My dad's visit was fantastic! Here's a picture of my dad doing the trick of his finger being in 2 (obviously it's just a bent finger and really two fingers ; ) Branden knew that old trick already but Noah believed it and sat in absolute wonderment of what grandpa could do! ; )
My dad and the boys and I played the board game, Sorry! Noah and I were unfortunately the bottom 2 players. My dad and Branden battled it out for first place and in the end my dad won! It was so much fun! When we knock someones pawn out of the game with a Sorry! card, you have to say..... you're Sorry! And we said Sorry! Quite a few times, laughing and carrying on. We had a lot of fun playing board games while my dad was here!
Another day, while the kids were in school. I drove the hubby and my dad to Narita city. Which is a bit of a drive. I had to go there because I needed some graduation cards for some of my girlfriends kids' at the yochien that are graduating this year. I could have bought them at a place closer, but I was hoping to find the best selection for graduation cards/"soon to be ichinensei cards" for my friends so that's why I drove so far just to get graduation cards.
And on our way out. My dad had loved the coconut coffee so much he actually bought a few boxes, which is what he is carrying in the Aeon bag. He packed it away in his suitcase to bring home when he left. I was glad my dad liked the coconut coffee so much.
I needed 5 cards. And I looked and I looked and I thought these 2 were the cutest out of all the cards, I saw. I also picked up a fruit container (Pokemon) for Noah for when school resumes in April.
This card sorta pops out and I loved it.
This one was a pop out card too and the backpack flips up and has writing on it and I loved this one too. And yup, I realized the 5 cards were indeed to all girls. I didn't realize that until I saw the little boy graduation cards/"happy ichinensei cards" and realized, hmm, I need 5 for girls. ; ) I filled them all out during an afternoon last week. With a really cool silverish blue pen. And handed the most of them out on the day we went to Noah's olympic ceremony, last Thursday. The last 2, I handed out on Friday. Manner wise, I knew, giving the cards should be done. They're my good friends that I see every day, every week while at the yochien or when we go out to lunch as friends or to movies and whatnot, and their kids are graduating. Plus I love giving cards anyway. That's always a nice thing to receive. And plus it makes the kids happy. I remember Branden got a good amount of graduation cards/"happy ichinensei cards" from my yochien mom friends. So it was my turn to do the same. All the mom's were happy getting them and I was happy to give them. : )
What else? Oh yeah remember that shuji set all the parents had to order for the upcoming new 3rd graders? Well, and remember that school meeting for B's last observation day? Well, before I begin let me just say, if you've ever seen the beautiful Japanese calligraphy. And it honestly is gorgeous. But anyway that ink stains like nobodies business! Like would never ever ever come out type jet black ink!!!! @_@ Oh yeah! Okay so anyway, someone at the meeting asked the Yuka-sensei. "Is it okay for their kid to wear a smock for when they do the calligraphy? And the Yuka-sensei being her nice and practical self, said, I don't see why not. She has a kid the same age, he'll be a 3rd grader this year too. She knows how accidents happen with paints and whatnot. So she said why not. They also said the school knows how badly the ink stains, so the school decided to make it mandatory for all kids to wear their gym uniform during calligraphy time as to not ruin their regular clothes. And yup their gym shirt is white, yikes! At that point, another mother thankfully chimed in! But those gym uniforms are SO expensive! Boy is she right! She isn't whistling dixie about that!!!! Yes they are, I chimed in!!!! Everyone nodded. So someone said what about we send them with an old t-shirt. Good idea. Said someone. And then....so what was decided is the kids can bring either an old t-shirt or a smock or whatever you want. Okay so now you're up to date on that talk during the meeting. Anyway so when I was at the mall last week, buying graduation cards, I checked the price of smocks for bigger kids. And guess what I found? Well for starters most smocks only go up to a size 120cm. Great for yochien kids, but not going to do the 3rd graders a bit of good. Then I priced some fabric at the Aeon too. For what I needed, the cost would have been somewhat high. Plus would need elastic for the wrist area and whatnot. Plus the time to whip one up, hmm what to do, what to do. So, I decided to look on the web. So many places have for younger age kids, but finding for older kids proved nearly impossible, same thing I noticed when I was at the Narita mall. I found 1 place that had up to a size 140cm. And that one was 3,800 yen. Nearly $40 bucks, can you believe that or what! I searched high and low last week. Noboru jumped in and searched too and he found this. They go up to a size 170cm. So they have for the big kids even way older then Branden, which is rare. And the price was cheap. They have light blue, pink and denim. We ordered Branden the denim one in 150cm. It will be baggy yes, but it will last a whole year and he can wear it over his regular clothes and stuff.
580 yen for members and 840 yen for non members. An unbelievable price. I was quite thrilled to have found it. I'm gonna make about 3 copies/print outs of what I found and info share with a couple of the elementary school mom's that I'm friends with just in case. I mean if they can use the info great, if they can't no worries from me either. Either way. Glad I tracked them down. And again slowly getting the kids ready to transition to their new classes and grades for April.
Also, my dad went and watched Noah swim. I think that was last Tuesday.
Noah getting some instruction from one of the coaches.
Go Noah, go!!! : )
Also during last week, my dad played with his grandchildren in the backyard. Here's a pic of Noah chasing grandpa.
Still playing kori-oni. Here Noah was the oni and my dad was using B as a shield. Ha ha ha. Just in fun and boy they played like crazy out there.
And taking a kori-oni break!
Then they switched to soccer. Noah is getting quite good with Branden's help. Meanwhile my dad was standing in the back just soaking in the view. Hmmm, everyone that ever comes here likes to stand in that same similar spot. ; ) Remember my MIL in December? She stood there too. And Jun last Summer. I think that's just the soaking in the view, spot. Ha ha ha.
OMG! Noah, grandpa's got the soccer ball, he's gonna play dodgeball with you now......run kiddo! Run!
You're out! ; )
Run!
Who is Branden going to hit with the ball now that it's his turn! Run, Noah, run dad! ; )
And taking a time out, grandpa checking for a rock in Branden's shoe. And then all okay.
Branden smiling and just playing around with grandpa still.
Noah brought these home last week or the week before but I keep forgetting to put them up.Hinamatsuri dolls. He made them. And I must point out the girl doll has great big western eye balls. And the boy doll has a more of an Asian or Japanese eye. Is it because he thinks, mommy's are western and daddy's are Japanese? ; ) In any case.... I thought it was cute. And I have already saved this in Noah's big plastic box of yochien things I am saving for him.
The rental dvd's came last week. The Time Traveler's Wife and Orphan (in Japan Orphan is called Esther though ; ) We watched Orphan while my dad was here. Noboru, my dad and I, after the kids went to sleep. Scary! But a good movie. The other DVD we will watch maybe tonight. We still haven't had a chance to see it.
My dad went with me to drop off B every morning at school. And he went with me to drop off Noah every morning last week as well. And he even walked Noah to his classroom, Monday-Thursday. He is a very proud grandpa. ; )
Thursday, the day Noah had the "olympic ceremony" at the yochien and the night my dad was leaving. : ( Here is Noah, they called each child up by name and when they called his name he walked up and collected his medal, said thank you and when the red badges in the yurigumi class all collected theirs, they all bowed. We all clapped! Noah was beaming ear to ear! He was so proud you guys. ; )
And Noah coming down from the stage with medal around his neck.
I love the way they gave out the medals. The difference between gold and silver was so small the kids didn't even realize. But they told us all the day of. See the water coming from atop the whale? See, how Noah's water is gold? Because he got the gold medal. The ones who only were able to get silver, had silver water. And I'm glad they did it this way because we don't ever want any of the kids to feel bad. The difference was so small all the kids were happy. I thought that was a very nice and classy way they did that. Very considerate to all the kids!
Yup, Noah completed all 8 tasks! Way to go you little sportster, you! They're both really athletic boys! ; )
And at the end, the encho sensei/principal received a giant cookie medal. She wore it around her head/neck. And the gym teacher also was gifted a medal and the sensei's too. These are our school's sensei's. My favorite favorite sensei is on the far left. The tender hearted sensei that was Noah's sensei when he was a yellow badge. And his 2 current sensei's are the 2 on the right. They both wore pink sweaters. Those are his current teacher's and they are so nice too. Those are all edible real cookies around their necks. And behind is backed with cardboard. It was a nice way to say thank you for teaching our kids this year!!! Whoever thought of that was brilliant!
Each of the red badges.... about to become pink badges received these last week. Bags for art work.
Very nice.
What a nice school.
And Noah also brought home this last week as well. On the last day that he had obento at school.
It says, basically thank you for making obento! They do this every year and every semester and I think it's a very thoughtful thing to do. The teachers get gifts and even cookie medals. So they feel appreciated as well. And the sensei's equally have the kids make thank you cards for us mom's who make obento. It's a very good atsmosphere this school.
Noah's last obento as a red badge. Ginger pork that I sliced up in bite size pieces. steamed veggie, rice and sprinkles. a string cheese for extra calcium and some peaches and 2 jelly's. : )
Another obento Noah took last week. Pizza toast, steamed veggie, a few fries, a string cheese and fruit and jelly's.
My dad asked me a month ago, he said. The boys will need a gift for the girls for white day. I said yes. And I mentioned I'd probably bake cookies for them or whatnot. He said they had a whole bunch of Valentine' stuff and he'll get 4 for the boys. Noah needed one, B needed 3. Anyway 2 weeks ago, my dad emailed me and said, they had 1 box that was semi broke. Well not really broke but a piece of the red box was torn off. My dad already got the 4 perfect boxes for the girls. But he said this non perfect box was on sale and should he get it....but for who I asked. He said we can just eat it while I'm there. I said, sure. So, here you have it. 4 perfect boxes of chocolates and 1 non perfect box of chocolates for which we happily devoured last week. ; ) And Russell Stovers makes some pretty fantastic chocolates and Noah loved giving this huge box to Chi-chan last Friday and B brought the other 3 and gave them to Saya-chan, Nozomi-chan and the other girl who I forget her name. Those girls LOVED getting those chocolates last Friday. When I gave it to Noah last Friday to give to Chi-chan, his mom and another yochien mom said, wow that's so big. They were pleasantly surprised. Branden said his classmates were surprised too.
Movie theater extreme butter. We watch a lot of movies as a family at our house and so we eat a lot fo popcorn around here too. I was happy dad brought us some.
String cheese (besides the boys drinking about 2 glasses of milk a day anyway, they eat a lot of cheese) so they were happy to get some string cheese. Dad brought the boys, some fruit loops type cereal. And a big container of Country Time lemonade.
136 servings, this is indeed the big one. And with the warmer weather coming, this will come in handy. Thanks dad.
Easter stuff for Branden and Noah. And plus I'm thinking about having another Easter party.
Some magazines and some pineapple cake. Oh my goodness that pineapple cake was amazing!Anything to add?: American Idol is still pretty amazing. I also am caught up now on The Hills because I caught the new season online. That is a good thing. Every weekend, I seem to be watching the Sopranos marathon, the past 2 weekends (they show about 6 hours worth of season 5). And I'm eagerly waiting for the series finale/ season 6 to get here. I think it starts today for us in Japan. I know it's long over in the US. But I'll be happy when season 6 starts for us here. Like I said, we saw Orphan, but haven't seen the Time Traveler's Wife yet. Noboru is off work today and tomorrow, so probably we'll watch it tonight.
Noah: His last day of school was today. He got out at 11:20am this afternoon. And we hit the grocery store, to do the weekly shopping after that. Then ran home unloaded the groceries. Noboru being off today went and picked up B and he's at Kumon with Branden right now. I'm so thrilled Noah is on break. Handling 1 kid at school is way easier for me to do then 2 kids at 2 different schools. So now that Noah's off, I feel complete relief.
Branden: B has a normal week of school this week. And then next Monday and Tuesday he has half days. And then he is officially on Spring break. So next week, I'm done for real. But for now my load has been cut in half. And I tell ya what.... I'm about ready to do my happy dance right now!!!! ; )
We are having a backyard BBQ tomorrow evening to celebrate, Noah going on Spring break, we were going to wait until next week for both kids to begin Spring break and asked Branden but he loves BBQ so much he said....let's do it this week. So rain or shine, no matter what, we will be BBQing some yakiniku tomorrow for dinner! I tell ya, Spring breaks are just as much for us parents as they are for our kids. Yes, us parents....we need breaks too sometimes. ; ) Can you tell I'm over the moon right now or what? ; )
What else...I got a heap more things to add. How the movies went last Friday with my friends. How the majority of my Amazon birthday order got here already. And a few other tidbits. But for now, I'm just too happy to sit in front of the computer. I'm gonna go spend some time with Noah since B's at Kumon. Get dinner ready and get ready for movie night tonight. I'll try and get my other post up tomorrow. ; )
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