Sukiyaki for dinner and two new friends for Branden!

Holy Toledo! Branden received another present from grandpa! We got it this afternoon. Thanks dad! But you seriously don't need to send anymore stuff for a *long* while! The boys have plenty of everything! And I know, I know, you always tell me, "spoiling your grandchildren is your biggest hobby and greatest joy!" But they really don't need anything. I tell you what, I will send *you* a nice care package of some nice stuff that I find in Hawaii, especially for you. Okay, let us spoil you for a change! Fair? : )

Branden loves the Sponge Bob game though very much and it has so many learning games on it! It's very cool! Thanks again dad, you are the best and we love you very much!!! : )

I made sukiyaki tonight. It was so yummy! In Japan it seems the variations of this are endless and limitless. Ours came out delicious. I know we're supposed to use shirataki noodles, but as I don't care for the flavor of those, I used udon noodles instead, no biggie! The boys loved having sukiyaki and so did Noboru. We all sat at the table chatting throughout dinner and having a wonderful time!

By the way, Branden has made two *very* good friends in our neighborhood. Two of the neighbor kids, one is age three and his name is Rin, he is such a sweet boy! Very polite and he also loves Thomas the tank engine. And Ayumi-chan, she is 6 years old and just started first grade this year. Ayumi lives across the street. And Rin lives two houses to the right of our house. Branden and Rin and Ayumi-chan play together every single day! They all get along wonderfully, like peas in a pod actually! There's no arguing or fighting, they all get their bikes and they ride around in front of all our homes (while I watch them and keep a safe eye on the three little ones, and of course the other mom's do too) and the other day they all went collecting butterflies *and* looking for frogs in the wide open space right next to my house, so I kept a close eye on them still yet they had so much fun! Ha ha ha! Seriously *every* single day they play with one another! I don't think Rin goes to school yet, which is totally okay because he's still a little guy yet : ), so he waits for Branden and Ayumi-chan to get home from school and then Branden gets changed from his uniform to his house clothes and he runs to play outside! Ahh it's a wonderful feeling knowing my son has made two good neighborhood friends, so he can play with them and get all that extra bit of energy out of his system ha ha ha! Plus he's being social and having a good time relating to the neighbor kids, I love it! I know these friendships will be long lasting especially since we are all good neighbors.

Branden got mail from grandpa! And also look what he made at school!

Branden got a package from grandpa today. Wow that was fast! Checking the little stamp of when he sent it and when we received it, apparently we get things the very next day! Amazing, but then again he only moved three hours away from Japan, so no wonder. : )

Thanks dad! Branden was surprised and absolutely loves the Leapster game! He has been playing with it ever since he got home from school today! You spoil both the boys *way* too much though dad! Not that I am complaining, believe me, I appreciate how lucky me and the kids are!

Branden had school today. Not quite sure why, since this is Golden week and he has off the rest of the week. But what the heck, we sent him to school the one and only day he was supposed to go this week. : )

Branden brought home another piece of his art work from yochien/school today! Gosh, I just love my munchkins master pieces, that he makes! This is a fish tote bag. I assume the fish is to go along with the carp streamers that are associated with Boy's Day. Nonetheless, I made a big hoot and went on and on about how beautiful and what fine work he did on them! He got such a kick out of all the fuss I made!

PS, dad on the other side of the fish Branden colored four pictures. I assumed they were of Noboru and myself and Noah and Branden. However, he drew one picture of his brother Noah whom he adores! And one pic of you (grandpa) and get this, two pics of himself, (one where he was holding an ice-cream nonetheless ha ha ha!) At least he has super high self esteem though, right? Two pics of himself! Ahh, he's just priceless! LOL! Kids! Gotta love 'em!

Good thing Noah wasn't in the walker at the time otherwise, I might've smashed him like a pancake, yikes!

Okay so I got the typical phone like most people in Japan have, meaning the corded one with an answering machine and also it comes with a cordless telephone as well so you can place it someplace around the house as well. I actually have the one where we have *two* of the cordless phones. However one of the cordless phone isn't working properly, which is fine no big deal, since we got two working phones still. However, the battery needed charging on the remaining cordless phone, so until it charged, I was down to just the cord phone on Monday. Again, no big deal, since I also got my cell/keitei.

Both the boys were in a dead sleep and were taking an afternoon nap. Since they had been playing together and also chasing after each other non-stop, since the morning. So it gave me a break and I needed one. The phone rang, it was my good friend Cheryl from Osaka. She's originally from the UK, and we've known each other since......geeze...a super long time and I am not quite sure for how long. But put it this way, since I used to live in Osaka and way before we moved to Hawaii and Branden was born. So anyway, I was happy she called but with no cordless phone working, I was confined to sitting at the computer table (where the cord phone is).She moved to Japan permanently after she married her Japanese husband, she owns a restaurant of her own (very impressive for a foreign wife, I must say!), has quite a wonderful life, and her kids have been going to the international school since again...way before I've even had kids. So her kids have gone to international school forever. So she was catching me up with all the gossip and stuff around her part of Japan. And what's been going on with her life etc.

Meanwhile, I was catching her up on what we've been doing over here in Chiba, with Branden's new school, the new house and my dad's moving etc etc. And yes, she's also been reading this here blog since it first began as well, (hiya! Cheryl, lol!) but somehow chatting on the phone allows us to chat about certain things more deeply and her to ask questions etc, so anyway)When suddenly...now picture this!

I was sitting on the computer chair and you know how the back is flexible and can move back and stretch some? Well, anyway I was sitting on the chair, and in a position all kicked back and I even had my feet up in the air resting on my couch at the time. Suddenly the flexible back bent too far and I thought I was going to fall all the way back! However in an attempt to *not* fall backwards, and sorta catch my fall, I ended up falling sideways and completely fell out of the chair and onto Noah's walker. Now it happened super fast and in a matter of a minute or less. But I fell and I fell hard! I didn't hurt myself at all, not even a single scratch. However the walker wheel was busted completely off by me, even though it was an accident. And let's just put it this way...."all the kings horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty...err! The walker together again!

Sigh, so I had no choice really other then to just go and buy him a new one! Noah really needed a new one, because he's only nine month's old! And he absolutely *adores* and loves his walker, and uses the damn thing every single day! He cruises all over the first floor with it. And for me, to have broken it was sad! And I knew I had to replace it immediately! Ahhhh trouble maker that I am! (just kidding)

So I went to the Baby Bunny store and bought him a new one immediately. The same day. I didn't buy the cheapest one and I didn't buy the most expensive either! The one we originally had was from Denver actually and it was originally bought for Branden and he used it and loved it! Since we moved to Japan when Branden was nine month's old, that is why Branden still needed it too and why we had it shipped here. I was hoping to let Noah use the same one Branden used, to save us money. I almost got away with it too, not buying another one.Until, I landed smack dead on the walker this afternoon! Sigh, grumble, sigh! But yup Noah had been using Branden's old walker for month's now, which gee the darn thing was in perfect shape! Until, this morning! Ha ha ha. Even knocked one of the plastic teddy bears off the top of it as well, geeze, told ya, I fell hard!

Anyway, I wouldn't even think of buying the most expensive one, because I figure he'll be walking in a couple month's anyway, so I don't need to buy the most expensive one, that would be ridiculous you know. And I was gonna get the cheapest one, but the only reason why I didn't was because it had unsafe looking wheels and was freakishly small. So I bought the second to cheapest one and it's not bad!

Noah rejected this new one at first and didn't want this one at all! But after a couple hours he had warmed up to it and now cruises all over our downstairs once again but in the new one! The old walker is now sitting in our large trash bin on the side of the house.

And by the way, yup my friend knew something happened. It was pretty hard to hide the super gigantic big thud sound, while we were talking anyway! Ha ha ha. How hazukashii/embarrassing! But it's okay, we're close enough that I told her, yup I just fell flat on my ass! And we both cracked up a bit over it!

Pictures are of, the new walker on the left, the yellow one. And the old walker on the right that got it's wheel knocked off/smashed and is now unuseable. : (

While I was at the baby bunny store replacing the walker, I saw a few t-shirts for both my boys. The baby bunny store is famous for having super cheap prices! A lot of their stuff is really cute too. Noah's shirts, would you believe none of them were more then 500 yen each. And a few were actually even 384 yen! For you reading this in the US, that's $5.00 or under. So while looking for cheap yet still cute 100% cotton type t-shirts for the upcoming hot weather and for days when they just hang out at home.Nothing fancy at all just affordable kawaii shirts, you don't mind your kids cruising around the house in thus getting dirty or gasp, maybe even a stain, lol or what have you. I found a good assortment of shirts for Noah this time. Noboru for some reason fell in love with the t-shirts that had Japanese on them. He was going on and on how popular t-shirts with Japanese writing on them is so super *in style* right now! And how we should buy them. Yada yada yada!

We got Noah's shirts in size 90 cm, because he can wear them and they are still a pinch big so he can grow into them over the summer, yet aren't freakishly big either. Noboru chose the fireworks one with Japanese kanji on it, because he said it was perfect for the upcoming warm weather! And the one with the watermelon on it that says, suika/watermelon in Japanese. He loved this one! He said this is a total summer shirt and he went all nuts looking for size 90 cm and sure enough he grabbed one for Noah and threw it into our cart! He also saw one with a Japanese saying on it, Noboru loved the saying so much. He said it's a famous Japanese saying about how, babies smile or their innocence or "smiling bringing good luck" or something like that. He liked that one *so* much...he got it in both colors! Branden picked out a Thomas t- shirt for his baby brother Noah! And I picked out one t shirt that is light blue and has some green graphics on it. We also got him a few Hawaiian type t shirts with prints of surf boards and stuff! So we think he has enough cheap house shirts now...but knowing kids and how much they make messes, I am not holding my breath!

And with Branden, hmmm they only had two t-shirts I liked. I actually only cared for the light aqua blue one because I thought the color was so pretty and usually buy my boys stuff in that color. But they just didn't have cute stuff in his size. They had many 110 cm's. But no 120 cm at all. And Branden wears a 120cm to 130cm in shirts. And no way, can he fit into a 110 cm shirt at all, that would be *way* too small for him. Oh well, I know that sometimes happens when you have two kids, sometimes they have one kids size well stocked and sometimes they have the other kids size stocked well. Luck of the draw, I guess! My ideal would be go into a store and they have both my boys sizes well stocked and the same stuff too. That way I can buy them the same exact stuff! Oh well, I will go back to the baby bunny store in a few days and see if they have anymore shirts in Branden's size. If not, I will just buy him some extras when we're in Hawaii next week.

I did however, also buy Branden a few under-shirts for wearing underneath his uniform dress shirts. And some more school socks!

I've since thrown all their new t-shirts into the wash and also dryer. They are all now hanging in both of their closets.

The tops pics are of the assortment of cheap cotton house shirts Noah got and the two bottom pics are of the stuff Branden has gotten. Yup, Branden still needs some more comfy cotton house shirts too. Will, definitely go back there this week to see if they have more in his size.

A Sunday spent at the homecenter and curry udon for dinner! : )

We ended up going to a DIY homecenter today. This is the Joyful Honda superstore in Chiba New town. Since we built our new home this year, Noboru's and my biggest hobby is our home. Anywhere from home decorating to landscaping and more. Anyway, we are about to buy ourselves a shed. And we have been looking for one. In a nut shell, we don't want the metal Japanese style one. Don't get me wrong they look nice, but since our home is an imported American house, we wanted something a little more western looking. We found one we like, and it's medium sized not too big and not too small either (my best guestimate is it's about 8-10 tatami mat sized). It's about $3,000 US. So it is quite pricey, but it's a good piece and we figure it'll be a one time buy, so it'll be worth it in the end.

Anyway we have an appointment with the Joyful Honda people and they are coming to our home this Friday in the *early* morning. (since we also have afternoon/evening plans already made on this coming Friday) To take a look at the back yard and give us our complete estimate (including installation and foundation that needs to be laid down as well) and then we will be ordering it. It should take us about 2 weeks for it to get here and installed. It looks like a mini log cabin sorta, sorry I'm horrible at describing what it looks like, but it's gonna be cute, we even get to choose the color of roof and color of the actual log cabin shed itself. Even though my description doesn't do it justice, it really is a cute shed. : )

Noboru also bought 4 bags of dirt/soil. And some bricks for the front yard. So basically we spent the entire day at the "Do it yourself " /DIY homecenter. And since there is a grocery store there as well, we also picked up a weeks worth of groceries.

We went home and I made curry udon for dinner. We had a very nice laid back Sunday.

Pics are of the curry udon dinner I made on Sunday night. I made one mistake though, that I will tell you openly. I bought curry *udon* base or roux when I shoulda just used what I normally use. The flavor came out sweet and mild, but since my husband and I don't care for mild curry *at all*, I knew I had to make some changes to spice it up. I even gave my husband a taste of the sweet mild curry flavor and he said and I quote, it tastes bland and like curry they'd give you in the hospital. My husband and I like our curry with a kick and a punch! Some flavor, again, not to burn our mouth's off or anything, but yes we do like some flavor other then just bland mild curry. So I won't make the same mistake twice and I won't buy the "real" curry *specially for udon* ever again. From now on I will just buy the regular curry roux, I usually buy when I make our curry for curry and rice. I ended up turning off the stove and driving to the convenience store and buying a "normal" or standrad regular curry and added it for hotness and it tasted way better after I did that. Phew!

I just got my skinless boneless chicken breasts and cut them up and fried them in some olive oil. Meanwhile I browned a small onion in a pan all by itself. After the chicken browned and cooked, I threw in the veggies which consisted of potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and the already cooked onions. Boiled that up until the potatoes got a bit soft (not obliterated), then added my curry. Errr this is when I realized the curry tasted like super bland nothing! Hopped in the car with my sons, grabbed a normal curry (my husband was doing yard work which is why I didn't leave the kids with him or I would have). Hopped back home and then it tasted beyond delicious! I boiled the udon noodles a bit by themselves in some hot boiling water. And presto chango! Dinner was done. Sorry I don't have a special udon bowl or anything fancy like that. I just use the same bowls we've been using for ages and and yes, I got them at the daiso! Ha ha ha! But I must say, our meal was so yummy! The mild curry before I added the hotter curry, I took a big heap of that out for both the boys and so they had a real nice mild curry udon complete with noodles and chicken and veggies. Meanwhile Noboru and I enjoyed a spicy hot curry udon! It was fun watching both the boys slurp and enjoy their yummy homemade curry udon that mommy made especially for them!

Our fun filled weekend singing karaoke! (together as a family of course!) : )

Saturday night,we went to sing karaoke like we have been wanting to. It was quite fun and shockingly cheap! We usually go to Shidax which is a chain here in Japan. But this one we went to isn't a chain, I don't think. They specialize in pizza and karaoke, but also had the other regular snacks associated with Japanese karaoke rooms, like pocky, french fries, ice-cream, chips etc.

We sang for two hours! This place also had a free drink bar which was something we've never seen at a karaoke place. So the boys had slurpees/ice-ees. We had sodas and ice coffees the entire time. Branden had some ice-cream. I had a huge ice-cream which we all shared some of. Noboru ordered some yakisoba, even though we ate a delicious dinner at home right before we got there. Noah had his own little baby snacks that I brought from home.

We sang ourselves silly! We had just the best best best time! Branden loves to sing karaoke now, so he sang, "It's a small world afterall", and a couple other ones, as well, as one in Japanese that he learned from yochien! I was impressed by my son! Ha ha ha : )

Noah had a great time as well. Ahhhh it was a very nice night! And you betcha, we will be going back there quite a bit, especially since Noboru and I both love going to karaoke anyway. : )

Alright, I'll share some more pics from our wonderful night of karaoke! : )

Time to break out the ukulele 'cause we're heading back to Honolulu baby!!!

I've known for a couple weeks now and I know a couple of you reading this, know already too because I told a few of you myself, but asked you all to keep quiet about it until I decided to let everyone else know! But yes, we are heading back to Honolulu.The airline my husband works for, gives their employees confirmed round trip tickets to their employees and their families once a year! Meanwhile the rest of the year, we get to fly unlimited anyway, but it's stand-by. And stand-by is cool too. My family has *never* had problems with it. As long as you check and make sure there is *seat availability*, which can be easily checked online for us employees and families of the employees, then you know you will get on or not, before even wasting your time sitting at the airport, it's a total no brainer. And since my family is smart and pretty flexible schedule wise with stand-by and we never even *try* to get onto an aircraft unless it is only 85% full, meaning 15% seats are available so we know for sure, we will get on or not. It's only when people risk it and either #1 don't even bother to check and see how full the airplane is. Or #2 they ignore the fact the airplane is 99% full and then bitch to high hell, that they got bumped! And this just boggles my mind to no end! To me, as long as you are smart and check *first*, you'll never have problems and since we plan things quite well, anyway we've *never* been bumped! Sorry but I've seen a few angry stand-byers (airline employees and their families) at the gate on flights at gates *next* to our gate a few times and we've always wondered, why they just didn't check their flight *first* before coming down to the airport, thus making themselves all upset for nothing. (Sigh) I digress, anyway, the employees/guys in Japan, options were to choose destinations to, Hawaii, Guam or some other destination in Asia. Our choice was a pretty easy one to make because the flights to Guam are almost always open and available, so it didn't make much sense for us to waste our confirmed passes to go to Guam, when we can get to Guam no problem anyway on stand-by. So we figured we haven't been to Hawaii in about 7 month's, eeek! That's a long time for us. So we figured we should just go for it!

Noboru requested his days off last month and was granted his vacation long ago. He also called the airline and requested our tickets and they were granted. Like I said, we've known for a couple weeks. But we've all just been so excited, that we really haven't wanted to say anything about it to anyone!

We leave the week after golden week! And we will be gone for a very nice seven day vacation! Our vacation will be from May 12-18/19, we leave Honolulu on the 18th and get back to Japan on the 19th!

Branden's school was notified last week, by us, that he will be off on those dates. So for Branden he is nearly getting off two weeks, lol! He has no school during golden week, since it's a holiday here in Japan, so we can stay home, snooze or get ready and pack for our upcoming trip! And the following week, we will be in Hawaii! I think he may have to go 2 days between golden week and the actual date we leave to Hawaii but he is going to get a nice lengthy vacation from school.

Rental car has been reserved and the hotel reservations have been made.

I've secretly been making my shopping list for the past couple weeks now. I can't wait to do some good shopping at the Ala Moana shopping center (Old Navy, Gap, Sephora and a few other stores), And the Waikele Outlet Mall for Carter's and Osh Kosh, Banana Republic etc., (this is in the center of the island. Walmart (again in the center of the island), and I wanna go to the mall near, where we used to live, the Pearlridge shopping mall as well! And also Kmart too.

I will only shop for one of the days, so I better do some killer shopping, the rest of my days will be spent strolling Waikiki beach and *willingly* hanging out in a few tourists traps, like the International Marketplace and stuff! Or going to Hanauma Bay and a couple other beaches where just the locals go. Or basically just splashing around in the ocean on Waikiki beach.

And food, ohhh! You'd better believe there's a few local places, I have been missing big time!

Our two favorite and closests neighbors know already and will be watching, our house and keeping an eye on things, while we will be away, which means we better buy them a thank you souvenir/omiyage! Ha ha ha : )

A day well spent at Ikea Japan : )

We hit Ikea like we have been wanting to do! Our thoughts on Ikea Japan? This place is bar none absolutely the *best* place to buy home furnishings in Japan! And *believe* me, I have honestly and truly looked all over the place. Especially, if you recall my bad review on Home Deco and also Tokyo Interiors? LOL.

So today, we went to look around for a couple hours and took some notes and jotted down a few prices of what we liked! However, the styling was so gorgeous that we loved practically everything in the store! Ha ha ha!

If your recall, I really liked the couch at the IDC in Makuhari in January, but passed on it at the time, because we really wanted to wait to see if Ikea had something better. And didn't want to buy something we only 95% loved and ended up kicking ourselves later for it, know what I mean? Well, *thank god* I did wait!!!! Because we found a couch that is a million times better for us! Remember how we wanted an L shaped one in the first place? But the couch at IDC wasn't an L shaped one? A strong enough reason to make me wait or take pause, because it was a good couch at IDC, don't get me wrong but something was telling us, it wasn't *the one* kwim? No doubt about it! I sat on the one from Ikea today, for about 8 minutes while passers-by walked by and I didn't care one lick! I was just so happy we finally found the right couch and truly digging the couch so much, that's why I guess I sat there so long! So the couch we are getting immediately!

We also saw, a dining table that *is* perfect! Thank god we waited too! And we found a TV stand we liked a lot and we found the best looking computer table *ever* and also a bed for Branden! Geeze, we adored everything at this store! We are so glad we didn't buy furniture for this house yet someplace else! Good thing we waited because we found everything we just love! And we will be going back in a couple weeks and buy a good amount of home furnishings!

Now, we agreed we wouldn't buy anything from Ikea today! I seriously tried! However I found a cheese grater that was so cool, because it had a connecting bowl, so the cheese can fall easily in there! And it also has a lid as well and a non-skid bottom too. This thing was so cheap, I had to break the rule. Also the oven mitts, again the color doesn't match my kitchen color scheme at all! And I wasn't going to buy them but would you believe they were only 79 yen? Come on that's about 75 cents for my readers in the US. And did I mention, I threw my old ones out when we moved so I have been roughing it for a while with *no* oven mitts! So, I figured oh what the heck! And so I bought them anyway!

I didn't shop til I dropped or anything like that! But, we love Ikea Japan! Also wanted to add, I know somehow sometimes stores change merchandise, when they make stores in other countries, so I was worried how Ikea Japan would be. But they rock! This store is unbelievable! And I think, other furniture stores might close and go out of business now that Ikea is in town!

We went right home and looked at our living room and took measurements to see if the couch etc., would fit and seems everything will fit perfectly! And yup, the L shaped couch will at last be mine! Yippy! Didn't think we'd ever find one we truly loved, but sure enough Ikea really came through!

Pictured is my nine month old son, Noah holding, errr chewing the Ikea map. He was helping us navigate around the store today. He was our trusty map holder! Ha ha ha! : )

My dad found the condo of his dreams and leaves Japan this Saturday.

Dad found a wonderful condo on a tropical island, like he has been looking for! He ultimately chose the island of Guam, only because it's only a three hour flight from Japan and plus it's still the good ol' USA, well a common wealth actually, but it's no different then the US at all, and still has all the amenities to make my dad's retirement wonderful! The island itself has two shopping mall's that have Macy's, Ross Dress for Less, Anne Klein, Nine West, and two different movie theater's, Taco Bell, Carl's Jr., Burger King, a "real" Denny's and a Kmart and much much more.

His condo has a secured gate to enter and a security guard is on call all the time. It's got a killer ocean view and the condo itself is in a *very* nice middle class area. His condo also has a private swimming pool, and a large BBQ area for bbq'ing and a nice playground, which will be great for when the kids and I go to Guam, they'll have some place to play at!

He will be leaving Japan this Saturday! We will be very sad that he's leaving. I admit, I have loved getting all the extra help around here with the kids. I've also loved his company and just him being around and getting to spend some quality time with my dad. However it will also be so nice that I won't have to have such a long flight to visit my dad anymore. So that's a big bonus to me and also if he ever needs me, he knows, I am only a three hour flight away and can be there in a heart beat! And we all know with dad's horrible heart attack, he had last year, my dad living closer to me gives me a great deal of peace of mind and him too! Anyway, I'm glad he found a condo, he truly loves, because he deserves to have a wonderful retirement! : )

Some of the clothes, I bought for both my boys in America.

Okay, I know many of you were still interested in knowing what other things both my boys have gotten clothes wise from America. So I figured I might as well, just post about it and get it done and over with already! : ) So here is a final tiny peek at just some of the stuff my boys will be wearing this upcoming spring/summer season. I'll try to break them up in easy to see sections, meaning Branden's tops and add pics, then Noah's tops and share pics and so on.

I think by now, we all know Branden is the Gap sweatshirt king! Ha ha ha! Seriously the kid has owned so many of these, ever since he's been born! When I was back in Denver last month, I took it upon myself as a good chance to stock up on both my boys wardrobe. I know in the spring time, it still gets chilly, maybe in the evenings after the sun has gone down. Or if we head to Disneyland and the nights get sorta cold, a good soft spring time sweatshirt was in order! Note, these are not the fleece kind that I buy him when it's wintertime. These are just warm cotton sweatshirts, so they will stay warm but won't melt to death either, know what I mean? Also even in the summer time, being in an airplane (which we travel a lot anyway as you all know) it gets quite chilly in the airplane. So I know these sweatshirts will come in handy big time! I bought these in size 5T, granted he's barely 4 and a half years old. But I feel a bit bigger sized, is better to be on the safe side! This way he can wear these even next spring if he wanted to. So he got two sweatshirts this time. I bought the red one right away, because it's bright and eye catching and seems happy and bright, so I liked this for my little guy and I bought it. I also bought the navy blue one with bright yellow Gap lettering.

Branden also got two Gap t- shirts. I wanted to buy a couple more for him too, since the prices were so unbeatable! But the only other one, I liked didn't have his size! And the one that did have his size, I really didn't like the styling of it. So, I just bought these two so far and I plan to buy him more t shirts as soon as I find some more, I like.

Pics are of Branden's tops: first pic is of the two newest sweatshirts, I bought for Branden last month in the US. And the other is of the two t- shirts I bought for him at the Gap as well. And the final pic is showing, how I am still in the process of stocking up on sweatshirts in 5T for when fall/autumn rolls around. If you recall in a post I made in January (I think) that's when the other swetashirts were sent by my family from the US and I have been tucking them away in each of the boys closets ever since. It's smart to get a good head start on stuff while we can, huh? Especially if you live overseas like I do.

All in all, I think my boys got a good jump start on their Spring/Summer clothes. Of course they still need more stuff, but this is a good start at least! : )

A look at some of Noah's tops

Figures, that when I get my big chance to hit the Gap outlet, they only had *one* measly Gap t- shirt for my cute little Noah! What the hell? As I don't live in the states, when I do get my *big* chance to shop back home, they don't have his size! The irony was absolutely unbelievable, I'm telling you! I was sorta upset to be honest with you, but then what can you do, you know what I mean? : )

So, I bought Noah the one and *only* Gap t- shirt (meaning it actually said Gap on it) that was in his size. I also hit the Children's Place, if you recall in my earlier post, I bought quite a few shoes for the boys from here. Tops wise/shirt wise though, I only bought Noah this green t shirt, because I thought it was so preppy and cute!

I also bought Noah a matching Gap sweatshirt like I bought for his big brother. It's the navy blue with bright yellow wording and bright yellow inside hood part, that I just loved! I wish they woulda sold the red sweatshirt in Noah's size, but sadly they didn't, so he just got this one, so far.

I plan to buy both my boys a bunch more shirts for this upcoming spring and summer season. Again, I just have to find some I like and hope they got the boys sizes in stock as well. : )

Pics include the t-shirts I bought at the Children's Place and Gap. And the newest sweatshirt, I bought Noah last month. And the final pic is of the total sweatshirts I have so far, saved up for Noah. His sweatshirts are all 12-18mos and only one is size 18-24 mos (planned ahead a bit I know). This way even though he's only 9 month's old right now, he can cruise around in these cute sweatshirts for a good long time, since I bought them in a comfy enough size that he can grow into.

Hats, hats and more hats! : )

I bought the boys a great deal of hats. But then, I always seem to gravitate towards hats for both my munchkins, because they both look so darn cute in them! I just can't stop myself from buying any that I get my hands on. Here's all the hats that I bought in Denver.

Note the patch work looking preppy 80's looking gilligan hat! That one reminded me of the shorts/pants the preppy guys wore on the movie Valley Girl. I grabbed that one right away. And we all know how *big time*, I am into Hibiscus printed *anything*, since we used to live in Hawaii and all. So when I saw the hibiscus floppy hats, I snatched them up right quick too! And by the way, the Gap denim hat, Noah has had that one before in a few sizes already, but this was the next size up.

I must say, my boys got a good selection of hats so far huh? You better believe that when I see more, I'll snatch them up too. I'm always on the lookout.

Noah also got three little rompers from the Carter's outlet. I purposely bought one in size 18 month's, yes even though Noah's only nine month's old right now. I did that because we also travel a bunch in December to the islands whether it be, Hawaii or Guam. So it's best that he have an outfit he can wear that's size 18 month's. Also I will certainly let him wear that even if it's a bit baggy this summer, because it'll still be very cute on him! So he has these three little comfy cotton rompers to cruise all over Japan and whatever else destination we may go. They are dressy enough since they are polo style and the cool rugby stripes look very in style. Yet they are comfy and soft cotton, so Noah can still feel relaxed and comfortable no matter where he goes! I was very pleased I bought these for him last month.