New Year Update

 The kids start back to school on Tuesday.  It's been a nice 3 week long break from yochien.  We've been sleeping in and doing fun things as a family, but it's time to get them back into school before they start forgetting their Japanese.  

As far as a language update - Kelsie is doing amazing.  She carries on simple conversations in Japanese with her dad at home all the time.  Her teachers are amazed at how much she has learned.  Logan on the other hand is still struggling.  He enjoys going to school and has made friends, but the language just isn't there.  I think he can actually read more Japanese than he can speak.  I'm a little worried about him starting 1st Grade at the Shogako (elementary school) in April, but we'll see how it goes.  I told Kurt that we should go ahead and enroll him and then see how he does until Summer break at the end of July.  If he's picking things up and not falling behind we'll stick with it.  If he's still struggling, we may consider home schooling him.  We'll just have to wait and see.  There is a chance we'll be moving back to the US next January anyways, so getting him caught up in English schooling might not be a bad thing.  He is a great reader and definitely isn't behind there - he may even be advanced, but he'd need to work on his writing and math.  I think he's pretty gifted at math, so that wouldn't be hard either...just need to do it.  If we end up staying here for another 2 years, I'm not sure what we'll do.  I don't think I'm cut out to be a full-time homeschooling mom.  

Now onto random pictures from 2013:

Sunday spaghetti night!  

We switched to 9am church and made it there barely on time.  It's hard getting 3 kids and yourself ready to ride a train in the freezing cold!  Kurt's our Ward Executive Secretary, so he has to go to church early for Bishopric meetings, leaving me to get the kids ready. If I didn't have a nursing baby it would be a lot easier! (only 5 more months to go!)

Anyways, the kids are partially naked because we didn't want them to get sauce on their church clothes and they hadn't put their jammies on yet. 

 Pre-Bedtime Playtime!

Avri is the most fun after her siblings go to bed.  I think she likes the extra attention from mom and dad.

UniQlo!

I went to Costco with my friends the other day and has they were driving me home we saw a sign for a UniQlo!  Kurt, the kids, and I went exploring and discovered they opened a brand new UniQlo within walking distance from my apartment!  I'd probably compare UniQlo to maybe Old Navy?  Their clothing prices are pretty affordable compared to most Japanese stores.  The reason we are so excited is that we have NO clothing shopping at our station.  Decent food, restaurants, yes.  Other shopping, no.  Now I have an option close by if I need to pick something up.  They didn't have a Baby section yet, but it sounded like they'll be adding one.  Kurt bought a nice new winter coat and I picked up some nice warm layering pieces for the kids.

Avri's Cute Outfit!

Hard to tell from this picture, but she looked super cute.  Since starting solid foods, she's finally gaining some weight.  She's a great eater and is starting to fit into some of her 6-9 month clothing.  I bought this particular outfit last winter while I was pregnant and getting things ready for her.