Update and Valentine's Day At Preschool

Hi Loved Ones!

Life is busy for us; it's been hard to find time and/or energy to blog. I'm now coming to the end of my second month at my new job and though I continue to love it, it's really demanding and challenging (in a good way). I'm having to really be careful with how I use my free time and not go to bed too late. Overall, we have been able to balance things quite well and make sure we are getting lots of quality time together as a family and with other loved ones around, but this has meant that certain things, such as this blog, have received less attention...

Anyway, we are thankful to God that we are adjusting well to all the changes. Jonny is really enjoying his MBA courses and has already had assignments to give in, a presentation and a test this past Thursday. He is really enjoying the accounting course; what a change from his usual basic molecular biology research!

Daniel is doing great, getting really excited about his upcoming birthday -- in just under 2 weeks! I can't believe my baby boy is going to be 3 soon!!! He is such a sweet boy; I hope to write a blog about him at the end of age 2 just before his birthday...

For now, I wanted to share with you some photos of the Valentine's Day party that he had at his preschool. It was really cute and fun! I didn't realize that Valentine's Day was such a big deal here, but there was a special celebration including goodie bags for the children, who all exchanged cards and small gifts.

When I arrived at the school, the children were dancing and playing...

Then the kids took turns "making" cakes for their parents (mostly mothers came)

The kids then enjoyed a special snack

Here are the goodie-bags the kids prepared earlier in the day...

I caught this cute hug between Daniel and his friend Michael P - they all hug each other often, it's so cute...

Then it was time to open the goodie-bag!

Daniel thanked Ms. Ritchie for his gift from her

And then he thanked his friend Spencer...

He absolutely LOVED the glasses he found in his bag...

And then the kids played and played...



These are Daniel's 3 teachers in the Busy Bees classroom, for ages 2 1/2 to 3 (from left to right): Ms. Michelle, Ms. Kim and Ms. Ritchie

It's always wonderful to see Daniel having fun at school. He still frequently cries when we drop him off in the morning and so we always worry if he is not happy there. But recently, he has started to cry when I pick him up because he says he "wants to play more and doesn't want to go home." Oh well, at least it shows us he does like being at school, even though he has a hard time saying goodbye to us in the mornings.

Till next time loved ones!

Lots Of Fun In The Snow!

We've had a lot less snow this winter compared to last year, but last week we got enough to play in and oh boy, that's exactly what Daniel did!  He had a blast and stayed outside with Jonny for about 3 hours in a row! We were so happy to see him enjoying the snow because he didn't really enjoy it that much the previous two winters (he was just too small to enjoy it for long) and he had been waiting expectantly to play outside in the snow this year.  

Here are some photos of all the fun:

Confidently walking on the snow on his own... 

Sledding with papai!

Sledding alone!

Building a "snow house" with Takumi...

Sledding with Enya...

Sledding with snowball!

Loved being pulled by papai and looking up at the moving clouds -- that's exactly what he told me!

Back at home in his snow suit and hungry, ready for lunch!