Stockings and Haircuts

I finished my stockings before Christmas with Amber's help. These beauties are made out of felt which I picked up in various and sundry sized at our local 100 yen store.

You will likely notice that 1) Helen is three years old and now has a stocking, and 2) there are more stockings than people in our family. To explain the first, she did have another stocking but I realized after the first Christmas of unwrapping socks to try and fill it up that I would rather have small stockings. The second point can be explained by indecision. I couldn't decide which patterns I wanted to make the best. I think the extra stocking is okay since it lends balance to our bookshelf-come-fireplace. As a side note, they are being held up by chopsticks. Every month we find a new use for those wooden wonders.

Last month Jane had her first haircut. Although I'm the first to admire a good mullet, I decided that it was time for Jane's golden locks to come off. It was a big day for Helen too because she got bangs.

Happy Birthday Ryan

We celebrated Ryan's birthday all day. It began with fruit hanging from the ceiling, and although Ryan wasn't as excited about the floating fruit, the girls and I loved them. In fact, we kept them up long past New Years.

This delicious brownie, marshmallow, chocolate-peanut butter-rice krispie desert was topped by a wonderful sparkler candle. We weren't sure what the sparkler would do when we lit it, but it proved even better than we expected.

When Ryan had a day off we went to our favorite Japanese restaurant to celebrate his birthday for a second time. It's not every year that you turn a double-digit, double-number. I think this will be an auspicious year for Ryan. You don't need a fortune cookie to tell you that; it's all in the numbers.

At this restaurant, you can only blame yourself if your meat is overcooked. The cabbage is complimentary.

This beautiful salad is topped by some sort of fried cheese creation that is easier than you would think to eat with chopsticks once you break it up. The slippery lettuce, once you have the salad dressing on it, is an entirely different story.

Fun with Family

A week after Alice was born the party came to our house. Amber, Grandma and Grandpa came out to play!

Just look at the girls faces and you will know that it was a party.

Here is a picture of the church we go to. It is probably a 10 minute drive from our house off base. Not bad at all except when it's snowy, and they don't really plow the roads off base.

Ryan took the fearless travelers to visit a Shinto Shrine in the snow. I think it snowed everyday that my family was here. It's like living in a snow globe here in the winter time.

Ryan discovered that it is much faster to have help when making reese's dipped balls. Delicious!