Catching up, plenty of good eats and some very delayed bits and pieces and odds and ends...

Hi everyone! I have a really good post to put up, and I was going to put that one up today. However, this post has been sitting and waiting, for a long time. It's getting rather dated. So, I better get this up, before it's way past it's prime. Hahaha. : ) Friday, the day before Noah's observation day. I made homemade pizza from scratch. I had the dough rising and resting all day long and after the boys and Noboru got home, I rolled out the dough and made some fresh homemade pizza from scratch. The tiny personal sized pizza, bottom left, was for Noah's obento for school for the next day/Saturday, the day we had observation day. He took a homemade from scratch, mini pizza. He also mentioned to his best friend and teacher it was homemade pizza. : ) Awww. How cute, that proud... little sweetheart of mine. Noah also took a small salad with vinaigrette dressing (and I kept it cool by sending the mini salad with a frozen cool pack bought at Daiso) Noah also brought a filled thermos with tea and plenty of ice in the thermos. : )  So this pic, the day before Noah's observation day. : )  Told ya, I had to get this post up. : ) Very delayed. : )  Sorry guys. : )

After Noah's observation day, remember how I said we went to the farmers market. We did. : ) And we brought back a bag of 6 onions. A nice size bag of potatoes, a bag of fresh green beans and 2 tiny heads of lettuce in 1 bag for 70 yen. : ) I made chicken jaga. You know niku jaga but with chicken instead. It's really good. Basically a homemade chicken bowl. With some onions, 2 diced up potatoes and a few steamed green beans on top of every ones chicken bowl. : ) The next night Sunday, we would be having chicken enchiladas, which is why I bought the lettuce. : ) 

Sunday, we all relaxed. And in the afternoon, I boiled 2 small-medium boneless chicken breasts. Skinless & boneless. And after they were done 100%, I made sure all fat or funky bits were off. Rinsed the 2 chicken breast very well. And then shredded them. Added a little shake or two of garlic salt and a shake or two of black pepper. Fried up the corn tortillas real quick, which literally takes seconds per each corn tortilla. I use a canned medium (hotness level), of enchilada sauce. The kids shredded the cheese for me. Good helpful kids, that they are. : ) 

Looks like a lot of seasoning, but considering you will shred it, it isn't really a lot of seasonings at all. Although, you want your chicken to taste flavorful and not like yucky boiled chicken. Make it taste like something. Hence the garlic salt and black pepper. This pic taken before I mixed the seasonings with the chicken obviously. : )

All mixed and ready to roll!

And done, stuffed with cheese and chicken! All melty hot and gooey. Rice is done and I always like some sour cream on top and some chopped lettuce on top of my enchiladas. : ) Dinner that night was really good! : )  I like to mix our meals up! The night before chicken bowl. This night, enchilada dinner. Another night, homemade pizza from scratch. I like...just like I am sure, most of you do too...we don't want to eat...the same type of food every single day of our lives. You know what I mean. Variety....I need variety and I am glad my kids can eat it all. And enjoy all sorts of different country foods! : )

You know, I have American TV, right. Best thing ever. Totally a life changer. : ) Anyways, watching all those John Stamos commercials for greek yogurt and knowing how big greek yogurt is and has been for the past couple years, in the US. And nope...we have not been lucky enough to have it here. Until recently. Hallelujah....woohoo. Finally. I bought one for a try out/trial to see if I like it. Of course, the yogurt freak that I am. I loved it. : ) Gosh when was this pic taken? A long while ago. Half month ago at least. 

This was taken the day I bought the yogurt up above. You guys know...every once in a while, I will snap what our weekly groceries look like. It helps because lots of people overseas are curious what is available here in Japan. And likewise, a lot of my girlfriends in Japan, will email me and ask...what karaage flavoring do you use girl, hit me up with that info! So this way, every once in a while, I snap a pic and ya'll can see what we buy during a random week. : ) This pic, yogurt. The kids LOVE aloe yogurt. I mean like they're obsessed with aloe yogurt. Have been for years. LOL. We all love yogurt, so I need to have it here at home, at all times. 

These pics were taken way before we went to Guam the 2nd time. You see, 2 loaves of freshly cut bakery bread, so fresh the lady at the bakery told me, to not tie the bag, yet to let it steam out some still. Choco pan, melon pan, cream pan. English muffin. Hot dog buns. Coffee, I drink this particular Blendy every morning, I only allow myself 1-2 every day, but they are so good. I see Cook Do's. A pork stir fry called hoykolo, one is spicy and one is not. The not spicy one...is for Noah. The other one is 2 packs (one on top of the other) of the spicy pork stir fry and we 3 eat that one, but we can't leave Noah out and want him to enjoy too, so I make a separate amount for him in a different pan. : ) Pasta was for chicken paremsan. Pork curry was happening that particular week. Fresh pineapple. We love fresh pineapple around here a lot. : ) Eat it every week, when it's in season and it's in season now. : ) 

A weeks worth of meat, there was a bunch back there, you can only see a bit of it. I just whited out the name of the store. 

One lone bag sat in the genkan and it contained 2 half cabbage heads and 1 pack of bananas. Have you ever bought a whole cabbage head... only to find it had bugs in there. @_@ Those creepy blue bugs. Anyway...to avoid that...years ago, I started buying 2 half heads. Granted it is usually 5 yen higher buying this way. But you know what...for me personally, it's better/safer than buying a whole cabbage, taking it home and finding out a bug army is living in my cabbage head, thus throwing the whole thing away and running back to the store. So for me...it's safer just buying 2 half cabbage heads. Weird? Yes, could possibly be so, but...just peace of mind for me. : ) 

For you in Tohoku, about to get your very first Costco this summer! I am so happy for you guys! I know I have mentioned it once already but...I am just so happy for you all. Don't ask me why. Although to be honest...I am so happy because, I GET YOU. I understand. I had no Costco until 2 years ago. And how did I feel? I felt it sucked! Hahaha. : ) Granted I am not telling ya'll to go out and get a membership. I am by no means doing that. But...in particular if you are American and miss most of our products from "home" our home country, America. You will be so happy. : ) Just knowing you can pick up a rotisserie chicken, whenever you want. Go and order a birthday cake. Buy some bagels. Huge tiramisu (I really recommend that tiramisu btw) : ) Cheese. Do, I remember how hard it was finding cheese before Costco. Yes, I do! So, yeah...sorry to sound nerdy, but I am so happy for you guys in Tohoku! I took these next few pics around my Costco, especially for you guys.... to give you guys an idea of what will probably be inside YOUR Costco! : ) Lemonade. 2 of the biggest plastic bottles/jugs of lemonade. If you are missing lemonade. This is for you. 2880ml times 2 for 1,058 yen. Not a bad price, considering how ginormous the bottles are. However, I can't get these bottle into the recycle bottle machines, ykwim, so maybe you'll have to crush your bottles to smithereens like I had to. : ) 

It was clearly raining this day because I see my cart and umbrella in this pic. 

Sunscreen, they are currently selling 2 types of sunscreen in bulk. Granted, you may not need it in bulk. So ymmv. : ) 

Cetaphil. Cleanser and lotion. I personally need a foaming cleanser, so I buy the Dove cleanser at Costco. But just in case, any of you are needing some Cetaphil, just hold out... a few more months and you can get it. : ) 

Neutrogena rainbath. This bottle is huge but the price is ...yikes! Sorta pricey. But again...if you are needing this. Just wait until, July? It's on it's way. : ) They have frozen pizza (OMG that frozen pizza is the bomb). Frozen waffles. Swiss Miss fudgsicle type bars. Frozen mozzarella cheese sticks. Jalapeno poppers. Honey Nut Cheerios. Huge size of Swiss Miss hot cocoa in winter. Books. Sliced ham for sammys. Seasonal stuff like for Easter. Popcorn. You all will be rockin' in no time! : ) The first month it opens, it will probably be insanely busy. CRAZY TOWN!!! I personally find even my Costco busy on the weekends and I avoid going on weekends, at all cost. Also I avoid holidays too. However I find the weekday...especially the mornings...very dead. You can shop in peace and quiet. : ) Anyway...I am just so excited for you guys. : ) Because, like I said...I know exactly how it feels. Ganbatte, you guys are almost there! If it helps at all, I am doing the count down with you guys! : )

This particular day, I only needed and bought 2 things. I bought the lemonade and some mozzarella cheese. The lemonade tastes *very* good. The only thing about it is and it probably won't affect you at all but... I dislike that it gives me the slightest dot of heartburn. It gives Branden a pinch of heartburn too. LOL. But it doesn't affect anyone else in the fam at all. The taste is actually really good. Perfect for undokai. : ) 

Alrighty, almost done with this post. I am so glad, I got this up and posted, before it was months and months past when they happened. : ) My breakfast pic one morning. Nice thick greek yogurt and some cereal for crunch on top. : )

Another meal/dinner. During that day, I boiled 1 bag of pinto beans. After they were cooked, I refried them. I toasted up the corn tortillas all nice and crunchy. Fried up some lean ground beef from Costco. Shredded some cheese super fine, chopped some lettuce and made sure, we had some salsa ready to go in a little bowl. And we had ourselves a tostada party at home. It was a weekend. We were all in our comfy clothes, sweats and whatnot. Not a stitch of makeup on for me. And we sorta just kicked it here at home and relaxed with the fam, with some good food. : ) 

Yet another breakfast. For breakfast Monday through Friday, I will have yogurt and a toasted croissant with some peanut butter and some banana sliced up on top. I don't use jam, because the banana is sweet enough. Monday through Fridays, my breakfasts are just fuel. I enjoy my Mon-Fri breakfasts. I generally eat the same thing for breakfast Mon-Friday. The kids get a nice filling breakfast and it changes daily for them. Sometimes I will have it on toast versus croissant. Or sometimes I'll have cereal, honey bunches of oats. But mostly 99% of the time it's what's pictured here. Saturday or Sunday 1 of those days...not both, I will have a nice American homestyle cooked breakfast, bacon,eggs, skillet fried potatoes, toast. Sometimes it's omelets or over easy or scrambled. But once a week...we have a nice sit down family breakfast. But yep...Mon-Fri my breakfast is just fuel for my body. I do enjoy it though. Lunch Mon-Friday is often a salad (bag of salad), an egg salad sandwich, or one of those Knorr 180 calorie soups. I like the mushroom one or tomato pasta one. Maybe once a week I'll have a ham sandwich or bologna sandwich. But mostly I consider my lunch Mon-Friday just fuel too. Which is why I like those Knorr soups with the calories on the container. Dinner, I like to enjoy my dinner. I won't go for seconds. But yeah...I enjoy my dinner for sures. : ) Now that the weather has warmed up, I have been going for my daily long walks. I walk to the plaza and come straight home.  It's round trip 5.4km. My hope is to go 5 days a week. But given my running to the grocery store errands, Costco runs and whatnot. I go at least 3 times a week. Hopefully 4 times a week. but honestly 98% of the time... it's just 3 times a week. But you know what....going 3 times a week, is still pretty amazing. That's still 16.2km of walking exercise a week, so that's truly not so bad. I do make sure, I do my daily stomach crunches at least 4-5 days a week or else I feel REALLY off without doing them. : )  And I do have a treadmill at home and have for years and I like using it. And I have been known to get on there and watch YouTube videos (makeup videos, I'll walk forever, lol) while walking my treadmill. I even and I'm seriously not kidding you...I watched the entire full length movie of Dread Dead Fred off YouTube while treadmilling once (this was last December). What is that movie...2 hours long? LOL. So, as long as I can enjoy being occupied while treadmilling, I can actually lose myself in the movie and watch a whole length of movie. Or an hour of makeup videos and the times goes by in a snap and the most important thing is...I got my exercise in! Anyway this is the long over due post, I had kept as "saved" for ages, hahaha. I am glad it's up. Does this post have a point. No, I don't think it needs one really. It's just letting you all know, what I have been up to, granted a bit delayed, but still. And I just wanted to connect with you all and say hi. : )

After the boys get home from school today. Golden Week has officially started. Noah does not go back to school, until next Thursday. And I think the same goes for Branden too. Today is Friday. Tonight, I am making karaage (Japanese style chicken nuggets), with that, we are having salad, and broccoli and rice. Tomorrow we are having our first BBQ of the season.We will be having yakiniku in the backyard. And just relaxing here at home. Another one of the days we will be going to Tokyo. But for the most part, we are staying close to home. Japan is *very* crowded during Golden Week. Going to Tokyo Disneyland, any amusement park will an have hours long wait. We went to the Aquarium one year, and the parking lot of the aquarium was full. Just trying to go anyplace will be hard. So we will just relax here at home, for the most part. : ) Which is why the kids and I, smartly took our Guam mini vacation last weekend. That way we could avoid all Golden Week crowds, rush to the airport traffic and whatnot. : )  If you're in Japan, have a wonderful Golden Week. If you're not in Japan, please have a lovely weekend! : )

Bits from the week including, how the mother's yochien luncehon went and getting Noah enrolled in Kumon! ; )

All this past week during the afternoon. A show has been coming on MTV. Called the "40 most slimmed down celebs" It's been a very fun show to watch. I find myself doing treadmill while watching this show. Because it inspires me to stay fit.

Marie Osmond, according to the show lost 50lbs? Tina Yothers from Family Ties was on there. Janet Jackson was on there. Kirstie Alley. Tyra Banks. Candace Cameron, (I watch Full House in Japan and still think of her as DJ Tanner, lol) but wow did she slim down and she looks so good! The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kristy Swanson (didn't even knew she gained weight after her baby or even had a baby, guess I was just not up to date with her) anyway they said, she went from Buffy to puffy. : ( Mean thing for them to say. Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Melissa Joan Heart, watch the show and knew about her weight gain and fabulous weight loss as well. Quite a few of these episodes aired everyday last week. Different countdowns of new slimmed down celebs each day. Anyway so many great shows on satellite here in Japan now days. Loved this show all last week.

Back to shuji. Last week, in the renrakucho. The note written said to bring the following day...a big plastic square to cover their table for shuji/Japanese calligraphy. Good thing, I had that big giant piece of plastic kids table cloth that I use as a kids, clay mat. I cut Branden a huge oversized one, knowing how big their desks are at shogako, so I was pretty spot on with the size I cut. Also, Branden has been telling me a couple stories. Like when the Boy next door accidentally dropped the container that held the black ink in it. And it fell all over his outfit. From head to toe basically. I bet his mom wasn't too thrilled about that one. : ( That's happened to 2 little kids in his class so far. A few kids brought an old tee, a few other kids brought, aprons. And B's been using the smock and black tee we gave him. So far no accidents or mishaps from Branden. But I'm sure it'll happen eventually. ; ) We don't care if the smock would get ink on it or the black tee. We're sorta expecting that. Anyway nothing yet.

The rice has been planted already on all the fields to the right. But the rice fields directly behind our house were finally planted last week. I can see little rice seedling plants already and the croaking of frogs in the fields has already begun! I love that sound! : )

A close up of the farmers planting the field behind our backyard.

One meal, I have never shown on my blog before, not sure why not though because it's fast and good. But it's a meal we have at least once a month. It's curry spaghetti. Yup, curry udon's okay, curry ramen's not bad either. But, for me, nothing beats curry spaghetti. I love spaghetti, And everyone loves curry. It's so good. A side salad. And a fast dinner. Fwiw, I made a pack of curry, like I normally do. Added, my veggies and chicken for curry spaghetti. And basically whipped up a quick pot of curry. Only difference is we had it on top of spaghetti. The next night we had curry and rice. leftovers are not bad. But, boy do we love curry spaghetti around our house. Yumm, yumm, yumm.

I made my regular blueberry cheesecake for the family last week. This is really starting to become a family favorite around here. ; )

Also last week another envelop asking for us to buy something at the elementary school was brought home last week. This time, it's was a dictionary. It seems even in public schools in Japan the things one needs to purchase is endless and never ending. ; ) It's pretty different then schools in the US. So, I'm learning as I go. : ) Shuji sets...a recorder instrument...the paint set where everyone's had to look alike ; ) And now a dictionary to buy. *Smiling* Anyway the dictionary has been ordered.

The cost of said dictionary.

The 2 dvd's we rented, the final 2 for the month of April got here. We rented "The 4th Kind" and "College Road Trip", we saw College Road Trip last night and will watch "The 4th Kind after the boys go to bed tonight. Noboru's been dying to see the 4th kind.

On Friday, we had a quick but delicious meal. I was so thankful the weekend had gotten here. And after Branden finished swimming school, we had dinner. Salad, with cheese, pepperoni, Italian dressing, such a delicious salad. Garlic bread was wrapped in the tin foil and a big lasagna was had for dinner Friday night. It was great because by the time Friday rolls around, I'm always a bit tired, exhausted. But the family still needs to eat a hearty dinner. We still wanna eat together as a family. And this is the perfect answer to that. Quick, yes but delicious all the same.

The back has a blurb about how important family dinners are, yup, I think we all know that. And I agree. : ) We enjoyed our family dinner on Friday.

Saturday, a package addressed to me . Came for me from my MIL, from Osaka. She sent me a care package of food. I loved that she did that. That was VERY thoughtful. In fact, in return I am baking her some homemade Tollhouse cookies this afternoon.

Saturday (yesterday) was a somewhat busy day. Not hectic busy, sorta getting things outta the way, getting things accomplished but still enjoying family time. At 10:30am, Noah had his appointment at Kumon. The whole family went with. Yup all four of us went. Branden went to show Noah where to put his shoes, where he'll place his homework that needs turning in, etc. We went to watch him test and talk with the Kumon sensei. This pic was taken yesterday right before we went inside and up the stairs.

Branden showing Noah where to put his shoes, where to slip on his inside shoes. It gives me a strong sense of relief knowing they're going together. I know, Noah will indeed be okay.

"Studying in session, please be quiet when you come in" ; ) However class was not in session on Saturday, she came there to meet with us and get Noah tested and signed up. She had known Noah since Noah was a real itty bitty little guy and Branden was getting enrolled and he sat as a little guy on my lap. Now years later, here he was. Because the Kumon sensei has known Noah for honestly years. She calls him....Noah-chan. ; ) It's okay, Noah-chan, Noah-kun either way is okay with us. Actually I notice 80% of people that know us call him Noah-chan and only about 20% call him Noah-kun. Again though either way is fine. She showed him some cards, hiragana flash cards and he knew quite a bit. So he wasn't started on the lowest of the low levels. She then checked if he knew how to hold a pencil properly and she said he does. So he got quite a lot of "how smart you are" and other comments from her on Saturday. Hubby filled out the paperwork. And so that's it. He starts this coming Monday with Branden. She let him choose the bag he wanted, he chose the same bag Branden has. Of course little brother wants to have everything big brother does. ; ) She even gave Noah 1 packet of homework to be turned in on Monday. She also told us the grade of pencil he needs since he's a beginner writer. And we just went ahead and bought the pencils from Kumon.
After leaving the Kumon, we headed to the small country shoppette. And went to look for a jet black pair of shorts for Branden to take to school for shuji. The mother's at the lunecheon had strongly adviced me to let him wear all black.

And after leaving the store where we bought his black shorts. We headed to check the flower shop and to see if any impatiens came in. No they didn't. : (

After leaving the flower shop, we headed to the farmers market. This view is right near the market.

It was a sunny day... sorta chilly but a nice day.

We saw this enormous sized mushroom. Did not buy it obviously, but had to take a picture of it. Larger then a hand, let's put it this way. Clearly drwafed my camera case. We definitely had a laugh about this mushroom.

Adults salad. And kids salad mix. They sell, farm fresh eggs, milk, fresh bakery goods. Rice from this area, and lots of veggies. And even freakishly sized mushrooms to boot! ; )

Noah checking out the salad stuff. Think I'll buy us some salad mixtures next week.

We bought some farm fresh eggs, a head of lettuce and some fresh baked raisin bread, so fresh the bag was all steamed up and the bread was still hot. Not warm, hot!!! : )

We sliced this, toasted it with butter. Holy goodness this was good.

Noah's new Kumon bag and an extra new pair of inside shoes to be left at Kumon.

Branden's jet black cargo shorts. They were only 980 yen. They'll probably end up with ink on them and, thats fine. We didn't buy them for cruising to a fashion show in. We bought them for their sole purpose to be.."shuji shorts." And when winter rolls around next year we'll look for an equally cheap pair of "shuji pants" ; ) But these will definitely work. This way...whenever he does Japanese calligraphy, B will switch into his black tee, black cargo shorts and denim smock. Any stains...don't really mind. It's his shuji outfit. And it seems quite a few kids also are bringing shuji outfits as well. Like the boy next door for starters and a few other kids in the class. And again after talking about this subject at the mothers luncheon, I feel comfortable enough knowing lots of mothers do send them with an all black outfit.

At the Daiso, on Saturday, I picked up only 3 things. 1 bag of hard candy's for B to take on the swimming bus when he starts that after Golden week. All the kids in 3rd grade around here switched to the D course because of the extended time they spend at shogako this year. And the swim bus is free. All his friends ride it like. Keita, Saya, Nozomi, Daisuke, etc. So, since I usually drive him and sit and watch him. Branden has been asking me to let him take the bus, and this year, now that he's a third grader I'm going to let him. I'll still show up and watch him from time to time, but I also understand he wants to socialize on the swim bus and as a 3rd grader, I'll let him. : ) Also the kids are allowed to bring hard candy on the bus, so this is for that purpose. Noah needed new obento fruit sticks. And with Noah starting Kumon he needed erasers, he wanted orange scented soda ones like B has. : )

Branden meanwhile has a field trip/ensoku this coming Wednesday (April 28th). He needs to bring all this stuff in the picture! Where are they going? They're going to the beach! To play and frolic in the water (however if it's a rainy day their backup destination will be the aquirium). They'll also need 500 yen to buy omiyage. And have lunch there. Branden is in charge of entertaining the bus, him and 3 other kids were chosen to do that. What needs to brought for the day of the field trip.... An extra pair of shoes, and extra set of clothes including undies. Raincoat. snacks. Obento, thermos. Trash bag, barf bag @_@ in case anyone gets car sick, mine don't get it, but they have to bring one anyway. And a billion other things need to get packed up. So, I've gotten started on the list of said ensoku already a bit.

The ensoku snacks, Branden picked out himself on Saturday. Kids can bring anything. Here's what B chose for next week.

I have since packed all his snacks up, placed them in a ziplock and written his name on the ziplock. ; )

Noah's test from Saturday, he got 100%. And his first packet that need to be done by Monday. And his pencils and pencil sharpener.

A basic raincoat for the ensoku and the wet wipes he also needs according to the ensoku list. ; ) Hey, at least I'm getting things knocked off the ol' list! : ) I'm so good with a list! You give me a list? I'll have those listy things knocked off and scratched off in no time! ; ) True that! : )

In other news. Branden had his eyes tested at school. In Japan, schools test at the beginning of the school year (April)...Branden tested for his hearing, perfect, his eye sight, which has improved, his teeth which are flawless and never had a cavity. And Noah also was tested for sight and teeth which both were fab as well. This paper says....in October Branden tested, a C in one eye and a B in the other eye. Which we were not notified until December about it. And then we took him to a thorough eye doctor and got him glasses in December but with the end of the year and the first week being closed because of New Years. He got them first day they reopened after New years. Like January 6th or something. Anyway....he was tested again just recently. And now it says....with glasses he's obviously an A in both eyes. But now without glasses, he is a B in both eyes. So that is definitely an improvement. From a C to a B with vision. Anyway, if his eyes improve even further, we will get him a lighter prescription of glasses in December when we get him a new pair anyway. Or perhaps he might only need them for reading and homework situations. We don't know, we'd have to talk to the doctor about it, in Decmber when they test him again. But in anycase. It's a step in the right direction at least. An improvement in vision for Branden. Yay! : )

The mother's luncehon was fantastic and so much fun! The food was yumm! The pasta, salad, pork, dessert. a 5 course lunch was had. The bread, just everything. We decided who would work on the album or the graduation party. This is for next year obviously but they plan that in advance. My friends went with...handling the end of the year party when they graduate, so I signed up for that as well. So that's been done. We also got to lightly talk about what tasks we might want for the Summer festival this year. I said, I'd be doing the games. Because I absolutely love doing the games. It was not decided decided last Thursday but lightly discussed for sure. The info packets on each child were so fun to read. I learned so much about the other pink badge kids. One of Noah's friends favorite thing is riding his bike and his other friends favorite thing is ultraman. Very good to know. ; ) A lady is about to start hula and my good friend the Jogo-san is into gardening. I think this was a creative way for us all to get to know each other. Hopefully they got to learn something new about Noah and I, as well. ; ) I also asked the table I sat at, during our meal....what do you ladies with older kids do about shuji? Meaning do they wear aprons, smocks, change of clothes? Seriously, I didn't go to school in Japan. I really have no experience myself. This was a great topic, they all knew so much. And I was amazed how much information these ladies knew and their knowledge helped me out big time! One said...oh you know that anti staining stuff...didn't work. I was thinking...what anti staining shuji stuff? ; ) And others chimed in yup yup. I was like...@_@. Best thing and what everyone agreed was...send your kid with an old or cheap black outfit that you wouldn't mind if it got ruined. And a smock or apron on top. I took their advice to heart and thatis why, we did buy B those cheap pair of black cargo shorts. Because we did not own any black shorts or pants. Anyway the mother's luncehon, such fun! : )

This week, I have my movie meet-up with my two good friends, Noriko-san and Jogo-san. I can hardly wait, to see Alice in Wonderland. Anyway I guess that's all for now. : )