Sterling's 3!

It was Sterling's 3rd birthday on Sunday and we had an awesome day! We started out with pancakes and eggs- sterling's favorite breakfast. But I had to get him out of the kitchen while I cooked, so he opened a present that we got in the mail from his uncle Zack, aunt Amy and cousin Blake. He liked the Nemo paper and all the fun presents inside!


Next we had his birthday party at McDonald's, his favorite restaurant. We invited all of our neighbor's that have kids Sterling's age as well as all our teammates. Almost everyone came! It was so much fun to have all our friends there. The kids all played together and had a blast while the parents all talked and got to know one another.





After the kids ate (as well as kids can eat when they are way too excited and have a bunch of friends around) they went to the outside play area. It wasn't too cold so they all just played for a long time!





After McDonald's we all went back to our apartment to let the kids play and to eat GREEN birthday cake! I made 2 cakes since we had such a big crowd, but the other was just chocolate. Thanks to Gigi for sending the birthday cake mix! The Japanese people weren't quite sure what to make of the green cake, but once they ate it they thought it was pretty good :)




After the party was over, Shu, Megumi, Taiyo and Hinako came over because they had been busy earlier in the day. They had some of the green cake. They gave Sterling a set of art supplies, but they gave it to him in a big elmo bag which he liked even more than all the crayons and markers!



After Shu and Megumi's family left, our neighbors came over to go out to dinner with us. Kimio, Kazuko and Miku gave Sterling a book to help him learn his Japanese. They said it was a good first book. Then we went to eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant.


We ended the day by talking with Grandad and Bama on skype. He opened the presents they sent for him- books!

The boys this week

Sterling got a new chalkboard/white board and magnets for his birthday from his Gigi and papa (my grandparents). He loves it and I think it will be really good for him to learn his letters.


Luke forgot to turn off Sterling's bath water- so he ended up with a swimming pool. We're lucky our bathroom is set up the way it is because the water just went into the shower area :)

Valentine's Day

Yesterday we had to go to the grocery to stock up for the week. I don't have my driver's license because it expired at the beginning of the year, so Luke has to drive me to the store- which means we ALL go together! It's always fun...yesterday Sterling decided to wear my hat, which is his "cowboy" hat. It was so cute! Him and Luke had their flannels on, which is Sterling's current favorite piece of clothing. He is so extremely picky about his clothes.


We went to the mall on Valentine's Day to do grocery shopping. We were having a couple over for dinner- a friend of Luke's from school and his Japanese girlfriend. While I did the shopping the boys sat out in the lobby area and watched TV and Sterling got to play in this little play area. I think it was actually a booth set up to advertise for an English program for little kids, so Sterling was advertisement for them! "If you come to our program, you'll be able to speak English as well as this little kid!" Haha!

My parents sent Sterling a little magna doodle for Valentine's day and he really likes it- although he's always wanting Luke to draw something for him. So these two pictures show Luke drawing him a picture, then Sterling critiquing it because Luke didn't do a good enough job for him :)


Sterling has been into playing with playdoh lately so he's showing off his creation here. I'm not sure what it is...I like to keep all the colors separated, but of course Sterling thinks that is a really silly idea. And Luke likes to make trucks out of the play doh, but everything usually just ends up looking like this!

Last Week

On Thursday we went to the US consulate in Nagoya and we got Nelson's passport, birth certificate and social security card applied for. Everything went very smoothly! We were really thankful and now all we have to do is wait to see if it all goes through. This was his passport photo :)

Sterling got this sweet wrangler shirt as a hand me down from a Japanese friend. He's a cowboy when he wears it.

Nelson got this little coat from my Grandma Nelson- it's so cute! He looks like a little bear cub in it, esp. with that face he's making.

We had breakfast at McDonald's last weekend because we promised Sterling pancakes, but then I didn't have any pancake mix.

Then we went to the park- Luke obviously was thrilled about riding the Merry-go-round.

One month old

I took this video last night, on Nelson's one month birthday! He is getting so big and he is still such a pleasant baby. This is his normal countenance- just happy to sit there and look at you. We're so happy to have this little guy in our family.


Another picture of my two little boys. They are BOTH getting so big :)



This is Nelson with Cooper Ackerman, Mike and Erin's new little baby. Nelson is 3 weeks older, but look how much he's grown! Nelson weighed 3695 grams when he was born, Cooper weighed 3675, so they were very close in weight at birth, but Nelson has definitely packed on the pounds since then!

Mom's Visit

Here are just some more pictures from this last week that mom was here. We went out to eat a couple of different times. Our neighbors also came over and ate lunch with us one day (Miku is holding Nelson). We made tacos for them and it was their first time ever to eat Mexican food! How fun!




On Sunday we went to the mall. Mom took Sterling in the play area and they obviously had a lot of fun together! The picture of me is with the new sling that my mom and dad got me for Christmas and I LOVE it!! It's so comfortable and Nelson just snoozes away in it. There are tons of different ways to wrap a baby/child in it so it's supposed to last until he's up to 35 lbs- amazing :)
Anyways, after the play area we went and ate ramen soup for lunch, Sterling had rice, his favorite.





Both of these pictures are just too good! I love the one with Bama and her grandsons.


We took mom up to Nagoya last Saturday to visit with my teacher's family for the day. It was a fun day and we ended it by going to the sushi restaurant! Mom was very brave and tried all kinds of interesting things. This picture was one of her favorites- the eel!


Sterling took this picture, this is where Nelson sleeps. We got this little bed at the second hand shop for only 200 yen (around $2.50!) Pretty good deal :)