It did WHAT?!

 I woke up Wednesday morning and got ready to run.  It was suppose to be clear and 34 degrees.  It was not either of those.  It was a snow-flurrying 31 degrees.  This was delightful to the children!  Never have they bounded out of bed so quickly and gotten ready for school.  Yes, alas, when one walks a block to school, it does not give you snow days. I found that a little surprising since I have heard it rarely snows here.  Actually, everyone I talked to said this was the most snow they had ever seen in Iwakuni.  (I think they believed the weatherman who said it would be gone by noon.  Ha!)

7am, and I thought the snow was done.  

Playing in the yard before school. They are lobbing snowballs. The snow was coming down again by the time they left for school.

Rylee's Yochien bus wouldn't come in the snow, so I got to drive her.

The road her Yochien is on.  Slushy, but not too  bad.  And the snow was still coming down!

It was so pretty!

I was delighted when Marian's teacher sent me photos of her and the class playing in the snow.  Have I mentioned how much I adore her teacher?!

Look how happy Marian is!  These are her 2 friends here and the snowman they built at school.  And yes, the snow started back up again.  

Ug, I cannot rotate this photo but I thought she was so cute.
I was so pleased that Marian's teacher let her class play in the snow, and the school allowed the kids to have outdoor recess so they could all play in it.  I love this school!

Somehow it was perfect packing snow.  Joshua started rolling a ball 2 blocks away and by the time he rolled it into our yard, this was what his snowball turned into!

The snow was perfect for snowmen and Callie stole Joshua's snowball and made a snowman in the yard.

So sad the snow is melting, but having fun!

  Callie did an awesome job on her snowman.

Callie used olives for the eyes and cranberries for the mouth and the traditional carrot for the nose.  You can see that most of the snow has already melted away.  So sad.  But such a super-fun day for us!

Joshua's Christmas Concert

 It seems that my children are utterly uncivilized. Joshua had his Christmas Concert and we made everyone go.  It was met with much whining from the girls.  They didn't want to go, it was boring, how long was it, was there food, they wanted to go home now.  Super fun for everyone.  It was rather embarrassing on several levels.  First, there were all the Japanese kids who had come to watch and to participate in the last song.  They all sat quietly and respectfully.  No so my children.  Then, there was the tickle in my throat.  I discovered a bit of candy in my purse and hoped it would soothe my throat and stop the little coughing I was doing.

The girls immediately noticed the candy and began begging like little squirrels.  About the time they devoured it (in 2.1 seconds) my throat tickle had become a full blown hacking cough and I fled to the foyer to try to dislodge the issue.  I coughed till I gagged and spent the next 10 minutes out there, trying to stop coughing.  Not my finest moment.

Fortunately, the concert was fun.  I did actually catch most of it, between several potty breaks, my near death coughing, and the kids whisper-whining, "Is it almost over?!"  I did buy some the opportunity to focus on the musical talent by handing the camera off to Rylee.  She took nearly all the photos that document the event.

Okay, I took the selfie with Delaney.

Rylee wanted in on the action.  And then she took over camera control.

You can see the Japanese school kids there. All sitting quietly and attentively.

This just cracks me up.

A blurry me.

Delaney was listening!  I have proof!

What is this?!  How did Rylee get a smile out of Marian?!!

There's my boy!

He played his trumpet delightfully.

Rylee dashed down the aisle to get this shot.  She may have had help from her sister.

Silly selfie!

All our performers, plus the Japanese band (which was AMAZING!).  This comprises the Japanese school kids, our elementary school singers, high school singers, and band. 

Girl Scout Party with the Orphanage

Delaney's Girl Scout troop was invited to a Christmas Party with one of the Marine Squadrons.  They had also invited an Orphanage.  The squadron provided everything and the Girl Scouts donated hygiene products and provided a cookie decorating station.   The Party was held in the fire station, with all the vehicles parked outside.  It was big enough to hold everyone, plus 2 bounce houses, and had an area for Santa.  It was pretty awesome!

We brought cookies and frosting and sprinkles.  The Japanese kids did not know what to do, but once they got the hang of it, there were some incredibly sprinkley creations!

It was a huge hit.

The girls also had a good time playing on Santa's sleigh.

The girls sang some Christmas songs.  They were so cute and shy.

They wanted a photo of the girls with their donations.  It was like herding cats.

The Marines put on a good spread!  Yumminess abounded.

The Japanese kids seemed to enjoy it.

And a funny story.  We were all sitting down, digging into our food, when the alarm went off and the bay doors began to open.  About 10 guys bolted up from the table and dashed outside.  A few seconds later, a fire truck took off, siren blaring.  And everyone else went back to eating.

Delaney did decorate cookies as well.

She liked it.

And look who came to visit!!

The children were SO excited!  And there was a present under the tree for everyone.

I missed the moment, but that little Japanese girl (clutching the big present) was the cutest thing ever!  Some of the little ones were terrified to go get a gift from Santa, but not this kid!  She toddled right up, got the present that was as big as she was, and she had the most wondrous look of joy and amazement on her face.  I was so sad that by the time I got the camera on and focused, this was all I got.  But it was such an adorable thing to see.

Delaney getting her present.  She is not a believer, and knew right away that I had gotten her a set of books.  She's a sweetie though, and didn't ruin it for anyone else.

Group shot of all the kids- orphans and Scouts.

And a closer up, so you can see Delaney.  It was a great party and we loved it!

Gingerbread Cookies

 The kids had been asking to make gingerbread cookies.  Actually, they wanted to decorate them.  I did want to make them and had signed up to bring a couple dozen to Delaney's Girl Scout Activity, so I buckled down and made my delicious (yet time consuming!) gingerbread cookies.  The girls were delighted to help cut shapes.  Might I mention how delicious the dough is?  It is.  The cookies are yummy, and the dough is also quite yummy.  So a good time was had by all.

They did enjoy the decorating too.  There were more skirmishes with the decorating.  Some of the girls assumed there were property rights over certain cookies they had cut out, and they were most unhappy when someone else tried to decorate "their" cookie.  Fortunately, the joy of spreading frosting, slathering sprinkles and gorging on sugar won the day.

Oh no she didn't!

Tonight we were at the Branch Christmas party. I was having a delightful time chatting away with a lovely gal there when Rylee bolted into the room, incoherent with sobs.  There was no blood in sight so I ran through the usual questions:  Are you hurt?  Are your feelings hurt? Are you angry?  Are you sad?  Can you calm down and tell me what the problem is?

Finally she said, "I was calling you!"

Oh.  I had not heard her calling.  All the possible reasons she might have been calling me ran through my head- were kids holding her down and stomping on her? (I know, ridiculous, but she was so upset!)

Had she fallen and hurt herself and couldn't come and get me?  Had she fallen down the insanely steep stairs? No, those didn't make sense, because she had run to me.

Had she needed her bum wiped?  She always tells me beforehand if that's going to be an issue, but it seemed the likeliest scenario.  Since I had forgotten about her in the bathroom before, and I knew you could hear her clearly if she was hollering, I looked at her sister, who had come into the room, and this conversation ensued.

Me:  Delaney, did you hear Rylee calling for me?

Delaney:  Yes

Me:  Why on earth didn't you come and get me?!

Delaney:  I thought maybe she was hurt.


(The big crisis was that there was no toilet paper in the bathroom.)