Throwback Thursday. Noah starting yochien 2009...

Before Noah started yochien (Japanese kindergarten), thanks to having 1 child already go through yochien beforehand. I wasn't completely out of the loop or out of the know. And given Bran went to the same yochien. I made sure to get Noah prepped up a tad.... starting at the end of October 2008.  Not really too early, because like I said in my last TBT, Noah started in January in a pre-yochien class. A sort of "getting ready" for yochien class from January until the end of March. You really only need 1 set of bags. What size and sort of handmade/homemade bags you need, really depends on your own personal school and what size and specifications they want. I, as you can see... did buy 1 main set, the frog set. And that is what Noah used 95% of the time, but once in a while he wanted to change and if he did, he had a *really* cool handmade Thomas set and the Sesame Street handmade set. Noah had quite a few different handmade sets. But his favorite and most used set was the froggy set. He used his main big square bag, the inside shoe bag and the other bag was for his gym clothes, so his gym bag. 

This set was very helpful for Noah. And so cute.

They had spots for his names on all his bags. But everyone knew the froggy bags were his. : ) And his classmates also had really cool handmade bags too. : )

Inside lining with stag beetles. Which are quite popular here in Japan for boys. 

I really love this big square handmade bag and I love that it's in English. Noah uses this even now. He loves this bag and it's not too overly child-ish really. So, he still...even now feels comfortable taking this to elementary school sometimes...but his main bags now are a nice set of handmade Super Mario Bros. : ) 

Inside lining on all his bags. 

I really loved Noah's handmade yochien lunch mat and cup holder and obento bag. I love how that little frog on the obento bag is holding a rice ball/onigiri. He also had a few other lunch sets too. : ) 

So cute!

I also, made sure Noah had some handmade tissue covers. His favorite of these was the aloha shirt and the orange Snoopy. : ) 

Pale yellow and blue design and penguins. This was Noah's handmade seat cover but it held his bosai zukin (emergency/disaster cover). 

Hankies.

Stickers for putting name stickers on everything of Noah's.

Kids play with nendo/clay in yochien. And need a plastic mat. What I did with Branden and also did with Noah was, I went to a DIY store and found the most colorful and happy looking plastic table cloth and cut this amount and this cost me about 300 yen and when I cut it into the correct size at home, I got about 5 nendo mats from this... 1 piece of plastic cheery plastic table cloth. I have had about 5 different fellow foreign women in the past... who had contacted me, before when I accepted comments... thanking me for mentioning this very tidbit. Because some of them were thinking..."where in the heck can I find a nendo sheet?" Maybe they make them now days? But back in 2009, I never found any. And this way was the cheapest and it simply worked so well. But yep, so many people said...thank you for mentioning this! : )

Since Noah wasn't an official student yet until April, he could only wear the gym uniform to school. No cute little navy blue uniform until April. But since he was starting in January, we went ahead a month before and made sure we had Noah's gym shorts, long sleeve tops, navy blue school shoes (we called them his French shoes, since they had a French flag on them) and inside shoes and smock. : ) 

All of these school supplies pictured here... were bought easily at the actual yochien. That's Noah's art book, attendance booklet. Glue, scissors. yellow badges were for the kiddos who were not really yochien... real students yet. : ) Yellow at our school meant...younger than a regular yochien aged kiddo. : ) 

Every crayon was indeed...name stickered and I put 1 tape around each crayon, in case the name sticker fell off on accident. The tape ensures that the little sticker stays put. : ) 

Noah used Branden's yochien backpack, but we let him pick up a new charm for it. Noah picked Spongebob Squarepants. 

Noah also picked up his favorite character obento stuff. Spongebob of course. : )

Everyone absolutely loved Noah's.... "Noah" thermos especially on field trips. parents would comment..."that is so cool!!!" That was very kind of them to say that. : ) I bought that in Denver. 

The good part of having 2 boys is, Noah also inherited Bran's Thomas thermos and cars thermos too. 

And Noah also inherited Branden's lunch goods he had too. Branden had Ultraman and Thomas galore. And it's nice that Noah could get usage out of all those extra lunch boxes but...I also don't want Noah to feel like a hand me down kid either. If you have 2 boys or 2 girls, you'll know what I mean. So, it was important for me to make sure Noah knew..."see we let you pick out YOUR special Spongebob lunch box" but see...you can also use these too. That way he doesn't feel like he just gets hand me downs 24/7. So again...I do try to be fair too. 

One of his gym shirts was in Japanese and one was in English. 

Good grief did I have to sew so many name labels on things.

Even his inside gym shirts/under shirts had name labels on them.

Yep this was before March, so Noah had to go in his Catholic school gym clothes. We loved those gym clothes though because they're so pretty, such a beautiful nice happy yellow pair of shorts. And nice long sleeve white top. Love you Noah, have a wonderful day at yochien sweet pea! : )

Now it was getting closer to March and we went and bought Noah some new yochien socks and a new winter hat. 

The dress shirts we bought new... but we were lucky that Noah could use all of Branden's winter navy blue uniforms and gray summer uniforms and he had plenty. So that saved us a ton of money! 

Checking the size. Good and considering we had a few different sizes of the winter and summer uniforms, looks like you're all set your entire years of kindy kiddo! Looks like you were ready and excited to start yochien in April 2009! And considering you really started in January. You were already used to that school by then. Already had a best friend already, best friend H-kun at that time! That you went to swimming with and everything! So by the time April 2009 rolled around, you were totally ready!

Any current update? It rained today, so Ru's coworker is coming tomorrow morning to dismantle and take away the big playground in our backyard. Anything else? Branden got a new pair of glasses today. He calls them his Clark Kent glasses, lol. I'll share a picture next time. : ) We went to Bran's observation day yesterday. It was an English class, that we all observed. This Saturday, is Noah's observation day. Bran and I will be going to that. Many jalapeno babies are sprouting now. Like tons. We are expecting a great big crater where the jungle gym used to be. But yes...we are pretty much 100% sure it will slightly crater... like a bowl...do you know what I mean? So...this week Noboru already picked up a palette of dirt to fill in the expected space. So we will be trying to fill in the ground there and leveling that off and when it is finally level and all..."flat Stanley" looking...then we will go ahead and plant sod (grass) down. So step 1...dismantle jungle gym. Step 2...work on filling up any crater we expect we will see. Step 3, plant some sod. Considering we want a good job and not a crap job. We will be packing the dirt firmly in the ground. So we expect maybe...2-3 weeks. And how long will it take the sod...to finally look like normal grass and not like square patches...kwim? So, I imagine it will take some time to get things done. Funny thing is. My dad knows. You all know, but the neighbors don't know. Nobody in our town knows about us dismantling the jungle gym. We think our neighbors and everyone will freak out! When they notice it's gone. Hahaha. Oh well. : ) Onwards and upwards as they say. : ) 

Throwback Thursday, Easter 2013...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day today everyone! And Happy TBT today too! : ) Today's throwback takes us back to March 2013! Yet another Easter Hippity Hoppity theme! Since Easter is coming up soon! : ) Noboru, Branden and Noah. We always look forward to decorating and coloring the eggs! This year (pictured) we colored our eggs the day before, this was on Saturday! Just an afternoon, the whole family coloring and decorating some eggs.  

Hi Noah! : )

Hi Bran! : )

I made hot (baked) pepperoni sandwiches and we had cheesy baked potatoes on the side. 

See that melted ooey gooey cheese! These are so good. After they come out of the oven, just add some fresh crispy clean lettuce and yum, ready to eat! : ) 

Colorful eggs drying, while we enjoyed our family dinner that night! Living in the moment, yes totally and loving every minute of it. However creating the fun memories too! : ) 

A simple but delicious dinner. Love making this sandwich on a fresh bakery baguette. 

The next morning, Easter Sunday! I always try and make it special for the boys! Whether that means, I fly to Guam and bring back some Easter goodies. Or I receive a thoughtful Easter care package from my family. Either way, but the focus is on, making sure I do my best to make every Easter super special for the boys. : )

Good morning, my sweet boys! Happy Easter. : )

Sure do love you guys! : ) To the moon and back, like I say to you both, every night before bed! : )

Easter eggs 2013!

Nameko egg! A character in Japan, he was all the rage back then! : ) He's a mushroom, btw.

A tisket a tasket, someone drew an Easter basket! : )

Easter dinner! The salt on the table is for the Easter eggs. : ) 

Are ya'll enjoying your supper? : ) 

Anyway, that was today's TBT, Easter 2013! : )

Any update from today? I did send Noah to school wearing green today! Even though, I don't think anyone in Japan would pinch anyone, who isn't wearing green. Just something not really well known here in Japan. But still, to be safe, Noah still wore green. : ) The 6th graders graduate elementary school tomorrow/Friday. So Noah and the entire school gets out tomorrow at 11:30am. So Noah has a half day of school tomorrow. Think, I'm going to take Noah on a date tomorrow for lunch. It also means I will only be packing 1 lunch tomorrow, for BrannyB. Spoke to Ru tonight. Since this is his last Wednesday in America they went to Joe's Crab Shack, yet again! For that... all you can eat crab! He said it was so good! He sent me so many pics from dinner. : ) As for us here in Japan. Tonight, I am making American style fried pork chops, some fettuccine noodles on the side and some broccoli and we will also be having some salad as well. I will be sure to take a pic. Noah gets out of school today at 3pm and Bran at 4pm today. I washed all the kitchen mats and they're drying outside on the laundry pole. And the bath tub mat, you know the one you pat your feet dry with. And 1 dress shirt/ uniform JHS shirt of Bran's and 1 gym shirt of Bran's too. Oh and last but not least, I have Noboru's yellow and white stripe towel flapping in the breeze outside too. I wanted to refresh it before my sweetie pie returns back home. : ) I sent him a pick via LINE and said..."refreshin' your towel"...he said, "aww thanks" LOL. He's going to Target tomorrow after his training. I remembered 2 last little things, (food-wise) so he's going to try and pick those up after training. Sweet husband, best husband. : ) Anyway that's enough for now. : )

Bits from last week, miso chicken, lunch date with the hubster and a few other good bits mixed in there for good measure. Plus, we just won the Super Bowl just now, you guys! The Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50!

Good morning! 10:07am here and Super Bowl 50 is happening live for us right now! It's Monday morning for us in Japan. But, I know it's always Super Bowl Sunday for those of you in the US. Hope you all, are enjoying the game. I know, I am. I have a quick little post to get up right now and I am doing it on commercials only so how long will this short post take me? We'll see. All of these pics happened last week. Noboru and I did go on our once a week, lunch date while the boys were both at school. We went to Saizeriya. Saizeriya is just a super cheap Italian chain here in Japan. I had the rigatoni and a side of petite foccacia.

570 calories. I am just always extremely conscious of my calories of my breakfasts daily and my lunches. I love those Knorr pasta soups in the cup also, that are like 180 or so calories too. But on this day we went out. And dinner, I don't really count my calories, but it's usually something really sensible. And on weekends we usually will have something fun like maybe... I'll make some cheeseburgers or taco night for the fam. Something fun. Anyways...moving along...

I made miso chicken for dinner last week. I also made an extra chicken breast and sliced it in half width wise...so the boys could take that for lunch the next day. In fact, every chicken breast was sliced in half width wise. Why? So that it could soak up all the flavor all the way. Also not sure if you could tell in this picture, but I also made slices on each piece, not all the way through cuts... but enough so sauce could marinate all the way. Just wanted it to be very flavorful. And by the way...I have *the* best recipe for miso chicken or pork. Tastes better then the ones you can buy at the store that are already pre-sauced/already marinated. Like bomb dot com recipe. 

Put plastic wrap on this that morning and put in the fridge. This soaked in flavor all day long. And the ones the kids had the next day, were even more so. They soaked for almost 24 hours, so really flavorful miso chicken. 

A super simple meal, but we had some... made from scratch miso chicken, rice and veggies we also had a simple salad on the side. Noah was so happy, all through dinner he said..."I made this miso, you guys" Awww...Bran was so kind and said.."it is very good Noah!" He was thrilled. : ) 

This was even more marinated, the next day. On a bed of rice, they took miso chicken some veggies and both had some sliced apple. And yes, Noah mentioned...that he told his teacher..."this was from the miso our class made." Aww, he was just very proud you guys. So yes, even the American mama of the class is finding ways and delicious uses for the miso we got too and now the teacher knows, we are using ours! How much miso is left you guys? A ton. We will be eating miso chicken at the end of this week, as well. Hahaha. : ) I imagine we will be eating it once a week until we use it up. : ) It's very delicious though, so we really don't mind a bit. : ) 

Bran needed 2 extra school dress shirts. The price is perfect. Very affordable. Bought at Sanki. He has 4 new ones total now, in his new size. Again...we're just getting ready and making sure the kids will be okay and won't be running out of anything when Noboru leaves for training. Don't laugh but....preparation is key! It really is. : ) 

The tins are very thin. Like paper thin, way thinner then one you'd buy in America... so we bought 3 of them. Because I will be roasting that turkey after Noboru leaves, and the disposable roasters come in handy. Also bought some Valentine-y napkins for Bran and Noah's lunches Monday-Friday. And also some liners for their lunches as well. 

Last Friday, I made tostadas. We ate meat every day last week. And frankly I was a bit meat-ed out. So I thought last Friday would be a perfect time to make some tostadas. The lettuce was like 98 yen, the cheese is what was leftover. The salsa is from Besia for like 117 yen and the beans cost what...$1 in Guam but beans are also available at Amazon.jp too. So, a pretty cheap dinner and we all loved it, here. The corn tortillas came from Kaldi.

Friday was awesome because we had just gotten Branden's Eiken pre1 results. It was the weekend. We could just relax and unwind and recharge. Dinner was made super early. I boiled the beans Friday morning. Mashed the beans right before I went to get the boys after school. And also fried up the corn tortillas in the day time too, in the morning while the beans were boiling. So dinner was done and in the bag so to speak, by the time the boys came home. We ate. We talked. And just enjoyed. Also a good Big Bang Theory was coming on that night too. Comes on Thursdays in the mainland US. But for me, it comes on Friday evening. I had already read the little blurb online what was going to happen. And I didn't mind the spoiler at all, in fact I saw it more as a positive and it got me excited to watch it myself. So we got dinner dishes and the kitchen cleaned up super quickly and we went and watched the Big Bang Theory on the couch in the living room. Pics and spoilers down below. So, if you haven't seen it. Perhaps stop reading this post right here. But as.... it is my blog and I am sure most of you in the US have already seen it...even before I did. I'm not going to stop talking about it. Just because somebody is more behind, than I am. Besides all this information is already/readily available online and it's not like... I am saying something that isn't already available on the internet already. So...I'm just saying. It's something I greatly enjoyed and therefore I am going to talk about it. 

Sheldon has been speaking highly about his meemaw (grandmother) for years, since the show/series first began. However we have never seen her before. Well last Friday for me, last Thursday for you in the US. Meemaw was going to make her first appearance. This is Sheldon and Leonard waiting at the airport for meemaw! 

Yay, finally we get to see Shelly's meemaw! 

Notice Sheldon gave meemaw his favorite spot on the couch! Given he won't let *anyone* sit there. This was adorable to see! 

Last season Sheldon and his longtime girlfriend Amy broke up (she broke up with him) when Sheldon was about to propose. This season has been eye opening for instance Sheldon finally lost his virginity to her. Anyway...back to last weeks episode...Meemaw hated Amy. And she had certainly no qualms in hiding it. Everyone left the apartment but Amy and Meemaw. They all hid at Penny's. Anyway...Meemaw said... she doesn't like Amy because....when she broke up with Sheldon she broke his heart... so badly and anyone who would hurt him like that. She is not going to support that. Before they went to hide at Penny's, she also told Sheldon, she will never get my wedding ring! They finally had a break through, when Meemaw said her late husband Pop-pop was very similar to Sheldon in that, he was stubborn and set in his ways too. So they sort of bonded and she forgave Amy. Sheldon came in the apartment. So did Penny and Leonard. And everything was all better. But was this a fantastic episode? Yes! Was it so cool to finally see Shelly's meemaw? Yes! : ) This Thursday...well Friday for me. The previews say...The Big Bang Theory will tell the *biggest* secret ever! I keep seeing the commercials for it.... and I can't wait! : ) 

Saturday morning, I made use of the leftover refried beans from scratch. And I rolled and froze 7 bean and cheese burritos. Considering you can buy 6 frozen bean and cheese burritos at Costco in Japan for what...2700 yen? $26 US, super expensive. And I just used whatever was left of our leftover 99cent pack of beans. And I got 7 burritos out of them. I wrapped them up... each in some plastic wrap individually and then put them all in a big freezer bag. That way...if anyone gets hungry after school and dinners not yet ready...although I am usually right on time, if not early dinner wise. Or for a Saturday afternoon lunch or snack. These will be in the freezer, anyone can just take one out and nuke it. They are so good and so cheesy and delicious and homemade. A perfect little snack. And btw, we are loving these new tortillas that Costco sells. So fluffy and good. Soft and the flavor is on point. 

Branden took and passed the Eiken pre1 last Friday. And I had it up and posted the very next day. And while that is good that I do that. And believe me..yes I should. Considering my son has never gone to an American or English speaking school and has always went to Japanese school and so for him to have done that...amazing! So yes, should be totally proud. However...I am also angry with myself because... Noah doesn't get highlighted nearly as much as he should on my blog! I feel a lot of times, I will spotlight Branden's achievements and often...won't Noah's as much. And for that...I am so super sorry Noah! And I will try to do better! Case in point? Noah had that amazing swim meet over a year ago. He was actually asked by the swimming school he swims for... to compete against other swimming schools. This was a Chiba wide swimming event. And Noah swam amazing in it! I did blog and post pics from that day. However the following week when Noah's medals came in for winning the events he swam in. I failed at putting his medals on here or sharing his great...fantastic success. And again for that...I was wrong! And seeing that Eiken pre1 thing on my blog...I kept thinking about Noah's medals that never went up. And I said...no...I can NOT do that! So delayed in posting these pics? Yes. But the important thing is...I put them up! The paper is Noah's award but it has the name of the swim school and his last name etc...so I just flipped that paper over. And Noah won 2 Mizuno (Japanese sports brand) pens with 4 or 5 different colors. These are quite cool and the fact he earned those pens. Just really cool. Two Mizuno file folders, kids in Japan use these quite a bit. The bear thing is a drink holder, almost looks like 1 lone sock, right? But, it goes around a 500ml drink. And the stitch thing is a cup holder. And then Noah's 2 medals. A silver and a bronze. 

Yes, you are a good swimmer Noah! And we are proud of you my gorgeous *gorgeous* boy! Gee, you have so many medals kid! Medals from swimming...medals from running. : ) I am saving these all for you...for when you grow up! : ) 

And finally this morning...for me it started at 8:30am, Guam time 9:30am. Lady Gaga sang the American National Anthem just beautifully! And with a huge American flag behind her. Loved it!

A sincere thank you for your service...

Yay Broncos! Hope you win! But will be proud either way!

As of right now...I have taken ages to write this post..again because I am watching the Superbowl and only typing this on the commercials. The Super Bowl is now almost over. We are in the last quarter...the 4th quarter and we have 6 minutes left. We are winning as of now. But not by much. It was Broncos 16...Panthers 10. This is too close to tell. I may post this after the game. Now...  3 minutes left. Same score, the Panthers just took a time out. And this game is so close. I'm about to have myself a heart attack! Crap! Go Broncos! Now only 2 minutes left. And we are still ahead. I am so full of excitement and anticipation! OMG...we won you guys 24-10 was the score! Amazing and am so proud. The Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50, just now! : )