Branden's class started with shuji last week. This is the first one he brought home. It says...1. ; )I think he did pretty good! And I have it proudly hanging on the refrigerator as we speak.
Made tostadas last week.
Man, they were good. Americans sure do love Mexican food. If we had a Taco Bell here, we'd be thrilled. ; )
Could not send Noah to school with tostadas the next day, so defrosted one of the frozen chicken breasts in the freezer.
Skillet fried it and made chicken teriyaki out of it, last Thursday.
White rice with sprinkles, chicken teriyaki, veggie and peaches and 2 jelly's.
Thursday after the boys went to school, I went to a DIY to look for some flowers for our hanging baskets on the front porch. If you can see it was indeed raining last Thursday. I was looking for,"impatiens", they're a nice flower and I planted them in the hanging baskets last year and they really did well on the porch. They really thrived. So, I'd like to get them this year as well. But the lady working there said, this season has been very cold and so it's too cold yet to get them in. This year they've been delayed. So, I'll wait another week or two before heading back to the FIY place again. At least I tried though. : )
After leaving the gardening shop, last Thursday I headed to swim club. I had the paperwork ready to be switched and so, as of May 7th or 8th. After Golden week, let's put it that way. Noah will be switched to the B course. So, he will have a few more swims in the A course until after Golden Week. I also signed Branden up for the Golden Week compressed course for swimming. I showed him the flier, and he said he'd like to do it. For Spring break, they also had a compressed course and I showed B the flier from then and he said..."nah he wasn't interested for Springbreak" And I said, okie dokie. I showed him the flier this time around and he said..."he wanted to do it" So, it's always Branden's choice. And he wanted to do it, so I signed him up.
This is the compressed course Branden will be lucky enough to take part in for Golden Week. He's gonna love it. Noah and I will be taking him there all that week.
Last Friday's obento for Noah. Pizza toast, a couple fries and veggie, peaches and jelly's.
While the boys were at school last Friday I zipped to the grocery store. Bought our weekly groceries and headed home. Hmm. I tell you..everyday, I am here or there. I'm always doing something.
Branden needed more of those cleaning clothes. Apparently they use them for shuji as well as cleaning the school. Hmm. Another umbrella for B.
And then I packed up both the boys swimming bags for last Friday. And headed out. First stop? Pick up Noah from yochien.
Popcorn, in a ziplock. I always bring snacks because being as active as they are at swimming school they need them.
Noah went downstairs for exercise warm ups. And I read a magazine, while I was waiting for the kids to come out to swim. Noboru brought B to swim club and that saved me a trip.
Oh yeah, so Friday Branden tells me..."mommy, I need an obento for school tomorrow" Whhhhat???" I thought holy batman! Noboru confirmed I needed to send him with an obento. The sensei did not tell the kids until the day before, Branden quickly wrote that down in his renrakucho Friday.Talk about being a bit taken off guard. If I had known earlier, I would have bought something special at the grocery store that day. We reread every letter he brought home and nowhere did it state.."needs an obento." I knew ahead of time obviously he had class Saturday, I knew us parents would attend observation day Saturday. But nowhere did it state obento. Bless that last frozen chicken breast in the freezer I save for emergency obentos. Because it was indeed a surprise. ; ) I thawed it Friday night, And Saturday morning, I made Branden some yakitori, rice, veggie, a couple fries. A banana, some jellys, a Snickers mini and a Milky Way mini. And a thermos with drink and ice.
Saturday morning dropped of Branden at school after making his lunch and stuff. And in the afternoon. Around 1:30pm, we headed to the shogako. Noboru, Noah and myself. We waited in the hall until the bell rang. Aha, this was the 3rd graders class. The shuji hanging in the hall, was a dead giveaway. : )
The entire class had to stand up and give a speech. Branden's turn came up and here he is. Love the new flat screen TV's our school just got. Three cheers for the revenue we get from Narita airport. They also have a state of the art computer room. Branden and his class used the computers last week for the first time. Granted he uses our home PC at home sometimes when he's searching for a Beyblade or pokemon. Or emailing grandpa. But first time at school. Looks like the 3rd grade is going to be a good year.
Well done kiddo!!! Oh yeah about the teacher. Her pic is above. She's the short lady on the left. ; ) Branden's description was old and short. Here's my thoughts. I personally didn't find her all that old. I was half expecting to see the "crypt keeper" by the description. Granted she is not as youthful as the Yuka-sensei. I think the Yuka-sensei, was a year older then Noboru and I. And the Yuka-sensei had tons of energy. So while she is definitely quite a lot older then the Yuka-sensei. To be fair this new teacher is not like 108 years old or anything. ; ) But short was very accurate and that's okay. : ) 
After coming home from the Observation day this Saturday. We all relaxed. And around 4pm Noah took himself a nap. Meanwhile I had Branden roll out the pizza dough. I had made it in the AM and let it sit all day.
Pepperoni for the kids and pepperoni and veggie for me. Hubby had to work Saturday evening so it was just us for dinner.
The boys and I enjoyed homemade pizza Saturday night. Some tropical punch with ice. We watched TV and just hung out.
Sunday, the rice farmers came to plant the rice.
See the close up? They sure did a lot of work on that Sunday. They work so hard!Any tidbits? Anything to add? (thinking) Nothing really major that comes to mind. I think every one's caught up with us here. Besides running the kids to school and swim club and Kumon. The only thing I have to do this week, is go to the mother's luncheon on the 22nd. At 11am. This is the first time ever in the history of "mother's luncheon" that I literally cannot wait to go. Why? Because this seasons new PTA members decided for the pink badges. No standing up and speech giving was needed and/or necessary. Why? Because we already did that before. Whoever came up with that idea is a genius. Let's be honest. I have read top 10 lists of fears. In the past and something that often comes up on the list is..."a fear of public speaking in bigger crowds" and I know that and believe you me...I REALLY "get that" . It's not just a Gina thing. It's a common dislike for a large number of the population. Granted, teaching a group of kids is fun for me and no big deal at all. Or chatting with my close friends during lunch. Chatting with anyone really I don't mind at all. But just standing up in front of many many people. Forget it. When Branden went to yochien, they made us, get up and stand up.... Every. Single. Freaking. Time! I know lots of people dreaded it. I know I certainly did. Dreaded it like the plague, I tell you!!! Dread! And now that Noah's in yochien. I thought, oh great....I expected to endure this torture 3 times a year, meaning the speech giving. I know I wasn't the only one dreading it either. And then...this time around, some really brilliant members of the PTA said...we will instead write our answers, and I gather they'll all be configured in a booklet? Or I don't know. The questions were as follows....What is Noah really into these days? I just said, beyblade and kori-oni
Does Noah have any siblings? I answered, yes he has 1 older brother, and he is a graduate of this same yochien and currently a 3rd grader.
I forget the last two questions. But it was actually really very very fun. To get to answer these questions. Versus standing up and feeling 100's of sets of eyeballs all on you. I am 100% looking forward to this luncheon. And I cannot wait! Thank goodness for the new PTA for the pink badges. 2 big thumbs up from me!
Noah's Kumon update: we have a meeting with the Kumon sensei this coming Saturday for Noah. He will be testing and enrolling this coming weekend. So, he will be starting shortly.
Branden is home with me today. No school for our shogako today since the kids went to school Saturday. And we have been just hanging out together all day. : ) We'll be picking up Noah from yochien later today. And be taking Noah to swim club.
So much to say. So much to catch up with you all about and fill in the blanks. Like who are both the boys teachers this year? How was their first week of school? Just all of it. Anyway let me back track a bit. The smock, it indeed got here for Branden way before his first day of school.
150cm. It said to order up 1 size on the website, so we did.
And a perfect fit. Made sure I got Branden's name all nicely on there. And even washed it before he took it to school on his first day.
Silly cheesy grin! Happy kid!!! ; )
So, back to the smock. That ink that stains had been really on my mind. Worried about any possibly future clothes staining incidents. And I finally decided to (hopefully) avoid all that. I sent Branden with an oversized black Hanes tee shirt (an old one of Noboru's). Plus the smock. This way, on the days they do actually do Japanese calligraphy, he can just slip on the black tee and then the smock afterwards and that should avoid any possible future stains. We will see. And I'll let you know how that all goes whenever they start with it, but they haven't started it yet. : )
You all know I'm a natural brunette. With very fair skin. However, I have gone red at times. And then gone back to my natural at other times. Anyway. I did buy another box of red hair color when I went to Guam, which I have not used btw. Anyway, I have not gone to the hair salon since October, right before Noah's undokai. And I usually go in February for a hair straightening. Only go to the salon twice a year, so not too bad. ; ) But I purposely did not go back in Feb. I think, I have been just trying to decide what to do with my hair. Keep it pin straight? Go back to being a brunette or keep the red. And yet I was NOT using that box of red hair dye. I think in my heart I knew I wanted to go back to being a brunette. At least for a while, maybe until the end of Summer. Anyway, I thought quite hard about it last week. Wavy and red or pin straight and chocolaty brown. Sigh. So, while buying my weekly groceries last week, I bought the ol' "go back to your natural brown" kit. And last weekend, I did just that. Talk about going back to your roots. ; ) Also, I called my hair salon and made an appointment for a hair straightening for this past Monday, (just a couple days ago) so on Monday after dropping off the boys at school. I went to my 9:30am appointment and had my hair straightened. That heavy duty thermal straightening. Where they blow it dry, chemical process, wash/dry and then flat iron it, then chemicals again then wash dry yet again and then blow dry, then a trim of my ends and flat iron yet again, phew! Sleek, straight Pantene commerical type hair yet again. And brown. I got a trim, just the dead ends and it's long. Long and straight. Anyway, my "hair do" for Spring and Summer is set now. And I'm glad I got the 3 plus hours of sitting in the chair over with. That LONG sitting time is why I dislike going to the salon so much, come on...3 hours is overkill.
Okay going back to last week. Before hitting my regular Cainz grocery. I stopped along the way to the local veggie store. This is not in my town but it's convenient for me. I needed flat lettuce for yakiniku.
All local eggs.
All local veggies.
Think along the lines of going to a Farmer's market type place. It's only open in the mornings much like farmers market are. Etc.
Then I headed to Cainz. Bought my weekly snacks for the boys. Chips and cookies and Popsicles in the tube. They also eat healthy snacks too, like celery peanut butters sticks, carrots dipped in ranch. But having some snacks like this for the boys available during the week and weekend is okay. On one hand I don't wanna over do it, but on the other hand I don't want my kids to ever grow up and say, gee we never got to have anything fun to eat.
Since I make a 6-7 day menu. And believe you me. I go through it back and forth. I make sure I have every bread I might need. Raisin English muffins for mornings. I love those. The French bread was for spaghetti the night we had that. Hamburger buns and hot dog buns for our BBQ. And etc. And I do go and rebuy bread and milk mid week, because we always seem to run out, go figure.
Meat for the week from Cainz. I also bought lean ground beef from the tiny mom and pop shop type butcher for the BBQ along the way home last Friday before I picked up the boys from school. But we always buy chicken, dark and white. Pork, beef. Shrimp, we don't just buy 1 kind of meat, we always are mixing it up. Variety.
I also always keep like a half of chicken breast in the freezer, in a "freezer safe" ziplock. That way in case we had something not really suitable for obento the next day, I can defrost the night before and make karaage with this or teriyaki, anything. There's always at least one sitting in the fridge. For Noah's obento. Right now I have these two.
I just ran out of green apple dish soap, though we have a big GE dishwasher, I find I will wash the odd pan here and there, or like Noah's school clay stuff from last week for example too. And needed some new dish soap, found this new kind. It's moisturizing and it smells divine. The neck holder for the kid alarm. Branden needed a new one. I was happy to find the strap one for only 95 yen. A school toothbrush for Branden, he needed a replacement. What needs replacing is always endless, isn't it? ; ) Ha ha ha.
A box of water. For lemonade, fruit punch. And for just plain water. : )
Veggies for the week. Big baking potatoes for the upcoming BBQ (we had Sunday). Tiny potatoes because they're cheaper for the curry we had. Avocado for the guacamole dip we ate while watching American Idol. Croutons for the salad this week. Cheaper karaage powder for an obento. Just knocked everything off my weekly list basically.
The lettuce for the yakiniku we'd be having, that I picked up at the farmer's market only 50 yen about 50 cents US per pack. Which is a fabuslous deal really. I also got a whole bunch of other groceries from Cainz. Making a list and checking it twice. Anyway I do this every week. And will be running to the grocery store to get my weekly stuff this coming Friday too. So, I will be tweaking my shopping list all this evening in bits when I find the time.
This pic was taken on Sunday. Branden, Keita-kun and Noah. They had chocolates, a bag of plain (salted) chips. And a few Popsicles. To be fair though, whenever Branden goes to his house, he always gets a good amount of snacks too.
At 5pm, after K-kun went home. We started the BBQ. Potatoes on the top level and yakiniku on the bottom level.
It was still light outside, I think you can see outside the window in this picture. It was a nice meal. A great Sunday family meal together!
Marinated meat and mushrooms and peppers. Lemonade and fruit punch to drink. The lettuce for wrapping your meat and rice with.
My meal from Sunday. veggies, rice, chicken, sauce for dunking and lettuce for wrapping. Also can't forget the hot buttery baked potato and lemonade. Plenty of chatter and as always lots of laughter. The boys took hot soapy showers and a soak in the tub with the hubster. Both Branden and Noah, watched a bit of TV and turned in early for school the next day. Noboru and I watched American Idol together.
Monday's obento for Noah. Leftovers rock! ; ) Noah brought, chargrilled yakiniku, rice and a steamed broccoli. 2 jellys and a banana. And can't forget the pokemon sprinkles for his rice. ; )
Monday afternoon the DVD's we rented got here. For April, we rented "Yes Man" with Jim Carey. And "The Rebound" With Catherine Zeta-Jones. We haven't seen either yet, we're saving them for this coming weekend. We have 2 others to pick for April.
Monday, we had planned to BBQ yet again. Which if you recall the grocery shopping run I took last Friday, we picked up the buns for that. Monday was an American BBQ night. With roasted hot dogs and chargrilled burgers. All the fixings chopped up.
And it rained some, Monday! However a plan is a plan! And we kept it. Hubby wore the same sweater because he didn't wanna get BBQ smell on another sweater. ; )
Such a great BBQ Monday night as well. Hmm, a BBQ two days in a row. So good. And to be fair, the meals were both so totally different, yakiniku one night and burgers the next. Didn't seem the same at all. We are BBQ crazy around here. : )
A very tasty Monday nights dinner My hot dog had everything. Ketchup, mustard, pickles sliced up tomato, onion, lettuce, this hot dog had everything. Same with the cheeseburgers. So...what have we been doing since last I blogged? Just a whole lot of family stuff as usual. Having fun around here.
Tuesday morning, fed both the boys breakfast. Sent B to school. And now it was time for obento. Went to the fridge and pulled out the leftovers. Pulled out a Costco dinner roll from the freezer. And got the Black Eyed Peas on my ipod....currently liking..."imma be" ; )
Warmd up the bread and burger.
And got to making the lunch. I know the sensei's are big on... is there enough veggie in the lunch. etc, etc. And I usually add it, but today, I didn't. He eats plenty of veggies anyway. One meal without wouldn't be the end of the world. ; ) So what was Noah's lunch for Tuesday? 1 chargrilled cheeseburger, smelled amazing btw. Fries. Peaches and 2 jelly's. 
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