Snow Day!

Over the weekend we had a small amount of snow, and not much stuck to the ground.  We woke up Monday morning to a bit more snow, and then again yesterday we had more snow.  The kids were so excited to go out and play.  Our friends gave Taipan a snowball maker for his birthday and ever since Thursday they had been waiting for enough accumulation to use it.

Yesterday Yuta and the kids went out to throw snowballs, and make snow angels, footprints and snow ducks (those of you who watch Peep might be familiar with snow ducks ... Quack makes them in one of the episodes).  When they were in the front yard I could see them from my office window and also hear Taipan saying, "This is going to be the biggest snow duck ever ever ever ever!

Pro Football Hall of Fame - Sat, Nov 15, 2008

On Saturday Yuta, Brett and Ben went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and the kids and I hung out around the house.

Here are some pictures from their visit - again, I'll let Yuta add captions and explanations.  

Visit with the Roths - Nov 14, 2008

Late last Thursday night Yuta's friend Brett flew in from Florida with his son, Ben.  They spent a couple of days in Cleveland, then Yuta, Brett and Ben drove to NY so they could go to see the Bills & Browns play Monday Night Football.

I was working on Friday, and the rest of the gang went to explore and show Brett & Ben some of the sites around Cleveland.  They started out by going to lunch and playing at the local McDonald's Playland for an hour or two.  Then they went downtown to show Brett & Ben the Rock Hall, Browns Stadium, the lake and our beautiful skyline.  At some point Yuta also showed them his childhood home.

Here are some pictures they brought home - I'm going to let Yuta had further explanation where it's needed:

On Friday evening we went to a birthday party at Bounce City - a new bounce house place in Strongsville that is co-owned by a couple of Browns players.  Everyone had a great time, and Taipan and Taisim can't wait to go back again.  

Taipan is 5!

Taipan's fifth birthday was last Thursday (Nov 13).  I took the  day off for celebrating, and we had a great day.  Rather than a set party, we had more of an open house, and asked some of our friends to stop by for cake and ice cream during the afternoon.  It was nice because while there was overlap between guests, there wasn't pressure to keep to a specific flow of a party, and since visitors were spread throughout the day there wasn't ever a point where we felt too crowded.

We actually started celebrating the evening before Taipan's birthday.  My mom mistakenly sent a package to our old address, so we spent a day or two tracking it down, and we were all happy to finally have it, and Taipan was anxious to open it, so we did.

He had specifically asked for a soccer ball, and Grammy did not disappoint.  He couldn't wait to bounce and kick it.  We rolled it in the house for a bit, and then went outside to do some driveway soccer.  While we were outside another package came, so we opened it when we went inside.  My sister sent two Pokeballs, which are perfect for his relatively new interest in Pokeman.  Taipan was happy to let Taisim help open the packages, and we've all been throwing an increased amount of Pokeman around the house:

This is the first year that Taipan was very specific about what he wanted for his birthday.  He asked for decorations that were red, yellow, pink, orange, white, blue, green and purple.  And he wanted the balloons to not have helium.  My plan was to decorate the house after he went to sleep so we'd wake up to a decorated house.  We were all up together, and I could tell that we would all be going to sleep together (late), so I decided to go ahead and decorate while Taipan and Taisim were awake.  

I don't have great pictures of what we did, but there were streamers and balloons over our kitchen table, on our living room mirror, and in an entrance way near our front door.  We also hung some balloons from the top of our stairs so you could see them in the foyer.

Here's Taipan playing with some super balls and tops we bought at the party store:

And fun with balloons:

The kids and I woke up kinda late on the 13th - Yuta got up a bit earlier to go pick up the cake and some other things from the grocery store, and he was gone when we woke up.  While he was out he found an impromptu gift  - a Pokedex that was on sale at a Circuit City that's going out of business:

Taipan was anxiously waiting for Yuta to get back from the store so he could open our gift for him.  

Is it a surfboard?

It's a guitar with an amp!

Here's Taipan showing us the Pete Townsend guitar move he's going to be able to do with his guitar:

Soon after, Yuta's parents came over for lunch and to wish Taipan a happy birthday.  They were our first birthday guests.  

Here are the kids playing a new game (Tier auf Tier) that Yuta's sister sent over with their parents:


Not long after lunch another package arrived - this one from my dad and stepmom in Florida. Taipan was very gracious and welcomed Taisim's help in opening a lot of his presents:

It's a skateboard and helmet!

After Yuta's parents left we had about an hour or two to ourselves where we played with some new things, and then three familes that we're very close with stopped by through the course of the afternoon and early evening.

At the point where we had the majority of kids at our house we brought out the cake - Taipan had been saying he wanted either a rainbow cake or a watermelon cake (decorated like a watermelon that is), and chose the rainbow cake, noting that when he turns six he wants a watermelon cake:

All in all it was a fantastic celebration for Taipan!  I feel fortunate to have such a great group of friends and family!  Thanks to everyone that helped make it a special day for him.

Taipan Sings Again

So with the advent of Rock Band 2, a new list of songs were introduced, and Taipan has added a few more to his repertoire. Karen also got me a mic stand, so I can better sing AND play an instrument (very sweet of her). As you can see from this video, Taipan has learned very quickly how to wield the mic stand.

Without further ado, I give you Taipan singing Lit's 'My Own Worst Enemy'

Halloween

This year we skipped our friend's annual Halloween party and opted to trick or treat in our neighborhood. This was the third Halloween in Ohio and it's the first time we've been at our house for it.

Originally Taipan was going to be a superhero, but a week or two ago we were in a store, and he decided he'd rather be a firefighter. Taisim wanted to be a princess (a barefoot one too - she opted for no shoes). The weather was beautiful too.

Here they are dressed up, ready to go and out the door trick or treating:



These are the pumpkins Yuta and I carved - mine is the one from Wednesday night, and Yuta did his yesterday. The skull is still lit up - we had a pretty large candle in it, and it's still burning. It's a jar candle, so it's protected from the wind:


At home checking out the candy. They sampled a few different candies, and now the rest is sitting in bowls in our living room.


A house about a block away from us had great outdoor decorations and props - lots of sound and motion activated stuff, plus some cool ghosts, and the owners had neat costumes on. Taipan stood in front of their house checking out the decorations for about 15 minutes. Then he came home for a bit and asked to walk back down there to look at them again, so we went back, and Yuta chatted with the neighbor, and Taisim got cold so we came back home, and Taipan clapped and made the decorations move. By the end of the evening we all agreed that next year we'd like to have some cool outdoor decorations, so this morning Taipan and I went out to hit the 50% off sales.

This is what we came back with (all for about $40) - the guy with the white hair changes from a man to a phantom, and the last picture is of Taipan making lots of noise with the drums in order to activate the props: