Winter break

Abby and Connor are still on winter break from Daichi, and I am still trying to figure out this mom to three kids thing. It wouldn't be so bad except that it's the middle of winter and freezing outside. So I am forced to be creative on how to entertain the kids in our tiny, cubical like home. We have done our fair share of play doh, coloring, playing games, and playing dress up. Abby is obsessed with her princess dresses and Connor just likes to line up his cars over and over again. I know this winter is just getting started, but I am ready for it to be over. Winter+ young kids= an exhausted mom. I am done with the coats, gloves, hats, boots, and the complete hassle it is to go anywhere. I sure hope Spring comes early this year!

Brayden is as cute as can be. He is growing, eating, and sleeping a ton. He is already in three month size clothes! I love his double chin and pudgy belly. I am so grateful he is so easy going. He just goes with the flow and is my little companion everywhere. I started teaching ballet again and am not quite ready to leave him with a sitter yet. So I bring him with me to dance and he sleeps the whole time. Dream baby! Speaking of dance, I am teaching my students their recital dances for our Spring show the end of April. I sure hope they remember the steps and shine when it comes to the actual performance. It's so difficult cause I only teach them once a week for either 45 mins or an hour. Thats not enough time to get the level of training I am used to, but then again I remind myself that these girls are not as dedicated and driven as I was or want them to be. This is more of a hobby/extra curricular activity that they do for fun. Sometimes my driven, strict ballerina side goes crazy, but for the most part I keep that side surpressed and rely on my fun, energetic, supportive ballerina teacher side. 

There is only so much we could do being cooped up in our tiny home, so we decided to go down to Hachinohe for a fish market excursion. We invited some friends from the squadron and it turned into a fun outing. The kids all played their little hearts out in the huge inside play area on the top floor of the fish market building. Then we ventured down stairs to look at the fish and buy some yummy treats for lunch. I do love how kid friendly Japan is. All the stores have these stroller carts that you can put kid and grocery items in. Thankfully Connor still thinks they are cool cause that is pretty much the only way I can contain him when we go out these days. Abby is my social butterfly and will stay with her friends, so I don't have to worry about her wondering off. And then their is Brayden who gets the coveted position of being in the baby carrier on my chest. Yup, all kids are happy and I am happy cause I can keep tabs on them all. It was a much needed outing to help us endure the rest of the week.

So I signed the kids up for swim lessons, and they told me that I as the parent was not required to get in the water with the kids. I was so relieved cause there is no way I could since I have Brayden, and I have two kids in the same class... so how would I be able to assist both at the same time? Anyways, the kids were so excited to get back into swimming cause they have not taken lessons since we went back to the states this past summer. As soon as we showed up for class the teacher approached me and said that there was a misunderstanding and that parents are required to get in the pool with their kids, and that it needed to be one parent to one kid ratio. I was so furious! I purposefully asked about this beforehand, and now I am at the pool with two kids that are excited to start swim lessons. To make things worse the teacher only had one other student in the class! One other student!! You would think she could handle a swim class of three kids total without the parents assistance in the pool, but no, we were forced to un-enroll. I felt horrible as I dragged my screaming and sobbing children out of the pool and back into the car. They were devastated and I was so irritated that the whole situation occurred. After filing a complaint to outdoor recreation and getting a full refund (I was not going to settle for half a refund like the contract said because this was their fault) we went back home and I had to console my two kids for the next couple hours. I promised we would go swimming as a family that night during family swim hours. Thankfully Kyle was able to come home at 6:00 for us all to go swimming. This seemed to help the kids forget that they no longer could take swim lessons. They had a blast and I think we will try to make it to family swim night at least twice a month since they are only on Friday evenings. Hopefully they can do swim lessons either this summer or next fall. I just don't want them to be afraid of the water and loose the skills they learned this past summer while in swim lessons. Until then, looks like it will be up to Kyle and myself to help them progress at these family swim nights.