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. 

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! : ) 

Throwback Thursday. Jack O' Lantern and a Halloween pic from 2008...

My family from Halloween 2008!!! I love this picture so much! We already had a very good supper. The pumpkin seeds were roasting in the oven, as I snapped this picture. We had a plastic Halloween jack o' lantern bucket full of a variety of delicious American Halloween candy in the house and we were about to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" on DVD. : ) Have a spooktacular Thursday everyone! : )