Bits from last weekend...

Okay, so last Friday we had a parent and teacher conference at Branden's school. In June, the teacher came to every one's home, including ours and met with us. So this time around all JHS students had the conference at school. Last month, the teacher asked all of us which day of this week were we available. We picked Friday, last Friday, so that meeting was set up way... way in advance. Anyway, I had known dinner would be delayed which is why I made pizza dough in the day and, that way when we got home after the meeting, we just preheated the oven and rolled out our pizzas. : ) Easy dinner. So anyway...back to the meeting. Our time was at 4:20pm. And we arrived at the school... a handful of other parents were showing up going to their different floor and grade. : ) We arrived early. Branden's good friend, a guy we lovingly call (heart attack) only because he stresses out about EVERYTHING. When the JHS kids went to the mall nearest our town last June..the poor kid called our house 6 times the evening before...stressing out about train schedules and worrying himself hysterical about the meet up place. He's in the soccer club and a very good kid. But yep..we lovingly call him "heart attack", because he might end up having one if he's not careful... so he was in the private room with his mom. Saya-chan's mom was up next after "heart attack" and we were to be after Saya-chan's mom. We were 2nd to last and there was 1 other boy who would go after us and that was it for last Fridays conferences. : )  Heart attack goes into the room and comes out with his mom smiles at us, we greet and head bow his mom and she us. They were in and out in under 10 minutes. Then went Saya-chan's mom. Once again, in and out in about 8-11 minutes tops. Each family is allotted 10-15 minutes before the next family.  He said Branden is a fantastic student. He showed us how he is ranking in his subjects. He asked us if we had any questions or concerns. He seems like a very good teacher. After the meeting, we went home on Friday, preheated the oven, everyone quickly took turns showering, while I rolled out the pizza and put the toppings on and I was the last to take a fast shower while it baked, then we ate. It was nice to get the parent teacher conference over with and wonderful that Branden is doing well. Happy to eat pizza and have a soda and relax. Although we weren't exactly looking forward to waking up so super early the next day for soccer try outs... the next day. But yeah...a nice Friday, all in all. : ) 

Sunday, we went to the mall and I bought the gifts needed for the "Kids Club" Christmas party. Each one of us..are buying 7 gifts each, for which we will be reimbursed. I was to buy 4 for the boys and 3 for the girls. I am being reimbursed the money this coming Saturday the day of the party. We were each asked for the gift to be 500 yen or under. If the 15 yen difference in each cup means I don't get that back...that's okay. I just want to make sure the kids are happy. : )  They had some adorable Yokai Watch origami paper at the Daiso, that I saw last week that would make a perfect gift that any kid would enjoy getting... again doesn't have to cost a lot to get a good gift. And for what it's worth. Best gift my kids ever received from the Christmas party, was a Spongebob cup just like these cups and another year the other son got another cool cup. I had the boys help me decide on which characters or design because they are actual kids...so they know what kids like. : ) 

I also searched online to find what kids enjoy getting... hoping to find something decent and in the specified price range....a good one mentioned this year....that's popular at parties in Japan and this popped out. Make your own erasers. They are sold out at (95% of all places online, although not at Amazon but the price at Amazon was way higher) and many places in stores too. We tracked down the girl set...make your own bakery erasers (cakes and donuts etc)...they only had 1 set...otherwise I would have bought all the 3 girls those. Anyway we bought the Christmas party gifts. I made sure to save my receipt. Since I will be reimbursed back. 

Dinner Sunday night, we all went and had ramen for supper. I felt happy, that I managed to find some good presents. And the boys enjoyed helping me pick gifts for the kids club kids. : ) Gee, I hope the kids like the gifts. : ) 

This will be the gifts for the 4 boys. The gifts are given out randomly. We do not know which kid will receive which gift. They'll draw a number or something. : ) Being a mother of 2 boys, I do know...just because you are a boy it doesn't mean you want to receive... snakes and snails and puppy dogs tails. If you know what I mean? : ) You still want a nice gift too. A cute or good one. : ) I told Branden and Noah...find a cup you would think a boy would want..pick a gift that you would want to receive. The Mr. Potato Head one instantly caught my attention, I found it adorable! Especially since the Mr. Potato head popcorn bucket are pretty in right now at Tokyo Disneyland. So the boys picked 6...Noboru and I decided which would ultimately be the final 4. The question I asked myself was...what cup would I buy for my own son? What cup would I buy for Branden...which cup would I buy for Noah? That Mr. Potato head...and the Sakura Crayons. And the orange gum...adorable! And both the boys oddly enough grabbed the Calbi potato stick cup. Both of them instantly grabbed that one. So yeah...just because it is a gift for a boy...doesn't mean it can't be cute! I think the boys will enjoy these...at least I hope they will! : ) Also...instead of just giving the boys an empty cup...I am filling their cups with Kits Kats and the other treat...Noboru insisted on those...he said...growing up here...he said...that is a well loved treat, the one in the purple package. So...each boy will receive one very cool cup with some Kit Kats and some treats inside. : ) I will wrap each gift this afternoon. : ) 

Girls...I was honestly looking for a Frozen cup. But I didn't find one. Noah and Noboru both like the Fujiya girl on the cup. And Branden said...all the girls in his class love the grandpa panda, lol! : )  And in the already wrapped box down below under the cups is the girls bakery eraser kit! Again I wish they had 3 eraser kits available. But...they only had 1. I will also be stuffing the heck out of their cups. The Kit Kats and treats, we bought with our own money and aren't asking reimbursement for that. And that's okay...I just want to make sure who ever receives my gifts....enjoys it. : ) I did put some thought into the gifts. And I truly with my whole heart, hope they enjoy and like the gift. : ) 

The reindeer antlers and ears that I will wear at the Christmas party tomorrow. I have Christmas wrapping paper here at home, I will wrap the gifts with. And then I will put the gifts in the bags. Also, it was mentioned at the meeting...we need to have a way for Santa (the kaicho/prez) to know if it is a girl or boy gift...so she hands the appropriate gift to each child...it was decided we will put something on that is blue...or red. I purchased the bows in blue and red. This way it helps the prez know who she is passing out the gift to. : )

Any other bits to add in here? You know my 2 really good friends that I went to have lunch with a week ago? Was it a week ago or two weeks ago? Anyway...one of them can't make it to the upcoming movie we will go and see, because she has something else she has to do this time unfortunately... but two of us...my friend and I are going to go to the movies next week. December 17th to see the Hobbit, I think that is the same day it comes out in America too.  So I'm pretty happy about going to the movie with my friend. It's always nice to hang out and we saw all the other Hobbit movies together us 3. So we 3 wanted to watch the last one together. I am sad one of us can't make it...but she really wanted us to go and see it anyway. And the movie will be just released here then, meaning we couldn't pick an earlier date. And plus with the kids about to go on Christmas break, this will be our only chance.

Oh also super important...if you are in Japan...the news and weather forecast says the weather is going to suddenly drop temp wise, so from tomorrow, it's supposed to be super freezing cold starting tomorrow, Saturday December 13th. So please stay warm you guys...stay cozy and if you need to... make sure you have enough fuel for your heaters and food and stuff. So stay toasty warm ya'll. : ) Our weekend plan this weekend? Nothing...just staying home and staying warm, Sunday we will be baking our Christmas cookies though. However...I do have to go to the Christmas party tomorrow, but I should be home by noon. : )

Tonight, I'm making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Man, I am so glad the weekend is almost here. Have a good weekend everyone. : )

Saturday, November 29th in pictures...my dad catching his flight back and the Christmas party, I went to that evening...

Saturday morning, November 29th, we dropped my dad off at the airport. It was such a wonderful visit and time spent with my dad! The whole family dropped him off and gave grandpa many big hugs and waved and we watched him walk into the building, before we drove off. : )

We always go to Mc Donald's after dropping off my dad and the reason is 2 fold. Reason one is because we're hungry. : ) And reason 2 is we always stay close to the airport, especially since my dad is flying stand by. That way if the plane broke down or if he'd get bumped (which has never happened to my dad, yet but that's because we carefully pick his travel dates) But it's still smart to stay close by Narita airport. Just until we can see online that yes, he was given a boarding pass and his seat is # such and such. Then we're happy and can go...phew! : ) I had a pancake/hotcake combo with a hashbrown and a hot coffee. Noah had a combo and so did the rest of the family. : )

Both of the boys have very nice clean cut haircuts! Very preppy and nice! : ) And Noah eating his breakfast that morning. : )

Bran eating and Noboru eating and in between he was checking the status of my dad. I love that Noboru worries about my dad just as much as I do! He's such a fantastic husband! A real keeper! : )

This is a picture of the gift that I gave at the 3rd grade mother's Christmas party Saturday evening. The party started at 6pm and it lasted until closing at 10pm. The Christmas party was truly wonderful and so much fun! Guess how we decided how to mix up the gifts? You know musical chairs right? Well this was sorta like musical presents. One mama played the theme song of Yokai Watch on her keitai (cell phone) and while the song played we sat on the tatami mats around the short mini table and we passed all the gifts around one by one...all the gifts were moving around the table being passed around. And when the song stopped/finished that was the gift we got!!! Hahaha. We each took turns unwrapping the gifts one at a time. We all ohhhed and awed and clapped. It was super fun! While I don't drink. I really appreciated that nobody made me feel weird for not drinking. We all had salads, okonomiyaki all sorts of stuff. I had a Hi C lemon soda and 1 cola/Coke. We had icecream and the owners of this super tiny restaurant in our town, an old man and woman  (the man cooked and his wife was our server) My fellow mom friends all drank, a few smoked. One fell but it wasn't because of drunkenness, it was because she stepped on a slippery plastic file folder. A lot of information is shared during these parties. A lot of bonds are formed. And ties tightened even tighter than before! 2 of the mamas are moms of baseball kids. The talk was that they need more kids... not enough kids on that team. And 3 of the moms are soccer moms and their husbands are the actual coaches for our town and they told me personally at the restaurant. One lady said my husband (head coach) really wants Noah on the team...the other coaches wife too chimed in and said yes...our husbands want your son on the soccer team *so* bad!!! They elaborated a bit and said the papas see Noah's speed on the marathon day and they know he has the *it* factor for soccer. He has the stamina...coming in 3rd place! Winner First and second place are already in soccer, even the kid in 4th place is in soccer. I guess it's true...Noah is hella fast! And they all know Noah is interested in soccer. I admitted yes Noah is interested in soccer but I am unsure about weekend mornings. How that would go...because it's my only time to sleep in. So...I agreed to let Noah go once... to see if time-wise it meshes well with our family. But yep...they made it crystally clear our town soccer team and the coaches want Noah. So we will see. Also not all moms were invited (though I don't get into or am not interested in mom politics, meaning who likes who that type a thing...if I even hear anything like that I start to tune myself out of the conversation really quick, that's just not interesting to me at all and no for the record nobody talked negatively about anyone else at this party at all, which I really liked that about these ladies.) There was just 14-15 of us total. The like...core moms. The moms in the know. Father's club husbands wives. Coaches wives. Rep for our class, that mom. One mom and myself are in the kids club for our housing community, and my husband is in the father's club.  All of the moms were the hoikuen moms before 1st grade. So, I am accepted. Totally. They made me feel so welcome...so yeah I am so glad I went. These ladies are hella funny! OMG they are! The papas of the soccer team have approached Noboru about Noah already. But you know as well as I do...it's really up to us mamas. : ) So it was much better to talk to me about it. So far..no promises but I did say we can go for a 1 day try out. One of the moms is a nurse at the bigger of the 2 clinics in our town. Again if my kids ever get sick or something having that good relationship, friend connection is gonna be fantastic for us. The restaurant closes at 10pm but we were still there at 10:05pm. The woman owner who served us..liked our group you could tell. Slightly rowdy super funny inaka mamas! 15 members strong, lol. It was a funny night. I would love it if the whole class of mamas could get together next time. The more the merrier in my opinion! But yeah super nice ladies. : ) 

I loved the gift I received very much! It was perfect for me! And the one who gave this to me is the nurse...she has a 6th grade daughter, a 3rd son and a 1st grade son. Her daughter is such a fantastic swimmer and she and Branden are such good friends... her kids and my kids catch the swim bus together and swim together. She personally told me...our town just started a night market 2 weeks ago, they have delicious tofu donuts and stuff. It starts at 4 or 5pm. Again this word of mouth information share is so important. Two of Branden's 7th grade class mom's who also have 3rd grade siblings were there. We just had the best time.  I also found out when out town grocery store will open....end of December, the date was postponed from November to then. Again good to know. : )

Wonderful card...

It says basically...Everybody...fun time...wonderful! With a heart! When I was first invited to this party, I asked Noboru..."what do you think...should I go?" He said...."oh you have to...relationships like this with fellow parents of our kids classmates and stuff...this is so super important" The ties that bind, you know! And I agree. The closer us parents are....the closer the kids are too. : )

I love these and if you know me at all, even a tiny bit from my blog, you'll know I dig the ease of paper plates and I like cute holiday plates! So to get Christmas cups, napkins and paper plates! Right up my alley! The best gift, I could get! Perfect match! : ) 

I also ended up with 2 cup bags. Noah can use the Mickey one and I love the Minnie one and if I ever go somewhere and need a cup bag, I'm covered now! : )  Just a very thoughtful gift. And a wonderful night. : ) Anyway, that was Saturday November 29th in a nutshell. : ) 

Christmas party, the boys practice “marathon” and their 2nd and final flu shot for this season done and taken

Okay, I last left off at Black Friday/Japanese Labor Day.   So this is what happened next....Saturday, Noboru worked. And so my dad and Branden and Noah and I stayed home inside the warm house. It wasn't raining last Saturday like how it did the day before. But it was *really* cold last Saturday. And we had more then enough food here at the house so we stayed inside and watched TV, ate, talked. The boys did Kumon homework. We had lunch. The boys went and played in the backyard.  But for the most part, we all stood inside.  Sunday however the boys had a kodomo kai/ kids party but a Christmas one. This was held at the plaza of course. : ) But it was a Christmas kids party and was only for our housing community kids who go to shogakko. I mention this because I thought it was an elementary school, everyone is invited Christmas kai/party. And my dad and I went into the plaza. I was thinking we could chit chat with Sera's mom and a few of my mom friends. And I realized hmmm, there's nobody here except for who lives in our housing community. What's up with that? Hahaha.  And the only mom's present were the 6th grade mom's because they have to host it as a 6th grade/final year mom. That I do know.... since next year I'll be working that.  So, I did chit chat with the 2 mom's whose daughters represented our country town school in swim club like Branden did....they live in our housing community and both have 6th grade daughters. I greeted them and my dad and I left. Noah and Branden stayed with all the other shogakko kids from our housing community. So, since the boys were off enjoying the Christmas party....my dad and I went and picked up some things for Sunday's/that nights supper. And then we swung around and picked up the boys from the Christmas kai/party. This is what Branden got, a snack bag and they have a drawing each year and last year Branden won a Spongebob cup. This year Branden won the One Piece cup. He was quite happy about winning the cup.

This is what Noah brought back, and his Christmas present he won was a badminton racket.  It's a Christmas raffle and you draw a number and that's how you know what you won. Sunday, Noboru came home, dinner was all ready for him. He saw that the boys enjoyed the Christmas party. "Daddy daddy look at my cup!!!! Daddy daddy look at my racket!!!!" So Noboru knew they had a pretty great time at their Christmas party.  Sunday was really nice. It was nice quiet and pretty cold outside.

Monday was just a day for my dad and I. Because, Noboru had to work. Both Branden and Noah had school. And so this was our day together, my dad and I. : ) We lingered here at home until 9:30am drinking a nice cup of coffee or two....enjoying ourselves and chatting away.... until the malls opened at 10am but we left the house at 9:30am.  We went to the nearest mall in the small city near our town.  We walked around the mall my dad and I. He looked at the men's clothing department. We looked at all sorts of things. We stopped at the Daiso. My dad bought a few things at the Daiso and also at the mall. Just a few omiyage type things.  Meanwhile, Noah had asked me for stickers the other day. And said a few of his classmates are trading stickers and could I get some next time I'm out and about. And I said sure. I had it written on my list so I picked up some Pokemon and One Piece stickers and he's been trading them since.  Also, they both were near out of tape and needed more Zousan-/elephant tape. So I crossed that off the list also. I also crossed a few stocking stuffer type gifts off my list as well. And so my dad and I enjoyed walking around and around 11:50am we went to Saizeriya for lunch. My dad had a pizza and the drink bar. I had a pasta dish and the drink bar too.  We must have sat there for an hour enjoying our conversation and drink bar.  I enjoyed my day with my dad a lot. And I knew he was leaving Tuesday/the next morning. We left the mall around 1:30pm-ish and headed back to my town. We unloaded our stuff. I need to hide the stocking stuffer stuff really well. And then we went and picked up the boys from the plaza.  We had dinner. We had a really great last night. The boys went to sleep around 8:30pm but Noboru and my dad and I stood awake watching TV and talking until 11:30pm. I went to sleep and the next morning, we got up, dressed and the boys had to go to school early since we were dropping my dad off the airport afterwards. We dropped the boys off at 7:18am-ish. And headed straight for the airport. Waved my dad a "see you later" since good byes are always sad. And we went home. Feeling pretty good that the time with my dad was so fun. The boys were super bummed out grandpa was leaving. But they know they'll be seeing him soon anyway so that helps.

While my dad was still in the airplane on his way to Guam. I ordered my dad some stuff on Cyber Monday (though it was Tuesday for us in Japan) Stuff I knew he'd love! And as you can see, the message says...Merry Christmas Grandpa (though you can't see the grandpa part, but it's on there. And it says Love, Branden and Noah.  So my dad is well taken care of for Christmas.  The boys, Branden and Noah are 98% done too,

This is a back track, sorry. This happened 2 days before my dad arrived. Tuesday. I  went into the attic and pulled out a few of my small Christmas trees that we usually have around the house both downstairs and upstairs. This one pictured is an advent tree and it has advent ornaments and it has colored lights, this is now out and upstairs.  And the tree with clear lights I put into the genkan/entrance area/hall area.

All my holidays I have in separate plastic boxes. This is one of my Christmas boxes, just one of them. The others I haven't pulled out yet.

I wanted all the Christmas door hanger-on folks on, before my dad got here for Thanksgiving.  Santa and snowmen are on all the doors throughout the house now. And as you know all the Christmas lights are on and done for outside.

This is the tiny Christmas tree with white/clear bulbs in the genkan area. The ornaments for this are fantastic. The detailing. This Santa for example has real glitter on parts of him.

The white "frosting" for this gingerbread man is really glitter. All the ornaments are pretty cool and this tree is, like I said,  in the genkan area. The only tree not up right now is my big tree that stands in the living room and I'll get him up this coming week.  But everything else Christmas wise the decorations are all done. Mini tree upstairs, mini tree in the genkan area, door knocker type decorations are on all the doors inside and the outside lighting is long done. Last will be the big tree in the living room.

Also before my dad got here I went to Sanki.  When I first moved to Japan a friend of mine told me, to get towels and blankets go to Sanki. So, if I didn't pick it up in the US I always went to Sanki. Anyway, I cruised over to my nearest Sanki and they had the fleece blankets that fit the twin bed type sizes 140cmx200cm.  For 999 yen. So hmm 1000 yen seems about the going rate. These were a nice weight thicker then the Nissen ones. Though to be fair, fwiw, both Branden and Noah love their Nissen ones go figure and say they are the perfect thickness for their beds. Anyway these Sanki ones were super cute colors and patterns the price was cheap/great and the size is great. I like something big enough it could cover you from head to toe type.  So I bought 2 from Sanki, because they were cute designs.

I like this one. It's eye catching, and really warm. And the price...loved the price.

This one was the same size and also 999 yen.

I liked the colors and pattern on this one also. Black with white flowers.  Anyway we have plenty of fleecy blankets now for cuddling on the couch.  Or if we do end up driving to Osaka at New Years we'll definitely have enough blankets for the road trip, hahaha.  Pack some pillows some snacks. It would be pretty fun if we go.

One day after my dad left. Wednesday. This was a practice run for the "marathon" our elementary school does every Winter.  This was just a practice run. 5th graders and 6th graders are running together.  I saw Branden walking up the road.  I was in my car and parked. I didn't exit my car I just watched from afar.

They all warmed up and stretched first. I know a few kids saw me. Again, I just wanted to see. And no one else was there mom/parent wise.  Branden is in the orange vest in this pic wearing his school gym clothes/pants and school gym sweatshirt.

And then in the distance...I see a bunch of teeny tiny shrimps walking my way! : ) Could it be? Could it be? While yes it was.....the ichinensei's!!! Yay Noah-chan! Go go go kiddo! But, again I just sit in my car. Trying not to bring any attention.... that yes I was there. I watched the kids stretch, and then they took off running. The 5th and 6th graders together first.  And then the first graders. the other grades ran/practiced a different day.

I saw them start running and then I went and ran my errands for the day. Store run and whatnot. Both the boys did see me. And that's okay.  As long as they know mom always tries her best to be there no matter what. of course I wouldn't want to embarrass them and ...their friends think I'm cool anyway. But yeah...I just wanted to see my boys practice their run.  And I'm glad I got to see it.

Noboru wanted heated grips for his bike. So that's what he's got so far Christmas present wise. Again, I listen to everyone and write down things they'd like.  He's gonna flip when he sees this.  During his commute to and from work each day he often says how cold his hands are. How he'd wish to have some hot grips. So, yeah....anyway I know he'll love these. And I'm still listening to him for any other ideas also. He mentioned yesterday he needs a new fleece so, I might pop down to Uniqlo Narita this coming week.

This has been my favorite drink for the past 2 weeks now. It's Yuzu Mikan. And I love anything and everything yuzu anyway.... but this drink is so freaking delicious! I'm thinking about buying a case next time I go to the grocery store. And when I stick one in the freezer and it turns semi slushy. OMG! Even better. Love this drink! I taste more yuzu then I do mikan and I do love both. But yeah this is my favorite drink this Fall/Winter 2012 for sure right now. : )

A Charlie Brown Christmas was on ABC the other night. Of course we watched it! And while my dad was here, we watched Frosty the Snowman. I am loving being able to catch all these Christmas specials on TV.  Even though yes we do own the DVD's for them.

Linus using his blanket to wrap the bottom of the tree with it.

Endings always cute!

I also made sure to have both Branden and Noah's Advent calendar ready. Looking for the chocolate in the boxes each day is always a special treat.

The numbers are all mixed up so they're really going to have to look very good to find the right date. : )

What else, basically my dad left Tuesday. Wednesday was the boys "practice marathon" and Thursday morning the boys went and got their final flu shot! So they are 100% done flu shot wise! And Noboru always gets reimbursed from Delta for our flu shots so for us they're free basically since he gets reimbursed for all 4 of us.  Anyway that's it for now.

Oh yeah it rained and turned to snow here about 30 minutes ago. Big heavy watery type snow but turned back to rain when it hit the back patio. Started picking up faster and faster. Started to wonder if it would start to stick but then....it just stopped. Now it's not raining or snowing. @_@. But yeah it's a cold one here today.