The month of birthdays

Well, it has been 2 weeks since our last blog and I felt it was about time I sat down and wrote. It has been pretty quite around here for us. We are getting back into a teaching routine at work and in our lives after the holidays.
January 16th was Scott's birthday. I decorated the house with balloons and banners. I bought some muffins (since Scott doesn't like cake) and put some candles in them. Then I took him out to dinner at one of our favorite Itailian restaurants. It wasn't much, but we had a nice evening.
Then yesterday, we went to the US base here in Kure because they had an R&B singer there (no one famous, but she was still very good). We had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out with our friends.
There are a few big things that have happened this month that I wanted to write about as well. After the holidays Scott and I bought plane tickets to America for spring vacation. We will be in Chicago from March 17-22 and Iowa from March 23-27. It's not a long trip, but we are already looking forward to it. Also, I just handed in my papers today stating that we will not be re-contracting for another year. Scott and I have loved our time in Japan, but after a year we will be ready to return to America and begin our lives there.
Well, as some of you know next week, January 24th, is my birthday. So we will write again shortly and let you know how we spent it. Thanks for all the birthday cards/e-mails that have been sent!