Baking homemade pies today with my husband! Christmas is almost here, yay!!! : )

Today after, we took Branden to the swimming compressed course thing, this morning. We came home, had breakfast. Boy's played in the backyard, all bundled up! And the hubby and I got started in on the pies! Today, we baked the pies together. A true family joint effort here! Ha ha ha.: ) So with Christmas tunes playing, hubby made all the crusts, from scratch with the usual recipe for crusts we use. He did really well! We had a really good time baking together! He told me a few whoppers of a few work stories and I told him a few things, about a few things, ha ha ha! Please don't throw a tomato at me for saying it. But honestly he's my best friend. And I got a lot of friends, so that's saying a lot. He really is a good man, good dad and a wonderful husband! And best friend! : )

Apples ready and now ready for the top layer of crust to lay on top. Before being whacked in the oven. : ) Meanwhile pumpkin pie about to be poured as well.

With a little crust and a few apples left over, I made 4 apple turnovers. Boy were they delicious, that is what was cooling off on the stove in this pic! We each had one for a snack this afternoon! Ha ha ha. : ) Meanwhile the pies both baked in the oven at the same time! Good to get them both knocked out of the way like that! Now the desserts are ready for tomorrow's Christmas dinner! It's a head start at least! : )

Two lovely homemade, pies for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. 1 apple pie and 1 pumpkin pie! : ) And plenty of Christmas cookies to last us the rest of the week. We are doing okay. Not crazy about the color of the picture though, see I had the "candle light setting on" because of the pic I took before and I didn't switch it back. Whoops. Sorry. But good looking pies though, even if a terrible terrible picture. Can't wait to eat them tomorrow. Okay going to enjoy my family time now and for the rest of the night , but I wanted to publish this real quick first! Have a good night everyone and happy holidays!!! : )

Branden's taking that compressed swimming course this week! So that's what we'll be up to, in our neck of the woods!!! : )

So, Monday December 22nd, the last day of school. Now winter holiday officially began! How did we celebrate? Well, just regular ol' simple way we usually do. We took the kids to Mc Donald's for lunch. A small simple way, but a way nonetheless, to say...congratulations, you've done it! Job well done. You are now indeed on winter break! : ) So around 11;30 am, there we sat, happy meals for the boys and comboss for us. With his 2nd term over for the first grade, we felt really happy on Monday. :D

Btw, the parent teacher conference thing, last week went really great. His teacher said he is really doing well with his Japanese reading and writing and he's doing well with his English class at ichinensei and he's doing super in math. And she mentioned he is very helpful to others to that made us happy. : )

I had a chicken sandwich. Hmm, I really wish they'd bring back that grilled chicken sandwich. I really liked that one. : ( Ha ha ha. Anyways after stopping for lunch we headed to the grocery store.

At the grocery store, they sure had a lot of meats for Christmas. Stuff, they usually don't carry around here (because I live way out in the country side). A whole roasted chicken ready to throw in the oven. This was a really huge whole chicken actually, Noboru commented how big it was. Umm, already roasted chicken leg quarters. Raw chicken leg quarters for roasting your own way and they had very huge roast beefs, to make a roast beef. I was really impressed by how even here in the country side, things are getting easier to find to make a Christmas dinner out of. : )

Just a basket of meats, a basket of veggies and a basket of misc. And a small bag of laundry soap and a bottle of Stitch kids shampoo. : ) Just a few last minute things, is all. : )

The sky was so dark and gray on Monday, it was barely 1:30 pm, yet it looked much later. And the weather? Really really cold. And it rained, at one point we wondered if it would turn to snow, but it didn't. Just rain. Really really freezing cold rain. Brrrr! : ) Went home and stood in the warm house Monday evening. Relaxed.

Hmm, my usual wake up time is at 5:30 am. But with this compressed swim course, I wake up at 7:30 am. 2 hours extra sleep. So, I'm happy and this compressed swim course only lasts 5 days. So, and after that, I will probably be sleeping in until, say 9-10am, so no worries from me. LOL. Anyway today, Tuesday morning, the boys had cereal. Brushed their teeth, washed their faces, got dressed. I brushed my teeth, washed my face with a steaming hot wash rag too. And threw on something. No makeup, nothing. Just grabbed my hot caramel machiatto, the instant I make at home. But it's really good. And we were on our way to swim club this morning.

Not even 9am, and I was the first to get a seat. The boys and I sat down. Relaxed and about 2 minutes after we arrived people came in. A lot of kids signed up for this. And a lot of parents upstairs watching. I will be at the swimming school for the next 5 days or so, from 9am to 10:15am. It's basically a good hour and 15 minutes of exercise for Branden and it keeps him active and he loves it! So, I don't mind taking him. Yes you heard that right, even on Christmas morning, we will indeed be at the swimming school for about an hour. More then likely we will unwrap the pressies real early first anyways, since the kids are always so excited they wake up freakishly early Christmas mornings anyway. After we unwrap presents, we will head to swim school. As a family of 4 though. Watch him get his swim in. And then we will probably head to Coco's to have some good breakfast, some yummy, french toast and coffee and hot cocoa for the kids and then head home and relax for Christmas and watch the kids play with their toys, and then later in the day we will have and start with the dinner. But man, are we dedicated swimming parents or what? Christmas, for crying out loud, lol!!! Ha ha ha. :D

Pool was totally dead, no kids in there.

And now the kids were in there. Different swim lanes mean different levels. Most desired level is #1. And it goes up to like 14 or 15, I think, that's the start of the numbers. Before that is flowers. Noah is currently on the flower system since he's young. Branden is a #8. Hoping to get to a #7 soon. When you get to level 1, you get a big trophy and then decide if you wanna continue. Compete maybe? Nothing serious just between swim schools or maybe prefectures. Or he can stop. And be done. That will be Branden's choice when he reaches that level. It's up to him entirely. We support him either way. : )

Branden and 2 others. That little girl was a real cutie pie! : )

Anyway, that's where I will be spending my mornings this week! At swimming school! : ) Have a good night you guys! : )

Update of the daily grind around here! Ha ha ha! : )

This pic was taken last Tuesday, Branden had gotten off early and we took Noah to swimming at 2pm. We first stopped off at 7-eleven for some snacks for the kids and hubby first though and a tea for me. Not a bad way to spend an hour. : )

Multi tasking at it's finest. Branden can do his tiny amount of ichinensei homework while Noah is downstairs and before he ever gets into the water. Then he can enjoy and snack and watch his baby brother down there! : )

Noboru playing a bit of Branden's game while Branden finishes up his homework. : )

Noah and 2 girls. The girl not wearing the regulation swimsuit is obviously one who is trying the school out. She seems like a sweet girl, I hope she can continue to come here! : )

Wednesday morning was a gray cloudy day here where I live. : ) And as you can see by the time on the show, it was indeed 8:58 am, and I was watching the CBS evening news with Katie Couric. I watch American news every day, so I am not totally out of the loop as well as watch CNN too. Phew. : )

Katie got a hair cut! Ha ha ha! Looks good! : )

Bye CBS news see you tomorrow! : )

After my morning news, I always start in on the house and then it's treadmill city for me! : ) Yes, I am a freak with the vacuuming!!! And yes I actually flip my mattress and vacuum under it, every other week. Not a dot of dust has ever accumulated in there, so a dust bunny would never stand a chance around here. Flip the mattress back on and be on my way! And for what it's worth, I watched this show on Discovery channel one time ions ago, it seems, lol, anyway it was about carpet mites and things that live in people's carpets. It left such an impression that is why I vacuum daily and why I flip my mattress and vacuum under my bed every other week. Ha ha ha. I can't help it! I really can't! : )

Every other day, yes seriously every other day, I actually lift the little plastic drawers that lay in both of my son's rooms. They are not light, but actually really heavy. Yet I lift them regardless to vacuum underneath. Yup, I am a dork, what can I say. But at least I am a clean dork! Ha ha ha.

And even move that one as well. Truly vacuum every place a vacuum can go and reach.

Put drawers right back to where they belong, same exact spot before I lifted them in the first place, lol. There is a lot of clothes in those drawers, he actually has way more clothes then a kid would ever need. The clothes are actually folded in there but it's just too much, so it might look a bit wonky in the drawers but trust me they are indeed all folded. : ) And in the Toys r us box on top is nothing but hats, hats and more hats! Boy does Noah have a ton of hats! And 2 pair of Target long johns for next year is also in that box. All shirts in one drawer, all shorts in 1 drawer, all pants in 2 drawers, all sweatpants and sweatshirts for the other drawers. And of course the actual hat box. I can grab anything at the drop of a hat so to speak (no pun intended). Things are really organized in his room, and Branden's room, and the whole house actually. I guess we just don't feel comfortable living in clutter.

Close the big white drawers and poof, all what's in Noah's closet is hidden from view.

Baseboards for the entire upstairs. This is Branden's room.

Wipes down big closet doors for Branden's room.

I have 1 Japanese vacuum and 1 Hoover vacuum, I bought from Target and brought from America.

Yes, I actually pull out 2 vacuums everyday. Am I nuts? Yup! I admit I am! Ha ha ha! : ) I do all the edges for the entire upstairs and them do my stairs with it and then I pull out my American vacuum. Right now in this pic, I was doing all the edges in B's room.

Edges done in my room, so I am now moving onto the regular vacuum. Ha ha ha. : )

Wednesday, did my daily house cleaning and treadmill in the day and then Branden had swimming club after ichinensei and we had buta kimchi on that night as well. I had mine with chicken. And a nice glass of guava juice. Kids had guava juice too! : ) Thursday, I mailed out the last of the Christmas cards. And I wrapped about 20 presents. I ran out of wrapping paper and will wrap the rest next Monday or Tuesday. : )

Friday! Yay for Friday's! : ) On Friday Noah and I baked brownies and we also baked some homemade banana nut bread! Yumm! : ) The house was cleaned spic and span for the week as usual, and I relaxed all day Friday! Noah and I baked some... but mostly we relaxed! : )

Noah stirred and stirred. He had just woken up from his afternoon nap, so his hair was a bit messed up! : ) Oh well. : )

Yup a bit messy hair but an absolutely beautiful boy nonetheless! : )

Job well done Noah, you mashed those bananas to smithereens, just like I asked you to do! : ) Yup a shirt change, his Old Navy American flag one got a bit of brownie mix on it, no worries mommy threw it into the washing machine straight away! : )

Ready to dump those bananas into the yellow bowl? I say....go for it! Ha ha ha. : )

Friday sure was a sun shiny day wasn't it? :D

Just about to go into the loaf pan and bake! : )

Friday's afternoon baking and our mother and son time together accomplished! Boy did we have a fun time or what? :)

Let's cover those brownies before they get hard. And get the banana bread out of the loaf pan and put it onto a plate and wrap that, as well too. : )

Branden and daddy will be so happy when they come home today and see all that we did! Many many yummy things to munch of this weekend, as well! : )

They keep playing the Karate Kid on satellite and the Karate Kid part 2 on TV here too. So, we have caught the Karate Kid, about 3 times lately. The boy's love that last fight scene! Branden and Noah were practicing their own crane technique for days after watching this, lol. We caught this, one more time this weekend. Saturday, I think is when our family watched this!

Awww, Daniel-san and Ally in the polka dotted shower curtain that was his costume, remember? Ha ha ha. And the soundtrack for this is cute too, with songs like Cruel Summer and such! Cute movie and I am glad my boys like it. : )

Saturday for dinner, I made a big noodle gratin. And in the tin foil to the right, I bought a big loaf of french bread and didn't make garlic bread out of it....I kept it even simpler, just buttered it and then let it get toasty in the oven. It was awesome!

Bread sliced and now ready to go enjoy the ending of our movie! It was a good Saturday night. Great whole weekend actually!

Sunday, we watched the Family Man. A Christmas movie. Sorta lets him know what his live could have been type movies. Answers that old age question..."what if", what if he would have gotten off that plane, what if he would have chosen love over money. Sorta sentimental and sappy, I know, but it's movies like these that warm the heart around the holidays. I watched this with the kids and the hubster and we all sorta held each other a little tighter after seeing this one! Awww sorry we are sappy nerds! :D

TV Talk, what else have I been watching lately? I have seen Brokeback Mountain before and it's been playing on Satellite a lot recently. Not really Christmasy but a really good movie. I really feel for the characters in this movie. How they did have a love for one another but it just was a day and age when people weren't so accepting. I wished in this movie they could have been together and how it ended, when the wife of one was telling the other, how he died by *ahem* changing a tire. Yet they show how in reality, he was really beaten by a tire iron by 3 burly guys. It was absolutely heart breaking. And at the end when he looks at the shirt, both their shirts. *sigh* It was just really a great movie and a wonderful story with good characters. So yeah I have caught Brokeback Mountain twice after the boys have gone to bed recently. And what else have I been watching? I have been watching the series Weeds a lot. Cold Case, as usual, Ghost Whisperer as usual, and can't wait for the new shows to start on December 22nd for that! I also watch heaps of Hannah Montana with the boy's, Sabrina, Spongebob and last night we watched an hour of Looney Tunes! You know...I just have to say...I feel so sorry for the coyote!!!! Ha ha ha. The boys and I always root for the coyote. LOL!

Today, Monday at 11am, we are officially on winter break around here for our household! Oh yay! We did it!

Edited to add, I originally typed this and kept this on 'save" on Monday. However, 11am came and I saved it but never published this. So, that is why it is a bit delayed, a day late. Sorry. What's new since I wrote this???

Branden is indeed on Christmas break! Yay, I am so happy! Can't believe I made it! *high fives self* Ha ha ha, lol! Ummm, what else? TV Talk, Oh yeah I caught the new 2nd season to Ghost Whisper last night. Umm, "please do not read ahead if you haven't seen it!" Spoiler alert. Anyway, Since most of you are in America and like a whole season ahead anyway. I wanted to talk about this a bit. First when I was in Guam in October, was it October? Anyways, Andrea wasn't on the show. I was really wondering why. The first season ended where we all thought her brother died. Very sad and so for us in Japan, we waited a week and then season 2 started for us. So, on December 22nd, I watched at 9pm and it turns out she died, meaning Andrea. Stunned doesn't even quite cover how I felt last night after watching that! I adored the Andrea character so much! Just feeling completely and utterly shocked. Wow! And that Romano character, *shudders* completely creepy and scary! In the news, an airplane skidded off the runway at DIA? Being from Denver, born and raised, I was sorta shocked. I was actually on the phone with my dad who lives in Denver when that happened. They broke through the news and he told me...wait a minute something's happened. Talk about a shocker. : ( Any last words before I FINALLY hit the publish button? Hmm. : ) Oh yeah, Branden's doing that compressed swimming course this week. It's for 1 hour long and it's in the mornings. : ) So basically not doing too much, just getting ready for Christmas, meaning menu planning, last minute Christmas shopping and bit of wrapping. Elementary going on break. The swimming compressed course starting. And Noboru just made our reservation to the Hilton in Guam for next month, he did that today. So basically we have a few things going on. Good things. Happy things. But yeah it's been sorta crazy lately. : ) And yeah cleaning the house like a true nerd and still doing my daily treadmill!!! LOL! Ha ha ha. Anyway I better publish this before I save it again, knowing me, ha ha ha! Good night! : )