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. : )

Pics from our weekend...

Let's see, Friday morning, I had got the house cleaned and finished by 9:45am-ish (kids are gone by 7:20am at school already). So, I had the whole day to do whatever basically. So, since I usually, use a face mask and paint my nails on Sundays to be ready for a whole other week. *However* since I knew I'd be busy at the kids club thing on Sunday, I decided to do my personal care/just take care of myself then on Friday instead. I usually color my hair at home once a month, and it was time. It's just a basic brown color, I have been using for over a year. When I buy hair color in Japan, this is always the one I buy, in color "earl grey." I also put the Tony Moly plastic booties and liquid on my feet for 90 minutes because even though it's rainy season right now, sandal season could be any day, as long as it's not raining. So, my feet need to look nice, so I like to use these every few months. Your feet peel super crazy after about 5 days and then they are smooth and soft like a brand new foot. : ) I did this on Friday because I knew it wouldn't be peeling on Sunday. : ) I also painted my nails and gave myself a weekly face mask, Good thing the doorbell did not ring on Friday, because I would have looked quite scary with hair dye/color, face mask, feet in bags, lol. : )

The Sally Hansen one, I bought at Target last year, I like this color in Summer. Very feminine. And the sparkly pink in the middle, I put on top of the Sally Hansen one and then I layer it with a clear top coat, far right to prevent chipping. The sparkly one and top coat I bought at the 100 yen. I did my toe nails and my finger nails, so I'd be ready for the thing on Sunday, because I knew I'd basically see the entire town population there, and sure I did, hahaha. And also I do believe in taking good care of yourself. : )

Kept this on for 20 minutes. It really brightens the face. : )

This was our finished dinner Friday. We did have green beans with this. I like to make a nice big filling breakfast for the boys every morning, as you know, scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, pankcakes, Yakult, yogurt, the whole bit. And I also know how hungry they come home from school, so I like to make a nice great big filling dinner every night too. I want to know they're well fed and that it's pretty much ready when they come through the door. : )

We did have movie night on Friday after dinner and showers were done. And everyone had some popcorn and it was just a nice way to enjoy the start of the weekend. 

Monday morning, we had bacon and eggs and toast for breakfast. For lunch we had leftover cheesy gratin potatoes and leftover pork chops. And after lunch, I made a pack of cinnamon rolls. I also made my pizza dough immediately after breakfast so it was resting in the kitchen all day. : ) 

Just rolled the 2 pizzas out and just about to put our toppings on the pizza. Saturday was fun and just spent here at home, same with Friday. I knew I had that kids club event though on Sunday (the following day), so we all went to sleep Saturday around 9:30pm. 

Sunday morning, we all woke up and had some cinnamon toast crunch type cereal and also some toast with butter. Noboru and I also had a hot coffee, the kids had apple juice. We all immediately got dressed after that, so we could head to the plaza. Our housing community (us 3 yakuin) also worked in this gym also. We did however like this game across from us, they made a "bowling game" with 1.5 liter plastic bottles, they filled them half way, made the water colored and they rolled down basketballs or dodgeballs. The prez and my fellow vp, and I, took notice and we'd like to use this game this year on one of our "housing community's" events. This was a great idea! : )

We did this....the ring toss! : )  We will borrow this game from our town and use this in our Christmas party as one of our games. We already talked about it. Hahaha. : ) 

There were 3 ring toss games right next to each other. Us 3, were handling 2 of the ring toss games and another housing community was handling the one way in the back. That is the prez's Converse in the pic. : ) 

Look at the crowds! The crowds came in waves, we got slammed throughout the morning too. Many times we'd have 10 people or more waiting a turn, all 3 ring toss games had tons of people and then at other times we were so dead...no crowds at all. We would joke and have fun with the kids! Can you get a ring on every number? OMG, try to get #9. We'd clap when they'd get a ring. When little babies 2-3 year olds came, we'd help them toss each ring. They'd get all excited and happy. Their mom's were very happy we took the time, crouched/squat down and helped their child. And we also got groups of JHS boys, like 8th and 9th graders. They are competitive against their friends, JHS boys. Okay the prez would say to the JHS boys..."he's got 27 points...are you gonna let his score tops yours", ...The Jinbei boys mom would add jokingly..."yes you can't let his score get higher than yours." I'd chime right in and add..."ask for a rematch!" The JHS kid would say shaking his head in agreement..."You 3 are right! Rematch!" Hahaha. Those JHS boys played a few rounds battling each other back and forth. Again we would play with all kids, toddlers to 9th graders, didn't matter. We made sure you left our game with a smile on your face and having had a good time. 1 little girl (2nd grader if I were to take a guess or maybe 3rd grader from the other school), liked playing with me, especially. She couldn't get many rings on there and she'd watch my face for a reaction and I would tell her.. "you are doing fantastic kiddo"...you will get 1...and I sat there patiently with her and when she got a couple I'd high 5 her and she was *very* happy. She came back throughout the day 3 different times to play ring toss with me. : ) Also, I did get many kids say..."hello" and I'd then switch and say "hello, how are YOU?" hehehehe, they'd say while smiling. Just have fun. Be able to anticipate ...do they need extra cheers, some support or.... Also, these JHS kids are still kids and they liked being clapped and cheered for, as much as the toddlers. They really did. Make it fun though #1! And we did. 

Across from where I was "working"...I see Noah. Everyone knows my kids and they know I'm working right across the gym. But she crouches/squats down and chats with Noah and stuff, everyone is so nice to our kids, all kids actually. : ) And this "bowling" game rocked.

Noah and his very good friend, who is a twin, in the blue and white stripe shirt. His twin, is his sister, she was playing with her friend somewhere else. They live right near us and his mom is the super nice, but shy one. : ) 

Of course Noah came to play ring toss with me. Us 3, yakuin helped and cheered him on too, they said "come on Noah!" We clapped, we cheered, he blushed, hahaha. : )

Here comes Branden. he had to play too. Branden told me, "did you just play with 3 JHS boys, older grade than me?" I said "surely, yes I did". : ) Branden said "they just said, we just played the ring toss with your mom and she rocks!" @.@ : ) Wow...I got an... I rock comment from some older JHS boys. Very good to know. Lol. On the bright side, at least they know Branden has a friendly mom, who helped them on the ring toss : ) I tell ya, everybody knows everybody in our town. : )

This event ended at 12. At 11:30am though many people started to leave. We still had to stay. So the boys played basketball sans the basketball net. : ) 

I'm glad that they still enjoy playing together. They're still super close, even though they go to different schools. To always have one another, to always have that playmate or person who understands you best. : )

And I'm glad Noboru is a hands on dad and the way he is. He loves the boys so much. : ) We went home at noon and rested for an hour and then we left for the rest of the day.  We knew we were going to go to yakiniku for supper (Noboru said, he saw me working hard all morning at the plaza/kids club thing and so he wanted to give me a night off cooking, so he took us to yakiniku), but we decided to go bumming around before that. We went to Don Quixote (didn't buy anything, just looked around, spent over an hour in there). We took the scenic route too. We just wanted to end the weekend fun and on a great note. 

We went and had yakiniku Sunday evening (yesterday) and you can cook your own marinated meat at the grill on the table. 

We then went to charge the car for free at Shisui outlet mall and also walked around window shopping for about 45 minutes and we also spent an additional hour at Starbucks just relaxing the 4 of us. The kids each had an iced cocoa. Noboru and I each had a nice iced coffee drink (Noboru had an iced caramel machiaato, and I had a very big iced American coffee.) We just sat inside Starbucks sipping our drinks, people watching, chatting, talking, just enjoying the end of our amazing and low key weekend. : ) 

A very blurry picture of Noah. We took a nice scenic drive back home, as soon as everyone got home, we all took turns taking showers and ready to start a whole other week of school. 

At Franc Franc, Noboru bought me an apron. And that is only because, as you know I am a yakuin leader/head this year and on many kids club events, I will need to wear an apron. And while I do have 1 nice one, bought from Laura Ashley over 6 years ago at least, having another and finding one at a great price was a nice find. I also have a denim Old Navy one, that we use at home if needed, but I really don't use them at home (Noboru has used the jean Old Navy one twice for making soup with the Father's Club.) It's usually for events, where it might come in handy. 

Nice aprons can run/cost about $40-$50 US, maybe because many people use them here, or I don't know. But this was just 1300 yen $13 US. So, it was a good deal. 

I wish they would have had this in black and white. But this isn't bad either, it's pretty. Noboru did joke with me and said it did vaguely remind him of Minnie Mouse and Branden did say it reminded him a tad of a mushroom from Mario Kart. But, I like it and the price was too good to pass on, granted black with white dots would have been best, but this is really pretty too though.  : )  Anyway that was our weekend in a nut shell. : ) 

Weather forecast for today...

According to the news Kyushu already started it’s rainy season. Here in Chiba, we have not quite yet started the rainy season, but soon. However, today’s forecast says it should rain extremely hard here in Chiba. As in, watch out for landslides, type rain!? @.@ Granted, I do believe the weather forecast and most of the time they’re right, but I also take it with a grain of salt too. Either way, I clearly won’t be hanging laundry outside this morning. : ) And Branden got a ride to school along with Noah this morning. Again just taking extra measures in case it really does come down super hard. I also had the both of them take along umbrellas just in case.

The 9th grade girl across the street though rode her bike. So it does make me wonder, if the rain will come. But on the other hand, the grandpa next door, who owns a small roofing company and is a roofer by trade, didn’t drive away this morning, so perhaps he *is* expecting rain. The boy next door also got a ride and he usually rides his bike. Hmm. Not a drop coming down yet, but I keep checking out the back patio window to see if it has started. And Noboru? He thinks the rain is coming for sure, in fact he’s outside sprinkling grass vitamins/nutrients right now before the rain comes. : )

Happy Thursday everyone. Swimming tonight for Branden and Noah and dinner will be ginger pork, broccoli, rice and miso soup. Just an easy dinner on swim night, greatly appreciated. : )

Also, one more thing, I have to work this coming Sunday (8am-12 noon). It’s a kids club thing. All districts will show up for this, even the other elementary school will be showing up. Only people working it will be the president/kaicho, 2 vp’s/fuku kaicho, of every district the town has. So us 3 will show up and rep for our housing community. Junior high kids invited too. So, I expect a ton of kids to show up, especially since the whole town of kids are invited (2 elementary schools and 1 junior high amount of kids, plus lots of parents) Branden and Noah will be there playing games, Noboru is going to walk around, enjoy and to keep an eye on the kids, and I’ll be working some game, us 3 ladies together (yakuin heads). : ) 

Kodomo kai event/Kid's Club party

Saturday, April 5th, was a kid's club party, the "welcoming the ichinensei"..."welcoming the first graders" party. This is for the kids who live in our district/housing community only.  All kids who are in elementary school, who live here (same housing community) and pay yearly fees/dues are allowed (it's only 600 yen a year per kiddo, so not so much really). This was the day us 3 head mom's would be doing our dance routine, to Dead or Alive's "Something in My House" 

All ichinensei mom's are allowed to come and observe. Other grade mom's... usually don't come. However the 6th grade mom's are all asked to come and help, just as a "support member"/helper.. for us kids club mom's. The woman in the brown sweatshirt pictured here, but not facing the camera. She is lovely, she lives about 50 seconds from my house, she moved here last July, July 2013. She has a girl and boy twin Noah's age and a 6th grade daughter, her husband lives elsewhere because of his job, they're doing "tanshinfunin" She is very shy....as in like, very very shy. As in, last years "town undokai" she didn't sit in her district section she went and sat alone by herself on a bench away from everyone else. And she's not mean, she's actually super nice. So, I went and sat next to her last year at the town undokai just for a minute....and brought her, her obento's that our housing community passed out for free. I could just feel, that she probably didn't want to go in the crowd to get her lunch boxes, so I worried and so instead.... I ran her 3 obento over to her. I told her after I sat down for a minute, where we were seated and if she felt like coming to sit, with Noboru and I.... there was a spot where we were. She smiled and said thank you but she didn't come, I knew she wouldn't... but at least the offer was there. She sat alone the whole town undokai. So, yeah I know she is shy, and that's okay, everybody is different. And as a fellow human and the whole.... treat people like you'd want to be treated....I do try to keep my eye on her. I did wonder if she'd show up the day of the kodomokai/kids club" that we had this April....so when I saw her in the hall...walking very slowly to this room, I smiled and told her in Japanese..."welcome, so glad you could come, thank you for coming"...I also told my fellow VP, "she's my neighbor, she is shy so, let's welcome her"...My fellow vp, went over and  gave her the warmest welcome. : )  We both didn't drive her nuts... but we both let her feel wanted and welcome. The other mom's sat and chatted among their cliques or sub group of friends, you know what I mean. I won't use her name this new shy mom, so I'll just call her the "twins mom" from now on..anyway "the twin's mom" and I...I asked her the day of the kids club event, pictured here in Japanese, "do you want to help me and hold the other side of this rope?" I know she feels most comfortable with me. She said yes...so we both held opposite ends of a long rope with snacks pinned to it... so the kids could pull a snack down with their teeth. She enjoyed working that game with me. This pic below, I asked her if she could "rock paper scissor" the kids who were carrying a ball on a ladle/big spoon (same as the egg race, just cleaner : ). So she was doing that in the pic below. 

I had picked a lane with Noah and her daughter twin (not the 6th grade daughter) in the same lane, that way the twins mom felt most comfortable and I worked the same lane but on the opposite side of the room. And that's the jinbei boy's sister in the pink sweatshirt pictured here about to run to the twins mom. On a side note...you know how some kids get along and some don't? Well last November when we had the Christmas party for the kids club, 2 of Noah's classmates apparently don't like each other....how do we know? Because they beat and kicked each other to a pulp during the Christmas party! That's how we know. @.@ So this time around...we made sure those 2 kids were in separate rows/lanes...yeah it is a little hard to watch the kids, know which kid always fights with another kid and then... to keep such kids in different lanes/rows. Boy twin and Naoki can NOT be in the same lane at all!!!! Make sure all the mom's are okay, is any mom feeling left out/not getting talked enough to...I'll run and go chat for a minute... make sure the new first graders are okay. Make sure the music is not too loud or too quiet. @.@ Yep, seriously. Are we on schedule...such and such game should stop at 10:25am for example, yet it ended at 10:19am holy goodness... stretch it out a little longer... if we got through it too quickly, just many many things to think about and make sure they are all done. 

Go Noah go! And because I am so cool with her, twin mom is so lovely to Noah and Branden. : ) 

This new ichinensei pictured here passing the ball to Noah is so adorable! She thinks Noah is just the coolest! They met THAT day and she calls him in Japanese...Noah ni-chan...which means "older brother Noah!" Hahaha. And she has since started school and she apparently has a brown backpack too/randoseru. Not like Noah's... but it's sorta the same color, anyway apparently she was so happy...she said Noah ni-chan we have the same color randoseru!!! @.@  : ) This I find so cute! : )

She even bends down to rock paper scissor Noah. : )  I tell ya...you're cool with people, they'll be cool with you too. It's a good way to live, I think.: ) 

A bit blurry, but Noah having a wonderful time! 

The prez and my fellow VP in the picture in the background, but not technically pictured, for their privacy. Yep, we 3 wore black t shirts for our dance that morning! Ha! : ) And Branden and the prez's son, they're technically not supposed to be there since they graduated, but since we 3 are the heads, it's okay. : ) We said they were "helpers" and technically yes they were. ; ) The co-Vp is wearing a Guns and Rose's T because she likes rock. : ) These ladies are so nice!

All of the 6th graders from our housing community... are there 7...I think I count 7. Announce your name, and anything else you'd like to say. : )  The "boy next door's" little brother was speaking in this pic, in the Puma shirt.

We went grade by grade. Here are the new 3rd graders. I see you Noah! And Naoki was the one with the microphone, the boy twin was right behind Noah in the striped shirt. 

Noah saying his stuff! 3rd person from the left of Noah is Lily-chan, she is such a cutie. : ) She is a good friend of Noah's. 

And the new first graders! Lily-chan's 1 and only sibling was holding the microphone, yep she's a new ichinensei this year! She was so nervous and ran right back to her mom afterwards. Yep, Lily-chan's mom saw me dance on the stage, holy goodness. : ) Two of these new first graders are on my street/block/han. So, I made sure to run presents to them in between the picture taking. They received 2 new notebooks for school and 2 new pencils and an eraser. : ) 

Noah's treats from that day, I also brought a treat bag for a child on my street who couldn't make it, so I had to make sure that was delivered, and I did. And I was given a small gift bag, pictured at the front but I gave it to Branden, since he did go and help. : ) 

The one and only picture of the handover meeting for our housing community leaders. Last year was our household/Noboru did 99% of it. He was the VP for that. He did a wonderful job...it was exhausting.. it was tiring...many many weekends he'd have to go to a few meetings. It did take time away from our family time, but it just couldn't be helped at all. But he did it and this last picture was the day they were relieved from their duties and the news ones are now handling it all. Also for what it's worth... this is the same exact room, where we kids club mom's have our meetings at too. This building is right next to the tennis courts. This is where I spent an hour last Saturday night. And 2 hours last month on a Saturday night too. : ( Hahaha. : )

Noboru did come home with some flowers, as a thank you and we thought that was pretty nice. Now if we can just get me through this year as VP for the kids club, we'll be all set! : )