A few (actually a lot) of Osaka

Thanks again to Heather for these photos and this recap of our time in Osaka. Despite all the illness, bitterly cold weather, whingey babies - it was beautifully memorable and looking back on it now I can only remember the great time that we had together. It's not often you find a friendship that survives the expanse of the oceans and time, where you feel comfortable enough to bring your tribe and relax right in, where the children get along and lift one another up. A special blessing to have a friend and family such as this in our life.

Sweet sweet family, delightful children. Treasured memories.

Something cute

Today Tilly had a visit from one of her best friends, Ellie. We had not seen them since before we went to Japan mid December.

Ellie and Tilly were playing with her Lego in Tilly's room. A while later they came out. Tilly was holding a perfectly crafted automobile, complete with wheels, windscreen, doors, person, and the person was holding a spanner in her hand.....

And Tilly and I chatted about the car in her hand.

'Wow! Tilly, what an awesome car!

'Yeah! It's great isn't it.'

'Did Ellie make it for you?'

'Yeah, she did! (Big smile all over her face.) (In her other hand were random pieces of lego stuck together to make a stair type formation.... admittedly a fairly substandard effort compared to the car Ellie had crafted. Really it was just a few blocks of lego stuck together.)

'And I made these for Ellie!! (Pause) But then she said she didn't want them!' (Smile all.over.her.face, not a care in the world. Then, a shrug of the shoulders and away she went.)'

What I love about this interaction is the fact that Tilly was a) proud of what she'd 'made' and b) not in the least bothered that her friend had turned them down. And that Ellie would have just said, 'No thanks.' without a malicious bone in her body, nor felt herself superior. Because quite frankly their creations were worlds apart.... Loved that little interaction this afternoon. Oh for the innocence of early childhood!

Today's post was brought to you by the letter 'P'

What we didn't realise at the beginning of this day was that by lunchtime we would have consumed an entire menu beginning with the letter 'P'

I saw a bag of pepperoni slices in my freezer and asked Tilly if she wanted to make a pizza from scratch, not the usual tortilla that we use as the base. She was up for it. I have a real aversion to any bread type baking. We didn't do much bread baking in our house when I was growing up. Probably one of the only things mum didn't make, or that I don't remember her making. Perhaps dad working in his sister's bakery when I was little and having a ready supply of fresh bread had something to do with that. Even having a grandfather (maternal) who was a baker and owned bread shops as they were known, did not give me the edge I needed to become the next best bread baker...... Well hang it I thought. It's now or never. So we got our hands floury and kneaded that dough and gave it our best shot!

And the result, just before putting it in the oven:

We ate most of the finished pizza before I had a chance to take a photo for the blog. It was great! I will make some changes here and there, but it was only our first attempt at a hand made pizza base. But back to the letter 'P'. As we were eating our pepporoni pizza it dawned on us that we had also had 'p'orridge for breakfast this morning. Then, it also dawned on us that we had snacked on freshly cut 'p'ineapple while we were waiting for the dough to rise. Then more dawning..... we had also snacked on freshly cut 'p'ersimmons while we were waiting for the pizza to cook! (Think hard crispy juice persimmons, not sloppy overripe ones - yum).

I think the whole morning was summed up when Tilly gave me a pat on the back while we were standing looking at the cheese bubble on the pizza in the oven and said, 'Thanks mum, this was awesome...' (And there were more proclamations of 'awesome', 'great', 'yummy' and 'good job mum' after we bit in to the pizza) After a dark three weeks of influenza B, we have come through to the other side and are feeling much better! Hooray for health!

Porridge, pineapple, persimmons and pepperoni pizza. It was 'P'-tastic. But now we're stumped on what to do for dinner???

 

Happy New Year

I have honestly never understood the excitement and hype built up around the bringing in of the new year and have found that having children has given me a lovely excuse to avoid it all. I'd like to admit here that I even find fireworks kind of obnoxious... But you have to live in Asian (Buddhist and whatever else religions) countries to appreciate that. Fireworks, or perhaps I should say, firecrackers, are thoroughly obnoxious... and go off at all the wrong times, like just when you've put the baby down for a nap. Here's who I was with this new years eve/day:

My poor sick baby...... Ear infection, chest infection, snotty nose. Wanting to snuggle and nurse right before midnight. And back down in the cot just as the fireworks started shooting off 101. And they still are..... banging and clanging, which of course has set the dogs off barking..... This year because of my children I actually saw this new years in this time round! And so a happy new year to you all.

Happy Anniversary Baby

Seven years, two kids and still counting - the years that is..... And while we're here, Happy Birthday for tomorrow. Love you xo

"I have a fiancé!"

Ha, no no. I have a lovely husband. But recently I travelled to Japan to visit my darling friend and her family. And she took us to her church. And it was wonderful and uplifting. A bi-lingual church, vibrant, energetic, full of the holy spirit. It was a wonderful two hours, an awesome worship service singing familiar songs in Japanese and English. Honestly one of the best worship services I have been to. Such a small space packed full of people.

I wanted to link to Pastor Fumi's message "I have a fiancé!"  which I thought was wonderful and was something I had never heard of before. Even though it made perfect sense. It goes a while if you're interested. And it's in Japanese and English. But the translator was great. And Japanese is my next language... love it.

http://crossroad-web.com/en/contents/39

Thank you Heather for sharing Crossroad with us. Thank you for sharing your house, your family and your time. An eventful visit!! Which after I get photos I'm sure I'll post all about.

Little ladies....

Hot chocolate with mummy's little teacups that she bought on a whim once, when childless....

My sweet little lady playing tea parties.

Evie, somewhat less of a little lady..... I particularly love the gawdy Disney tray we set it out on.

Tilly teaching her sister how exactly to hold a teacup like a lady.

Not Bad!! However at one point she had both cups to her face. Mummy put the cups quickly away once we'd finished....