Halloween 2018!!!!

Okay, I'm really behind on a few posts. Like Bran's birthday post and a few other posts too. But, I figured today, I have the time to get last nights Trick or Treating and Halloween post... actually posted right on time! So, that's what I'm doing! Yep, 2 hot dogs for Halloween 2018! Also, #1, when we bought both of their costumes...was it 2 weeks ago? About then. Anyways, I bought Noah a Halloween treat bag...you know... so you can toss all your candy, chocolate and various Halloween loot in. They're super cheap in price. In my day they were like 89 cents growing up. And now days, they're 3 bucks. So still super cheap. Branden was pretty adamant about *not* wanting a Halloween treat bag. He said he won't be collecting candy. Yadayadayada. He proclaimed he feels he's too old. Blahblahblah. And so no thanks, he doesn't need a treat bag. I was giving him side eye and going...."are ya sure though? Like really? He was like I'm sure! I won't need it. Umm err okay. Also, Branden did make the girl he went to homecoming with... who looks like a 17 year old stunning Cameron Diaz. They became official... on Homecoming. He asked her to be his girlfriend and she said yes and she's been waiting for him to ask. Blahblahblah. So they're dating. They're official. Anyways so on Sunday, during dinner...Bran sheepishly mentions...V isn't doing anything for Halloween, she knows I'm going with you and Noah and she would be up for going trick or treating with us. I said, well, she's totally invited then, of course! So, both my kids went to school in costume Wednesday (Halloween) day. Nobody really cooks on Halloween night here. Because everyone is very busy with costumes and getting ready to go out. So, most order pizza. We usually order ours on Saturday, so no pizza for us last night. So Halloween immediately after Noah got out of school, we zoomed to Wendy's. Picked up some 4 for $4 deals. And we zipped home. We actually arrived home just as Bran's yellow school bus was pulling up. we quickly ate. And then we waited. At 5:30 we 4 left for Trick or Treating. It was my first time meeting V. And she's so nice! I like her so much! The 4 of us had a blast!

It started out sorta light. Sun didn't fully set. This is the street behind our street. Rule is, every house with their porch light on, you can stop at and ring their bell. And if the light is off, it means you can't ring their door bell. Very easy to figure out. 

You have 2 hot dogs and 1 gorgeous Pikachu! Which was V. However, because everyone saw her with the 2 boys. Everyone kept saying..."aww look 2 hot dogs and that bottle of mustard!!!" I'm kidding you NOT. Nobody knew who Pikachu is/was! @_@ I thought/assumed everyone knew. But yep...B told me..."mom every one's saying she's mustard" and sure enough another family passed and said..."aww look 2 hot dogs and a bottle of mustard" Poor V! I would honestly say about 9-12 times people called her mustard. : (

Trick or Treat. Branden had zero intention of trick or treating. But because V is so fun! So genki and up for anything. Bran wanted to trick or treat too. The only bad thing is, he had no "trick or treat bag" I offered to zip B to Target around 4pm. Granted, I would have grumbled driving down there the entire way. But, I woulda done it. I also told him...in the old days... kids used pillow cases. Do you wanna do that? He said.. no way! And guess what V used? A pillow case, she's smart. Again, Bran is learning. However, Noah borrowed B his shogakko Mario Kart bag and he used that. : ) LOL. Hey...if it works, it works. 

We do happen to live in a pretty affluent town. So the houses here are huge. I love the decorations. That many of the houses did. Some kept it simple with just a porch light. Some really went all out. I liked both ways. 

We went trick or treating from 5:30pm until 8:45pm. We literally went for a little over 3 full hours. Best exercise ever! I feel, I really worked that Spicy Monterrey chicken sandwich and side cheesy baked potato off. The first hour, I walked that off, no doubt. 

You go, 2 hot dogs and 1 Pikachu! : )

After a while V said her bag was getting too heavy. So her and Bran stopped collecting candy about mid way. But they still walked with us. Which was cool. Here's Noah at the door. He had 3 of us watching him. Protecting him. Keeping an eye.

This house was scary then it turned out to be hilarious. About a half block away, you could hear a pop. Maybe a cap gun. As we got closer, there was a totally scary demented clown. On the grass walking around with a plastic hammer. I am totally afraid of clowns. Like seriously... since I was a teeny tiny little girl, clowns have freaked me out. Even at a Circus they scare me. I'm sorry they scare me. But, I hate them. I don't like to say the hate word... too often. But, omg. I hate clowns. They scare me. And with Pennywise from IT. OMG. So the demented clown is walking on the grass wildly pacing saying...come closer if you dare. And someone else shoots a cap gun. There's 2 figures in black near the front door. Not to sound like a chicken...but I'm thinking maybe we should avoid this house? I didn't say it. Which I am SO glad I said nothing at all. So glad, you'll see why later. They seem really disturbed which is scaring me. Again though it's a "well to do" area. So the clown is like egging for Bran and V and Noah to come closer. I'm stopped on the sidewalk, which is where parents usually stand, when their kids walk to the front door. And then all of a sudden the disturbed clown says from scary voice to normal voice..."oh hey Branden! Hi V!" And the person hiding now... walks over to V. And another person comes. And Branden is like to the clown..."your decorations are amazing dude!" And the clown is now using a normal high school teenage boy voice going..."thanks man!!!" Is this your little brother? Yeah. "He's Noah, he attends the middle school, right up the street." The clown tells Noah, "hey buddy" Geeze....it went from...should we be scared?...should we run? Avoid this house? To classmates of B and V? LOL. So V said, happily after we passed the house..."that's my best friends, since elementary schools house." She said..."I wonder how come I didn't recognize their house?" We were all laughing. We also passed another classmates house of B and V's. A triplet. All 3  triplets are girls. And they're hafu too. Half Chinese, their mom is from China and their dad is white. But, out of the triplets, they're closest friend is H out of the triplets. And when Bran was walking...another time... another friend messaged him and said..."hey, I just saw you...you just went trick or treating at my house. lol" Bran messaged her back and said, lol. 

A blurry picture of Noah from last night, trick or treating. That's his loot bag. 

Bran and V. We now crossed the street and were hitting another area on foot. OMG, we walked every house and area near our townhouse. 

This house put black construction paper over the front of their house. Made cool creepy windows. They made a funny and cheeky graveyard with hilarious things written on the tombstones. Like they...legit went all out. When we got back to our townhouse. Bran and V wanted to head back to the triplets house. They live just 5 minutes away. So since V has a car and a license, I said cool. You both have fun. Bran and V and the triplets hung out at the kitchen table at the triplets house. Bran said he liked their mom, she was so cool. She loved that Bran was from Japan. They had a no shoe policy. And Bran told her...I grew up with that too. And so he and V and the triplets and her parents talked for a good 45-50 minutes inside their home. And V dropped Bran back at 9:30pm. 

This is Noah's Halloween 2018 candy haul!!! I have never seen a haul so big. This is like 10 pounds of candy easy! The pile is so deep too. And look at all the full size chocolate bars too. 

So many full sizes. 

Hi-Chews in America now too. And these Nerds were mango chile flavor. Which I love mango with sprinkled chile fresh... but candy sounds bomb too!!! Sounds so delicious.

3 full size Snickers.

This is B's Halloween haul from 2018. Branden's haul was way smaller than Noah's... but that's only because he stopped about half way. However the bright side is...he wasn't expecting any candy at all. So...it's kinda a nice loot. For someone who wasn't expecting any Halloween haul at all anyways. 

Branden received the Halloween only edition of the Reese's. V, didn't get this one and neither did Noah. They just got regular ones. How lucky Bran was to get this. : )

The kids gifted me with this teeny tiny mom haul...since they said I walked with them. Awww. Thanks. I'll munch these...over the next 2 weeks for sure... off and on while watching good TV shows. Thanks kids. : ) Anyway...that's how we spent our Halloween 2018!!! It was awesome! : )  I also did send Noboru, Halloween pics in real time as it happened. I will always keep him in the loop. I love him and miss him so. But yep...that was how we spent our Hallowen 2018. : )

Anyways...it's Thursday right now. I'm making tacos tonight. Bran also has driving school tonight. And because the kids had off driving school yesterday night, because of Halloween...they have driving school on Friday night just this week too. And Bran has his driving lesson that night after class too. : ) 

Halloween 2017...

How was every one's Halloween this year? Ours was wonderful. Low key and just absolutely perfect for us and our family. Saturday October 28th, Noah and his classmates went "Trick or Treating" in our housing community. Trick or Treating in Japan hasn't really caught on, "for real" yet. I know in Inzai because of my foreign/American papa friend living there... that they do a huge mass trick or treating all grades and stuff. And that sounds like fun. I also have lots of friends in Japan where they live that... do no trick or treating at all. As for our housing community where we live... they always trick or treat on a Saturday afternoon regardless if it's actually October 31st or October 28th. To me...that's really weird. In America we "trick or treat" only on October 31st regardless which day it falls on. So that to me is unusual. Also another interesting weird thing about how my area trick or treats. Noah's grade kids only trick or treat at their particular grades houses and no other grades. And the grade younger than Noah...the current 5th graders also trick or treat. But they will not stop at 6th grade houses and won't give candy to 6th grade kids. It's so weird. I will gladly give candy out to *any* kid who knocks on my door. Also..you know how in the US...we trick or treat at night and whoever has their porch light on... is whose house you stop at? Nope...not here. They trick or treat in broad daylight and no lights on houses at all. So...it is...what it is.  A few years ago...I tried...explaining how we can...maybe join all kids from our school, so not to leave any one out. And how we should stick to only trick or treating on the 31st. But nope...they are unchanging and unwavering. Regardless the fact that they are wrong. I mean...would they celebrate Obon on a  different date? Or Golden Week in March instead of the month it's actually celebrated? No. Yet...they think they can switch the date of Halloween to a Saturday, because it's more convenient. This just boggles my mind. But, it is what it is. And regardless if I am right. Yes I am. Our housing community will always celebrate Halloween on a Saturday and in broad daylight. LOL. So Noah went trick or treating on Saturday....morning nonetheless. Around 9:30am. Noah was in his Mario costume from last year. And I had treat bags for Noah's grade kids ready. And so when they knocked at our door right after breakfast....we passed out treats and Noah left with them to knock on their classmates doors. Slightly super weird for me...but the important thing is... They loved it. They had a ton of fun. Seeing their happiness made me smile. And I am just glad they had fun. : )Sunday Bran and Noah and I carved our family pumpkin and made him into a proper Jack o lantern!!! We also roasted pumpkin seeds and they came out so delicious, Sunday. So when you live in a foreign country...you just make the best of it. And you celebrate your holidays the best ya can. With an open mind and an accepting heart. : ) As for us, at our house...we watch Halloween movies all month long for October. And we make Halloween night a little family party for us here at home. The day before.. we were in the city and we bought a dozen donuts for Halloween. The kids enjoyed some donuts for Halloween breakfast along with milk and yogurts. 

Glazed donuts...super simple, but delicious.

I put the Halloween candy in the pumpkin heads. Halloween day. So that by the time the kids got home from school, their Halloween candy was waiting. I also made a huge amount of homemade from scratch pizza dough. Enough for 3 pizzas.  

Noboru was off work, yay. He didn't take the day off, he was just off work...his regular day off. That week. And this is a pic of the kids pizza. It's a homemade from scratch pepperoni pizza. You can see how crisp that crust is. The size of this pizza is the same size of a Costco pizza...only tons better. We had pizzas and salads for our fun laid back Halloween dinner.

This was my pizza. I had pepperoni, mushrooms and jalapenos and onions. Noboru had the same as mine, except minus the onions. With a nice salad and some sodas. Halloween dinner was super yum. The kids showered and came downstairs. They noshed on their candy. And we watched half of Hocus Pocus. One channel was having a Hocus Pocus marathon for Halloween, it just played again and again for like 24 hours. Also another channel was having a Chucky/Child's Play marathon too. We watched half of Hocus Pocus and then we changed it to real Ghost Stories on another channel having some Ghostober marathon. That was interesting and a little scarier than Hocus Pocus. LOL.

All in all. Did Noah trick or treat this year? Yep. He had a blast doing it. A bit unorthodox way of trick or treating yes..but he still enjoyed it. Did we carve our Jack o lantern and also roast some pumpkin seeds...double yes!!!! Did we have a delicious special Halloween dinner here at home? Yassss!!! And did the kids get the best part of Halloween? Meaning get a ton of Halloween candy? Most definitely. So all in all...I would call Halloween 2017 a lot of fun and a total success. When you know you and your family will be moving back to the states permanently. You really don't focus on...the small crap that doesn't matter...like .."they're trick or treating wrong or weirdly" you suddenly stop caring or worrying about that completely. You just start focusing on...wanting your child to enjoy this childhood memory he is creating with his friends that he won't be seeing in a years time. So the focus goes back on the TRUE important stuff. Noah trick or treating with his friends. Us as a family carving out our pumpkin. Us as a family having our Halloween dinner and enjoying some Halloween specials on TV. The important things really are...about friends...family. Good food. Making wonderful memories. And just getting to live in the now...and enjoy it. 

Throwback Thursday...

October 15, 2008. I had made curry and rice for supper. I had also according to my pics with dates. I baked a batch of homemade from scratch oatmeal raisin cookies that morning too. So the kids had already eaten supper, had some cookies and taken nice hot soapy sudsy showers and were in their PJ's. As you know all October long we watch Halloween movies. And since they were just wee little kiddos. We watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Sally is very mad that she wasted her whole night in the pumpkin patch with Linus versus going out trick or treating and getting candy!!!

Everyone got candy except for Charlie Brown. He received rocks!!! Poor Charlie Brown.

Noah enjoying, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Wearing his green dinosaur long johns from Target. And he has a nice cozy fleece blanket he can cuddle with too. 

Branden also enjoying the movie. Wearing his Spiderman PJ's from Target too. And just a disclaimer, our house is centrally heated, so every room and everywhere in our home is super hot all winter long and we also have heated floors downstairs and it feels like you're walking on a pancake griddle. So our kids don't need super thick fleecy PJ's. In our house they'd be overheated wearing those. Thinner PJ's in winter... but still long sleeve and stuff is enough for our home. Americans you will understand since all your homes are also centrally heated. But most homes in Japan are not centrally heated. And so they wear super thick winter clothes. Sleep with hot water bottles and the whole shebang. So I am sure people living in houses without central heating probably thought wow...her kids must be cold by looking at these 2 pics. And so just thought I would nip that thought right in the bud real quick..."no, our house is not cold and neither are my kids." It's actually super hot all Winter long. So if you saw this pic of my kiddo in just long johns or just Spiderman PJ's. Rest assured...it's perfect for our home with central heating plus heated flooring, any thicker PJ's and they'd overheat and melt.  

The batch of cookies I baked from that day. Good thing, I took pics of almost everything. : )

Anyway so anything to add? Yes! Branden has mid-terms this week. In high school they break it up in days rather than lumping all subjects in one day. So Wednesday, Thursday (today) and Friday (tomorrow) Branden is taking 2 tests each day! He took 2 tests yesterday and then came home. Today he will take 2 tests and come home too. And same for tomorrow. Yesterday, Branden was at our train station at 1pm! I went and picked him up! So, I imagine today he will also be arriving back in our town at 1pm too. Why do they get off early? The kids are getting off early, so they can go home and study for the next days tests. Branden left this morning feeling very comfortable for today's 2 tests. He studied and prepared a lot yesterday and frankly since last week he's been studying in his spare time.

Our entire family has a flu shot appointment for this Saturday. I made the appointment the last week of September. Seems every weekend we had something. Undokai. Town undokai. Culture Day. A movie. So, I made sure this weekend was just reserved for flu shots. Which shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes for us all. And we also have to do some Winter clothes shopping this weekend too. And hopefully relax, especially for Branden... with all his tests being finished... heck rest and relaxation for the weekend for all of us sounds super excellent. And watch a movie at home Saturday night. Oh, I swapped dinner nights. Instead of making curry soup last night how I was supposed to according to the menu I write for myself. I made tacos last night. And I am making American style fried pork chops tonight with either Rice a Roni or buttered noodles and a side of broccoli. And Saturday we will be having curry soup. I did that because if we go out shopping Saturday in the day...a nice easy curry nabe is super easy to do after a full day of winter clothes for the kids shopping. So that's why I switched/swapped a few of the meals set for certain nights. We might go clothes shopping Sunday though, so it depends. And it's nice that I have ingredients for all meals, but can swap or switch nights though. : )

Anything else? This morning, I washed Noboru's and my bedding. It's in the dryer right now as I type. I have been washing the kids bedding on Saturday's like I said. But ours I wash on the weekday whenever I don't have a load of regular laundry in there. And today, I don't have enough laundry for a full load, so I decided it would be a good time to throw our blankets in the washer as soon as I dropped Noah off at school. And as for the dry time at home...they only take 30 minutes to dry. My dryer is amazing! Dries up stuff in no time.

How's the weather in our part of Japan? It's raining quite hard today. My windshield wiper blades were on the fastest setting all day whenever I was driving my car. It's very gray and just an ugly looking day outside. So glad I am home inside all toasty warm. Have a house full of groceries. My house smells like Gain dryer sheets, since the bedding is in the dryer, lol! Anyway have a great day ya'll. Stay warm. : )

Oh also sorry one more thing. The last 3 DVDs were shipped from Amazon.com already. I think the hold up was because of Spiderman Homecoming not being released until a few days ago on DVD. Anyways...3 DVDs coming to my house. And the DVD, I am most excited about is...The Big Sick. I can hardly wait. And the delivery time said it should be arriving on Friday/tomorrow. I hope that...delivery date is accurate. Would love to watch that this weekend. Although we only watch 1 movie a weekend. So that would mean Everything, Everything would have to be put on the back burner. Hmm. Decisions decisions. And if we watched everything in one weekend...that would mean we have no other movies for the rest of Fall to look forward to...but if I space them out...1 a weekend. We will have plenty of movies to last us...until Thanksgiving at least. : ) Anything else to add? I'll be having leftovers for lunch today, so that means I will be having tacos for lunch. Also the Blacklist comes on tonight. American Horror Story Cult was on last night and omg it's getting so good. Anyways...I'm gonna go. Have a great Thursday. And a nice weekend. And stay warm!!!  : )  

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. One pumpkin for carving. And 3 pumpkins from the pumpkin patch...

We love Halloween at our house! We watch scary movies all October long! I make sure my kids have a humongous assortment of Halloween candy, since trick or treating is done in our housing community here in Japan... but it's done in the daytime. @_@ And it's only done at a handful of houses. So for the most part, we celebrate Halloween in our own special way.... by watching fun scary movies. We don't open our Halloween candy until October 31st. So we have something *really* special to look forward to every October 31st. And I always make something super special and fun for Halloween dinner. Again though...when you're living in a foreign country and the holiday isn't really celebrated like how you do back in your home country. We sorta just make it our own special type of fun celebration. And we love Halloween at our house. We do it so fun....my kids love and look forward to Halloween every year. : ) Anyways....I bought our Halloween pumpkin this year. I bought it September 25th.  How exciting to know we already have our Halloween carving pumpkin already! Meanwhile... 

We live in very rural Japan. Like seriously a town with less than 5000 people. Tons of farms. Rice farms. There's moo moo cow types farms too. Anyway...I always wished one of these farmers would start growing Halloween type pumpkins. And every year nope! Until this year!!!! Anyway...I'm a chatter box. Ya'll know that. I also always believe in...be polite! You truly never have any idea who it is...you're talking to. : ) So anyways...for years...as I pass all these farms. As I would see a farmer busy farming, I would roll my window down and say..."beautiful weather we're having today" And they'd smile and say... yes! You know what I mean. Small chit chatty stuff. And in winter I'd roll my window down and say..."It sure is cold out, stay warm today if you can" And they'd smile and say,,,alright! It's truly so cool to be living and raising our kids in a town that looks like the town where the 2 sisters in Totoro lived. : ) Anyways...I have been seeing one farm grow Halloween pumpkins, this year for the first time ever. And I have been like dazzled. I have watched them grow. And while I have greeted them as I pass by every time, like I have been doing for years and years. I never asked about their pumpkins because I figured...they were spoken for. They were selling them somewhere. Anyway...they pulled all the pumpkins. And they were gone. Sob sob sob. Hahaha. : ) So anyways...the day we went to visit Branden's school. When was that? Last Saturday, September 30th. Anyways, as we passed that morning, I waved at the farmers and they waved back at me. They probably thought... there's that happy peppy American woman! Hahaha. : ) Anyways...I saw they had a massive amount of leftover pumpkins pushed to the side. Didn't think much about it. We drove off to the big city and then when it was over we headed back to our teeny tiny Totoro town. What timing. There was the farmer, old husband and wife duo. And Noboru smiled and waved. Noboru's not really a waver, I am. But they were waving at me and he waved too. And he stopped the car to chat. Just for a second. Anyway...I mentioned to them...those sure were gorgeous pumpkins that they grew this year. And I asked...what are ya'll going to do with these discarded leftover ones right here? I pointed. And they said...the crows can eat them...or animals. Those are throwaways. I never asked for them. I would *never* be so forward. But I did say...oh they're too pretty to be eaten by the crows. They both said...do you want them? You are more than welcome to them all..please please take as many as you want! I said...no, I couldn't. I shouldn't. They said...no please take them. So, I said. Yes please. Can I have 3? They said...take 6! I smiled and said. 3 is fine. I told them, we live in such and such housing community on the last street and I will put them on my front porch. You can drive by and see them if you like. It made them happy that a few wouldn't go to waste. So anyway...long story short. Always be nice, always be kind. No matter what. You never know. In my case...I lucked out to get some "throw away" discarded unwanted pumpkins. But I *love* them and I am so happy to have them. : ) Noah and I went to look at the pumpkins as Noboru and the farmers chatted some more. I had my phone camera, so I took these pics on the sly. See this pic though...tossed near the trees. These were indeed the throw aways. But they're beautiful and awesome to me!!! : )

Just look at these beauties. In America...pumpkins are so dirt cheap to buy. But in Japan, that's sadly not the case. They're pricey. And also super hard to find. So to be able to get pumpkins from a pumpkin patch...and for free?!!! Holy cow! What good luck. : ) 

Since I received the pumpkins on the last day of September. September 30th. I decided to place these 3 pumpkin beauties out on October 1st. And yes that's a scarecrow on top of the mini pumpkin pile. And just look at the hanging baskets in full bloom. I have 4 hanging baskets but it's hard to get all 4 in 1 shot/pic. Plus the Fall wreath on the front door. It's very nicely decorated for Fall. I love how it came out!!! It's truly so gorgeous!

Happy Fall everyone!!! We have 3 pumpkins outside. And 1 for carving inside the house. I love this time of the year! : )

Halloween Fun 2016...

Happy Halloween everyone!!! It's November 1st here already. I know you in the mainland US are having your Halloween trick or treating fun right now! But for us, it's already over! And those of you in Japan, I sure hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too of course! We had an awesome Halloween here at our house! And I have a free hour, so now is my chance to catch up with you all real quick. And let ya'll know how we spent Halloween in our neck of the woods, here in our area of rural Japan! : ) These are the Halloween treats that we brought back from Guam a couple weeks back! I will still be posting our Guam trip. As quickly as I can. : ) But for now...this is the Halloween treats pic. The kids and I were lucky enough to be in Guam and therefore got to pick quite a few bags of American Halloween candy....we each picked our faves and we all are sharing and enjoying it. I have held onto these bags and they have remained unopened until yesterday evening. : ) 

Last week, while I was at Costco, for my weekly shop there. I saw a whole bunch of medium sized Halloween pumpkins. These pumpkins came from the United States. The prices were AMAZING. Super affordable American type prices. And I messaged an American friend of mine who lives in another part of Japan. And she was so happy when I mentioned the pumpkins...that she and her kids drove to her Costco the day after to do her monthly shopping and she texted me that her Costco had these too. And she told me she bought 2 of these for cooking! Which is amazeballs. She made something delicious out of hers! So just a friendly helpful heads up anyway! I didn't buy any of these because, they reached my Costco simply way too late. 5 days before Halloween is a bit late and by that time we already had our pumpkin from another store. I hope next year Costco in Japan gets these wonderful pumpkins earlier in the month. 

198 yen for a pretty good sized pumpkin is a great deal! Especially for us Americans in Japan!

Because if they were too small, they wouldn't have been easy to carve...but these are. So you can tell these are more so... medium sized pumpkins. On the bright side...if anyone wants them for cooking and baking. Maybe you can get a whole bunch... half off by now. And bake and freeze a whole bunch of pies? Who knows. : ) Anyway...hope this helps someone. : )

Halloween is starting to catch on here in Japan. It's not even close...to how we celebrate it in America though. In America, we gave out treats to whoever rang our doorbell. As long as they were in a costume and not too big/old. Hahaha. However here. At least for our housing community. 4th grade kids only knock at fellow 4th grade houses and those mom's organize how many treats. And same for us too. Noah's a 5th grader. And all us 5th grade mom's decided whoever lives in our housing community...we would have Halloween Saturday (trick or treating). And all the week beforehand. The kids while at school would pass along messages through our kids from us mom's. Which kids are trick or treating and which kids are not? Noah said he was. So everyone knew to have a treat waiting for Noah-chan at his classmates house and vice versa for us, we knew who to prepare for. Just like, I knew little K wouldn't be trick or treating. But, I knew for example Naoki-kun would be. And a whole bunch others. I had a round about idea. Also another difference is...in Japan, they don't just give out 1 treat per kid, like how we do in the US. To be fair we do that in the US because we give out candy to about 150 kids and so considering cost... it is wiser to give out 1 treat per kid. Not so here. The first couple years...I would hand out 1 candy per kid (American style). Whoever knocked at my door. And meanwhile they would give Noah a goodie bag. I looked sorta like a cheapskate! @_@ Also...when Noah was in the 1st grade. And his classmates started all this trick or treating stuff. Bran's classmates weren't into it. But Noah's classmates were. So anyways...years ago when Noah was a first grader...besides the fact I was only giving out 1 treat per child. I was happily giving out American Halloween candy! However...the kids weren't really too jazzed or crazy about my candy! @_@ "What's this they'd ask?"It was clear they preferred Japanese treats, instead of ours. And that's okay, I guess. @_@ Deep sigh... deep sigh. So...as they say...live and learn. After a year or two of making "mistakes" I now...make goodie bags. And I now just buy my trick or treaters Japanese treats. Which is fine. And we keep the American treats for my kids and myself. Which is more than fine with us. Also this year Noah received less goodie bags and more a handful of the same thing. Which is totally fine. But...again it's done differently here. : ) 

We made 23 of these goodie bags. 

From Noah. : )  Oh Japan! So yes...in Japan, I do it this way. And if I lived in America, I'd do the American way. : ) 

Friday after school, we carved our pumpkin and turned him into a Jack O'Lantern!

Branden decided the design this year!

So cute! Excellent job Bran! So from Friday, our Jack O'Lantern sat on the porch. He was waiting for our trick or treaters on Saturday!

Happy Saturday Noah, I mean Mario! Have fun trick or treating with your friends! And hello Jack the Pumpkin Head! You are looking mighty fine today Jack! : ) Mighty fine! ; ) 

You have lots of fun today, okay?! I love you very very much! And you look adorable and like a sweet little 11 year old! Childhood is so fleeting, so enjoy! : )

The trick or treaters who just left my house! All 5th graders! I see a witch sitting on my grass. I see a pirate and I see Noah's jack o lantern bucket on his bike. Yes the kids go trick or treating by bike. : ) Because our housing community is large and the 5th graders live all over.

Hello Mario, I see you with all your friends! : ) What a fun Saturday for the kids in our area!

Noah brought back, these! Rice crackers a plenty. A few treat goodie bags. Coconut sable cookies. He was quite happy with his haul. And most importantly... he had a blast! So bless their little hearts! : )  I made taquitos that night.  Now...flash forward to Monday, actual Halloween in the pics below. : ) 

Monday morning, I packed 2 lunches. Bran rode his bike with his friends to JHS. And Noah got a ride. I came home. Made the pizza dough immediately like before 8am! I then stripped down 3 beds and ran to the laundry mat. I washed all of Noah's bedding, plus I pulled out his fleece blanket to add to his bedding. I washed all of Bran's bedding too and also washed his Fall/Winter fleece blanket too. I washed all my own bedding and also pulled out my winter fleece blanket and basically took 3 beds worth of bedding to the laundry mat. Washed all those nicely. Picked up some mushrooms along the way home and some vanilla icecream and then went home, put the mushrooms in the fridge for the pizza for later that night. Made 3 beds. Vacuumed the downstairs. Swished 2 toilets. And then I baked a yellow cake and roasted some pumpkin seeds. And then at 12:30pm, I was done with the house. I had lunch and then rested the rest of my day. I got so much done in the morning. Went and picked up Noah from school and then we...meaning the kids and I enjoyed our Halloween here at home. Noboru had to work. But...I always make Halloween fun in our house. I always make something special for dinner. Something delicious and yummy. We also watch movies and enjoy our night. 

We had a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and Halloween sprinkles. I picked up a big carton of vanilla ice cream too. We had roasted pumpkin seeds and a whole bunch of American Halloween treats. These are only half of the amount of our treats. The rest are in the pantry. We had a homemade from scratch pizza baking in the oven. And again...with living in Japan, we can't celebrate Halloween the American way. But we do create our own special family Halloween traditions here! And so, I always want them to know...mom made it special for them! : ) 

I love you boys so very much! Love you Branden. Love you Noah! And okay....you too Jack the Pumpkin Head 2016! And you can see...I had Halloween Jack O'Lantern lights on my 2 front windows. And I had the spooky lights and decorations on our house! Clearly an American mom lives in this house! : ) I always try to decorate each season or holiday. : ) 

So cute! I love the holidays so much!

I almost forgot to take a picture of our homemade from scratch pizza. The kids got the large pepperoni pizza and I had a small pepperoni, mushroom, onion and jalapeno pizza (am having some for lunch this afternoon). We ate dinner in the living room. We usually won't do that. But...it was a special night. We watched Halloween movies all night long. Hocus Pocus was on last night!

Cake and ice cream for dessert. And then everyone took turns showering. Then into their pajamas and right back to watch another Halloween movie. And snack on some delicious American Halloween candy and chocolate and watch another Halloween movie. It was a fun night, last night! Hope you all had a really special Halloween too! Much love from our family to you and yours! : )