Report Cards and Sleep overs

Let's see, since my last post my eye got better - hot compresses made it itchier, cold compresses helped and so did eye drops...I really think it was a bug bite contrary to popular opinion. After that first day it really was better except for the insane itching...only I (in Japan) would get a bug bite on my eye lid! I finished quarter 1 report cards...I know I've kept parents in the loop - but I was a little depressed after seeing it all together on paper so I'm not really looking forward to conference...but I can honestly say we're improving greatly, if we can keep up the good/hard work we might just pull this off :) Pray for me (and the parents)(and Rocky who's translating for me) that everything that needs to be said is said with wisdom and grace and that it is received knowing that I have the best intentions for their kids! We had a potluck on Friday (half day) before we worked on report cards/preparing for conferences. Adrienne and I brought seasoned roasted potatoes - a big hit, but I miss being able to bring some of my favorites. I have to say I'm finally getting used to cooking here and accepting my kitchen's limitations ;) We did find a cute pink polka dot splash guard at the 100 yen store...it helps to have some more color in our wood box and it keeps my mind off the minuscule kitchen! Anyway, potluck was yummy, report cards done. We had invited Izzie and Carolyn over for dinner and then to our church's Harvest Festival and to spend the night. We made our Japan style personal pizzas which Adrienne and I have gotten down to a very yummy science! Izzie wasn't as excited by them though so she had chicken nuggets. Then they got dressed in their assorted fairy princess outfits and off we went. There were all Bible based games - throw a sponge at Goliath, find the lost coin in jello, fruit of the spirit face painting, jump for joy bounce house and on and on...all kinds of fun things, and food...we splurged on snow cones (they are SO much better here!!) and by about 8:15 the girls were getting tired so we headed home for PJ's a Halloween Pooh movie and stories before going to bed by 9:30 (ok, Adrienne and I stayed up whispering while Carolyn was in my room and Izzie in Adrienne's) Carolyn and I woke up MUCH earlier than Grumpy Pants 1 & 2 (Adrienne wasn't really grumpy, she's just not a morning person) We made pancakes using our new shape pancake things - stars and hearts...very cute!

Izzie discovered my shoes aren't so big on her...
She's SERIOUS about shoes!
The girls were camera "shy" at breakfast - yea right, shy!


We had a really good time and then headed to the base to take the girls home. We did a little shopping (almost have all my souvenir presents bought!) and then headed home for a nap for Adrienne and quiet reading for me...Adrienne gave me the homework (and we all know how I have to complete my homework!) to find something fun for us in the evening. Well first I looked up the prices for the rock climbing gym...not bad if I had a normal paycheck, but a bit steep for us (made me think of the book I'm reading the Julie/Julia project which is basically a blog from this girl named Julie who decided to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in a year - needless to say this got expensive so she asked her bleaders, what she called her blog readers, hee hee, to hit her donation button and through pay pall donate money to her grocery fund...Adrienne and I giggled at the thought of having a blog fund) Ok, back on topic, rock climbing was out, but somehow I figured out this place that has like 50 kinds of Yakitori which refers to grilling food on a stick over charcoal - we've had it at some of the MANY festivals here and liked it so we decided to venture out to a REAL Japanese restaurant ALL BY OURSELVES! Can you tell I'm proud? Anyway, after a bit of confusion on how to get there we find the place and what we believe to be the Grandpa and Dad (the owners) and the grandson are all out in the parking lot playing catch -it opens at 5:00 and it was only 5:30 (people eat LATE here) So we sit down with a menu and the man brings us our towels to wipe our hands and a plate. We've never been given real towels, just wipes before so we put our towels on our plates...the man kindly tells us it's for our sticks, not towels...OOPS! We giggle quietly at our faux pax and move onto the menu - I got chicken, ribs (the BEST ribs EVER), mushrooms (AMAZING) and beef and cheese...they were all good with the rice it was a perfect meal! It was reasonably priced and I'm already planning what I want to get next time :) We then made a few stops at the different Asian Markets - kind of Pier 1, but not expensive - we both got a $3 purse :) All in all a fun night - church today :) and grocery shopping of course. We had lunch at ZaZou (one of our new favorite bakeries) and shared the yummy chicken sandwich and I had a little ham and cheese thing and Adrienne had a little pizza thing and I had chai that was actually good :) Now I'm avoiding grading...sigh...Things I'm thankful for this week: eye drops, sleep overs, bakeries, a new restaurant choice, I got a new fun dress on sale (something fit me here so I splurged!)

Something I'm not thankful for...the geckos here are GROSS looking and this one took up residence on the inside of our screen door - we're avoiding laundry right now because of it!