My Twins

The boys just turned four! Time has flown, and we've loved every minute. The other night I said "Goodnight Boys" when I was putting Canon to sleep and teared up a little that my twins were no longer babies. It's been so fun to watch them grow up. They are a lot alike but definitely individuals with their own personalities.

Rylan: Baby "B". Mr. Rambunctious. He is a mover and shaker, always has been, even in the womb Rylan was constantly moving. He is fun-loving, hates being the center of attention, but loves to be around people. He never walks normally, he's either skipping, shuffling, jumping, zig-zagging, running or walking on his tip-toes (I'm serious). Loves Lightening McQueen, the color red, apples and bananas (he thanks Heavenly Father every night for apples and bananas :).

Beckam: Baby "A". He is Mr. Outgoing. He doesn't seem to care what others think. He's not a follower, he will do his own thing if he isn't into what his friends are doing. He enjoys his alone time. When he sings it sounds more like Mike Myers poetry from "So I Married an axe Murderer" (listening to him is one of my all-time favorite things). He loves Batman, the color blue, and cold cereal. Today he came up and hugged me, then told me quietly that he wants to live with me forever. I almost died. :)

They are both awesome big brothers, and Canon lights up when they are around. Life is so much fun with these two. Happy Birthday to my twins, I love you!

6 Months

All right, so he'll be 7 months next week, at least we took his 6 month pictures when he was still technically 6 months! Is there anything as wonderful as a naked baby?

I love my little man!

Lost in Translation - Food

There is way too much to post on Japan. Why have I taken so long? Now it's overwhelming, so I will just do little bits at a time. It has been awesome, we have seriously loved our time here! I'm still trying to adjust to living in a foreign country versus visiting a foreign country. There is so much we want to see and do, and it's hard to stay at home and try to live a normal, stable life!

One of the best things we've experienced has been the food. Sushi. Tempura. Sashimi. Super fresh and high quality (even when it's relatively inexpensive). Not to mention the tons of delicious food we eat, but don't really know what it is. Plus the other Asian food here is awesome! But good food has only been part of our culinary experience here. There have been many surprises both good and bad!

Robert eating from a Bento box

Dinner at a work party. Sashimi, white beet, tons of tempura, whole fish (Robert ate the eyes! ) It was all amazing, except the shellfish, we don't really know what it was and it was a combination of slimy, overly chewy and sandy...

Some restaurants have you take your shoes off and put them in a cubby and wear their slippers (they were WAY too small for us!)

The snack food has been fun to try. Many have "english" names, and some just make me realize how immature I actually am!
The name says it all with this one, it tastes like sweaty grapefruit juice!!! YUCK! Of course it didn't help that we tried it at room temperature.

We tried this because we thought the name was funny. So far it has been our favorite, it tastes like orange creamsicles

They have about every flavor of KitKat you can imagine, here is mango, it was all right

Again with the funny names, this is just like a Crunch bar

Of course the seafood markets are awesome here. I was especially impressed with Costco's seafood section, you can get whole octopus, eel, sea urchin, and countless other things

This is the sea urchin.

The vending machines here will be the topic of another post, but I have to add that at some restaurants you order from a vending machine, it spits out a ticket and you hand it to your waiter, pretty cool! It's very nice for us because there are usually pictures so we have a better idea what we are ordering :)

It has been an awesome adventure, we are trying to enjoy every minute of it!

Modern Medicine

It seems as flu season nears the media won't stop talking about Swine Flu. Wash your hands people, and STAY HOME if you have symptoms! Anyway, Robert read this book called "A Short History of Nearly Everything", and in it there is some info of the "Great Swine Flu", also known as the "Great Spanish Flu". He read an exerpt for me that really puts everything into perspective. I will share some of it. The Great Swine Flu killed about 21 million people in its first 4 months!!! About 80% of American casualties in WWI, came from the flu. Yes, very shocking, but here is the exerpt that made me feel so blessed to live in these times:

"In an attempt to devise a vaccine, medical authorities conducted tests on volunteers at a military prison...The prisoners were promised pardons if they survived a battery of tests. These tests were rigorous to say the least. First the subjects were injected with the infected lung tissue taken from the dead and then sprayed in the eyes, nose, and mouth with infectious aerosols. If they still failed to succumb, they had their throats swabbed with discharges taken from the sick and dying. If all else failed, they were required to sit open-mouthed while a gravely ill victim was helped to cough into their faces."

ewwww. Those poor prisoners! How disgusting! What is ridiculous is that NONE of them got the flu! The only one who got sick was the ward doctor, who then died! The author, Bill Bryson, goes on to say that the explanation is that the epidemic had passed through the prison just a few weeks earlier, and all the volunteers had survived that, and probably had a natural immunity.

Aren't all of us happy to be alive today? And, of course, happy to not be prisoners willing to go through anything to get pardoned :)

Rylan's Latest Talent

I think we may have a future Olympic figure skater on our hands...

Can you believe how fast he is spinning?

Sweet Sorrow

I had to say goodbye to some old friends today...our dining room chairs. They were sentimental to me as they were my first makeover project. We got them for free 6 years ago. I remember it well. They were an oak stain with teal and mauve paisley for the fabric cover. (why didn't I take a picture???) If the little old lady could have foreseen what I was going to do to her chairs I'm not sure she would have given them to me. I learned a lot from refinishing those chairs, (like how unnecessary it is to strip furniture that you are just going to paint! it was so laborious and completely not worth the trouble!)I still love the black with the animal print, but there were only 5 chairs, and they were in desperate need of being re-upholstered and repainted. Goodbye dear chairs, you've served me well, hopefully your next owners will love you like we have...

My Chunka Burnin' Love

Mr. Canon

My Littlest Man is a thumb-sucker, and it is the absolute BEST THING EVER!!! He is a self soother, and over the last couple months that ability has been priceless (I know, I know, enough whining I promise!). He is a dream baby, I am absolutely in love. He'll be sixth months on Sept. 3rd, I can't believe it. I'm trying to enjoy every minute, but this time around it seems like time is flying faster than with the twins.

Look at that face, whenever I see his smile I forget he ever cries or fusses, all the bad just melts away! He seriously makes my heart sing!