More pics from the opening ceremony!

Here are some more pics from the opening ceremony at Branden's yochien. It was nice that my dad could be there with Noboru and Noah and I. Since last year (my mil) Mitsuko came for it, it was nice, my dad could make it for the one for this year especially since we are a Roman Catholic family to start with, my dad really liked Branden's Catholic school a lot. We actually taught him the holy trinity last night before bed! Because he has to do that at school from now on.

Getting ready for the new school year!

We've been trying very hard to get Branden ready to start his new yochien. And since we spent the past 3 weeks in March in the United States, we got a bit of a late start getting our munchkin ready. So, we have been running around like crazy trying to get the things required from this new school. And some things we had from our previous yochien but some things are required from this school that were never required from the first school.

Things we kept and will reuse, are the handmade one of a kind bento bags and book bags and shoe bags that we went to Yuzawaya last year and bought the material and then had our sewing lady make our bags for us. So, since they were still perfect condition we are reusing them again this year.

However this school also asked for a gym bag and also a seat cover/earthquake cover type thing to be handmade too. Again, you could always buy these but I found out last year having your kid show up with a handmade one is considered best. So, even though I didn't make it myself, I bought the material Branden chose and liked best. And we got to choose the strap colors etc. And basically it was made especially for Branden. So, since we had ours made for Branden last year we got the extra two required school bags this year, handmade as well. We went to Yuzawaya last week and bought the material, some nice quilted fabric. Chose our strap colors (Branden wanted a yellow strap for one and a blue strap for the other bag, go figure ha ha ha.) And today we picked up the two new homemade bags. The lady only charged us 1500 yen for making both the bags! A super deal if you ask me, for handmade yochien bags! Because if I made them myself they might fall apart for sure, lol. So better for me to have the sewing lady do these since she's a pro. And shhhh, according to my sewing lady, many Japanese women have them handmade too but don't make them personally! So now that I know many Japanese mom's do this too, I don't feel so guilty for being so sneeky about secretly getting our bags made by her! : )

Things we bought brand new. We bought him a brand new bento box this year because bento boxes don't last more then a school year anyways. And the fork and spoon and chopstick set was still good but we wanted to send him off with a new set. The fork and chopstick set was the identical set from last year, hmmm they don't change the Thomas designs much I guess ha ha ha. The bento design was changed thank goodness.

New things this school needed. A plastic cup for drinking tea or whatever. We bought him a new Thomas cup. And he also needed a handkerchief thing that goes under his bento. Plus a few other things as well. Plus the tiny handkerchief for your nose which the school requires, along with the tissues.

Plus adding the supplies the school *requires* you to buy like crayons and glue and scissors etc. Yup we found ourselves writing his name on each and every crayon like we are required to do! Ha ha ha! So we got white blank adhesives to write his name on stuff, we also wrote things directly on the plastic things just in case the adhesive ever fell off! Then on clothes we had to have the lady sew the white name tags on each thing because the iron on name tags suck and fall off I've heard. So basically we had to write his name on absolutely everything you can imagine.

I also had to buy tiny tissues for kids. I have been hunting for Thomas tissues for ions it seems, but have yet to see them and believe me, I've looked everywhere! They usually got anpanman tissues or those gross giant cockroach looking bug tissues, that some older Japanese kids are into (blech maybe, someday I will post more about my thoughts on those sometime). but I have searched high and low for Thomas tissues to no avail. However I found some very cool tissues, that look like tiny boxes of *very* popular Japanese chocolates that most of the kids, here just love! So, I figured I better buy them quick before they run out because I have never seen tissues *that* cute before! I bought two of the packs for my Branden. And I might even go back and buy a couple more packs! So, I'm happy I got some cute packs of tissues at least! Anything has *got* to be better then those giganto cockroach bugs or stink bug things (blech) that just makes my skin crawl! Sorry but bugs and creepy crawlies freak me out to no end.

The best time *ever* at Tokyo Disneyland!!!

don't ask me how I did it. But I managed to *not* take one single picture at the wedding! This makes me sad and I wish I would have taken some pictures, but I honestly was so busy during the entire wedding that I didn't get a single chance to take a photo. Hopefully my brother in law will pass along, some pictures of us, since there was a photographer taking pictures of the entire wedding. And I know he snapped some pictures of us, because it startled me a couple times actually. Ha ha ha. I wish I would have snapped some pics of Branden in his tuxedo because he looked like the ultimate cool guy! Perhaps, if I get time I can throw my guy in his very own tux and snap some pictures myself when I have time.

Anyway, the hotel we stayed at was gorgeous and it was called the Hotel Okura. Totally top of the line hotel! We had a gorgeous buffet breakfast with the entire Ishiyama clan the following morning before we all went to Disneyland. My dad had fun and so did I.

We got to Disneyland at 9:00 am when they first opened. And as usual we stayed right until they closed! Because it was chilly and the sky was gray not many people were at Disneyland except the entire Ishiyama clan and us. And a good amount of people too but it wasn't too busy. So we rode actually every single ride in the entire park and even rode some rides twice! We had lunch in Toon Town like we usually do. And we had dinner at the Alice in Wonderland restaurant (we usually go here or the curry place but this time we all went to the Alice in Wonderland restaurant!

It was very cool going with a whole bunch of people. And for a little while we all separated but we all would call eachother on our cell's and meet up again. So we all had a total blast.

I was glad I packed Branden's yellow Osh Kosh coat, because it did get chilly later on in the evening and I am glad I packed Noah's Tommy Hillfiger coat too because they stayed toasty warm. I dressed both my boys exactly the same, wearing the same style jeans and the same exact Gap sweatshirt minus the sweatshirt being different sizes, so that was cool. Except their coats weren't the same, but that's okay.

What did we buy from Disneyland? Well we bought one Buzz Lightyear balloon (Noboru bought this for Branden the second we got into Disneyland.) One Buzz lightyear moving and spinning light. Branden wanted this and it cost a whopping 2,500 yen but as usual grandpa spoils my boys like crazy, so my dad bought the light for Branden as soon as he mentioned he wanted one. Noah got a plush fleece Mickey Mouse blanket, because it did get chilly as the night wore on. And it came in a cute little Mickey Mouse bag, that is quite cute actually, go figure. We also bought two popcorn holders, but then nothing new with that because everyone of you know how much we love popcorn and especially caramel corn, yumm! We have a Chip and Dale popcorn holder, we bought about 3 years ago from Tokyo Disneyland, but with the wedding and all, we forgot it and left the Chip and Dale popcorn holder at home. So we bought some more this time. We always buy the caramel popcorn in Toon Town, so being creatures of habit, we got into the line and waited and waited and waited and waited. When we finally got to the end of the line and our turn was coming, we realized the popcorn holder was pink and with a crown? Hmmm! Being a mother of two boys, I looked at my husband and he actually looked at me too. We said, what's up with the girl popcorn holder? But by that time, we had waited for what seemed like a total eternity for the dang popcorn in the first place so we figured to just buy one! Errr! We were *not* thrilled about the popcorn holder one bit! We later bought a Buzz lightyear popcorn holder because, since we have two boys, we actually felt ridiculous carrying that pink one all through the park.

I am telling you, we had so much darn fun at Tokyo Disneyland! The fireworks were just awesome and we all sat in the chairs and tables at Toon Town and had hot cocoa and watched them, we had the best seats in town to see the fireworks! We all hugged good bye and everyone got back on their limousine bus back to Osaka. And we got into our minivan and drove home. We had a blast! And with *that* many people, everything was just even more fun, we had a shooting competition at the Buzz lightyear ride and I totally lost! Ha ha ha!

I'm glad I went to the wedding and I'm glad we stayed at that hotel and I'm glad we all went to Tokyo Disneyland, I really had a great time!

Some of the boys Disneyland loot!

A ticket, a tasket, what's gonna be in their basket?

Here are a few shots of some of the Easter stuff that I bought in Denver at Target. Keep in mind Branden has a gorgeous plush train Easter basket I bought for him at Target last year, so he will be using that one for a couple years since the quality is so top of the line and it will last. I bought Noah a plush yellow duckie easter basket because he really is too young to have a favorite character yet. And after checking out all the baskets, I thought this one was the best and nicest for my little Noah. He can use this for a couple years, since it's such nice quality. I also bought them a ton of easter candy, which is nice because I usually don't let Branden eat sweets much unless it's a holiday for like Christmas or Easter or whatnot! I mean the occasional sweet is okay but he eats way less then most kids. Noah is too young to eat any sweets but it's the thought that counts. And I might sneek him one tiny bite, since it is Easter, and it's a special occasion and all. : )

I have about 4 or 5 brand new bags of easter grass saved in a box of easter stuff in my attic and a couple more boxes of egg coloring kits too. So I am pretty well stocked for Easter holidays for this year and maybe next year too, but I'm sure I'll load up again next year too, knowing me.

One cool thing about the candy I bought this year. Each year I try to stuff little treats and candies into empty plastic eggs I have these also stocked up on in my Easter box in my attic. But anyway, this year at Target they had cool plastic eggs with candy *already* filled in them. And the plastic eggs were designed really wicked! I bought two packs of them. One pack was decorated in a racing car theme and so the plastic eggs were all themed in racing cars and had flames on them and stuff. And the other plastic filled eggs were all decorated in different types of sports balls, such as a basketball type egg and a football type egg and a baseball decorated egg! As soon as I saw these, I snatched these up right quick. And what are they filled with? Good stuff, some have gum and some have lemonheads and some have sweettarts! Cool huh? Yup, I went all out for the holidays as usual (shhh! but I actually enjoy these holidays as much as the kids do : )

Update from last month.

Okay, okay sorry for not posting on my very own blog for so long. But I've been hellishly busy. I will try to give you all a very condensed version of it all.

I went to Denver with the intention of my dad selling his house. Which he did. We somehow managed to sell his house and get all of the contents of said house all sold. And the things we wanted to keep, we had shipped to Japan. We didn't keep much except a couple boxes of family photos that are huge in sentimental value for us. I'm actually quite proud of myself for us getting everything sold and finished in the three weeks time that I had. My husband flew there the final week and my husband and myself and the two boys flew out a day early and my dad flew out the following day. He's been in Japan and so have the rest of us for only about 8 or 9 days, so we all haven't been home very long. We've all just barely gotten over our jet lag really.

My dad is probably going to hang out here with us, for the next month and he is planning on getting himself a new place in either Guam or Hawaii. He's still deciding which island he plans to live out the rest of his retirement yet.

As busy as I was, I managed to still do some absolutely killer shopping in Denver. I bought a ton of clothes for both my boys as usual (what's new lol). They got many pairs of sandals. And I bought Branden's shoes for the wedding in Denver as well. I also bought them many floppy little boy gilligan type hats. Branden got a ton, and I do mean a ton of Nintendo DS games (Dora the Explorer, a Cartoon Network racing game with Courage and Johnnie Bravo, Spongebob game and others. He also got some new DVD's like the new Spongebob movie on DVD and the Chicken Little DVD, that just got released a few days before I left Denver. Geeze, I can barely remember what all my boys got, but they got tons!

At DSW shoe warehouse I got myself two gorgeous pairs of shoes, one a ballerina type flat but with a slightly different twist which I just love and a cool pair of Ralph Lauren flip flops with the polo horse on the front of the flip flop. I also got two bottles of Olay sensitive skin face lotion and a new bottle of face wash by Olay that just came out, it's apparently a face wash and toner in one and I actually really dig this! I got tons of undies and a night gown. And I got three new pairs of capris, two pairs are jean capris (one has a few flower embellisments on them and they sorta got that beaten up or distressed look, is that the right word? The other pair looks new and has a huge cuff at the bottom of the capris, I love these!) and one pair is a black pair of capris ( I bought my capris at Old Navy). And I also bought two bottles of nail polish, at Target if I remember correctly.

Last but certainly not least, I bought a brand new vacuum from Target, it's a Hoover and it's totally kick ass! We love it and it's cool looking and works like a champ! And it was only $99.00 US can't beat that price and it's got a hepa filter and it's bagless. I also got a Hoover carpet steam cleaner, yup I can wash my very own carpets now yippy! This was also only $99.00! And I am so absolutely over the moon that my husband works at Northwest Airlines, because he gets the best shipping, we shipped both our vacuum and steam cleaner for only $40.00 and that's for both of them!

I also bought tons of Easter stuff! As usual, I really went all out! I will post more about that another time.

What else? We are getting ready for Branden to start yochien. His uniforms cost us a whopping 45,000 yen! Utterly expensive and ridiculous. But a couple people told us the school he is going is more along the lines of a prep type school or a more snooty type school. LOL, oh brother, I hope we don't end up hating this school. Because I dislike snooty mentality to no end!

And Jun is getting married tomorrow. So about 35 of Noboru's side of the family will be staying at a very expensive hotel near Disneyland, us included. He's getting married near Disneyland at some chapel. We will all stay the night at a hotel tomorrow night and the following day, on Friday we will all be going to Tokyo Disneyland! Yahoo!

I'm in the US right now.

As you have all pretty much probably guessed by now, yup, I'm back in Denver. The boys and I have been here since March 3rd. We are doing very good and just enjoying our little vacation here at home with my family. This is the first time since I've been here, to check my email so I imagine I won't be blogging until I get back to Japan. Noboru will be joining me here in Denver on March 19th. So, I'm just gonna end this now and cut it short. We really are having a wonderful time back here at home though.

And the flight back home with both the boys was actually pretty good too. : )

Yummy cake bakin' on a cold gray day!

Our blinds finally came in!

Noah has two teeth that just came in. Now that they have broken through the skin, he is back to normal. Meaning he is sleeping later in the mornings and not waking up at night at all anymore, whew! Glad he's back on his normal schedule of sound sleep. I get to sleep in to about 9:00 am most days and today we all snoozed until 9:30 am. I woke up and made breakfast this morning like usual. I made some crisy bacon and some eggs and toast. Branden loved breakfast this morning. So did I. And Noah nibbled on super tiny pieces of toast, that I cut into little squares. He also sucked on a small piece of bacon and nibbled some of it and had a few slices of semi mashed banana. Both the boys always eat well.

After breakfast, I decided to make a cake. I bought a cake mix last week. So, I whipped it up and threw it into the oven around 11:00 am. When it was finished, Branden wanted a slice. I cut him a slice right away and he ate it. He actually wants another piece right now. Ha ha ha. I had a slice of cake along with a hot cup of coffee and it was *so* good. Tonight I'm making ebi fry/furai for dinner.

Also, we finally got our blinds for the house today. It's been a lot longer wait, then we hoped for. Ordering the blinds from Japan was just quadruple the price, ridiculously way too expensive! So, we decided, (like I have posted before) to just order them from Guam, and the company in Guam actually ordered them from the mainland US. So in the end we had a friend of ours who actually lives in Guam ship them to Japan for us. Lucky for us, he works for the same airline Noboru does and is his good friend. And airline employees get fab discounts, we all know that. The total weight of our blinds was a bit over 200 pounds! And 7 boxes in all. Two boxes were very long because, they are for our patio sliding glass doors. A normal person with *no* discount would have to pay FedEx over $900 US (yup airline employees, also get discounts by Fedex too). Around one thousand dollars basically just for shipping! And no, the airlines themselves (not fedex) will not ship things this big, for non airline employees (a bit unfair I know, sorry) But since Noboru works for an airline, and we have discounts for all airlines that are part of Star Alliance (JAL, Continental, KLM, ANA and so on, the list is huge) so we had Continental Airlines ship them for us, so they just put them into the belly of the airplane and flew them for us for only a mere $64.00 US. Isn't that amazing? So, we got one window up today before Noboru had to leave for work, and tonight we will get the rest all put up. They are really nice blinds, the brand is Graber, so the quality is quite high end and we paid about three grand for our blinds, so with the expense of the blinds themselves, we were happy to at least get a discount on the shipping, that helped us a lot.

PS the pics are of breakfast this morning, the pic is of Branden's breakfast, I didn't snap my own or Noah's sorry. And the other pic is of the blinds that are now sitting in boxes in my living room. They will be put up tonight, but I laid the blanket down to protect the wood flooring.

A visit from grandma and Noboru's new scooter.

My mil came to visit us for the day. She flew to Narita from Osaka. She spent the entire day here. All was peaceful.

She arrived at 9:00 am. And stayed until 3:00 pm. She looked around the house. She had lunch here, we all had sandwiches that I prepared. We sat in the dining room. Then she played out in the back yard with Branden as he rode his bike. Truly only a grandparent would think, how much fun it is to watch their grandchild go round and round all through the yard *that* many times. Noah is very afraid and shy around her (his age, it'll pass we know). Actually the minute he sees her or hears her voice, he starts sobbing away like crazy. He's just at that stage where he is afraid of strangers, I guess. She also brought us some yummy food for us. She brought karaage and potato salad, kimchee (daikon, cucumber and chinese cabbage, three different kimchees) and sushi for Noboru. And 2 summer blankets for the boys. She swears these soak up sweat, when they sleep? I'm not sure, but that's what she says. She also told me if I wanted, I could lay them on the wood floor so the boys can have a play area. So, I might actually use these blankets, who knows. Last but not least, she brought my dress. And she brought Branden's tuxedo, that he needs for the wedding. Branden is going to be the ring bearer, for uncle Jun's wedding. Yui-chan will be the flower girl. Jun asked Noboru if it would be okay, if Branden was the ring boy and he said yes. Noboru asked me and I said, it's absolutely fine with me too.

We dropped her off a bit early because we had to go to the Suzuki dealership. Yup, Noboru gave up on the yahoo auctions. He tried to bid on two different motorcycles and got outbid both times. So he figured, he would just buy himself a brand new scooter instead, since his commute will only be 20 minutes from our house. Plus he got a rather big scooter, not the tiny 50 cc ones but a nice sized bigger kind, a 125 cc one. So he will be able to zip back and forth quite easily. He's on cloud nine. He says he has never owned or bought a brand *new* motorcycle or scooter before. He's only ever owned used ones. So he is really happy and he gets to pick it up tomorrow after 3:00 pm.

What else? I went to the baby bunny store (nishimatsuya) and picked up a few things for the kids. Bought Noah, two pairs of sweat pants type house pants. Cheap ones (like 500 yen each but they were really cute too) And I bought Branden some new undies. He needed a bigger size now, 110 cm. I bought him a few packs of Buzz Light Year and a couple Thomas the Tank Engine ones. I also bought him two Thomas short sleeved T shirts for this upcoming spring and summer season, he's 120 cm for tops now. I bought them because I know he has, nice going out someplace sorta clothes. But he also has cheap priced, clothes that he wears at home only too. Stuff he can cruise around in the back yard in and just hang out. And I won't freak out and bust a blood vessel in my head, if he gets food or mud or whatever on his house clothes. I also bought him a cheap pair of Thomas slip on type sneakers. I usually only buy him name brand sneakers. And I don't mind him wearing them out for school or whatever. But I think it's ridiculous that he makes them so dirty playing in the backyard. His shoes get hammered! Totally dirty and beat to shreds by his heavy playing out in the backyard. I decided, the other day, if he has cheap house, play type clothes, why doesn't he got a cheap pair of sneakers, he came play in the back yard with too? Duh! Lightning moment. So, for only 900 yen, I got him a pair of Thomas sneakers in 17 cm. That way, he can beat them to shreds and I won't care and he will only be playing around the house in the backyard anyway. Ha ha ha, now that I said this, watch! He will want to where them *everywhere*, now huh?

The ol' agreeable head nod

You know, I think I'm coming down with a cold. I can't afford to get sick though, because I'm the mom, the one who is the care giver, not the one who gets taken care of. Ha ha ha. Nothing major right now, just a scratchy throat. Let's cross our fingers it passes.

I haven't seen a foreigner around where I live at all. Which is sorta sad in a way. Where I lived before, I lived near many good American or foreign girlfriends. But here, not a single one because there just aren't any around here, well except myself. : )

Also, sorry to change the subject but, I noticed that I have the habit of shaking my head at Japanese people, when they are talking to me even though, I have absolutely no idea of what they are talking about. Case in point, my door just rang. I looked through the intercom and didn't want to answer it, but I ended up answering it, since Branden blew my cover of being quiet in the house. He was giggling right near the door saying, "are they gone yet?" gee whiz could Branden get anymore obvious then *that*? We were trying to be quiet (shhh) and sneaky and *not* answer the door. So, anyway, I just answered it, I figured with our cover fully blown, I might as well. It was some lady with a Duskin catalog. I'm assuming she was selling stuff? And from the minute I answered the door she was speaking, a mile a minute. I smiled and just shook my head in agreement with her. Quite a few times, I might add! After she left, I wondered, what if she said something outrageous, such as....."I'm really a robber and I've just robbed your neighbors house" and there I would be shaking my head, "okay, okay!"

Isn't that just crazy? I'm sure I'm not the only foreigner, who does this in Japan. I think in a way it's better for me to just agree, even though I secretly don't know what I'm agreeing to. Then to say, "geeze I'm a dumbass, and I don't understand a word coming outta your mouth" . Making a mental note to self, I must learn more Japanese!

Wonderful days spent at home

Yesterday was a peaceful day at home. With the exception of Noah once again waking me up at 7:00 am in the morning. I cleaned house for a bit and made curry for dinner. Noboru came home from work and went straight to the front yard work. He is obsessed with yard work and grass growing these days! Seriously he has been reading so many online websites about it so much (the Japan based sites only though) that I barely get computer time these day. He's also planning to buy another motorcycle soon, so he has been scouring the Yahoo.jp auctions sites every single day.

Anyway, so I made dinner, and we all ate. Noah couldn't share regular dinner with us, since curry would be much too spicy for him, so I gave him a baby niku jaga jar of baby food. And a slice of buttered toast that I cut up in small tiny bits and pieces. Both the boys fell asleep rather early. And I sat watching American Idol on TV in the living room, meanwhile Noboru sat and surfed the web for more lawn and landscaping websites and the search for his motorcycle continued. He finally finished and came and sat with me and we watched the second hour of American Idol together. We sat together trash talking the bad singers and praising the good singers, getting *really* into the program as usual, while snacking on some popcorn. I even jumped up and cheered, when a few of my picks made it to the next round! Noboru laughed at me, but he also cheered for a few people *he* wanted to win too.! Ha ha ha, just your average typical husband and wife spending time together type night , I guess.

This morning, I was once again woken up by Noah bright at early at 7:00 am. Oh man! This has gotta stop, it's killing me! Then Noah woke up Branden and I had two guys wide awake (N was already at work). I changed my pj's to my regular day time clothes. And I went downstairs. This morning, I had undereye bags the size of your typical standard pillow, I'm not kidding. I am *not* a morning person at all whatsoever. Yesterday morning I made crispy bacon and eggs and toast for the boys. But this morning, ugh forget it! I grabbed a box of cereal and the carton of milk and somehow managed to get it into a bowl. Branden had cereal and some apple juice and a slice of toast. Noah had a handful of cheerios and some mashed up banana that I mashed for him. I had nothing, I just had hot strong coffee. I sat staring off into space, at the kitchen table while the boys ate. I think half my brain was still asleep. A couple cups of hot coffee later and I began to feel a bit better.

Branden watched some cartoons, some Disney and some Nickelodeon ones. Noah played with his activity table and crawled all over the place downstairs, he is getting so fast with his crawling. He crawls from the kitchen to the living room, like you wouldn't believe it!

For lunch, Branden and I had leftover curry. Noah had a jar of apples and grilled cheese sandwich that I chopped into the tiniest pieces you ever did see! He only had a handful of pieces and the rest Branden and I munched on while we ate the curry. After lunch Branden got on his bike and went out in the back yard. He played out there forever it seems (about 2 hours) I kept checking on him and sure enough, he was back there but he was just having fun. I even opened the sliding glass door and said, "you ready to come in now?" no way, he said. I figured he could be getting hungry again. You know isn't that so typically Italian? Always thinking your kids are hungry and starving when they clearly aren't? And when guests come, I can't wait to pounce on them and stuff them to the gills. Haven't taken a bite in the last 3 minutes? Hmm, you surely must be starving again, let me fix you something else, some other dish completely! Ha ha ha. See the insanity of it all? So yeah, I was certain Branden was dying of starvation out there, even though he had a nice big lunch earlier. So, I fixed him and Noah a plate of snacks. Nothing fancy at all and sorry the pic won't even look remotely fancy, I figured it was just my kids and no one else, so I didn't fix the plate to impress anyone at all, sorry but that's so typically me, I just don't make meals to impress, I make simple good tasting food, I'll leave the impressing for someone else but it ain't my thing lol. I fixed just some cheese and crackers and peanut butter celery sticks and some pineapple rings. I brought out a fork for Branden to eat the pineapple with. Noah had a cracker and a tiny piece of cheese and a tiny piece of pineapple. Branden ate everything, cheese and crackers and celery sticks with peanut butter and pineapple. Then he went outside again right after he ate. And Noah feel asleep after their snack. I wanna take a nap, but I know I can't now, because there's not enough time (Noboru will get off at 4:00 pm and we only live 20 minutes away lol), I gotta get dinner prepped. I'm making ebi chili tonight, which means I gotta get my tempura mix out pretty soon. Sigh, I have just been pretty tired lately with the waking up at 7:00 am stuff ha ha ha. Hopefully something good comes on TV tonight. : )

The pics are of, our curry lunch from today. My boys snack plate (the after lunch, but not quite dinner time snack, lol), Branden playing out in the backyard (you can see our satellite dish on our fence in the background, I think, because N wouldn't hear of it getting attached to the house, lol), and a pic of the Thomas plate and cup Branden got a couple days ago.

Zeroing in on a new school.

Noah usually sleeps until 9:00 am every morning and he does sleep through the night, so I haven't had many complaints. But this past week Noah has been waking up at 7:00 am to 7:30 am every morning. This is much too early for this night owl. And on Tuesday Noah decided to wake up at 5:30 am. Yup, it was total pitch darkness when he woke up. I stayed awake with Noah until 7:00 am and by that time , I figured I watched him for an hour and a half so I woke up Noboru and asked him to watch him for a while because I was exhausted. He woke up and took him downstairs and watched him until Noah fell back asleep. I woke up at 10:30 am because my schedule was all thrown off by waking up at 5:30 am. Noboru was outside in the front yard tilling the dirt and plucking the odd rock out of the soil. We are about to start planting grass. He worked so hard on the front yard that I was really impressed.

I made lunch and we all ate and our plan was staying home basically and doing yard work, while I cleaned up the inside. But we wanted to go check out a few schools for Branden. We checked out the Catholic one first! We went inside and we asked if they have any openings and yes they do. The school was very clean. Actually school was just finished and we got to check out the uniforms. I liked the uniform and Noboru didn't, lol. All the sensei's were cleaning and wiping down the stairs and banisters and windows etc. I never saw such a thorough cleaning by sensei's like that before. So it was super clean. The secretary was nice albeit a bit taken a back that a foreigner was there, yk you can always tell that shocked look. Geeze, talk about giving me an utter complex, lol! She called the president of the school (she was in the building) and she came and sat with us. And Noboru told her, we just moved to the area and were contemplating hoikuen or yochien. Branden had gone to a yochien before yada yada yada! And she brought out her brochure. Spoke about entrance fees (50,000 yen hmm it is cheaper then the old yochien, our old school was 90,000 yen entrance fee), she spoke in lengthy detail to Noboru about bento's. I only understood bits and pieces but he told me the jist of it in the car. Seems I can make his lunch every day or I can make it 3 days a week and he can have the school lunch 2 days a week. Our choice.

Then she pulled out a scrapbook type of thing with pictures for all the things, like undokai and Christmas recitals and everything in between. She had pictures of the summer uniform and the gym uniform and the winter uniform. Field trips they take the kids on. She gave us a tour of the school and we took the literature and left.

We then went to the other yochien that Noboru's coworkers family sends their kids. Remember anti- hoikuen mom? LOL. We checked out the school. And it sucked! We didn't even go inside. The school looked a billion years old. First thing Noboru said was "the fence is too short" and he was right, the fence was so short any child predator could just grab a kid outta the school yard! This thought scared the shit out of us, since we're parents! Also it was right near a river and with a short fence, who's to say a kid couldn't wander outta the yard and drown or fall into the river? The river was just behind the school. It looked dirty and grungy! The yard looked blech! And they had really long sun bleached curtains that were sun faded. This alone made me wonder, if the entire place was filthy or what. And as a mom we all know our children are our treasures! Would I feel comfortable sending my son there? Ummmm, not really. Noboru never being one to mince words said "this place is *worse* then the hoikuen", I said honestly, yes it is!

So, we have to decide soon, but we sorta are 95% sure right now that we will be sending him to the Catholic yochien.

After that we went to the baby bunny and got Noah some baby senbai's and got Branden a Thomas plate and cup.Came back home and Noboru got started on the front yard work again and I prepared dinner. I made steaks and cheesy, butter baked potatoes and salad.

Stuck in traffic, on a rainy day : )

The traffic was horrible. You wouldn't believe how long we sat in traffic for! As we sat in the car stuck in traffic. We said, gee we coulda driven home by now. Hmm! Amazing that we live actually farther now, but it actually takes us less time to get back and forth to Costco and makuhari. I think it's because Chiba's normal roads are just so congested no wonder it would take us so long to get back and forth where we used to live. We did our shopping quickly at Marui and as usual the prices are just unbelievable. The shrimp was on sale half off! I got two sizes of shrimp, one size for ebi fry and the smaller size for ebi chili. Steak and pork for a pork roast, I plan to make this week. Chicken teriyaki and a pack of chicken tenderloins that may end up becoming karaage or curry lol. Just a lot of meat and veggies and stuff.

They were roasting sweet potatoes outside, when we were leaving, so I bought one and ate it on the drive home. Noboru and I and Noah shared it actually. Branden slept in the car on the way home. It rained all the way home. It was nice to get home. We unpacked everything. I threw the chicken parmesan in the oven. And made spaghetti and we (Noboru, Branden and I) had chicken parmesan and spaghetti for supper. Noah just had plain boiled pasta and munched it up sitting in his high chair. He also had some tiny bit and pieces of garlic bread. And a small piece of chicken parmesan.

Both boys fell asleep right after supper. Noboru and I watched TV for a bit but we were both asleep before 10:30 pm which is unusual.

Our morning at Costco : )

Monday, we went to Costco. I forgot the list I made at home, which was totally dumb of me! We jumped on the highway and got to Makuhari in absolutely, no time.

We got there before 11:00 am. And on a weekday nonetheless and would you believe the store was already jammed packed? Unbelievable! Didn't get anything rip roaringly fabulous. Just got each boy a toy. The boys managed to come back from Osaka with a good deal of cash and I keep it safely tucked away for them but, I decided to let them each get a new toy since they usually don't get too many toys unless it's Christmas or a birthday.Noah got a Learning Table, by Leap Frog. Basically it's an activity table that plays music and sings the ABC's and it lights up all colorful and stuff, it's actually really nice and Noah has been playing with it since we bought it, it certainly keeps him entertained. Branden got a toy by Playskool, called a Bull's eye bounce and roll. I saw the commercial's for this when I was in Denver in August and wanted to get it for Branden but I didn't have any luggage room for it, so I didn't buy it. I saw commercials for it in Guam over Christmas,as but they were out of stock. I saw this and I knew he'd like it and I loved skeeball when I was growing up, so we got this for him. Actually Noboru and I play this as much as Branden does, the only thing I dislike is the volume seems a bit loud!

From my memory, some of the things we got were, celery (bought this for making peanut butter celery sticks, this is the only way I can trick Branden into eating celery and I love it too....Noboru hates celery btw), got two packs of American bacon, chicken parmesan from the deli, a case of Kirkland soda (ok I think we all know what a cheapo I am), and got a gigantic caramel apple pie from the bakery, Cascade dishwasher liquid (I seriously don't need another, since I got one bottle and one powder, but I thought might as well btw, I like the liquid much better), an enormous amount of 2 ply toilet paper, Kleenex, and Orange clean and something even called Kaboom? LOL, it's supposed to be for your bathtub and shower and sink, I will try it out, who knows!

We had lunch at Costco and then we got into the car and instead of jumping onto the highway and being home shortly, we figured we might as well, drive the regular roads and hit the Marui grocery store, since we were fairly close to where we used to live anyway. So yup, that's what we did.....

I will continue this in a second post....

PS, I also looked at the BBQ's, at Costco too, we are going to be buying one very soon. We don't want a gas one. Only because they don't make the food taste any different then a indoor stove. Anyone who's ever had "real" BBQ, and tasted that mesquite type flavor, knows what I mean. A gas grill? Heck, you might as well, roll your regular stove outside because the taste will be no different. Growing up, my mom always had to have a gas grill because it was fancier. Ha ha ha. Sorry mom! But I always agreed with my dad, the charcoal grill maybe not as fancy but it just tastes better. Ha ha ha, so yup, we are on a search for a good charcoal grill. I did find one I liked at Costco.

Sunday night

Noboru has one of those wonky shifts tonight. He works until midnight. Which means the boys and I will eat dinner alone tonight. Sometimes this is nice, because it means less work and one less person to cook for, but sometimes, it also means less help with the kids during dinner and no help cleaning up after supper. I drove to the store this afternoon with the boys and picked up something for dinner for the boys and I. Hmm, I got a ton of food in the freezer and cupboards and fridge, but I just wanted something fast and different (yet not exactly wanting fast food if that makes sense still cooked at home is what I mean). In Japan, most grocery stores, have meat chopped up and marinated in all sorts of different types of sauces in the meat section. I really love this about Japan. You can find chicken teriyaki, or ginger pork or whatever already made and marinated in the meat section and somedays, that really is a blessing. I found something that looked different and sorta appealing to me. I found some white chicken breast meat with some dry curry powder and seasonings. This reminded me of a curry, that I used to get at a Chinese restararant in Denver. So, I thought what the heck, and got it and bought some veggies and planned to make some chicken curry stir fry with veggies for me. And for Branden, I found some sliced chicken breast with some seasonings, it read that it had a mayo flavor that kids love? Hmm, I never heard of this before! But, I figured what the heck! Let's try it and see! I bought a tiny broccoli for Branden.

Later that night, I cooked mine and his side by side. Branden got seasoned chicken and broccoli and rice. And some milk for dinner. Noah had some broccoli and one tiny piece of mayo chicken minced up and mixed with some rice (I mashed it for him), and I had the curry stir fry. It came out pretty good.

I managed to get dinner made, and set the bath and got both boys all washed up in the shower and bath. We all sat and watched TV. The boys fell asleep and I carried each one upstairs one by one. And then I laid on the couch by myself totally vegging out and relaxing until Noboru got home. He said, he ate at work but he did sniff around the kitchen looking for any sign of left overs. Sure enough there were leftovers of each. Noboru ate the leftover mayo chicken and he loved it!

It's so nice being home. Our nice, boring, peaceful life, lol.

Model looks!

Noah got scouted by a modeling agent! I totally swear to you! We were walking in Umeda and were coming from lunch and heading to the Hankyu and some woman saw Noah (Branden was dead asleep in the stroller) and she looked startled! Honestly, we get lot's of attention for our kids. So I didn't even pay attention to her and we barely even noticed it but she motioned her surprise, with her hands in a Home Alone, type hands on face type look, that is why we even noticed it. She actually was heading the opposite direction and yet she must have made tracks to catch up with us, because she tapped Noboru on the shoulder and we stopped and turned around.

She said, honestly she couldn't believe he looks *that* good. She said he was gorgeous and kakkoii. She said she happens to be a top modeling agent and was on her way home. She opened her purse and found a card. You could tell, by her surprise she was *NOT* expecting to see Noah that day! She gave us her card! She told us she would like to use Noah is a commercial right away!

And that he can get tons of work. She looked him over and touched his skin, said he has the absolute whitest skin ever (not quite sure what this means and if this is a good thing?) and said he has the perfect head shape (err this caught me as a weird thing to say) and said he has the perfect look they are looking for and said he has big beautiful western eyes with just the tinyiest itty bittiest touch of Asian in them to still appeal to the market in Japan! But she told Noboru, he is the *ideal* look they are looking for. She was so certain. She told us, that many people come to her modeling agency *asking* for their kids to be models and she has to turn them down. But she said, she is actually *asking us*.

Noboru told her, we don't live in Osaka though. She said where do you live, America? He said no Chiba. She said well you are in luck our main headquarters is in Tokyo anyway! She said he could make a lot of money and his face could wind up many places!

Please understand, yes we think our kids are cute, but then *all* parents think their kids are cute, ykwim? So knowing this, please understand how shocked we were to be actually scouted by a top modeling agent, just while walking down the street. She then kept looking at Noah's facial features and pushed one step harder and asked for Noboru's cell phone number. He gave it to her. He told Mitsuko and she took it with a grain of salt, but when she asked to see the card, she was surprised. I guess she told Noboru, yes that really is the top modeling agency! The agent then told us she is going to call us within the next week for sure! She took down Noah's full name and Noboru saw her write something next to Noah's name and his keitai, he said, she wrote "he looks like a doll"

We aren't sure if we want to do this or not. But anyway that's what happened with Noah.

Thanks everyone, you're all the best! : )

Wow, as I don't allow comments on my blog. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of how many emails, I have gotten about my trip to Osaka!!! Ahhh, thanks guys so much! I really appreciate it! Just somehow knowing that I got a good group of family and friends who support and love me and the kids, so much means a lot. : )

I also wanted to add. The very same day, I got back from Osaka, We received a box of goodies that I had ordered for the boys from the US. It really was good to get back home to Chiba. And about 10 minutes after we arrived home, the mailman rang the bell and sure enough it was a package from my family for the boys! What it is, is my mom sent Branden and Noah $150.00 gift card each. So $300.00 US total. I didn't use them in December or for winter stuff because the boys already had clothes for winter, but I have been holding onto them and waiting for the spring stuff to come out at Old Navy online. Checking every week or everyday just about. When some stuff finally came out I bought some stuff. I used only one of the gift cards. And I got basics for both boys. I will hold onto the other $150.00 card until I get to Denver. But these are some of the things that I got with the gift card.

Some of the basics I bought are a pair of jeans. I figure with rainy season coming up and with summer still not quite here. The boys could use a new pair of jeans each. I chose these because they were a bit different, and a heck of a lot more up to date, then the old boring humdrum carpenter style jeans that many little boys wear. These were called "crazy pocket" jeans. I bought both the boys a pair, because hey I gotta be fair to both my boys, right? Each boy also got a pair of cargo jean shorts. Again, I really like the look of little boys or even guys actually, wearing cargo jeans shorts or other types of cargo shorts. It reminds me of the same type style of the Abercrombie jock type guys, that I used to go to university with. It's a cute look for boys! And I like buying cute boy clothes for my sons. So I tend to go for, crazy pockets or cargo pockets or something cute, I always got my eye out for cute boy clothes. Lastly I went for a pair of short overall's. I went for these because they had the same cargo pockets I like. And I have no other excuse except I love overall's on little boys! Little boys and overall's go hand in hand in my book. So I buy any kind I can get my hands on.