A Bits and Pieces post from when Noboru was here...

I snapped this pic of Noboru driving right after Noah and I picked him up at the airport. I was originally supposed to pick him up at 1pm. And the plan was, we'd go immediately to Noah's school and pick him up at 2:25pm. And we were even considering first swinging by our townhouse and dropping off his luggage first or not. We were playing it by ear, just depending on our timing. However, as luck would have it, Noboru's flight was delayed. He landed at 2pm. Thank goodness for airplane wifi. So he and I could LINE each other. Considering Noah's a child. And Noboru's an adult. We put our child first. And so Noboru told me, "I'm an adult, I can wait at the airport, go get Noah first and then swing by the airport to get me" FWIW, we have 3 townhouse keys. And Branden has a key always and he knew, to let himself in our townhouse. Since he rides the school bus home anyways. And doesn't get home because of the school buses stops...that they make all along the way, he gets home around 3:10pm. Good thing the kids can have cell phones here at school. So, I texted them around noon and let them know the plan. Noah knew he had to "haul a**" to my car. And he did. He quickly hopped in my car. I quickly hopped the highway. And to the airport we went. Noboru was waiting outside. I parked the car curbside. Hugged and kissed my husband. Noah got out and smiled and hugged his dad. And Noboru jumped in the drivers seat right away. And we actually got to our townhouse about a couple minutes before Branden got there. The boys were both so happy to see their dad. I was happy to see my sweetie pie too.

He brought me, a few extra Cook-Do sweet and sour sauces/packs. Another bag of panko. A new bottle of mirin (for niku jaga). Some sara udon packs. Karaage and ginger. Melting sugar for niku jaga. Three cream stew roux. Another pack of curry roux. Small things yes... but super helpful useful things that we will appreciate when it gets cold and Fall turns into Winter. 

He also brought cookies and snacks for the boys. 

I did mention to Noboru that Branden's backpack has a mesh bottle spot on the outside of his Jansport. Noah picked the size smaller Jansport than Bran's is. And I told Noah his would have no mesh bottle holder. He was fine with it. But, I do notice he wraps his 500ml bottle of water every day in a grocery store bag. Noboru said, not to worry...that he'll bring him some drink covers from the amazing Daiso. And he brought 2. 1 is a back up. This is probably the most useful item he brought. Noah uses the navy blue one every single day now. : ) 

The entire United States is in pumpkin pie flavor mode, now that it's Fall. It's sorta nice to be able to enjoy every little thing available now that I live here. Noboru and I went to lunch one afternoon when the kids were at school. We went for the $5 buck lunch. It comes with a free sundae or you can pay 1 dollar extra and get a blizzard. Of course we had to get  Pumpkin Pie Blizzards.  

The 5 buck lunch, you can get your choice of all white meat chicken strips and fries and country gravy for dunking your strips in. You can also get a grilled cheeseburger if you prefer. Noboru went for the burger. It comes with a drink and also includes a free sundae or you can upgrade to a blizzard. We usually go for the sundae but considering it was a limited time only...we went for the pumpkin pie blizzards. 

Aside from spending the day in Seattle. We mostly stayed in our tiny city of $12,000-$15,000 people. We did go to the next city over and hit Costco though. This is a cart pic. A case of toilet paper beneath the cart. Chicken breast in that box. The chicken breast here is individually wrapped in sets of 2 breasts in each pack. And it comes with many packs. A case of paper plates. Tortillas. A big jug of shoyu (Kikkoman Soy Sauce) and tampons and at night, I will wear a pad for extra protection during that TOM. I think we're all adults here. Just bought basics. Of stuff that can last a good chunk of time. He also filled up my gas tank, while at Costco.

Besides my husband being my best friend. Lunch date. Laugher at each others jokes etc etc. Him coming here was for peace of mind, for him too. He worries all the time, if we're okay. He wanted to make sure my car here is winterized. He washed my car and really scrubbed the daylights out of it. He also took my car for an oil change. He filled up the tires with air. Changed all my filters in my car. Changed my windshield wiper blades. Rain X-ed my windshield.  He did all sorts of things a husband usually does. For his peace of mind and for my mind too. He's seriously so helpful. So wonderful. 

Pumpkin Pie Twinkies. Again Americans love everything and anything Pumpkin Pie flavored. Noboru had some of these too. I was expecting these to not be any good. I was shocked because these are actually better than regular Twinkies. Hostess is also selling some Caramel Apple Spice flavored Cupcakes. I took a pass of those cupcakes. But these Pumpkin Pie Twinkies are the bomb. Also Jack and the Box Pumpkin Pie shakes are out right now too. 

Another time we took the whole family to Dairy Queen too. We all had the 5 buck lunch and sadly the Pumpkin Pie Shake was no longer sold anymore. So we all had a sundae. Bran and I,  each picked a peanut butter sundae. Noah picked hot fudge and Noboru went with strawberry. It was just the best, us 4 all being together as a family again. But we also know.. that the kids getting this opportunity at an American education. They're lucky. They're so fortunate to be getting this education. These experiences. They were in Japan in their younger years, when a family should be intact. Now that they're older, they are open for an American education. And American dances, like Homecoming. And driving school. And American style school lunch. And Fun Runs. 

The week before Noboru left. I went to the driving school. I filled out all the paperwork. And talked to the folks there. And got Branden all signed up for drivers ed. He's in like... a 6 week driver course. He goes Tuesday through Thursday, 4pm-6pm. He also has 6 hours/6 drives with the instructors in their Priuses. They have quite a few. A parent meeting was required. Noboru and I showed up for that meeting. He wanted to go... because he knew he wasn't going to be a part of it, so he just wanted to attend the meeting. Noboru told me later. In Japan he handled all the paperwork and all the meetings (although, I went too), all the official stuff. But he finds it cute that in America, although he fluently speaks English. He doesn't feel the pressure to have to handle *it all*. Does that make sense? It's sort of cool and nice for him to just... get to sit back. Sit next to me and say..."the wife is handling it all. She's got this" And yes, here, I got this. Friday October 12th. Was a "no school day" and so the 4 of us went first thing in the morning to the Motor vehicles department to get Branden signed up for his driving permit. He was omitted from taking the test at the DMV because he took it at the state approved driving school, he's attending. So, Noboru and Noah just got to relax and sit in the chairs at the DMV. Mama (me) I handled it. Bran and I took a number. The place was dead. We went right up. You need to prove American citizenship or that you have a greencard or something. I was prepared. I had Branden's American passport. Branden's American birth certificate, his social security card. I had my state drivers license. And he needed a parents signature of consent. Next he went up and took a picture at another window/area. And next, he went and did an eye exam. And she gave him a paper permit that is good for a year. And the hard permit looks just like a license but it's oblong, up an down versus how us adults licenses are. As soon as he had the permit in hand. It was not even 9:10 am yet. We went to the Costco parking lot. And we gave him his first driving lesson until 10am. When Costco opened. After shopping at Costco, which took us only 5 minutes tops. I already knew what I needed.

A bulk amount of pumpkin spice bread. 

And a case of 24 chicken flavored Cup Noodles. That's it. Then we went to the movie theater parking lot and he drove for a good 30 minutes. We placed an order for Wing Stop and they wouldn't be ready until a certain time, so it gave Branden more time to practice driving.

Hunger Games reference here. Instead of "May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor"..."May the Wings Be Ever in Your Flavor"...I swear...Americans have the best sense of humor. Noboru asked each of the boys, the day he arrived. What do you want him to make sure... gets done while he's here. And Branden said, "that I get registered for driving school." And Noah said, "I hope I can try Wing Stop" lol. Noah loves buffalo wings and that was the only thing on his wish list. Adorable, Noboru thought! So he said, to the both of them, done and done! So I ordered them on my cell. While we were driving with B in the movie theater parking lot. And then we went to get wings. Noboru and Noah are the biggest wing fans, I have ever seen. They truly love buffalo wings. 

Noboru taking a pic to send to his friends in Japan. : ) At Wing Stop. 

We let Noah pick which flavors, since it was his wish to eat there. Noboru helped him decide. I personally am open to any flavor. They picked garlic parmesan and original. We drove home and had these for lunch. Mission accomplished that day. Bran got his drivers permit and Noah got to try the wings he'd been dreaming about and hoping to try. Noboru and Noah weren't blown away by the wings sad to say. Oh well, at least he got to try. : )

Gap USA, online was having a 50% off sale. We urged Bran to pick some sweatshirts. He didn't want any. @_@ Noah picked 2. Also Old Navy was having a sale, 1 sweatshirt in particular was $10, for just that 1 day. Noboru loved the price so much. We 4 all hopped in the car and drove to the bigger-ish city and Noboru got that sweatshirt, so did Noah and he wanted to buy Bran the same one too. B didn't want that sweatshirt either. It's a zip hoodie, gray and the navy blue wording says simply Old Navy. I thought what a good basic. So did Noboru and Noah but, you know Bran is getting older. He's a teen and I do respect his ideas. On what clothes he'd like. So Noah did get 3 sweatshirts. 2 Gap and 1 Old Navy. Noboru just wanted to make sure the boys were going to be warm in the Fall and Winter months. : ) 

Noboru was here for 3 long wonderful weeks. We were looking for a navy blue warm cozy fleece type winter blanket for each of the boys beds. We checked Walmart and Target first. No navy blue fleece blankets there. But we found them at Marshalls. For super cheap. Cheaper than the prices at Walmart. 

Super high quality by American designer Tommy Hilfiger. And only $16.99 each. 

They are a nice thick weight. And super super soft. I washed them both and put both on each of the boys beds. Definitely warm enough for Fall. Not sure how winter will feel around here. But if need be, I can always zip out and pick up another at Marshall's. But for Fall weather, they're plenty warm.

We also picked up a warm fleece blanket for my bed too. They had one at Walmart for $26. But Marshall's was just cheaper. And the quality is better.

We all have T shirt sheets and pillow cases. Because they're so soft. And the color of my sheets is this pillow case on the left. I actually took this pillow case with me to Marshall's because they had so many different shades of gray, that I didn't wnat to buy the wrong shade, so I brought my own gray pillow case and doing that... made sure I found a dead on match and look. How the pillow case matches my fleece blanket. 

Loved the price. I did wash it and tumbled it dry. And my bed is so cozy now. Again though, perfect for Fall. I have never lived in this state before. I have never experienced winter here. If I were to guess, I would say their winters are mild. Just like my area of Chiba was. I do not think it gets like serious winter here like Minnesota does. Or Alaska does. But again, I have no winter experience of this state yet. Plus keep in mind.. all townhouses and houses in America have central heating. So, again, I'm not sure if 1 warm thick weight blanket will be enough plus our comforter too. Or if I will... start of December run out and buy more blankets? Again, I'll find out. : )

Noboru had take out pizza 3 times. What, I do is I cook dinner in America 6 nights each week. Every Saturday we order pizza. Depending on who is cheaper that week. We order from either Papa John's or Pizza Hut. The first weekend Noboru was here, we had Papa John's. The 2nd weekend Noboru was here we had Pizza Hut and the final weekend Noboru was here we had Papa John's. Pizzas run around $7.99 for a 2 topping pizza, size large at Pizza Hut and size extra large at Papa John's which is about the same size of a Pizza Hut large. In Japan, I cooked dinner just about 7 nights a week. So for me, it's sort of wonderful to get a break from cooking once a week.  And sure we could hit Wendy's or Taco Bell or KFC or whatever. But we mostly just go for the pizza.

I was really sad when Noboru left. But, we accomplished a lot while he was here. We winterized the kids a little bit more. We winterized the beds. We winterized the car. We got to have that amazing important family time. And he'll be back here in January. The kids and I... are just quietly living here. The kids are doing so well here. Halloween is this coming week. They both have their Halloween costumes already. Branden did enjoy his homecoming. Branden's driving is improving little by little. Today is Branden's birthday. He turns 17 years old today. Can you believe it? He has his second scheduled drive with his driving instructor this evening at 6:30pm. And after an hour of driving, he drives himself to our townhouse. And the instructor then drives back to the driving school. We went out to an early birthday dinner when Noboru was here. A place of Branden's choosing (The Red Lobster) he also got birthday money from grandpa in Denver and from us too and got to pick out some new clothes. I do have an ice cream cake here. And we'll have a quiet little family thing here at home, just us 3. Tomorrow the kids and I are going to the movies too. We'd go tonight, but B has his driving lesson. So we'll go and enjoy a movie tomorrow. How is the weather? Yesterday and today feels really cold. Up until yesterday... it felt really warm in the daytime and cool at night. But yesterday was a gray day all day, low heavy clouds and while I was picking up Noah at middle school yesterday. And it's been raining off and on, ever since yesterday. It's still gray skies and cool. The wind is starting to have a bite to it.  

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. : )