Noah's yochien (kindergarten) class reunion...

The first week of February we received a post card that was sent by Noah's former private Catholic yochien (kindergarten) saying that.... for Noah's specific graduating year/class they were having a reunion. That the former principal and gym teacher and all the teachers that were there... during his years of yochien would be showing up and asking for all kids interested in attending to reply/RSVP. So March 29th, on a Wednesday during Spring break Noah got the chance to return to his former yochien and catch up with everyone. Also important to add. Most of these kids are going to the same elementary school together. Except maybe 4. One boy named R-kun lives on the opposite  side of the small city nearest us (awesome super kind kid). He goes to a totally different elementary school than everyone else. So he hasn't seen anyone since age 6. And one little girl moved to Narita. And then Noah and S are from our town. I knew S would more than likely not show up for the reunion because his mom wasn't in love with the yochien like we were and in fact she sent her younger son to hoikuen in our town. So, I knew for the kids who don't get the chance to see the majority of the kids daily. Such as Noah who attends a rural elementary school... he would love the chance to see his original besties and very good friends. I'd say 3/4 of the class showed up for the reunion. See all the drinks near the window? So many drinks. Teas and sodas. And snacks and cakes. As soon as Noah saw his friends and they saw him, it was if... no time had come between them! His former bestie H-kun...ran right up to Noah and hugged him right away! He said...Noah-kun!!!! Hahaha. : ) And they ran and all the boys got along super well, like always. Just like the old days. : ) 

Cakes and snacks galore...

That's Noah in the gray sweatshirt about to kick that soccer ball! And that's his former best friend in the universe.... H-kun in the black shirt and tan pants right next to Noah on his left! Noah *loves* soccer and is so good at it. It was just wonderful that these boys could get together and have a run on one of the playgrounds like this. This is the small little city nearest us obviously. And the girls were there, they were on the other playground... the main playground with the jungle gym on it. The gym teacher was playing with the boys. And the sensei's were all walking around. Some of the sensei's are married now with toddlers and babies. Our best most favorite sensei Yayoi-sensei is not married yet and she still teaches there. She is an incredibly wonderful teacher and very kind, the current kids are so lucky to have her as their teacher. 

All parents and kids were given some strawberry shortcake. 

Everybody did cheers! And they talked and talked and it was a wonderful day for these kids to get to catch up! I absolutely love that our yochien decided to have a reunion like this! : )

The current principal was also there and she is an amazing lady and we know her very well because she was Branden's most favorite teacher. And she used to ride the yochien bus with Bran and G all the way back to our town everyday for their whole yochien lives. So she asked about Branden. And she was always so super kind to Branden. And it turns out, the high school Branden is going to, her daughter attended that same high school. And then Yayoi-sensei jumped in and she also went there too. And they loved hearing Branden goes there. They went to the regular course, I think. And they do know Bran is in the English course... but they both told us what an absolutely awesome school Branden is going to. And so it was really nice to hear that and have that tie with the current principal and the Yayoi-sensei. And the fact they both love that school so much and have such good memories about that school.  All in all it was a good way to catch up with everyone and them with us too. : )

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! Setsubun...

Yesterday was Setsubun for us in Japan! So a perfect subject for today's TBT! Here are a few pics for this weeks blast from the past! This pic was from February 2008! Our yochien would have the kids all decorate a mask every year. And all of the kids would cast out the oni at school every year too! Here is Branden and the mask he decorated that year! And by the way, I loved that long sleeved shirt that was half green and half gray. Such a neat shirt and BrannyB loved that shirt that year *so* much! That was hands down his favorite shirt from that year. What a great oni mask you made that year Bran! : ) 

Aww and look who we have here! Noah and the oni mask he decorated and colored. And goodness were those colors, all over the place or what?! But that is absolutely fine, totally age appropriate coloring there. He was just a little fella. Hahaha. : ) This pic is from Setsubun, February 2009!

You did such a fantastic job coloring your mask Noah! Love you both to the moon and back! : )

Throwback Thursday and an update...

Good morning! Since this is undokai season (field day/sports day season in Japan) I thought it would be fun to do a Throwback Thursday from 2 undokais of years ago. One from Bran's and one from Noah's.  This is Bran's throwback right here. You can find Branden easily in the yellow gym uniform towards the front of the line. There's only 2 kids with yellow uniforms on, in this particular pic. The original/old uniforms were pure white at our Catholic yochien that our boys went to. However, we moved to our town, when Bran was age 4, not age 3. So when we moved here, that was the first year the uniform had switched to yellow. So the older white uniform was not available for us to purchase when Bran transferred to this yochien. But it was fine, because we love the color yellow anyways. So, it didn't bother us, that only a few had the new yellow uniform. So, that's why a few kids have yellow and most do not. And again we had no choice which gym uniform to buy, only the new yellow one was offered, when we enrolled B. Also, see the first kid in this pic, on the left, with his hands on his hips, all in white? That's Genki. Bran's best friends since age 4. Hahaha. Oh and the year of this was 2007! 

Hi Bran! And all the new 3 year yochien kids at back, had the new uniform too. It's just the older grade kids, did not switch. Considering how expensive the uniforms are, if Bran started here at age 3 and we bought the white uniform, he would have kept wearing that one too. : ) So, I can understand why the older grades were hesitant to replace them. But again, we really didn't have a choice or option which one to buy. : ) 

You are just too precious here Bran!

Branden's undokai obento 2007. Don't even ask how early, I had to wake up to prepare. You'd faint. Hahaha. But, in my defense we had a whole lotta family showing up to support Branny Mc B. I made delicious ham and cheese sandwiches far left. Karaage, roasted sweet potato sliced up. Carrot and cucumber sticks. Flower carrots for pretty. @_@ Yes, I know. : ) Then there was Japanese style meatballs and Japanese style omelet sliced up. I also made yakitori, that I cut and skewered the night before, but skillet fried that morning. Rice balls, plain with just rice for my dad and the kids and I. And regular rice balls for my SIL, BIL and MIL. And of course, I had to throw an American flag toothpick in there too, since this obento was American mama made! Hahaha. : ) 

Japan and America! My American dad and my lovely Japanese mother in law, teaming up together to beat the other team! Hahaha. Grandparent power, at it's finest, right here! Object of the game, throw as many balls into that box as you can before the time is up! : ) 

Noah wanting to share his prize he just won, with everyone. Here, he just fed grandma some of his snack. And she gave Noah the thumbs up and said it was delicious! Then Noah fed grandpa, and shared with the rest of us. : )  Yep, he's never been stingy that's for sure! Noah's always shared to the point, he never had any left for himself. Ya'll know how typical this is of Noah. : )

Noboru's brother, my BIL Jun. He is amazing, such a sweet guy! And my sister in law is so awesome! Jun married the best girl! Because she's so kind, sweet and she's just, very pro family. And she's just the best, I love her!  : )  Gee, did Branden have so much support and family there to cheer him on or what! hahaha. : ) My niece was 1 years old at the time and Noah was 2 years old, they're just 1 year apart. Today, Noah's a 4th grader and my niece is a 3rd grader. : )  

Our original yochien did not give out medals. This was a real first for Branden. They are given out to all kids win or lose. Which I think, that's so important and nice, since they're so little. But, look at Bran's face, he's truly awed about his medal. He thought that medal was the coolest thing ever! Like in the universe. : ) 

After the undokai, we all had a dinner plan. That we'd meet at the Hard Rock Cafe, In Narita City in 1 hour. That gave us all enough time to go home and Branden could change his clothes. However, since it was his first medal ever, Branden wanted to wear it out to dinner. And considering, he was barely 4 years old. We said, okay. : ) And the waitresses were very sweet and they kindly oohed and awed at his medal. I'm sure they had seen it a million times. But considering it was Bran's first medal, it was very appreciated. : ) Lovely wait staff! : ) 

We had a great big long table for all of us. And I appreciated not having to cook dinner, considering how long I had been awake that morning making obento. Hahaha. 

Just exiting the Hard Rock Cafe, in Narita mall. We were all stuffed and happy. Undokai 2007 was done and dusted! And Noah, he was too little for school still. Hahaha. : )  You 2 kids are loved and adored by many! You all have so much family who love and cherish you, exactly as you are! : )

Noah's very first undokai in 2009!

You are such a gorgeous boy! Especially with a strawberry hat on your head! Hahaha. 

Obento for Noah and our family 2009! 

Noah's first medal and first undokai. Noah, you just have the biggest eyes and that face, such a good looking face! A few of you know, he was actually stopped by a modeling agent by the most well known agency when he was little, when we were in Osaka visiting Noboru's family. When my MIL saw the card, she was like wow, they're the real deal agency. Like the top of the top modeling agency, in all of Japan. However we turned them down, not interested, because we just want and wish for Noah, is to be a regular kid. A regular life with normalcy, growing up in the countryside, is the best thing we could ever give to you, a regular childhood. And for that, we have no regrets. But yes, we have always known you had that something special Noah. And it's not just being oyabaka, because believe me.... the top modeling agency in all of the country of Japan wouldn't have stopped us, dead on the street about you (the agent lady was actually chasing after us because she saw Noah's face in the crowd, while we were walking in Umeda), she wouldn't have run after us kid, if you didn't have IT. And kid, you have always had IT. And the funny/charming thing is...you're so shy and kind that you don't even realize you do have IT. Hahaha. Switching the subject now.  And yes, they were ending undokai with a prayer. They went to a private Catholic yochien. And, my family has been Roman Catholic for hundreds of years, for eons, for ages, since the beginning of time, for my family. : ) I was raised Catholic. And went to catholic school myself in the states for many many years.  Noboru and I were also married at a Roman Catholic church in Osaka. : )

You did so well on your very first undokai kiddo. : ) We love you, my little shy one. : )

Update: It has been raining since last week off and on, like crazy. Last week rained so much and so hard. I read the online American news, there was even an article about how much rain Japan has been getting. For it to make news in America, you know the rains here have been pretty bad. The Narita area and many areas around here are on land slide alerts. And certain areas of Japan last week had *very* bad flooding. Like very serious flooding. Like loosing your house type flooding. People are without homes. Most of the flooding and the people without homes, happened in Ibaraki.  I know what you are thinking. Because since last week, I have received a handful of emails from friends here in Japan, asking me, if we are okay! Just melted my heart getting those emails. And yes we are okay! I know a lot of you know/recognize Ibaraki, because I say it all the time, that we live literally teeter tottering the Chiba/Ibaraki border. And yes we do. And yes our particular town has been drenched with rain all last week. After my dad arrived of course. However our specific town, is safe. The flooding happened in another area of Ibaraki. I also wondered if the Old Navy Aeon mall in Ibaraki were safe and yes they are also safe too. So yes, we are all safe and fine here. However, it rained so hard last Thursday and Friday morning. That Branden's undokai that was supposed to take place the following day, last Saturday, September 12th was postponed until the next day September 13th, Sunday. The rains finally stopped for our town around noon last Friday. However the email from the JHS said the grounds were so wet and they needed an extra day to dry out. So that's why Bran's field day was postponed until Sunday, September 13th. However, Branden's 8th grade undokai was wonderful and we all enjoyed it quite a bit. And it hasn't rained in our town since. But it has started raining buckets today and it will be raining according to the forecast all day and night tonight. Rain is also expected throughout tomorrow/Friday. And now we are starting to wonder if Noah's undokai this coming Saturday will be postponed or what. We hope it isn't. We hope Noah's undokai stays on Saturday, as is. But as for right now, we aren't sure. I guess, it just depends how wet the schools grounds are. So we'll see. Noboru requested off work Saturday September 12th and the 19th. When Bran's was postponed to the 13th. Noboru had to go to work. And even though it killed him missing some of Bran's undokai, he took a half EV day (emergency vacation day) and he arrived at Bran's undokai around 11:30am. Noboru just loves the boys so much, so he wanted to take that emergency day off for Bran. So we're sort of hoping Noah's undokai isn't postponed because that would mean Noboru would more than likely miss Noah's undokai completely, we doubt he'd get to take another EV day off. So, right now, we're just really hoping Noah's undokai stays on Saturday. July 19th. Also, my dad is planning to leave sometime this coming Sunday, however if Noah's undokai is postponed to Sunday, then that would mean my dad would have to postpone his flight another day. It would just affect all of us, in small tiny ways. But yes, we really hope Noah's undokai stays September 19th. And considering how badly it's raining outside right now. Eeek. I just don't know, you guys. : (  Anyway, just wanted to update you guys real quick here, underneath the TBT. : )  Branden's postponed undokai this year was a first for us ever! We have never had a postponed sports day for either of our boys. Oh please, please, please don't let Noah's undokai be postponed. Noboru missing it would crush both Noboru and Noah. Go away rain! Scoot skedaddle! : )