Calista's Baptism

Calista was very excited to turn eight and get baptized.  

She had two sets of grandparents come watch as well as a couple Aunts.  Everything went pretty smoothly and afterward she said she felt really good.

For her birthday she requested a cactus cake.  I think it turned out pretty cute.

Calista has such a fun personality.  She is full of energy and very kind.  She doesn't feel like she needs permission to do anything and will be a great leader one day because of it.  We love her!

Calista's 7th Birthday

I'm a little late but Calista is seven!  Her birthday is at the end of April and we had a good time celebrating her.

Calista is sweet and happy and full of personality.  She tries so hard to do the right thing and feels really bad after she eats her siblings candy.  

She is doing great in school and her teachers never have any complaints.  

She likes playing with friends and her family.  Some of her favorite things to do are jumping on the trampoline, roller blading up and down the street, and checking the mail.

She usually changes her outfit a couple times a day and likes to get dressed up.

We went to the train park in Port Orchard and rode the steam engine on a ten minute ride around the park.  It was cold outside but we had a good time.

We were happy they had a few available covered picnic tables because it started to rain.  In fact we had to move the party up several hours because of the weather forecast.  Luckily everyone was able to come earlier.

She even found a frog.

Happy Birthday Calista!

Calista's First Day

Calista started kindergarten today!  When she grows up she wants to be a dentist. 

She was so excited this morning. I thought she might be more scared but she was really just excited.  She loves her backpack and that she can make a lunch and even that she has a bus pass and gets to ride the big bus. 

I hope it is going well for her.  I'm sure she will do great.  It has got to be easier than going to a school where everyone speaks a different language than you and she has been doing that for about six months.

She knows a couple of the letter sounds and numbers, but not nearly as much as some of my kids did.  Tucker and Penelope full out knew how to read.  That is ok though, I'm definitely a different mom now than I was then and Calista wasn't interested in learning the letters.  I'm sure she will pick it up just fine though.  We will work on it a little more at home now that she is in school.

All the kids are officially off at school.   Now I need to get ready for work ;)

A friend who works at the school just sent me a picture of her outside.  They must be doing some sort of recess.  She looks happy.

Calista Birthday Photography

Calista turned five in April and so we went out to our driveway and took some photos to document how she looked at this age.

Calista is a ball of energy and I really think this past year she turned a corner.  Around the age of 4 1/2 she started getting much easier to take care of.  She stopped getting bins of sugar, then taking them somewhere (usually outside) to hide and eat them.  She stopped sneaking out onto the balcony or into the busy road.  It has even been a few months since she colored on the walls or cut her hair.  The great thing is that Beatrix stopped doing these things as well. Proving I was right that Calista was the instigator and Beatrix just followed along. 

She likes Frozen, My Little Pony, and Micky Mouse Clubhouse.  She also likes to change her clothes all the time and look through books.  She really wants to know how to read but she really only knows a couple letters.  She likes to play pretend and be in charge of Beatrix and everyone else.  She still loves sweets and barely eats anything else.  Even her preschool teacher wrote me a note saying she won't eat the Japanese lunches they provide, meaning she doesn't get lunch.

After she did my poses she wanted to do her own.  Below are just a few of her picture ideas.

Yochien Time

My babies are officially gone for a good part of the day.  Calista and Beatrix started Yochien which is Japanese preschool/kindergarten.  The bus picks them up right in front of our house at 8:10 and drops them back off around 2:30 five days a week.  It is so weird being in the house alone.  I can't not even think of a time I've been home alone since Tucker was born!  It is so crazy.  I miss the kids a lot.  All of them actually, not just these two.

They are super cute in their uniforms though.

They have tons of stuff they need to bring to school.  I'll take a picture of what is in the bags someday.  But it is mostly their gym clothes, back up clothes, indoor shoes and a ton of lunch supplies including a water bottle, dishes, a placemat and two hand towels.

These are their winter uniforms, in July they start wearing their summer ones.  They are almost exactly the same but short sleeved and the skirt has a faux button on the front.  Oh, and the hat is different.  

The uniforms cost about $470 per child!!!! Not to mention the $100 in supplies we had to buy.  Luckily the school got the idea I did not want to pay that much and found some preowned uniforms I could buy from them for $70 per child.

This next picture is of them in their gym clothes, they have a short sleeve version of these as well.  They have been wearing these to school everyday this week.  But I think later they go in their fancy uniform and then change into the gym clothes at school.  I actually have no idea.  I sent them in their fancy uniform the first day and then saw the bus pull up and all the kids had their gym uniforms on.  So not only do my girls get to go to a school that is %100 in a language they do not understand they have a mother who doesn't understand either and keeps doing things wrong.  I get so many papers and flyers all completely in Japanese it is really hard to figure everything out.  Then on the first day the bus came early so I wasn't waiting at the road and their teacher had to walk them all the way to our door.

They have gone a couple days already and seem to really love it.  They both were happy to go and came home happy.  They say they really like it.  Today and yesterday morning though before getting dressed Beatrix keeps saying she doesn't want to go.  She has some Easter eggs that she wants to play with instead of getting ready for school.  I think she likes school but she doesn't love her reduced play time at home, especially in the mornings.