Puzzle

For my daughter's birthday present, she said she wanted a puzzle so we got her the one with 1000 pieces.

completed!

Every time I look at this pic, it makes me smile. Wonder what they are shouting? I like to think that they are shouting the good news!

I'll shout it from the mountain top---Praise the Lord!

I want my world to know

The Lord of love

Has come to me

I want to pass it on...

lazy mom

Day 2 and day 3 of being a lazy mom.

Day 2 of summer break

Dinner with my daughter at kaiten sushi.

Day 3 of summer break

Lunch with son

Yum!

My Garden

Sorry, I get picture happy when it comes to flowers and plants. I'm always awed by God's beauty in plants!

my kitchen window

love fragrant roses

another fragrant plant.. forgot the name of it.

forgot the name of this too but I call it the konpeito plant cuz it looks like it before it blooms.
For those who hasn't eaten nor know what "konpeito" are, here's makkuro kurosuke with konpeito.

(Before)

 (After)

So hard to let it grow straight because it keeps wanting to grow toward the light.

My garden... NOT! I wish!

This was a garden I saw while driving. It took my breath away so I took a quick pic of it.

My edamame

ready for harvest!

This orchid is lasting me a loooong time. I think this started blooming since Feb... and still in bloom!

Climbing up my curtain...

 Praying Mantis egg... I think it's empty now.

 Does anyone know how to take it off the wall without damaging the wall?

I've always wanted to grow sunflowers that would grow taller than me.
Didn't get around to it until this year.

 My attempt at growing green curtain.

I have no idea why this one didn't grow like the other ones.

you can also see "wanna be" tokyo tower from my balcony. 

okay, that's it for today.

1st day of summer break

Yeay for summer break! Since my daughter doesn't have to leave the house at 5:45am for school, I don't have to wake up at 5am to make her obento. Thought I was able to sleep in for a change and had turned off my alarm clock but, out of habit,  my eyes were widely opened by 5am. What a great way to start my day not rushing to make breakfast and lunch but to spend with the Word. Can't believe me saying this but I really loved reading 2 Chronicles. Spoke straight to my heart and challenged me to live and "do what was right in the eyes of the Lord."

The summer "break" made me wanna have a "break" from cooking. So we had okonomiyaki and monjyayaki for lunch.

Today was an Unagi day. I personally think that they made this day up just so that they would sell unagi. Haha.

Yeah, I got sucked into buying an unagi for dinner! So easy to prepare and it's so delicious!

Because the typhoon just came, the weather was sooooo much cooler today. Perfect weather for baking! Yum, chocolate!

Since it's summer break, I finally let her play a little and not bug her to study. BUT she DOES have homework over the summer! Funny how the 3 toy poodles curl up and look like brown cushions.

so, did I live my life today as unto the Lord? Honestly, um... not really. Went to a meeting, had okonomiyaki, ate unagi, and baked brownies. Tried to be patient with my kids and tried to be quick to listen and slow to become angry. I still have a long way to go.

summer vacation!

While all my friends' kids back home have already enjoyed about 1 month of summer vacation, my kids finally had their last day of school yesterday and are officially in summer break starting today! But unfortunately, this summer break doesn't feel like summer break for them at all. My son will be in jyuku (cram school) for most of the days and my daughter has to go to school for her baton club practices. Poor kids, you may say... but no, they actually love it! It was THEY who REQUESTED and WANTED to be enrolled in all the extra work.  I have weird kids.

aroma therapy

Today was one of my dreams come true. I got to go visit my friend's place which I always dreamed of going. From her blog, (http://nacyuraru.blog2.fc2.com/ ) I admire her green thumb and her garden looks a little like "secret garden." It's so beautiful that her place has been introduced in many of magazines. Not only is she really good with growing roses, she's also specialized in aroma therapy. Since she was going to have a session on how to make mosquito repellent spray, I had invited my another garden-lover to go with me. The three of us were chattering non stop so I didn't get to take many pictures but here's just 2 pics that I got to take today.

I hope I get to spend a little more time with gardening and not worry too much about getting bitten by mosquito with this insect repellent!

With an extra oil, she also gave us aroma hand massage. That felt soooo good!

She is such a generous friend! She gave my friend and I her cherished rose babies. I hope these babies won't die under my care.

Yuzu

Having 2 teenagers, it's an everyday battle for me to have to remind them to clean their rooms. Now that I'm taking care of my in-laws dog while they are away, I have another "person" who I wish know how to clean up after themselves.

Yuzu loves to take out EVERY dog toys from the toy box.

But I always have to clean up after he finishes playing.

I got him a summer haircut cuz his fur was too long in this hot summer. He now looks very thin... and looong.

Bucho is feeling much better now.