February 8th was Noah's final shopping day at the yochien! Here's Noah on the far right obviously. And his best friend Hikaru-kun on the far left. Yukina-chan's little brother next to Hikaru. He's a cutie pie! And next to Noah is also his swimming friend and fellow classmate Minori-kun.
Another one of Noah's besties, is the little boy in the middle. That's Ryo-kun. He lives very far away. Like farther then the Cainz store. Like 60%-70% to my work. Like this little boy lives seriously far and he will be going to elementary school alone meaning no one else will be going with him from our yochien. : ( He's a *very* smart boy, very kind and honestly very wise beyond his years type of boy. And Noah's very fond of him. He's got a couple older brothers, like in junior high type age, he's the youngest and he's just a good little boy. Noah enjoys when he swims on the same day at Ryo-kun. The other little boy...sorry I forgot his name, his dad and Noboru are fishing pals. And he lives in the city where the yochien is, so Noah and him will still bump into each other every once in a while. But Ryo-kun is a friend Noah will miss for sures. : ( I'm glad I have this picture. I'll stick this picture in Noah's scrapbook and write his name and a funny store about the two of them. Something he can read when he's older. : )
And a couple of the younger kids trying to get in on the action. : ) This made the blue badge boys giggle.
Picture time, they say us parents can come take pictures between, like 8:50 and 9:10am no longer after that. So, you have a mere 20minutes to snap pics of all the stuff. Take pics of your kids. Other people are walking around. And you're trying to do so as quickly as possible. This is where you just need your sense of humor and smile. You snap 20 pics and hope in at least 1 of those shots someones not blinking or their eyes are not closed. : )
Big crab.
Yakisoba sandwich on the right. Croquette on the left.
A puzzle. All the kids make these with help of the genius sensei's. : )
DS, remember Noah bought a Wii last year, lol. ; )
A party set. Ohhhhh ahhhh. LOL. : )
Eclairs. Omelet rice.
Check this out! Revolving sushi! They seriously think of everything. And a stove top/range with food a cookin' on the right. ; )
Yakiniku yakiniku! It even glowed inside with rolled up tissues slightly orange. It was very cool!
Noah's yochien wallet/bag.
Move over Capricciosa and Saizeriya, make way for the yochien kiddos! Pizza and pasta combo (set)
And what did Noah choose to buy. You know the stuff you think your kids will buy they don't. So it's always a complete surprise what they pick. : ) The omelet rice set. With a cider drink. : )
Yakisoba sandwich.
An alarm clock.
And I made sure I took many many photos of these things for the scrapbook. I let Noah keep these things for a full week before trashing them. Sorry but while we do save his artwork and his few important things. This stuff couldn't be saved. I did save his wallet/bag though. And I have the wallets from the other years saved as well.What did I do after this, I went to a shaon kai meeting at Mei-chan's house with the Jogo-san, that day. This was the day I took a pic of those plates down below. Noah had a half day the day of his shopping day. So, our meeting was short. We split up the animals and made some signs for the game we'll be playing during the shaon kai. Talked a few more things over and headed right back to the yochien.
Time for a trip down memory lane. This was Noah's first ever "shopping day" at the yochien February 2009. Here he was a teeny tiny yellow badge. Just 3 years old, it was before April since it was Feb. Noah was a pre-nensho Noah was a yellow badge. This little girl, wow by now she must be a 2nd or 3rd grader right now? When Noah started yochien she took immediately to Noah. Her name was/is Chisato-chan but everyone called her Chi-chan. She was Noah's first best friend at the yochien and always made sure Noah got his smock on alright, got his lunch unpacked from his backpack, she helped him with almost everything. : ) When he went to the restroom once when he first started here, she followed him in and asked him, do you know how to go by yourself or do you need any help? Noah said, I am fine. He came home and told me. "mommy....Chi-chan's my very best friend she is so helpful" That is so good to hear Noah! She held his hand at the shopping day and helped him make his purchases. We will always have a soft spot in our hearts for Chi-chan.
His favorite purchase from his yellow badge shopping day were these pair of wild and crazy sunglasses. Noah wore these while watching TV. While eating his supper until we asked him to kindly take them off during dinner. @_@ But he loved these sunglasses wore these for months! And yes! I have these safely tucked away in the attic in Noah's yochien plastic box and I have this picture in his photobook and this story basically that I hand wrote for Noah telling him how much he LOVED these very sunglasses! Noah's magical sunglasses with the blue plastic lenses. : )
A year wiser, Noah shopping as a little red badge. A first year/freshman for kindy if you know what I mean. This was to be Chi-chan's final year here. Chi-chan was moved into the big blue badge class. So she played with Noah still but less. I worried so much at this point, would Noah be okay without the lovely and helpful Chi-chan? I was really very worried about what would happen when she left. Anyway this pic is of Noah (a red badge at the time) and Chi-chan (a blue badge) at the time the year 2010.
And Chi-chan chasing Noah all over the school grounds. During that shopping day 2010.
And this photo was happily taken last year. As you can tell by the color of Noah's badge, Noah was a pink badge here. And after Chi-chan left they mixed up all the bara-gumi and the yuri-gumi's and Hikaru was thrown into class with Noah. They hit it off instantly. They knew each other from swimming and Noah's older brother is 1 year older then Hikaru's so they have seen each other since they were about 9month's old at swim club when his mom and I would be there for our older boys. So yeah they did know each other. But the second they were put into class together. That was it. They were inseparable! All last year and all this year. What did I learn from this. And the whole Chi-chan leaving thing. Things do change. Like the old saying goes, change is inevitable. Change is bound to happen whether you like it or not. But people do adapt and adjust. And there will be bright rays of sunshine like his friendship he has had with his best friend H these past 2 years. And when Noah switches schools, it'll be different and an adjustment at first, but the important thing is to have the mindset we'll be okay. And in the end, you might make a real good friend you haven't even met yet!
Time for a trip down memory lane. This was Noah's first ever "shopping day" at the yochien February 2009. Here he was a teeny tiny yellow badge. Just 3 years old, it was before April since it was Feb. Noah was a pre-nensho Noah was a yellow badge. This little girl, wow by now she must be a 2nd or 3rd grader right now? When Noah started yochien she took immediately to Noah. Her name was/is Chisato-chan but everyone called her Chi-chan. She was Noah's first best friend at the yochien and always made sure Noah got his smock on alright, got his lunch unpacked from his backpack, she helped him with almost everything. : ) When he went to the restroom once when he first started here, she followed him in and asked him, do you know how to go by yourself or do you need any help? Noah said, I am fine. He came home and told me. "mommy....Chi-chan's my very best friend she is so helpful" That is so good to hear Noah! She held his hand at the shopping day and helped him make his purchases. We will always have a soft spot in our hearts for Chi-chan. His favorite purchase from his yellow badge shopping day were these pair of wild and crazy sunglasses. Noah wore these while watching TV. While eating his supper until we asked him to kindly take them off during dinner. @_@ But he loved these sunglasses wore these for months! And yes! I have these safely tucked away in the attic in Noah's yochien plastic box and I have this picture in his photobook and this story basically that I hand wrote for Noah telling him how much he LOVED these very sunglasses! Noah's magical sunglasses with the blue plastic lenses. : ) A year wiser, Noah shopping as a little red badge. A first year/freshman for kindy if you know what I mean. This was to be Chi-chan's final year here. Chi-chan was moved into the big blue badge class. So she played with Noah still but less. I worried so much at this point, would Noah be okay without the lovely and helpful Chi-chan? I was really very worried about what would happen when she left. Anyway this pic is of Noah (a red badge at the time) and Chi-chan (a blue badge) at the time the year 2010. And Chi-chan chasing Noah all over the school grounds. During that shopping day 2010. And this photo was happily taken last year. As you can tell by the color of Noah's badge, Noah was a pink badge here. And after Chi-chan left they mixed up all the bara-gumi and the yuri-gumi's and Hikaru was thrown into class with Noah. They hit it off instantly. They knew each other from swimming and Noah's older brother is 1 year older then Hikaru's so they have seen each other since they were about 9month's old at swim club when his mom and I would be there for our older boys. So yeah they did know each other. But the second they were put into class together. That was it. They were inseparable! All last year and all this year. What did I learn from this. And the whole Chi-chan leaving thing. Things do change. Like the old saying goes, change is inevitable. Change is bound to happen whether you like it or not. But people do adapt and adjust. And there will be bright rays of sunshine like his friendship he has had with his best friend H these past 2 years. And when Noah switches schools, it'll be different and an adjustment at first, but the important thing is to have the mindset we'll be okay. And in the end, you might make a real good friend you haven't even met yet! I love you Noah!
There are so many things being done with regards to getting ready for Noah's graduation. You wouldn't even believe it. This was asked of us and I submitted ours in January. What did they want? Well the yearbook pics were picked and chosen by us mom's. Us shaon kai mom's got to pick and decide which photo on the last "mother's lunch", like I mentioned earlier, however they also always add 1 extra pic without school uniform and they also ask for your child to sign his or her first name. That way in a few years time, they can look back and think wow...my signature sure has changed! You know what I mean. Branden did all this years ago. And now this was Noah's turn. They gave us 3 tiny pieces of paper and so we had Noah write his first name only (as they asked of us all), we then decided which of the 3 we liked best. And stuck it into the little envelop. next was find a picture, head shot basically. See the paper on the left, with the drawing. yep, head shot.
We chose these in January. These were the ones we liked best. And then we mulled it over which one. Luckily I have Branden's yearbook and opened his to see what his looked like again and his classmates and that helped being able to see Branden's yearbook. And finally decided the picture on the left was best for what they were asking for. So we submitted the pic of Noah on the left in his little jean Osh Kosh overalls and hat. And the signature we liked best. And basically are now letting the "yearbook mom's" work their magic.
This one was the one we decided of the two pics.
I'm doing the elephants, penguins and lions! ; )
What color, not to worry this has been decided already by us shaon kai members in January! : ) LOL. 
What are these? : ) Well, we decided to make flowers out of our kids faces. So, us shaon kai mom's passed out 1 blank/plain plate to every child. With a note attached that said, have your child draw, color, create their own face. You can use marker, crayons, your choice.... decorate it any way your child wants. Just let them do it. And all February we've been collecting these! I took this pic of some of them to show you all. While we were at Mei-chan's house for our weekly shaon kai meeting a few weeks back. This pic was taken in Mei-chan's living room. From left to right, we have K-chan's, the Jogosan's daughter's on the far left, she did an excellent job! I loved it! She had beading and everything added on hers. Then we have Mei-chan's and then we have Yukina-chan's and I liked the pink real piece of yarn used as a ribbon. And on the far right we have Sera's. I forgot to take a picture of Noah's. But I have a sketch used as the base for his that I'll share down below. Branden helped Noah a lot on his (gave him pointers, helped him decide on a few practice sheets before starting on the real plate) and Noah also did a lot of it too, he did the real plate all by himself from the pointers Branden gave him. I did not do Noah's not even 1 dot, but that's only because I knew it had to be kid made. So while I did sit in the kitchen and cheer the boys on by being in there and saying that looks good etc etc, I didn't draw it for my kids. So, I kept with the rules completely. So each plate will end up with petals all around the face (plate) and we will stick these on the wall in the hall when we decorate.
Branden helped Noah out, this was one of the practice faces, they worked on together. And then Noah was ready to draw it onto the plate. Noah's face plate doesn't look much different then this picture, so this at least gives you a general idea at least. Sneak peak, I guess. : ) 
Our small town in our neck of the woods in Chiba, was really in a deep freeze since last week. Last Thursday is when it snowed for us. Our 2nd time of the season. It wasn't just a sprinkling, it was a fairly good amount for our area.
Pictures of the snow from Noah's room.
The jungle gym completely snowed on.
The rice fields and everything. This picture was taken from the kitchen patio window. Thursday morning Branden was sent to school. Black ice all over. And then we (Noah and I) came home and I made obento for Noah. Sent Noah to school. And every single mother in the parking lot stared at us pulling in. @_@ Now they're all my friends, but yeah it made me a bit nervous, why were they staring? Is there something wrong with my car or? So, Noah and I got out of the car and they said in Japanese. Did your town get hit with a lot of snow?!!! Seems like much more then we got here in the city (where most of them live and where Noah's school is located) Why do you ask, I said? : ) They said the amount of snow on the top of your hood and top of car was shocking! I turned my head, and then glanced at their cars (no snow). I shook my head in agreement and said I guess we do seem to get a lot more snow in our town then you all get here, I added. Smiled and see ya later-ed them.... then ran Noah into the yochien. Mystery solved, phew. And I mentioned that to Noboru and we both agree, it seems that even though it's 20-25 minutes away we do seem to always get more snow then the small city nearest us. And it always seems to melt away in that city, where it seems to linger more here in our town where we live. The snow all but melted away in the city Noah goes to school in by the time I picked him up in the afternoon. However not really the case in our town. It stayed for the most part. And then would you believe it happened all over again Friday evening too (the 3rd snow of the season)! For our town we still had snow from Thursday. Then Friday came and more. We got both boys sent to school. I was happy the weekend was here however the news forecast kept saying, our area would be getting snow! So, I went and washed all the bedding last Friday. I mean, every single blanket from Branden's bed, Noah's bed, our bed, and the blankets we cuddle with on the couch even. Made sure everything was clean and cozy for the snowy weekend. Picked up Noah after I went home and made all the beds. No snow in the smaller city. We went back to our town. Picked up Branden. And a few of my elementary school mom friends said, we'd for sure be getting snow that night. When Branden got into my car, he said, Haruhi (sp?) (a girl in this class) told everyone expect some snow for our town tonight. We had dinner, miso pork, rice and veg and Noboru and Noah also had miso soup to go with. We all had the shower and bath routine and sure enough great big snowflakes started falling. And we ended up with even more snow. Saturday morning the boys quickly got dressed brushed their teeth and headed in the backyard to play. I meanwhile got started in on breakfast.
Hi boys!
Making snowballs.
Pack it really good Noah! : )
Oh, look at my gloves! Kids! ; )
Noboru suggested they build a snowman. He showed Noah how to start rolling a tiny ball into a great big huge part of the snowman's body.
Noboru standing by watching, making sure he got it right. Branden already learned a few years ago and was already rolling the base of the snowman.
I meanwhile had bacon starting to crisp! We like crispy bacon at our house. Omelets for both the boys, over easy for Noboru and vegetable and cheese omelet for me. I had the fan going in the kitchen and you could smell the bacon outside in the backyard and the front. It smelled like a yummy breakfast being cooked inside our home, Saturday morning.
And there he is. I am not even sure what prompted the boys to use an upside down flower planter as a hat? They were so proud though! I went outside with a pony tail on and sweats. That looks fantastic, I said! Not bad for beginners I'd say. It was freezing outside, so I went inside. And everyone else followed because breakfast was ready! We enjoyed our breakfast. And would you believe it remained actually cold enough that the snowman stayed with us all Saturday and even now at Monday he's still here. He stayed the weekend with us. Every morning both Branden and Noah wake up and go and check on him. Is he still there, they ask? His eye might have popped off and they'll put it back on. Or his arm might have fell out. And they keep building him back up. Noboru wants to take him down today. : ( I hope he lets him stay until he melts away 100% though.
I hope, everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day. : ) We really had a nice one over here. A nice quiet one as usual, but nice nonetheless. Look at all the goodies the boys brought back from school this Valentine's Day 2012. @_@ Branden brought home 5 gifts from 5 different girls. @_@ Noah brought back 1 from a little girl who just totally likes Noah to no end. I think that was so cute. Which now means, I will in turn have to whip up something for these little girls come White Day though.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies from Saya-chan her names on the right heart on the bottom right.
And from another girl.
Noah's box of chocolates.
And what did I get for Valentine's Day? I did the same thing as last year. I put a DVD order from Amazon.com in, came to $106 US. Which is like what...8,000 yen? 8,500 yen? Somewhere around that. Anyway, Noboru said go ahead, if that's what you want for your Valentine's Day gift, done. I said, yes please and I ordered them. Which movies did I pick? Let me go read my order, real quick. The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn part 1, Shark Night, Real Steel, A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, Paranormal Activity 3 and Hop. Everything has been shipped already except Hop, will ship mid March. I am really happy for getting the DVD's and I look forward for my shipment to arrive. So, I wasn't expecting anything else at all. But Noboru bought me this box of Belgium chocolate assortment and they were so delicious. Thank you Noboru for being exactly as you are, I appreciate you so much. You are a good man and a wonderful husband and father. : )
If you've been reading for a while, you'll know I usually bake Noboru and the boys cookies and cupcakes every year For Valentine's Day, and the fun part is the boys always help me a day or two ahead, every single year. It's something they just look forward to. This year we out did ourselves we made so many pretty little heart cookies. They were delicious. Noboru loved them!
Noah cut out the shapes for half of these and Branden cut out the shapes for the other half. They did so well.
And these were the treats I showered on Noboru and the boys who also enjoyed eating them as well as getting to make and bake them with me. Strawberry cupcakes with a whipped cream frosting. And heart cookies. They weren't too overly sweet, they were just perfect.
And a blast from the past, this picture was taken back in February 2008 a day or two before Valentine's Day. The boys and I were just about to roll out our Valentine's cookies in this picture! Yep, we've been making them for as long as the boys have been alive. Even when they were in their high chairs I'd wheel them near mommy and they'd watch and clap for me while I baked. : ) They have always been involved in making these. It's a family tradition for us. Noah and Branden cookie baking for Valentine's Day 2008. When they look back in their photobooks/scrapbooks and see the same type of pictures through the years except they just keep getting bigger as the years roll on. These are the memories they'll look back on and smile about, I know it. They can tell their wives, yep, my mom had all these family traditions with us. We always baked cookies with her for Valentine's day and Christmas also. Etc etc. you know what I mean.
Branden in 2008 sprinkling the sprinkles on the cookies.
We made big hearts that year. This year we made smaller ones. Both are nice though!
And these are the cupcakes we made from 2008! Always cookies and/or cupcakes and always baking them together Branden, Noah and I. Anyway there you have it, our Valentine's day 2012 and a blast from the past from Valentine's 2008. : )
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