When the kids arrived, they made Honey Comb necklaces.
We put all the bears on our big blanket and played "flying bears"--like the parachute game kids play at school. The bear who stayed on the blanket the longest was the winner. We played this twice and they loved it so much that we played it again while we were waiting for the parents to pick them up at the end.
Pin the heart on the bear!
Hot dogs and fruit salad for lunch.
Brandon requested "strawberry blondies" for his birthday cake. They're bar cookies made from strawberry cake mix with chocolate chips in them. Paul turned it upside down out of the pan to make the bear face with candy and cupcakes as accents. Cute!
He wanted cupcakes with chocolate frosting. We had some leftover custard so Paul poked a hole and put some custard in the middle. YUM!
After cake, Grandma Winterton called to talk to Nathan! 
First present opened: a guitar made by Emily!
"My tools!" (It almost sounded like he'd seen them before, maybe when he was shopping with me...)
He already knew the names of these "Thomas & Friends" characters: Troublesome Trucks! One of them giggles when you press the button. He played with these the most after opening presents, I think. Jacob is going to love them, too. He loves Nathan's other trains and loves to push buttons to make noise! Maybe it helped that he was taking a nap during present time.
Big fan of Thomas.
Matchbox truck that he can load his little cars into. He loves this. I knew he would, which made it so much fun to get for him.
The final present was for both Brandon and Nathan: a hot wheels race car track (Thrift Store find!). Brandon's birthday is on Friday.
Emily enjoys the race car set and the tools, too. She asked why the boys get a different kind of toys than she does. Specifically, she's never gotten anything like that race car set before. She just got pretty things for her birthday that don't really do anything. (She loved them, though!) I said, hmm... yeah, people give boys and girls different types of things, but girls are lucky to have brothers and brothers are lucky to have sisters so they can play with each other's toys! Would Brandon and Nathan play with Barbies and My Little Ponies if they didn't have a sister? She smiled. I always figured my brother was lucky he had sisters so he could get away with watching Little House on the Prairie with us! (But I don't think he ever played Barbies--did you, Dan?) And I had a ball playing with his electric train set with him, and his race car set, walkie talkies, etc. If I had kids of all one gender, I hope I'd get my girls some cars and trains, or my boys some dress-up clothes.
Brandon got a kindergarten diploma and graduate's cap on the last day of school.
The day after that, we headed for the beach!
The next day was really hot, too, so the kids cooled off in the back yard.
Emily asked me to help her decorate her scripture case to look more girly. Think we succeeded? 
Jacob signs "more" over and over when he sees food on the dinner table. It's a definite improvement over the screaming he used to do when he wanted food!
June 5, Paul made this lovely Japanese ensemble called mosubi: rice, fried spam, and eggs wrapped in seaweed. Everyone liked it. 
On April 10, Paul ran the Ie Island half marathon. What a stud.
On May 25, Emily's 2nd grade class performed a hula dance for the Asian Pacific Heritage Month assembly. She's on the right. They made their own yarn leis in class.
For the past few months, Emily has participated in Taiko drum club (see last month's post). The girls in the club also learned a Japanese girls' dance and performed it at the Asian-Pacific Heritiage Month assembly. They were so cute in their kimonos!
Emily also participated in Music Club this year. Here she is during a performance for parents.
Nathan's preschool class had an end-of-year program. They sang songs and received certificates. He didn't feel like singing the songs for the parents, but he didn't mind posing for this picture with his teacher, Ms. Melina (right), and Ryoko-san, the teacher's assistant, who also taught them monthly lessons on Japanese culture.
The kids love seeing big bugs.
On Saturday, June 5, Brandon lost his second front tooth!
The same day, I gave Brandon a shorter haircut than he's had before. He initially was asking me to shave his head (no need to comb!). I showed him pictures online of kids with really short buzz cuts to be sure he knew what he was getting into, and he changed his mind and asked me just to give him a trim, but Paul and I talked him into getting a shorter cut. We all love it, including Brandon. (And it is easier for him to comb.)
Here he is after the 3rd tooth came out. It was already a bit loose when he bumped it on the playground and it loosened up enough for him to pull it out! He'd been asking for apples in his lunch to hurry up the process, so he was glad to get it out! Now he lisps more--and it looks like the other top front will come out before it comes in!
When one kid is on the computer they all gather around.
All of our kids love books! This is our "library."
We attended the Cherry Blossom Festival in Naha in February.
In March, Emily and Brandon's school had a "Character Parade." Emily dressed up as Pinkalicious from one of her books.
Brandon's class coordinated their costumes with a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme. Brandon was excited about holding the sign.
Jacob LOVES his puppy. He loves to bite its nose (and ears and tail). He got it for his birthday and a month or so later started chewing it a lot. Ever since then, he has stopped biting us! (Thanks, Mom Finlayson!) He's gotten LOTS of new teeth during that time, too. The puppy must soothe his gums a lot!
In April, Emily participated in a "Show and Share" talent show for the District Activity Days girls in our church. She showed this beautiful painting she made.
It's election season in Okinawa. Candidates ride around in these vans with speakers so they drive through the streets and thus force the public to hear them. The kids like waving to them because they always wave back.
Jacob is gaining lots of new abilities! He's pretty good at pushing himself around in his baby car now. 
Last week I went with Emily's Gifted Ed. class to the Cryogenics Lab on Kadena Air Base. They put some rubber balls in liquid nitrogen and the kids broke them on the pavement.
Emily had hard time breaking it!
They also used the liquid nitrogen to make ice cream! Yum!
Emily performed with her Taiko Drum Club on May 3 for her school's Asian Pacific Heritage assembly.
