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He wasn't very helpful, but it was super cute! He mostly moved snow from one big pile to another. Sometimes he took already-shoveled snow from the pile and put it back on the sidewalk! Usually, his shovel only had a small piece of snow on it. He had so much fun "helping" and was out there for nearly an hour! Every now and then Rhino and Matt took a break to toss some snowballs!

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When Rhino came inside, he took off his boots and said he wanted a "hot drink." Matt didn't mention it to him and he's never had a hot drink before, so I'm not sure where he got the idea from! I was all ready ahead of him and had gotten everything out for some cocoa. It was his first time trying hot cocoa and he loved it! He licked his lips and declared "Mmmm! Very yummy!" There's nothing better than coming in from working in the snow to a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Of course, Matt had one waiting for him, too!

It's something that Matt's been bummed out about with Heron. They hadn't really made a strong bond early on. Heron's started liking Matt a lot more since we returned from our trip last month, though. Yesterday he took his first-ever nap on Daddy. The first one in seventeen months! I'm so glad he's finally warmed up to Matt. ♥

My submission is about saying goodbye, from my in-laws' visit out to us last month. They came out here to Japan for a couple of weeks to see us and the boys (to meet Heron for the first time!) We had the best time together and I wish we weren't so far away and could do it more often.

The time went too quickly and before we knew it we were saying goodbye at the train station. These are two of my favorite photos from that morning. Matt hugging his dad goodbye and Mom not wanting to let go of Heron. I can't stand goodbyes!

Tell your story this week over at I Heart Faces!

We went out to Magnums, a nice restaurant here on base. It seems to really be the only place to get steak (other than the commissary!) I don't really eat steak often, especially since moving out here. I don't know if Magnums is a truly amazing restaurant or if it's just been so long since I've had a steak, but it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Yum! We shared an appetizer, enjoyed our dinner, didn't pick food up off the floor, wipe faces, scold, go for eight potty trips, or order off the kids menu. I love going out with the boys too of course, but this was a great break! Matt is so sweet, too. He got me flowers and was all nervous!

We went out to the Shimoda mall after. We were planning on seeing Toy Story 3 at the theater, but when we got there we found that they were only showing it in Japanese.  Often they will play some American movies and just subtitle them with Japanese. Well, that wouldn't work. We saw a poster for Inception, another movie they were playing at the time, but hadn't ever heard of it. Really, I feel like we live under a rock a little bit. Well, we gambled and bought Inception tickets — and I'm glad we did! We both really enjoyed it!! We got another surprise as well. We were expecting to pay 1,800 yen per ticket (right now, about $21 — This is why we never go to the movies!) Because we were watching the last showing of the night, tickets are only 1,000 yen. Hooray!

So we used our extra yen downstairs at the arcade. Usually we go for the photo booths, to let Rhino bop the crocodiles, and to play giant Tetris. Matt decided to try his hand at one of the stuffed animal gambling games (with the big claws!) with no luck at all. They're trickier than they look! So we found other rip-off games that you try for prizes. They have the ones that rotate and you scoop up little gems or chocolate coins or something, then drop them onto a moving shelf. The shelf should push little prizes into the hole, hopefully knocking over a stack or pulling a weight with a jackpot attached to it. We didn't have much luck there, either. It was fun, though! We're not really gamblers and that's essentially what these silly games are, but it was silly and exciting.

We got home late and everyone was asleep. The boys behaved for Mom & Dad (Heron was a little sneaky with the stairs and would look back and giggle and beeline for the steps.) We're thinking now that we should get a sitter once a month and have a regular date night!

Thanks, Mom & Dad !!

In most of the photos I have of Heron and Matt, Heron is crying. This is one of the few where he's not all tears.

And here's Japan's largest Statue of Liberty replica. It's at exactly the same latitude coordinate as the actual Statue of Liberty.

Rhino's really excited about water guns lately. Heron's just never happy to have his photo taken!

It was Heron's second time at the park (the first time, he was just itty bitty), and we'll be heading out there more now!

So I'm a little late. Woops! I had a fantastic Mother's Day! Matt sort of blew off the last two years, but I think I got on him enough last year that he made sure to do something this time around! I know that the boys aren't that old or anything, but they can still get involved a little and it's still nice to be appreciated by my husband! We went to church in the morning and I got to go to my ladies' Sunday School class then taught the 2 and 3 year-olds junior church during the service. Afterward, we went out to Global Kitchen, one of my favorite lunch spots out here. This was a good idea in theory, but they were having a Mother's Day special and it was very busy. Sunday is all-you-can eat and brought out on tiny plates whenever you order. We usually do two or three ordering "waves" and leave happy. We waited SO long for our first round because it was so busy on Sunday, that we left without ordering anymore. The boys had a good time playing downstairs with all the toys and the food was still good, we just didn't want to get home too late (it was all ready 2:30 by the time we did get home!) When we came home the boys napped and we just relaxed, which was really nice. We skipped out on evening church and went over to Muriel's for a Mother's Day barbecue, which was a blast. A bunch of her friends were there and I was sure there would be at least one husband. Nope! It was all wives and children … and Matt! He's a good sport though and had a pleasant time. Muriel is a new friend of ours and she is awesome! Her husband, Jacob, and Matt his it off really well (Jacob just deployed last week) and their three kids are so sweet! They just moved here in February, so I don't have to worry about them leaving us any time soon! As for Mother's Day presents, this year was wonderful! At the Misawa Parents and Me Playgroup last week I took photos of all the kids for picture frames. I snapped one of the boys for mine. Rhino painted the back side of puzzle pieces different colors and did beautiful work! Then we glued the photo onto a cardboard rectangle, placed the colorful puzzle pieces around as a border, and Rhino stuck flower and heart stickers around it. We secured a piece of string to the back so it can be hung on the wall. It is adorable and I love it so much (even though I probably did more than half the work!) and will definitely post a picture soon. Then on Saturday Matt and Rhino went to the 100 yen store and picked up some goodies. Rhino got a flower pot, filled it with rocks, and placed little pinwheels, a "My Garden" sign, a bucket on a post, and some pretty wires he twisted around his finger to make them curly in the pot. It is really cute and he was so excited about it so he gave it to me on Saturday night. I can't wait to put a plant in it! And Matt went overboard a little bit, but we justified a large Mother's Day purchase because it's something "for the house." In my biscuits post I mentioned my new KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer. Matt ordered it for Mother's Day and it came much earlier than expected, so I opened it early. It is beautiful and our hand mixer finally died last month and I love this new, green beast so much! We just might get a little chunkier this year with all the dough and batter mixing I'm going to be doing! It was definitely a great Mother's Day! I miss my moms (Mama and Matt's mom, too) and wish I could have spent it with them. They both have been so good to me and such great friends, too. I really appreciate their chatting and video Skyping, all the encouragement, letting me vent, and just being there even if we are across the globe. I couldn't choose a better Mama or mother-in-law! I love both of you! I hope all the mamas out there had a wonderful Mother's Day, too!

The beautiful trees were in full bloom, quiet Japanese music was playing throughout the park, and picnickers dotted the grass. We didn’t stay too long, but we strolled around the lower part of the park by the pond, enjoyed the cherry blossoms, watched the ducks, and let Rhino run around at the playground.

I was hoping to get a nice photo of Matt and the boys, but Heron just wasn’t very happy. I thought by now that he’d warm up to Matt a little bit, but he hasn’t much. It’ll happen soon, though!

I wish the blossoms lasted longer. They’re all ready starting to blow off the branches in the wind. I’m just glad I was able to snap a few pretty shots before they disappear for the year!

We went as a family a couple days ago to scope the place out and take some photos of Matt. Rhino found a horse and really enjoyed telling me all about it!

Today I went by myself to snap some more shots of the park and just look around. The park has a kappa pond, which is really pretty and today was kind of eerie. Kappas are mischievous, water-dwelling, mythological creatures that the Japanese believe steal crops and eat children. There were a bunch of kappa statues, kappas carved into rocks, offerings to the kappas (they’re also considered water gods), and kappa-shaped hedges. When the boys get older we’ll tell them about the kappas and toss cucumbers in the water to keep them from getting too close to rivers and lakes.

We had our first family Christmas at home this year. It is a little lonely being so far away from family, but we had a beautiful Christmas with the boys and our friends. We had lots of lovely snow for Christmas, cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa. Rhino ran downstairs in the morning after we read Luke 2, excited about his advent treat that he’d gotten for the past 24 days. He completely overlooked the tree and presents and ran straight for the empty advent calendar. We had to turn him around and set him straight before he saw all the presents and pointed with a great big “WOW!”

Rhino enjoyed unwrapping the gifts. He’s much better at it this year than he was last year, when he’d only peel a tiny little scrap at a time! Everything unwrapped received another “WOW!” and he was just as excited about Heron’s toys as he was his own. Heron liked to just lie under the tree and gnaw on his toys, then eventually fell asleep on the sofa from all the excitement!

We received so many wonderful gifts from our family. We really are blessed to have such wonderful people who care about us. I only wish they all could have been with us to share in the festivities. I would love it if all our family, both Matt’s and mine, could come together for the holidays, but I don’t really see it happening anytime soon. We’d love to go back to the States to spend future Christmases with family, but while we’re stationed in Japan, it is too much of a trip to trek all over the country for the holiday. Maybe someone will want to come out here with us one of these years!

Matt took leave for all of Jen’s visit with us, plus a little extra padding on each end of her trip. I’m sure there are other men like Matt, who would rather never shave their faces. He had two weeks of leave and wanted to see how much of a beard he could grow in that time. Usually I at least have him shave for church, but I had never seen him with facial hair and wanted to see how this turned out. Too bad military regulations won’t let him keep more than a neat little mustache, because I wouldn’t mind if this goatee stuck around for a while!