Happy New Year 2018!!!

If you are a real life friend or family member then you will have received one of these from us in your mailbox this morning. If not, and you only know us from this blog and you enjoy reading about me and my family and have enjoyed watching my kids grow up and and all our experiences throughout the year, then this is for you! Happy New Year from our family to yours! I made and ordered these cards in November, they are from our trip to Denver, Colorado this past summer. I hope you all have a very happy healthy amazing 2018!!! Year of the dog, woof woof! : )

Finished with our New Year's oosoji! Our New Year's cards have already been sent. Our gallon of peanut butter cup icecream is already in the freezer. And we're ready to ring in the New Year...

How has everyone been enjoying their Christmas break? As for us here, we have been enjoying ourselves. We did have a few days of hard and very thorough cleaning. But we're 100% done with our cleaning and are now just ready to ring in a new year!!! These pics were taken December 26th. We cleaned and scrubbed the entire first floor of our house. We spent 2 full hours in the kitchen. 4 people can totally knock out 1 kitchen in 2 full hours. This pic is when the boys were scrubbing the walls really hard with those Kirkland/Costco wipes. Getting any fingers smudges or whatnot off. These wipes also.... besides working super well, they smell so nice! They scrubbed and wiped all the walls down in the kitchen and they also wiped down the baseboards too. Notice the kids listening to their own music this year. : )

Not sure if you can see all the soap sprayed onto the tiles. Noboru scrubbed and cleaned our stove area super hardcore. He did such an excellent job!

I bleached the counter tops and the sink and the dishwasher. I also had music going for Noboru and I. Sia Chandelier is a current favorite of mine right now. As is Bruno Mars, Versace on the Floor. And Ariana Grande's "Best Mistake", those 3 are my current top ones, that I have been listening to and playing this week.  

Those wipes have a scrubby side and a smooth side. Noah going one by one... on every part of the built-in dish cabinet.

Branden doing the same with the food pantry door. 

After a good bleaching I then scrubbed the kitchen sink too.

I windex-ed the window/sliding patio doors.

I scrubbed by hand... the utensil ceramic bowl that holds most of our bigger utensils. Like spatulas, whisks, potato masher, etc.

Noboru scrubbed our big GE oven. I cleaned out the fridge.

Branden went over the job that his brother did. Only because...Noah missed a few spots. : ) 

Noah swept but then he ended up bringing the vacuum down from the hall closet and he vacuumed.

And all done. The kitchen 100% done. 2 full hours of 4 people working super hard. Feeling was pretty great afterwards. Feeling like...wow we accomplished so much! However we still had the living room and the genkan/entry way and the downstairs toilet to do. 

I love that place above my window that holds some decorative plants. 

The kids wiped down the walls in the genkan and Noah vacuumed in there too. Meanwhile, Noboru was vacuuming the ceiling fans in the living room and I was meanwhile dusting the coffee table in this picture. I just brought my phone and speakers in here and we jammed in the living room as we cleaned.

TV stand. We kicked butt! We worked hella hard, all 4 of us! 

We broke for lunch, we all had honey baked ham sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomato, the works... with some Lay's potato chips. And for supper we had ham and gratin potatoes and just...exactly what we had for supper for Christmas. But the lunch sandwiches were so nice! After lunch, I scrubbed the downstairs toilet. And then we all called it a day. We spent about....4 and a half hours cleaning, December 26th. And we were pretty much done. However Bran did have to study for his high school entrance exam that day too. The test in in January. But he just studied 2 hours December 26th (usually it's 5 hours on weekends or non school days). He did not study on Christmas. Of course. : ) But high school in Japan is extremely competitive... so he did get 2 hours in on December 26th. He showered and relaxed all evening and boy did he deserve it. : ) We all rested the entire evening on December 26th. The 27th. Bran and I went to the JHS for a bit. But, after that, Noah cleaned his room super duper and Branden cleaned his. The kids also vacuumed the stairs. And I vacuumed the entire upstairs. And I cleaned my bedroom. I also scrubbed the daylights out of the shower room and laundry room. The 28th, I went to my hair color appointment for about an hour. It was at 9:30am and I was out by 10:30am and I brought the boys plus Noboru home some McD's on the way home. I had a ham sandwich though instead. : ) We finished up basically any last minute cleaning on the 28th. And oh....the Christmas tree we took down the 26th. 

December 29th, we took the day off. Since our cleaning was pretty much done. And we drove to the big city. We went to Ikspiari. For some Kua'Aina for lunch. And also Noboru bought me a beautiful winter bag. : ) It came from Sony Plaza. 

It was originally 8,300 yen. Around $80 US and see the 5,800 yen on the right? It was on 30% sale because the New Year holidays things.... are always on sale in Japan. And so we got it for like US$55. Which is a fantastic deal. : ) 

I like that it's rubber on the bottom. So if you place your bag on the ground it won't get all disgusting. It can be easily wiped down. 

It looks like a fuzzy wuzzy scarf! Hahaha. But it's a bag. And this picture is making it looks small but it's huge. It is good sized. It is like 1 pinch smaller than the black Old Navy one I have been using for the past year. So it is indeed quite big. And as a mom who tends to carry everything in the world in my bag. I like that it's big. 

And it's nicely lined so your things won't get all fuzzy inside. I really like this bag a lot. : ) And I like it even more so... getting it on sale. : ) 

Considering all the study (Branden) and heavy cleaning we all did. We also brought back a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts back home.  Also, Noah is done with his Christmas homework packet. He got that finished in 2 days. His study habits are as excellent as his brothers!!! : )

The kids did eat one along the way though. : ) 

We stopped at Costco in Inzai on the way home from Ikspiari. We picked up dinner for that night. 1 mega sized pepperoni pizza and one mega sized cheese pizza. The kids ate the pepperoni. Noboru turned his cheese pizza slices whatever how many he ate...he put  (Christmas) ham and jalapeno on his, he loved his pizza so much. : ) I had just plain cheese. : ) 

We only went and picked up these few items. New Year's eve.... we always have chicken parmesan with that fresh pasta. And for January 1st dinner... we will be having a taco party, we usually always do that at our house. Beef and chicken tacos. : ) We have the taco shells already and the sour cream, so we are all ready! Plus you know... we have a gallon of peanut butter with peanut butter cup ice-cream here at home in the freezer... that we turned into peanut butter ice-cream already, so we're ready. That way...we can enjoy tonight and tomorrow and for however long it lasts. : ) 

And yes, we did mail off our New Year's cards. First week of December, we all sat down and wrote them out. : )  I hope you all have a lovely New Year! : )

Happy New Year 2016!!! The Year of the Monkey...

Happy New Years everyone! Good bye 2015 Year of the Sheep, hello there...Year of the Monkey!!! We sent out some very happy...very mellow in color... soft yellow ones this year! The pics obviously came from our summer vacation, this past July in Hawaii. Hopefully everyone can sorta get a general idea from the little picture collage we sent out.  I did white out our last name and address, just in case any of you are Terminators sent from Skynet, from either the past or present and are hunting for us. Okay...I'm kidding...I'm kidding. : ) 

Happy New Year's dear family, dear friends and dear and lovely readers. I hope all of you have the best most wonderful year, this year. I sincerely hope you all stay happy, healthy and wise.

PS, Happy New Year Andria, thank you for getting in touch with me! You made my day! Have an awesome year this year and right on about Korean beauty products! Yay. : )  

Throwback Thursday. New Year's cards we've sent to family and good friends from the past couple years...

Today is the last throwback Thursday for 2015! Everybody ready to ring in the new year? : ) I know we sure are! Anyway, in the United States, we usually send Christmas cards. Ever since I was very little, I remember my family sending out a ton of Christmas cards every year and us receiving a stack of them every single year too. Here in Japan, it's all about the New Years cards! I usually share a picture of our newest New Years card on my blog every January 1st. To wish you all a very Happy New Year with the card! And I will do the same tomorrow, with our newest card! So while I can't share our newest 2016 card just yet...not until tomorrow, because I want all who will receive them in the mail...who also read my blog... to be surprised by the new one. But, I can share our New Year's cards from years past! This was the New year's card which we sent out for the year 2013! I really love to make our New Year's cards every year. I have made them at a few different online companies for years. I now have a favorite company that I have been ordering from for the past 2 years. Before that, I floated between a few companies. They are made by a company who specializes in stuff like this, but they are also made by me...meaning, I hand select each picture that goes into our card. I pick out which picture gets placed where... on our cards. I pick out the wording. So while they are professionally made and look amazing and professionally done, they are also hand selected pictures, placed and set by me. And when I like the card and am sure..then I place my order. I usually order my cards mid to end of November! That way they are in my house by December 1st. The year 2012, was a significant year for Noah, because he started the first grade. And in Japan being a "pika pika ichinensei" is a...rite of passage, and with getting his randoseru (Japanese backpack) and everything... so that picture we knew had to be placed on our family's card for that year, letting everyone of our nearest and dearest know...Noah entered the first grade. I also showed just the boys taking part in some water gun play in our backyard. The boys with Disney popcorn buckets about to go to catch the train with us to go and grab some supper at Kua 'Aina and then head back to Disney. Noah's first time experience trick or treating for real..in Guam USA. And a pic from that same Halloween Guam trip, of the boys at the Hilton on the balcony. And the pic of the boys at the Ala Moana mall holding their coconut ice cream when we took Noah to Hawaii in March for his yochien/kindy graduation trip. So I do try my best... to capture each year...in a round up... picture collage as best as I can. And I think this pretty much wrapped up that year perfectly! : )   So these were the cards we sent out... for 2013!

These were the New Year's cards we sent out for the year 2014! A wonderful 6 picture collage of our summer trip to Hawaii that year. And the bottom 3 pics shared the Fall time...trip, we took when we went back to my home state and visited Denver, Colorado that year! So again, it wrapped up that year really perfectly too. I did blue out...our last name. Again very professionally made, but also still hand selected and made by me. Like they say a picture is worth a thousand words. And I find people really like receiving our cards. And we really like sending them out... to our family and close personal friends. : )

These we sent out last year! Again professionally made yes... but hand selected and each picture chosen by me, sorry I said that 3 times this post...but a true fact and what makes our cards really so cool... is because they have such personality...our cards. Noboru is glad I don't mind handling the New Year's cards. Last year I switched from making them at an American company to a Japanese company online. I switched because when I made them from an American online company, I had to pay international shipping. With these cards pictured here, these I made from the Japanese company and I didn't have to pay international shipping and they ship your cards in about 2-3 days, so you receive them super fast. Also, once I did order them from Australia this was like 5-6 years ago and they were the worst cards ever and I only say that.... because about 5 of our cards were super streaky over my kids faces.. which totally ruined the pictures...blurry pictures. And considering each card is about 150-200 yen per card...to have not been able to use 5-6 of the cards, was outrageous. So I have ordered from 1 American company loved it...never had 1 single runny blurry streaky picture problem... but the shipping to Japan ridiculous. The one from Australia was slightly cheaper then the American shipping... but given about 5-6 postcards were ruined, would never recommend them at all, because their quality was so iffy and sketchy. Their website had a jp at the end. And the Japanese company I am using now and used last year...the cards right in this pic. Cheap domestic shipping, have never had a runny or blurry ruined card and the making of the cards to shipping to my door step... is 2-3 days from order. Also you can buy them with postage already on your card, that's how I prefer and you can even input everyone's address on their site and they'll print them out for you. All easy peasy and done. Saves the headache. : ) And they even come with those lottery numbers on them. And in Japan, Japanese people look forward to winning something with the lucky lottery numbers... stamped on each card. So, I get ours with a postage stamp on there, address on there and lottery numbers on there. In Japan they say if you can't get your cards to the post office by December 25th... they will not make it to be delivered by January 1st. In Japan the mail places save all cards and deliver them in 1 fell swoop on January 1st. So, if you want yours to make it the same day as everyone else's... make sure by Christmas...they get to the post office. Just something to keep in mind for next year. : )  

I usually will have the boy's write a simple hand written message to all of their friends. It's just a common thing to do for these cards. Just something simple, personal and handwritten. Noah will just say something like.."thanks for being such a great friend this year, let's play together this year too" Or Bran will say..."let's study hard this year, just like last year"...just something...simple...1 easy phrase. Nothing like rocket science. To my own personal friends...like my movie friends, I'll usually just say..."hey let's see some new great movies this coming year" or "thanks for being such a great friend, let's go have some lunch real soon" Again...nothing...major. But that personal little... 1 sentence line, is just something usually done here. The kids usually write the same message to all their friends. I write different messages depending who it is. Anyway, have a happy and safe New Year's eve everyone! See you next year/tomorrow! : )  

What's our plan tonight? We will be having baked chicken parmesan on top of a bed of pasta. Some homemade peanut butter and Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream and chips for snacking later on... while enjoying the Twilight Zone marathon on the SyFy channel, it's our tradition here at our house. We are also making some homemade from scratch cinnamon rolls... the dough tonight and we'll bake them for breakfast tomorrow morning. Homemade from scratch pizza January 1st dinner. January 2nd, a big ol' pot of Texas style chili beans. And January 3rd, we will be meeting, like I said in my last post my BIL, SIL, MIL and my 2 nieces and my 1 year old nephew, plus our family of four and we'll be meeting up at a restaurant in Narita, we already have a reservation for that since our party is going to be rather large. Meaning lots of folks. Anyway have a happy New Year and happy holidays everyone! : )