So, did everyone have a nice weekend? We had an excellent weekend here. Not a whole lot going on, but it was nice to just unwind and chill out all weekend long. On Saturday evening, we had hot (meaning temp wise, as in baked) pepperoni sandwiches. Except Noah wanted a hot ham and cheese instead, so he had that.
Cut the sizes of the bread according to who was eating it. ; )
Sprinkled the cheese on top and whacked in the oven for a bit.
This is what we had for dinner Saturday night. A hot pepperoni sandwich, with hot melty cheese on a crusty baguette with crunchy lettuce. A bowl of pasta and a blueberry tea with ice.
A close up of this little beauty. The pepperoni all crispy around the edges, oh man! Gotta make one of these again real soon!
Sunday morning at 10am the doorbell rang, it was "the boy next door" He's such a good wholesome kid. And since he actually really lives right next door, that's why we call him the "the boy next door" I think you can see the boy next doors legs going down the slide. B meanwhile was on the top of the playground with striped sweatshirt. They were playing beyblades and whoever lost had to slide down the slide. These kids, I swear invent the most interesting games.
There he went sliding. B had to slide down many a times too. ; )
Branden and the boy next door played from 10am, to 5pm when the bell rang in the neighborhood for the kids to go home. Oh yeah at noon when the lunch bell rang, the kids went back into their own houses. For lunch though. : )
Noah meanwhile, played basketball with Noboru. Just dribbling contests. And then finally switched over to playing soccer later. A good day was had Sunday. And the weather heated up to a nice warm 49-52 degrees F. Okay certainly not Summer temps but boy did it feel like a nice change of pace.
The Gap/Old Navy package arrived Sunday. Getting mail on a Sunday always surprises me because we don't get mail on Sundays in the US. So, definitely caught me off guard. Even emailed my dad....."My package came on a Sunday, definitely not in Kansas anymore ; )" He got a chuckle out of that one. And no, I'm not from Kansas, but you kwim. : )
The Gap 3/4 length sleeve cardigan and Old navy dress for myself were perfect fits.
Slipper flip flops. lol.
Noah needed some socks. And the polo's were $6 each before the sale went off, glad I picked those up when we did. 
Noah needed socks. : )
4 polo tops for Branden and 2 pair of flip flops, I was happy to get all of the tops on sale and the flippies were also on sale. Of course the sales off now, but glad we caught it before it ended. Nothing wrong with catching a good deal and getting while on sale. Smart actually. The navy blue hibiscus flip flops were only $2.50 when on sale, and you know in Japan, at shogako they swim and their uniforms are navy blue swim suits/trunks. And a pair of flip flops are also needed. Figured these being navy blue and at $2.50 each were perfect. So Branden's flip flops for shogako this coming Summer are no worries now. That is a load off my mind.
These were all washed on the fast cycle and are now hanging in his closet and same goes for Noah's stuff too. I have 1 last package coming. And then I won't need to get anything else for the kids or myself. So this hopefully is nearly out of the way real soon. 
Baked a homemade cheesecake Sunday early afternoon while the hubster and the boys were outside in the backyard.
And made nikujaga for dinner last night. And cheesecake for dessert.
Dessert for Sunday. My cheesecake this time is thicker then last time and I think I got it down right. I meant thicker as in not talking about the actual consistency of said cheesecake, but am talking about the actual thickness/widthwise of the cheesecake. Last time I split the cheesecake batter between 2 and this time I made 1 big fat cheesecake and we prefer this way. Noboru loved it. So did the kids. Oh yeah and can't forget me too.; ) I liked it too. What did we watch this weekend? Well, we watched the 2 DVD's this weekend. They were great! Definitely worth watching. 2 big thumbs up on those. Watched American Idol, both Saturday and Sunday. American Idol is just so entertaining you know, it really is. Some people, just really make you wanna scratch your head and wonder, why? ; ) Meanwhile some have got some amazing talent. What else have we been watching lately? The show on the Fox Life channel, called "How I Met Your Mother" I have caught every single episode so far and I love this show! All of the characters are so funny. I've also gotten into Glee recently! It's a new series on the regular Fox channel here in Japan. And it's hilarious. It's such a good show. Other then that, still been watching Cold Case though they've been showing the last 2 episodes on heavy repeat for the last week or two. Watching the Ghost Whisperer. Kids are still into Wizards of Waverly Place big time and Hannah Montana. B and Noah think the Jackson character is funny.
Tomorrow, is the goodbye to the blue badges curry lunch. So I better not forget to pack, a plate and a spoon and a trash bag, etc, for Noah.
Yesterday was a sun shiny day, but today looks a bit cloudy and cold again. Am definitely waiting for Spring. Have a fantastic Monday everyone! ; )
Thursday was very cold, all day long, the snow took a good long while to melt, but melt it did. By 4pm all traces of the snow all but vanished. But then it grew cold again for Thursday night. Branden meanwhile went to Kumon after regular school. And he was tested in English and he passed the G1 level, so now he is a G2. So that was a very positive thing for our family Thursday. Congratulations Branden we are so proud of you. : )
And he did not just slide or coast through this test. This kid got 100 points out of a 100 and 20 out of 20. His test was flawless. Anyway feeling rightfully very proud. ; )
Dinner Thursday night. It was really good.
Of course that meant some karaage ready to fry up Friday morning for Noah's obento. Which I did. Here is Noah's obento for today. Karaage, broccoli (Noah's fave veggie) rice with sprinkles, fresh diced apple and 2 jelly's. After I made Noah's obento, I made his breakfast. And then I went upstairs and got myself and Noah dressed. Today I had to be at the school. The yurigumi and sakura classes were to count the "bell marks" this year. In Japan some schools collect bell marks. They are on certain food products and schools collect them for points to be used for the school. So, after dropping off Noah in his classroom, I went upstairs. About 20 mom's I would guess were there. 5 at my table and there were 3 other tables (4 tables total so while I did not count the other tables I'd guess about 20 of us total, ykwim) We brought our own scissors, we cut, we counted, we stapled, we wrote. We also chatted in between. It lasted an hour- to an hour and 15 minutes and we went home around 10:40am. I left feeling really happy, I did my fair share of the work and I lent a hand. And it wasn't too difficult or anything. It was actually pretty easy. At home, Noboru was home and going to leave for work at 11:30am, but since I got home around 11am, we had a bit of time before he left. So we had a little chit chat. He asked me how it went. I told him and for about 25 minutes we got to just chill together. He put on his coat and kissed me good bye and I went to scrub the toilets. I almost forgot to mention.....Noboru knew I was going to be at the school doing "bell marks" so he vacuumed the entire house while I was gone this morning. I didn't ask him to. And I do it daily myself. But with me doing my stuff at the yochien he lent a hand again. He's a very helpful husband, which is why I try to be an equally helpful wife.; ) Helping each other like this makes our life easier. : ) 
The DVD's we rented arrived today.
Dinner from Tuesday night, the gyoza and rice I mentioned last time. 80% of the time we eat our meals in the dining room but honestly 20% of the time we also eat in the living room and watch TV and whatnot. Might not be the "miss manners" way to eat a meal, but you know, we're okay with that. ; ) As long as we eat as a family and still talk and enjoy our meals together, we pretty much don't care which room we're in. We're just not all that formal around here. : ) Tuesday was a carefree day and I did get a chance to place my last order before the sale went off from Gap/Old Navy for B.
Wednesday was a bit busy because the forecast predicted snow for Thursday. I usually take the weather forecasts with a grain of salt. But I went and got my weekly grocery shopping out of the way beforehand anyway, figure better to be safe then sorry. Picked up a weeks worth of meat (beef, pork, chicken, ham and whatnot) veggies, drinks and everything else I had on my grocery list. A box of the Downy detergent. It was nice to shop without feeling rushed because of a half day at the school or whatnot. So, I shopped in peace Wednesday morning (took me less then an hour but still it was nice not having to rush down aisle to aisle). Bagged the groceries and loaded up my car and went home. Unloaded the groceries. Checked the weather for the next day one last time and then went to the laundry mat to wash my bedding on my bed. Big comforter, thick fleecy blankets, sheets, pillow cases. So washed those, dried those and then went home. Threw them on my bed, made the bed (took me about an hour and a half. From wash to dry to back on the bed). Then went and picked up Noah from yochien (but he doesn't get out until 1:50 pm so I had a bit of time to spare). February 17th (yesterday) was Ash Wednesday for us Catholics, and lucky for me, Noah attends a Catholic yochien because I could zip into the church before Noah came out of his classroom.
Branden mentioned to me at the beginning of January that one of his classmates had a new pencil box, it was Pokemon and black and it shimmered. He told me "oh mommy, it's so cool, I wish I could have one" Anyway, I listen to all my kids stories no matter how big or how small. And if they're important for my kids then they're important to me too. So anyways, Wednesday morning as I was walking the aisles of the store, I saw a black shimmery Pokemon pencil case!!!! I thought, could this be the one B was talking about? Is the the coveted black shimmery Pokemon one? I could buy it but what IF it's the wrong one. That would suck if I bought the wrong one and not wanting to do that. So, I decided not to make a 1480 yen mistake, so I took a picture of the pencil box, showed it to Branden first if it's the right one, then next week, I'll pick it up. Last night, sure enough I showed it to B. And he said that is *exactly* the one I want! Phew! So, now I know. Next week's plan? Buy the black shimmer Pokemon pencil box. ; )
After the boy's both came home Wednesday, the weather grew really cold outside. So, I decided to make some strawberry cupcakes. Not frosted or anything, just keeping it simple but still delicious.
2 dozen strawberry cupcakes.
Also the kuroneko man delivered my jean capris, belt and whatnot the hubby had got me for part of my Valentine's gift. Loved em' I was making my bed when the doorbell rang, lol.
And this goes in the whoops category. ; ) Branden actually received another V-day gift Monday. This one being from Saya-chan. Homemade chocolate coconut cookies. But my darling son forgot the cookies at school @_@ overnight. Anyway he remembered to bring them home. And he was happy to get these.
Wednesday night's getting dinner plated up pic. Crusty bread with butter. Not feeling very garlic bready last night. Salad. And the pasta was boiling on the stove at this time.
The sauce had a lot of basil in it and it was so good. Just a simple pasta, salad and bread. But so good. We had cupcakes for dessert. Everyone took hot baths after their showers. We went to sleep wondering would the snow come or was it gonna lose it's punch.
Woke up this this morning and wowsa!!! It's snowing down like crazy, even right now as I type it's still snowing. I managed to get both of the boys to school safely this morning. I have a load of clothes in the dryer. The dishwasher is unloaded. And I'm going to vacuum the house and scrub down the shower room but other then that, I'm free. Think I'll either channel surf or pop in a DVD this morning. And I think I'll dance around the living room for about 30 minutes to get my exercise outta the way later this afternoon. ; )
Snow. Man winter in Chiba has been so crazy this year! : ) What's for dinner tonight? Karaage, white rice, veggie, salad with goma. Yumm. Have a great day and night everyone and stay warm! : )
Monday's are usually my least favorite day of the week. But this Monday wasn't so bad. Painless actually. ; ) If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that if, it's February and rice and some veggie is being sent to my child's yochien then that means they're getting ready for the "good-bye to the blue badges" curry lunch. Last week we were sent a note home and all this week, anyday this week rather. To send your child with 1 cup of rice and depending on which class determines which veggie. Noah's a red badge so onion it was. I sent Noah off to school Monday with obento and then also the rice in a ziploc first and onion (wrapped the rice and onion in a grocery bag) made sure to put his name on it, just in case. Wouldn't want anyone to think he didn't bring his. And that was that. ; ) When is the good-bye curry lunch? February 23rd.
Branden brought home another Valentine's gift on Monday. A day late but thoughtful nonetheless.
These were chocolate with caramel inside.
Because the new school year starts in April. The 2nd graders are getting ready to become 3rd graders. The class last month were given an envelop for 2,000 yen or something like that to purchase our kids a "recorder" instrument. And now they were given this. Apparently all 3rd graders need a shuji set. Which is basically a Japanese calligraphy set. The set had to come from this school approved paper/flier the school sent home. So we chose from there. We ordered him the black set with the yellow writing "Mizuno", since that's the one Branden wanted. Sent the money back in the envelop and Branden took that to school with him today. 3500 yen or something like that.
The ink and whatnot to choose from the back. Anyway glad we got that all ordered and done with. ; )
Noah went to swim school on Monday after yochien and he was tested and passed. He is now a red tulip! Congratulations baby, well done!
For dinner Monday night, we had gratin. It was really good. We had some crusty French bread with butter to go with. The weather meanwhile was rain, rain and more rain all Monday. Did I mention how *over* this cold weather we are? lol. : ) Branden meanwhile did Kumon Monday evening. He passed to another Japanese level back in December and I should have taken a pic of his progress but we were so busy in December, that I got side tracked. But he's doing really great and his English reading and writing are doing fantastic as well.
After dinner and showers and baths. And homework. The boys played beyblades upstairs and I watched one of my favorite shows on the Foodies channel. Everyday food. It's a cooking show that's put on or sponsored by Martha Stewart because I see her name in the credits at the end of every show (doesn't say produced by or anything but she is somehow connected to this program) and it's a good show. About 4 or 5 different people (the same people) cook every night. Simple everyday food, hence the title Everyday Food. Simple easy cooking is right up my alley so I watch.
One of the ladies cooking away. Meanwhile I sat on the couch in night gown and snuggling in my thick fuzzy blanket. Enjoying the end of my day.
And then another lady came out and cooked. Then another and then the guy came out and made a coconut tart. Which now has me wishing I could eat a coconut cream pie or something along those lines. ; ) Then at 8pm Spaceballs started. The kids watched 30 minutes of it before having to go to sleep at their 8:30pm bed time. All in all it was a pretty fantastic Monday. And what's today's plan? Well, I cleaned for an hour already. So the house is good. I plan to go into Noah's closet and clean out his closet for about 45 minutes in a bit. And other then that. I plan to just relax and watch TV. Maybe do a little treadmill. Or place one last order at the Gap before that sale goes off Feb 18th. Either way I'll be enjoying my day. What's for dinner tonight? Gyoza and rice. Bought 6 dozen frozen gyoza from our favorite Chinese restaurant the other day (sorry said 3 dozen this morning, but bought 2 bags and each bag has 36 in each so that's 6 dozen total clearly didn't have enough coffee this morning to wake up the ol' thinking cap ; ) my bad). And so we'll have that tonight. Just a really simple dinner for us tonight. Anyway the couch is calling my name so I better post this. Have a great day everyone and stay warm! : )
Both Branden and Noah received something for Valentine's Day from a female friend/classmate this year. Branden received his from Nozomi-chan, she's in his class, goes to Kumon with B and to swim school the same days Branden does. She is Saya-chan's best friend a good friend of B's. Meanwhile Noah received his Valentine's gift from Chi-chan. One of his greatest and best pals in yochien. Both of the boys were happy to get them and I plan to get these girls something cute in return for White day March 14th.
This was for B. Awww. : )
This was Noah's.
And the chocolate shaped hearts are what I bought for my sons for Valentine's this year. As for the hubby, I offered him some store bought yummy chocolate goodness or to make him some homemade cookies and he chose the cookies. So that's what he got. For those of you not in Japan, in Japan, Valentine's Day is for women to give chocolate to guys. And the woman usually get nothing @_@ : ( ha ha ha, but get something instead for White day 30 days later. A bit different then how we celebrate it in the US, where it's all done both girl/lady and guy on the same day. Interesting though, right? ; )
Noah got homemade chocolates. And these really made him smile.
Branden got a homemade chocolate and the cookies we think were store bought but she decorated them nicely and it was the thought that counted. And he was stoked getting these.
The most adorable note Chi-chan wrote to Noah. It basically says, that for the "pretend" shopping day, she bought the item Noah made. Isn't that so precious? To buy the thing he made. We thought that was so adorable.
The cookies I baked for Noboru. He got well over 3 dozen chocolate toffee and pecan cookies.
Sunday morning actual Valentine' day it was unbelievably foggy outside. Looked so cold outside. And if you're an American you'll know the 31 degree F temps for outside are indeed freezing since freezing is 32 degrees F. So it was actually freezing cold outside. And honestly it's been freezing cold in our parts of Chiba all week. And the week before that as well. Needless to say, we are so ready for Spring!
Look at this thick freezing cold fog. And the time of day? Nope it wasn't like 6am it was actually after 10am.
More thick fog. Hurry up warmer weather, we're so totally over this cold weather! Feeling about the winter weather....ummm quite cute and cozy for Oct, November and December. Sorta getting over it in January and am done with it by February! Please hurry up Spring.
Noboru had bought me some jewelry for Valentine's day this year. 
A really beautiful bracelet and nice pair of earrings. I was pretty happy to get these for Valentine's Day from the hubby. He also made the boys and I pancakes for our Valentine's breakfast. And the night before he gave me an amazing foot massage with lotion and the whole bit. And on Friday I mentioned liking something in the Nissen catalog so he bought them for me.... a pair of jean capris, a black belt and a black short sleeve top, as part of my Valentine's gift, though it hasn't got here yet but it's on it's way. All in all, I felt quite spoiled for Valentine's day. Anyway just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day. : )
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