Bits and Pieces...

Hi you guys! Wow, I can't believe this post has been sitting in my draft section for over a week! I have been so busy! Good busy though. Meeting my girl friends for lunch and some Starbucks. Purchasing and ordering Bran's high school uniform! And lots more.  And also enjoying life. But yep...wowsa! I better post this post right here... before this stuff gets way too old and crusty. Haha. : )  Remember that night that we took Branden and the family for a celebration dinner for Bran for "getting into" high school? Well...this happened on the same night. Since we were at the Narita Aeon mall. For Italian dinner anyways. We stopped at ABC Mart to look for a pair of sneakers for Noah there. They didn't have anything we liked there this time. But we did find a nice pair we all liked at Sports Authority. So, Noah got this cool navy blue pair of Adidas.

Yep, Adidas box inside and yep...from the Sports Authority!

These are so cute. In Japan, at Japanese elementary schools. You can't wear flip flops. You can't wear Crocs. You can't wear boots. Like ankle boots or Uggs. You have to wear sneakers. In America you can wear any ol' shoe you'd like. But here...it has to be a sneaker. So Noah always has at least 2 pair of like... running sneakers, ykwim. And he uses these for school. 

Is this a lot of prescription grade cream for dry skin or what? As ya'll know, Noah has extremely dry skin in the winter time. Like superly dry. We have an amazing doctor right down the street from where we live. His clinic/doctors office is right in our housing community. He (the doc) and his wife is the nurse. They are elderly and they go to Hawaii once a year. They are very nice. And very helpful. It's about a 1-2 minute walk from our home..right down the pedestrian only paths/walkways. And we have gone there ever since we have lived in our town. He's known Noah since Noah was 7 or 8 months old. So he has literally watched our kids grow throughout the years. And he knows that Noah suffers dry skin. And so he always gives Noah tons of this cream. The ones in the pot are for Noah's face or severe dry parts and the other in the pink tube is also prescription strength and they both seem to help Noah tons and so he gives Noah a huge amount of these every start of Fall and every January. And when Noah is even riding his bike past their clinic he will go outside and ask Noah..."do you need anymore cream?" Or his wife/the nurse will ask Noah too if they see Noah riding his bike or playing tennis, our housing community's tennis courts are right near his office. : ) They are so kind to our family. Very kind! : ) And he's very generous with giving our family meds and ointments always. They're awesome. And we're so happy we have a fabulous doctor right down the street. Their house where they live is also in our housing community too. They love America and love visiting Hawaii yearly like I said and so they're always super nice to our family. When we first met them years ago they were thrilled to lean Bran was born in Hawaii. Aww, they're so cool. : )

They gave us more than 10 tubes which is why she opened the box and packed a few extra tubes in there. : )

Also Old Navy left Japan. There is now no more Old Navy for us in Japan. I'm lucky in that... I have family to mail and forward us a package. Or that we can go to the states and can buy directly there too. But...sorta sad they left Japan. : (  We did go to the final sale days. And nope...we didn't buy anything at all... they were wiped out/sold out of most everything. I'm glad I still got to go and check though at least. 

The day, I was in Tsukuba Japan looking at the final//closing sale of Old Navy. I also went to Costco Tsukuba. Why? Because I wanted to buy 1 thing. A small turkey. Just for sandwiches. Delicious amazing sandwiches. But yep...I'm so lucky and grateful for my Costco membership. I'd say about most...98% of my foreign friends here in Japan do have Costco memberships. That way they can get...things from "home." Tastes from home helps.  I do live in Japan. I love Japan. I love my Japanese husband. And with 14 years experience of living in Japan under my belt. I accept I am not Japanese. And I'm not ever going to be Japanese. And it's not the food I was raised with. And so I eat like an American. And yes I do eat Japanese food about 3-4 times a week. But...I never DENY who I am. I'm American. And I eat food from all countries. I go out and enjoy Indian or Italian. Or Mexican. And that's what Americans do really....we enjoy foods from all over. I can appreciate Japanese food yes. But...my tastebuds were formed with living in the US. And I'm not embarrassed or ashamed by it either. So yes...plenty of healthy roasted delicious turkey sandwiches were on our menu. Yum. : )

I have kids in the house and so I try to make dessert for the family twice a week. I made a batch of oatmeal cookies with raisins. These are so good. 

I also made a tray of enchiladas. These are amazing. : )

About 2 weeks ago, no...about 3 weeks ago Noah and I made some Rice Krispie treats. Branden was studying for his high school entrance exam. So yep about 3 weeks ago. My kids love rice krispie treats so much and oddly...Noboru LOVES these too. : ) 

Yep we made a double batch. It's fun...when you have kids in the house. There's always laughter. And something fun going on. : )

Sunday dinner. A beautiful tender pot roast. Some mashed potatoes from scratch some brown gravy and green beans. Who doesn't look forward to a hearty delicious dinner like this. : ) I think my first 5 years when I first started living in Japan and was still a newb...pretty much. I tried to make Japanese for dinner every night. I tried to change and alter my taste buds and tongue that was set when I was a child. I was lucky in that I had senpai American women who had knowledge and more years in Japan than I did. And one told me..."you know... you don't have to change who you are... just because you live here...you can make Japanese food and also make American too" You decide for that day or week. What you feel like eating. And she said..."if he wanted a Japanese wife, he would have married one. He wanted and chose you...an American" And a light bulb went on. And I thanked her. Again she was here longer and way way way more experienced.... while I was just a newb. And I thought. She's exactly right. And so...ever since. I cook for our mood. If our family feels like eating Japanese for the week or Chinese like subuta or something we do. If we feel like an all American meatloaf. We make that too. 

Making my turkey rub. Black pepper, salt and other seasonings.

Rubbed it under the skin and on top of the skin and wrapped this sucker in tin foil really tightly. I baked this on a Sunday a few weeks back. So the kids could take turkey sammys all week for lunch. They took them just...Monday through Wednesday but wow...they loved them. I enjoyed the turkey sandwiches for my own lunch here at home too. : ) 

This came out so tender and so delicious. 

I sliced up all the white meat and all the dark meat. And that made making a sandwich super easy.

Making some sandwiches to pack up in their school lunch box. I also packed up mikan and macaroni salad too. 

Baked ziti happened too. Everything here bought in Japan. These rigatoni noodles are just 99 yen at Hanamasa. It's a delicious hearty baked Italian dish. 

My family really loves my baked Italian dishes a lot. I look forward to them too.

In Japan a lot of buzz has been all over this peel. The word peel sounds so harsh doesn't it? Like big huge pieces of your flesh just peel and flop right off. LOL. I see no peeling. It doesn't burn or tingle. It just gives you a clear complexion and is supposed to be wonderful for anti- aging too. This is available every place in Japan from Matsumoto Kiyoshi to Welcia. Drugstores.I wanted to try it, so I purchased a bottle. I must point out 2 things. It's pricey. Like $50 bucks, 5,000 yen pricey. However the bottle is enormous. Will last me a year....I imagine.

I have been on an eyebrow kick. And according to the the Japanese Cosme website I read. These 2 eyebrow mascaras are the top of the bunch for Japanese women. What do I think? I think they're good. However...I think the brown color is a match but the tone is wrong for me. Meaning. These run warm versus cool. Meaning lean towards reddish brown. Versus ashy brown. And I need ashy brown. So these are great. But...I will stick to my..Rimmel eyebrow mascara I buy in the US or my Anastasia Beverly Hills brow mascara in brunette because it is an ashy brown color. Yes the wand is bigger than I like/prefer... on the ABH one... but the color is a dead on match for me. 

The directions and the lady at the drugstore told me to soak a cotton round with this...and then use the cotton pad and wipe my face with it. However...I feel the cotton pad soaked up 99% of the product and considering the price 5,000 yen. I don't want my cotton round to soak up the product, so I pump...just 1 pump on my hand and pat all over my face. I get 100% of the product that way and 1 pump is plenty for my entire face. Since I am not using a cotton round...this 180ml bottle or however big it is... should last me 1 year at least. Do...I like this peel? I do like it. I am wondering though...if it is as good as the vitamin C thing I have been using though for years. I am still deciding. Because the vitamin C thing I am using... is holy grail status for me. So...I will let you know. If I would repurchase this or not. but yep...so far so good. 

We bought these bath powders when we were in the natural hot springs area in Hakone. Hakone is one of the best hot springs area we have ever been to in Japan. Though Japan does have amazing hot springs all over Japan in many regions. They are so famous for their amazing healing waters. And our hotel we stayed at... also has pure real hot springs water in their soaking tubs and rotenburo. In fact...I think every hotel on Hakone mountain has the luck of their establishments being able to use the hot springs water...their whole mountain is so plentiful with it. : ) We bought these bath powders while in Hakone in the scent green tea and wine. They smell amazing. : ) 

Has anyone seen these? When Noboru first saw these, the first thing he said was he was reminded of Krispy Kreme when he saw the packaging. And then when Branden came home from school he said...these remind him of Krispy Kreme. I wondered what is it that reminds them of Krispy Kreme? Maybe the green colors. These are filled *very* generously with custard by the way. Would we repurchase these again? Yep! Not as an everyday food of course, but as a treat? Sure! : ) 

Turkey sandwich and apples. Just a random lunch pic that I pack for the boys, Branden always takes 2 sandwiches and Noah always just brings 1. : )

What have I been watching on TV lately? Well keep in mind this stuff is from 3 weeks ago? Law and Order SVU is as good as always!

I like this guy, his character is fair and good.

I also LOVE the new show called Emerald City! It is based from the books and the movie from the Wizard of Oz. It is a fantastic show. I look forward to watching this every week. It's been on for about 6 weeks so far. It's hugely popular in America. And my friend in the UK told me by email a few days ago, she is getting this show starting this week! So...yeah if you get the chance to watch. Enjoy it. It's so good. For those in the US, this news is old news. If you are living in a country that gets this show delayed... then maybe don't read any further. As there could possibly be a spoiler. But...right in this picture... here are 2 best friends. The one on the left thought she was a boy, but she was really a girl. Someone was giving her medicine but it reality it...the medicine... was changing her from a girl to a boy. And on the right. That turns out to be the Tin Man. And I won't go into detail how that happens. 

These palace guards are looking for Dorothy. The wizard sent them to go and find whoever landed in Oz and kill whoever it is. And notice how in America...everything says...live Tweet. Now days every show is asking you to tweet along while you watch. : ) 

This is the Wizard and his helpers. Of course we all know the Wizard is just a scam artist from...the regular world and not a real wizard and not from Oz. Yes he's a bad guy. 

She right here... is very smart and helps the wizard. 

The witches...

I have also been loving the new show called The Mick. It's so funny.

See the little boys tongue is wrapped up? The older brother also pictured...told the younger brother while at Benihana to place his tongue on the big cooking area...table in the middle... where the chef cooks right in front of you and he did. @_@

The is the auntie on the show called The Mick.

I have been also loving the Blacklist too, as usual. This new season is amazeballs!

Elizabeth had to infiltrate an all girl group....

The Blacklist is getting so good. And so is Bones!

Back to Emerald City...this is from another week. This is Glinda the Good Witch played by... the amazing Joely Richardson. But honestly I don't think she's a good witch in this show at all. And that's Tip, the girl who thought she was a boy and is now fine being a girl. West and Glinda both wanted Tip. To train her. Tip picked West. They do just call her...simply just... West. Not like...The Wicked Witch of the West. I think all 3 witches are bad. And the first episode...Dorothy did kill one of the witches... East on accident. This show Emerald City is dark and weird and fun. And you do fall in love with the characters. And honestly at the end of each show...I can't wait for the next week to see what happens next! And that's the sign you are watching an excellent show! If you can barely wait for the next episode. : )  

This is Dorothy. Major spoiler paragraph coming right now. Read if you want, avoid if you want. She was a nurse. She was abandoned by her real mother and left as an infant on the door step of the folks who raised her...Aunt Em and uncle Henry. She does know who her birth mother is. And the night of the tornado, she went to her birth mothers trailer. A man was lying dead in her mom's trailer on the floor and her mom unconscious in the cellar. Dorothy tried to wake her and she did speak a bit. She told Dorothy to run away ASAP and said Dorothy was in some kind of danger. Just then, a cop appeared in a cop car and drew his weapon on Dorothy, then he was sucked away by the tornado. The tornado sucked him up and he did have his weapon on Dorothy though she did nothing wrong. Other than just arrive at her birth mothers house... first time ever and was just surprised by all this. Anyway the tornado came and she jumped in the police car for safety and the tornado whisked Dorothy inside the cop car away by the tornado and so the cop car crashed into East. And oddly East was not killed. East tried to murder Dorothy a day later. And East ended up shooting herself with the cops gun that Dorothy had with her and yes that's why Dorothy is wearing a cop jacket. And she got the jacket and the gun for safety in the cops trunk before she started her journey in Oz. Dorothy did semi-sorta trick East into shooting herself...but honestly East was going to kill her and would have... if given the chance.

Yep he became the Tin Man alright. With fake/mechanical heart too. He's very nice and very kind. The Tin Man has not seen Tip in a few episodes and Tip has not seen him either. They were such good friends. Tip actually thinks the Tin Man guy is dead. : (  

In short what have I been enjoying on TV? Bones, Law and Order SVU. The Mick. Emerald City. Just lots of good things. Oh and the Blacklist.: )

Beaches remake. In short...what a dud! 

Hillary Whitney in bed at the beach house. 

Idina Menzel is a good singer. She really is! But on the other hand. Nobody can compare to the divine Miss M. Nobody can belt out a tune better than Bette Midler. It's like somebody trying to remake a Whitney Houston song. You know what I mean. There are some singers in this world...that you just shouldn't try and top or remake their songs...ever! When Idina remade Wind Beneath my Wings. It was okay. But come on...nobody can top Bette's version. And no...it didn't hold a candle to Bette's original version. And the movie itself. Meh. They left out huge parts. They left out Bette Midlers mom. They left out...at the beginning when Bette Midler was auditioning against that girl that walked on her hands. Completely didn't happen in the remake. They left out Whiteney's aunt Vesta? Was that her name? Nope...the new version Hillary Whitney had a nanny and Bette didn't walk her back to the hotel and they didn't have icecream sundaes, all of that was erased and changed. @_@ They switched and changed so much. It just fell totally flat. It was hard to fall in love with the characters when... so much meat was taken out of the story. Remember when Bette was wearing a mouse costume singing telegrams? And met her future serious boyfriend? Didn't happen in this one at all either. She met her future guy at a Bar Mitzvah. I mean...they changed and altered it so much. Too much. It was like...not even Beaches anymore...or at least not the Beaches that everybody loves. And remember at the end after Hillary dies and they show Bette and the girl at the funeral and Wind Beneath my Wings is playing in the background and it's this major sad part of the movie right? Nope no funeral scene at all. Just so much was taken out. By the time the movie ended... I was like...what in the heck was that? On a scale from 1-5? It gets a 1.  

Hillary Whitney in bed. 

So..if you are wishing you could have caught this? Don't. You didn't miss much. This was a real stinker. : ( 

Lunch date with my husband happened. We still go on our once a week lunch dates. 

And Noah is still cooking and baking twice a month at his elementary school. This day they were making pizza. He was asked to bring some ham as one of the toppings they had. Some kids brought green peppers, onions. And all sorts of stuff. : ) 

Throwback Thursday...

Today's TBT is a nod to January 2009! And what my 2 boys were up to on a day way back then! Branden at our local town elementary school. On this day the elderly volunteers came to visit Branden's class and teach the younger generation how they played during the old days! Using what they had on hand to make their own "toys" or things to play with. Here they had 2 huge tin cans with ropes and they...from what they said, used to walk around with their homemade version of stilts. The older generation showed the kids how they did it and they taught them and had the younger kids play! The genius was....that the younger kids of today actually really loved the toys of yesterday. The huge tin cans with ropes....oh Branden and his classmates walked all over with these. And it gave such a twinkle in the eyes of the older guys! Probably remembering fondly their older days too! As for me...I enjoyed watching our amazing school...include the elderly from our town. And respect that they have a lot to teach the younger kids of today! There was also a group of elderly ladies and they taught their version of the game...the cats cradle and also various clapping games. The boys tried those things too and the senior guys had a few other play things too... for the kids to try.

Wednesday, Noah had just finished getting a haircut. Half day at school. And we picked each of the boys up a donut. We were at the little city nearest us. Noah holding daddy's hand as they walked. : )

Love you Noah! : )

Today is Thursday and how are things? Awesome! It has been colder than heck though! Below freezing for the past...week. I went to Costco yesterday for essentials. I also went to Gap in Inzai and they had a REALLY great sale at Kids Gap and I bought Noah 2 new sweatshirts. My dad is in Denver right now. He flew there Tuesday from Guam. Then to Narita. Then to MN and finally on to Denver. He flew first class the entire flight and he told me when he arrived in Denver. That the flat bed seats for the long haul international flights are so comfy. And he loved them! : ) Aww! : ) He is lucky that... his son in law works for an airline. I am always happy to hook my dad up like that. Anytime...anytime! : )

A Guam trip is coming up soon for me. Why? Such as the life of an expat. Having to stock up on foods from "home" of course. : )  Anyway have a great Thursday. The weekend is almost here! Right on! : )

Oh...did anyone see the Beaches remake on the Lifetime channel? I did! I loved the original one with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. But this remake was a total stink bomb! It was horrible to watch. Didn't even come close to comparing to the original. So much was left out. I am loving the new show called Emerald City though! It's good. And I am also really loving the Blacklist lately too. And the new show called The Mick is hilarious. : ) 

Dinner tonight is going to be rotisserie chicken taquitos and homemade refried beans and spanish rice. Everything is 100% homemade from scratch and it's going to be so good! And I already logged my 10,000 steps on my treadmill first thing this morning. Alright have a lovely Thursday everyone. ! : )

Branden's celebration dinner...

Preparing for Branden's high school entrance exam. That already happened and he got in, but I think for those of you with younger kiddos than Branden, this information could be useful. In Japan kids are only guaranteed an education until the end of middle school. High school is much like university or college in the US, in the fact you must apply and the schools decides if they want to accept you or not. This is an *extremely* stressful time for JHS kids in Japan. I once read one time... on a blog by a foreign mom that she thought Japanese JHS was "soul sucking" You know meaning...sucks the life right out of you. And I would have to say, I agree with that statement 100%. Also know there are private high schools and public high schools. Also in Japan high schools are ranked. There are actual websites for Chiba prefecture at least... that show, this school is the #1 ranked best high school with the smartest kids and test scores. All the way down to the worst high school with the worst test scores in all of Chiba prefecture. I am sure other prefectures have such an online list too. So public school or private school really depends on...is it a good school? Are there goods kids going there or bad kids? Horrible test scores? Best test scores? There are also high schools that steer your kid a certain way. Meaning there is a baking high school in Chiba because my friends daughter went there. The "Professor" for example is going to a science type of high school that will be focusing on science and that is because he wants to be a doctor and most super smart kids... hoping to be doctors in the future who live in Chiba will want or aim for that school. It really just depends on your kid. Your kids test scores. We're lucky in the fact that we live bordering Chiba and Ibaraki. And because Bran has a...what in Japan considers a "special skill" meaning his English is good enough to be in the English program. So he can go to a school....even out of his prefecture. So his choices were between 2 prefectures. And from there... we just researched which high school focusing on English was the best. Nicest teachers. Seems fun. High test scores. Meaning good kids. We don't want Bran in a school of thugs, iykwim. So we found a very nice ranked school. And it met all our requirements. Also another factor is cost. Public high schools are free for the most part and private school costs. And it can be a bargain cheaper private school... all the way to a fancy private school. So cost is also a factor too. And like I said... there are study books for each school. We bought ours.. for the school Bran was aiming for... from Amazon.jp. But they're also at local bookstores too. For example...if your kid is hoping to get into John F Kennedy high school...just for example. There will be an actual JFK high school book with all the entrance exam test questions for the last 5-6 years. That is SUPER helpful because it helped Branden know...and us know...the school seems to always ask math questions like THIS. Or this school seems to always ask English questions like THAT. This helps you prepare! You could see some sort of pattern after a while. And Branden would go through that booklet and test himself and Noboru would mix up year 26 and 27 (Japanese years) and Branden would answer them. And if Branden got 1 wrong Noboru would go through it with Branden. So while I am not an advice giver usually. I would say...buy the study book for whatever school your kid hopes to get into. Also interview...everyone gets an interview. Even with a principal recommendation they still had an interview. The positive is...there are also interview books to buy specially for JHS kids about to take their entrance into high school. This was so helpful. Noboru told Branden...those poor interviewers are probably so sick of the same...robotic answers! Word for word... from these interview books. So he said...study the books be prepared for the question yes *but*...give an original answer! Be an original. Give an answer they haven't heard for that day 9 thousand times already! And I agreed. So Branden went and knew every question...possible question and he knew his own original answer... for every question. Also last year 1 girl from our JHS took the test for Bran's high school and she got in, she will be an 11th grader when Bran starts. Our JHS had her write down all the questions she got during her interview. And they also photo copied her test questions from last year (they did block out her name for her privacy). Our JHS gave a photo copy to Branden since he was trying for the same school except 1 year after. And they did the same for Bran too. They had Bran bring his year 2017 test questions in for the entrance exam, which they photo copied and they had Branden write down his 3 questions that this specific high school asked of him. And then whoever...in the future tries for this high school they will be getting Branden's photo copy of test questions. And interview questions. It's just our JHS tries to help this way, which is so nice. The high school before the entrance exam day...sent us and everyone a letter... it said what to bring. It said...bring a few HB pencils. Same for us in America they won't let us take exams without a #2 pencil because the machines won't read them otherwise. And the note said to bring an eraser and pencil sharpener and a watch. The note also said to bring your own obento/lunch. There would be none offered and the drink machines would be turned off... so to bring your own drink too. I bought the HB pencils from Yacs drugstore. And the rest of the things came from the Daiso. Because Branden uses mechanical pencils... for regular school life. We also dry cleaned his JHS uniform during winter break. And I also bought a lint brush for 100 yen from the Daiso. So he could de-lint the morning of test day.  

He has his regular Mono eraser, this brand is so popular for kids in Japan. But, I also bought some mini Mono erasers too before his big test. I guess I kept thinking, what if he lost one on test day? Also, our JHS said to not have name stickers on anything during the entrance exam because they (the test guards/officials) could wonder what the sticker says and even if they went to look and it's nothing it could look bad. So our particular JHS urged no name stickers on entrance exam test day. So, I made sure to send Bran with these 3 pencils, I also threw in an extra of Noah's pencils (a Qoo one)...so Bran took 4 HB pencils. 3 Mono erasers. I put pencil caps on the pencils and the pencils were sharpened by our big sharpener at home. But he did take the mini one in case the lead broke. Branden has a GAP watch. Noah has a cool orange watch. And I would have been happy to lend him my Rolex. He's mine son so of course I would lend it to him. But...I figured for the test...it's best to send him with a plain black Daiso cheapie. Therefore nobody has to wonder...if the GAP logo is some sort of hidden math formula or anything... plus his GAP watch has a beetle design and it could make someone come and look and I didn't want that, so plain was best. Yes he'll probably never use the plain black test watch again... but it suited the day of the test and that's all what matters. 

JHS belts are best to buy at Pasceos. They are usually 980 yen. I bought Branden a new belt from there... every April, start of the new school year. However...his belt looked like it could use a replacing...and given the entrance exam was such a huge day. I went back to Pasceos right after New year's and was shocked to see it... THIS cheap. 980 yen. Yep, a fair cheap price for a school belt. But 499 yen? Holy smokes what a great deal. The belts and the whole store was on a huge New year's sale. And I was happy to score such a fantastic bargain. 

One nice new black belt. And he was ready. 

The day before Bran's exam his teacher gave the kids testing first.... some "good luck on your entrance exams" Kit Kats. I am quite fond of Branden's JHS teacher. I think she is amazing! Best teacher ever ever ever!!! But this...just made Branden so happy and me too. I thought...what a kind gesture. And she did that.. too for the larger group testing later in the week too. She is very thoughtful. Anyways....being American and having only ever gone to school in America, my experiences are American experiences. However having 2 kids in Japan. I can say...I find Japanese yochien very fun for kids and for me too. I enjoyed meeting "mom friends" and I have them as friends even to this day. Best nicest ladies ever. I find Japanese elementary school really nice too. My kids loved Japanese elementary school. Our elementary school in particular is so fun. They cook. They sew. They go on many field trips. They go hunting crawdads/crayfish. They collect pine cones in winter and make Christmas trees out of them and paint and decorate them. They decorate Christmas cake. And do all sorts of fun stuff. In fact Noah is on a class field trip right now as I type this. I found Japanese JHS on the other hand...*extremely* stressful for my son. He studied every second of his life while being in JHS. And that final 9th grade year. He studied more his 9th grade year... then he studied in the 7th and 8th grade combined. And that says a lot... because he studied tons in 7th and 8th grade too. And I hear this high school we picked is FUN. The 12th graders right now...50% of the current 12th graders are...either hafu, total foreigners, returnees (Japanese who lived in an English speaking country longer than 3 years)...Branden is going to enjoy going to this high school because he will be going to a good school with such an open minded diverse bunch of kids. So Branden's high school years are going to be fun. He's so lucky. 

How do you know if you made it? It seems the norm for all the different high schools Bran's classmates applied for...you will find out in 2 days. And how you will know... depends on the school. The "Professor's" school he applied for..he could find out via online. And our school. Bran applied for, they would mail the acceptance letter to our house and they would also mail something to the Junior high school too. However, Branden knew before I did. The high school Bran will be going to...called Bran's JHS and told them...he got in... when Bran was in 2nd period. They called Bran out of class and told him. But they said not to tell anyone. But he was beaming all day. I didn't know until the letter reached my house. And I did make this sign. Yes...meaning... yes you got in! I had it in my car. I was so excited. 

I was trying to read a magazine but I was too excited...so I kept reading the same crazy sentence again and again. Until I just put my magazine away. 

If other kids would have been walking, I would have kept the sign on the seat as to keep it on the down low...and not show other folks. But as luck would have it...Branden came out about 10 minutes earlier than the rest...he and the professor but the professor goes another route and wasn't near where I was parked and...nobody else was walking at all. So, I placed it in my front window. And he already knew but he smiled. And he said..."I knew since this morning." He also said..."thanks for the sign." : ) Awww. Love you kid! To the moon and back! : ) So proud of you! Phew...now Branden honestly doesn't have anything to do from now until graduation the first week of March. And as soon as he graduates first week of March... he won't have a thing to do again until high school starts in April. So from now...until graduation he is basically free. He has no homework or anything to do. He's just going to school and having fun now. He's free. : ) 

We took Branden out to dinner to celebrate of course! Getting into high school in Japan is such a major big deal! It's huge! So going out to dinner was totally in order! : ) We took Branden out to Caprcciosa for his celebration dinner in Narita City. Great big rice croquette with cheese inside. 

Their pizza is spectacular! Especially drizzled with that amazing chili oil. 

Bran eating some rice croquette. When you find out your child just got into high school in Japan! Needless to say...we had the happiest dinner of our lives! Hahaha. : ) Like all the stress completely gone! All the worry disappeared! Studying your brains out... totally done and over with! Like this huge weight just lifted. 

Spicy garlic tomato pasta. We ordered 2 large sizes of the pasta and we ordered 2 pizzas. We live a happy and good life around here. We enjoy going to restaurants twice a month or on birthdays or on celebration days like...your kid just got accepted to high school. You know...events like that. You know...like most normal people do! : ) A definite reason to celebrate. : ) 

The 2nd pizza they brought out. This one was beautiful and had basil nicely all around this one. Very pretty. 

So how are things right now? The school year for us in Japan is starting to wind down. It ends in March. Umm. Bran is just enjoying some down time..first time in 3 long years. So, I think he's earned it. : ) I think he said that he will start hitting the books in March to prepare for high school though. : )  We will be buying and ordering his high school uniform soon. As for Noah, he has another what...month and a half of being a 5th grader. He's doing so well in school. He plays with friends on his free time or over the weekend. : ) The weather here has been windy and bitterly cold. We did get snow the other day, but it only snowed for about 30 minutes before turning into the coldest chunky rain...followed by just regular rain after that. So we've just been staying home all nice and warm and toasty in the house. Today, Noah is on a class field trip. The bus will drop the kids who live in our housing community off first....and then make 2 extra pit stops along the way, until reaching the school. So if you live at one those places/drop off main spots....then you will be getting dropped off there, otherwise you can just get dropped off at school. Noah will arrive at our housing community at 5pm. And Bran meanwhile gets home at 4pm today and I will swing around and pick him up. I have a delicious hearty pork curry bubbling away on the stove as I type. I am making curry rice and also will make a side of pasta. The kids aren't too crazy about curry rice. But *love* curry spaghetti. Noboru loves curry rice. And so....I just make a huge pot of curry and rice and pasta on the side so whoever wants what...can have either way. Alright so....my treadmill is calling me, so I better end this post here. : )