A very nice weekend! : )

So Friday, we indeed made our way to the trash dumping place. Last pic of the high chair. So long old pal! We salute you! : ) Ha ha ha. : ) And other various things we loaded in the car for throwing.

All cans in one corner, and this is the room where the high chair went but in another section/area of the room. : (

There is the suitcase that also went, you can see it in this pic and the futon. You see, way back when we first moved to Japan. And we were in our great big old Japanese house rental. With tatami room and whole bit, and genkan so tiny only 1 person fit per time. ha ha ha. Meanwhile the first week we had no futon at all, because hubby had to go straight to work the day after we moved to Japan and I didn't drive way back then, at that time so we waited a week until he had his first day off. So talk about just roughing it, lol, just blankets our first week. : ( Then we bought ourselves this futon his first day off. We used this futon with great love for 9 month's until we could afford a bed (moving expenses folks are wowsa, especially from overseas : ). After we had the bed, we would often pull the futon out for guests. And have for years. It was a very nice futon. And now as years go on and we by now have 3 beds, my how times change, don't they? We have beds for guests as well. So, keeping this old futon was really not very practical. Yet for me being Mrs. sappy sentimental me, I was sad to throw it away. Sorta for me and please don't laugh but, this futon symbolized how we made it. And I felt really sorry to have to take in on Friday. You see, I let this futon pass the past 2 years I have gone to the cleaning center. But finally today I let it go. : ( And I know I might sound like a dork for saying so...but I felt really sad to let it go. But I did. Anyway....I guess times change and I guess in the long run it was a good idea to declutter like this. Ah well. : ) But we do have appreciation for everything we have and use it to it's fullest. And even still, we do tend to feel sad to have to trash things. : (

Anyway, also on Friday after we picked up B from his ichinensei. We drove to the little private Catholic yochien to pick up our registration forms for Noah. You see, he was supposed to start at the end of October but now he will start beginning of January. His spot is being saved by the principal already and they can't wait for him to start, they said. : ) This way, new fresh year, and a new fresh start at school! I can't wait for my little guy to begin yochien, though I will probably cry at the entrance ceremony, knowing me! Ha ha ha. : )

Friday evening, gasp among gasps, we actually went to eat at a restaurant. Yahoo! Ha ha ha. : ) We just went to a cheap little ramen shop, 3 towns and 2 cities away, lol. : )

Hungry boys! : )

Getting their toy, that is free with purchase of a kids meal, ha ha ha. : )

Heading home, I love where we live so much. To be at such peace and be so totally in love with our surroundings, man we always feel so lucky for living here! : ) No great big ol' sky scraper or big buildings, just the quiet simple life. : )

Saturday: Saturday and Sunday are just rest days around our house. For us it's our time in the week to stop and smell the roses so to speak. The time to enjoy our surroundings! So, Saturday morning, the boys woke right up, brushed their teeth, washed their faces. Got dressed. Motored downstairs for some grub! : ) I gave them cereal and toast. Easy. And Branden went to play. He went to Saya-chan's house for a while, he called me on his cell and asked if he could.... she had invited him, I said yes. Then he called me at the park (in our community) about an hour later saying they were just all hanging around and the next thing I know, I had a ton of kids that finally made their way to my backyard! Ha ha ha. Check out all the bikes! : )

The only girl in this ichinensei group that lives in our community is Saya-chan. She is absolutely adorable. She is one of the receivers of the cool girl tooth brushes and stuff from when we went to Guam. She's so cute and has absolutely flawless manners. We really think the world of her! Genki-kun is also back there in this pic, Keita-kun, and more! And Noah, yup he can play and keep up with the bigger kids. : ) When he starts ichinensei (years from now), he will have all these kids who will by then be 5th or so graders looking out for him. : )

So what did I do Saturday? Not much unless you count laying on the couch watching TV as doing something, ha ha ha. *winks* : ) I honestly laid on the couch watching various shows, channel surfing for a few hours. I stayed in one of my house outfits all day long. Black yoga capri pants, and black cotton t shirt 3/4 length. Just comfy all day long. No makeup, nothing. Around noon, I decided to actually get up from the couch and I baked a homemade from scratch apple pie. My filling, 6 big sized apples, a little flour for thickening the apple mixture, yumm. Cinnamon and brown sugar and lemon juice from real lemon. Oh it smelled great getting this all ready. : ) I did have the windows open and I loved and really enjoyed hearing the kids in my backyard all singing school songs and other various songs in Japanese. It made me smile. Especially when I heard my own son's singing as well. Just a real honest, no fuss no muss type day. Just a truly relaxing day in our neck of the woods. : )

By now my apple mixture is sitting. And I am getting my crust together. I used to use veggie shortening but I have now switched to making my crusts with real butter. And the flavor is absolutely amazing with the real butter crust and so flaky! : )

Crust is now done and I threw in the freezer for an hour. : ) Time to wrap the apples in saran and go flop on the couch some more. : )

Tonight's dinner, homemade guacamole bacon cheeseburger night!!! Yay and for dessert homemade from scratch apple pie. My god, I don't wanna toot my own horn, but that pie came out freaking amazing! : )

Hamburger buns are usually a pain to track down in Japan. I have 1 store that usually carries them but they didn't the day I needed them, ha ha ha! Go figure! Oh well, that didn't stop us! I just bought some more yummy soft sandwich bread instead. I like mine, ketchup one side and mustard the other. : )

Crispy lettuce, tomatoes seasoned with salt and black pepper, onions.

Done! That cheeseburger with the crunchiest bacon on top. I could barely help not eating it right then and there! Ha ha ha. : )

Guacamole and then smacked the other bread on top. Pulled out the french fries. And we 4 all sat watching TV enjoying our burgers and fries! Oh yeah....this is what Saturdays are about! Relaxing, kicking back and eating comfort food! Right on! : )

And for dessert, a hot cup of caramel machiatto and a slice of homemade apple pie! Kids ate every dot of dinner as always and ate every crumb from their slice of apple pie! Ha ha ha and Noboru? He actually had 2 slices of apple pie for dessert and he's not really a dessert type guy!

Sunday morning. Hmm, obviously we all had the apple pie on our minds because the 4 of us woke up and started the day with a slice of homemade apple pie as well. Ha ha ha. And then I started in on Sunday's breakfast. I made crispy bacon, and omelet's and toast for Sunday. I wasn't a lazy breakfast maker today, ha ha ha. : )

Branden went to play in the neighborhood for an hour after breakfast but he came home around 10:30 am. He stood in the backyard with his brother for the rest of the day playing and having a ball. So, yet another quiet relaxing day at home! Meanwhile after I tossed the Sunday dishes into the dishwasher. Me and the hubby both lazed on the couch watching TV for the rest of the day! The house doesn't get clean on the weekends, sorry. Ha ha ha. : ) Everything can wait until Monday. Weekends are for strictly relaxing at our house. : )

With nothing but endless rice fields behind our home, the view always takes my breath away back there. : )

No neighbors back there, ha ha ha. : )

Kids enjoying our jungle gym. They still have their own ways of sliding down. They're quite the characters! : )

Go little brother go!!!! : ) Yay Noah! : )

Run, run, run! : )

Branden singing as I snapped this pic! They certainly do know how to have fun! : )

Weee! : ) Sunday where we live, Sunday was gray all day but no rain. It didn't start raining until about 10pm Sunday night. It has been off and on raining a bunch lately huh? : )

Sunday night's dinner. A nice fresh salad, croutons, cheese and the whole bit! : )

With some ground beef still in the fridge, I ended up making hamburg with it. I whipped out hamburg mix and more seasonings and skillet fried them in a pan. Some steamed broccoli and rice and the salad. A really nice enjoyable yet simple dinner Sunday evening. We all sat at the dinner table Sunday. It's always amazing to me, how much we talk and share during dinner time. And good we can be flexible to do both ways, eat in front of the TV and also enjoy a nice sit down meal too. Ha ha ha. : ) Oh and mine was on the left, smaller salad and smaller hamburgs then the hubby's, ha ha ha.

My simple Sunday nights dinner! : )

Oh and look who lost yet another tooth you guys! Yup Branden lost a tooth right before supper. It had been so wibbly wobbly and was near falling out for weeks now. And finally Sunday evening it did. : )

After bath time and the kids were in a deep sleep. I magically morphed into the *ahem* the tooth fairy and I slid the tooth out from under the pillow, meanwhile sliding the money under his pillow! *it takes some serious skills to be the tooth fairy, you guys* , lol (wink wink). Awww! Then I went downstairs and enjoyed the rest of my night watching TV and just enjoying what was left of my nice relaxing weekend. : )

My week, from bowling with friends, oberservation day at school and more! : )

Monday. So with Fall underway. And since I already pulled out all of Branden's old clothes for Noah to get some usage from last week and packed away all of Branden's size 6's for when someday Noah finally grows into them. So since that was done last week, this week I further got the house Fall ready! Starting with Monday. Now in the summer month's, I usually lay these 2 big giant towels down on the couch. In the summer time they feel cool and nice to lay on. But with Fall officially started, I washed and packed up our 2 big Costco fish print beach towels for next year. And brought out our two Ikea, smallish navy fleece blankies instead.

I washed the winter couch cuddle blankets and laid them down on our big L shaped couch and still warm from the dryer, Noah went on the couch to cuddle himself in. Bliss, he actually took a nice nap on there Monday afternoon. : ) I also cleaned the living room for a good hour. Rearranging books on book shelves, because the boys always put the books back wildly and so they always need to be straightened every day. I vacuumed, dusted, windexed big giant patio window. And then went into the kitchen, mopped the floor, spent yet another hour, but this time in the kitchen. Also windexing the big giant patio window in the kitchen that leads out into our terrace. Spent a mere 20 minutes in the genkan, rearranging shoes, sweeping.

Vacuuming more of the flooring downstairs. Then swished toilet bowl downstairs. Wiped down toilet room floor with cleaning wipe. vacuumed the stairs all the way up. By now, I had let me see. Washed and dried the couch blanket. Washed and dried a load of towels. Washed and dried the sheets and winter blanket for the queen sized bed. Yup, also brought out and washed the fleece blankets for that bed Monday as well. Made beds, all 3 of them. vacuumed the upstairs. Cleaned the 2nd toilet (toilet upstairs). Had lunch. Straightened boys rooms and called it a day. Busy cleaning Monday.

Still Monday: Funny, it rained all week long except Thursday and Friday (today) and Monday as I went to pick up B from elementary school. I went to my trunk to pull my umbrella out and imagine my surprise when I saw my pack of zucchini sitting in the trunk of my minivan! Hmm, seems the hubby forgot to bring these into the house from last Friday? Good grief Charlie Brown!!! Oh well, they were still fresh, not bad at all, and good thing is, I found them! Took B to Kumon Monday after regular school. ran home and started preparing dinner for Monday night.

Started the rice, did all my chopping and went back to run and get B from Kumon. By now it's 5pm. Am sorta tired, but still have to get this dinner stuff finished. We had our first nabe of the season. We had kimchee nabe, yummm! I know, everyone has their own way of making it, as do we. Anything goes for these pot meals and I love that. We added what we like. I added 2 of my Costco zucchini that were rescued from my trunk today. Yumm, that was so good to add them in there! : ) We had chicken for me and pork for the hubby. Many veggies and udon noodles for the kids because well, that's the way we like it at our house! : ) It was still raining by the way, Monday evening. And it felt good to enjoy a nice communal pot of food for our family to share!

After my busy day. Branden's busy day at school, (both schools) and the hubsters busy day. It was very nice to sorta kick back with the family and just enjoy.

Yes, we have the fancy mats. But for day to day use, we use the plastic place mats, quick for wiping up after meals, you know what I mean? Nobody to impress and heck, anyway to make life easier, I am all for it! : ) And you know I got that nice lazy susan type round wood thing that we usually lay our middle meals on. However, we were so exhausted and just said, to heck with it. So phone book it was for our nabe to sit upon, ha ha ha. Sorry. Real life here folks, real life! Ha ha ha. : )

Noboru also had a long day, he was also so happy to be home. Good for us all to enjoy dinner like this. Good communication for our family, as well. The ol' "what did you do today" , "what was the best part of your day" just stuff like that. It's the perfect time to share.

Tuesday: Now last Friday, Branden brought back a note and it said that the following Friday, which is today. They would be all learning how to wipe and clean their own shoes. So, buy a bucket, a brush and a wire hanger" Remember last Saturday when we bought our Fall flowers? Well, we also bought B's bucket and brush. Truth be told. I don't hand wash Branden's shoes. However I wash them every single week without fail. What I do is, I squirt down Branden's shoes with Spray and wash, and throw them in the washer, with soap and stuff and they always come out so white and obviously I never dry shoes in my dryer, but I lay them outside and they dry right up. So, yeah I never brush 1000 stokes or anything with a brush, so we didn't have this stuff. : ) : ) We also just went ahead and bought him a new pair of white shoes anyway though. Since they are only like $3.00 US anyway. Anyway so why the pic on Tuesday then? Well, Tuesday morning, I decided to hand write everything up. Wrote his name on the shoes, wrote his name on the bucket and brush. Just sorta got this all ready. And will be having B take this to school on Wednesday. That way his stuff will already be there. So got everything named properly for that on Tuesday. Phew! : ) Tuesday, I swept and vacuumed the downstairs, by 8am. And then I sat and watched CNN for about an hour, had some coffee. And then I spent my day upstairs. I washed 1 load of colors and one load of whites. vacuumed the upstairs, cleaned the bathroom, shower and tub, sink area all that stuff upstairs. Picked up toys in Noah's room. Made beds although Branden does make his own. I did restraighten it though and made Noboru's and my bed. : ) Dusted the blinds upstairs. Went downstairs to straighten the book shelf yet again for the week. And called it a day with regards to cleaning. I enjoyed my day from about 1pm until I went to go get Branden at 2:30pm, just lazing on the couch watching TV.

We had over half the nabe left, so we had leftovers on Tuesday night. It rained all day Tuesday. Quite a big chill in the air. Since this Monday, we have been turning on the central heating every night/evening. Thank goodness for central heating and air conditioning, ha ha ha. That means for us, winter time in our house, means, not having to deal with 1 toasty warm room, and yet 1 freezing cold room or toilet room. The whole house is warm, ahh what a blessing. Yay for central heating! : )

Wednesday: I went bowling with my 2 girlfriends, Rumi-san and Kaya-san. Rumi-san beat us both games! She is a good bowler. But oh my gosh did we have so much fun! Every time, someone made a spare or a strike, we all gave each other a high 10. Smacked hands and were like, "oh yeah". And when they bowled, I playfully shouted out..."you got it, you got" Or if they got all pins except 1, I said..."ah man, someone must've put tape or glue on that one" just joking of course. We had ourselves a blast! They cheered and clapped for me too. They both speak English, so we bowled entirely in English. It was so much fun. And since Kaya-san and Rumi-san are friends. And since Rumi-san and I are neighbors and friends, and since Kaya-san's children and my son went to the same yochien and same swim school. We all 3 know each other. Are all very comfortable with one another. Oh man you guys we had a blast on Wednesday! : )

I do not know the charge for bowling in any other parts of Japan, but where we live, it was only 500 yen a game. So, my share was just 1000 yen for the both games. A pretty cheap way to have fun with the girls, I'd say. I want to go back with my family and bowl with Noboru and the kids. : )

As you can see on the upper right corner this was indeed our 2nd game. Rumi-san's score was 107. Yup, she beat us again! Perhaps one day soon Kaya-san and I can ask for a rematch. Ha ha ha. My score was just 91. I did not make a strike on Wednesday at all, although I did make 1 spare, ha ha ha. Boy was I happy about the spare though, I was like 8 lords of leaping! I was jumping around and like, "oh yeah" and we were all having a good laugh. I think all the older grandmas and grandpas bowling that morning, totally enjoyed watching us 3 play our games, because we had so much fun! Even Rumi-san she is so outgoing and such an extrovert, when she got a strike or spare (she got many), she would do a little jig up there. And we would clap and cheer! And give fives whoops, no we gave 10's. Ha ha ha. Kaya-san too. We just had ourselves the best time Wednesday. We really really did! : ) Sometimes it's good for me to get out with friends once a month like this. Without kids in tow and just let loose for a bit. Noboru watched Noah from 10am until 2:30 pm. I came back a happy and much more refreshed mommy getting to hang out with my partners in crime! : )

Still Wednesday: After 2 rounds of some seriously hilarious good times with bowling with friends, we went to have lunch at Coco's. They both ordered some really nice pasta lunch specials. But since I knew, I was having pasta for dinner that night, I had the quesadilla and fries. And drink bar. We all had sodas and also some delicious hot cocoas. It was still a drizzly type day is why. : ) At 2:30 pm, the hubby asked me how my day was with friends, I told him I had a fab time. Kissed the hubby and he had a swing shift so he left to work. Meanwhile Noah and I, went to get B from school. We drove home right quick. Got B's swimming bag together. Unloaded his ichinensei backpack. And we then headed to the swimming school for Branden's Wednesday swim class. Chatted with a few of my Wednesday swim club fellow moms. And then after that the boys and I headed to the store to grab a few things.

Oh yes, while I was bowling, our pasta sauce arrived. You see, the Costco Makuhari did not have any Prego pasta sauce last week. : (Since that's the only kinda instant sauce I like that's available in Japan. Unless I make my own homemade, but again it is needed for our fast meal type nights. that's why we needed it. Anyway, we ordered it online. Noboru ordered it from a competitor of the Flying Pig. Gomen Flying Pig. We do love Flying pig, but sometimes they mark prices too much/high and this other place had the sauce cheaper so we bought from there instead. : )

And yup the stuff comes from Costco just like they do from Flying Pig, and no,it's not expired either. It's just there are a few companies that ship from Costco, so we always compare prices.

Flying pig is still my favorite though. : )

Just 1 bag of stuff from the store on the way back from swim club Wednesday evening! Sandwich bread, this is so soft and makes such great sandwiches. Cheese for grilled cheese this week. Eggs for breakfast, and my delicious and cheap caramel machiatto coffee, yummm! And a loaf of french bread and some pans/breads from the bakery. Just a few things. By now it's what....6:30 pm Wednesday night? I am, a bit tired by now but I have to prepare dinner for the kiddos, because well, they're counting on me! : ) So we get home, unload the swimming backpack. B does ichinensei homework while I prepare a fast simple meal. Just no time for a long drawn out 5 course meal folks. Sorry. : )

Wednesday nights dinner for the boys and I. Hubby ate at work because of the time he got off work. Poor guy. : ( Anyway here's our meal. Now, I wish, I woulda had time to prepare a salad or perhaps thrown in some homemade meatballs. But I refuse to beat myself up on the days when days are more hectic then others. I won't do that to myself. Today was a busy day and so this is what we had, so be it. And you know... it was actually pretty great! Yes simple, but great nonetheless. My boys and I sat in front of the TV, enjoying our ravioli and garlic bread and drinking our iced teas. I had a long day yes, but a really really fun one too though! In between commercials, I told the boys how I bowled my little heart out! : ) And Branden asked me, "mommy did you win?" I said, "nope honey, I lost, but I had one heck of a time with it" and I told him all the fun stories. And then he told me about his day and Noah told me how he cut the grass with daddy. No he didn't cut the grass, he went out to watch daddy cut the grass, is what he meant. But we all had something to share and ohhh and ahh about. After dinner, I chucked the dishes into the dishwasher and I sent B to shower first. And then Noah and I went in and showered and bathed. And the 3 of us enjoyed our quiet little evening around here.

A picture taken from Wednesday night after all our baths and showers. The boys watching their mini DVD. And me meanwhile, I watched the big TV and cuddled up with fuzzy blanket and big fluffy pillow. And yes it rained Wednesday night as well. But the house was toasty warm and it was a nice quiet way to unwind from the day. : )

Thursday, was a big cleaning day, since I didn't seem to clean at all Wednesday. Meanwhile my 2 long sleeved tops from Nissen came that I ordered. Am still waiting on my 2 pairs of room wear/house pants. And our DVD player (region free) from Flying Pig came Thursday. You see, our DVD player was on it's last leg for quite a while now. But we didn't want to change it, util it finally broke 100% and was run to the ground and could work no more. Sorry just being honest. Which is why we did not buy it at Costco on Friday. However (as we are not psychic and could not predict when it would break) it finally died Sunday evening (go figure). Didn't work again. And it never came back to life. So, Noboru just bought us the Phillips region free one from Flying pig, because the remote is in English and that makes my life a whole bunch easier and we need the DVD plain and simple. Anyway it came Thursday. And since hubby has off Thursday and Friday for a while, he spent 30 minutes Thursday morning setting it up.

No rain on Thursday and a perfect day to hang blankets outside, which I did. But after swooshing both upstairs and downstairs toilets. vacuuming upstairs and downstairs, straightening shoes in the genkan. I washed both beddings for the 2 twin beds. Did a load of laundry. And then I started gathering stuff to take to the cleaning center. Place were they burn trash basically. This makes me sort of sad, but this high chair will be incenerated, burnt to a crisp on Friday afternoon.

I remember buying this for Branden was he was like 5 or 6 months old. And how Branden used this until he was about 2 and a half. Then I saved it and then Noah used it. And then he also outgrew it. : ( This highchair has been *so loved* and useful for our family and flew all the way from Colorado to Japan. Since we won't be having anymore children and saving this really is just ridiculous it's time to let it go. : ( I usually sell things on auction or have given to my fellow gaijin friends many times. However, the cost to ship something this heavy would not be cost effective at all. So, it is indeed going to be sad to give this to them Friday but it has to be done.

: ( Am also throwing our Hawaiian big suitcase, the hibuscus one. And a ton of other stuff. You guys know how I dislike clutter and so I must declutter like 3 times a year. A big declutter cleaning is what I mean. : ) And that hibisucs suitcase is just trashed, well used, well used. : )

Pic of Noah's colorful under the sea blanket from Ikea. That is hanging and getting a nice airing in our backyard, Thursday afternoon. : )

Thursday was observation day at Branden's elementary school. Noboru having the day off, went for 2 classes that morning, he stayed and observed Japanese class *and* gym class! I on the other hand, came for the last class on Thursday, for math. I just parked my car and was walking now to the school when I snapped this picture! : )

Like most moms in Japan, I tote my own slippers whenever I go to the school. Since we do not wear outdoor shoes inside the building.

I went to his class, was wearing my name tag. And then half the class, though there's only 20 kids total anyway in B's class. Ha ha ha. But they split the class, to 10 each. They then went to the 3rd floor of the building and started in on math, in one of the big bright classrooms. Branden is the one wearing the yellow and blue long sleeved rugby shirt. I enjoyed watching the math class very much. Only 1 other mom was in there beisdes me. I sat in the back and quietly watched my son in math class. I really enjoyed watching this class. And at the end of class, we walked down to his classroom and we went home together. : ) Noboru was at home with Noah.

Thursday nights dinner: We used up the last of the zucchini for part of our dinner. We had ginger pork, veggie and rice. Hubby and kids enjoyed some miso soup as well. It was a nice Thursday dinner.

Noboru showered and bathed with the boys and I got to shower and soaked in the tub for about 20 minutes after my shower. Ahh how nice! : )

For you fellow sattelite users.....anybody notice we now have the Fox Life channel? I noticed it Thursday evening after my nice hot relaxing bath. As I was flipping through the channels.

Yup, Fox Life channel. And so many good shows on there!

Not to be confused with the regular Fox channel or the Fox Crime channel. Man we are getting so many more channels all the time. Yay! : ) Anyway just wanted to do an information share is all. And umm, if you already knew, then never mind. : ) But just trying to be helpful is all. : )

So late after the kids had long gone to bed. The hubby wanted some chips and salsa. Hubby hates the sauce that's chunky, so we actually both went into the kitchen and he asked if he could and I always say "go for it" and so my hubby threw the entire bottle into our blender and this salsa went from chunky to blended in no time at all, ha ha ha. And then us parental units went to the couch and snacked and munched chips and salsa for the rest of the night. We watched some completely grade B movie on TV and we mocked the movie and laughed about it, the whole length of the movie. OMG, I know we are so bad, ha ha ha. What a nice way to end Thursday. Laughing our butts off on some totally lame movie on TV! Ha ha ha. And what are Friday's plans? Going to the cleaning center saying good bye to many of our things including the high chair. Sniff, sniff. And then just relaxing. I already vacuuumed both the upstairs and downstairs. I am going to look forward to this weekend because we plan to do nothing. Just staying home, relaxing and catching up on rest and on family time! Have a wonderful weekend you guys! : )