Thursday, February 21, 2008

Last weekend we took a trip to the Raleigh Children's Museum and boy was it worth it! Moriah had a blast. Tons of hands-on activities, craft stations, and exploratory toys. They even had a special exhibit on the lives of Japanese children - everything from their classrooms to their bedrooms. I was very impressed with how much they invested into this exhibit. It brought back tons of memories - not that I lived this day to day, moreso just being exposed to it on a regular basis. Part of me wondered if the girls would ever experience what I did growing up or ever get to know the familiar sights, sounds and smells of where Jeremy and I met and spent a year of our lives together.
















Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Snow Day

Last Wednesday night we unexpectedly got 2.5 inches of snow so we took advantage of it Thursday morning while it lasted. Believe it or not, all the snow you see melted by late Thursday afternoon. We went over to my friend Emilie's house to play with her daughter Claire. Luckily their backyard is part of an old golf course, which makes for great improv diaper bag sledding.


Fun video clips of the girls.











Monday, February 18, 2008

When I'm Bigger

A recent conversation Moriah and Jamie had at the dinner table:

Moriah: What's in your dinner?
Jamie: Chicken, potatoes, onions...
Moriah: I don't like onions.
Jamie: I didn't like onions either when I was little. Now that I'm bigger, I do. Maybe you'll like onions when you are bigger.
Moriah: Oh. Jamie, do you like rice season? (She is talking about furikake, a common seasoning Japanese people sprinkle over thier rice. Definitely an acquired taste and surprisingly Mo loves it.)
Jamie: No, I don't like it.
Moriah: Well, maybe when you get bigger you will like it.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Hello. How Are You? Goodbye.

Whenever Moriah has a pretend conversation on the phone it goes like this: "Hello, How are you?, Goodbye." It lasts maybe 4 seconds. It kind of feels like our recent visit with my parents which lasted all of 18 hours. They flew in last Friday afternoon with the intention of staying 10 days, however a family emergency came up and they had to fly back to Michigan the following morning. As you can tell from the pictures we made the best of the few waking hours we had. I love the (unstaged) shots of Moriah smiling - so genuine, so real.



A common pose for Madelyn:  Point in the direction she wishes to go





Skating in the kitchen rink







I love the way Maddie looks in this picture-


Maddie is very talented with her feet








 

Moriah's "heart hurt" when we dropped Bachaan and Opa off at the airport.

It was very interesting watching Mom interact with the girls.  For the first time I realized, and Jeremy pointed it out too, I am much more like my mom than I ever imagined.  As she played with Moriah it suddenly occurred to me that twenty-four years ago she was doing the same things with me...the very things I am now doing with Moriah.  Thanks Setsuko-Mama!  You've passed down some great qualities that help me enjoy being a mother to my two wonderful girls.