December is here and I really like all holidays, but *especially* Christmas....ahh it's such a nice time of year, right? I think so. : ) I enjoy it a lot. Also with school nearly on Christmas break and many half days ahead of me and Noah's Christmas recital coming this week (two days in a row, goodness can you believe that?) Just been sorta focusing on stuff going on here at home lately, sorry for being a bit quiet. : ) Anyway little update, last week, with a bag of apples that went uneaten. Hmm, we usually eat them right up. Anyway not wanting anything to go to waste, I decided to make the apples into a pie. So last week with the boys at school, that's exactly what I did. Think that was last Friday.
Got my homemade butter crust all rolled out. You know the more pies I make, the faster at it, I become. Practice practice practice. : )
Lots of apples, some cinnamon, a bit of lemon juice, a tiny knob of butter and a bit of flour for thickening the apple mixture and then I was rolling out the top crust.
Closed and sealed up the pie.
Made a few tiny slashes in the pie. And whacked the pie in the oven.
And hour later, it was ready. Self control. This was for last Friday's dessert. Mind you, I walked past this pie all afternoon long and resisted any and all urges to get a slice. Noboru on the other hand couldn't stand it any longer and said, can I have a slice? I sadly had to say sorry but it's for dessert. When the boys came home, they said the same thing. Thank goodness when dinner was over, we were all waiting for dessert. What was for dinner that night? You know it was a blur, all I can remember from that night was the pie. :P
Curses on you pie, for tempting us all day long like that. ; ) ; ) But man, it was totally worth the wait.
And now for this week. On Tuesday I baked my first batch of Christmas cookies, they didn't even last 24 hours, between the boys and the hubby and some for me as well. Wednesday December 9th, I went to lunch with my 2 good friends, Noriko-san and Jogo-san. We went to an Italian restaurant. A small little restaurant that is packed to the gills during the day with ladies eating the lunch sets. Hmm, have I ever seen a guy in this restaurant? You know that is a good question. Lots of mom's eating with friends at this place. And even a table of older granny types (late 60's) all eating lunch together as well. The cake we had for dessert was enormous, I mean seriously it was huge. It had caramel sauce dripping along the cake. How on earth could we meet at 11am and stay until 1:30pm until it was time for the kiddo pick up time? You got me. But we always seem to have good conversation. Talked about Christmas, stuff like what are we planning to get our kids for Christmas. Also talked about New Years. Any new DVD's or movies we all have seen. You know just fun chitter chatter type stuff. Time seemed to breeze on by and then it was time to leave. Friday December 11th, Noboru and my plan was, as soon as the boys were sent to school, we would hit the Toys r us in Narita and then head back to the country side and go and have lunch at the Indian restaurant I went to with Jogo-san the week before. I have kept talking and talking to Noboru about HOW good the kobocha (sp?) curry was. And he finally said, let's go there to eat lunch. So that was our plan for Friday.
So, after Toys r us. And a brief stop at home to hide the few things into the attic. We then went to lunch. From noon to 1:10pm is when we left to go and pick up Noah from yochien. Anyway when I was at this restaurant with Jogo-san I ordered my curry in medium. You can choose the degrees of hotness you want for your curry. I felt the medium was a tad too mild and wanted to step it up a notch. So this week, I asked for my pumpkin curry in hot. Holy goodness! This was so hot, I almost thought it was too hot??? Almost inedible hot, but not quite, but almost though. Ha ha ha. I love hot, but gee now I don't know. Maybe next time I go there, I can ask them to make it somewhere between medium and hot? Hmmm. : ) It was delicious though, but wow it set me on fire! : ) : ) Noboru had the keema curry. After we picked up Noah, we then went to go and pick up Branden and then the 4 of us all went home. I was so happy for the weekend to be here. Although it was a nice quiet week and I did get to go out to lunch twice in a week which is a bit unusual for me. Maybe once a week, but very rare for me to go twice in 1 week. So, yeah it was sorta quiet but a definite good week. : )
Friday this week, Saturday and also Sunday, we had kids come to play. Just 2- 4 of Branden's good friends. Friday (2 friends) and Saturday it was 3 of Branden's good guy friends (they played dodgeball and beyblades so including B that was 4). And on Sunday 1 of B's guy classmates who lives in our same housing community plus Saya-chan came to play.
Our second batch of Christmas cookies of the season! These are the Christmas tree ones. : )
What a good little helper! : )
And now some stars!
Aha and my other helper adding the sprinkles to the cookies. Well done boys, well done! : )
Two and a half dozen cookies later and we were done baking. Baking Christmas cookies with the boys has really become tradition for us. We all look forward to it. These didn't last 24 hours either. Smiles : )
Some of the boys presents this year so far. And a few were ordered online and should be here this week. You know, we usually set up our Christmas tree, every year but this year with going to Guam, I didn't set up the tree. That way it'll be one less thing for me to take down when we get back after Christmas.
Look the cookies almost gone by the looks of this picture, lol over a dozen cookies eaten by the time I snapped this pic. Happy smiles. : ) : ) That's why we baked them so.... that makes me happy. After dinner, and after baths on Saturday, we got out all our Christmas DVD's and watched 2 of them. We watched Elf and a Christmas Story. With big bowls of popcorn and drinks and the rest of the cookies, we enjoyed watching Elf and A Christmas Story very much! These stories always make me laugh and are good to watch every year around the holidays. Goodness that boy who wanted the BB gun and the mom who kept saying..."you'll shoot your eye out" LOL! Anyway this is what we've been up to. Not anything too earth shattering, I'm afraid but this is it. : ) Last bits and pieces:
Noah's last day to have lunch at school was today. The rest of the week are half days for Noah. So I am on a very wonky schedule this week and I have to check my calendar on the fridge daily just to make sure I don't muck up anything. ; ) Branden meanwhile has a normal schedule all week this week.
Noah's Christmas recital is this Wednesday and also this Thursday. Wednesday is for us parents. And Thursday is for grandparents only. So my MIL (Mitsuko) is flying in from Osaka, Wednesday morning, will be spending the morning and afternoon with my bil Jun and his family. While B is at school and we are watching Noah's Christmas recital. And then we will meet her either at our house around 3:30pm or we will meet her at the swim club around 4pm. Not quite sure. I am going to be making homemade pizza and salad the night she comes. So after Noah's recital Wednesday for us parents, we will run home, I'll get the pizza dough made and resting. Prep the salad stuff. Pack Branden's swimming backpack and then we will most likely meet my mil at the swim club around 4pm. She'll get to watch B swim and then the 5 of us will head back home, and I'll turn the oven on and start the pizza right quick and dinner shouldn't take too long. That's another reason I chose pizza, because it's quick and easy to make and plus I know she enjoys it too. So, I do have a plan, loosely forming, coming together, hopefully. : )Thursday we will drop off my mil and Noah at the yochien. And her flight isn't until the evening, so maybe go to lunch after his play? Hmm. Haven't gotten that far in the thinking or planning yet. : )
Both the boys last day of school is this coming Friday. We leave for Guam this coming Sunday morning December 20th, we get back to Japan, December 26th around 7 or 8pm at night, so it's a late arrival considering by the time we get our luggage from the carousels, get our car and plus we usually eat someplace and then drive home. Oh yeah, just forgot, Friday December 18th, I have a candle light service at the yochien. It's a really beautiful ceremony probably one of my most favorite things that this school does. All us mothers hold candles and the kids come in and the room is all dark and the baby Jesus is at the front. My description doesn't do it justice, but it's so pretty. It's a very nice service. : )
So in a nut shell, lots of half days for Noah this week. A MIL coming this week. Business as usual for Branden this week, thank goodness about that. And I have to get myself and the boys packed for our trip (hubby packs himself, bless his heart: ). A week from now we will already be gone. I will try and blog one more time before we leave. Probably just a quick fast one about Noah's recital.
I went to the grocery store this morning, bought food to last us the week. And I also bought 3 packs of butter, an extra bag of flour and some sugar, I plan to somehow find the time to bake 3 more batches of cookies still. Why? : ) Because I'd like to give some to my bil and his family when I see them when they drop off my mil. Give another batch to my dad, and some to my mil and hopefully we'll keep a few for ourselves to snack on and enjoy too. : )
Anything else to add? (thinking) Oh, I went ahead and ordered the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs DVD for the kids. And Paranormal Activity for the hubby and myself from Amazon.com. They should get here the first or second week of January, hopefully.
Okay I better get going now, I have to start dinner right now. Spaghetti and meatballs and salad tonight (lol and I just mentioned that movie with meatballs in the title, talk about a coincidence, how funny). Anyways, I also have to go and pick up Branden from Kumon soon too. How's the weather? The weather outdoors has been really cold. Definitely feels like winter around where we live. Anyway just wanted to catch up with you all and say, stay warm, stay happy and talk with you all, in a few days. : )
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