What's on the Table

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy and it is not slowing down. Monday I found out Lexi has a group math project due next Wednesday. Lexi's Girl Scout Troop is working on earning their Bronze Award, which involves 14 hours of community service. All the troops on the base are hosting a swimming Luau for a Japanese Orphanage, because Lexi will be gone for the Luau we are taking on extra projects so she can earn the award. When I say "we" I do mean we since I am doing a lot of driving around for Lexi for her errands. It IS for a wonderful cause so I don't mind, but the timing is bad.
The Yokota Girl Scouts are busing in 80 orphans from 3-18 years of age. They will bring them to the indoor pool and have a Luau for 4 hours. They will have the floating island pirate ship in the pool, lots of food and each child will receive an age appropriate gift. They don't get gifts so this is a huge deal for them. We are also making cards for each orphan. Lexi papered and decorated a huge box to collect toy donations at our base chapel. Our next project is stamping cards for the children. We also collected wrapping paper to wrap the presents. I think Lexi is already at 10.5 hours and she has a 2 hour meeting on Monday. We will work on the cards tomorrow. That should be at least 3 hours. I think we will be over 14 hours. It is too bad she won't be able to enjoy the fruits of her labors. Most importantly she is going to miss out on seeing the orphans really enjoying themselves.
Giving is a powerful thing.
Anika's birthday party is on Sunday, Lexi's ballet recital is on Saturday with a rehearsal Friday evening. I am trying to get the girls registered for Vacation Bible School. Lexi is already registered for Girl Scout Camp from June 14th-June 21st. This will be my first time and Lexi's away from home for an entire week. Overnights in the past, but not a whole week. She will have fun and her best friend is also going.
Anika is loving Pre-school and I still feel like I am missing something, just this emptiness, but I am beginning to enjoy the freedom to spend time with just Alexander. The house is so quite with out the sounds of those two playing and/or fighting with each other. That's okay they make up for it in the evening. Last night as Anika and Alexander were eating, Anika started doing their dinner prayer it was so... cute. I thought I would share. "Dear God, Thank you for my school. Thank you for my nap, thank you for outside, thank you for the vacuum cleaner, thank you for butterfry, Amen". I was in the kithcen chuckling after I heard that one. Sweet!
I still need to go through everyone, but Anika's clothes and pull out the summer clothes and see who fits into what so I can pack next Monday and Tuesday. What was I thinking throwing a giant BBQ for Anika's birthday party 3 days before we leave for the States? I have gone mad, too much beef while we living in England. If your wondering why we did not have a party for her in February, well Anika was very sick in February, throwing up for about 12 days straight and then some of the weekends we had plans or someone in the family was sick with something. At least the weather is good now. Yesterday it was 80 degrees, I just pray for no rain.
Okay,now for a little Japanese Culture, so my favorite Japanese foods are;sushi ( I just took 7 people out for sushi, Lexi,3 of her friends and my 2 assistant volleyball coaches. Total cost $46.00 0r 46,000 yen. We had almost 30 plates of sushi with 2 pieces of sushi on it a piece, what a bargain! It would have been about $500+ in the States), Yakiniku is my second favorite Japanese food, meats, fresh veggies and a delicious dipping sauce, that you grill in a restaurant, hibachi style. John and I have improvised and started doing it on our back patio on the hibachi. Japanese sticky rice is another favorite. Our commissary just put a rationing on rice, which is a big deal in the the Yokota AFB Community. There are alot of Asians in our American Community and they feed their families rice, 3 meals a day. They make a big pot of rice in the rice cooker in the morning and keep it warm all day long. My Japanese and Phillappino friends told me this. Finally, fresh fruit, which is like gold here (I know, I know I have said this a million times already) and a big staple in our family, is another favorite. I went to the Commissary yesterday to buy fruit, ya, right, sure! There were a few bananas, they did have limes for once, but no lemons, none! They had a few pineapples and they did have apples. A little boy ran into the desolate produce section, excitedly yelling that he wanted blueberries, "Mommy, Mommy I want blueberries!" Ya, right sure! They were even out of the small baskets of $6.00 strawberries, but you can find them on the economy for $3.50 a basket. Some of this fruit in the Commissary is from Japan so why the huge profit margin? Yesterday, I wished I had my camera. It is so... bad at this commissary, but you can go off base and find fruit, especially at Costco, but it takes half the day to go. We just had one open and THAT is another story in itself, a very funny one indeed!
I guess I better get back to reality and work rather than jounaling and posting. I can't wait to leave for the States next Wednesday, we have never been more ready for a visit. Well, last year we needed the break from the PCS from hell, that was a well needed break, only to be followed by a lot of stress and turmoil afterwards.
Last week I had sombreros painted on two of my nails for the Cabo preparation.
Hasta la vista, baby!