding the Koi. Trying to distract Lola from swimming with the koi

Cute girl!

I was going to delete a bunch of these, but they are cute. It's hard to get both of them smiling and looking in the right direction. And now, Maximo loves giving "silly faces".

Maximo had a horrible cough this week, so he wore a face mask to school. In Japan, when one is sick, they usually wear a face mask to not infect others. He actually kept it on all day.

This is him in my classroom - his morning ritual of drawing on board for my students.

Words with Family

2012-02-13T13:45:00.002+09:00

Maximo used the tiles from our Bananagrams game to write his family. He did it all by himself with only a few issues with the "h" in John and the "ie" in Julie.

Maximo's School Portfolio

2012-02-11T20:05:00.000+09:00

At Canadian Academy, all students keep a digital portfolio. It's just like those large portfolios students have been compiling every year and send home to their parents at the end of the year to show their work and growth, but it's keep on a blog. Students add to it every year they are at CA to show that they are IB students and give examples of how are students are aspiring to our Mission.

Here is Maximo's portfolio, so far, this year.

October 2011 - Maximo explaining His Family that he created in clay

January 2012 - Explaining one of his art pieces

Last week, Maximo started a new unit at school about Changes. They have had a LOT of fun hands on activities where they observe changes. Here are a few:

Making Obleck

Making a tie dye shirt with a 6th grader

Making (and eating) pancakes... on Pajama Day

Jamming Two Weeks into One Post

2012-02-04T10:12:00.004+09:00

It has been busy at La Casa de Los Lemleys. Not necessarily at our house, but work has been a bit rough... John and I had our semester one grades due last Monday and our student load is huge. The middle school and high school are on the same schedule, so that made our deadlines exactly the same. It was challenging balancing school and the kiddos, but we all survived.

It's pretty chilly here as well, which has made for some not-so-fun transports to and from school on our bikes, loaded with kids and bags and groceries.

Lola was home sick for a few days with RSV, the one thing that we didn't want Maximo to get when he was a baby because it could have been fatal for him, and paid for $1000 vaccines for him each month during the winter. She had a really high fever, but was eating well, so we weren't overly concerned. She demanded a lot of attention (and TV), but her high fever broke after about 3 days. Then she had a bad cough and still has a nasty runny nose, which she then loves to rub up into her hair. But, besides that the kids are great.

Since Lola and John were feeling under the weather, so they stayed home, while I took Maximo to Nara for the Annual Mountain Burning. We had a great time. It was chilly, but we dressed pretty well. It was a long train ride for the hour and a half that we were there, but he loved the fireworks and we both enjoyed the street food and riding the trains. He's a great age, where we really don't need to pack too much for him and he loves being on the trains.

I leave on Wednesday to go on the ski trip with the seventh grade class. I haven't skied since I was in high school, hopefully it'll come back. It'll be nice, although I don't really love cold weather. I'll miss John and the babes a lot though. It'll be rough on John especially getting the chicos to and from school in the morning, especially on one bike in the cold. And he starts assistant coaching badminton this week as well.

At least our semester is full with events and work, so hopefully it'll go by fast because we can't wait for 1. warmer weather 2. to go home and see our families this summer and 3. to hopefully purchase a house in Savannah while we're home this summer.

And I'll leave you with two Maximo videos.
1. We don't want to forget him saying "Hangurbur" and "Lasterday Night". Our two favorite Maximo sayings. We still don't have lasterday night on film, but this will do:

2. He is always singing and sharing his poems from school: Here is "Under the Spreading Chesnut Tree" in English and (butchered) Japanese:

D'Artist!

2012-01-21T06:28:00.000+09:00

A couple of pictures from Max's Art Show this week (taken by his teachers):

Max in front of his art

Daddy asking Maximo about his art

The LMEA

2012-01-19T14:33:00.002+09:00

(The Lemley Museum of Edible Art, of course)

Can you name these famous pieces?

Maximo is definitely in a "Look at me, look at me!" stage right now. And, well, he's just so cute, we're looking at him a lot! Although the 1,000,000 "Mommy (or Daddy), Look at Me's between the end of the school day and bedtime can sometimes be a bit rough.

John and I have truly enjoyed watching Maximo as he begins his "school education" this year. He LOVES going to school! And, one of the definitely perks of being an international teacher is not only teaching at amazing schools around the world, but (even better), Maximo and Lola will be products of these amazing schools and hopefully, a full IBO education.

Currently, Maximo's class is learning about Art in his class for his Unit of Inquiry PYP Unit. The way the curriculum has been written and implemented by Maximo's teacher and collaborating teachers is amazing. It's so inquiry based and hands-on. He is learning so much.

He is fascinated by art now - he wants to make it all the time.

He draws on my white board in my room every morning, "for my students".

He connects to it all the time - and in amazing ways:

"Mommy, that's a sculpture."
"It's like a museum.
"Mommy, I put the cool colors on the warm colors"
"That's starry night by Mr. Vincent VanGogh" - WHAT?!

This week there are two culminating events that unfortunately I couldn't attend. One was the Arty-Party where there were different stations to create art using different techniques and mediums. There was a lot of parent-teacher collaboration with this event and the set up looked like so much fun!

Lastly, was the Art Show for Maximo's class and the two KA classes. I was home sick with Lola, although my teaching schedule wouldn't have let me attend. Fortunately a colleague offered to cover John's class for 20 minutes so he could go attend today.

Showing off his pottery

The (BBP & KA - 3 and 4 year old programs) Art exhibition -

Maximo proudly showed his off to Daddy explaining what each one was.

He had work chosen by him and some teacher selected work as well.

Earlier in the week during my 30 minute volunteer time each week with Maximo's class (another perk of your kids' attending your school), I assisted the kids in picking out a piece of art that they wanted to showcase in the exhibition. Then we asked the students how they created the piece, what materials they used, and why they chose it for the art show. It was great to be there to share that with Max and the classmates that I "interviewed".

Since I couldn't attend the art show and I felt guilty and always love the excuse to create myself (especially with food), I made an edible art gallery. I need to give credit where credit is due. I got the idea from a blog I frequent: The Decorated Cookie. This is her cookie art gallery. She has great cookie ideas with very easy to follow tutorials.

This is how we made ours:
Stage 1: Make simple square sugar cookies

Stage 2: Create a border with royal icing

Stage 3: Flood the cookie to make a canvas (let sit overnight)

Stage 4: Use edible food pens to recreate famous art - some took longer than others, some turned out better than others. It was starting to become really time consuming (and I had to write sub plans), so I did multiple Jackson Pollock-esque cookies and a few Mondrian-style geometric paintings.

My Lovely Assistant

My Favs:

Andy Warhol - Marilyn Monroe

The Scream by Edvard Munch (reproduced by John)

Picasso's The Dream

The Son of Man by Magritte

Stage 5: Let dry and send to school in hopes they don't fall apart on the bike ride! While it being awesome to ride our bikes everywhere, it's a bit hard to transport food in a bike basket.

I trolled the internet looking for easy-to-replicate famous art. Well, most famous art is famous for a reason, so this was easier said than done, especially with 8 basic colors to use.

They were a lot of fun to make, I find baking and decorating therapeutic and a whole lot better than writing comments for my report cards which are due in a week!

The Weekend Report

2012-01-15T21:00:00.002+09:00

Teaching his sister how to draw - although she preferred to eat them!

There was a lot of time spent outside this weekend:

Max and Lola are really starting to play together and it's THE.BEST. THING.EVER! Max is really starting to really understand what it means to be a big brother and has been much more empathetic and caring towards his sister.

They played in this "tunnel" until we made them stop for dinner and then after their bath they wanted to do it again and they did it until Lola could barely keep her eyes open. When I say "they" I mean, Maximo, but Lola had a constant smile on her face and loved the attention (as she was being dragged around like a rag doll, crawl through dark tunnel, repeat).

Back to Work

2012-01-11T19:40:00.000+09:00

We had a wonderful Winter Break. After a week in the heat with friends and two weeks back in Japan just relaxing, it was tough to head back to our normal schedules this week.

Needless to say, there may be some gaps in my posting, although I'll try my best. I don't even have Photo Friday any more to force me to post weekly.

Here are a few photos from our last week of vacation between going to Riley's birthday party on Mt. Rokko for sledding and just hanging out as a family. I've also started the January 2012 Photo Gallery if you want to see more!

Flavius Lemley - A Tribute

2012-01-02T20:10:00.000+09:00

As many of you may have read on John's Facebook or have heard from us, Flavius has passed away. He was a wonderful pet who had a full life. I'm writing this to share with you, but mostly for Maximo and Lola when they get older.

When John and I moved to Peru, we had just "lost" a cat (Lucy) and John's stepbrother took Max (the Cat), since there was an embargo on flying him in the summer to Peru and because we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into with international teaching. After getting settled into our new environment, we realized something was missing from our home - a CAT! Another teacher from school had been feeding and finding other teachers cats from behind a church in our neighborhood where there were many stray/abandoned cats that were fed by a rotation of people in the area.

John and I went with her one evening in hopes of finding a kitten to take home. Armed with a can of tunafish and a zippered mesh bag, we went to the park behind the church. All of the kittens were too skittish and wouldn't come near us, but an older looking orange tabby plopped himself on our laps, with really no interest in the food, but more interested in the attention. We took that as a sign, and decided to take him with us. We only lived about two blocks from the park, but we decided that with all the hustle bustle of traffic and people, that he may freak out if we tried to just carry him home. So, we stuffed him in the bag and hailed a taxi. He howled the whole way home and John and I just exchanged apprehensive looks at one another.

As cats do, he stayed under a bed for a few days, but was eating and used the litter box without instruction. Our wild "street" kitty seemed to me more of an abandoned pet. He was very comfortable with people and was litter box trained. We also thought he was about 7 or 8 months old, but after his first vet visit, we were told he was probably 7 or 8 years old, he was just a bit underfed.

Why did we name him Flavius you might ask? Not really Peruvian. We were watching the HBO Series, Rome. So we were tossing around a lot of Roman names like Marc Antony, Auralius, etc. Then we thought of Flavius, meaning "blonde" in ancient Roman. It just seemed to fit... and we lovingly called him Flavor Flav or Flavi!

Flavius was pampered in Peru. Our maid, Clara would be in our house every day, continually giving him attention as she went about her work. When we moved to our house in Peru, he was able to go outside again, which he LOVED. He often scrapped with the other neighborhood cats (in the middle of the night), but otherwise was a joy to have around. He would plop down on our laps as soon as we sat on the couch to relax, grade papers, check email, whatever. Soon after moving, our first maid's sister, Rosmery, started working for us. She LOVES this cat. I came home one day to her mopping the floor with him zipped up in her fleece! She was always so sweet with him and even emails to ask about him and the kids since we moved to Japan. It was really hard to write her the email this week of Flavius's passing.

Flavius had a good life in Peru and loved Maximo from the day he came home. He was always loving and super tolerant of the kids' rough play.

He was so special to Maximo, so we decided that he should come to Japan with us. Unfortunately, getting animals into Japan is a huge and expensive process, but he was worth it! So, we followed all the rules and vaccine schedules so he could come live with us in Kobe. He had to go directly from Peru to Japan, so a good friend watched him and got him on a plane to come here.

Life's been a little different for Flavius here... Our place is much smaller, but luckily, we are on the first floor, so he could still go in and out. He was alone all day - the horror! But, he was still loved and happy here, with again, an occasional scrap with a Rokko Island stray.

A few days before we left for Thailand, we noticed that he had been sleeping a lot and not going out almost at all, which was very unlike him. He also wasn't plowing through his bowl-a-day either. He was still acting normal besides this. Then, before we left, he was looking a bit skinny and his fur just looked like he wasn't keeping up with his grooming. We had a lady watch/feed Flavius and he just didn't come back one day.

This is very unlike Flavius. He always went out, but he ALWAYS came home. So, like most cats do, we think he wanted to find a quiet last resting place. Unfortunately, we cannot find that place. He is definitely not in the house, but we've looked (as has the cat sitter) pretty extensively around our apartment complex and the areas close to us. It makes it sadder that we don't really know where he is... it kind of leaves it with a lot less closure. We still have the litter box and food out, in hopes that he will walk back on the porch again, although I think we all know that he will not come back. We're also a bit wary of someone else finding his decaying body somewhere too. This island is not that big.

It was our first "death" talk with Maximo. He didn't even notice Flavius wasn't around for two days after we got back, as he was wrapped up in Christmas and his new toys. Then he just looked at me and said, "Mommy, where's Flavius?"
I tried to explain the best that I could... a real parenting challenge.
He sobbed, so I cried. He couldn't understand how/why Flavius couldn't/wouldn't come back.
Finally, he just said, "Mommy, can we just get him new batteries?"
Everything in Maximo's life that has "died" has been easily fixed with a new set of batteries. Sad and sweet.

So, Flavius, we'll miss you buddy. You were a great cat to us and definitely to our little munchkins. You will always hold a special place in our hearts.
xoxo

I was actually a bit surprised to find tons - at least a hundred pictures that Flavius was in... Here are some good ones:

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:05:00.003+09:00

2011 was a full and exciting year for Los Lemleys. We have a lot of great memories from 2011 and it was a fantastic year as a family of 4. There are many highlights, but I won't list them all here, as I could go on forever, and you could just scroll back through the blog posts.

For New Years Eve, we had the Welbes Family over for a low key night. Todd slaved for hours over some delicious gumbo, and I tried the "No Knead Bread" (phenomenon) which has been all over the internet the past year, and the artesian bread turned out pretty darn good. I also through together Grammy Wood's Apple Cake to celebrate Riley's birthday and we finished off a big pot of mulled wine.

The Welbes' brought over the game HedBanz because it seemed like a good game we could add "adult" cards too. It was a crack-up to play, and we struggled for hours just on the children's cards, so we didn't make any on our own. I will have to say the Lemley boys struggled a bit with the game. Maximo didn't get it and would constantly shout out what was on people's heads and John was getting worse and worse the more he drank - but it was comical!

Todd may have been stuck on "unicorn" for over an hour

And, here are three videos to start of the New Year. The first two I took of Lola walking on my iPhone, for some reason I can't record sound on it - I need to check on fixing this!

The last one, I could barely get through filming without cracking up. Maximo was in the tatami room with the cheapo guitar we got from the Central Market in Lima. He was making up a song that incorporated anything he could see - his trains, a Christmas List, Knapford Station, you may be able to make out more. The last note he hits make me laugh just thinking about it!

Holiday Round-UP

2011-12-30T07:45:00.001+09:00

Our December was full of fun activities and the excitement of Christmas!

Decorating sugar cookies with Sakura

The buildup was much better than the actual day, although our festivities were interrupted by our trip to Thailand. Santa was considerate enough to come on December 27th. It was a great full day back from our trip as we stayed huddled in our house all day and the kids played with their new toys - and played really well together. Max loved Lola's toys too, so it was a good opportunity for him to share and play nicely with Lola.

Calling Gigi and Nana on "Christmas Day"

Maximo and his new PlayMobile Crane

On the last day of school, Maximo's class had a little Christmas party that John and I could attend:

Trying to single-handedly eat the whole gingerbread house - "Look Mommy, I just ate the chimney!"

Making a jingle bell craft with Sean's mom

It was nice, then we took Max out for lunch while Lola spent the afternoon at Yume Club. His choice was the Indian restaurant, probably more for the mango lasse than anything else, but it was nice to go out for a meal with him - and relaxing! Eating out with Lola is far from relaxing, but now Maximo is at the age, where we all can enjoy eating out together.

Crazy Lola - Now that she can stand and walk, she's trying to do it on every surface of the house!

Max and almost all of the Island of Sodor on our dining room table (so Lola can't reach)

And I've updated the December 2011 photo album (on the right side bar).

Our Trip to Phuket, Thailand

2011-12-27T21:39:00.000+09:00

We just got back from a week in Phuket, Thailand. IT WAS WONDERFUL! We met some dear, dear friends of ours who we worked with in Peru, that now live on our side of the world... Brunei.

We haven't seen them in about three and a half years and it was great to relax and catch up with them. They are friends for life, not just because they are great people and we enjoy their company, but because Kate and Ceri, their daughters, are the exact ages of Maximo and Lola! Yippee! So it's easy - we understand demanding children and their schedules, and then we all fall into bed (Not together! We're not that kind of friends!) by 9:00 pm.

We had a yucky overnight flight to get to Thailand. The kids were fine, but we didn't sleep much, so we were exhausted when we arrived. We met Rich and Linda and the girls in the airport and hired a van to take us to Friendship Beach Hotel about 40 minutes south of the airport.

It was a great find (thanks, Trip Advisor! and Linda for doing all the bookings!). We had an apartment and another hotel room between the two families so it was easy to put the kids to bed and hang out a bit. It was a low key hotel with friendly staff who doted on the kids. The beach wasn't that great, but we had read that in the write-ups. There was glass, and it was a bit rocky, and windy, but the guys took Kite Surfing lessons, and we brought the kids down to the beach in the mornings to watch the guys have lessons before heading back to the pool.

The food was really, really good - and there was a huge menu, which was good - as we ate almost every meal there. We ate almost everything on the menu, but my consistent lunch order was the delicious wide rice noodles stir fry with kale and shrimp. I could eat Thai food every day! Unfortunately, some of the heat and spices was too much for the kids, and I often shared dishes with Lola, so I had to compromise.

Max and Lola have changed our travel a bit. It's a whole lot easier to just stay put and relax by a pool, rather than drag the kids all over the place. I only left the hotel twice - once to go to the dodgy Elephant ride place:

and the other to go to the Night Market, which was great! It was surprisingly clean and vibrant - Gilles and Elle (more friends from Peru!) were very adventurous in trying foods, so I followed suit, and hoped I wouldn't get a funny belly. Luckily I didn't and tried a few new things!

Unfortunately, we didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing. We didn't make it to any small villages or really get into Thai culture, but it was a great trip and rejuvenating after a busy semester. We'd really like to go back to Thailand again sometime, and really would consider it as a next "living" destination. We aren't going anywhere in the next couple of years, as long as everything stays fine here in Japan, but it is fun to think about where we'll have our next adventure. We also realize that Bangkok is another world from the small beach we stayed at in Phuket, and living in a big city, in a developing country, has its pitfalls. But, we'll see!

Hopefully we'll make it back to Thailand again for a vacation in the next few years, especially because it's a close, tropical destinations to Japan. And you if you know us... you know we're always looking for sun and water to relax on vacation.

Here's the HUGE photo album:

Lola's Walking!

2011-12-15T22:31:00.001+09:00

I like to use this blog as a digital baby book along with sharing snippets of our lives with friends and family. I don't have any awesome video footage, but Miss Lola decided today about five minutes before leaving for work, she was going to walk half way across the bedroom!

I can't envision her being able to mess up the house any more than she already does... so there are no negatives to this new feat... except that out little babe is just not so little anymore.

Of course, she's got a nice cold and more teeth popping through, just in time for our vacation. After tomorrow, we have three weeks off. And the first week, we'll spend it with friends in Phuket, Thailand... We can't wait!

Dear Santa and other Christmas Activities

2011-12-13T20:50:00.000+09:00

Our Christmas Countdown Activities the past couple of days:

A bag full of shapes that he had to figure out how they fit and glue them together

Making Rudolph with his foot for a face and his handprints as antlers

Writing to Santa:

"A Christmas Tree with snow and Rudolph on top and my Thomas Christmas ornament"

AND... Watching Santa's reply, the next morning... Japan Mail is super efficient!

And because he won't insist on pink antlers and wearing my pink scarf to the grocery store forever, I just had to take a picture!

Photo Friday: A Year in the Life of Lola

2011-12-11T22:29:00.001+09:00

My little project is done... Last Friday was my last "Photo Friday" session with Lola. It has been fun ~~and sometimes exhausting~~ taking photos of her each week.

Here's this past week's photo:

Lola Caroline - 52 Weeks Old

And here is the album of Lola's First Year - Week by Week:

I didn't think about doing this until she was about 5 weeks old. I tried to go back and find pictures from weeks 3 &4, but I can't find any. I'm sure I took some, as it was around Christmas, but I can't find any on my computer or our photo backup. I'll blame it on the lack of sleep.

**But I did manage to get her in a different outfit every Friday**

I can say this because I'm her mom...
She didn't come out the prettiest baby. I remember just starting at her blankly thinking,

Hmmmm.... I didn't expect you to look like that. Who do you look like?

But, that all changed quickly, she's a pretty little thing now!

Birthday Girl!

2011-12-07T19:32:00.001+09:00

Dearest Lola,
Today you turned 1! What a great year it has been with you in our family. This year has gone by so fast, probably because you have truly been an easy baby.
You are already trying to say words - like Mama and Cat. You are so curious and are into everything. You are so close to walking, but we think you will choose to crawl your way around for a bit longer. We love to watch you demolish your meals while grunting and making happy noises to yourself. Since you started to eat solids, you were much more interested in real food than anything mashed up! You are a good baby, but you are SO vocal. You have no volume control - it's pretty funny (sometimes) how you yell about anything - when you want something, but mostly when you want someone's attention.
It seems that we were always this family of four. Your and Maximo's relationship continues to grow and it's fun to watch you two interact with one another.
We love you with all our hearts.
Happy Birthday, Lola Lou!
Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Maximo and Flavius

Here are some pictures from the day:

Lola at Yume Club about to share cupcakes with her friends

I love the "guarding" hand so she doesn't touch the cupcakes

She's not so sure about the flame

Demolishing the cupcake

Some Holiday Spice

2011-12-06T21:40:00.001+09:00

We've been enjoying the Christmas Countdown Calendar, but I'll be honest, I'm glad he can't read yet. I've been lazy with some activities after a long day of work or I have flipped cards around as I get them for him, because I need something a little more "hands-off" for me.

Anyhow, he's having fun with it.

Here are a few things we've done this week:

I don't even know what to call this activity:

Roll the dice & glue the marshmallow

on the corresponding number in Santa's beard game

Buying - a good idea in theory - except everything he wanted for Lola was over 6000¥! - a present for Lola at Toys 'R Us, wrapping it, and then creating a cute card - with balloons!

Writing our name - but running out of room, so heck, why not throw the 'Mo on top

Posing with Rudolph board books - Today's activity - Thanks Nana!

This was originally in the Christmas Calendar, but this boy has been jacked up on Holiday Sweets a lot the past week, so I decided to make Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese frosting after he went to bed tonight. Twenty will go to Yume Club tomorrow with Lola and we'll have a few after dinner tomorrow at home!

Photo Friday - Week 51!

2011-12-03T06:32:00.001+09:00

Wow! It's almost been a year! Here's Lola this week:

And I've updated the November 2011 photo gallery:

November 2011

Christmas Countdown Has Begun!

2011-12-01T19:26:00.001+09:00

Today we started the Christmas Countdown!

(We stopped on the 20th and put in Lola's sunglasses because we head to Thailand that night! We'll open presents when we get back home and have requested that Santa come the night after we get back!)

When we got home from school, Maximo got the paper out of pocket Numero Uno to find...

Christmas Jammies and a Thomas Christmas Book!

Santa Babies

I normally wouldn't post such a bad quality picture, but the are actually playing together and both smiling!

Normally we don't do gifts for the Countdown, as it gets expensive (and that's not the point), but Nana sent some goodies a few weeks ago, so it was a good way to start it off!

On the First Day of Christmas...

2011-11-26T21:34:00.001+09:00

Today we set up the tree...

Opened the Christmas trunk...

Maximo put on about 85% of the ornaments and we organized the Christmas books -

and Max enjoyed reading through them all day - and listening to Nana read "Frosty the Snowman" to him over and over and over again. (He's definitely more into it this year.)

As always, Maximo graced us with a few interludes throughout the day:

Then Max had a birthday party to go to, then we came back home to a playdate and dinner with Kirsten and the girls.

We made these lovely delights (I need to add the stick arms, but the icing isn't dry enough yet):

And soon we'll have visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads.

I love the first two weeks of "Christmas", then I'm totally over it! Which will work out perfectly this year, as we head to Phuket, Thailand on the 19th!

Photo Friday - Week 50!

2011-11-26T07:21:00.001+09:00

Trying to outsmart the wiggly baby - laying her down and taking a picture while I'm pinning her down (and trying to make her laugh).

Lola... Literally, into EVERYTHING!

The very white body is of Maximo - who added to the difficulty of taking photos because he was trying to put his "bits" in the picture... nice.

Book Character Day - Maximo

2011-11-19T19:12:00.001+09:00

On Friday, while John and I were sitting through a marathon of parent conferences, Maximo had Book Character Day at school. The younger grades had a day where they would dress up like their favorite character from a book and show how that character emulates an IB Learner Profile attribute.

We asked Maximo what character he wanted to be, and held our breath that it was actually a character that we could easily make a costume for. He chose the "Mr. Mechanic Tow Truck" from My Truck Is Stuck.

Image from: www.readingnook.com

We had to help Maximo with the Learner Profile attribute. Mr. Mechanic is both knowlegeable and caring. We were going to go with caring because it's a bit easier for a four year old to understand and explain, but his teacher convinced us to put him in the "knowledgeable" category.

John wanted to take on the challenge... and he did an amazing job - it's just made out of a box from the copier room. I think he's just signed himself up for many Halloween costumes in the future!

Here he is fastening the straps to the car:

Mr. Max Mechanic

Maximo "snuggling Daddy" while he tightens the straps!

Photo Friday - Week 49 - Take 2

2011-11-19T13:52:00.001+09:00

Today's photo shoot started off a bit like yesterday morning... but we got a good one in the end, if you can ignore the banana-smeared-in-her-hair look.

She's feeling a whole lot better, but is cutting a huge molar right now, and another one broke through on Thursday.

Lola Caroline - 49 Weeks Old

Photo Friday Week 49...Kinda

2011-11-18T18:10:00.001+09:00

Look at that lip.

She did not like the Photo Friday Morning Session - she wanted to play with my phone.

Big Brother jumped in to save the day!

But then he couldn't even contain the beast!

Oh, well...

I may try for another shot tomorrow.

Lola was sick this week - stomach bug, cold and cutting teeth.

She left daycare early on Tuesday, I stayed home with her Wednesday and she's slowly getting better.

Photo Friday - Week 48

2011-11-12T20:02:00.001+09:00

Lola Caroline - 48 weeks

She's got three teeth trying to bust through her gums, and she's been a little snotty, but still cute and happy. He has this machine-gun cackle/laugh that I've tried to get on film about ten times this week, but she stops every time I pull the camera or my phone out. Hopefully I'll get it because it's a crack up!

Photo "Friday" - Week 47

2011-11-05T22:27:00.002+09:00

Lola Caroline - Week 47

(or something like that)

- I'm starting to realize that my numbers don't seem to match up to 52 weeks!

It's been another crazy week - John and I have grades due Monday, so it's been busy.

Lola's cutting another tooth and is continuing to eat like a 5 year old and

demolishing our kitchen/living room, over and over and over again.

Taking these photos are not fun, these days....

I take about 30 pictures, and after every 5 or so, I have to stop and wipe the snot and/or drool.

Then I give her something to try to get her to stop moving a bit - like a do when I change her diaper, which is nearly impossible without her flipping all over the place. And she still won't look at me, she's watching her brother.

"Hey Max, jump on my back and make Lola laugh"

Really, anything to get this done.

Again, not looking at the camera, but this face cracks me up!

And by the end, she's fussing and losing it.

The torture parents put their kids through.

So after downloading 47 pictures, and deleting all but the ones you see here

- we get an okay one...she's lucky she's cute!

And a little more Flavius love.

Maximo's First Dentist Appointment

2011-11-04T19:27:00.000+09:00

We tried to catch up on appointments over Fall Break, but the dentist was full, so Max and I went there after school. He got to watch a little Tom and Jerry and was really good when the doctor checked his teeth and FILLED. HIS. CAVITY! What?! Our little four year old had a cavity! The dentist was a bit concerned and thinks that he may be prone to cavities (like his Dad), so he wants us to have him checked every 4 months.

Anyways, he was great and then sat patiently and waited while I had my check up and cleaning. Luckily, he had Belle, his fire engine, to give him some extra support!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-29T19:54:00.003+09:00

Lola - Halloween 2011 (11 months)

Maximo - Halloween 2008 (14 months)

Another Tiny Concert

2011-10-28T22:15:00.001+09:00

"I Love to Spell" brought to you by SuperWhy & Maximo Lemley

- Flavius was tucked in first, then serenaded against his will,
but he is not one to fight back when the Little Lemleys give him "tough love"

Photo Friday - Week 46

2011-10-28T18:42:00.001+09:00

I cheated this week. The above picture is from Thursday, not today, Friday. I took about 50 pictures this morning in the cute pink sweatsuit, but she was super boogery and her cheeks were really red and chapped. Below you can see Flavius on the receiving end of a lot of Lola Love. I take her off of him and he just continues to sit there and purr. He never runs away or swats, no matter how many ear pulls he gets or if she straddles him and tries to ride him like a horse.

Here she is with her new "walker" toy. She started standing up on her own this week - without holding on to anything. She likes walking around with this, but gets stuck frequently and she hasn't figured out how to back up yet!

Maximo and Mommy Day... in Pictures

2011-10-27T20:59:00.001+09:00

From Harborland, Kobe, Japan

Fall Break - Miyajima, Japan

2011-10-26T20:57:00.000+09:00

We went to Miyajima (translation: Island of Shrines), Japan. It is most known for it's famous Red Torii Gate:

We had a great time with friends and our kids did great. Maximo did well on the travel days, except for "some" anxiety getting on and off transportation (read: screaming for the first 15 seconds on and off).

Miyajima is about four hours door to door via a bus, Shinkansen, local train and a ferry to the island. So, in that aspect, Maximo was in hog heaven.

Peace & Milk on the Shinkansen

We really had a nice time. The weather was perfect. There was plenty to do for all of us - with more to try to do on another trip.

It was clean and safe, which is always nice, so the kids could run a bit, except the "wild" deer were sometimes a bit aggressive.

Maximo went on his first real hike up Mount Misen. He did a fantastic job, he walked the whole way up and back and didn't complain once!

Lola was a trooper too - she spent a lot of time in the baby carrier and rarely complained.

There was an aquarium a block from where we stayed. It had just been redone and was great! Maximo volunteered to help in the sealion show.

Check out the photo slide show for the excessive amount of pictures!

Miyajima - Fall Break 2011

Photo Friday - Week 45

2011-10-21T20:48:00.000+09:00

Lola - just shy of 11! Months

This took about 25 shots this morning -

she would not stop moving!

"Get me out of here," crying the Loving Big Brother

Another Tiny Concert

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000+09:00

Satu-Satu, an Indonesian song

Sung by Maximo in a loose English translation

Kind of Playing Together

2011-10-16T20:56:00.001+09:00

Sports Day 2011

2011-10-15T05:30:00.000+09:00

Monday was Sports Day in Japan. I wrote about it a little bit here two years ago. It really is a fantastic day at our school. It's a half day of school where kids participate in sporting events and most of the students' parents attend. It's a national holiday and most businesses are closed so parents (and grandparents) come, socialize and take a million pictures of their kids.

The morning starts off with stretching and the chicken dance with Freddie the Falcon (our mascot). Maximo's class gets to lead the whole school with a couple of high school helpers in the chicken dance. He loved it, and did not mind at all that he was in the middle of a huge field surrounded by about 1,000 people.

Afterwards, Maximo's class went back to the gym to participate in some activities, since the whole school activities would probably be a bit overwhelming and challenging for them.

I was a leader at the parachute activity and John lead the Hula hoop events. It's really great to see the high school kids buddied up with the younger kids and everyone working together. It's also really nice to see so many parents at the school.

After the morning activities, John and I shared a duty for the high school and middle school events, so we could flip-flop and go participate and share Sports Day with Maximo and his class.

Maximo's class gets to meet Freddie the Falcon before heading to the field

Maximo boogin' on down to the chicken dance - look at those arms!

*Snack time*

Playing sports in the gym with his classmates and all the parents looking on

Race on!

Scooter race

Playing outside

Posing with Freddie before we head off to the PTA BBQ!

We all had a great, great day!

Photo Friday - Week 44

2011-10-14T19:20:00.002+09:00

Miss Lola Caroline - 44 Weeks

Lola is eating pretty much everything we are eating now. It's nice to be able to just throw a bunch of food on her tray rather than feed her bite by bite. Unfortunately, I learned that sticky rice was not a good food to let her feed herself. IT. WAS. EVERYWHERE!

As you can see, she is getting into everything. She destroys this bookshelf daily. She's been a bit under the weather this week, so she's been using her pacifier more, but really, we don't mind because we can actually turn our backs to wash dishes or put something away because we're not pulling stuff out of her mouth every two seconds!

My Family and Me - through Maximo's Eyes

2011-10-12T21:13:00.001+09:00

At school, Maximo's class's first unit is called "My Family and Me". It's been a perfect unit for him to start work with, especially as he's still figuring out his role of big brother. He has had a lot of different activities involved with this theme. Of course, one of our favorites is the "All I Really Need" song.

Here are some others:

This is the "talk of the building" assignment that the BBP and KA classes did. They had to find pictures of people from magazines that looked like their families. Max's was a pretty good, although I'm looking a little younger and pretty blonde. Lola was spot on!

What was really funny were some of the pictures of the half-naked dads will full abs.

One mom even said to another at pick-up, "Does your husband really look like that?" HA!

We had Rainbow Bear visit us for the weekend. Rainbow Bear is going home with each student from Maximo's class. It's a good way for him to experience how our families and homes are the same and different. We had to take pictures of his visit and journal about what we did - he even had a helmet for riding on the bike! It was a bit of homework for Mommy, and we're glad our turn is over!

Maximo sharing his cultural activity with the class (with Mrs. Mayhew here) - we shared some of our Halloween activities!

Maximo sharing a picture of him and Daddy when they dressed up in Peru

- and it connects to the book they are reading in class!

Maximo is now regularly riding his bike to and from school!

Needless to say, Maximo is loving school!

Photo Friday - Week 43

2011-10-08T07:11:00.001+09:00

Lola is little sick this week, but she's still into absolutely everything.

Bruises on her head from trying to walk.

A constant stream of boogers from her nose.

We've pulled numerous objects from her mouth - stickers, toys...

We're in the "trying to keep her alive" stage.

And with all that, she's still pretty cute.

Although it's getting harder and harder for her to sit still to get a good picture.

Photo Friday - Week 42

2011-10-02T05:54:00.001+09:00

All Maximo Needs

2011-10-01T05:33:00.001+09:00

Photo Friday - Week 41.2874 & Julie - Year 34

2011-09-24T16:40:00.000+09:00

I normally like to keep the Photo Friday posts "strictly Lola". But, it's not even Friday, so I'm going to break all the rules. This is the first time since I've started this that I didn't get the photo actually taken on Friday. There have been a few times that I didn't post until Saturday, but I always at least got the picture taken on Friday. So if she looks older than seven days since the last photo, you know why!

I like this one better, but I cut her head off!

Our baby's got a new pair of shoes

Lola wears shoes for the first time - sparkly ones too!

Our morning adventure to the playground

Trying to get the kids to pose with me

Las Chicas Lemleys

Cupcakes made with Love

Today we are celebrating my birthday, since I was away on the real day. John has spoiled me by sending me off for a massage and a little time by myself, I got a new Le Creuset dutch oven, Max picked me out a present all by himself and decorated the wrapping and gave it to me. John took him out by himself to buy me something special (anything he wanted at the 100 Yen store!)

Maximo's present to me!

Le Creuset - oh la la!

Tonight I got to pick my dinner menu (as we did when we were kids - and a tradition I want to keep). I surprised myself by asking for hamburgers, homemade salt and vinegar roasted potatoes, and asparagus, followed by carrot cake cupcakes with ginger cream cheese frosting. It's been a perfect day!

Post School Trip: A Lazy Post

2011-09-24T10:56:00.001+09:00

Here's a link to my school blog, so you can read about the trip I took with the middle school kids to Awaji Island.

I forgot to take the Photo Friday photo, but I took some this morning, hopefully I'll be able to post them later!

Three Day Weekend Plus

2011-09-20T14:16:00.002+09:00

This past weekend, we had a three day weekend in honor of Respect for the Aged Day. It was a packed weekend, but a fun one.

Saturday was rainy, but luckily we had a birthday party and an excuse to get out of the house in the afternoon.

Sunday we went to Suma to the Kobe Steel Plan Carnival (scroll down on link). Max didn't want to leave the beach. There was good street food and the music was fine, but it was hot, so we only stayed for a couple of hours. Then we went to the Sogo Beer Garden (a beer garden on the roof of a department store) to celebrate my upcoming birthday.

Max and Anya at Suma Beach

Max LOVING Nana's Bird Costume

Now we're home early from school due to a typhoon that's heading our way. I'm supposed to be heading out for three days on a Middle School trip to Awaji Island, but at best, it'll be postponed for a day. Hopefully it won't be cancelled all together.

But, since we're home in the middle of the afternoon, I can post the pictures from our weekend. Some of my favorites are in this post, the rest are in our September photo album:

September 2011

Photo Friday - Week 40

2011-09-16T19:06:00.000+09:00

Lola Caroline - 40 weeks!

Lola is doing great, although she sounds a bit croupy right now with a cold - just in time for the three day weekend. We've finished another long week - luckily, we have a three-day weekend to rest, then another crazy week which includes me leaving for three days and two nights on a middle school trip.

Super Sunday

2011-09-11T12:57:00.005+09:00

Unfortunately the temperature heated right back up for the weekend, but we've still been able to do a lot as a family this weekend.

We ventured out Saturday morning for a hike, but it was really hot and Max was super tired from a long week. We headed back early, but it was nice to at least get off island. We came back and all took naps and then we ventured out to cool off at the River Mall.

Then, after that, we went out to the new Sri Lankan restaurant on Rokko Island. It was really good and the waiter and chef were really nice and accommodating. Then I even went out last night with some ladies from work! A full Saturday.

On Sunday, we went to school as they were having hot air balloon rides as a charity event for a local orphanage. Max got freaked out by the whooshing noise when the fire blazed to heat up the balloon. So, we left and went to the grocery store. After the grocery store we stopped by the bike shop, just to look, but... Lola ended up with a new bike seat and helmet!

Max just jumped on to pose with us (hence the no shoes and skewer of chicken in his hand).

For the past six months, Lola's been riding with us on my bike - but she's been strapped to me with the Ergo Baby Carrier. I wish I had a picture of that. I'm a sight, especially on Friday afternoon when John goes to the store and I have both kids with all of our bags. It's still comfortable enough with the Ergo, but it's hot and it wrinkles my work clothes all up!

Lola loved the short ride home from the bike store and got TONS of attention in the bike store as the owner was fitting the seat to my bike and we were getting her straps all situated and her helmet on right. On Sundays, a bunch of people go riding with their start and ending point being at the bike shop. They were all getting back from their ride when we were in there, so she was showered with many "kawaiis" (cute!).

And definitely loving all the attention!

It's been a great weekend, and thankfully not over yet. Next weekend we have a three day weekend, then I'm off for two nights to Awaji Island on one of the middle school trips. I know John will survive without me, but it's a lot of work for one person, especially getting everyone packed and ready in the morning.

We also are making some apple chips in the dehydrator today - I was inspired by this blog post this morning, so we even cut them out into cute fall shapes. Now our house smells so good!Max smelling the apple slices

I hope they look this pretty when they're apple chips and ready to eat!

Photo Friday - Week 39

2011-09-10T06:44:00.004+09:00

I can't decide on this weeks picture. Neither are great. I took some before we left for school in the morning, then took a couple more in the afternoon. Help me decide which one to put in the slideshow of photos (see sidebar). Which one should I add for this week?

Her skin is a MESS again. Her neck is all broken out, but her face is also kind of red and blotchy. I've starting putting the yeast medication on her neck, but I haven't seen any change in the past two days. I'm going to keep trying for a few more days, then I think we may head off to the doctor. (FUN!)

Lola has had a big week! She's still LOVING Yume Club and happily goes every morning. She's mastered her crawl and can now get everywhere! She can also go from laying down to sitting back up and she's pulling up (but still crashing). We're thinking we're going to have an early walker.

Maximo joined in the photo this week too:

Lola @ 9 months

2011-09-07T18:23:00.000+09:00

Scarface - Mommy was a day late on cutting her nails!

Lola's continuing to be fun and easy, although she loves to get up early - 5:00 am early. Some days it's a bit later, but she's sleeping through the night, so really can we complain? She doing lots of things right now like clapping and pulling up on everything and she's crawling. Even though her crawling isn't super fast or efficient, she can get what she wants. She's all over the place, so we can't take our eyes of her for a minute!

She tools around in her walker smacking into our ankles, pulling everything she can reach off the shelves in the kitchen. She loves to be mobile around the house like that, especially when the tray is full of Cheerios!

She's doing really well at Yume Club, except she's not taking great naps. She goes every day with a smile on her face and she hasn't whimpered once at drop off. She loves playing with the other babies and loves to watch the big kids run around.

We left Lola alone for two minutes and came back to find her "communication book" for her day care chewed to pieces. It looks like a puppy got a hold of it. I wish I could have told her senseis that!

Lola in Japanese (actually Ro-Ra)
All of her clothes and items that go to daycare are labeled with this.

We're getting into a routine, although it's a marathon from 5:30 - 7:30 am and 4:30 - 6:30 pm getting everyone packed/unpacked, dressed/undressed, etc., etc., etc. Right now she can't eat the lunch provided by Yume Club, so I'm sending in meals. Sunday is cooking baby food day and freezing it for the week. We have to label everything, so we've been reusing this labels (as you can see, I got lazy on some of the labels and there's only English).

Sibling Love

2011-09-06T20:30:00.001+09:00

Maximo feeding Lola

"I need to wash my arm. It's just a little bit wet. Lola drooled on my arm."

Missing Details: Maximo's Birthday and First Weeks of School

2011-09-03T08:46:00.007+09:00

The past two weeks have been BUSY! But even with all of its craziness, Maximo has glided through with birthday celebrations, starting a new school and a new daycare. We thought it was going to be a really rough transition, but it hasn't. It's been exhausting for everyone, but there has been very few meltdowns, which has been surprising.

We definitely feel like we made the right decision to hold him back a year. He the oldest in his class, but there are quite a few kids turning four this fall.

He is thriving at school, as you can see here:
He's so happy. His language has boomed - he can tell us things he did during his day, all of his teachers' names (all 7 of them!) and his classmates' names. His teacher posts pictures for parents every Friday, so it's been fun to see what the kids have done all week and for us to have conversations about all the cool things he's doing.

Maximo loves going to school with Mommy and Daddy. We have a morning routine where we all leave together, give kisses and drop Lola off at Yume Club (where she has yet to cry when I leave her), then we head to Canadian Academy. Maximo comes to my room for about 20 minutes then I bring him to Peter Pan, which is the childcare on campus. The first few days were a little rough, because it was hard transiting between Peter Pan and his classroom (across the hall), but now he understands that he goes to Peter Pan from 8-8:25, then the bell rings and he can go to his class. This week he was invited to full day Building Blocks Program along with about half of his class. Then after school, he goes back to Peter Pan for 30 minutes to an hour, then we pick him up!

He's been doing great. His teachers are amazing, the facilities are gorgeous and the curriculum is fantastic. We couldn't ask for anything more! He has a rotation of art class, music class, and PE class and he gets to check out books from the library. It's quite funny to see what he comes home with each week - definitely not books we'd pick out. (Some so obscure that there are not even reviews or pictures of them on Amazon.)

We went to our first Back to School Night where we weren't the ones presenting. It was nice to move around with parents of Maximo's classmates to all of their classes. Even though we know the school and the teachers, it was nice to look around his classrooms and check out the things he has already done!

Here are a few pictures I didn't get up for Maximo's birthday.
His party at school (which we could both go to!):
The invitation to his birthday party:
One of my trips to school to bring birthday supplies and food:
We got him a camera for his birthday and he took about 300 photos the first day alone!

Taking pictures of Thomas (as he watched a video):

Photo Friday - Week 38

2011-09-02T20:51:00.004+09:00

It's been a kooky crazy week.

We've been at school three nights with Back to School Nights and now we're heading to bed and are awaiting a typhoon to hit in the wee hours of the morning.

Maximo is 4! Things That Go Party

2011-08-27T16:11:00.007+09:00

I always think of a theme a few months before Maximo's party and then look for things while I'm out and about. Last year was the "Ocean Theme" and today was "Things that GO!". I didn't tie all the details together as much as I wanted because now there is two and it was a really busy week.

I had a couple of students come to help out and I gave them the camera to take pictures since I had my hands full. So there are no photos of the little details like the submarine sausages. But you can see the "stoplight" cupcakes and tons of the kids playing.

We invited Maximo's new class and some of our friends' kids. It was a grand time, but it was super hot! My classroom is located outside next to the playground, so after about four trips on my bike to bring things up, we were set to go. We had to keep chasing Maximo out of my room because it was cool in my room. We kept it fairly simple. It was nice to meet some of the parents of kids in Maximo's class.

I took a little video of the birthday song:

And here are the pictures:

Maximois4!

And now the festivities are over.
In a few hours we'll have a 4 year old.
And we have a day to regroup before going back to work!

Photo Friday - Week 37

2011-08-26T21:55:00.003+09:00

Just kidding, here it is:

It took a few this morning. We kept her in her jammies because these are a pair of our favorite hand-me-downs from Maximo.

School Party 2011

2011-08-26T15:00:00.002+09:00

Enjoy this! John and I went to Maximo's classroom for his classroom birthday party. Being able to go to this is definitely a HUGE perk of working at the same place your kids goes to school.

Now we're planning for party 2, tomorrow at the playground. Tonight will be baking and getting everything organized...

More posts to come.

Photo Friday - Week 36

2011-08-19T18:33:00.000+09:00

We can't turn our back on this girl for one second!

First Day of School 2011

2011-08-18T19:30:00.005+09:00

A new Lemley Family tradition, a first day of school picture:Los Lemleys - First Day of School - 18 August 2011

I was all stressed this morning trying to balance getting Maximo to class without incident, with all his supplies, and hurrying back to my own classroom to the crazy first day advisory (homeroom) which included handing out schedules, locks, etc., so I didn't get a picture of him going into his classroom.

He did well, although cried when it was time to leave (as he did yesterday when we were leaving Open House). This week and next week are transition weeks, so they only go half days. It's tough for him because we're not there to pick him up, he just goes across the hall to Peter Pan, the onsite childcare. I guess it's better to cry because he didn't want to leave rather than cry because he didn't want to go!

And of course, I had to make a cute first day of school lunch. Although I tried to make tamago (egg) sushi because he loves it, but I failed miserably. (I have the special pan, but lacking in the special technique!) He still ate it though.After school today, we had a Listening Conference with his teacher where we talked about Maximo and she took notes. It's a new type of parent conference the Elementary School is doing to establish a good relationship between families and teachers - to have a positive meeting where the teacher can learn more about his/her students and their families.

It takes a whole lot of planning and organization to get everyone packed and out of the house and to their respective places in the morning, but we survived day 1. Only 179 more days to go...

An Interview with Maximo

2011-08-17T19:53:00.004+09:00

@ Almost 4 years old.
1 day before his first day of "big boy school" - BBP @ Canadian Academy.
I originally grabbed the camera when he was showing the miniscule amount of loving Lola, but then thought it'd be good to get him to talk a bit more so we can remember what he was like at this age!

Survival Mode

2011-08-16T18:22:00.004+09:00

John and I have started back to work and the kiddos are in their respective daycares. It's been an okay week. But there's a lot of planning and organization that goes into get the kids packed and out the door in the morning.

Blogging will slow down I'm sure now that I'm back to work, but I'll try my best!Here's little Lola with her "water spout" 'do. It's about the only thing I can do with her mohawk.

Photo Friday - Week 35

2011-08-12T22:25:00.003+09:00

Lola Caroline wearing her yukata
@ 8 months

...Top two teeth popping through
... Still sleeping through the night (unless she has a 3:00 am bowel movement)
... Happily transitioning to daycare
... More sensitive skin issues (heat rash)

My last Photo Friday as a stay at home mom... It's been a wonderful 8 months!

1 More Week of Summer - Ick!

2011-08-08T13:33:00.005+09:00

We've had a great summer, but now we only have a week left! John and I are flipping kid & work time to try to get some things done in our classrooms before the craziness starts on Monday.

These pictures are from last week when Max and I went to the River Mall.

Photo Friday - Week 34

2011-08-05T13:01:00.004+09:00

Lola - just a few days shy of 8 months

Lola started going to daycare this week for a few hours a day, she is cutting her top two teeth and she started sleeping through the night in Max's room. Easy peasy. We'd have a boatload more if they were guaranteed to be this easy. Okay, maybe not.

For some "Photo Friday" photo shoots it takes 50 shots to find one decent one. Today wasn't one of those days. Today I had a hard time choosing, because there were so many good ones. Max and Flavius wanted in on the action too!

They Did It!

2011-08-03T06:55:00.007+09:00

Slept together in their bedroom, that is! And everyone *almost* slept through the night. We've been on a mission: "sleep through the night and everyone is in their own beds" since we arrived in Japan. It's been a slow and rather stress-free process that I'm glad we conquered before going back to work.

* almost because Lola cried a little bit at 3:00am, then Max called out, "Look, Daddy, Lola's awake!" but they fell asleep within 2 minutes with little intervention. Lola woke up with a poopy diaper, so that may have been the source of the cry... or not.

Since Lola has been doing fantastic sleeping through the night (Yes, I know that's where I curse myself), even though she started doing daycare 3 hours a day this week and her top two teeth and breaking through, we decided to put them together last night. Maximo has been so tired lately because he's pretty much totally outgrown his nap (I, however, never did). When he doesn't nap, we have a witching time of the day around 4:00 and it lasts until dinner time, but he's passed out asleep by 7:00.

We're still continuing to use the SleepEasy Solution as our sleep bible and it's really good. They had a section about siblings sleeping in the same room, so I read and re read it, then was ready to execute.

They make a suggestion to create a book when verbal kids are going through changes. It makes sense, we used Pirate Potty when we were potty training and we have a few "Starting Preschool" books that we've been reading lately too.

So, I quickly threw together a book (now I wish I spent a little more time on the wording, but oh well). I like the hand drawn one best, but there weren't enough graphics to engage Max, so I made one on the computer and added pictures of Maximo doing his bedtime routine.
Look how well rested we all look now!

Maximo took a pretty good picture!

OUR BOOK, if you're interested:

Max Lo La Bedtime Book

We put Lola down around 6:30 pm, then we read to Maximo in our bed, did our last bathroom run, then tiptoed "like little mice" into bed around 7:00 pm. Lola was fast asleep and Max did a good job of quietly getting into bed and getting situated.

And the rest is hopefully history...

Living in Japan - Trash!

2011-08-02T11:32:00.006+09:00

Trash! definitely needs an exclamation mark next to it in the title because it's really so exceptional what they do in Japan and it's something we have to be conscious of daily (like the cicadas, right now).

One of the reasons we love Japan is how clean it is. This is important when you have little kids who like to put everything in their mouths and touch everything when you go into a public restroom - ICK! The cleanliness in Japan is the polar opposite of that in Peru. Where we lived (Miraflores), a small affluent neighborhood in Lima, there were "human street sweepers" that kept the neighborhood relatively clean, but people would always let their dog poop and not clean it up and just throw trash on the ground without blinking an eye. Once you got out of the city or into some of the seedier parts of the city, there is trash everywhere - littering the streets and sometimes beautiful landscape or left burning in piles.

Again, when I write these Living in Japan blog series, I do not know everything. I will try not to post incorrect information on here, but it is my perspective and understanding of the culture and daily life. Mind you, I do not speak or read in Japanese.

Here's a picture of the English trash pick up flyer:
As you can see for yourself, it's pretty detailed. It's nice to feel that almost nothing goes to a landfill and sits, not that there is much space in Japan for that anyways. Normal trash gets burned at really high temperatures which supposedly doesn't have an detrimental effect on the environment because the temperature is so high. I tried to find information on this in English and failed.

Every day of the week, something gets picked up - burnable, non-burnable, PET and glass (bottles, glass, cans) and as of this past spring, they added a Plastics pick up - which takes care of many "packaging plastics" - plastic wrap, food containers, etc. There's also corregated cardboard pick-up every other week; it's important to plan your IKEA trips close to these days!

It takes a little getting used to, but when we were in the States it felt weird to just throw everything away (we were in a rental with no recycling directions or receptacles). Because right now when we compost too (we have a little yard), we have almost no burnable trash, everything is recyclable! And trash is serious business. Everyone pretty much complies, but there are normally video cameras at the gomi areas of apartment buildings, like ours to catch any offenders.

The only negative part of "Trash! in Japan" is that it is very hard to find trash cans out and about. Train stations have trash cans and places for plastics and bottles, but parks and other public areas do not. This is extra tricky when you are out with little kids and have paper wrappings or gasp! a stinky diaper and the stroller is already packed to the hills.

Oh, I take that back, there is one more negative aspect of trash in Japan. It is hard to get rid of things, especially large items. There are very few donation places (even with a great need in the North still) to get rid of large items, like a couch, baby toys or even baby clothes. In order to get rid of something that does not fall under the categories of the flyer, (I think) you need to call the city and you have to pay and they put a special sticker on it for pick up. Luckily, the school will take care of it for us, but we still need to pay, and get it to campus. It does make you think of your purchases, which is good. There is a lot of sharing and passing down of items which has been nice, since we haven't really bought ANYTHING for Lola, but there aren't any other baby girls on the Canadian Academy horizon, so I'm not sure what we'll do with all this "stuff" when we're done.

Sleeping Baby, Happy Mother

2011-07-31T05:53:00.003+09:00

Many people thought we were crazy "cutting our vacation short" and returning back to little old Rokko Island four weeks earlier than we had to report to work. I am a woman with a plan. Both John and I like having time to settle and think about work before all the craziness starts, even more so now that we have kids. Also, the kids and I had been away from our home (we have so many homes) for two whole months. I'm so glad we decided to come back early!

Lola has always been a decent enough sleeper, but we've done things a lot differently with her and she didn't weigh 3 pounds at birth and have to eat every hour and a half (for forever) like her brother. For one, Lola and I co-slept since she was born. It was a lot easier with the night feedings and nursing. But, this meant that John was on the couch or more recently in the bunk beds with Max. As expected, her sleep got a little worse at night over vacation since we were sleeping in different places and her nap schedule was off. We vowed not to do anything until we were back in Japan and everyone was over jetlag.

Before we were parents, I never thought we'd have a problem with our kids sleeping through the night. Well, Maximo changed all that.

And probably the most important thing I've learned as a parent is a tired Mom is an impatient, unhappy Mom. I am one of those people who needs at least 8 hours of sleep a night, 10 being optimum. So, getting Lola to sleep through the night before returning back to work was essential for everyone's survival.

My friend, Heather, recommended this book way before we needed it and I was able to read it then go back over it when we were ready.

In a nutshell, it's a "supported crying-it-out" method. I highly recommend it. It's super easy to follow and left little for me to mess up or change which is good, because it's never easy hearing your baby cry (okay, it's easier with baby #2).

So, five days later, Lola slept 6:30-6:00 am in her crib with no milk! Yay! Now for Step 2, we're going to move the crib into Maximo's room so they can sleep together and John and I can finally sleep together again. I'll keep you informed with how Step 2 goes next week!

Living In Japan - Cicadas!

2011-07-29T19:17:00.001+09:00

It's about time that I wrote another Living in Japan post. I actually have a few drafts of some other topics, that I will hopefully post before we go back to work. But this topic is definitely worthy and on our minds (it's all you can hear from 5:00 am - 5:00 pm!)

CICADAS!

The cicadas here are deafening. One day they just start and they go on everyday incessantly for a few months until one day you realize it's quiet. Before moving to Japan, I thought that cicadas (locusts) came once every seven years, flew in like a swarm into small dusty Southern towns (straight out of a movie scene) and I knew nothing else about them. I know only a bit more now and have seen them up close and personal as the bushes right now are littered with their carcasses. There are also lots of little kids out with their dads with long handled nets and bug boxes catching cicadas. You should hear what they sound like when they get caught and kids they get downright angry when caught. It sounds like they are screaming.

Baby Who Sleeps to the Music of the Cicada:

A cicada shell - fun for hours!

Photo Friday - Week 33

2011-07-29T18:38:00.002+09:00

Week 33

Lola is on the move. She's rolling all over the place and alligator crawling backwards, which frustrates her when she's trying to steal Maximo's toys or pet the cat. She's trying to pull up, although can't quite do it. We REALLY need to baby proof this house - she's getting into everything, especially when she's cruising around in her walker.

And normally it's heavy or breakable items she likes to grab. Luckily, today, she was content with a cork trivet.

Videos 4 U

2011-07-29T10:13:00.004+09:00

(The post title is the name of my first job *outside of babysitting* working for my friend's parents' video store.)

Just a couple of videos around Casa de los Lemleys.

Laughing Lola:

Max-in-the-Box

What fun we can have with a large IKEA box!

Back to Normal

2011-07-27T08:52:00.004+09:00

Finally we have adjusted to the time change and we're enjoying being back in our home. We're trying to get through our list of "to-dos" before heading back to work in three weeks and hanging out around island. It's pretty hot, but not as bad as it was when I was pregnant last summer!

We've started "sleep training" with Lola, which I'll save for another post and ultimately we'd like to have the kids in the same room together within the week, so we're busy with that.

She is moving ALL over the place. She's "alligator crawling" mostly in circles and backwards, but she's moving and loving her independence! So, another item added to our to-do list is baby-proofing the apartment.

Daddy blowing up the tube for the River Mall

Staying cool at the River Mall

A big block of ice made to look like an aquarium

Playing in the little river across from our apartment and floating cicada carcasses down it!

Broccoli for Lola Vs. Broccoli for Maximo

Photo Friday - Week 32

2011-07-22T18:24:00.000+09:00

We're in the throws of jetlag right now, but last night we turned the corner (i.e. we weren't up playing or watching videos at 2:00 am). We're so glad we're back early to get situated before work starts.

Lola has changed so much since we left in May. She's so active. And unfortunately her yeast is trying to be "active" too. Keeping her rolls clean and dry is becoming a full time job - ugh. Only 3-4 more months of heat here...

Also, I keep posting this late, although at least I took the pictures yesterday. I'm thinking this may have to switch to a Saturday photo once school starts, but we'll see!

Photo Friday - Week 31

2011-07-16T18:39:00.000+09:00

This is the latest I've been yet and I am a bit concerned with what will happen when I return back to work.

The picture was taken on Saturday, I'll confess. We had a bit of a reservation snafu - we didn't have our reservation through Sunday, just Friday, so we had to move to a hotel for the weekend. We scrambled around Friday afternoon after learning this to try to pack our 6 bags to move to a hotel across town. And both kids were fighting naps. Fun times.

Neil Patrick Harris has one-upped my photo Friday with this. I love the themes, although I couldn't get that creative every week. Although you may not have noticed that Lola never repeats an outfit for her pictures - luckily she's growing so fast, I don't really have any options. That, and that we have inherited hundreds (really) of adorable hand-me-downs for her to model.

Last Day of Train Camp

2011-07-15T09:41:00.005+09:00

Miss Rebecca with her Train Ducklings

Maximo went to train camp this week at the Coastal Historical Society's Railroad Roundhouse. HE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! He would ask about going back to train camp as soon as we picked him up each day. There were eleven other little boys, ages 3-5 who got to learn more about trains, do artwork, read books, play with the train table and take trips around the Roundhouse facilities.

Today was the last day of camp and they invited families to join their kids on the steam engine ride, so we (and Gigi, too!) joined in on the ~~loud and smokey~~ authentic ride and couple of spins on the turntable.

Photo Friday - Week 30 (and a medical update)

2011-07-09T09:15:00.003+09:00

It's been a tough few days at Casa del Los Lemleys. While vacation has been going well, John and I have nasty sore throats and we think Lola has one too. Miss Easy Baby has been fussy, uncomfortable, and worse yet, waking up 3-4 times a night - ICK!

But, maybe worse than a summer cold is, this:

Lola has a yeast infection, in her neck and armpit. All those rolls... and the Savannah heat is a recipe for well, a yeast infection. I took her to an "urgent care" facility, but was less than thrilled with the doctor (who Googled in the middle of our appointment, the dosage, mind you, but still) and the prescription he gave us wasn't seeming to make much of a difference.

Anyhow, we got an appointment at a good pediatrics office today and he confirmed that yes, it was yeast, but he changed the prescription. And along with having a better feeling about the situation leaving the office to buy jock itch cream from the pharmacy, the doctor noticed Lola's hemangioma and also noted that parts of it are changing back to a fleshy color - yay!

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-05T08:30:00.004+09:00

Today the kids were dressed all patriotically and we went to the Georgia Train Museum. They've done some great things since the last time went there - about ten years ago with the kids I used to babysit. It's a lot more interactive than it used to be and there are many more things to see also. Maximo is going to Train Camp there next week and we wanted him to be familiar with the place, especially since he has been extra clingy with us combined with being a Superbig Scaredy Cat too!

We're sure it has to do with our travels this summer and being away from John for three weeks - but he's now petrified of elevators and went through a bout with being afraid of toilets flushing after using the airplane toilet.

Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures.

Tonight Gigi is coming over to watch Lola (hopefully sleep) and we're going to take Maximo to his first fireworks. Hopefully he'll enjoy it and not freak out!

Riding the hand car at the Georgia Train Museum

Yes, that's baby powder all over the top of her dress - she has open sores in her neck from the heat and the three rolls she's sporting - it's gross and they are starting to bother her.

Georgia - so far

2011-07-01T22:50:00.002+09:00

Here's a slideshow of pictures from our Georgia adventure. I'll be updating this folder. There are some great beach and grandparent shots!

Photo Friday - Week 29

2011-07-01T22:37:00.001+09:00

Naked Baby Edition

31401

2011-07-01T22:31:00.001+09:00

We've been in Savannah for almost a week already - summer vacation always seems to go by so fast! We're catching up with John's side of the family and have had two great days at the beach with Gigi.

We're renting a garden floor apartment in a nice Victorian home right on Forsyth Park (where we got married). It's the perfect location and it's so nice to have our own space (which is bigger than our Japanese apartment) - with a full kitchen and washer and dryer which is a necessity when traveling with kids. When we arrived, the owner gave us basil and peppers from her garden - that's my idea of a perfect bouquet!

Max, John and Gigi at Forsyth Park Fountain

A Grand Day in Atlanta

2011-06-25T11:11:00.002+09:00

We're in Atlanta right now on a whirlwind stop between Connecticut and Georgia. We stopped here because I had an IB conference to attend and we have a lot of friends and family that live here. I've been tied up the conference until today, but have managed to fit in dinners with Karen, my college roommate, her husband and sweet baby daughter, Katherine. We've seen my aunt, uncle and cousins a couple of times, and our dear friends, the Alfaros.

Today we had a full day of fun. We started at the Georgia Aquarium which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It puts the Mystic Aquarium to shame, I must say. Then we went over to Centennial Park and played in the fountains, ran back to the hotel for naps, then headed over to Uncle Steve's. What a great, great day. Tomorrow, we head down to Savannah and we can't wait!

Max and Charlie @ GA Aquarium

Water Boy

Cousin Zach making funny faces at Lola

...and more

Willy & Max & Zach

Swimming in the pool

Seriously... how cute! For never meeting each other before this week, Willie and Zach were so super awesome to their little cousins. They played with Max and loved making Lola smile. Tonight after dinner, they helped Max catch fireflies in the yard and they let him go through all their things and tag a long! We can't wait to hang out again!

And in case you want more (photos of our day):

Summer 2011 - ATL

Photo Friday - Week 28

2011-06-25T10:51:00.001+09:00

This photo actually makes her look like she has hair. Trust me, it's just the angle. She's got a weird mohawky-combover thing going on.

Happy Father's Day, John Boy!

2011-06-19T20:34:00.000+09:00

Here's the first family picture we've gotten since Lola joined our family! Today we went to Pete and Elvia's for a nice Father's Day Cookout which unfortunately ended in my neice breaking her arm, just as her summer vacation is beginning... ugh! We're off to Atlanta for the week, then we head to Savannah. The Connecticut photo folder is updated and complete!

Photo Friday - Week 27

2011-06-18T08:28:00.001+09:00

A Morning in Watch Hill

2011-06-17T20:36:00.002+09:00

We headed to Watch Hill (Rhode Island) on Wednesday to enjoy the beautiful sunny 70 degree weather.

Walking to Napatree Point

Nana needs a sign like this in her back yard! We found 3 ticks on Tuesday (one on Max, one on Nana and a deer tick on John! - ick!):

Enjoying the almost secluded beach. I wish the beach was a little more accessible, it'd be a big pain to plan a full beach day there and lug everything to the beach.

Unfortunately, the carousel wasn't open, so we had to settle for homemade ice cream and lemonade from St. Clair's Annex.

Later, at the playground, Max enjoyed running around. Lola enjoyed playing with her feet.

Photo Friday - Week 26

2011-06-13T06:02:00.002+09:00

It's been a big week - Lola's bottom two teeth have popped through!

She's rolled over!

We're fighting a milk strike... we're trying to get her to take a bottle!

But even at her fussiest, she's still pretty easy and still squeezes out a few smiles!

Photo Friday - Week 25

2011-06-03T21:14:00.002+09:00

Miss Lola Caroline, a couple days shy of 6 months.

The Mystic Aquarium

2011-06-03T03:34:00.003+09:00

One of our favorite places to go as kids was the Mystic Aquarium. It's one of the best aquariums in New England and it's only five minutes from Nana and Grandpa J's house. I took the kids today to get out of the house, but not go too far because Thing #1 definitely needed to be home for a nap. We had a great (ahem, $60) morning. Max's highlights definitely being feeding the birds and petting the sting rays!

Nana's House

2011-06-03T03:23:00.005+09:00

Our niece, Jess, said it best,

"I love going to Nana's house because of the junk food. Daddy doesn't buy that stuff for our house."

Of course there are many other things to love at Nana's house besides the junk food - I'll have to take pictures of all of our old toys circa 1975 that Max gets to play with here. But Max is loving the food - especially the cereal Nana bought.

Nana bought a mini variety pack of cereals which included "Colored Cheerios".

After he ate the two little boxes, he kept asking for them, so I bought these...

(a healthier option with no artificial colors or flavors), he had one whole bite...

and now I have a whole box of them sitting in the pantry. But, we're back to eating normal breakfasts because the variety pack is all gone and hopefully Nana won't find the urge to buy another! While we don't buy Max a ton of junk to eat, it's fine that he gets spoiled a bit by his grandparents and aunts and uncles and... Once a year, a couple of boxes of Fruit Loops won't hurt him or turn him into a two hundred pound toddler, although his appetite is ridiculous these days.

Update: Not even 15 minutes after I hit "publish", Nana came home from the work. She stopped by the grocery store on the way home and got... another 10 pack of mini cereal boxes. She immediately pointed out the healthy side with Raisin Bran and Chex, then I saw the other side with more Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes (sigh).

Maximo Heaven

2011-05-31T08:07:00.013+09:00

I think we squeezed all of Maximo's favorite things into one day! It started at a Memorial Day parade (his first parade!) that our niece marched in with her Brownie troop... then Maximo got to ride a digger with Uncle Pete... sushi for lunch... then we went fishing... then finished the afternoon with an ice cream at Friendly's. And we got to spend the whole day with family!

Maximo was over the moon all day and I don't think we can now top it, nor will I try! He fell asleep at 5:30, I'm now just hoping he'll make it through the night... at least until 6:00 am, but I'm not holding my breath!

Maximo and Uncle Pete driving the digger.

"Fishing", but with no hooks or we'd all have battle wounds!

Aunt Carrie holding on to the back of Max's shirt

so he wouldn't fall off the dock into the water!

Photos in the Meantime

2011-05-29T03:56:00.003+09:00

Since I may not be posting regularly until I get my new laptop, here's the album I'll be uploading pictures into:

Connecticut Summer Photos

Photo Friday - Week 24

2011-05-29T03:37:00.003+09:00

Yipee! We made it to the U.S.! The kids were fantastic on our long travel day. We're still dealing with jetlag, but are sleeping better each day. Lola sleeps in the room where the computer is, so it's difficult to update the blog regularly.

Photo Friday - Week 23

2011-05-20T19:53:00.005+09:00

And while I was involved in Lola's photo shoot, someone stripped down to his no-nothings to play with bubbles and his water table in the back yard.Gosh, he's so white, he's almost glowing out there!

The kids and I leave for the US in 4 DAYS! I keep thinking how much Lola's going to change while we're gone. She'll be so big and totally different by the time we're back to taking Photo Fridays in our usual chair. I will try to keep this going all summer. I don't think any of our big travel days are on a Friday, so we should be alright, as long as I can remember!

The Written Word

2011-05-14T07:22:00.005+09:00

This happened yesterday, but deserves its own post rather than being added to a Photo Friday post. We went to school yesterday for a visit and we were waiting in John's room for him to finish at an assembly. Max's favorite thing to do in our classrooms is to write on the whiteboards. I asked him to write his name and lo and behold, HE DID IT!
The "x" is sideways and looks like a "t", but it's pretty good!

On another Maximo milestone, we think afternoon naps are a thing of the past. Lately if he's taken one, he stays up talking in his bed until 9:00 (or even 10:00, one night last week). Let's just say this is later than my bedtime most nights. I'm sure he'll be taking a few this summer especially since we're traveling half way round the world and back again, but, at almost 4 years old, this era is done! In August, he'll start full day school, so this is probably good timing.

On Tuesday he has his interview for the Building Blocks Program (the 3 year old program) at Canadian Academy. He's growing up so fast!

And yes, he insisted on wearing the flower barrette in the pictures with Lola yesterday (in the new banner pictures).

Photo Friday - Week 22

2011-05-13T18:28:00.000+09:00

Lola is really interacting with us a lot lately. She loves watching and interacting with Maximo (as you can see with the new photos in the blog banner). She is playing with toys more and grabbing for everything from necklaces, my dinner plate, whatever she can reach.

It's getting harder and harder to take her picture because she won't sit still! Sorry this is a little blurry.

Video-licious

2011-05-11T19:44:00.003+09:00

Seriously, I'm hurting for blog post titles... Please bear with me. I don't actually use my brain for complex thoughts these days, it's mostly: feed, change, clean, cook, love, kiss, scold, hug, repeat. (Not a bad gig, though!)

I posted this video on Carrie's facebook page too, but I don't know what she checks more often (if she's a good sister, then this blog, if not, then she'll see it on facebook).

And this one... I could melt when I see how much Lola lights up when she sees her big brother. It's so much fun watching #2 ogle #1.

For Two Special Ladies...

2011-05-08T08:02:00.005+09:00

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama!

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy (We're sure we called you both that, decades ago)

Happy Mother's Day, Gigi!

Happy Mother's Day, Nana!

母の日おめでとう {haha no hi omedetou}
- We love the Japanese word for Mom - Haha!

¡Feliz Dia de Mama!

Thanks for being great Moms and GrandMOMs! We can't wait to see the both of you!

** Technical Note: You may want to give these a minute to stream ahead, they are a bit slow, depending on your connection. **

For the Southern Mama:

For the Northern Mom:

Hugs and Kisses!

Photo Friday - Week 21

2011-05-07T08:37:00.003+09:00

Lola is 5 months! She's doing great, although we expect she may be bald by the time we make it to the US (IN TWO WEEKS!).

This is exactly what her big brother's beautiful mane did at this age too - at least she looks like she has a bit more new growth underneath than Maximo did.

Maximo @ 5 months

I know I'm posting this on Saturday, but the picture was taken on Friday, honest!

The Best Nest and Lola Eats!

2011-05-04T08:09:00.004+09:00

Sorry for a lack-of-creativity blog post title. Last night was a little rough at our house and my brain is a bit foggy this morning. I've been getting books from the library at school for Maximo. Some days I totally strike out - they look great on the cover, but are, well, not and of course, these are the books he wants to read over and over and over again.

Last week, I went to the Early Childhood library in the ELAC building, rather than the main library (which is more convenient and right next to me old classroom) and it is specifically focused for the "under first grade crowd". I got some great books that none of us mind reading over and over. Max continues to LOVE books and we love to hear him sing the song from this book:

Picture from: www.bestmoments.com

Miss Lola started eating a bit of food this week.

Yummm - Breastmilk guacamole! Want some?

She has been SUPER interested in what we are eating - last weekend we were at a little get together and she was staring down Zoe while she nibbled on her brownie close by. We're going to make Lola's food like we did for Max. This week we're starting simple - brown rice "mush", avocados and maybe a little banana. I know we're supposed to introduce one food every 3-4 days, but heck, this is the second kid and these are pretty low allergy foods. She did pretty good yesterday. I love making baby food. Unfortunately we have a teeny tiny freezer, so it may not be as easy to store like we did with Max.

She's super smiley these days, but I can't get a good picture of her smiling because when she smiles she wiggles her whole body!

Photo Friday - Week 20

2011-04-29T20:01:00.001+09:00

Today's the beginning of Golden Week Vacation for us (John). So we're looking at a 4-day weekend together. Yay!

Lola continues to be a dreamy baby.

Easter?

2011-04-28T19:52:00.005+09:00

We did celebrate a little Easter at La Casa de los Lemleys. We had some friends over on Saturday night and we dyed Easter eggs, then Maximo woke up on Sunday to a basket full of goodies and an Easter egg hunt. Since we live overseas and do not watch TV besides downloaded shows and movies, Max doesn't have any idea about many commercial things or all the junk that there is out there for kids. So, while some plastic Easter eggs were filled with jelly beans, just as many were filled with peanuts, pecans and pistachios and he loved them just the same. He didn't even know all the Easter candy he was missing - the chocolate, the Peeps have by-passed us another year.

I didn't get any Easter-y photos. We didn't have a big family dinner nor put on our Sunday finest. However, I did get some other photos from the day. On (Rokko) Island, there was a festival for Easter which had about 50 food stalls (Asian street food is the best!) from different restaurants, so we meandered around and ate and ate and ate (Japanese, Indian, Korean, Sri Lankan, Turkish).
There were also stalls selling produce and other fun things for the kiddos to do.

Maximo's highlight was riding the horse:

Life is going by fast. I can't believe the kids and I will be heading to the US in less than 4 weeks. While I'm excited for this, I'm not excited that my maternity leave is also coming to an end. The weather continues to be fickle - with varying temperatures and quite a bit of rain.

I've updated the April Photo Album, and posted my favorites in this post from this past week:

Children's Day Carp hanging over the River Mall

Photo Roundup

2011-04-23T07:16:00.000+09:00

Just a few photos from the week:I made that bow!

I've been loving the sewing machine and have gotten a bit crafty lately.

Hand-me-down walker -
Lola can't touch the ground yet, but both kids loved playing with it today!

Max helped me make pasta for dinner.
He could roll it with the machine all by himself.
It was actually a great help!