Bits and pieces...

This morning around 9am, I got a phone call from Noah's teacher directly and also an automated email from the school sent to all grades, but it was just regarding the 6th graders, there's only 1 class of 6th graders. Noah's class has been closed from this morning... until further notice because 10 kids are out sick... half with the flu and half of the 10 with the norovirus. @_@ Double yikes!!! Noah is as healthy as a horse. Well skinny thin teeny tiny horse would better describe Noah. Perhaps as healthy as a pony? Ha! So Noah is fine. Last Friday... the one and only 5th grade class closed. This Tuesday, the 4th grade class closed in the morning and an email later in the afternoon said the 2nd grade class was closing as well. As of yesterday only 8 kids in Noah's class were down for the count/meaning sick. And today 2 more called in with either the flu or the norovirus. And since 10 were now sick, they decided it was best for the 6th graders to be sent home in case more kids were infected. So the healthy were sent home. The sick are already home. And that's that. Who is still standing grade-wise at our local elementary school? The 1 and only class of 1st graders and the 1 and only class of 3rd graders are still standing. And school is still running, but now... only for the 1st grade and the 3rd grade. All other grades and classes are closed. Noah has no school today or tomorrow that has already been decided. And not sure about Friday. I imagine Friday will be closed too. They usually will close a class for a 5 day school week...type week. So that's that. They did give the kids a boat load of homework. Tons of math and Japanese. Noah had page 13-18 in his math workbook (like 50 questions each page) and 4 kanji pages. I told Noah to pick a subject? He loves math, so said math. And I said work until 12 noon. And so he just completed page 13 all the way to finishing page 17. Tomorrow all he has to do is 1 page of math and 4 short pages of kanji. Noah's now resting on the couch. Watching TV. I'm not a total slave driver. I do want him to enjoy some relax time too. And because he worked fast. He now has the rest of the day to just chill, he's been chilling since 12 noon. So Noah...no school for today and tomorrow. And quite possibly Friday too. As for Bran. He's healthy and fine. But 8 of his classmates are also out with the flu. @_@ So...not sure if Branden's class will remain open or what. Hmmm. Oh this pic I snapped today. The email said to just pick up your child. Noah told his sensei. "I hope my mom reads the school email" Of course I would, but he's a worry wart afterall. : ) Being rural Japan and everyone knowing everybody else. The sensei asked Noah..."would you like me to call your mom, just in case?" Noah said, "oh yes please." I had a funny feeling it was Noah's school. Knowing yesterday how 8 were already out sick. I answered right away and he said,  "hi can you come down at the front of the school. All kids will be waiting for their parents to pick them up." I said, absolutely and I'm on my way! Not sure how I managed to drive to the school first. I quickly got there. I looked like complete crap, I might add. To be fair today is big house cleaning day for me. I just swooshed toilets with bleach before the call. I didn't comb my hair. Sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I was planning to jump in the shower as soon as I finished cleaning my house. So yep...totally taken off guard? Yes. Completely caught by surprise? Yep. I did wash my face this morning. And I did brush my teeth obviously. So it wasn't completely a disaster. But gee whiz. I waited for Noah to hop in my car. Always...the second he sees me... he gets this great big smile on his face and I get one too. As he jumped in my back seat. He said..."you're always the first mom to get here" I said...really? I did not know that. Not intentional at all. Anyways... 

Going on husband and wife dates. We have always gone on one every single week as you all know. One day our kids will be grown up and gone. And it'll be just us. We have never lost...the love of us being a couple. He's still my very best friend in the entire universe. And man...can we talk for days!!! This day...we had ramen. 

I baked a cinnamon crumb cake.

January 31st? Is when I took this pic. Pasta sauce. Tortillas. 2 hunks of cheese and a rotisserie chicken that I turned into taquitos. And Noboru went to a different check out lane and bought me my favorite chocolates for Valentine's Day. They have been in the pantry ever since.

Underwear for B.

5 pair. 2 pair reminded me kinda sorta of a bandana type design and the others are just stripey. I liked the lavender stripe with navy pair most. It's easier for me to buy Bran underwear in the weekday in the daytime. Versus us all get in the car on a weekend and let him pick his own. That would be a waste of a restful weekend. And since I am in the city anyways...in Inzai shopping for food. I can zip to Uniqlo. I zipped in the store picked the underwear and was back in my car in about 10 minutes. 

Aha, making use of that rotisserie chicken. Taquito night with sour cream lettuce and cheese. And a side of rice and beans. All homemade of course. 

Every time I see something new when I am out and about shopping, I will buy it for my kids. Within reason of course. Like a Peach Coke. Or these Mentos. Choco caramel Mentos. The kids loved these. 

My breakfasts and lunches really don't change at all. For breakfast I will eat the same exact thing. Of course unless the kids are here or it's a weekend. But for breakfast Monday through Friday I will typically have yogurt, 1 banana and 1 slice of toast. For lunch I will have either a sandwich (egg salad, ham, grilled cheese, ykwim) and maybe some celery sticks with peanut butter as my side. Or I'll have a salad. I love to add half a container of the crunky chicken from Mini Stop. My husband will usually have the other half of the container of the crunky chicken. It's a filling salad and I won't eat until dinner.  

I baked my family peanut butter cookies.

Yum. My kids loves homemade peanut butter cookies.

Branden and Noah and I played, Sorry! Sorry, as you can see it always comes with an exclamation mark. Anyway, we played 2 rounds of this. I lost both times...OMG! Hahaha. : )

It was a good hour spent with my kiddos on a Saturday. 

Friday night, ice cream run! I love the seasonal flavors of ice cream they sell at Mini Stop. Right now they're selling...green apple soft serve ice cream. Or a cup/sundae called...apple pie. I had planned to take the kids to get an ice cream after supper and dishes clean up. And so after everything was done. I told the kids, hop in mom's car and let's go and get that delicious looking apple pie sundae thing. : ) 

Noboru was at work so he couldn't have one unfortunately. However we loved these! The flavor was delicious. Like a cinnamon apple pie filling on top and some cookie that reminded us of pie crust. This was pretty good. I just...always want the kids to enjoy the little simple things like this. Like a little seasonal ice cream. Or you know what I mean. I want us to have fun though. 

Another weekly lunch date with my husband. We went and had curry at Coco Ichiban Curry House.

And last week we went to Komeda Coffee. If you buy a coffee you get a free half slice of toast with egg salad on the side. Their coffee is delicious and their hot butter toast was insanely good. I think our total was 900 yen or so for both of our coffees. Quite pricey. And we weren't full at all. We enjoyed our time there... but decided next time we'll go and have a regular lunch. 

This is a pretty big bag of cookies.

These cookies half dipped in chocolate. These are a household favorite of course. My kids absolutely love these. This bag was so cheap last week at Costco. I bought it for the family. 

Rice also at Costco. Sorry I forgot to take a cart pic. Carts pics are so much easier than taking a pic one by one. 

Also bought the family a variety pack of chips at Costco too. Again sorry no cart pic...in 1 fell swoop. This 1 by 1 each item way... drives me nuts. Sorry about that.

I bought a rotisserie chicken last week too. But this time we just had simple sandwiches. And potato salad on the side.

From Fukushima! I needed some flat lettuce (sanchu) last weekend because we were having a backyard BBQ. First BBQ for 2018. 

The farmers in Fukushima could really use our help and support. It's important to note that the banned areas, are not selling vegetables obviously so, please remember that. There are so many areas and parts of Fukushima that didn't get affected. That was largely farming areas. However now... not many will buy the safe veggies from the unaffected areas. These farmers are just trying to make a living...yet folks aren't buying their produce from them, because they came from Fukushima (the safe areas).  Which is so sad and so unfair. These poor farmers, they just can't catch a break you guys...and I think that sucks. So...because I know...obviously these veggies are not coming from the banned areas. These are coming from safe areas. I'm buying veggies from Fukushima every chance I get. I know just 1 family like mine... may not make a change or a difference. But I'm trying to help. Sincerely, ganbatte Fukushima!!! Be strong, and know my family is cheering for you! : )

I really wanted yakiniku but with chicken breast and veggies wrapped in sanchu (flat lettuce) Bran wanted steaks and the 2 N's....meaning Noboru and Noah wanted pork ribs. : )

We all ate different things at the BBQ. But it was a nice way to spend last Saturday. How was the weather during the BBQ? It was super cold. Brrr.

Anything new to add? I have a hair appointment next week. Next Friday February 23rd. I'm going to be there so long. My butt will be as flat as a pancake by the time I leave. @_@ I need the works.  This means my hair looks like crap, right now. Next week...I'm getting a hair cut, Japanese thermal hair straightening thing and a hair color. I have been going to this 1 amazing lady since Noah was in yochien. Same salon. But she went on maternity leave last year and I noticed when I was booking this appointment that her profile pic is gone on their website. So I assume she's not a hair stylist there anymore? OMG! How sad. Because she was amazing. I dug her personality so much, she made me feel so relaxed. And I felt so pampered and like I had a mini vacation every time I left the salon. But now...I guess I am stuck with the guy who has been filling in for her for the past year. He's more experienced than my fave lady...granted. She was a hair stylist and he's a master hair stylist. Does that matter? Not to me. But... Just food for thought. He's great...don't get me wrong. But he's not her. Does that make sense?  Anyways...I better go for now. 

Family game night...

What have we been doing at our house? Well with Winter happening and snow still on the ground in our town. Yes there's still snow in the rice fields and in yards in my town, 10-11 days later or so, which is so unusual. @_@ We have been staying home and staying warm. We've also been having family game night as usual. We played three rounds of this Jenga-esque type of game last weekend. Sorry the name brand Jenga game is like 2800 yen (US $25!!!) Which is outrageous. And this knock off/"no name" brand one... was like 750 yen or 800 yen, 10 years or so when we bought it. My kids go through periods of when they want to play this a lot and times when they won't touch it at all. But they've been on a Jenga kick since Christmas/winter break and all January too. This pic was taken last weekend and we played 3 rounds of this. We also played 2 rounds of this the other night after homework. 

Also, important to note is sometimes... games change as kids get older too. However we still play Sorry! About once a month still... that's one of our favorite board games. This pic is of my 3 (2 sons and hubby) all playing a game together. But this game is a survival game and Branden and Noah have been playing this game since November 2017. Branden's classmates also got really into this game too. It's a multiplayer game. So a lot of times Branden and a handful of his classmates will have a private game going and they invite Noah to play with them too. Bran is such an amazing older brother. You can hear your teammates talking which is why they are wearing earphones. Then a month ago...Noboru was intrigued and asked the boys "what are you guys playing" they told him the name of the game and he said...I want to play too. So he downloaded it and Noboru has been playing it for a month now. Then Noboru told his 2 closest coworkers about this and they fell in love with this game so much. And now...they have this group and they all know each other and they all play this survival game. They're *really* into it! Noboru can't wait for the kids to get home from school to play with them. And as soon as Bran walks in the door after I bring him home from the train station after school...he tells his dad and Noah..."let's play after dinner" And so as a girl...I don't personally find this game interesting at all. Gomen-gomen. But I am so happy that they have this 1 thing that they're all reall super into. They want to play this. And so that's what my family has been doing. They laugh at the kitchen table and play this. Sometimes they're all over the living room sprawled out and playing this. It's family time. And they're having an absolutely amazing time together. Dad time is so important. Dad's spending time with their kids is very important and same for us mom's too... spending time with our kids, quality time so important. Heck..family time is important period. : )

I enjoyed watching the 20/20 a few weeks ago about Kim Jong Un's childhood. And his siblings childhood. How they were educated overseas. It was very interesting. 

A new game show in America. I am enjoying it a lot. It's called Child Support. Fred Savage is the host. I adored him on the Wonder Years. A contestant has to answer 10 questions and if they don't know the answer, a group of kids can try to help him or her answer it. The show was created by Ricky Gervais and he is the one who interviews the kids and it's so funny to watch him interact with the kids.

You go Fred Savage. He's a really mellow relatable host. 

Ricky asking the kids a question. Hopefully they know the answer.

One of the answers, one of the kids said...was so funny Ricky did this!!!

Child Support is a very funny game show. My kids love this game show and they watch it every time it's on. 

The Good Doctor is such a phenomenal show. I love this show. This pic was taken a week ago. But this week was a good episode too. It was about organ donors. A man had been in the hospital for ages hoping for a transplant. He was an alcoholic and ruined his own liver. And he was finally at the top of the organ donor list. He was weeks away from dying. And The Good Doctor (Dr. Murphy) and his coworker went to retrieve the organ from another hospital. Anyway it took the entire show for them to get back to their hospital. The guy on the top of the donor list had tested positive for alcohol in his system and they ran the test twice and asked him. Did you drink? And he finally admitted he had 1 glass of champagne because his daughter graduated law school. Yada yada yada. And he wanted to feel "normal" and so it was debated should they still give him the organ? Doctors debated it in private. They argued. One said...rules are rules. And someone said don't tell them he had a drink. And in the end... they did not give him the organ at all. With 30 minutes to spare...to get the liver into someone... they sent the liver to a 3rd hospital to the 2nd person on the top of the organ donor list. And the guy at the Good Doctors hospital was moved to the bottom of the transplant list. 

Last week, I picked up these things from Costco. Frozen pizzas to toss in the oven for a weekend lunch for the kids. Breakfast pastries. Cheese was for pizza and chips for the killer nachos I made last week, they were delicious. And a weeks worth of meat from Joyful Honda meat store. And veggies and regular food from Besia. 

I did buy my final makeup remover. I will not be buying anymore. I am now trying them all out and testing them and deciding which one I like the most. I also bought a Kanebo powder puff for my Becca powder. 

This is what it looks like. I like that it's in a  tube (travel friendly). I like the way it smells. It's light and clean. A scent of somewhere between soap and very light pinch of lemons. It smells clean. Anyway now for some current updates.....

Today is Thursday. Sorry no TBT for today. I went out to lunch this Monday with my 2 girl friends. We had an awesome lunch and whole afternoon chat session at Coco's restaurant. Lunch was delicious and the drink bar is amazing. I love their hot cocoa and so that was nice. Also we, my 2 friends and I are also going to the movies tomorrow morning/Friday. We are going to see, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In Japan it's just called Three Billboards. However...snow is expected in the area where we live...the snow is expected either tonight or tomorrow. And we have agreed if it snows...we will cancel our movie date. But if it doesn't snow, we will meet up at 9:10 am tomorrow.  Because of the upcoming snow. I went and did my weekly shopping yesterday. Went to Costco. Joyful Honda and Besia. Yet again. But it was necessary because if it does snow...you certainly don't want a house with no food in it. I want to make sure I have a house fully stocked with food. That way...if the snow hits us and hits us hard. We will have a good 6 days worth of food. So phew. Taken care of. I bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco yesterday and so I am making taquitos for supper tonight. Taquitos and refried beans and spanish rice. The beans I boiled and finished this morning. After Noah gets home I will refry the beans. And make the rice. The taquitos are easy to roll. I will roll them... but won't skillet fry them until Bran gets home tonight. Noboru is home from work today, so he will be happy about taquito night tonight. : ) Tomorrow night for supper we're having curry nabe because with me being out at the movies...maybe depending on the snow, I need an easy to make dinner. Anyway that's enough for now, just wanted to touch bases with everyone real quick. : ) 

Noah's 5th grade class trip to the Nissan factory and Bandai museum in Tochigi prefecture. More homemade cookies from scratch. And a Jenga night...

Noah had a class field trip to a totally different prefecture. To Tochigi prefecture. Utsunomiya, Tochigi. It was a 2 hour limousine bus ride there and 2 hours back. That's pretty far away, for a field trip. : ) But the 5th graders were looking forward to it. They went to the Nissan factory. And yes that picture on the booklet is Olive's sister! Hahaha. : ) It is a Nissan Leaf, same car, as my car, except my car is black! Noah said the Nissan tour guide asked...does anyone own a Nissan Leaf? Noah's entire class including his sensei know what I drive, so they all looked at Noah. And a blushing Noah raised his hand and said, "yes my mom has one!" And the sensei and class chimed in and said, "yes she does!" And yes, I do, and heck...even ya'll can confirm that one! : ) Hahaha. Anyway Noah said the Nissan factory tour was very nice. And then they went to the Bandai Museum. They had lunch at the Bandai museum, somewhere inside the building. : ) I made sure to pack Noah a very nice and big lunch that day. 

This is what our kitchen/dining table looked like last Friday. I baked yet another batch of homemade chocolate chip with walnut cookies. And of course in Japan all Fall and Winter long we eat mikan. These ones are so sweet. And we have gone through 2 more bags of mikan since this picture was taken. : )

Noboru, Branden and Noah all read my blog. And after seeing the TBT last week, they all mentioned Friday at breakfast, "let's play Jenga tonight!" I said, "I'm down!" And everyone else was down too! So after a filling supper. Some chocolate chip cookies and showers last Friday, we whipped out the Jenga game and got down to business! We played 3 rounds! Noboru smiling! Branden taking a turn!

Noah smiling and Noboru flat out laughing! So...who won? Noah knocked them all down the first and 3rd time. Noboru knocked them down the 2nd round. And Branden and I managed to somehow...not lose this time. However....we were just lucky. : ) It was a whole lot of fun! What else did we do last weekend? We watched the DVD Home Alone! : )

This coming Friday as you know, we have Star Wars Rogue One... that we're going to watch. I already have the movie snacks. And our "family home weekend movie" will be Elf on Saturday night! : )  Japan's been super cold! So stay toasty warm everyone! And stay safe.

What's for dinner tonight? Well...Noboru is taking the boys to the barber as we speak. And I have had karaage marinating all day, since 12 noon. So it is so gingery and marinated, I am sure. We will be having, karaage tonight, with broccoli, macaroni salad and a side of rice. The boys will be taking the same thing inside their packed school lunch tomorrow along with a mikan each. And tomorrow night we will be having curry nabe, yum, I bought all the ingredients today. And on Friday, we will be having family cheeseburger night at home with fries. I figure a little fun meal before we go and watch Rogue One! And Saturday night will be...homemade pizza night when we have family movie night! And Sunday night will be Chili concarne (Wendy's type of chili, you know what I mean? Like a Texas style of chili beans) We will be having sour cream and shredded cheese and I have that bag of Fritos that my dad kindly brought us, so I am thinking it will be more along the lines of ...chili beans on top of Fritos. It's a dish in New Mexico. And we had that at school lunch in Denver too. I will have a side of lean ground beef...so if you want to add some ground beef fine and if not fine too. : )  So anyways...that's some of the meals we will be having for supper the next couple nights. Anyway...I am about to go and turn the TV on and see what's on. Noboru already knows to message me as soon as they leave the barber so I can start frying up the chicken before they even get home. : ) Have a good night everyone! : ) 

Spring break fun! Family backyard BBQ, Family game night (Monopoly) and more...

Did everyone have a nice Spring break? For us in Japan, it's technically the end of the school year break. : )  Either way is fine with me.... but since it's technically Spring here anyways. I'll just call it Spring break. : ) This post is going to be the perfect spot, to jot down in 1 spot everything we did during our Spring break 2016 this year. : ) These first few pics you have seen before, so no...fear not...you are not losing your mind. Yes you have seen the first few pics before. : ) These are some things we did over the spring break from school. : ) The 4 of us flew to Guam. It was a quick but very fun trip. We got to even go to a movie while there. We also got to watch some movies on the airplane. What did I see? Memory.... don't fail me now!!! : ) I saw Paper Towns, Paranormal Activity Ghost Dimension. And Trainwreck (loved this), the kids enjoyed the Good Dinosaur and other movies too. 

We ate some good things. We enjoyed the nice weather. 

It was so nice to be able to get away as a family for a few days. And wonderful to see my dad too. We definitely came back feeling refreshed and recharged.

What else did we do over our Spring break? We celebrated Easter!

Colored eggs...ate lots of jelly beans and chocolate...

Had a lovely simple Easter meal as a family...

We enjoyed homemade taquito night... covered/smothered in sour cream lettuce and cheese. OMG, are these so good!

Every morning during spring break, minus when we were in Guam. I woke up and while everyone slept, I jumped on my treadmill and walked on my treadmill for 30 minutes every morning! Fast paced walked. I walk as you know 5 days a week... year round anyways. 60% of the time, I do at home and 40% I will do outside in my town and neighborhood. But like in rainy season, I am glad to have a treadmill and I can switch and do 100% of my walking in the comfort of my own home. So depending on the weather,...then it depends on if I am walking outside of my home or inside of my home. I'm flexible either way. I also love that during spring, summer and winter breaks I can get my walks outta the way early... while everyone sleeps. That just sort of rocks and scratches...DAILY EXERCISE right off my list for the day. However..while it is doable for me... during school breaks. It's not possible for me...during when school is in session/during the school week. But that's just me personally...because given, I make breakfast and obento during the school week. And I already wake up at 5:20am as it is and time wise...I am cutting things quite close, some days and other days I am ahead of schedule...and that varies...how much time I have to spare from day to day...meaning is the lunch easy that day or is it more time consuming that day...or did I wake up on time or did I hit the snooze...just so many variables. Depending...how with it...I am on a particular day. So when schools in session/during the school week... for me personally. I get my walks in...while my laundry is washing in the laundry room upstairs and after the boys have already been driven to school. That just works best for me. Because my house between 5:20am and 7am, I am like a busy twirling tornado of busy-ness. I can't possibly fit anything else in that time frame. I just can't. However...after the boys are at school and while my laundry is washing up...I have 38 minutes exactly, until it beeps, the amount my laundry takes to run through the regular wash cycle. That is for me...my best time to get my walk in. However...during spring breaks...when I have no crazy busy morning tornado thing happening. I can just wake up..in the quiet of the house...strap on my music and hit the treadmill hard.  

Everyone in our house is big time... loving these choco banana ice cream cups. These are 88 yen at Cainz/Besia. And such a great price. 

Pic from making dinner one night during spring break. I was making an Indian dish. I use a sauce, I buy from Cainz/Besia and it's really good. I will try and post a pic of the bottle next time. I skillet fry some chicken breast. Like 2-3 minutes on each side and flip. 

I made this in quick little batches and let any few dots of oil drip down because I really want this to be as healthy... as can be but *without* sacrificing the flavor. Sacrificing good flavor, just not something I am willing to do.

A very very light dusting of flour. 

This dish is so good and I like how the bright green broccoli just pops in this dish, colorwise. My family really likes this dish a lot. And the flavor is totally on point.

What else did we do during our spring break? We had our first family backyard BBQ of 2016! Branden likes to start the fire/grill now. Since last year, he's liked lighting it up. Noboru is always back there with them. But Bran loves getting the BBQ grill all nicely set up. And because he does, little brother now does too. : ) The bright side is, it is a good skill for the boys to know how to do. : ) Their future wives will be totally appreciative of all the good useful things they can do. Like change a flat tire or switching summer to winter tires. Start the BBQ grill. Good useful skills to know. : ) 

Noah taking a little soccer break. Noboru meanwhile telling Bran, "always remember to never put your meat down when the fire looks like this." Always wait for it do die down some and the coals get really hot and then he pointed out what the charcoal SHOULD look like...when it is time to start laying the meat down. And now Bran knows. : ) 

Tong in one hand and a soccer ball at Noah's foot. 

You guys are doing such a fantastic job! 

Noboru does all the actual grilling outside. We had 3 types of meat. I had chicken breast, the boys had rosu (red lean) beef. Noboru had a different cut of meat, his personal fave. It was just a nice simple family backyard BBQ. Smiles from Bran as he talked with his brother.

We baked a yellow cake together, the kids and I.

Yellow cake and chocolate frosting.

What else did we do during Spring break? We played Monopoly! OMG, you guys! This was such a hard fought battle! Noboru sadly couldn't join us, he had work. But the kids and I played for what...6-7 straight hours! We played this, the day we baked the cake, we played this from afternoon to near 9:45pm at night.

Noah smiled so much during this game! Enjoying the family board game night!

I hate to say it. But, I won! And I won big! By the time we were done, the kids were so bankrupt, you guys. They fought a good match! They tried their best! I felt so bad! But it's just a game. Usually one of the kids wins. But, on this day/evening, I won, go figure. 

But the fun we had playing this game! Such fun! Such good quality time spent with my boys!

Gee, even Noboru returned and we were still playing. He changed into his comfy clothes and used his tablet while watching us. 

Because April means a new school year for us in Japan. I made sure Branden got a new pair of school shoes for JHS. Our school rules want... pure white without any dot of color at all. Different schools have different rules. 

Japanese size 28cm. American size men's 10. My 14 year old is a growing boy!

Noah meanwhile always gets new wash rags from me every April and every school break. I make sure to buy the ones with the area/spot... where you can write your name. Not all rags have that area. I always make sure ours... have the name label area. 

Not all hats have a name label already on the hat. Most do, but not all do. I make sure our hats always have that name label area. 

Noah's new school items. New inside shoes, cleaning rags and hat. Branden got new inside shoes in late February 2016. So he recently got a new pair. : )

Kids in elementary school must have a handkerchief and a small pack of tissues on them daily, while at school. So, Noah has hankies already, but I liked this one when I saw it and added this one to his collection. A very popular character in Japan. 

Noah's things...

Noah's 5th grade Japanese (kokugo) textbook.

Noah's 5th grade math (sansu) textbook. 

Noah's 5th grade social studies (shakai) and science (rika)

Appreciating and learning what farmers do. They do a lot! : ) 

Learning what the fisherman do.

The beautiful and gorgeous Japanese countryside.

These textbooks are so cool. So informative. Which parts of Japan does the rice come from. All of the kids in Noah's class know that our town grows lots of rice. In fact, our area is listed on this map as a "rice growing" area. Maybe they can read this and have a lively discussion about this in class.

A very nice picture of a rice farmer. Just tons and tons of respect for what they do!

Gosh, Noah is going to learn so many cool new things this year! This map I also LOVED seeing! A whole map of Japan and where does such and such vegetable come from, fruit, peaches, grapes, apples carrots, cattle, pigs, fish. Again...just a super informative map! The 5th graders this year are going to have such fun in social studies class! 

Typhoons! Weather! Noah will be learning so many new things in science class this year!

The life span of a morning glory.

Noah's class already had the birds and the bees talk in class in the 4th grade. However after looking over his science textbook, I see they will delve a little more. Here we have, human mothers.

And here is an elephant mama. : ) Cool, again Noah will be enjoying this 5th grade quite a bit, I am sure. Just so many cool things to learn.

When I saw this page, I instantly remembered when Branden's class did this! Bran's class walked to a nearby rice field since we live in the Japanese countryside and they each collected some water with their teacher. The week before, everyone in the class brought home a note... we each knew our child had to bring a cleaned 2 liter bottle of tea. Rectangular in shape of a bottle. So it doesn't roll. They collected the water sample. And brought it back to the school and checked the water and looked under a microscope of all the little organisms and things you can't see with the naked eye. But wow...I remember clearly Branden loved that in science class. He came home telling us... how many things were moving under the microscope. How many things were alive in the water. Then the week after Bran's teacher took the kids to a slow moving stream and with the same used 2 liter bottles they collected some small fish. And again they checked the water under a microscope. So yeah...seeing this in Noah's textbook. Makes me...sort of know...what's coming up. : ) 

So anyways as I was flipping through Noah's science book. I saw this page. Super smart robots. And a very cool 100% electric car/ EV car. And I knew right away, that's a Nissan Leaf! That's like Olive's sister, in the picture! I told the kids that and they laughed! Noah said, he can't wait until they hit this chapter. Because his classmates can learn how cool his family's car is. : ) I thought that was cute that he thought that. : ) 

All of Noah's new school textbooks.

Noah's Home EC (kateika) textbook.

The kids at our elementary school have been sewing and cooking for years, you all know that already. But this year... it's official and Noah will get to order a sewing kit and the whole kit and caboodle basically. : ) He's very excited about it! Because when Branden was in the 5th grade, he really liked Bran's sewing kit a lot. Branden had a lot of choices to pick from and he picked a really cool surf design. So, Noah hopes to get a cool sewing kit too. 

A picture inside of the Home EC book.

Kids learn so many useful things at school here in Japan! : )

The back of the Home Economics textbook. I love that the kids will be learning the correct/right/proper way to hold a knife and the right ways to cut different veggies.

I also put name stickers on every single one of Noah's new textbooks, I did that to Branden's too. I did white out our last name. But you get the idea. : ) Anyway, that's what we did during our spring break 2016. : )  And some of the prep we did before both Branden and Noah started a new school year. : ) Like putting name stickers on new textbooks, etc. : )