Throwback Thursday. Noah's favorite colors, yellow and orange...

Happy Throwback Thursday everyone! I haven't done a TBT in ages. So thought today, I could make today's TBT about Noah and his love for the colors yellow and orange. Everyone *knows* those are Noah's ultimate favorite colors. If you have been reading this blog since the beginning then you will know. That Noah, since he was an itty bitty toddler, his favorite colors have *always* been yellow and orange. Whenever we would go clothes shopping, Noah 100% of the time would run straight for the yellow or orange shirt, sweatshirt or coat or hat. My mom kindly sent both my son's these adorable Curious George raincoats from the United States. And so here was Noah about to head off to yochien one morning. And I clicked this pic really quickly before driving my son to yochien. 

Another random pic. This time it was right after yochien. Noah wearing his yellow rubber duckie rain boots. Yellow umbrella and Curious George raincoat yet again. 

In our backyard here in rural Japan. Noah pretending to mow the grass with his "lawnmower" That I brought back from America. Orange hibiscus hat. Ralph Lauren tee-shirt and Ralph Lauren shorts. And good thing the lawn mower was orange too. LOL. Perfect for Noah!

Hi gorgeous!!! A pic snapped in our backyard here in the Japanese countryside.

Stunning pic of Noah in orange (his favorite color obviously) in Denver, Colorado. We were at Lakeside Amusement park.

Yellow bib! Breakfast time. We were in Saipan staying at the PIC. And at the buffet. Noah had the blondest eyebrows. Practically invisible eyebrows.

Noah in his yellow robe. In Saipan still enjoying the resort there.

Yellow froggy shirt. It came from Nishimatsuya. Gap jean jacket and Gap jeans and Gap hat and Crocs. We were waiting for his brother to get back home via the yochien bus. 

Noah in Guam on vacation. In his sunhat. UPF 50, so fantastic sun protection those hats.

Oh darlin...' how I adore you so!!!

We were on a yochien picnic.

At the swim school. While his older brother was downstairs swimming. Noah would play with his yochien friends there... who also had older siblings too. : )

Orange yet again. Orange hat. Orange Crocs. Orange shirt. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Noah's favorite color is. : ) We were about to head to the store.

We were in the yochien parking lot. Hi Noah!!! Parent teacher conference day. : ) Hence, Noah not wearing his uniform.

Yellow Gap top and yellow Asics. And quack quack love your Donald Duck hat... that we had embroidered with your name at the back. It said...Noah in cursive at the back of his hat. We were at Tokyo Disney Sea.

Awww. It got chilly, so they put on sweatshirts. And later in the evening they put on coats.

Noah at the pool in Japan. 

Orange from his head to his toes! Summer festival time!!! Ready to go have some fun with your classmates? Let's go gorgeous!!! This Summer dashi pull is held in our housing community. 

Noah with his classmate, they are very good friends, even now. And as they pulled the rope they would say...washoi...washoi!!!

Noah just chit chatting away big time...with 2 of his classmates. Being 100% bilingual means he can speak Japanese like a native and he also speaks English like a native!!! He speaks American English 100%. And even though Noah looks extremely western. His classmates treat him totally normal. Totally like regular and normal. Which is exactly what we want.

Orange swimming trunks and rashguard and a yellow boogie board. We were at Kailua beach on the island of Oahu. On vacation. 2012.

Honolulu again, but this time it's the year 2015. We were at Pearl Harbor. About to take the boat to the memorial. And yep, Noah still picking clothes in his favorite colors of yellow and orange. 

How cute, this is when Bran was shorter than his dad. As you know, that's not the case anymore. Branden is now way taller.

Orange! This pic was taken in July 2017 and we were back in my home state of Colorado. We were in Denver, at the Lakeside Amusement park yet again. And yes Noah is still picking clothes in his fave colors of yellow or orange. He picked this top and shorts from Gap in Japan. Kids are getting older. But Noah's favorite colors have never changed. 

Anything new to add? The kids have a dentist visit this evening. They both are having their every 6 month teeth cleaning and check-up at 5:30 pm. Neither of them have ever had a cavity or anything. So, I think it's going to be the same thing this time too. The dentist is so nice. I'll be sure to bring a magazine just in case. Even though his dentist office does have a flat screen TV, to keep parents or patients entertained. : ) Anyone read that the Cranberries lead singer passed away a couple days ago? Dreams was my jam, when it first came out. So yeah...was a bit surprised to hear she died.  I took Branden for a haircut yesterday in the day time, since he didn't have school yesterday (and today too). And he and I are about to have lunch together as soon as I post this. Noah gets out of school today at 2:50 pm. Bran and I will both go and pick him up together. Anyway that's enough for now. 

Update...

How's everyone doing? Things here have been quiet and nice. It's been so super cold in Japan. So many areas have been hit with snow (Kyushu, Osaka, Tokyo, etc all hit with snow). But not our tiny town. No snow at all. Just freezing cold every single morning when I drop off Branden in the morning to the train station. And the sun starts to peek out by the time I drop off Noah to elementary school. But when I drop off Bran, it's like the deep freeze outside. Hahaha. Anyways, What have I been doing? Chillin' and enjoy our quiet uneventful January. Staying indoors and staying warm. I made cream stew one night last week. This is my favorite type...Hokkaido corn cream stew. It's super delicious. What else...

I made karaage. We don't eat deep fried too often. But, I will make karaage once a month and chicken cutlet or ebi fry once a month. About twice a month for us for deep fried. The big amount of chicken breast was for dinner and the smaller ziplocks were for the kids school obento and the other was for Noboru's obento and my lunch at home the following day. 

This was chopped up around 11:55am. And I always add a tube of ginger to my chicken first. It instantly mellows out the chicken flavor. And infuses an amazing ginger taste. I let it marinate for about 30 minutes just with the ginger. 

I buy generic brand X/store brand ginger because it's like only 59 yen a tube. Versus 98 yen a tube. And after 30 minutes of marinating with just the ginger. I then leave the ginger in there obviously and add this karaage liquid in the ziplock bags. 

From 12:30 pm-ish until about 4:30 pm. As soon as everyone is home. I roll in plain unseasoned flour. And then fry in a clean batch of oil. And it's very flavorful and so good. We had ours with macaroni salad. Steamed broccoli and rice. 

Not sure if you can see in this pic...but a new mole had come to our house. 

He made a good sized mole hill. Noboru was pretty mad. As you may know Noboru has caught/killed 2 other moles who came into our yard. I think all moles in this area must...dislike my husband so much. Since he is a mole killer. Hahaha. As of right now. It's been about 5 days and so far Noboru can't catch this new mole. @_@ 

What else has happened? I baked a batch of cornbread. 

Last week, I went to Costco Inzai/Chiba New Town. I was already in the parking lot by 10am and grabbed my cart and headed into the store. I was on my way home pretty quickly. I picked up a big amount of lean 100% ground beef. A rotisserie chicken which I turned into taco night. A huge amount of flour tortillas. Mozzarella cheese. Provolone and a big hunk of Colby/Jack cheese. The Easter stuff is already for sale at Costco Japan. Just a friendly FYI.

Not sure about other locations. But if you hit my store before 10:30am, on a weekday... you can shop in peace and quiet and with hardly anybody there. I love shopping here on the weekdays in the morning as soon as they open up.

Not even many people in the food court or ordering food. I haven't eaten at Costco for lunch in ages, even though I shop at Costco about 3 times a month...I just haven't eaten lunch there...so I had a slice of pizza this day... before heading back to my tiny town.

A quick slice of combination pizza.

I also ran into the Besia grocery store after Costco, they're both right near each other. And this was on sale for 500 yen for a box/case of these. My kids love these yogurt drink boxes so to get a case of these for super cheap was a deal. 

I put them all in the fridge and that way when the kids want one, they can get one.

What else have I been doing? I have still been doing my weekly house cleaning. Daily house cleaning. And cooking of dinners. I am still loving washing every one's bedding, blankets and fleece blankets and pillow cases etc every single week at home in my bigger washing machine, that I got in August? Or was it September, but yes a bigger washer totally helps. All of my bedding can fit in 1 load. And the kids bedding can fit together in 1 load. There is seriously nothing nicer than laying down on fresh bedding. 

Movie, yes a movie! Last week, at the beginning of the week... Bran asked me, if he and his bestie could go to see a movie on Friday? Last Friday. His bestie is hafu too. His bestie was born in Japan but raised outside of Japan and went to an international school, so he prefers English. Where as Branden was born in Hawaii and moved to Japan around 10 month's old. They wanted to go and see...the new Kingsman movie. Yes I know...we have the DVD. And I told Bran, "if you want, ya'll can watch your DVD during lunch at school, just take my mini DVD player" But Bran said...the fun part is going on the adventure to the movies with my friend, getting there and coming home. Keep in mind... Bran is from the inaka, meaning he's a country boy. I never let him run wild or go out and about after elementary school or in JHS either, unless it's just in the neighborhood sure but farther than that? Nope. In our country town kids in shogakko went zarigani hunting/crawdad hunting. Or fishing. Riding bikes in the neighborhood was it really. They're not train savvy... like city kids are in Japan. So since he's a 9th grader now...he's learning. He's a super good kid. So I said. Okay. So they got out of school Friday at 3:45pm. They ran to catch the train to Narita. Took the shuttle and they caught the 5:20pm showing of the movie. Bran had movie and popcorn money and money for dinner afterwards. Again Bran is an extremely good kid. Both my kids are. They don't just disappear. They know...I am letting them out and about... because I am trusting them. So, he messaged me when they got on the train heading to Narita....then took 2 pics inside the movie. This one and...

This one. I replied to Bran..."have fun kiddo but shut your phone off, lol" He told me later, he had the rice cracker and peanut mix. And his bestie picked french fries. apparently they didn't want popcorn. LOL. 

And as soon as the movie let out...he sent me this pic. There is a walkway from the Narita Humax (movie theater) that goes back and forth to the Aeon mall. His message said...a quick..."mom, the movie is out and we're gonna go eat dinner now" I replied..."have fun" I know the type of kid I have. He's certainly no punk jerk bad kid. He's an extremely good kid. Good student. Extremely respectful of adults and other people. He told me at home. He picked udon to have for dinner and his bestie picked McD's. 

Bran and his bestie caught the shuttle back to the Narita train station. His bestie went back to the bustling Chiba city. And Bran returned to our teeny tiny town. Where I was waiting in my car at the train station for my kiddo. He doesn't message me constantly, so please don't get it twisted. Just a few handful of times to keep me in the loop. And I appreciate that... because it's such a peace of mind. I'm glad I raised such responsible kids. And same for Noah. He has a cell phone. In Japan kids often have cells. And when Noah plays at the park inside our housing community. He will message me once or twice while playing. Keeping me in the know of...who he is playing with. And what time he will head home. It's also a big relief that Japan is just such a safe place to raise kids. 

I bought a small turkey last week. And I roasted it on Monday of this week. This was only an 8 and a half pounder. So quite small. I seasoned him quite well and he came out very juicy. I wanted the turkey for sandwiches. Both Bran and Noah took turkey sandwiches to school on Tuesday. And we had a simple turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy dinner on Monday night. The turkey is gone now... but it was nice to get 1 dinner out of it and about 2 sandwiches out of it, for each of us. So that was nice. : ) 

Half way there pic, while carving the turkey.

Anyway anything else to add? Branden doesn't have school today or tomorrow. Why? Because this is the season for JHS students, 9th grade kids. To take exams to get into high schools in Japan. So because kids are testing today and tomorrow. Branden and the rest of the kids at his high school... do not have school today and tomorrow since the final year JHS kids are testing at his school today. 

Bits and Pieces...

How has everyone been doing? Things have been excellent over here. Both Branden and Noah returned to school today from Winter break. Yesterday was a holiday for us in Japan. Coming of Age Day. I decided to not blog for the past week and just enjoy my time with my family. What is this picture of? Otoshidama. New Year's money given to kids from family members. Branden and Noah each received 15,000 yen each. Considering we didn't go all the way to Osaka to visit Noboru's family, it wasn't so bad of an amount. Lucky boys. : ) 

Branden and his best friend since yochien wanted to meet up at Narita shopping mall. Since G moved away from our town. They picked a spot to meet up between where he lives and where we live. So January 4th, is when Branden met up him G at the Narita train station around 9:30am or so. They bummed around all day. They went to lunch. A hamburg restaurant. They had Baskin and Robbins. And even each had a small serving of udon some place too? @_@ Teenage boys! Ha! : ) Noah and I meanwhile made pizza dough in the morning, after I dropped off Bran at the train station and we had breakfast. And we hung out here, but we decided to go to Narita mall too and also to Don Quijote. I did LINE message Bran and said...Noah and I happen to be in Narita too. Noah went with me to look at some skincare and cosmetics. I didn't buy anything... but I did want to have a good look. And so for being such an amazing 12 year old and helping me and looking around with me and keeping me company, I treated Noah to some icecream at Baskin Robbins after I grabbed myself a caramel machiaato first at Starbucks downstairs. Before taking the escalator upstairs to get Noah some ice cream. So I did message Bran and told him like I said..."we happen to be in Narita too. And if you would like a ride home, totally fine. I'm here, we're leaving the mall at 3:30pm and going back to our town. If you would like a ride cool...but also I do respect you're a teen so....so if not, you can take the train back home too." It was getting bitter cold. Bran replied and said he would take the ride. I did offer to give G a ride to the train station.. but he said, it was okay...he would hop on the free shuttle directly to the train station. So I waved G good bye. And Bran walked to my car with Noah and I. 

By now Noboru was home. And I rolled out 3 pizzas. 1 extremely large pepperoni pizza for the kids. And a smaller hand-tossed each for Noboru and I. 

We each had a pepperoni, mushroom and diced up jalapeno pizza each, we each only ate half and the rest we had for lunch the next day. Such crispy crust. 

I have somehow managed to acquire 12 foundations. And if they all worked for me 100% perfectly then that would be fantastic. But, they don't... so I decided to cut that number in half. So I went through them and the top row don't work for me at all and were tossed. 

These were all tossed. 4 drugstore foundations. And 2 high end foundations had to get the boot. The Revlon color is just too pink. The Loreal True Match is in the yellow range *but* I find the regular True Match super pink too. And the Lumi is super duper pink and unnatural. The makeup For Ever face and Body that was discontinued. I bought it because Youtuber KathleeenLights said it was her holy grail. And I hate it. It smells like paint thinner or paint or something super strong. And the color on this Ultra HD was too dark and wrong. None of these worked. And yeah I did spend money to buy them... but there's no use of wasting up space in my house if they either break me out or are overly pink tinted. Then they gotta go. I wish American drugstores had testers like we have in Japan. 

These are the ones I am keeping. And I am seriously thinking about getting rid of the It Cosmetics CC+ and the Urban Decay Naked Skin. Why? The CC+ smells like lemon scented toilet deodorizer that hangs in American toilets. I'm sorry but the It Cosmetics smell.... revolts the crap out of me so bad. It dies down after it's applied. Granted. It does give a nice finish on your face, but the smell. So, I am on the fence about that. And the Urban Decay one is pink tinted or something is off on the color for me. Pink or orange cast. It does not blend seamlessly in my neck or on my face. And it cakes up on me too. What is staying? What am I keeping? I love the Koh Gen Do aqua foundation. This is an exact match for my skin it is a fair olive color. Nars Fiji is an okay color match. It is yellow enough. Absolutely no pink tint to it at all. But it isn't an 100% dead ringer like the Koh Gen Do is. I also like the Make Up Forever Ultra HD in this bottom shade. It looks really nice on. I also really like the way the Neutrogena looks on me. Drugstore. It has no scent it has never made me break out and it is not pink. It isn't an 100% color match. But every time I wear The Neutrogena Healthy Skin...I look in the mirror during the day and think...this is such a nice shade.And nice formula. I do not think I want to own more than 5 foundations this year. So 6 are remaining and I may end up tossing the It Cosmetics one and the Urban Decay one too. Because if it doesn't work...it won't work no matter how long you hold onto it. All you can do when you buy the wrong one is you learn from it...and move on. And I do not want to be a hoarder. 

Yep that Urban Decay 3.0 is supposed to be yellow because the point 0's are yellow and the point 5's/ .5's are the pink ones. But I find this does oxidize on me and does turn pinky orange after about an hour. Meaning 2.0...3.0 etc is yellow. But 2.5 and 3.5 is the pink tinted ones. The ones that end in .5 are pink and the ones that end in 0 are yellow. But it still didn't work.

On Monday, yesterday, Coming of Age Day I took the boys to McDonald's. We also bought a few groceries. And stopped by the drugstore in the little city nearest us. 

I think recently I mentioned I am currently on a makeup remover kick lately. I purchased 2 yesterday. I have been looking high and low for this cleansing oil by Pharmaact. I read online that this drugstore cleansing oil doesn't advertise or market their product. But it's just as thick as the DHC one and the Shu Uemura one. And it smells like green apples. I checked at the Narita Aeon mall and couldn't find it. I searched the super mega Don Quijote in Narita and could not find it either. I emailed their headquarters. And they replied. Hahaha. They said, they used to be carried at Yacs drugstores all over Chiba. And so...while in the small city nearest our tiny town. I popped in there and sure enough. It was there. And it is as thick as the Shu Uemura cleansing oil because I have the purple one and compared. And this Phamaact oil does smell like green apple too. It smells amazing. I also heard fantastic things about Biore Cleansing oil. And I too... read on Amazon.com from a Japanese woman who now lives in the US and has used this for like decades. She said this smells like green apples and I read it on a blog by a lady in NY and she too said it smells of green apples. Oddly enough...both my cleansing oils smell like green apples. Totally unintentional.

I love how Japanese skincare with pumps always have stoppers to stop it from pumping out. Typical collar on the left but so useful and the Biore stopper on the right. Both work beautifully. 

Also purchased a lip balm. A YLBB tinted lip balm and a chocolate chip cookie lip balm. In the scent of the regular/original Country Ma'am Cookie.