Right on cue, Anri says, "THREE!" when asked how old she is. Her third birthday was today, and just like on Christmas, she was in heaven over all the presents she got!



Anri had a great birthday cake, brought over from the local bakery by Jii-chan. Among other presents, she got a Candy Land game, a Barbie doll and a big box of wooden blocks to play with. It was the second very happy day in a week for Anri!



The Candy Land game was especially great. She insisted on playing it no fewer than 8 times on her birthday alone!

Anri woke up early on Christmas, rarin' to go to get into all those presents she got this year. While Mommy and Daddy sat sipping hot coffee, Anri made quite a mess of wrapping paper everywhere. She was a happy little girl!



Anri got, among other things, a big wooden doll house, a beginner ski set and a couple of books.

She also got some nice clothes from Grandma, a big box of Crayola Crayons and Colored Pencils from Auntie Tara and an alphabet learning game from Auntie Melissa. I don't know what this thing is called, but it's a bunch of magnets in the shape of the ABCs that you can put on the refridgerator. Take a look!



Merry Christmas, everyone!

On Tuesday, December 5, Anri had her big interview at Enpuku Kindergarten (link in Japanese only). She dressed up in a nice black dress with white flowers, met the principle of the school and was a very good little girl. Sort of, anyway.



The interview started with the kids just playing in the playroom, both with teachers and with other kids. Then, one by one, with parents in tow, each child went off for a short private interview. Anri properly said "hello" and told the principal her name, both in Japanese. Barring bad behavior on Anri's part, we went home thinking it was a good bet they'd take her.

They did. We got the letter today!