Tis the season to be jolly! : ) And time for some Christmas cookie baking! Yum! : )

On Saturday, we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the Cartoon Network has been airing a lot of those classic television specials that I myself grew up watching as a kid! Thankfully we have satellite and so our boys watch them same as how I used to when I was a kid. They had the Santa one, on after this one, on last Saturday as well. Anyone remember the one elf, from Rudolph, his name was Hermie, he didn't want to make toys, he wanted to be a dentist?! Ha ha ha. We all watched this last Saturday. Computer was turned off and we really enjoyed the heck out of our weekend. Just doing family fun type stuff. Even just staying home not doing too much was fun. : )

Rudolph's dad, wanted him to hide his red nose.

: ( But then of course as well all know, Rudolph saves the day....at the end anyway! But so cool to enjoy all these movies with my kids. It was a very relaxing Saturday, very low key, just staying home and stuff. No big deal or anything. But yeah, we really enjoyed it. : )

Sunday again another relaxing day at home. Saturday in the day B and Noah played with the kids in the neighborhood. But on Sunday, we spent the day together, just the boys and I. Since hubby had to leave to work. : ( We made our first batch of our holiday cookies for this year. The same cookies I have made for 10 plus years. I share this recipe on my blog every year and will always continue to do so. Because it is a very good, basic butter cookie recipe. No weird or strange, hard to find ingredients to look for. So perfect for us ladies in Japan to make as well. I got this recipe off a box/package of butter in America. Inside the package of butter, it read...."BEST EVER BUTTER COOKIES" Who can argue with a name like that? Ha ha ha! Heck, I sure can't. : ) One night 10 some odd years ago, I made a batch. Thought what the heck, I'll try them. And sure enough, they really were the best ever butter cookies, I had ever tasted. Not sure why...maybe simplicity at it's best? Or I don't know what. But they really are truly a great cookie! And so, the boys and I bake about 3 batches of these throughout the month of December. They look forward to making them every Christmas! If you like, feel free to double click the recipe, and use this and bake these for your own family!

For reference, this one box of butter, equals the 1 cup of butter needed. Just trying to be helpful! : )

My nice cold chilled cookie dough. Ready for rolling out! : )

Sunday about 4:30 pm. Both Branden and Noah loved to shake the sprinkles onto the cookies. We had Christmas tunes playing in the kitchen. They both love to cook with mom! And I love to cook with them too! : )

Done with some of the Christmas trees!!! Job well done boys! Ha ha ha! *winks* : ) And of course out of every batch that cooled, the boys had to eat a cookie and I had a few myself while we were baking them! : )

What the cookies look like that the boys and I made on Sunday! : ) A green Christmas tree, and some green and red stars! : ) You know...like for the top of the tree. So stars! : )

A couple dozen cookies, just like the recipe says. Minus a few that we munched on while we baked them! Ha ha ha! : )

My walking steps picture for Monday! : D Let me give you my weekly update so far! : )

Saturday: 9,487 steps

Sunday: 8,913 steps

Monday: 10,877 steps

Tuesday: 8,337 steps

My walking is going really good still. I am walking daily. I feel really good, by just adding this walking regime into my life! It's been a really positive thing for me. : ) I recall what I weighed last month. I usually only jump on every month. And I can honestly tell you that I have lost 15 pounds/7kg of right now. Again though, it is still something I wanna keep really modest about because, again, I have that teeny tiny lingering bit of fear..."will I keep it up?" So again, I am still really keeping things on the down low, staying really super conservative with things. And pretty much staying quiet about things. But yes, I get my walk of 8,000 to 10,000 steps each day. Sunday, I think it was....I really did NOT want to walk on the treadmill. I wanted to do anything but. However, I forced myself on and walked anyway. Only logged 8,913 that day, buy...at least I got it done. So, I was happy afterwards. : )

And I am not dieting. I'm just not. I guess I figure, the holidays are a time to eat with loved ones and enjoy all the yummy things we usually eat this time of year and I don't wanna feel guilt or anything like that this time of season. So, nah, no diets for me at all. I am trying to watch what I eat, not over indulge too much. But other then that, no diets. : ) Just exercise. : )

Monday, after I logged a lot of walking that morning. I started my Monday's cleaning regime. Pushed back the corner dish cabinet. Swept and antibacterial-ed back there. Wiped my shelves off with orange Clean and antibacterial wipes. And then just put everything back. It's decluttered already,so only needs a weekly wipe down. : )

Floor, corners, baseboards. Mopping the kitchen floor came at the end.

Opened every kitchen drawer. Did my monthly declutter of my kitchen drawers. Now they are clutter free. And very well organized.

Not a dot of dust or a speck of dirt, when I was done with it! : ) Rolled the drawers back in and was done.

Back where it goes, dusted off the pics. Placed things back to their rightful spots. Orange cleaned my counter tops and my stove. Washed my kitchen rug and 3 kitchen towels that hang on my oven door. And then started mopping the kitchen floor like a mad woman! Ha ha ha! : ) While the floors dried, I cleaned the downstairs toilet, straighted and swept the genkan and vacuumed the living room. Went upstairs and folded the laundry fresh out of the dryer. Vacuumed the upstairs. And went to go and pick up B from school. Drove him to Kumon at 3pm. Meanwhile got started in on supper! I had walked, I had cleaned. Done everything I had to do for the day. Ahh, the night time, when it starts to be restful. Oh yeah! We had dinner, Noboru and Branden took showers. Noah and I showered. And we went downstairs to check for any Christmas movies. Besides watching Rudolph this week, we have also caught the Polar Express movie on TV as well as a few others.

Tuesday, same routine, wake up at an ungodly time of 5:30 am. Ha ha ha. : ) Make breakfast for the boys to be eaten at 6am.. Make myself a coffee ASAP. Check email, glance a few bloggie friends stuff. Then get back to real life and make sure Branden has his stuff ready, and drive him to school. Noah and I come home. Read Noah 1 book. Currently he is having me read The Cat and the Hat, have now read Cat and the Hat about 20 times these past 7-8 days, ha ha ha! And yes...I do the cool voices for the Fish and the Cat too! Fish says, "He should not be here while your mother is out" LOL! Hop on treadmill for about 50 minutes. About 5,000 morning steps. And then, start cleaning house for about 2 hours. After that...I am free. I might...jump on the treadmill. Prep dinner. Watch TV, scratch my butt, pick my nose. J/k! I am just kidding about those last 2! Ha ha ha! Anyway, Tuesday evening came and after dinner, then bath time, then we flipped on the TV and checked....any Christmas movies on??? And sure enough we were not disappointed. We watched the Santa Clause 2, on the Disney channel! With fresh bowl of popcorn. Ahhhh, this is the life! The simple life! : ) Around here, we get excited by Christmas movies, eating popcorn and munching Christmas cookies! Oh yeah! Good times, good times! Ha ha ha! : )

A perfect way to end a day! Watching the Santa Clause 2! We sure do love watching Christmas movies around here!!!! Oh yeah, I forget...I also went and got my hair cut on Tuesday morning and in the afternoon I took Noah to swim school. Same cut as the last couple times before. Chin length straight bob. Should last me passed New year's for sure. : )

Today's plan? Today/Wednesday, I will be making dinner and stuff as usual. But this evening, before dinner I have to take Branden to swim club. Should be there at swim club until about 6pm or so. And then come home and make dinner.

No other plans this week. Except the boys and I will be baking up another batch of holiday cookies this weekend as well! And hoping to catch some more holiday movies. : ) Oh yeah, next Monday, I am supposed to make Branden an obento/lunch from home. Something about the ichinensei/first graders are going to be playing or doing some project all day at the elementary with the second graders? Or something like that. And so, they will all have lunch together, the 1st and 2nd graders. So the note said, be sure to pack a lunch, a thermos and a leisure sheet. I have it written on my Coca Cola calender on the fridge already, so I don't forget! Ha ha ha! : )
Have a wonderful week you guys!!! : )

A nice hearty baked potato soup, so yumm!!! Swim school and a few other odds and ends! : )

Today is Saturday, the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day here! : ) I wanted to catch up with you all a bit first though. : ) So, like I said earlier, I did indeed make potato soup on Tuesday evening and sure enough Noboru flew to Okayama that day as well, to pick up the car. This was what we had for dinner, the boy's and I on Tuesday evening. A nice hearty baked potato soup with all the yummy toppings a baked potato would have as well. : ) And a grilled cheese sandwich to go with. : )

This is not my original recipe, but a recipe I had got online a while back. You can double click this picture and print out the recipe, if you'd like. See the recipe or write it down. I also will link where I got the recipe as well, seeing as that is only fair. : ) I do love to cook, and a lot of my recipes are passed down from my family and also a lot of recipes I have are from a lot of the cookbooks I lug back from America. I have a Southern cookbook that will knock the socks off anyone. It's good! Ha ha ha. And I also find excellent recipes online as well. Thank goodness for the internet age, for this type of stuff. It helps. : ) But yeah I love potato soup, I always have. I have tried watery almost milk like consistency ones. Didn't care for those, sorry. : ( And I have tried so many thicker types. For example from Tony Roma's they make a very good thick potato soup, nearly exactly like the recipe I made on Tuesday. When I went looking online, I read through many a recipes and could tell some would be the watery types of the potato soup. And then I happened across this one. So, glad I found this recipe. : ) Anyway here it is. I know some of you were interested in the recipe and so that's why I am sharing it.

It's not so thick it's like cement and it's not so thin it's like water either. It's just a perfect creamy thicker type texture! I topped it off with, crunchy bacon, red cheddar and green onion! It made enough to last our family of four, two nights. I am saying this, to give/help you sorta gauge, should you make it. I can see me making this, once a month or maybe once every month and a half because it is quite fattening. But as an every once in a while hearty soup this is excellent! : )

Funny, at yochien, all the kids at our school, bought all our school supplies at the actual yochien that way all the stuff would be the same as their classmates. I thought that is an excellent idea. And I always did that. Then when Branden started elementary school it was different. Pretty much like how we do things in America. They give you a list of what to buy, for example, buy your kids a 20 piece crayon set, can be any brand whatever as long as it's a 20 piece or whatever # they give. Okay....I just bought all of Branden's supplies in Japan. So that way he could have the same as everyone else basically. So no worries. Anyway here's the interesting part. Tuesday...he brought home a note. A note sent to everyone in the class, as well. Saying the kids were making a special Christmas art project and to bring any crayons or colored pencils or anything that the kids had at home. "okay, okay, I thought, hmm but he does already have crayons at school though and colored pencils and stuff same as everyone else" The note is basically for the kids to bring anything extra. I went next door to, "boy next door's house" rang the bell and asked the mom and grandma about it. They said "Boy next door is going to bring some markers he usually uses at home and some crayons he usually uses at home. Okay, I said, thanking them and went inside my house. These are what the boys use at our house. Just some cheap American Crayola brand stuff, that's all we had and use for at home stuff, so that's what I sent him with. No biggie, I thought. Branden reminded me I had to name everything. Again these were house use, so obviously they had no name before now. Ha ha ha. : ) This was all after making homemade potato soup from scratch you guys. Ha ha ha.

I made about 100-200 stickers off my computer with Branden's first and last name on them when school started last year. I still have over half. So, I just started, sticking stickers on everything Crayola on Tuesday night. : )

And every crayon and marker as well. Sigh, lol. And then I also wrapped a piece of tape over the name sticker, so no one can peel it off. : )

With Branden and I both doing this, we got done twice as fast. I placed them all in a Zip Lock bag and since his school cloth bag was at school, I dug out an old one of his and put the crayons in there. : ) I like those new plastic twistable crayons that are encased in plastic tubes so no more broken crayons, lol.

Crayons all nicely packed away and ready for taking on Wednesday morning. What did Branden say after school on Wednesday? He said, "mommy the whole class including my sensei thought I had the coolest crayons!!!" He was so happy! That gave me the biggest tickle! Because in truth, Crayola crayons are really no big deal, not at all. I guess, it's because I grew up with that American brand, maybe that's why. But yeah, thought that was sorta funny, they dug his stuff so much...we weren't even trying to be impressive, it's just all we had at the house, and after cooking, I wasn't even going to run to the store to buy extra, so he just used what we had at home. Anyway just thought I'd share this little story.

Wednesday, Noboru arrived back to our home around 2:00 pm! Remember, I have to leave to pick up Branden at 2:20 pm most days. So when Noboru got back on Wednesday, I barely had time to see and talk with him. He looked exhausted, his eyes were all puffy and red. So blood shot! He brought in the few things he got from Costco. He said it was so packed and busy at Costco he could barely maneuver his cart! And as sleep deprived as he was, I take my hat off to him for even trying to make his way around there! He had a very small shopping list, 2 things were on there that they were out of. I actually was on the cell while he was talking to the woman who worked there. Poor guy! He just got an extra bottle dishwasher soap, another big bag of cheese, yes the big bag of this, we just got a few weeks ago is gone, we eat a lot of cheese around here. : D Dinner rolls, I already bagged and froze these, for Christmas dinner.

The large pepperoni pizza was for our dinner Wednesday night. Wednesday's dinner was just leftover potato soup, and pepperoni pizza. And Noboru brought me a slice of the combo pizza because while he hates onions and stuff, he knows I love it. So he very nicely bought me a slice, he really is so considerate! That really made me smile. : ) By now, we had about 10 minutes before I had to leave. Noboru got the spare car seat for Noah and hooked it into the R2 and next thing I know, I was hopping into my new car, and picking up Branden.

Noboru went to sleep, and he slept from 2:20 pm, until about 6:30 pm. He should have slept longer, but he got up and had dinner with us. It was just pizza and soup, nothing fancy. He told me all the stories he had to tell me about his driving adventure from Okayama to Chiba. How it was 2am when he passed Osaka on the highway, how he thought of his dad and mom, but considering the time of night, and he was in a mad rush, he drove on! How he stopped along the way 2 times and closed his eyes for about 15 minutes each.

These were taken on Wednesday, while Noboru was still sleeping and meanwhile Noah and I were at swim school watching Branden take his swimming class. I think if I take the picture on the "portrait but night time" setting the picture will somewhat come out. But again through glass and all, it's never going to be a perfect shot. But you can see Branden on the far right, with the blue swim cap on. Coach is giving everyone instructions. How best to position your hands and fingers!

His swimming is really good!

Thursday: I had already sent Branden to school, I am already dressed for the day. Sorry, I didn't switch to exercise clothes or anything, but hey treadmill time, is treadmill time, no matter what I am wearing, right?! : ) Wide leg jeans and my funky sneakers! : )

As you can see, I had walked for 53 minutes, and my steps up until that point, were 6,840 steps! For Thursday. I did log way more by the time the night rolled around. But for me personally, I have to fit, my treadmill time in, wherever and whenever I can. I frankly don't care if I can walk 20 minutes in the morning, 55 minutes for lunch, and 40 minutes while dinner is baking. As long as I can log my goal of 8 thousand to 10 thousand steps of treadmill time each day, I don't care how I break it up, as long as by the end of the day, I get my pedometers steps on there, so be it! So as of right then it was 6,840. And 53 minutes of exercise I think is damn awesome, even if I do say so myself! : )

A few more walks before lunch and that 6,000 number has now grown to 10,428 steps. My goal has been reached for Thursday! No more treadmill for me on Thursday, and the rest or extra thousand steps were just natural steps, like walks to the kitchen, walks upstairs etc,

I have a scale, I just rarely get on one. I also have not tape measured myself when I started this walking regime a month and a half ago either. Whoops. I guess, I just thought at the back of my mind I would fail. : ( And I am not a negative type person *at all.* But yeah honestly that's how I felt. : ( For now...I do not see any dramatic result yet. However, I am starting to notice that my jeans and all my pants now seem a pinch (literally) big. As you can see in this picture, I can pull, a whole inch of extra room on the sides of my pants. It's no lie. But again, I don't wanna go shouting it off the roof tops just yet at all. I just wanna be really conservative about this and quiet about things for now. Aha and you can see the tiny black pedometer clipped onto my jeans pocket in this picture as well.

Thursday nights supper. Very simple as usual. A pork roast, some roasted potatoes and some steamed green beans.

Thursday evening after supper, I went to set the bath and I opened my pedometer and this was the ending numbers. Remember how early in the same day it was 6,000 some odd number, well by the night time it was indeed 11,735 steps. I felt really proud of myself, really accomplished. I set the pedometer on zero. And although yes I walked after to the bath, walked downstairs etc etc. I don't bother logging those steps after my bath,

Thursday night still, I had hoped Noah could watch the Christmas movie Jack Frost with us, but he went to sleep at 8:05 pm. And the movie barely started on the Disney Channel at 8pm. So he missed the whole thing. Branden and I watched it with a bowl of popcorn. In our jammies! Noboru came home midway through and watched the last hour of it with us. : )

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, on Thursday Branden brought home this certificate. He took a test on Monday at Kumon, in English reading, writing and answering questions hard test. It was about 6 pages long. And he got 99 points out of 100! We are so proud of him for that! He's been really trying hard, you guys! : )

Friday: Oh thank goodness for Fridays! Ha ha ha. : ) Let's see, what did on I do Friday? Well, I ordered our Christmas ham from FBC. Absurd price : (, $100 bucks! If I were in the US, we would have got it for maybe $20.00 at Safeway, even the Honey Bake store might have been just $60.00. But in Japan, foreign stuff is hard to come by. : ( So, it should be coming in about 5-7 days. And I'll just keep it in the freezer until a day or two before Xmas and then put it into the fridge to defrost. Ah well....not much we can do. We do want a ham for Christmas, a great big one, especially Noboru, so he doesn't mind paying the price for it. Ah, well, at least we know it's on it's way! : ) And it's only a once a year type thing anyway. Branden got out of school early Thursday and Friday. I picked up B on Friday at 1:30pm. And from there, we headed to the bakery. Picked up a few good things and some fresh bakery sliced bread. Should be good to snack on for today and for Saturday morning coffee. : )

Friday night, we had a simple nikujaga that I made. It did not rain all day on Friday, however I have heard it rained elsewhere in Japan. Japan also had an earthquake on Friday as well, but again where I live, we couldn't feel a thing. We got home from the bakery around 2:20 pm. Branden had no homework for the weekend, thank goodness. And he hopped on his bike and went to play with his friends. Meanwhile, I started in on the nikujaga. Dinner was nearly done around 4pm. I had an hour, I thought until B would be home at 5pm. Yet....I started hearing really loud thunder around 4pm! So loud, And bright blue flashes I could see out the window. Next thing I know, two 3rd grade girls, rode their own bikes, to follow/escort Branden home. I thought that was very sweet and considerate of them! They know he's just an ichinensei and they wanted to make sure he got home safely. I went onto the porch and waved at the girls and told them thank you in Japanese and to be careful, also in Japanese. They waved and left. About 6 minutes later, by now the girls must have gotten themselves home since it's a small community we live in. The rain came down. It came down so hard, so loud. I thought it was actually hail at first, went to look out the big patio window but it was just rain. Wild, hard falling rain. The winds were so strong! I had gotten all my treadmill out of the way by now. And TGIF! : ) Glad we had dinner already ready. And glad I went to the bakery too. Noboru was working until 9pm. So, the boys and I sat in front of the TV and enjoyed our niku jaga there. We usually eat dinner on the dining room table. But with Noboru being gone, ahhh what the heck! I was so hungry!!! Branden was too, he had 2 servings. Noah had a heaping 1 serving. After supper, I loaded up the dishwasher, started the dishwasher, wiped down the stove top. And started the hot water pot. I had a nice hot cup of coffee and a bakery good, both the boys had a glass of milk with a half of bakery goodie. And then I went, pushed the button to start the bath. Branden showered first, got his jammies on. Noah and I meanwhile showered and then took a bath. We made "pretend curry" in the tub Friday night. We usually make pretend meals in the bath, ha ha ha! Got our jammies on, Noah zonked out so fast as usual. It's like this kid was made with a sleep timer inside. Ha ha ha. Branden and I stayed up, watched some TV and then it was time for B to sleep. I stayed up, watching TV with pillows and fuzzy blankets on the couch until Noboru got home, at 9:25 pm. At 10pm, we watched the Ghost Whisperer together! : )

Here is the pedometer steps I walked on Friday, I did a little over ten thousand steps. 10,189!

*Next week, we will go and buy Noah's gym uniform from the uniform shop, socks from Nishimatsuya for school next month. He starts as soon as the Christmas and New year's holidays are over. So, I gather Noah will be starting school around January 1oth or so. So, we want to get everything out of the way before the Christmas holidays start. All the homemade school bags I've had for ions, ha ha ha. And I have a very cool Japanese lady sewing and creating Noah's seat cover right now.

* On Thursday, I sorta joined in spirit, 2 ladies, who are on an exercise regime of their own. They have their own goals and wishes for themselves. So while we are not competitors at all, since our goals are all different and we are not really like that anyways, we are allies and a good support system for another. And though they started the idea of being virtual exercise buddies/supporters first. I asked if I could join in as well, because frankly, I thought everyone can always use a bit of support and help, right? : ). So, I started that on Thursday of this week. And it will last 100 days from Thusrday. So while my own personal goal is different then theirs, *mine is to walk between 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day*. That is my own personal goal, I set for myself. Ahhh, I hope I can do it. And getting positive vibes and stuff is good for the soul and spirit, I think. So let me give you this weeks walk steps:

Monday Dec 1st...9,200 steps (however keep in mind I didn't officially start this support system until Thursday)

Tuesday Dec 2nd, 8,429 steps (again didn't officially join my fellow 2 ladies yet)

Wednesday...Dec 3rd, no walking logged at all, though obviously I walked that day, Wednesday's are my busy days, went to the swim school, but so much going on with Noboru bringing the car, swim school, no walking counted at all, but again though..(didn't join the group yet either though.)

Thursday, I asked if I could virtually join them in spirit and we could sorta support each other via our blogs. And so this is my start day...11,735 steps logged.

Friday 10,189 steps.

So far so good. I will try to post or update maybe once a week, how this is going during the next 100 days. : )

* Weekend plans? Nothing as usual. : ) Noboru is working this weekend. The boys and I will just hang out, stay home. Cook dinner together or whatever. Work on some reading a bit. And right now, as I type this Branden has been outside playing and riding bikes with his friends all morning and afternoon long! For lunch we had leftover nikujaga.

*Tv talk, Ghost Whisperer starts it's 2nd season December 22nd. I can't wait! I love that show. I think the US is on season 3 right now. So we are about a season behind? Right now, it seems some evil spirits are keeping all the ghosts away from Melinda. And these 2 shadowy figures look really freaking scary! Ha ha ha! *shivers*

*In the news.... OJ sentenced to 9 years for the armed robbery? I'm a little fuzzy on the details because this morning it said up to 33 years and now yahoo news says different, that it's 9 years (and I do remember all the news on this one when it happened, after that memorabilia stuff happened at the hotel, right). And the Michael Jackson suit was settled last week or so, as well, right? Madonna getting a divorce from Guy Ritchie, a few weeks ago this was big news. And the US auto makers asking congress for multi billions in bailouts. I have been keeping up with that bail out business, since before Thanksgiving. So much is going on in the news these days. Not to mention the world news with Thailand and India. Just so much going on in the world.

*Anyway, I better hurry and publish this so I can get back to my treadmill for my Saturday's ped steps. Just enjoying a nice well deserved lazy weekend, is all! : ) Have a lovely weekend everyone! : )

Friday through Tuesday (Christmas lights lit and more! : )

Friday: Well, Noboru and I are both really big on the holidays around here, you guys know what big nerds we are with that, just look at our other holiday posts of the past and you'll see what I mean, lol! : D We couldn't barely wait until the day after Thanksgiving as is tradition for my family and how I grew up. : ) So, Friday morning, we plugged the timer on our Christmas lights for the outside. We set it to go on at exactly 4:30 pm and to turn off at exactly 9:00 pm. So now that the timer is set on our Christmas lights, we just went about our day and kept waiting for 4:30 pm. Must have been too excited because were both waiting and peeking out the windows at 4:28 pm and nothing, 2 minutes later they went on! We slipped on our shoes and ran out to the street to get a look! This is what we saw. And yup, it is growing dark so fast. But you can still see that pinch of light in the sky just a bit. : ) I love the holidays so much! And when I drive back home in the evenings now and, to see these lights all shining, it just makes me so incredibly happy! Yup, we are in the spirit of the holidays, around here!

If you look at the 2 pics of the house this year, you can see we indeed have switched the 4 big hanging plants, and now they have poinsettias in them. Looks so much more Christmassy then the yellow ones we had for Halloween. : ) The Christmas wreath is indeed on the front door now. Doing the red flowers in the pots took me a whole afternoon last week, but it was well worth it now. : )The garland we have hanging on the banisters not only have the classic clear bulbs, we have Costco Christmas ornaments hung throughout the garland as well. With bows on the garland too. We also have the walk-way illuminated with Christmas lights! I look forward to enjoying this homey, country Christmas feeling all month long! : ) Saturday: We went to the school on Saturday morning. From 8am to 11am. This pic was taken outside Branden's first grade classroom. See all the art projects? : ) Anyway we went inside the classroom, all of us parents. And the art project the teacher wanted us all to do with our kids, was to create art projects *but* they had to be made with some parts of nature...Fall time nature. Pine cones, acorns, red and yellow leaves, berries of some sort. Ykwim (you know what I mean) : )
These 3 are Branden's projects. He made a nice green tree with a star on top. A nice blue tree with a star on top and a tree in a cup?! Ha ha ha. I noticed Branden was the only one out of all the kids who made trees who put a star on top of the tree. Well done, B!!!! : ) How cute all the projects were though! : ) Kids this age really enjoy being creative don't they? Creating mini masterpieces, ha ha ha!
Teacher got to pick what object she wanted each student and parent to make. About 95% of the class, got to make the ol' easy 2 cups taped together and put acorns inside and decorated the cups. Meanwhile we were the only people she gave the request to whip up a Fall themed parfait! Errrr, ummm. I thought a bit. And said, okay. Fair enough, I suppose. Digging through the art cabinet. And looking at the Fall toppings tables that had the pine cones and acorns and such. We dug right in and whipped us up a parfait. Cotton was the ice cream. And with a skewer and some brown origami paper, Branden and I made a make shift pocky! Gotta have pocky right? This is Japan afterall! : D Added some berries, some leaves. We even wrinkled up a lavender piece of origami to place it between the cup and the bowl. Phew, don't ask me, how we whipped this little baby up, but we did!!! I was so proud, and so glad to be done and yes I did this all while watching my 3 year old at the same time! Everyone hadn't finished yet with their project, not even half way. Next thing I knew, the teacher gave us another project to complete!!!! What???? Okay, I got it. The smart ones, slowly did their first project so slow they wouldn't have to do another project. Alright, I get it now, I thought. So, we took our sweet time with the second project, however we made a very nice picture frame, with glued on acorns around the frame and everything. Branden loved it! After we all completed our projects. us parents went upstairs for a lecture on eating a well balanced meal. How you should eat all the food groups, blah blah blah. The proper way to hold chopsticks, blah blah blah. A room full of mothers all sat and listened, myself included. Some yawned, some just gossiped with their girlfriends next to them. Meanwhile for me, I listened intently for half of it, followed the pages along with them. And then somewhere halfway through, I found my mind going elsewhere. Meaning, I started thinking about, when I go to the grocery store on Monday, what should I make" "A few things for my weekly menu kept popping around in my head", then I debated if we should rent a DVD or not. Yes but then which Dvd, I thought some more. Did I recall any from last time that looked good, yada, yada. Yup, my mind was totally wandering. Yet I still flipped the pages when everyone else did. Next thing I knew, we all stood up, and left, it was over. Yippy! Went down to the first graders classroom, and from there, I left with Branden and Noah. Yup, Noah had went with me to that boring food lecture upstairs as well, poor Noah. : )

This is an extremely dark picture, I was all the way in the hall and the kids were inside. You can see a good bunch of the kids surrounding Branden's desk and Noah was there as well. Just like Saya-chan and Keita-kun and stuff. The kids who live in the same neighborhood as us. : ) And yup after we all went home, all the kids in the neighborhood came over to play in the backyard for a bit and then they all went riding bikes throughout the neighborhood. A good bunch of kids Branden is growing up with. : )

Sunday: Was the kids club gathering of sorts. It was sorta like a mini festival or something. It was free for Branden since he is in elementary school. For Noah and I, we paid a total of 300 yen for our tickets as well. My neighbor and bowling partner Rumi-san brought our festival tickets to my house a few days beforehand. From 9:30 am, to 12 noon. We arrived a bit early. Because I was unsure how the parking would go, would there be lack of parking, etc, etc. So, We arrived around 9:10 am. So not too freakishly early, but early enough to get a parking. And they were limited even when I arrived. Noah threw the frisbee and he knocked down a number on the board. And here in this pic, is Branden after he just knocked down a number with his frisbee. Both boys are very athletic, so they did quite well with everything. : ) They had a lot of fun! Got to see their friends. Although, gee, they do see their friends pretty much every single day anyway. Ha ha ha.
We left the festival at 10:45 am. because frankly we had used all our tickets already by now. No option to buy other tickets. So just sitting around like 3 bumps on a log, didn't sound too great! So, I asked the boys if they were ready to go home? They said yes. Besides, I wanted to do a little vacuuming, and to have the boys and I, together, go and put some toys away in Noah's room, so I did have a few things on my mind, that I wanted to do. However, I also was looking forward to getting into my sweatpants. Relax a bit you know? Because, in a way, I felt we had barely no weekend at all. So, yeah...I was spent. I was a bit tired and ready to go home, and the boys were too. And my dad was calling me at noon via Skype. So, yup we left early no big deal. *or so we thought* cue music, dundundunnnn!!! Ha ha ha. Our neighbor..."boy next doors mom" had come home at 12:15. Obviously she stayed til the end, she told me, because the boys and I were sitting in the backyard enjoying our Sunday, she said. "Mrs blah blah san, you should have stayed until the end, because Noah-chan won the big grand finale prize" But when he wasn't there, they gave it to another person, so had another drawing. Whoops, I didn't know that, no one told me that part, lol. Okay, now a few hours later, my very good girlfriend Rumi-san emails me..."Gina-san, Noah-kun won the big prize, yet he wasn't there and so they gave it to someone else", a very good friend indeed to tell me at least. But yeah, yikes, I guess the size of our small country town (a little under 5,000 people) and with being the only American or western mommy and such, we stick out. So, basically the whole flipping town knows now, that, A, Noah won, and B, we left early!!!! Goodness me, news travels fast doesn't it? : ) Good attitude intact though. Finding the humor about things like this is best, I'd say. : ) Then Monday morning, and I am kidding you not. I swear. Noboru went to the town ward office Monday morning for something...wanted a ticket to the recycle center place. Anyway, the woman was WAY in the back, according to Noboru, she shouted across the town office, "Mr blah blah-san." Your son won yesterday, but your wife left early" By now, Noboru and I have been joking, that for our small town they should just put it in the community news monthly bulletin and we have been getting a good chuckle about it. All in good fun though and not worrying so much about it. Anyway, yeah that was our Sunday at the town festival for the elementary kids. And yup, I left early. : ) Ha ha ha! All the popcorn, and yakisoba, and hot dogs and drinks were free, we had coupons for those in our coupon books so that is the pic of the stuff we brought home with us.

Monday: The last dose, second half for their flu shot. Today was our appointment for the boy's. At 4pm. I picked today because Monday was no school for our towns elementary kids, because we all went to school on Saturday is why. Anyway, Monday morning, I went to the grocery store, got a weeks worth of groceries. Beef, pork, 1 single pack of chicken though because I am still turkey-ed out and white meat in general out. : ) But yeah I got a great big amount of groceries. Tons of veggies and English muffins, bread, ice cream, a case of jasmine tea. Juice, just stuff basically. : ) And then went home unpacked the groceries. And then we went to the clinic. The lady handing us the thermometers, before the boys could get their shots. She said..."you left early yesterday" By now...we had heard it about 5 times from 5 different people, however it felt more like we heard it a million times. Laughed about it more then a million times too. Noboru and I, nodded and smiled and politely told her, yes I did leave early, we both glanced at one another and knew what we were both thinking..."again". Gosh how funny, I said after we sat back at our seats. Oh well, small town, no worries.: ) Their temps were fine.

Branden watching TV at the doctors office and cuddling with Noboru. Affection is so important. And I hugged and cuddled Noah before their shots. They were okay. Neither of them cried at all. And we went to 7 eleven afterwards to buy them each a cheap little ice cream for being so good at the last of their flu shots for the year. Branden had Kumon after that and then Noboru picked him up from that. By the time they came home, dinner was made. We ate. Took showers Monday night. No baths. And just watched TV after that. Sure chit chat going on, a few peanut gallery comments back and forth a few laughs and then bed. I think I hit the hay Monday night around 9:50 pm. I was just really tired. The weekend hardly felt like a weekend with all that school and kids club stuff. So, I am looking forward to this coming weekend and will finally get to relax, relax. : ) And I guess that's it basically. Not a whole lot going on. Just living life, enjoying life as usual. And enjoying this cozy Fall or winter weather we've been having and all the delicious foods that go with it. The turkey has finally been eaten up. Yippy, I have to do a happy dance for that! And if I don't see another turkey for a half year, that would be more then fine with me. Ha ha ha. : )

• We signed Branden up for that Christmas compressed swim course for Branden during Christmas break. He's loves swimming, could swim everyday if he could. The class is only an hour in the mornings each day and is only for 5 days, I think. So not too bad.
• Tuesday/Today, Noboru is flying to Okayama this evening to go and pick up my car. So, I will be without husband for about 24 hours or maybe 20 hours, we'll see. : ) He is flying out around 3pm this evening. And will fly to Okayama, he can fly free with ANA, since they are a Star alliance member with us/NWA. And then he will drive all the way passed Osaka and all the way to Chiba. It's going to be a very long drive. I can't go, because Branden has school and we won't pull him out for something like this. If we go overseas, yes we can see pulling him out, or if we take him to a birthday Disney and that was the only day that worked, for Noboru's/dad's schedule, then yes. But that is only if no other alternate could be worked out. And yeah..Branden can't miss Wednesday school and he can't miss Wednesdays swim class either. So, I will remain in Chiba, and make dinner, kiss them to sleep tonight as usual, wake up, drive him to school, then take him to swimming, and perhaps a trip to my favorite bakery too. And then by then. Noboru should be home and back in Chiba tomorrow evening. Except he will have my "mommy commute car" with him. : ) So that's happening between today and tomorrow. Tonight while everyone is asleep, my husband will be driving through Japan, make stops along the highway, get a cup of coffee and get back on the road and try to make it back home to us. I am worried about Noboru driving all that way alone and stuff. But he says he will be fine.
• Pedometer: I've been using a pedometer, for about a month and a half now, nearly 2 month's now I think is more like it. I was talking with Vicky, from Hyotenka about it on her blog. A lot of us seem to be using them now a days. They just count how many steps you make. I start mine on zero every morning. And I have been averaging between 8,000 steps to 10,000 steps each and every day. My goal is 10,000 a day, but again, I am not perfect and some days it is as low as 8,000. However I never let it drift below the 8,000 steps mark, that is my own, "low" I will allow myself. So, I have been a bit on an exercise/walking kick lately.
• I'm making baked potato soup tonight. We will have toppings of crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions. I can barely wait for dinner tonight. : ) A nice hearty bowl of baked potato soup! : ) Simple but good. I'm thinking either grilled cheese to go with it, or some bread and butter. Oh well. I better go, I have to talk to Noboru a bit and we will have lunch and stuff before he heads to the airport.

Have a lovely week you guys! : )