Halloween Fun 2016...

Happy Halloween everyone!!! It's November 1st here already. I know you in the mainland US are having your Halloween trick or treating fun right now! But for us, it's already over! And those of you in Japan, I sure hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too of course! We had an awesome Halloween here at our house! And I have a free hour, so now is my chance to catch up with you all real quick. And let ya'll know how we spent Halloween in our neck of the woods, here in our area of rural Japan! : ) These are the Halloween treats that we brought back from Guam a couple weeks back! I will still be posting our Guam trip. As quickly as I can. : ) But for now...this is the Halloween treats pic. The kids and I were lucky enough to be in Guam and therefore got to pick quite a few bags of American Halloween candy....we each picked our faves and we all are sharing and enjoying it. I have held onto these bags and they have remained unopened until yesterday evening. : ) 

Last week, while I was at Costco, for my weekly shop there. I saw a whole bunch of medium sized Halloween pumpkins. These pumpkins came from the United States. The prices were AMAZING. Super affordable American type prices. And I messaged an American friend of mine who lives in another part of Japan. And she was so happy when I mentioned the pumpkins...that she and her kids drove to her Costco the day after to do her monthly shopping and she texted me that her Costco had these too. And she told me she bought 2 of these for cooking! Which is amazeballs. She made something delicious out of hers! So just a friendly helpful heads up anyway! I didn't buy any of these because, they reached my Costco simply way too late. 5 days before Halloween is a bit late and by that time we already had our pumpkin from another store. I hope next year Costco in Japan gets these wonderful pumpkins earlier in the month. 

198 yen for a pretty good sized pumpkin is a great deal! Especially for us Americans in Japan!

Because if they were too small, they wouldn't have been easy to carve...but these are. So you can tell these are more so... medium sized pumpkins. On the bright side...if anyone wants them for cooking and baking. Maybe you can get a whole bunch... half off by now. And bake and freeze a whole bunch of pies? Who knows. : ) Anyway...hope this helps someone. : )

Halloween is starting to catch on here in Japan. It's not even close...to how we celebrate it in America though. In America, we gave out treats to whoever rang our doorbell. As long as they were in a costume and not too big/old. Hahaha. However here. At least for our housing community. 4th grade kids only knock at fellow 4th grade houses and those mom's organize how many treats. And same for us too. Noah's a 5th grader. And all us 5th grade mom's decided whoever lives in our housing community...we would have Halloween Saturday (trick or treating). And all the week beforehand. The kids while at school would pass along messages through our kids from us mom's. Which kids are trick or treating and which kids are not? Noah said he was. So everyone knew to have a treat waiting for Noah-chan at his classmates house and vice versa for us, we knew who to prepare for. Just like, I knew little K wouldn't be trick or treating. But, I knew for example Naoki-kun would be. And a whole bunch others. I had a round about idea. Also another difference is...in Japan, they don't just give out 1 treat per kid, like how we do in the US. To be fair we do that in the US because we give out candy to about 150 kids and so considering cost... it is wiser to give out 1 treat per kid. Not so here. The first couple years...I would hand out 1 candy per kid (American style). Whoever knocked at my door. And meanwhile they would give Noah a goodie bag. I looked sorta like a cheapskate! @_@ Also...when Noah was in the 1st grade. And his classmates started all this trick or treating stuff. Bran's classmates weren't into it. But Noah's classmates were. So anyways...years ago when Noah was a first grader...besides the fact I was only giving out 1 treat per child. I was happily giving out American Halloween candy! However...the kids weren't really too jazzed or crazy about my candy! @_@ "What's this they'd ask?"It was clear they preferred Japanese treats, instead of ours. And that's okay, I guess. @_@ Deep sigh... deep sigh. So...as they say...live and learn. After a year or two of making "mistakes" I now...make goodie bags. And I now just buy my trick or treaters Japanese treats. Which is fine. And we keep the American treats for my kids and myself. Which is more than fine with us. Also this year Noah received less goodie bags and more a handful of the same thing. Which is totally fine. But...again it's done differently here. : ) 

We made 23 of these goodie bags. 

From Noah. : )  Oh Japan! So yes...in Japan, I do it this way. And if I lived in America, I'd do the American way. : ) 

Friday after school, we carved our pumpkin and turned him into a Jack O'Lantern!

Branden decided the design this year!

So cute! Excellent job Bran! So from Friday, our Jack O'Lantern sat on the porch. He was waiting for our trick or treaters on Saturday!

Happy Saturday Noah, I mean Mario! Have fun trick or treating with your friends! And hello Jack the Pumpkin Head! You are looking mighty fine today Jack! : ) Mighty fine! ; ) 

You have lots of fun today, okay?! I love you very very much! And you look adorable and like a sweet little 11 year old! Childhood is so fleeting, so enjoy! : )

The trick or treaters who just left my house! All 5th graders! I see a witch sitting on my grass. I see a pirate and I see Noah's jack o lantern bucket on his bike. Yes the kids go trick or treating by bike. : ) Because our housing community is large and the 5th graders live all over.

Hello Mario, I see you with all your friends! : ) What a fun Saturday for the kids in our area!

Noah brought back, these! Rice crackers a plenty. A few treat goodie bags. Coconut sable cookies. He was quite happy with his haul. And most importantly... he had a blast! So bless their little hearts! : )  I made taquitos that night.  Now...flash forward to Monday, actual Halloween in the pics below. : ) 

Monday morning, I packed 2 lunches. Bran rode his bike with his friends to JHS. And Noah got a ride. I came home. Made the pizza dough immediately like before 8am! I then stripped down 3 beds and ran to the laundry mat. I washed all of Noah's bedding, plus I pulled out his fleece blanket to add to his bedding. I washed all of Bran's bedding too and also washed his Fall/Winter fleece blanket too. I washed all my own bedding and also pulled out my winter fleece blanket and basically took 3 beds worth of bedding to the laundry mat. Washed all those nicely. Picked up some mushrooms along the way home and some vanilla icecream and then went home, put the mushrooms in the fridge for the pizza for later that night. Made 3 beds. Vacuumed the downstairs. Swished 2 toilets. And then I baked a yellow cake and roasted some pumpkin seeds. And then at 12:30pm, I was done with the house. I had lunch and then rested the rest of my day. I got so much done in the morning. Went and picked up Noah from school and then we...meaning the kids and I enjoyed our Halloween here at home. Noboru had to work. But...I always make Halloween fun in our house. I always make something special for dinner. Something delicious and yummy. We also watch movies and enjoy our night. 

We had a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and Halloween sprinkles. I picked up a big carton of vanilla ice cream too. We had roasted pumpkin seeds and a whole bunch of American Halloween treats. These are only half of the amount of our treats. The rest are in the pantry. We had a homemade from scratch pizza baking in the oven. And again...with living in Japan, we can't celebrate Halloween the American way. But we do create our own special family Halloween traditions here! And so, I always want them to know...mom made it special for them! : ) 

I love you boys so very much! Love you Branden. Love you Noah! And okay....you too Jack the Pumpkin Head 2016! And you can see...I had Halloween Jack O'Lantern lights on my 2 front windows. And I had the spooky lights and decorations on our house! Clearly an American mom lives in this house! : ) I always try to decorate each season or holiday. : ) 

So cute! I love the holidays so much!

I almost forgot to take a picture of our homemade from scratch pizza. The kids got the large pepperoni pizza and I had a small pepperoni, mushroom, onion and jalapeno pizza (am having some for lunch this afternoon). We ate dinner in the living room. We usually won't do that. But...it was a special night. We watched Halloween movies all night long. Hocus Pocus was on last night!

Cake and ice cream for dessert. And then everyone took turns showering. Then into their pajamas and right back to watch another Halloween movie. And snack on some delicious American Halloween candy and chocolate and watch another Halloween movie. It was a fun night, last night! Hope you all had a really special Halloween too! Much love from our family to you and yours! : ) 

Throwback Thursday, October moments captured from 2010...

Noah picking out a small little pumpkin to take to his class back in October 2010! The mini pumpkins always seem to have stickers for Jack O'Lantern faces. Every year I buy 2 mini pumpkins for the boys to bring to their classes. Their teachers always enjoy them every year, as well as their classmates too! And we were also buying our Halloween pumpkin as well, since our family carves one every year! We're lucky in that there's a place in Inzai that sells them every year and 980 for a big one is always a fair price, for living in Japan! Of course if we lived in the US, they'd be way cheaper of course, that goes without saying. : ) We picked the bigger one near Noah's arm with the stickers on it. : ) That's the one we carved that year. : ) 

Also in October of that same year 2010! Branden received and earned his swimming trophy! He was very excited, honored and proud! He worked very hard for this! : ) Noah has one too. : ) I also love our Fall wreath that was hanging in the background of this pic and this is also the same wreath that's hanging on my front door right this second. With Fall time leaves, 2 scarecrows and a few butternut squash. Aww. : )

In other news. Current what's up with us news. As ya'll know Bran's birthday was yesterday. October 26th! Yay! He's 15 years old right now. Can you believe it? I can barely believe it myself! : ) We went out to the restaurant of his choice last night to celebrate as a family. And we had a handmade ice-cream cake from Nagano last night after supper. It was a nice quiet low-key birthday, but very special just family. : ) And his present. He got a brand new cell phone. Asus Zenphone 3, a gold one. A really nice phone. Umm, what else. I voted last week! I was pretty happy I voted online. Anyways...in other less interesting news...lol...I baked a loaf of banana bread from scratch the other day. Mopped my kitchen floors. And today...I scrubbed under my washing machine. Holy moly was it yucky under there, but now...it's awesome under there. Just...you know...slowly but surely getting the Fall time cleaning done. Weather update...last night coming home from dinner my temperature on my phone said 58 degrees F. So the nights are not...dead of winter...a blizzard is here. If you know what I mean. But...it's definitely...chilly at night. Definitely a crisp bite to the air. You may not need a winter coat just yet. But a pair of jeans and a long sleeve top and maybe a sweatshirt...is the type of weather at night. In the day time...a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt is enough. A little too hot in the day time to need the sweatshirt just yet. But you know...just to give you an idea. The day time has been 68-72 F type of weather. : ) But the nights are definitely starting to cool down. : ) Alrighty you guys. Have a great Thursday. : ) 

Halloween Pumpkin...

I went and bought our Halloween pumpkin October 1st. I went the week beforehand and there were no pumpkins yet and I asked the staff and they told me, to come back, if I can October 1st. I made sure to go right away and picked this one. I buy one every year and it's just something we really enjoy here at our house! The family pumpkin carving of our pumpkin... is always a lot of fun! And the roasted pumpkin seeds too! : )

Halloween decorations and goods are starting to become really easy to find for those of us living in Japan! They sell these adorable Jack o lantern plates at the Daiso for just 100 yen, plus tax. And same for the napkins, also available at the Daiso too. : ) We usually eat something "good yummy and comfort foodie" on Halloween here at our house and we can hopefully use these plates. : ) And as for the napkins, the boys have been taking 1 each every day since October 1st in their packed lunch to school Monday through Friday. : ) Very cute napkins and the price? Super cheap! A great deal. And should be easy to find if you live in Japan. : ) 

I found these Halloween napkins mid September and these came from the other 100 yen shop called Seria. So again, super cheap and equally super cute. And easy to find, if you live in Japan! I like the ghost and Halloween kitty and jack o lantern witch. Hahaha. The kids have been alternating between taking this napkin in their lunch bag ever day for school lunch and the napkins up above. : ) Just you know..sharing some holiday fun in their daily lunch!

Everyone gearing up for Halloween? We brought back a huge amount of American Halloween candy from Guam last week, so we're ready! Halloween is a fantastic holiday. : )

Throwback Thursday...

I am still keeping with the Halloween theme for this month's Throwback Thursday. Hopefully you all, might enjoy these Halloween-y blasts from the pasts for this month. : ) Today's TBT is from, October 31st, 2006! Noah was a little itty bitty precious 1 year old! Look at how light Noah's hair was and yep, he has zero eyebrows/very fine... almost nonexistent eyebrows. Mr. Big Round Eyes... didn't get eyebrows for the LONGEST time hahaha, his eyebrows were very blond-ish in color, so very hard to see, his eyebrows. And Bran/Mr. Dimples was a wee 5 year old at the time. 

I spy a 1 year old toddling around the kitchen. A high chair that came from America with us, when we moved to Japan. It first belonged to Bran, but I saved it and luckily, I did, because Noah used it as well. Noboru was at work, so mama (I) carved the pumpkin that year! If we were to be critical, The smile on Jack the pumpkinhead is slightly lopsided, 1 of the triangle eyes was different in size... then the other one was. But...honestly, I did the very best I could. It's hard wielding a knife and carving a pumpkin when you got 2 little ones, running around the kitchen. So, for that...I think, I did a pretty okay job! And what matters is...I have always done the pumpkin carving with my boys literally...every...single year...that they have ever been alive! Even the first year Noah was alive, in 2005. He sat in his high chair and watched the pumpkin carving. : ) But he was there. And while...I don't know what he made of the whole thing. Both the kids have forever and always taken part in the great pumpkin carve every year. It's just a tradition our family has always done and always will. : ) 

Okay Bran...your turn to clean out the pumpkin. Scoop out the insides. Or as we like to say, to be silly...scoop out his pumpkin guts! Hahaha. : ) Branden was like..."this feels slimy!" Noah laughed and laughed! Because of course he thinks everything his big brother does is A-1 awesome and perfect! Don't laugh but...I got such joy watching these 2, that year! Honestly though...I actually get such joy watching them do this, every year! Because well...childhood is so fleeting. Enjoy it while you can! And I am and I do! : )  

Here, Branden was pulling on the pumpkin insides and because well..Noah was only 1 year old...he got this worried face! "is my brother in trouble?" "Is Branden okay?" I have to remind my worry wart 1 year old..."He's okay Noah! Not to worry!" : )

Yatta! Job well done! The 3 of us did it! Love you guys! Now let's go outside and get our annual family photo with our jack o lantern! 

Flash is going off on my camera a bunch of times. Sorry neighbors...do not mind us. Just a mama and her 2 young kiddos trying to snap some Halloween pictures. We're not maniacs, I promise! : ) Okay, pic 1. Whoops, I forgot to put the lid/top of Jack's head back on! And whoops, where's the baby? He's toddling round and round our front yard! Hahaha.  

A 5 year old will gladly sit for you to take a picture. Frankly, Noah...did really well the year after this.... the year after, Noah smiled and sat quietly at age 2, because he is a good boy. But at age 1, will he sit and take a picture? Forget it! It just wasn't happening at age 1! And aww, Bran, you were trying so hard! Meanwhile my toddling 1 year old tornado, pictured here. Hahaha. 

You get crazy mad points... for still looking at the camera and still trying to, peace sign it up! Flash is still going off. Neighbors don't mind. Cool!

Yes, my 1 year old, finally sat down 1 for millisecond. However he is now very interested in the jack o lantern. However, knowing something like this could happen, I did not use a candle, I used a Halloween light with batteries. Safe! And Bran...you are such a sweetheart and you have patience for days kid! You were never upset or anything. You smiled your little heart out, the entire time. While our 1 year old... with his 1 year old burst of energy... toddled outside our rural street, for the 5 minutes, that we were out there. Hmm, at this point....we could smell the freshly roasted pumpkins seeds from outside. Yum! Alrighty let's wrap this up, picture or no picture, let's go inside! 

Yep the next year, Noah was sitting and doing things A-okay. But at year 1. Ehh, he was frankly too excited to get his chance to cruise the front yard after dark. Something he rarely got to do. So, he enjoyed it. : ) 

Alright kids, let's call it a wrap! And we did! We went inside and thank goodness, I took many pics from that night. Because it reminds me... we did have our pumpkin seeds and we watched that movie with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. It's a Halloween movie, such a great movie and figures, I forget the name of the movie right now. Holy goodness. Let me think. Yes! I remembered and I didn't even have to google it, I promise. Hocus Pocus! Yep, the boys and I went inside munched some pumpkin seeds (we obviously had supper already.) And we then watched Hocus Pocus! : )

Throwback Thursday...

 This weeks TBT, takes us back to October 30th, 2008! It was passed Bran's birthday, so he was 7 years old at the time, of this picture and Noah was a wee 3 year old at the time. Noboru and the boys were excited to get the pumpkin carving underway!

Branden thinks his dad "hangs the moon"... he thinks he can do anything, both the boys think that about their dad. Aww. So, he looks on and watches, his dad work his magic!

Okay boys, time to pull out those pumpkin guts! Hahaha. And then I'll clean the seeds and then we'll roast the pumpkin seeds afterwards, yum. : )

It's a dirty job! But one, I know you two look forward to each and every year! Even though we live in Japan, this is a tradition we have always had, just always! : )

Does this look like that mask from Scream or what? Hahaha. : ) 

I love you guys very much! And I can't wait for our great pumpkin carve later this month too!

Hi kiddo, are you ready to enjoy some freshly roasted pumpkin seeds with your brother and get ready to watch the Charlie Brown Halloween DVD? I'm ready for that too! Anyway, that was this weeks, TBT, from October 30th, 2008. : ) 

Halloween donuts and pumpkins! Plus Fanta Green Apple soda

I noticed a while back, that Mister Donut, is selling for a limited time, Halloween/seasonal type donuts. They are/were selling a fixed set (Halloween set) that came with a Hello Kitty doll, but I didn't get that particular Halloween set,  because I wanted different/other donuts, then what was offered in that specific set. So, I picked 8 donuts, I knew we'd like. But 5 of the 8, that I picked were Halloweeny too! ; )

I picked these last Friday afternoon because I thought, they'd make a good treat to start the weekend! As an after school and dinner treat. 2 donuts each. : ) The 3 on the left, are chocolate with pumpkin icing. Couldn't taste the pumpkin at all, but it was delicious and cute. A couple regular ones not seasonal. And the 2 far right were/are seasonal too though. One was filled with chestnut cream and the other one filled with pumpkin cream. 

The chestnut cream one. This was Noboru's. : )

Also, we went and picked up our big Halloween pumpkin, this past Monday, every year we do this.... so we can carve him and turn him into a Jack o' lantern! : ) And roast some pumpkin seeds. : ) The 2 little pumpkins, I bought one for Noah's class and 1 for Branden's class, that way they can both take an albeit small one.... but at least they can give their class a bit of Halloween cheer for the rest of October! : )  I know their class will enjoy them and so will the teachers! : ) 

One thing I really like about Japan is getting to try all the Fanta flavors we get here. Flavors we like are orange, grape, melon, peach (Branden's fave was the peach), flavors we did not like were, the nashi/pear and the ume wasn't so great tasting either. : ) But I always like trying them. So, when I saw this one last week, I bought only 2. 1 for the boys to share and 1 for Noboru and myself to share. How did we like the green apple? The boys both liked it. I really liked it. And Noboru didn't like it at all, go figure. Hahaha. : ) Anyway, it is always fun to try a new flavor, at least! We have tried quite a few other flavors of Fanta as well. Anyway...that's all for now. : )