Thanksgiving 2017...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. As for us, it was extremely nice. I was thankful that it happened to be a day off in Japan this year, for the kids. So that means I didn't have to send the boys to school in the morning and swing around and do after school pick ups during Thanksgiving, like I usually do every year. So that was very nice that my kids were off school. That means we could truly just be here at the house and spend Thanksgiving as a family. The one slight bummer thing... was that Noboru had to work that day.... he left the house around 1pm. And didn't get home until a little after 10pm. But we knew that ahead of time that he had work. And that was okay. I took this picture Wednesday evening. I made the pie crusts form scratch Wednesday during the day. And when the boys got home from school on Wednesday. We 3 whipped up our 2 pumpkin pies together. Noah cracked the eggs and mixed the things for one pie and Branden did the same for the other pie. As they baked the pies..they made the entire house smell like pumpkin pie. The house smelled amazing. And when they cooled, I popped them in the fridge until Thursday nights dinner. 

The final last thing that was cooked on Thanksgiving day... was the cornbread. Hot buttered cornbread is just the best. 

You can see it was still daylight. A quiet little low-key Thanksgiving dinner, just Branden, Noah and me. We ate around 3:30pm-ish. We had homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. We had stuffing. Cranberry sauce. Black olives. A big salad. The turkey. A very close to 16 pounder this year. We bought a smaller turkey this year since it was just us this year. Hot sliced up buttered cornbread. Green beans. 

Gobble gobble...

One of our two pies. The other was in the fridge.

My Thanksgiving plate this year. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, black olives and cranberry sauce and a slice of hot buttered cornbread. We did go around the table and said what each of us was thankful for this year. A tradition that we do every year. And we enjoyed good food. And afterwards the boys helped me clean up the kitchen. Thank goodness for paper plates and paper cups. ; ) Just made things tons easier. And thank goodness for dishwashers too. After dinner clean up. We all enjoyed some pumpkin pie. After 10 pm...when Noboru got home...he had a slice of pumpkin pie. I also sent him Thanksgiving pics via Line. And he enjoyed a turkey sandwich Friday afternoon with all the sides. : ) 

One of my turkey sandwiches. Everyone has their own way of making their leftover turkey sandwich. And this was how I made mine Friday afternoon. One slice with Miracle Whip. One slice of bakery bread with mustard for a bit of a bite. Crisp lettuce, salt and peppered tomato slices. And some good Italian provolone cheese. 

Some turkey breast, lightly salt and peppered. 

A little spoonful of Olive Garden's Italian dressing over the meat. 

A very small handful of Lay's chips.

Friday, I  made and then packed up Noah a nice big turkey sandwich in his lunch box for school. And for Branden, he took a nice big turkey sandwich. A slice of cornbread. And a slice of pumpkin pie, since kids in high school can take desserts. We will be having Thanksgiving dinner tonight/Saturday. I will make some more stuffing tonight. Another thing of gravy and I'll bake some more cornbread tonight too after the movies. Saturday/tonight will be our last night of Thanksgiving dinner. We may have a last final turkey sandwich on Sunday. But I think we'll be turkey'ed out by Sunday afternoon. I will be making something different for dinner Sunday night.

Anyway...anything new to add? Yep, today the kids and I are going to the movies. I went and bought the movie tickets yesterday already. We're going to see The new Justice League today at 12 noon. Noboru worked a night shift last night, so he's getting some much needed sleep today. My blog has been a little quiet...because I'm just enjoying my regular life. With my kids. With my husband. Just enjoying life. : ) Anyways...I better go jump in the shower right now. So we can get ready for the movies today. And we 4 will be going to see the new Star Wars in 2 weeks when it comes out. We're so excited for that. : ) Anyways, I better go jump in the shower, have a great weekend everyone. : )

Getting ready for Thanksgiving...

So far, I have only been to Costco this month (November) twice. This particular cart pic was taken on November 6th. I bought a huge pack of lean 100% ground beef because I made fully loaded nachos that night. I also made, homemade cheeseburger night at home and I also made a huge pot of chili beans and skillet fried up some lean ground beef and whoever wanted their chili beans with beef could add it. Everyone but me, had their big bowls of chili with ground beef and beans and sour cream and toppings. I had mine with everything except the beef. The salsa and tortilla chips were also for the nachos too. And the cinnamon rolls were for a couple mornings worth of quick weekday breakfasts with huge glass of milk for the kids and coffee for us adults. The peanut butter is because cookie season is upon us. : )

Okay fellow Americans...it seems  Costco has us covered as always. Thanks Costco. Costco Inzai has a huge amount of turkeys for sale. And I am sure that is the same for all the other locations throughout Japan too.  I made sure to buy my bird on...November 17th. And he has been defrosting in the fridge since this Sunday afternoon. And I flip him over daily so he can slowly defrost on both sides. Gobble gobble gobble. I can hardly wait until this coming Thursday. And as luck would have it. It seems it's a holiday in Japan??? Because both my kids do not have school this Thursday...which is Thanksgiving for us Americans. So...this is so awesome to be able to have my kids home on Thanksgiving. Super excited about that!

And my final pic of this post is a cart pic from last Friday. November 17th. What's in my cart? A 15.8 pound turkey. I usually go for a 20 pounder but since my dad will be on vacation for Thanksgiving this year. I went for a tad smaller bird. Another pack of ground beef. I made spaghetti and meatballs. Tacos. And cheeseburgers. The big hunk of orange cheese Colby/Jack is because they had no shredded Mexican style cheese at my Costco and so I bought this...and just shredded it myself for taco night. The sliced Tillamook is for turkey sandwiches. The black olives is for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And the huge box of potatoes are for mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. The dinner rolls. I freeze them in freezer bags. Some went for garlic bread with the spaghetti and meatballs we had. Some will be dinner rolls for Thanksgiving, although I am also making cornbread for Thanksgiving too. The pasta sauce 3 pack. Only 1 was used for spaghetti and meatball night. That's it really.

Anything else to add? Plain regular salt Lay chips in the yellow bag is now available at Costco again like they used to sell them years ago. However...I forgot to buy them while at Costco last week. But no worries I bought them at the store in the small town near me which sells them for super cheap. I bought 2 bags of Lay's for the leftover turkey sandwiches. I will be baking 2 pumpkin pies on Wednesday from scratch and also running to the bakery to buy 2 loaves of bread for sandwiches, some lettuce and tomatoes also for the leftover sandwiches too. And I am sure I'll go back on Friday too and buy 3 loaves. Loaves in Japan are small...just 6-8 slices. So...it's not like 24 slices a loaf or anything. : )

Weather... how's the weather? It hasn't snowed in my town yet. But every morning when I drive Branden to the train station... the weather has been between 34F and 36F degrees. Every single morning at 6:20am. I have had actual frost on my windshield the past 2 mornings. It is hella freaking cold at that time. The sun starts shining after 7am-ish. But at 6:20am...total gray skies and freaking hella cold. Anyways...if I don't get the chance to say it...since today is already Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving...

Friday, November 11th, Noboru and I had planned to go to our nearest Costco in Chiba New Town and pick up our turkey for Thanksgiving. So that's what we did. So this is the November 11th cart pic. What else is in there. 2 packs of chicken breast to throw in our freezer. We buy our pork and beef and shrimp at Japan Meat at Joyful Honda also in Inzai/Chiba New Town. A case of waffles we tossed in our freezer, also tossed the 22-23 pound turkey in the freezer too. Umm, what else. That fresh pasta on top of the waffles. A case of eggs. Pasta sauce, we were having baked chicken parmesan. The sliced provolone is for the many turkey sandwiches we will be eating after Thanksgiving. I like provolone on my turkey sandwiches, so does BrannyMcB. a case of Swiss Miss hot cocoa for the kids for Fall and Winter time. I grew up with Swiss Miss too. And my kids are growing up with it too. And if you see that 2 pack of whipped cream in front of the case of waffles. 1 whipped cream is for the kids hot cocoa, but the other can of whipped cream belongs to our 2 pumpkin pies that I will be baking from scratch for Thanksgiving. A 3kg box of potatoes from Hokkaido, they're so cheap at Costco. And a rotisserie for that night. For a quick supper. : ) 

Hello you...Butterball! : ) Hahaha. He is currently like I said defrosting in my fridge now. But when I get ready for Thanksgiving...I get ready! : ) 

Land O Lakes Whipped cream. How many of us Americans in Japan grew up with Land O Lakes, in the states growing up? I know, I did. We used their butter too, when I was growing up! Hahaha. : ) But seriously...if you live in Japan and you're American and you haven't been to Costco here yet. Seriously you might want to go. It's so worth it to go. There is so much from back "home" there. I love it there! And I'm really happy I have one, not too far away. It just makes living here...in a foreign country... so super comfortable. I really like living in Japan. There are so many wonderful things about it. And with Costco around...I don't feel like...I'm missing out on anything from back "home" either! : )  

Another cart pic. This one was from last week. Let me go check the date stamp. November 18th. And yes we went through an entire box of potatoes from the week before. : ) Plus this box of potatoes is for Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. 2 packs of chicken and you don't even want to know how much chicken is in my freezer. Good thing I have a large freezer. Noah likes Colby Jack sliced cheese for his turkey sammy. : ) And so I make sure to buy it for him before Thanksgiving. So, Noah has the orange side of the Tillamook cheese slices and Noboru likes the Monterrey Jack on his sandwich so it works. And Bran loves provolone for his turkey sandwiches and so do I. So...I think turkey sandwich wise...I have everyone covered! Regarding the cheese. LOL. : ) And yes that is 4 packs of bacon you see. You see...the day we went to buy our turkey, I wanted 1 pack of bacon for Noboru and the kids, I like to make them a very big breakfast on the weekends. Costco the week before was out completely. So as we were rolling the cart out of Costco. Noboru went to Customer service and asked them. Where is the bacon that was here 2 weeks ago. And they told us. They sold out of it COMPLETELY! And had ordered only 36 packs and it would take a week to get here. So we went home and were like...for the whole areas surrounding Inzai...in that part of Chiba there is only 36 packs of bacon? Like truly? Only 36? The city of Inzai is huge! Surely they will sell out of those 36 packs immediately. No wonder they sold out before! So we went back to Costco the next week and there were the 3 small boxes of bacon with them inside. Noboru told me...buy 4 packs! I was like what? @_@ He's like...seriously. If they run out...at least you'll have 4 packs to tide us all over with until they get some more. I have all 4 packs in my freezer. I'm squirreling it away until I get a decent little amount in the freezer. : ) It's this Jones brand of bacon pictured here. They also sell sausage patties for us in Japan too at Costco. And like Canadian Bacon slices in bulk...the kind you could make a homemade egg muffin sandwich at home.All these Jones bacon, sausage patties and the Canadian bacon we get at Costco is from America. It is an American company from Wisconsin. : ) I'm so glad they're selling these products in Costco for us in Japan. : ) Oh and another case of eggs. We go through a lot of eggs in Fall and Winter. 

With a trunk filled with some bacon and misc other things. We stopped at Starbucks. A Starbucks with drive thru is right next to Costco in Inzai. We each got a hot drink for the drive back to our tiny town. I picked up yet another gingerbread latte. And Noboru picked up another hot caramel machiatto. There's like what...5 or 6 different designs of the Starbucks Christmas cups. We got a different style this day from the night we in Narita City. It's fun to see which cup we'll get each time. : ) 

Anyway, guess who is here? Yep, my dad is here! : ) He arrived at 9am-ish this morning. The boys will be very excited to see him as soon as they get out of school.

Earthquake this morning. Japan had another big earthquake this morning. Complete with Tsunami warning. It was in Fukushima. So quite far away from where we live. However we still felt it at 6am this morning, even in my tiny country town. It was super mild here... since my town/area is not near anywhere near that prefecture or city of where it hit. I do hope, everyone in Fukushima is safe. There are so many good people in Fukushima and I always worry. So, I hope you all, are okay over there.: )  

This Wednesday is a holiday for us in Japan. So, the kids do not have school tomorrow! They get a day off school. We're all feeling pretty happy about that. 

Didn't the East Coast in the US get hit with a bunch of snow? Please stay safe and stay warm over there! The weather forecast said our area of Japan might or could possibly get some snow on Thursday/Thanksgiving. @_@ But that was a few days ago, Noboru mentioned that. And we all know how weather changes daily. So...will it snow here this Thursday or not? I honestly...don't know. I sort of doubt it. I always doubt it, don't I? Hahaha. : ) But we'll see. Has sure been dropping quite low though...temperature wise at night. So, we will see. The day time is still sunny, cold but sunny. Like a crisp chilly Fall day. Anyway, I'd like to spend the afternoon with my dad and talk and chat and gab for a while! : ) Have an awesome Tuesday everyone. : )

Bits and pieces...

A pic of the boys that I snapped during one of our evening walks. We walk our housing community 5 nights a week, Bran, Noah and I. We do 2 laps. 2 laps gets you about 5,500 steps. And I will usually walk it once in the morning with Noboru too, 5 days a week unless it rains. Noboru likes to get his blood a moving and his lungs a pumping. : ) I feel the same, I look forward to our morning walks as soon as the kids go to school. Plus I will do my treadmill for 30-45 minutes about 4 times a week though I do aim for 5 times a week. I get between 10,000 steps to 13,500 steps a day. Which is great. And it means I will feel no guilt once Thanksgiving gets here! The boys love going for an after dinner walk, they really look forward to it. And my pedometer, I use a free ap on my cell. : )

Japanese menu on the left, English menu on the right. Being an American. A westerner. An obvious foreigner, you know what I mean, I hope. I do get menus in English given to me... as soon as I walk into a place. : ) I do not mind. I actually take it very positively. I think how considerate Japanese people and establishments are to make menus for us in English. : ) So, I never take it badly at all. The four of us just finished shopping in Narita City. We went to GU and to Uniqlo. Peacoat for Branden. At our Japanese elementary school you can wear regular clothes and wear any winter coat you like. Now at our local Japanese JHS, you may only wear a peacoat or duffle coat. And it must be navy, black or gray. And be plain. Or it is not allowed. @_@ Same as their JHS shoes must be plain white with not 1 dot of color. Yes their JHS shoes look like ugly all white nurse shoes (sorry nurses, and to be fair I know now days you guys wear cute Crocs styles and stuff too and cute clogs too). @_@ But again...rules are rules. And so...we went to get Bran a navy blue peacoat. Some gloves. And then we went to dinner afterwards. We went to Coco Ichi Curry. When we parked our car. And were exiting the vehicle, I could see the wait staff standing watching us about to enter. She saw my face and pulled 2 different menus. She gave our family of 4, 2 English menus and 2 Japanese menus. I think she was just covering her bases. : ) She was very nice and very kind. We sat down. She passed me the English menu right away. : ) I spoke to the waitress in Japanese the entire time. But, I did use the English menu, because there is no reason not to. She gave it to me to be kind. : ) So, I did use it. And fwiw, our closest Coco Curry in the city nearest us, "know us"...so they always just give me a Japanese menu after living around this area for 10 years. Hahaha. It's just in Narita City, I am not often in Narita City, maybe 2-3 times a month at most. And if i do it's just to run to Uniqlo and back home or to an Eiken interview and back home or to Pizza Hut and back home, ykwim. Or to the mall and back home. So, I don't often eat in Narita City. So they didn't know me at that particular Coco Curry place.: )

We 4 shared 2 salads, they're big enough to share between 2 people. They have such excellent salad dressings at Coco Curry! We each had curry. : ) I had the vegetable curry. The kids had a chicken cutlet curry each and Noboru had a seafood curry. 

We went to charge my car at the Aeon mall in Narita after eating our curry. We had been driving all over that day. But no worries, it only takes 10 minutes and it gave us just a bit of time to run into Starbucks and get something. Noboru got a hot caramel machiatto. Branden and I each picked a hot gingerbread latte. And Noah picked a hot chocolate. : ) After our Starbucks run. Which the electric car charger is right in front of Starbucks btw. So super convenient for us. We drove home with our Starbucks. : ) I look forward to their Winter holiday theme cups every year. 

This is a neck warmer for Branden. And that super soft fleece material.

In plain navy. See the color says navy. B's school uniform is navy anyways, so this matches super well.

Uniqlo makes the coolest/smartest materials. They make super warm things in winter to keep you warm. They have Heat teach stuff. And this right here is wind proof. They also have clothes that keep you cooler in summer. : )

Block Tech. Keeps Bran warm. : )

New school shoes for Bran had to happen. In pure white. 

Adidas JHS shoes. And yes...the blinding white shoes...even blind us! : )

The day we went to curry. This is what we brought back. 

Gloves. In navy. Soft fleece gloves.

Japan technology. I swear the Japanese have the best technology when it comes to fabric or clothes. And there is anti slip finger tips on these gloves, which make Branden riding his bike easier. He doesn't ride every day. Because some days are rainy etc. But on the days he rides. These come in handy. He uses these even on days, he gets a ride because he still has to walk from the Plaza. In our town. Kids may not be dropped off at the actual JHS. Why? I don't know, it's just their rule. They may only be dropped off at the plaza and walk the 1 minute to the school. And same for the elementary. You may *not* drive up to the actual school. @_@ You may drop off your kid at the Plaza only. Again...I don't mind. My kids don't mind. But...both kids do have a 1-2 minutes walk from the plaza to their school. : )

Looking online, both Uniqlo and GU sells a peacoat. However, we went to Uniqlo first and we could not find it anywhere! We wanted the Uniqlo peacoat. We asked the lady...after walking around the mens department like 3 times looking for it. She told us, it's available online, but not at this store. @_@ Why...do they do that? Weird! So we went to GU and they had it in the actual store! Yes, smart store! Even though they are owned by the same company, GU and Uniqlo. So...we bought it at GU. I mean...we wanted to buy it that day. And we also wanted Branden to try it on and see if it fit...in person!!! GU had it. It fit with room to grow (but not baggy and weird either though). And so...this was best! And it's in navy if you can see it is in navy on this tag. And it was only 4,990 yen. So like US $48!!! That's a bargain! And they had all sorts of different styles in the mens department for 4,990 yen and the sizes run all the way up to a mens XL. Really cute ones. So...if anyone is looking for a cute coat. Either for themselves, their kid or husband. Maybe give GU a look. Oh and fwiw, the peacoat from Uniqlo was double the price, 9,990 yen online. : ) 

Bran has been wearing this navy blue peacoat from GU, his Uniqlo gloves and neck warmer from Uniqlo ever since. So....keeping the teenager warm over here. : ) 

And of course can't forget my little one either! And fwiw, I always check online first! So, I can see what's available. And then check in store. I liked this coat for Noah, in navy in size 160cm. His green coat from Uniqlo last year was a 150cm size one. His clothes this year are 150cm but his coat is 160cm. Because the bulk of long sleeves and sweatshirts underneath their coat means I always buy my kids a slightly bigger coat, to accommodate a long sleeve top and sweatshirt underneath (all the layers basically) I also always try to pick a coat with a hood. I picked this coat exactly with the hood. They also sell one with no hood. But, I prefer the hood. Better to have the hood and not use it ever day...then need one... on an especially cold day and not have it. I went to my nearest Uniqlo which is in Narita City. And I only saw up to 150cm. Like even the sizes up to picture...in store only went up to 150cm. Yet...I saw that morning they had up to 160 online. So, I asked the lady at the Narita store. Hi...there is no size 160 in store yet it's online. Are you guys just out of the coats in that size? Or? She knew immediately what I was talking about. She shook her head and said...yeah in our store we only carry up to size 150cm. The 160cm is for online only. @_@ So you need to buy it online. I smiled and thanked her and left (not her fault). This was a different day then the peacoat day. Noah's coat day was when I ran there in the day while the kids were in school. The only thing about this was that...in America...if you go to Old Navy online for example...if it is a limited color not available in the stores...or limited item not carried in stores it says in black and white. ONLINE ONLY. I just wish they would have put that on their site. Because if I would have seen that..it wasn't available in store... I would have ordered it online and saved myself the drive. In the past 30 days I have been to Uniqlo 3 times! Hahaha. : ) 

So just a FYI..or if you need the info. If you have an 11 year old child and need a 160cm size. Don't waste your time looking in the store. Just order it online. : ) Hope this helps someone. : ) 

I buy these coats every year. I love them because there is a spot to write your child's name on the inside of the coat, this coat also has hidden big pockets inside the coat too. I wrote Noah's name really pretty in cursive. And he really likes how it looks this year on the inside of his coat. And this way...if someone in your class has the same exact coat. You can check the name area and it will be written on there. : ) I used to buy their coats from Gap and Old Navy and they were very thick. Super fluffy and stuffed. My kids didn't like those. They said they made their randoseru feel very tight and uncomfortable with their big fat coats and yes I did obviously make their randoseru on a bigger longer notch too, but it didn't help, they just hated that stuffed feeling with their randoseru. These Uniqlo ones are famous for being thin, but being just as warm...thanks to their materials. Heat teach Wind teach. Ultra Down. All that stuff. So they are just as warm...just without all the bulk. So I have been buying their coats at Uniqlo since Bran was a 3rd grader and all Noah's elementary years. : ) 

The kids coats are only 2,990 yen. So under US $30! Again a super bargain. The adult coats are like 5,990 yen so near US$ 60. So...I am glad I could get Noah a kids size, one last year/time. The price difference is fantastic if you can get the kids 160cm size. : )  Noah is now a toasty warm boy in his new navy Uniqlo winter coat for winter 2016/2017! : )

The day we went and saw Bridget Jones's Baby. We went into Old Navy to look around. Sadly Old Navy will leave Japan in December. We picked this long sleeve top up for Noah. Anyways...so yes still slowly getting the kids Fall and Winter ready clothes-wise. We're nearly done though. : ) Next topic. Moving along...

All 5th grade parents had their final recycle day on November 12th. Our meet up time was at 8:30am. Saturday morning. You can see the trees changing colors. Here I am walking along the pedestrian path from my house to the park. 

We all met there. Our housing community picked up for our housing community. And basically...wherever you live...you pick up the recycling there. We broke into teams. The 2 senpai mom's (me and big & little K's mom, she has 2 sons named K, one Bran's age and one Noah's age) So me and K's mom and Noah and little K were in 1 team. And the rest of the cars split in groups of 2 and 3 per car. Right before we were about to drive off came the youngest mom of the group. She was 16 when she gave birth to her son. Noah's classmate. She was late getting to the meet up spot. I really dig this mom! I have always been so nice to this mom. I noticed when I was kodomokai yakuin (kids club vice president) that one year some of the mom's snubbed her. Not any of my fellow yakuin...they are all nice... but the helper mom's did the snubbing. When they were passing out drinks during the summer dashi pull all kids and all mom's were given a drink but her and I could tell by her face she felt left out and she was just going to have no drink. But...I could feel her feeling and it bothered me so much, I felt so bad and I don't like when folks try to show someone..."hey you are not a part of our group"...type of bullying....freezing someone out or giving them an ignore job... that ain't cool. That's mean, rotten mean! And yes you should treat folks how you'd want to be treated or how you'd want your kids to be treated. And that is just plain old wrong. I hate when folks are like that. So I grabbed a cup...since I was yakuin... filled her a cup of Calpis with ice and filled it as high as I could fill it and I walked it right over to her!!! Her whole face lit right up! She bowed and told me thank you so much! I told her..."my pleasure, please enjoy, it is very hot today!" And well she has always liked me... ever since. : ) Anyway... That was a couple years ago. : ) So anyway back to the recycling day, she came running to me and K's mom. "Sorry I'm late." She said in Japanese. I said..."no worries..we are still here": ) Little K's mom said get in my car. I said, in Japanese... "yeah get in!" : ) So she was all happy! We 3 mom's chit chatted our brains out the entire time. Meanwhile little K and Noah ran all over our area we had to collect trash and they piled it into K's mom's car. We of course got out and packed it in. It was gross sorta. Yucky beer cans. With ooze leaking out. @_@ Crusty old newspapers that looked so weathered. Clothes were not so bad to pack in there. Lots of cardboard. Like tons of cardboard! We 3 mom's and our 2 sons. It was a fun crazy morning for us! Then we were about to go to the school to drop it all off. But K's mom turned to the other mom and said. There's no room for you in my car when the kids get in. I felt so bad, this took me by surprise. : ( I felt the guilt. I felt it hard. But she was so cool. She was like...no problem. I can just go home. I trying to think of some comforting words said "that's right, you're lucky, I can trade you places... if you want" and we all laughed. And I smiled and waved her a good bye. And then our 2 sons got in the car. FWIW, our sons didn't get in the car the whole time they literally ran through the neighborhood area collecting trash, they were so hot and sweating by this time. : ) Good loyal kids. And fwiw, I would not have minded going home instead of the super young mom. But, I think because we're the senpai mom's and this is our last time doing this for the school... the teachers needed to see us there. Or I don't know why. But either way would have been fine with me, or it could have been...me and K's mom have known each other since Bran and Big K were ichinensei and so she feels more comfortable going with me? We have put our tents right next to each other for about 9 years every undokai...so we do have a connection and both our husbands are in the Father's Club together. I really don't know. And again...nobody minded or fretted about it. I did feel bad. But then again... I am a worry wart and worry about people too much. Are they okay? Are their feelings hurt? You know...that sort of stuff. But she was fine and we went on our way. : )  Also...this recycle thing...is town wide!!! So we saw so many white flat bed farmer trucks...with mom's in the back sitting in the flatbeds...wearing aprons, mom's also driving. 5th grade mom's all over our town. Loading up trash. So many of us all about that day. You could see recycled stuff laid out all along the streets of our town all over. Little K and Noah were in the back seat together like...hey there's A's mom! And waving. And Little K's mom and I waved at the other mom's as we drove and sat in the front seat together to the school. Once we got there. I jumped out. I unloaded first the cardboard. The teachers met us and helped us unload it. Then we went to the next area and next area. We unloaded. And there were so many mom's at the actual school waiting to help us unload. I saw my good friend there and chatted. And then we were done. Little K's mom drove Noah and I home. And we otsukaresama-ed each other. And I went into the house. I had Noah jump in the shower right away! After he soaped up, showered. And dried off. I went in when he was out and soaped up shampooed up and put on an old comfy (my fave) pair of yoga pants and a tee shirt and sweatshirt. : ) Now I am officially done. No more recycling for me. 

When does my dad get here? Tomorrow! I can barely wait! By this time tomorrow, he'll already be here. And the boys are so excited! They have already told their class and teachers that their American grandpa is coming for Thanksgiving! : ) The turkey is already in the fridge defrosting. 22-23 pounds! He's huge! : ) 

Gobble Gobble Gobble, Thanksgiving 2015!!!

Thanksgiving 2015! Probably my most favorite holiday of the whole year. I love Thanksgiving, because it's not about presents or this or that. It's just about family and being thankful. It's a very family orientated holiday. A day centered around family and good food and good times! Who wouldn't love and look forward to a holiday like that! Hahaha. : ) Noboru was home by 2:30pm that day. The boys were off from school, Noah at 3pm and Bran by 3:30pm. So we had dinner ready and were eating around 4pm. Time management is my strong point. And I like to eat usually every night, as soon as everyone comes home and Thanksgiving was no exception. Hello Pilgrim boy and girl and turkey decoration nearest the Pilgrim boy. : )

This side of the table we had hot buttered dinner rolls, gravy, mashed potatoes, a delicious fresh mixed salad, a huge 24 pound turkey (11 point something kg, for you non Americans : )

Stuffing, cranberries, black olives are a must at Thanksgiving. Just very traditional American foods seen on a Thanksgiving table. We also had the American traditional pumpkin pies. We had 2 of them that I, freshly baked from scratch, with flaky butter crust and the whole shebang.

Everyone getting served some turkey first and then we passed our plates around, since stuffing was near my dad, he would fill it up for you and since mashed potatoes were on my side, I'd fill you up. Just tell me when I put enough on your plate though. : ) Noah filled every one's salads. Etc, we all had something near our side of the table. 

Both of the boys had told me, they were thinking deeply...all day long... while at school what to mention/pick when it was their turn to announce to the rest of us...what they were thankful for this year. That is an American tradition. You have to go around the table and say...what you are thankful for. 

This year, Branden said he was thankful his big tests were taken on Wednesday, the day before. And now he could rest and enjoy December and relax a bit during Christmas break. I thought Mr. Dimples had a very good...reason to be thankful. We all listened and shook our heads in agreement and chimed in a bit about that. Next went Noboru. Followed by my dad and then Noah and it ended with me. I love this tradition and it's something both Branden and Noah look forward to every year. After that, we said grace. And started dinner! Time to eat! Feast and enjoy!

My Thanksgiving 2015 plate...and you will never guess what I did this year! I forgot to make green beans! I had them and everything! @_@ Hahaha. Didn't even realize it until later that night. Oh well...I am human...it happens to the best of us. On my plate was, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing, black olives, cranberries, a fresh salad and a hot dinner roll (just throw the Costco dinner rolls into the toaster oven until warm and slightly golden on top and butter the tops!)

We ate and ate and talk and laughed. We are a pretty lively bunch!

Yep the placemat is right...that is the sound a turkey makes...gobble gobble gobble. : ) We all finished our supper with some homemade pumpkin pie with whip cream. The kids had theirs with a hot cocoa with a massive amount of whipped cream on top, us adults had ours with coffee. 

I will share 3 different pics of 3 different turkey sandwiches this year! Miracle Whip on 1 side and mustard on the other... for a bit of a bite. Lettuce, provolone and tomatoes with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Turkey with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Everything must have flavor on our sandwiches. 

First turkey sandwich 2015 with some Lay's potato chips.

Branden going for pumpkin pie slice #2 of night. He's about to OD on some "Cool HWhip!" If you watch Family Guy, I am sure you caught the Stewie reference and are laughing. If not...nevermind! And lol, it's not even Cool Whip it's a ginormous can of whipped cream from Costco! : )

Turkey sandwich from Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Mustard on one side and Miracle Whip on the other side. Same insides as the last pic, but this time, I double cheese-d this sandwich. 

Provolone on the bottom and swiss on top!  The boys also took amazeballs sandwiches to school on Friday too! And sides. 

Saturdays turkey sandwich! Our last dinner and eating of the turkey finished Monday. By that time we were totally... turkey-ed out, by then. But on Saturday, We were still going strong! This time...I was thinking about...that fantastic turkey sandwich we all had while in Hawaii this summer, from Safeway and they had little packets of something they called "sub sauce" or something like that. But it was basically just Italian dressing, if you ask me. But, for whatever reason I remembered that on Saturday and I said...omg! I have some fantastic Italian dressing in the fridge right now. Let's use that! And so, I made a regular sandwich. Then I grabbed a small bowl and poured about a tsp, of this dressing in the bowl and then I just spooned it over my meat! 

Oh dear lord! This dressing on top of my meat! And just a tad of this for flavor! This was so good, I swear angels were singing! That's how good this sandwich was! 

This is not an overly sour dressing it's very balanced and the cheese in here is what makes this... the bomb. Like the bottle says...Where Others Skimp We Splurge! It's totally the best dressing ever. 

And yes, I did double cheese that sandwich. provolone and swiss. OMG! This sandwich was so good, my 2 boys saw mine and went right into the kitchen and made their own exactly like mine, that Saturday. Needless to say Thanksgiving was a wonderful day spent with good food and family. And all the leftovers! The one fantastic thing about Thanksgiving is....we don't have to cook for the entire weekend after that! Hahaha. : )  Anyway, that was how we spent Thanksgiving 2015 this year!

What's up right now? Well, we did decide when we are going to the movies to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As you know it opens worldwide, December 18th. This is probably the most anticipated movie of the decade at least! Anyway...we will go and see this movie...not on opening day. We figure it will be insanely crowded. The boys last day of school is December 22nd. And so we will be going to the movies on December 22nd, Tuesday. The boys get out of school more then likely by 11am or 12 noon. But we'll wait for Noboru to get out from work and go to the movie in the evening. Our nearest movie theater will be showing this movie, so we will be going to our nearest movie theater. However though...you know they make the world's worst popcorn. And world's most expensive popcorn. So, I will be popping salt and butter popcorn here at home. We will also be sneaking in candy or chocolate to the movie as well. But we will buy a caramel popcorn for the boys and drinks for us all... at the movies. That way we're not totally avoiding the concession stand there. LOL. Wish they had better prices or at least decent regular popcorn, but oh well. So, the date is set. We'll probably go and get our tickets and seats soon. I'm glad we're purposely delaying seeing it by a few days. That way, it will hopefully be way less crowded. Plus we'll be seeing it in English, so hopefully that cuts down on the crowd too.

Christmas presents have been arriving in the mail. I have them all hidden in my closet in my bedroom. Until I get the chance to wrap them up. How exciting.

Today's plan? Dinner tonight will be ginger pork, veggies, salad and rice. And today's plan, we will be baking peanut butter cookies from scratch. This coming week it will be Christmas cookies, but for now...peanut butter cookies. Have a lovely weekend! : )