Handmade Hina Dolls

My 8-year-old son made Hina Dolls at the children's house yesterday.

I was surprised that he drew such cute faces on them!

"How cute they are!"

I told him.

He smiled happily.

Actually, he is good at drawing dinosaurs, but isn't very good at drawing people's faces.

I think he did a good job!

I like it very much.

 

 

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It's too late

My husband came home at 7pm with a branch of bamboo grass.

Since he usually comes home after our children go to bed, they were excited that he came early.

But I was disappointed to see the branch of bamboo grass which he had, because yesterday was Tanabata (Star festival) and it was too late to bring it home.

We were not able to decorate it only one day and we will have to put it away on July 8th.

Furthermore, it was nothing more than an increase in my work because my 6-year-old daughter would need a help to make the strip of paper and ornaments.

"You should have brought it home more early. We have already made the strips of papers for her nursery's Tanabata festival!"

But my husband didn't give up, and started making them with my daughter.

I was surprised at him because he didn't sleep yesterday because he was too busy for his work.

Nevertheless, he tried to enjoy the Japanese events with our children.

He and I have the same parenting policy that we want to let our children experience Japanese traditional events.

He must be tired and sleepy, but he helped that my daughter made the strips of paper.

I am proud of him as a good father, and our children loves their dad very much.

But I want him to get a enough sleep.

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Kabuto and Koinobori

My husband displayed the Kabuto(Samurai's helmet) last Sunday.

Families who have a boy usually display a Kabuto for celebrating Children's day on May 5th.

He also put up a Koinobori (carp streamer) in our garden yesterday morning.

Families who have a boy also display a Koinobori anytime in April to May 5th. for celebrating and praying for their healthy growth.

My children like Koinobori very much!

Koinobori suits the blue sky!

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Night cherry blossoms

We went to the park near our house last night.

There are a lot of cherry blossoms there and they were already in full bloom.

Cherry blossoms are illuminated only during the blooming season.

My children and I went there to see the night cherry blossoms for the first time last year, it was really beautiful.

My husband was not able to go with us because he was working last year when we saw the night cherry blossoms, so I wanted him to see the beautiful views this year.


There were a lot of cherry‐blossom viewers there.

They were really fantastic and beautiful!

Since my husband likes taking photos, so he was absorbed in taking photos of cherry blossoms.

My 7-year-old son got a digital camera as his birthday present last January from my mother, so he was also absorbed in taking photos.

My 5-year-old daughter was jealous of people who were having a party under the cherry blossom.

 

She said:

"I envy them! I want to eat like them!"

"You already finished dinner at home just now!"

She seems "花より団子(Bread is better than the songs of birds ; more practically minded, less interested in beauty and nature and more concerned with the practicalities of life)".


I told my husband:

"When we get old, let's come here again and drink beer while watching Sakura."

"You only want to drink beer, don't you?"

"Oh, am I busted?"

We laughed together.

It was a nice night for us.

~*~*~*  Note ~*~*~*

 

I will not able to enter my entries here for about a week
because I need to focus on my review for the TOEIC.

I will write my diary after the test, so please visit here again!

 

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Busy Girl's Festival

"Oh my goodness! I forgot to set the timer of the rice cooker! I have to go home in hurry, or our dinner time will be later than usual."

On my way to the children's house where my 7-year-old son stays after school, I was thinking about how to manage the time after we came home.

Since it was the Girl's Festival yesterday, I had a lot of things to do.

First, I made Chirashizushi and clam (Asari) soup for dinner.

These are my standard recipes for dinner on the Girl's Festival.

Next, I wrote about how my children were in this year on the notebooks.

I prepared each of notebooks 4 years ago.

My children draw a picture of the Hina Dolls on the notebooks on Girl's Festival day every year, and I write about the status of my children like their current characters, what they like, what they don't like,who their best friends are, in the notebooks.

In addition, my husband and I write a letter to our children in the notebooks.

My mother used to do this for me and my sister and we enjoyed looking at our old drawings and letters very much every year.

I hope my children will enjoy these notebook after they grow up.


Last, I put the Hina Doll's away.

This was hard task for me.

I needed to treat them carefully, so I wore gloves to prevent making the dolls dirty.

And I covered every part of the dolls with thin papers.

"Shall I help you?"

My 5-year-old daughter said, but I answered:

"Oh, no thank you. I am glad to hear your offer, but this task is a little difficult for you. I have to handle them carefully. Look, this is a hat for the male doll. It is very small. I have to wrap it with this thin paper. I should be careful not to lose such small parts. Please go ahead and take a bath. It's already 8:20pm!"

My son and daughter went to the bathroom.

I finished putting Hina Dolls away at 8:35pm.

It was a very busy day.

There was a reason why I had to put them away by the end of March 3rd.

Because it is said that daughters will let marriage pass them by if their parents leave them displayed after March 3rd!


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Has the Oni really gone?

My 5-year-old daughter told me yesterday morning:

"I am scared of Oni."

"You said it so many times! Oni will come to your nursery school today, right? Throw beans toward Oni and drive them away!"

The Setsubun event is held at the nursery school on February 3rd every year.

When I went to the nursery school to pick her up, I saw the trace of tears on her face.

"She cried terribly when two Oni came here. Some of children also cried, too."

Her teacher told me.

I asked my daughter:

"What colors were they? Red and blue?"

"Yes. I was really scared."

I told her teacher:

"When she was 1 year old, she had seen Namahage at a event. Maybe she remembered it."

"I see. It would surely be scary."

The teacher nodded.

"Namahage" is a famous and traditional folklore event in Akita prefecture.

"Namahage" looks like Oni and they walk around the town saying "Are naughty kids around?" ,"Are there any crying babies around?" on the night of December 31st.

She made a mask of an Oni at the nursery school last week.

Since she was scared of Oni, so she drew a smiling face on the Oni.

We ate Ehoumaki for dinner.

(I wrote about Ehoumaki in my previous post :  http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2015/02/devils-out-fortunes-in.html )

After we finished dinner, my 7-year-old son said:

"Let's do the soybeans throwing ceremony early!"

My children really looked forward to doing it.

I wore the Oni mask which was made by my daughter and played the role of Oni five times!

"Devils out! Fortunes in!"

They were so excited but I got tired.


After this, I tried to roast the beans in a frying pan.

My 5-year-old daughter came to me and said:

"I want to try! Let me do it!"

"OK."

After a while, she shouted "Ouch!"

She burned her hand on a frying pan.

She cried bitterly saying "It hurts!"

I ran cold water over her burn.

"Too cold!"

She pulled back her hand from the water.

Fortunately, she has not gotten a blister on her hand yet.

But my son said:

"Has the Oni really gone? We got them out of our house by throwing beans, but the bad thing happened to her!"

It sure is!

I really hope her hand will recover soon.


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Soy beans for Setsubun

After I picked my children up, we stooped at the unmanned fruits and vegetables sale stand near the nursery school the previous evening.

We found a bag of soy beans there.

I asked my children:

"I think it is for Setsubun. Do you want to eat them this year? I will roast and sprinkle salt on them."

"Yes! I want to eat them!"

I bought it.

Setsubun is on February 3rd, it is known as the last day of winter in Japan.

We throw beans to ward off bad luck (devil),  to drive out devil and call in good luck (fortune) into our house on the day of Setsubun.

After we finish throwing beans, we gather them all and eat the same number of beans as our age.

It is said that if we eat one extra, it will stop us getting sick and we will stay healthy for the whole year.

But since I don't like soy beans very much, we had not eaten them so far.

When I found the beans, I changed my mind because they looked delicious.

I thought that maybe my 6-year-old daughter would get angry on Setsubun because she is the youngest in our family and her share will be only 7 beans.

She will surely say:

"That's not fair! I want to eat more of them!"

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"Tsukimi" ~ Harvest moon ~

I went to work yesterday.

I was so busy that I completely forgot to be going to buy "Tsukimi dango (moon-viewing dumplings)" though it was a harvest moon day.


"Tsukimi" means moon viewing.

Especially we enjoy looking at beautiful full moon and eat "Tsukimi dango"on harvest moon day.



Since my 6-year-old son wanted to eat it, I asked my husband to go to the traditional Japanese sweet shop near my house to buy it.

They bought these↓.

After my husband and I finished dinner earlier than children, we went to the balcony to see the moon.

It was very quiet, but we could also listen to the song of a cricket.

We were filled with deep emotion for a while in the world of the beauty of the natural mysterious profundity.

But we were brought back to earth after our children came up to the upstairs... they were too noisy!



We sang the children's song called "Usagi (a rabbit)".

In Japan, it is common that the light and shade on the surface of the month looks like a rabbit.

My 6-year-old son said,

"I can't wait to eat Tsukimi dango!"

I told him,

"You are like "A dumpling is better than moon!", aren't you?"

I parodied a famous Japanese proverb "A dumpling is better than a flower".

We laughed together.

Tsukimi dango was very yummy!



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Visiting my ancestor's grave

"Where are we going to go today?"

My 5-year-old daughter asked me yesterday morning.

"To your grandparent's house."

I answered,

"Yeah!"

"But we will only visit our ancestor's grave. Obon has started today, right? "

"Oh no! It will not be fun. I only want to play with grandma."

Since she complained, I told her.

"It is not also fun for me. But it is our important custom. Let's go to say hello to our ancestors."



We went to my parents house, then we visited my father's ancestor's grave first.

Since the cemetery would be crowded in the evening, we visited there in the afternoon.

( Because it is so hot that people don't want to visit their ancestor's grave on the daytime. )

We weeded around the grave, offered incense sticks, and read the sutras (Buddhist scriptures).

My children poured water on the grave.

When I was a child, my parents told me,

"Because ancestors are thirsty, pour a lot of water on the grave."

But this custom seems not to be all of Japanese custom, it depends on families.

(For example, some people think that to pour water on the ancestor's grave is not good because it is rudeness for them or it causes damages to the gravestone.)



There were six Jizo (Ksitigarbha) at the entrance of the graveyard.

As a child, my father used to tell me that they are there to guard the graves.

We also offered incense sticks there and joined our hands in prayer.

It seemed to be an unusual but precious opportunity for my children.

I would like them to know our tradition and custom though it is not fun.

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Dinner with three generation

My family visited my parents house last Monday evening.

My sister and brother in law also came and had dinner together.

All of our family visit my parents house twice a year, Bon Festival and New Year holidays and have dinner together.

My children are always shy when they meet their uncle and aunt after a long time interval, but they got used to them soon and behaved as usual.

Since my mother always order catered foods and they are always tasty, I was looking forward to eating them.

This time it was also delicious.

We enjoyed dinner together and had an animated conversation about my children and our good old days.

Especially my father was so glad to see his grandchildren, he seemed very happy.

After we finished dinner, we enjoyed sparklers together.

We stayed there one night.

Maybe it would be one of the best memories of summer vacation for my children.



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キャンセル

Netsuretsuna kangei

もしかして: ねつれつ

 

Sunday Night Fever

One of our neighbor's family invited us to their home to play with sparklers together yesterday's evening.

Their daughter and her cousin's boy go to the same nursery school with my 5-year-old daughter.

So my children were so excited and they enjoyed sparklers together.

They were scared of fire of sparklers last summer, but they could play them safely yesterday.



After we finished, we went to the Bon Festival dance held in the park near my house.

Bon dance is the dance for holding a memorial service for the dead during the Bon period (8/13~15, but it's sometimes held in the beginning of August).

Everyone from adults to children enjoyed dancing.

But I knew that my children would not join in a large dancing circle.

Just as I expected, my 6-year-old son got absorbed in catching cicadas which were gathering at a strong light with another children.

He took out a cicada which entered the lantern and couldn't get out there.

Then older women who were dancing praised him and told him that he could get it.

Of course he grabed it for a while and he didn't dance.


Since I knew she likes to dance very much, I told my 5-year-old daughter, "Lets dance together!" .

But she answered,

"No, I am shy!"

She found her friend and started the game of tag.

After a while, my husband and I took my children and danced together only the last one song.

My children only got a bag of potato chips which the children association of our region gave them.

They said, "It was a fun night!" though they almost didn't dance.

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キャンセル

Netsuretsuna kangei

もしかして: ねつれつ

 

"Koinobori" and a swallowtail butterfly

My husband put up a "Koinobori"(carp streamer) in our garden last Sunday.

Koinobori are cloth streamers in the shape of a carp.

Families that have male members usually decorate their house with "koinibori" anytime in April to May 5th.

May 5th is Children's Day, and on that day, we celebrate and pray for their healthy growth.

My children, especially my 6-year-old son was so glad to look at them.

I wrote that the pupa has turned into a swallowtail butterfly in my latest entry.

Another one turned into swallowtail and it could successfully open its wings!

We were watching that it was changing its figure and it was very impressed.

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A Great Dad and Spring Festival

I attended the PTA general meeting, the class observation day, and the class assembly held at my 6-year-old son's elementary school yesterday.

Two days ago, my 4-year-old daughter told me, "I want to go skating!".

There is a skating rink where it takes about 40 minutes by car from our house and we went there once before.

I answered, "We have to go to his school, so why don't you ask your dad?"

She asked him soon and he answered, "All right."

She was glad to hear that and said, "Hurray! I will go skating with dad tomorrow!"

I knew he would not be all right.

He has been very busy recently and he often came home in the early morning, so he doesn't have enough sleep.

I thought he answered irresponsibly.

She was so excited to go skating with him very much.


My husband came home at 4:30am yesterday.

I asked him, "Are you OK? You must be sleepy. You need to sleep. She was looking forward to going skating with you very much. Poor our daughter!  Don't make a promise you can't keep!"

He said, "I will keep our promise. She will be satisfied if she skates for about 2 hours. I am going to take her to the skate rink in the morning and come back home in the early afternoon."

My children and I had a plan to visit my parents house in the yesterday's afternoon because the spring festival would be held in my hometown.

He went to bed at 5:30am and woke up at 8:00am and they really went skating!

I was really surprised at him.

He kept promise with his daughter though he was so tired and sleepy.

I am proud of him as their father.

After they came back home, my daughter told me "It was so fun! I skated with dad!"

My husband looked so sleepy.

I really thanked him and I thought that I wanted him to sleep more.


My children and I visited my parents house in the evening ( If we are not home, he will be able to sleep more and relax!).

The spring festival is held on Saturday and Sunday in my hometown.

The festival has more than 100 years history.

Six Dashi (floats) parade through the town.

The float has two long ropes in front of it and children and young people hold and pull ropes and walk shouting "Se---rai! Se---rai!"

Ohayasi and drum sounds made us excited.

(* Ohayashi : It is a traditional festival music in Japan. Traditional Japanese musical instruments (flutes, drums, and so on) play the traditional Festival music of the region.)

My children enjoyed walking with the float very much.

They shouted "Se----rai!" in a loud voice with another children.


According to the weather forecast, it will be cloudy, later rain today.

I hope the weather will hold as long as possible.

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Good bye Hina Dolls!

I made "chirashi-zushi" for Girl's Festival on Sunday because my husband would visit his brother on March 3rd.

It is very easy to make, so I always make this on Girl's Festival.

Since my children and I love salmon roes very much, we enjoyed eating sushi toghter.


When I was packing Hina Dolls, I told my 4-year-old daughter,

"It is time to say good-bye to your Hina Dolls!"

Then my 6-year-old son said, "Then my "Kabuto" 's turn!"

(After removing all Hina Dolls, we display "Kabuto"(Samurai's helmet) which will be the next festival for the month of May in celebrating Children's day.)

Suddenly she started crying and said, "I don't like Kabuto! I want my Hina Dolls to stay here!"

I can see myself in my daughter when she cried hard after throwing her dolls.

I was once like her.

When I was young I also cry when my mother removed the dolls and it gave me a feeling of being lonely.

She might have the same feeling as me.

 

 

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Devil and Fortune

Our family went to Onsen (hot spring) yesterday.

The onsen was a public bath called "Super Sento" which has several kinds of baths like open-air bath, bubble bath, medicated bath, sauna, and so on.

My husband and son went to the men's section, while my daughter and I went to the women's section.

We were able to relax.


A staff gave my children a Devil and a Fortune mask because "Setsubun" will come soon (Feb.3).

Setsubun is known as the last day of winter in Japan.

We throw beans to bad luck (devil) to drive out devil and call in good luck (fortune) in a house at the day of Setsubun.

My children were glad to get and wear the mask!

This photo is devil (Oni).

This photo is fortune (Fuku).

My daughter resembles "Fuku", so it was very funny for my husband and I to see her wearing the mask of  it!

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Re-papering the paper sliding doors and putting together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle

Our family visited my in law's house from Dec 30 to Jan 2.

Since they are farmer and raise black cattle, they are always very busy.

When we visit there, we need to help their housework.

I borrowed a Japanese-style apron from mother in law and helped her prepare meals.



Since "shoji" paper of sliding doors in our room had been torn, we decided to re-paper them on Dec 31.

Shoji papers are sticked with glue, so it was so hard to take of the old paper.

We tore off paper while wiping a shoji with the dust cloth which I got wet.

It was a very hard work for me.

It took more than 2 hours.

In this part (a photo below) , we only re-papered upper half of sliding door because lower half of "shoji" had not been torn.

But my 4-year-old daughter poked her finger in shoji paper and made holes in the lower part of sliding door.

So my husband repaired holey parts with the shoji paper cut in form of the heart.

And in this part, we changed all of them.

 

My 5-year-old son told his grandmother that he wanted to play the jigsaw puzzle which has already completed and hung on the wall for decoration.

I didn't see how big the puzzle was at that time because I was absorbed in peeling off the "shoji" papers from the sliding doors, but I guessed that he would not complete the puzzle.

And sure enough, he stopped playing it though he didn't finish half of it.


I had no choice but challenge it.

It was also hard for me, but I finished it with fighting spirit.

This is 1000 pieced jigsaw puzzle!

After that, I helped my mother in law again... it was very hard the end of the year.


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