Halloween Part 1

We have been in desperate need of a decluttering/reorganizing of our apartment. I think I have mentioned it several times. So, I called in emergency backup last week. My mom and her husband came and helped me rip through the apartment. In about a day we were able to reorganize all of the closets, the entire kitchen, and the entire bedroom. This leaves only the dining/kitchen area left for me and Ten to work on. Finally, we have some order in the madness.

We also were able to have a bit of fun while they were here.

We celebrated a birthday.

The gorgeous cheesecake that Ten picked up on his way home. I would say it was enough for 12 people. We had cheesecake for days.

On Saturday, we went over to the Pumpkin Fest at Central Park. A pumpkin patch in the middle of the city. We got there right when the event began, so we barely had any wait time at all. 

Our little bumble bee deciding which pumpkins would be going home with us.

Family photo with one of our pumpkins.

Heading over to the other stations. They had lots of games and even a haunted house....all for free I might add...even the pumpkins....really nice event.

Making the pumpkin all pretty to take home.

Mini area for fall photos.

 After looking around at some of the booths, we decided it was time to go grab lunch. Also, it was getting so crowded at the park that we wanted to escape before it just got too tiring. We decided to pop over to a restaurant called Dallas BBQ. The serving sizes were absolutely huge and the BBQ itself was pretty good, but some things were below average....I doubt (or pretty much can guarantee) that we won't be coming here again.

Mia and her pipe cleaner spider checking out the decor.

An onion loaf....which was pretty much tasteless!! I had to dump tons of salt on mine to make it edible. That is saying a lot from people that don't salt anything.

Honey roasted chicken (really good), baby back ribs, corn bread, and very, very tasteless fries.

Free Halloween cupcakes to end the meal...I think Mia was pretty excited to get to eat the icing off of it without anyone stopping her. Such a pretty smile.

When we got home it was around 2:00, and so we were all pretty tired. Ten and Mia napped while the rest of us watched a bit of TV. Around 4:00 we headed back out to a Halloween party for kids at a nearby church. They had lots of little activities for little ones.

Playing with chalk.

This was the first time Mia got to play with hula hoops, and I'm pretty sure she thought they were the coolest things.

She also got to play in her very first bouncy house. We usually have to skip these because there are just too many big kids, but the church did a great job of grouping kids by age.

On Sunday, my mom headed back home. We also got a phone call saying our swimming class was cancelled because the teacher was sick. I was secretly doing back flips in my mind because that meant we had a whole day to ourselves to just hang out at home.

Roseola does not make for a carefree weekend.

Kudos to those people that have their weekend blog posts ready to go first thing in the morning. Seriously, how do you find the time? I am genuinely impressed my friends.

So, there was once a nice family who lived on the Upper West Side. They did fun things like go to the park together, attend play groups, and watch the occasional Disney movie while eating ice cream. They were such a happy family. One day, the youngest of the clan got a fever. A fever that was to last 4 days long. This fever would then be followed by a rash, and the great medicine woman diagnosed said illness as Roseola.

Yes, my friends....that little intro is what we have been dealing with for the past week....and let me tell you...it is not fun. Not one bit. This made Mia's ear infection seem like a trip to Hawaii. She has been miserable to the tenth degree, but we have been assured that it will all end soon....here is to hoping!

Anyway, while battling her virus....we did decide to get out and do a few things over the weekend. The doctor said that she was no longer contagious, and I seriously had to escape the nightmare that we had been living...even if it was just for a little bit.

Proof of said nightmare: Cream stew for dinner on Friday night....none of us like it much....but it was the fastest thing that could be made so I could get back to nurse duties.....sad night.

Anyway, on Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the Rutgers Presbyterian Church to attend a performance of Stomp, Clap, and Make Bangs. It was a puppet/musical show put on by Theatre Arts Japan, so we decided to take advantage.

Ten and I are still debating what this animal was supposed to be. In the end, I think it was part mouse, part bear, part raccoon. Yes, that must be it. 

Mia stayed entertained for most of it though, so winner.

Off she goes to check out what is behind the scenes.

After a really confusing show about Boo and her forest friends, we decided to stop at a diner for lunch. After our cream stew dinner....we were wanting something with a bit more substance I guess you could say....so we had gigantic burgers.

Mia enjoyed some tots. Can't you tell how thrilled she was to be out after the show. Notice the spots on her face?

Moving on to Sunday. Ten went to Trader Joe's and picked up this lovely cinnamon whisk. At the same time, I bought this Yankee Candle in cinnamon stick.....hahaha. I guess we both thought cinnamon would be the perfect scent for the apartment. So, random.

We decided to brave the world again and see if Mia would like to go to her swim lesson. She was doing a great job for about 90% of it, but she got cranky at the end.

shot of the whole class

On the way home, Mia did have quite the meltdown. We put her straight to bed, and then Ten decided to use her nap time to go to the pumpkin patch (aka Trader Joe's) and he picked some beauties I might say.

Mia deciding that the pumpkins needed to be stacked.

....and then that 4 pumpkins was totally too many for a family of 3. She promptly put one pumpkin in the bottom of her stroller to dispose of at a later time.

On the agenda this week: decorate lovely pumpkins, slay the evil dragon of Roseola for good, and welcome out of town family (the only kind we have) here for a busy 4 days. Have a great week all!

My Second post in October....shame on me.

I have been wanting to blog for so long now. We have had so much going on though that I just haven't gotten the time to sit down....alone...and think...and type. Anyway, so here is the  list.

• Mia has had a fever for the last 4 days. It peaked at 102 and kind of hung around 100....four days of taking care of her and being stuck inside. I am going stir crazy. We made a rather unsuccessful trip to the park this morning. Mia sat down in some water and made a rather sad attempt to go down the slide....All in all...it ended up in a meltdown, and I had to carry her back to the apartment where I promptly put her to bed and she fell asleep. I tell you it is tough being a toddler.
• On that note, I'm sure part of her crankiness is from the fact that she is getting 4 top teeth at once. Two of those are molars, so that can't be fun at all.
• I'm thinking to have a Halloween dinner. I know that that isn't really a traditional kind of thing to do, but I imagine that it will be a grand tradition to start.
• Speaking of Halloween, I've been making French toast for breakfast in the mornings. Mia has been my assistant and using Halloween cookie cutters to cut it in to shapes. Her favorite shape is the pumpkin. I made Ten a ghost one morning, and he was totally confused....but then admitted that he liked it.
• I have been going through the apartment drawer by drawer, cabinet by cabinet to declutter. It has been a really slow process, and I'm not all that sure that I'm making that much progress....but it is a start.
• I have started working on our advent calendar. You may be thinking...what?! One of those crazies that is celebrating Christmas in October. No, not all. This calendar is just a lot of work and planning. I am doing 24 books counting up to Christmas. So, we had exactly 1 Christmas book. This means I had to look up the best books and then order them all. I started about three weeks ago, and I think I will get the rest of my books in the next two weeks. Then I can wrap them all up and have them ready for the end of November. I'm actually so happy that I'm planning ahead to make the holidays a lot less busy.

Anyway, here are some of the things we have been doing. I really do have a strong desire to make this blog better, but in the meantime life is kind of happening. 

Welcome October

Yay for October! The start of holiday madness. Is it possible not to get burnt out on the holidays? From now until Easter we have a string of 9 holidays (Japanese and US) followed by Mia's birthday. I'm determined to enjoy each one as they come, but I'm not sure if that will be possible. Hear is to hoping.

Anyway, we have been busy in these parts. I've had a grand total of 3 doctors appointments and a consultation within the past month. Ten is joining a new team temporarily at work which has been causing him to get home a lot later than usual...and Mia is always busy with something. So, the blog (along with cleaning and cooking) hasn't gotten the proper attention that is deserved.

Anyway, here is a bit of a recap of what we did over the weekend. On Saturday I asked Ten to please run to Kinokuniya to pick up a pregnancy/child healthcare checkup book for Baby 2. I'm not really sure how to describe this, but it is basically the baby's ID in Japan until they are 8 years old.

I love that I have one place to record all of my health information during pregnancy as well as everything about baby #2 for years to come.

Ten also came home with all of this:

Two puzzles (Mia's baby puzzles are too easy for her), some flash cards, and three Kumon books. We have been doing a few minutes of Kumon every day since we got these....building that muscle memory. 

Ten also brought home lots of yummy food for us. I swear I cannot go long without tsukemono....I have a love for all pickles. He even brought us back lunch, and we all ate...and ate....and ate....until we were so full that we couldn't move, but really happy in our gorged states.

My lunchbox. Ten had fried chicken which I didn't get a pic of.

We also shared this huge portion of yakisoba....heaven.

Mia is a rice kind of gal, but she was enjoying the noodles all the same. I mean how can you not.

You know what else I got over the weekend....my first (and probably last) Pumpkin Spice Latte. Ten brought it home for me because he is just that kind of a guy. He NEVER goes to Starbucks, so he got quite the shock when they said the price was almost $6. I do love me some seasonal drinks....but seriously...I won't be paying that twice....at least not until Christmas stuff comes out :)

We also started decorating for the Halloween. Here is a little glimpse. We also have a glittery skeleton on the door, and I have a few more things that I need to put up in the apartment...off to a good start though.

I love the little stack of Jack o Lanterns on the table. Ten picked those out, and I'm glad he did. He always goes for more classic looking things.

Anyway, we have lots to do this month. We are going to a Japanese music program for kids, a Halloween party at a church, the Pumpkin Festival in Central Park, a parade at Hippo Park, and I think that will be all for this month...don't want to over do it.

 Happy October!