Tadpoles, frogs, miso & sunshine:)

Finally a bright and sunny Monday morning! I think Spring has finally arrived....

Today we had some very special guests to entertain our little folk. Yesterday, Cian's poached a batch of tadpoles from the a murky pond in Yoyogi koen. He has been taking great care of them in our hastily converted home-made "pond". In fact, he has been checking on the hour, every hour for signs of legs. Alas, no signs of "frogs" yet. There are about 30 tadpoles in there though. If they don't chew their way out of the "pond", we're hoping to see at least 1 frog survive!

Keeping in theme, we had fun with our new and very silly "Speckled Frog Song". Again, all colouring credits must go to Cian, Sophie and Kate:)

And at last, Yukako got to peek at her Miso. However, her "mixing plan" had to be abandoned as absolutely NO fermentation had occured. It just shows how cold my kitchen is. I swear in the winter time, it feels colder in there than being outside. I've moved the Miso upstairs, found a nice sunny spot and so I hope by the next Playgroup we should see at leasta vague resemblance to th magical miso we are all anticipating:)

I dont know if anyone realised it was actually Jyoji's birthday today? He's been having parties all month long though so we kind of let it slide without much fuss. Alas, it was also his last visit to Playgroup as he'll start Nishihara yochien next month. So "Bye bye" Jyoji, but no doubt, we'll see you in the park.

I hope everyone has a fun Golden Week. See you afterwards for our final few sessions of Playgroup. Keep checking the blog for schedule updates. Ciao.

Koinobori :)

Finally, a sunny Monday morning! As ever we had a full house of bouncy, genki kids. But today, they had to work hard for their senbei.

To celebrate the 5th of May "Children's Day", we made our very own Koinobori (carp streamer). Some of the kids were delighted to have their hands smeared with paint, but there were some who put up a brave fight. Sakura chan was confounded by the choice of colours available. She finally was convinced to participate ONLY for pink. In the end, it took three of us to hand-print Fumiko chan. She's really strong for such a little thing! But it was Aurora's refusal that endured. She even had her poor Mum paint her hand. Aurora watched carefully. Smiled. And then absolutely refused to get in on the action. Aki kun roared his disapproval. Kento snarled in disbelief. Only little Lui was mellow about it...... he didn't even wake from his nap!

We managed to get 17 prints in all and then a little later, my gang joined in on the fun. Have a look next time you pass by the house. It looks really cool! Next time, can someone teach me this song????

屋根より高い鯉幟
大きな真鯉はお父さん
小さな緋鯉は子供たち
面白そうに泳いでる

See you all next time then, Yukako's magical miso will be making a star appearance!

The biggest birthday cake in the world.....:)

That makes three Mondays in a row that we've been rained out, right? April weather is so unpredicatable in Tokyo. Yesterday I got sunburn in the blazing heat of Setagaya koen and today, it's back to woolly jumpers and central heating.

Anyway, the kids didn't care either way. They jumped, bounced, whinged, fought, sang and ate like troopers. A very big THANKYOU, MERCI BEAUCOUP and ARIGATOUGOZAIMASU to Yolande and Huge for sharing the world's biggest birthday cake with all your playgroup buddies. We all really enjoyed it. How many okawaris were asked for?! Also THANK YOU to Kimiko who brought another cake which we didnt even get to!

I'm going to go see Rie in Toho Byoin tomorrow and bring her the lovely card we made. I'm sure she'll like it. There are some very cute drawings there by the kids:)

And finally, as everyone was getting ready to leave this morning, I was given the very best Japanese lesson. I've often heard the term "ishokenmei" and seen the kanji (which my computer can no longer type:() but I didn't really understand the meaning. Today, Joe kun was battling with his zipper (see the photos on picasa!) and Yukako said "ishokenmei"...... Bless him, he was struggling for ages and ages. Now I get it:) Yoku Gambatta ne..... but even more so. Thank you Joe sensei:)

See you all next Monday and let's hope the rain stays away as I want to make a big KOINOBORI. See you then.

April showers....

We just haven't been lucky these days with the weather on Playgroup days, have we? So much for our "hanami picnic" again today. Thats' two weeks in a row that we've been rained out:( Though I'm sure many of you passed the weekend in and around Tokyo, gazing at the sakuras, hanami-ing to your hearts content, so we won't worry too much. Cian assures me that tomorrow the rain will stop. He is CERTAIN of this fact because apparently his buddy Sei-kun told him so - therefore it MUST be true:)

As ever, our bouncy, genki kids didn't let the rain dampen their spirits. We danced and jumped and leapt about until snacktime, when yet again, literally thousands of senbei were devoured at a speed that quite frightens me.

A very big welcome to our newest member, Kazumi Thoms and Aurora chan. I hope you'll make it back next week to join the fun:)

And it was great to see Kyo-chan and Gen-kun back too. Most of you missed their impromptu piano recital at the end of class today. They were both amazing. We'll have to invite them back and have the Sato-duo perfom a duet or a mini-concert one day. Really, they were great.

And to Rie san in Toho byoin, we're thinking of you:) Take care....

See you next Monday (no Playgroup on Wednesday!)