Last week on Monday, with both Branden and Noah at school. Noboru and I started in on the Christmas decorations for the front of the house, getting all the lights on, etc. A pic is coming shortly, they're done and they look beautiful. That was quite a bit of work. And meanwhile I pulled out the winter, Christmas wreath for our front door, the same one that hangs every single year. And meanwhile packed away the....
Fall wreath got nicely packed away until next year also, caught a glimpse of the Spring and Summery warmer weather wreath the hydrangea one that we use every year too. I swear...I must be known as, wreath lady....in my neighborhood. ; )
What else....my MIL sent a care package to us. Well technically to me. It said....to Gina X. : ) From Mitsuko X. Same last name. : ) She sent the potato salad in a food bag too, same how she sent the chicken, but I spooned it into my own container, which is pictured. I thought that was so nice of her and thoughtful. That not only did I call her and thank her. But I also turned on my oven and....
I baked her some brownies with walnuts. Ziplocked them, packed them really well and ran myself to the post office and sent her a care package right back. She called me back when she received them and was pleasantly surprised too. She's coming to Chiba for Noah's Christmas recital soon.
What else....Noah needed some new long sleeve shirts. I went through Branden's old uniforms and found 2, in 120cm. I already sewed Noah's name on those. And I also went and ran and picked Noah a new long sleeve and a new red/white hat. And I also picked up Branden a new red/white hat for his marathon he had. I wanted him to have a brand new bright one for that....so I was glad I picked up a new one for B before his marathon.
I was happy to be able to reuse a few of Branden's long sleeves. Now they all have new names on the sleeves now.
Last Wednesday, after dropping off all our kids. Noriko-san, Jogo-san and I met at the movie theater to see the newest Harry Potter. The one in English started at 11am. So, we went to Mister Donut first. We all had 2 donuts and coffee each. I think Jogo-san had iced tea though, if my memory serves me correctly. : ) And the Jogo-san bought a few donuts for later. And I also bought some for Branden and Noah and the hubster for later as well.
There was a lot of crying towards the end of Harry Potter. After the movie let out...I went straight away to the yochien to pick up Noah and then to pick up Branden after that. My family enjoyed the donuts that I brought back.
What's this? We got a letter at the yochien. About the upcoming Christmas play, all the kids needed to bring...gym uniforms shorts and tights. It's a big thing this Christmas play. All the kids are practicing tons. The teachers are working hard with this as well, trying to make sure things go well. And so, I packed the gym shorts and tights. Started wondering...does that include the gym top too? I packed it...but I asked Noah's teacher before leaving the bag. I asked her if they needed the top too and she said no. So, I just pulled the top out of the bag and brought the top back home. Kids have been practicing a lot. I hear the oldest class, the blue badges are doing the Wizard of Oz play!!! I love the Wizard of Oz. And know the whole thing by heart so, I will be looking forward to seeing that. : ) 
This might look easy peasy to sew but considering it's on a sleeve and sewing things on sleeves are hard for me anyways, but then add the fact it's also on a teeny tiny pocket. It is a logistical freaking nightmare for me to sew a name tag on these! And yet I do and I try my best. : )
Saturday...2 loads outside drying. One load of clothes hanging. And if you look close you can see the start of some towels along the fence. That's one of the boys swim towels right there.
Fleecey blankets washed was my second load with towels. And I also washed up Branden's sneekers like I do every week and Noah's yochien shoes. PS....will be overjoyed when Noboru fills in the parts of grass he cut out because, the week before, I could not see since I was holding the blankets up high and it was sort of blocking or impairing my view a bit and as you guessed it. I tripped but caught myself so I didn't fall, just stumbling across the yard. But I must have looked like a total dork, wobbling with a big load of blankets. Steam poured out my ears. And I told Noboru, honey I will be so happy when you fill in those patches because I just nearly killed myself out there. He apologized but he also laughed. @_@ Hmm. ; )
Rice Krispie making time. Saturday evening, I had told the boys we could make rice krispie treats after dinner. And true to my word. We made them.
While I was busy melting half that box of butter and then melting marshmallows. Noboru was playing with the boys in the kitchen. : ) Could he tell which boys hand it was with his eyes closed? And such and such game. He likes to play with the boys a lot.
Both the boys helped flatten them out.
Noah did very well.
Hi sweet pea! : )
And done. So easy.
These were leftover from the night before. We made a huge batch of rice krispie treats.
Sunday afternoon. The boys playing together and the blankets meanwhile drying. Branden's blanket on the right, Noboru's and mine on the left. Noah's was done a few days earlier.
Sunday's dark load of wash hanging. One Denver Broncos shirt, a few pairs of Levi's. Noah's yochien navy blue uniforms. His PE ones were done the day before.
Sunday nights dinner.
And after dinner Sunday night. I steamed a batch of sweet potatoes. I usually steam a batch every Sunday or every other Sunday depending on how sick or not we are of them in the winter here in Japan. ; ) Leftover dinner on the right plate. And the last bit of rice krispie treats Sunday evening.
Tuesday...this Tuesday. December 7th was the elementary school marathon. It was such a freezing cold morning. I think you can see steam or fog in the sky. It was even worse then pictured. It was such a cold day. Visibility...not so good. I could not believe out of all the nice sun shiny days, the weather craps out on the day they run their marathon. Coldest day in a long time. And it was marathon day. Anyway....I had already made obento and run Noah to school, raced back to our town by 9am with time to spare for the marathon.
Does the guy holding the finish line look familiar? Does it sort of look like my husband? ; ) Yeah it does doesn't it! LOL. Our favorite sensei. Branden's sensei. The tiny one standing near Noboru. Kindly asked him if he could hold it for her. Who in their right mind would say no. : ) Right? So, of course he said....sure! I'd love to!!!! And so he did. Meanwhile I was on the opposite side. And chatted with a mom friend of mine... one of Branden's classmates mom.
The 3rd and 4th graders ready to run. 3rd graders in the red hats and 4th graders in the white hats. Look at that sky. Behind the kids. I tell ya.....if snow would have started sprinkling from the sky, I would not have been surprised in the least. It didn't of course, but you know what I mean.
Another grade looked on towards the right.
All the kids took off running. and then, someone shouted....a kid is injured. I knew it was not Branden because I just saw him run past me. I could hear the crowd murmuring...do you know who that is? No, I don't said someone (the schools so small how could they not though, is what I thought ; ). I looked and looked and when I got a closer look, I thought.,,OMG! Holy goodness that's our dearest "boy next door"....I have grandma next door's number. But not her keitei. Just the house number. What should I do...as I stand surrounded by rice fields, contemplating what to do. I felt it a duty to...go and ask if he's okay. K....are you okay honey? Do you want me to get a hold of your grandma? "I'm okay" he said. Man, I wish I could think of how to contact his mom. As a mother myself, I'd want to know if my kid was hurt. But then again...it didn't seem like a life threatening injury. So, don't want to be all gung ho and overreact and cause a panic either. And it looked just like a skinned knee. I wanted to think some too don't want to overreact either. And he did say he was okay when I asked. Okay then I told him. I'll just be standing over here then, okay? And he sat and a teacher was with him.
Branden just about to pass the finish line. Boy next door still in the background. Poor little guy. Later found out....boy next door's mom was holding a flag on the opposite side of the race track. And yes she did notice something a little odd. How come every kid she knew ran past her...including Branden. Branden told me she said...gambatte Branden-kun! Meanwhile she had wondered where her son was. : ( Little did she know he was off on our side of the track injured.
The bright side is, I jumped in to assist the "boy next door" I mean of course, he's our neighbor. And she meanwhile cheered on B on the other side of the track. Good neighbor. She is a good neighbor.
So after that marathon. We ran home. I said good bye to Noboru. I meanwhile ran to Cainz. Did our weekly shopping. Didn't have time to go home, so I went directly to the yochien to get Noah, then home, to unpack the food and detergent and weekly shopping things. And then from there I had Noah pack his swimming bag. And we left to pick up Branden. He got out at 3pm. Noah meanwhile started swimming at 3:15pm. I had to seriously make some tracks to get from Branden's school to the swim school. I stayed until 4;30pm. Found myself in the little boys dressing/locker room. Chatting with a pink badge mother from our yochien. About the upcoming Christmas play. She said Noah is doing really good. Meanwhile the kids came out. And we drove home. 5pm is when we finally got home. My gawd. I had been going full throttle since obento making, sending 2 kids to school, the marathon. The grocery store, picking up both kids and for what felt like an infinity of waiting at the swim school. I was very tired and very happy to be home. What was for dinner? Something simple. It had to be super duper simple. I was exhausted. I was tired. I turned on the oven and made 2 pepproni sandwiches (1 for B and 1 for me, this is too spicy for Noah) and 1 baked ham sandwich with mozzarella for Noah. Made some fries. Washed some lettuce for the sandwiches.
The kids ate. I ate. Noboru was eating at work. After dinner..threw the dishes in the dishwasher. And sent the boys to the shower. They came out. Put their pj's on. Branden luckily did his homework at the swim school waiting for Noah. So, the boys watched TV while I showered and soaked in the tub for a bit. I came out. We watched some TV together. Talked. And then I tucked them each in bed. After the kids went to sleep. I started the hot water pot. I had a nice hot cup of coffee and just sorta went ahhhh. I was now in relaxing mode. I emailed my dad good night. Channel surfed. And when Noboru came home, I was resting. We caught up with each other about our days. And he showered. Anyway that's a bit of what we've been up to lately! : )
Well that was weird. Hmm. I posted my Thanksgiving post yesterday around 10:15am yesterday and this morning when I woke up, it said PM? I didn't do that and I do not ever bump my posts, not ever. Unless I got the date wrong in the first place...such as I saved it from Monday and didn't publish until Wednesday type thing. Hmm, anyway very odd. I did put it back to AM. Let's see if it stays that way. So where was I? Oh yes I still have 2 posts to get up, the Noah's bake sale post and Branden's observation day one. But since I am a bit behind, I'm just going to lump the both of them together. Last Friday was the yochien bazaar and bake sale. It had been mentioned that they'd like me to bake the same cupcakes I baked for when Branden was in yochien. And last year I was set to bake them too, but we all came down with the swine flu. So this year it was. Friday morning, I woke up very early and baked the cupcake part. Let them cool while I made the kids some breakfast. And then after sending Branden to school, I started frosting them.
I originally bought the bags on the left. But Noboru told me, I had bought the wrong bags? That I needed the stiffer and more crunchy type bags. @_@ So, while last week I was busy with Thanksgiving prep. I was also on a bag hunt, ribbon buy and paper plate buy. No wonder my blog didn't make a peep last week. ; )
I bought 2 spools of ribbon because I recalled running out last time and I was glad I bought a backup then too. That ribbon on top... the plain pink one was sort of a cheat because it looked like it had tons of ribbon on it, but it had barely any. Good thing I bought the one with the hearts too. Or I would have run out.
I made 7 bags of cupcakes total.
Decorated with silver little ball type decorations but on the pink they look more like pearls. Very pretty.
Heart ribbons.
Plain pink ribbon ones. I dressed Noah, meanwhile I slapped on some clothes, no makeup. And we drove to the school, every one's stuff was due at 9-9:30am last Friday. So, I arrived at 9:10am-ish. Got Noah into class. I also gave a smaller bag, a bag of 2 cupcakes to Noah's teacher and she loved getting them! : ) My dad and I walked upstairs, we each carried a tray up the stairs...gently...gently. : ) Everyone ohhhed and ahhed. And I blushed and left. My dad and I came home. I did laundry. We relaxed. Watched CNN. And since the bazaar started last Friday at 1pm. We headed over there around 12:10pm. Parked the car. A bunch of people also were waiting. We waited in the car until about 12:35 or so. And then we slowly walked into the school and up the stairs. There was a line forming. And we were about 7th in line or around there. Noboru also showed up around 1pm on his motorcycle. He wanted to check things out. Before heading off to work. He bought a new mini handheld vacuum, sort of like a Dustbuster type a thing for 300 yen, he says he'll use it to vacuum out our cars. And some packaged instant noodles and a few other things.
As you can see by the price sticker....250 yen for the cupcakes. Seven total I brought. The 8th one for Noah's teacher I did not count. When I got upstairs when it started at 1pm....there were only 5 of my cupcake bags. 2 people reserved them before the bake sale. I know the Jogo-san reserved and wanted one, she told me. But the other one, I don't know. Within about 8 minutes of the bake sale opening up, this was the last pack left. And it was sold too. Right after I took the picture. So they did not last very long. But...it was for a good cause. And I'm glad I participated. : )I bought many baked goods the other mothers baked too. And so many of the other mother's stuff sold out just as quickly. In fact...I think all the bake sale stuff sold out within 20 minutes total. Just the ...bazaar and craft stuff was still selling by the time we left. And that beautiful cookie tree to the right, my good friend Namiki-san made that. I think she did a really amazing job. : )
Lots of people. Noboru is standing to the left of the clock in the back.
My dad bought the baked goods on the left. And I bought some handmade sewing things that I thought were really pretty and some baked things too.
Homemade melon pan. These ladies can really cook! : ) The tulip tissue case, I loved and at 50yen, such a good buy. And the handmade yochien obento set, 500 yen! Very awesome deals, we found.
Friday, after the bake sale ended it was time to bring home Noah. So, my dad, Noah and I drove home happily. We had done a lot last week and managed to get all the Thanksgiving cooking done. Celebrate Thanksgiving. Bake the cupcakes, done and done. And then it was the weekend. We were like yay! Last Friday anyway. : ) Branden still had observation day the next day. But we knew we just had to stand basically and watch. That's the easy part. : ) We picked up B, Friday after school and we all sorta just enjoyed.
Last Saturday...Branden's observation day. Everyone had been making handmade clay magnets. They've been working on them for a week. Branden has been giving me mini updates about them so it was finally nice to see them. Branden said...I made a ring for you! So, that is a ring on the left bottom. ; ) He also made a carrot, a grape soda with ice. And a pokemon ball thing.
This classes shuji has really gotten better this year. Improved quite a bit since the beginning of the school year. Branden's is the far right bottom.
My dad has never been inside a real Japanese elementary school before. And so it was very nice for him to get to see, Branden's class art projects (clay magnets) they all did. To see their shuji. And this here...are pics printed out on paper of their last ensoku/field trip. My dad said...they do basically the same stuff they do in an American school, just slightly different. And I agreed, yep...pretty much the same stuff. Branden went to a sake factory and shoyu factory with his class. And when I was growing up in the US, my class went to the Keebler (cookie and cracker) factory. : ) And for the record we didn't see an elf in sight. : )
My dad saw all the pictures like this one of Branden smiling with his class.
Or when they were eating.
And then the bell rang and it was time for us parents to go inside the classroom. That's Branden's teacher at the board. I really really like this teacher. I think she is a fantastic teacher. She doesn't put up with any crap in her class. And she shouldn't have to. As long as you're a good student and do your work, you'll get along famously with her. Branden and her get along really well. I actually prefer her over the Yuka-sensei. And we really liked the Yuka-sensei too.
Branden doing his worksheet. Today's class was talking about morals. What is the right thing to do in such and such situation and the wrong thing. I listened and then whispered what was happening to my dad a few times so he wasn't totally just left out of the loop. My dad left the school thinking wow....what a really cool school Branden goes to. I'm really glad my dad got a chance to go.
We went home, the observation day ended around 11am. We all had lunch. Turkey sandwiches yet again. : ) And chips. And the last of the pie. We all talked and chatted and I prepped for turkey noodle casserole, that's we'd be eating for later that night. the boys were out front with their friends playing. And around 3:30pm we headed to the airport. My dad's flight was at 7pm. We wanted him to get checked in and settled near his gate. That's my dad checking in. A bit blurry.
And not on zoom. I was standing way over here.
He hugged and cuddled Noah goodbye. And Noah giggled and laughed. And hugged him tightly.
He said...Branden...you are growing so big but I will always try to carry you. So, my dad stood there trying his best to pick up B. Branden feeling the love, so he laughed and smiled.
And then he checked in and went through the screening. Both Branden and Noah shouted....I love you grandpa!!!! My dad waved. And Noboru and I waved.
And now making our way out of Narita airport and to our MPV and home to our turkey noodle casserole. @_@ By this time...we were just about tired of turkey. Not yet, but almost there. : )Anyway that was my dad's visit we had. And the bake sale and the observation we had. : ) Have a great weekend everyone. : )
Exactly a week late, but hey...better late then never as they say! : ) The pies on stand-by on the green counter. And the food making it's way onto the table. By the way in America, kids have a 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving holiday. We are off school Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday, and for Saturday and Sunday of course, so Thanksgiving is always a nice relaxing holiday. However in Japan, it's business as usual for Japan except for us in our home. Noboru gave me the option of pulling the kids from school. But I send them anway because they will be missing a few days in December when we go away. So they went to school Thanksgiving Thursday but we did pull them from Kumon and swimming that day. So as soon as they each got out of school, we all were home, all 5 of us. We ate at 4pm.
Thanksgiving table runner. And food a plenty.
Let me see if I can say what is seen here. A big salad, croutons, salad dressings, mikans. Green beans. Turkey. And 1 pie, the other stood on the green counter.
Now on the opposite side of the table we had another plate of green beans, different types of dinner rolls. Hawaiian type rolls, regular yeasty dinner rolls and a few other types. Black olives, gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing. whole cranberries and drinks.
My serving! And I skipped breakfast and lunch that day and believe me, I was STARVING by the time we ate. : )
Thanksgivings at our house are always very casual. No need to dress up and wear constricting clothes on a day when you should be wearing the comfiest. : ) In this pic, my dad wearing his comfy Converse long sleeve tee and navy blue sweatpants. Noah wearing his comfy house shirt and gray sweatpants.
Noboru wearing his light blue tee and gray sweatpants and B wearing his red Uniqlo shirt and gray sweatpants. I was wearing gray yoga pants and a black top that said...Old Navy on it. Not a stitch of makeup. A pony tail. And we were as happy as clams here, last Thursday! We were here for the food and for giving thanks and being together as a family...not a fashion show. : ) We started with a prayer, my dad did that. And then as is tradition for our house, we all went from person to person and said what we were each thankful for. And then we dug right in. We talked and ate and ate and ate and talked. By the time our meal was over we were all thankful to be wearing clothes that had elastic waist bands in them. LOL. We all jumped in for clean up. So Thanksgiving clean up was a snap.
And then we all enjoyed the pie, in the living room. We watched The Thanksgiving Peanuts cartoon we have on dvd. And then we watched a dvd we rented. It was a very comfortable Thanksgiving. No stress. Just relaxed and enjoyed it. Thankful to be healthy, thankful to be with family. And just being thankful in general. : )
I'm not sure if it's just me. But I start thinking about all the leftovers before the poor birds out of the oven! Ha ha ha. Needless to say, we ate so many turkey sandwiches, with swiss cheese and also mozzarella. We even had enough leftovers to have turkey noodle casserole Saturday night. From a recipe I got off Martha Stewart's website last year and printed it out, but didn't get around to trying it until this year go figure! : ) Anyway that was how we spent our very low key, but very wonderful Thanksgiving here at home in Chiba Japan this year. : )
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