Throwback Thursday...

Since it's April, I pulled these pics from my April 2008 folder. I love that I documented even the most mundane day to day type tasks. Such as mopping my floor once a week. Granted I didn't take pics, every single week while cleaning of course. But yes...sometimes I did. And I'm glad, I did that. That way I can look back and see...yep regular life going on here. Doing the boring stuff... that every other household has to do too. 

Noah was just 3 years old and in his first year of yochien (kindergarten) and Branden was in the first grade and at elementary school in our little town here in rural Japan. And heck...if I could quickly scrub the house down a little each day. And also manage to get dinner prepped and ready before everyone got home. Then, I was a happy mommy. : ) I now see a bright colored cup and so, I know my toddler Noah was home. I bet he was taking himself a little nap on the couch. And this gave me time to get a start on dinner. I see a head of lettuce... 

Yes 3 trash cans. Ones for burnables (regular trash) and one is for glass and cans. And the other is for plastic bottles (like soda bottles for example) I also like that while I cut up my lettuce, I can watch my kids in our backyard. We have a fenced in backyard and we used to have a huge jungle gym/playground for our 2 kids, you can see it in this pic. But we got rid of it last year and gave it to another family with younger kids. Since our kids got older and stopped using it. But yep...when they were younger, I loved my big patio window so I could watch the kids while I cooked. Of course, Noah was sleeping while I chopped this lettuce on this particular day. But other days. I would definitely keep an eye on them while I cooked. : )

Aha, I see a salad starting to take shape.

Karaage (Japanese style chicken nuggets) marinating in a Ziploc. 

Plating up and getting a family of 4, all served up and ready for dinner.

Ice-cream for the kids for dessert because...well...the first grade and kindergarten can be tough. : ) Hahaha. A little serving of ice-cream always helps. : )  Anyway...that's 1 day frozen in time and I'm so glad I took pics from that day and I am happy I can share them with you all today. 

Here is another random evening captured again from 2008. The Hard Rock Cafe used to be at the Narita Mall. But it's been gone from there... for ages. However...when it used to be there, we loved it. And would go there to enjoy a dinner every 2-3 months or so. : ) I ordered a chicken sandwich this day. Pictured here. With a side of fries. 

Noboru ordered a burger. And both the kids had a chicken strips and fries kids combo for each of them. 

After dinner, we took the kids for some ice-cream at Baskin and Robbins. Which is also at the Narita mall.

Hi Noah! Love your Converse by the way! : )

Hi gorgeous, love your Adidas too btw! Anyway...we were about to leave from swimming school when I took this picture. : )

Easter Eggstravaganza 2017...

I hope everyone had an eggciting and eggcellent Easter 2017!!! We sure did! As usual, it was just a small little low key thing here at our home for our family. And it was perfect for us! Both Branden and Noah received an Easter basket with a bunch of American yummy goodness inside.: ) 

Just because we live in Japan, doesn't mean I don't make the holidays special. I always give it my all. So my kids will enjoy it. : )

We had music playing in the kitchen. And the kids were coloring Easter eggs. 

I love that my 15 year old is smiley and happy and loves spending time with us. I always heard....that teenagers get so moody and want to just hole up in their rooms. But lucky for us...that's not the case.

Branden, I see your eggs in their little cups.

I think Easter eggs are so pretty. So bright and colorful. Do you know what became of all these eggs? I made a huge amount of egg salad and there's only about 20% left in the fridge still. Everyone loves it around our house, so it never lasts long. : )

What a gorgeous egg you colored Noah! Totally vibrant, I love it! : )

The week before Easter, I bought this pack of Easter cakes. The kids enjoyed them. Japan seems to be really catching on to Easter, which of course makes me really happy! : )

The kids didn't want to draw any pictures on our eggs this year and you know what....that's totally fine. I always want them to color the eggs how *they* want. And hey..if they feel like decorating them further fantastic. And if they just want to color them and do no more...that is totally fine too. : ) Oh and...the weather was fantastic for Easter Sunday. But...the kids didn't want to hide the eggs in our backyard this year.. they wanted to hide them in the house. Now that they're getting older. Though they're only age 11 and 15. I hid them age appropriately...let's put it that way. When they were toddlers, I hid them in easy spots. But this year...I hid them in such HARD spots. My kids could not find 3 of our Easter eggs. And I mean they looked long and hard, but they could not find them. 

In America, when I was growing up, we would either have an Easter ham. A big beautiful honey baked spiral one. Or we'd have a turkey and all the sides. That's if we were having our Easter celebration at home. Now...if we met up with our extended family...we would all meet up at a park and everyone would bring something. Like a 6 foot sub sandwich. And we'd bring 2 buckets of chicken. And someone else would bring a huge amount of potato salad and macaroni salad. Someone would bring pies and chips etc. And drinks. However with living in Japan. It just depends how we feel each year. Once or twice, I made homemade fried chicken and we had mashed potatoes and gravy and salad and those delicious Costco dinner rolls. And 2 other times we had a Costco rotisserie chicken. I think I also roasted a turkey one year. Twice we BBQ-ed in our backyard. It just depends really. This year...we decided on Good Friday....hey why don't we just order some pizza and keep things super chill and low key for Easter Sunday. That way...before the busy weekday starts, we can all sort of just relax on Sunday and I don't have to make a huge ol' elaborate meal. We all agreed and so Sunday...Noboru ordered some Dominoes online and since our nearest pizza places are in Narita City, since we live in a very rural town. He drove the 30 minutes and picked up our pizza. We ordered 2 large pan pizzas. 1 was a pepperoni lovers (double pepperoni) for the kids and a pepperoni and mushroom for Noboru and I. And we ordered a large order of baked french fries. And he picked up some soda along the way too. All and all... how was our Easter 2017? It was awesome. It was low key and chill, just our style. And that's about it. : ) I sure do hope you all had a nice Easter this year too. : ) 

Summer clothes shopping for the boys...

Thank you, United States Postal Service! And thank you dad for forwarding things to me in Japan, you rock! Old Navy may have left Japan, but I still have access to it. 

A good bunch of things for me. Short sleeve tees. 1 pair of shorts. 2 pair of summer material capri pants. I showed ya'll pics of what they looked like on the website a while back. And they did indeed get here. 

Bran's 2 items. Soup Nazi, we love you because you make us laugh!!! Bran will be rocking this hilarious tee all summer now and a cool pair of pineapple swim trunks. 

Noah's 2 items. 2 very cute preppy short sleeve tees. 

We also hit the Gap since Japan, still has Gap in Japan. Thank goodness. One bag of stuff for Noah and one bag of stuff for Bran. The super stuffed bag is B's. : ) 

We love you Gap. And FYI, I find in America, where Gap originates from. The Gap outlet in the USA is super cheap. And the regular Gap shops in the USA are normal priced. However I find in Japan, the Gap outlet is not very cheap at all. And I honestly find the regular Gap stores in Japan cheaper than the outlets here... because the regular Gap in Japan... always has sales. Super good sales. 

All pull up shorts... meaning stretchy waist band shorts were on sale for 1900 yen a pair last weekend. And they had a *ton* of wicked styles and designs! I picked this outfit for Noah. You know his favorite colors are yellow and orange. and yes they still are his faves. So, he ran right to these boy orange colored shorts with manly sharks on them! LOL. And I found the best tee that matched the shorts. It's a bunch of surf boards. It's a *gorgeous* outfit. And will be perfect for Noah all Summer. This just looks like a Noah outfit doesn't it? Hahaha. Yes it does! : )

Again...picked up another pair of the 1900 yen shorts. And I walked around the boys department looking for the perfect shirt to match the shorts and found this...so cute!!! This super cool pineapple surf shirt will be rockin' with the shorts. 

And the back of the pineapple surf shirt says...tropicool. LOL. Instead of tropical. We loved this! Oh and the white tee with surfboards has something written on the back too. 

I always and I do mean *always* read clothes reviews at Gap.com and see what other fellow American moms or parents have to say about the clothes. I am specifically looking for issues with sizing and if the color is the same irl as what it appeared online. And this year 2017...it seems that a whole bunch of American moms have been complaining on Gap's USA website and saying...their clothes are running *so* small this year. The comments/reviews I read..I took with a grain of salt. Because sometimes kids in the USA can be really overweight now days. Kids now days... just seem way more overweight than when I was growing up. Maybe it's because kids in my days...we went out and rode our bikes. And we played hide and seek etc. We were active. Or maybe it's because in Japan kids are leaner here. So anyways...I did take the reviews with a grain of salt, like I said.  Anyways...so now we are in the Gap store in Inzai, Saturday a day before Bran and his dad took the train to his high school and a practice run. I picked all size 12/xl clothes for Noah. Because Noah is only 11. But I figured buying a size 12 would be ample enough/large enough for my skinny minnie. To my shock. Noah snuggly fit the size 12/xl . It ran hella too tiny. Oh the shock...the surprise. My face in the dressing room with Noah was like...what????? @_@ I now flashbacked to all the many many reviews of the moms. And I know for a fact. For FACT that Noah is not 1 pinch chubby. He's as skinny as a toothpick, ya'll know that too. That we know for darn sure. So...I'm like in awe going. Wow. All those moms were 100% right. I'm so sorry for having doubted you guys. It fit like a size 10. That's how small they ran. And...if you are EVER going to use a dryer...hahahaha forget it. So, I called Noboru inside the dressing room and he said...those are absurdly too small. @_@ I said, I know right? I think so too. So, everything I had picked out. I put back and I went and now got everything in an XXL. And it fit perfectly, with enough room to grow. He will be able to wear these all Summer long. The size xl would not have lasted the end of June... that's how small those clothes were. @_@ Wow. Super shocked and surprised. So if you are planning to buy online at Gap this year...maybe try on in the store first. But I do agree with all the reviews...the clothes this year in particular...yes they certainly do run freakishly too small. And this is coming from a mom with a very thin 11 year old. And he's not big or tall and he has no beefy muscles at all either, lol. He's truly just regular normal sized. So if they were too small on my skinny kid....just consider maybe buying in person. Gap clothes 2017 for boys are running very very small, this year.

Size xxl 14-16. Yep, still can't believe it and ya'll know what a lean toothpick Noah is too. But...I really don't care about the number. But I do care... if it fits my child and if it will lasts an entire season or not. 

They had a whole table of tees for 1000 yen about US$9. And so we picked Noah these 2 in size xxl. This was a fantastic deal. I like getting cute clothes on the cheap! Noah so far has 6 new short sleeve tees for this coming warmer weather so far. We're not done yet, but we're getting there. : ) 

So we were now done shopping for Noah and we now left the Gap kids and went next door to the regular Gap, adult Gap. For Branden. Noboru and Noah were now chit chatting in the store. And Bran and I now walked the store looking for clothes. I gave Bran a Gap shopping bag and said...you're a teenager, you know what YOU like and you pick what you like. and so he and I walked around the men's department together. And Bran looked for shorts but they didn't have any good ones. But he did find 4 short sleeve tees that he liked. Branden is a men's size L. But since we were still reeling from the whole... Noah's clothes were all cut ridiculously too small, just 5 minutes beforehand at kids Gap. We picked 2 sizes in the shirts Bran liked, we picked all Larges and XL's. And the men's stuff was not cut too small this year. The XL men's was outrageously too big for Bran. And so Bran is just a L men's. And so he got these 4 tops. Plus his soup Nazi tee too that he got in the mail. So...so far Bran has 5 tees for summer 2017. So it's a huge step forward. Bran now has a bunch of undies. He has a good amount of short sleeve tees now too. Plus he has that cool pair of Vans. Now all we need to do is... look for shorts for B. We will probably hit up Uniqlo or GU soon for his shorts. : ) We're getting there. We're not done summer clothes wise for B, but we're getting there. : )

I have a jean jacket, both my kids also have jean jackets too. We have medium rinse jean jackets. However I have been noticing the *very* faded ones are the cool ones to have now. And I mentioned that to Bran about 2 weeks ago. And he said...he had noticed that too. Noah chimed in and said...I noticed too. Hahaha. Bless his heart, he tries so hard. : ) So...we were specifically looking for a light colored jean jacket that day. They had a bunch of jean jackets for 9000 yen about $85 US. Which is pretty expensive. But we were still planning to get it. But we were still making a lap around the men's department and we walked the sales at the back of the store and they had a whole bunch of stuff. And they had about 5 size small size men's jean jackets 2 mediums and only 1 men's large jean jacket. For only 2999 yen. We went and compared the difference between the 9000 yen jacket and the sale jean jacket. As a mom yes... I am going to do that and see what's the difference. I told Bran...we don't want a half length jacket or anything, so we need to compare. And so we held them both up side by side and they were identical. Same length and everything. So we snatched that size large right up and we 4 went to the back dressing area. Bran went into the dressing room by himself obvs. And we 3 waited near by. The jacket fit perfect with room to grow. 

Like I always say...I love getting cute things for super cheap! 

Such a cute jean jacket for Bran. : )

Branden got new underwear already... so Noah got some too. I picked up 4 packs for Noah, there's only 2 pair each pack. Converse brand. Adidas. T&C Surf, And the French brand le coq sportif. Size 150cm. And now Noah is all set.

Anyway, we're not done with the summer/warmer weather shopping for the boys yet. But we're getting there. : ) 

Throwback Thursday...

Since this coming Sunday will be Easter Sunday. I thought it would be fun to take a quick little stroll down memory lane on 2 of our past Easters. This picture is from 2008! We have celebrated Easter every single year that we have had kids. And I celebrated it my whole life too. It's really important to me... to teach my kids, my culture. This way they can know about Japanese culture and also my culture too. : ) 

We always have an egg hunt! 

Awesome! And now this is 2 years later from the previous pics. This is from Easter 2010! I had an Easter party with friends at our home Easter 2009, so I am not sharing those pics today. : ) The boys definitely look 2 years older, since the pics up above. We had a lot of low key fun planned for that day. Just noshing on some Easter candy. Coloring some eggs. Hiding the eggs about 5 times... if not more! LOL. And we also planned to have a backyard BBQ. Just very relaxed though...just very lean Costco ground beef. So we made chargrilled cheeseburgers and some fries. Again...kicked back and low key is our style. So that's what we did that day. : ) 

A gray overcast day. But it did not stop us... from the 4 of us being outside and coloring our eggs. We dyed the eggs. We let them dry. We decorated the eggs. And then the boys went inside the house. No peeking!!! : ) And I hid them all over the backyard. 

They looked all over! Such fun! : )

Daddy had rolled out the cold BBQ grill from the shed for later in the day. But Noah did look for an egg in there and yes there was one in there! Bran in the background looking hard for an egg too. Hope ya'll can find where I hid all the eggs! Good luck! : )

I think I should do a Spongebob....4 hours later!!! LOL. Later after about a billion egg hunts. I hid the eggs twice. Bran hid them for Noah once. Noah in his toddler-ness tried his best to hide them for Bran. Noboru hid them for the kids once. Gee whiz when all was said and done. We were all egg hunted out. And it was time to start our simple BBQ. Keeping things super low key means no stress. And that's good, because I don't want any! : )  

Just a simple backyard BBQ. And we just chilled at home for the remainder of our Easter Sunday Funday!!! : ) 

Train training...

I think... if you live in big city bright lights type Japan, your train "know how" is superly high. You're probably a pro taking the train by the first grade. However, for rural Japan peeps like us, you need a car to get anywhere. We live in a *real* rural town of 5,000 people. And our town does not have a public bus like you imagine folks in big cities. Big city folks have for example a bus #28 and a bus #32 because well... they're big city folks with populations that need that many buses. But for us in this tiny town of 5000 people. Our town has 1 bus. But it's honestly, a minivan! I am kidding you not. It's a flat out minivan and probably seats 8 at most. So when folks mention that they took the #20 bus to get somewhere, I know for a fact they live in a big population place. Because folks who live in true rural towns of like legit 5000 people... we have a minivan as our town bus! LOL! So having said all that. My kids... I think have ridden the train once in their lives. So...considering Bran will now be taking the train to and from school 5 days a week. We knew that a practice run would be in order... for our country kid! So, on Sunday April 9th. Noboru and Branden caught the train to B's new school. Sunday was supposed to be a gray rainy day and as you can tell by this pic, it sure was. Noah and I dropped them off at the train station. And they went from rice fields and rural Japan views, to a big bustling city view! Noboru said...he taught Bran how to use his new Suica card/train pass and also how to get there. Bran only has to take 1 train, no transfers at all... so he's lucky! Noboru later told me...Branden was so surprised to see all the things that the big city has to offer. He saw all the food stalls at the bottom of department stores. He saw so many things that Noboru laughed and said..."it's like Branden is an Amish person going to the big city for the first time in his life!" Hearing that cracked me up! 

His school is a short walk from the train station... they reached the school and then turned right back around. They had lunch before catching the train back to our rural town. I'm glad Noboru taught Bran how to take the train to and from. And he also showed him around. And we could have got Bran just a plain train pass. But we decided to get him the Suica card so he can use it at convenience stores to make a purchase. Some vending machines take Suica cards too. McD's also takes them too. Lots of places let's you just pay via your Suica card now days. And that is a relief because if Bran needs anything or gets thirsty... he can just get it that way. And we also give him cash too, in case. Anyways, so Noboru and Bran went for lunch at an udon shop in the big city. They both said they really enjoyed their lunch, then they took the train home, where Noah and I went and picked them up at the train station.

Monday April 10th. Was Branden's first day of high school. And first time riding the train alone. He did it! His dad also had him bookmark on his cellphone... the train website to see the time table of the train in case he gets out late or gets out early. He had absolutely no problems taking the train to and from. He said when he got out of the train at the station near the school. He started seeing lots of his high school uniforms. Mostly girls. But he saw his new classmate S (he's a boy too) and they both waved and said...lets' walk to school together!!! So they both did! Today is Wednesday here and Bran has been taking the train for a few days. And so far so good.

How does Branden like his new school? Honestly you guys he *loves* it!!! I will give you a few short stories. But remember these are stories from a 15 year old's perspective!!!

He said..."mom high school is way better than JHS! It's so fun! They have vending machines at school. You can drink a lemon tea or a soda or a Calpis!!!" : ) And he also said.."you can also suck on candy too mom, in class!!!" This just made me smile hearing this! He was so excited about this, you guys! : )

And yesterday he came home with another little nugget... that just made me smile again!!! "He said..."mom, did you know my school has a small store?!!!" He was too excited you guys! I said...REALLY? He said..."yeah it's like a mini version of a Mini Stop." His exact words! I said really, what do they sell? He said, "Yakisoba. Cup Noodles. Bentos. Sweet breads. Pencils mom...they sell pencils *and* erasers!!!" And..."and they sell Calligraphy paper AND ink!!!" Oh heavens...I said. What a cool store. He told me..."it REALY is mom!!!" Oh honey...I believe you. Next time I go visit your school... please show me this wonderful store! Last fun Bran fact about the store...."oh and many kids buy the sweet breads and J bought a Snickers bar!!!" I said... J has good taste, I like Snickers too! "Yeah me too...I didn't buy one though." I told Bran...you should buy one sometime. He said. "OKAY!" Goodness. Bran's school has a store. Much like I am sure most high schools in Japan have stores. In fact my high school in America, also had a school store. But it just made me smile. How happy he was about it. : ) Kids...including teens do have such innocence still. They're so for real. And show excitement in such a pure way. I hope he never loses that!

Monday, the English kids ate in their English class and had lunch there. But yesterday. The principal had invited *all* boys in the school to have lunch in his office. Oh and...sorry I did get the correct number of boys total for the school right this time. 14 boys all grades. So...all 14 boys went inside. And the principal told all 14. "There are so few of you, you better all be super close" Because there's just not that many of you. Remember boys are not allowed in the regular courses. So these are just English (speaking) boys and Genius (course) kids. So they're all good kids. And they all get along. He had the 4 new boys introduce themselves to the older boys first. The principal said just say your name, which JHS you came from and your interests/hobby's. Bran said, his name, the JHS he came from and he said, he loves swimming and has been swimming since age 4. The principal chimed in apparently and said...I love swimming too and I also swam competitively in my elementary school days too. So they talked about swimming for a minute or two. Oh and J is a returnee you guys, which is super exciting and great. He lived in Thailand for 13 years of his life. 10th graders are 15 in April. He moved to Japan only 2 years ago. So he went to a Japanese JHS for only 2 years. So that too is exciting and a fun fact. The older boys also introduced themselves. Branden said. There is 1 boy in the English course who is 100% Filipino and he says "mom he is so funny and nice." He told Bran... if you need any help at school or need to know where something is...please do not hesitate. We will all help you. Again...they are all LINE friends. Bran said there is a 100% Korean boy who moved to Japan from Korea a few years ago and he fluently speaks English and Korean and Japanese. He said...mom the boys are so nice here. So welcoming. And he said mom so many foreigners go here. Branden is just having the best time.

There is also 1 half African American and Japanese girl. And she's a new friend for Bran too already. Just so many hafus. So many 100% foreigners. And the 100% Japanese kids who picked this school are really special and open minded. And...he just loves this school, you guys. He keeps mentioning....high school is so much better than JHS.

Also the clubs at high school. Are not mandatory. You chose if you want to join or not. And they're not 365 days a year like at JHS either. One club is twice a week. English club is only once a week. So...their clubs here at this high school are light and no huge pressure like how JHS was. Branden is still deciding if he wants to join or not. We didn't let Bran join a club at JHS because his dad doesn't agree with the system of how JHS clubs run. But it's a totally different thing at high school...or at least at the high school Branden is going to.