Mother's Day

We've been up to quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, but I'll leave that till the monthly update on the 26th. This past Sunday was Mother's Day, we had lots of fun celebrating all weekend. On Saturday, we spent the day in Towada and went to the used kimono shop and a really nice recycle shop. We also spent some time just walking around and taking pictures. Two of the people we were with are photography enthusiasts, so we all served as models for the day. Annelise was an especially popular model, but we won't get copies of any of the pics until we see everyone again over the holiday weekend.

I had so much fun at the used kimono shop, and everything was made even better by the fact that John watched Annelise so that I could go in and shop on my own. It was so nice to dig through the piles and not worry about her grabbing things or getting fussy or whatever. Plus, the store is not very clean and one of the men who works there smokes. I will be taking her with me when I go back next month, but won't be staying inside for very long. The way the store is set up, there's a room upstairs with kids kimonos and summer kimonos for Y100 each. The adult kimonos up there are cheaply made and some of them have stains/holes/whatever. Then all of the kimonos/happy coats/obis that are downstairs are Y500 each. There was a room with summer kimonos and lots of happy coats (the shorter jackets), as well as under-kimonos that are basically Japanese underwear. Then there was a whole section full of boxes and boxes full of obis and then there was another section with some kimonos on hangers and a GIGANTIC pile of kimonos. I'm talking 8'x4'x3' high. I got two summer kimonos and one winter kimono for myself, as well as 5 or 6 obis, a kimono for Annelise to wear in a few years, and two summer kimonos for me to experiment with on sewing projects. My total was Y6500, which is roughly $65. When I go back, I want to pick up a couple more obis and a few winter kimonos for sewing projects. I bought patterns to make teddy bears and purses, and today while I was on base I saw some pretty obis or kimonos that had been framed. You can also take obi-tying classes to make really pretty wall-hangings and such. I would love to find an obi or kimono with butterflies on it and frame part of it for Annelise. I think that will be a great way to display kimonos and obis in my house that is also within my decorating style. The wall-hangings that you can make are really cool, but definitely do not fit well in my house.

On Sunday, John and Annelise each gave me a card. John tried to trace an outline of Annelise's hand in the card from her but it didn't work out well. Check the Shutterfly site for a picture of it, it's so cute! I also got a new book to read to her (last year I was about 12 weeks pregnant for Mother's Day and John gave me a book to read to Annelise while I was pregnant), a framed wall-hanging that says 'God Bless This Home' in Japanese, and I bought myself a kokeshi doll of a mother and child. We went to Mass, where Annelise was sweet and adorable and complimented by other moms and then we went to brunch at the Club. We met Shannon for brunch and got to eat with some other people we know from the squadron and their adorable kids. I'm in love with Jack, he's just over a year old and is in a very adorable stage; he blew kisses to us as they left.

After brunch, we made a quick trip to the commissary and then stopped by the house to pick up the brownies that I made the night before. We then drove over to Kim's house for a cookout and had lots of fun spending time with the same people we were with all day Saturday. I'm so glad that we have actual friends here that we actually hang out with that aren't from John's office or our neighborhood, people that both John and I like. We had lots of friends in Clovis, but for the most part they weren't OUR friends, they were my friends or John's friends. And we very rarely did anything with any of them as a couple, other than squadron or neighborhood stuff.

So anyways, my Mother's Day was wonderful. And it was topped off with a prize from John's mom, she sent a Paula Deen cookbook and a Japanese phrase book! I'm not sure why we didn't buy one of those before we moved here, but they're always out at the bookstore and sometimes pantomiming just doesn't work.

I hope all of my Mommy friends had a wonderful Mother's Day, I miss you guys.