Here's a pic of all the stuff we brought back. Well technically some things couldn't fit on the table, like the big keyboard Branden got or Noah's toy or my Prada bag. But you get the idea at least. ; )
Frozen waffles for when the boys do go back to school, this way I can switch things they eat for fast mornings. Some days eggs and rice or eggs and toast, some days cereal and toast and some fast school day mornings, frozen (fast) waffles. Also we picked up 2 bottles of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup (my favorite syrup).
Spaghetti sauce for fast dinner type nights when I need a short cut yet need to get dinner served and the family fed. Some Italian style bread crumbs because I am making chicken parmesan soon. And some frozen ravioli again for fast nights. Perfect to have some ravioli and maybe a tossed salad on the side and presto change-o dinner is done. : )
String cheese because the kids love to eat it. Sliced mozzarella for sandwiches. Some ham for sandwiches for the kids. A pack of hot dogs. Some pepperoni for pizza's and we do make a lot of pizza around here. Some Colby/longhorn cheese for nachos or something along those lines.
Chili beans, these are spicy like a bowl of chili type beans but they have no meat in them at all. These are good for either chili cheese dogs or for nachos. Cinnamon rolls and crescent rolls. I plan to make the cinnamon rolls on January 1st morning as a special treat. And sliced cheese for grilled cheese. Yup, we are downright cheese maniacs around here. Gomen ne~ Ha ha ha. : )
Strawberry cake mix this is SO good. It's quite frankly freakin' good! Some nutella because I saw in a Parents magazine to swirl a tiny bit onto some yellow cake mix batter (cupcakes) instead of frosting them with regular frosting for a "healthier treat" versus flat out frosting and I wanna try that. Just a swirl and to do it before baking them and throwing them into the oven. Also picked up some hot fudge because obviously I am planning to make hot fudge sundaes sometime around mid January. : ) Some M&M cookie bits and some health toffee for toffee cookies. And the Andes cookies are so good. Probably one of my favorite cookies now.
3 packs of corn tortillas because I do like to make tostadas or enchiladas. It's pretty much a no brainer to make them and they always turn out yumm.
Some mac and cheese and some miracle whip, we need this for sandwiches. And a lettuce knife I picked up at Macy's in the cooking department upstairs.
I had no idea it was the metal blade that turned lettuce brown. Wow, now does it work? I don't know I haven't used it yet. And the price for it was so cheap, I thought well, even if it doesn't work, it's not that bad a price at least.
Hmm, at $3.99 even if it doesn't work, then I won't be too terribly upset. We'll see. : )
Popcorn, 36 bags and we need it because with all the DVD watching we do. ; )
Hubby's favorite cereal in the whole wide world. So he lugged these boxes back for the family. He gave the kids each a bowl the other morning. And the 3 of them ate it. : )
Lemonade, because sometimes a person just needs a nice tall glass of lemonade with ice. ; ) Turtles. Caramel, pecans and chocolate.
Green apple dish soap, granted we use our big dishwasher daily but we do get that odd pan here and there. And the rest is just hand soap, the lemon one is for the kitchen, the 2 on the right are for the upstairs laundry room and bathroom sink. The pomegranate mango ones can be used either way.
Shampoo. Sometimes I bring shampoo back, yet sometimes I don't, just depends on my mood while I'm on vacation. This time I did. Pantene clarifying shampoo and ice shine conditioner. I like the clarifying removes buildup. Although I wear no product in my hair, it's still nice to use once a week. Vanilla mint tea shampoo and conditioner, thought this smelled absolutely fantastic. Yumm. And I usually don't buy Vo5. But their scents have gotten frankly really great. So great I bought a set. They also had a kiwi fruit shampoo and conditioner that was to die for. But I thought 4 sets of shampoos would be overkill. Suave (the knock offs of Nexxus Humectress) I wish they'd bring back their knock offs of Paul Mitchell awapuhi is what I'd like. ; ) But the Nexxus knock offs are really good too.
Tampons, now I am a Tampax Pearl user, I am, I am. Sorry if it's a bit TMI for you. But then I saw the Kmart brand ones. It said with silky smooth applicator and I thought, "ugh huh! a knock off of the Tampax pearl" and then I looked at the price. Because saving a few bucks is just plain smart. And Tampax pearls were $5.99 a box and these were $2.99 a box. Saving 3 bucks a box and 6 bucks for both, heck yeah. So, yup, bought these. I'll try em. Rolaids. Because while I do like spicy food, you know like Indian or Mexican. I do get hurt burn sometimes, not all the time. But these rolaids will definitely come in handy. Furniture polish. And 2 deodorants. I have a few deodorants here already. So, I'm good now.
I'm naturally a brunette but I find myself going from brunette to red head sometimes. And no, I'm not like a chameleon changing month to month, ha ha ha. It's just sometimes I feel like a change and keep it for a few months then dye it back to a near exact match of my regular. It just depends. And this time I was thinking, redhead again. My hairs still growing like a weed, it's long and still straight as a pin. Now I am just deciding brunette or redhead. Hmm. :P
Okay I just gotta share this story. I saw this really amazing Christmassy platter/candy dish. I saw it and it was $10.86. That's too high, I thought (okay and honestly not really too high but I know how they have discounts after the holidays so held out). So, I held off. These were being sold at the grocery store by the way but too cute for words. I counted them, there were 10 of them.
I wanted this and whenever I went to the store the stock of these platters was slowly dwindling. They ended up with 5 last time I checked and I contemplated buying it? Contemplated how I would feel if they sold out and then I would not get one? I imagined I'd be beyond disappointed and then I'd kick myself for being such a cheapskate! Ha! But I didn't buy it. Christmas came and went and on the actual Christmas day, after we spent the day at the beach and the hotel swimming pool. And while we were heading to lunch I went into the store real quick for a looksee, they were closing Christmas day at 2pm and it was 1;30pm. I ran in and there were now only 3 left and they were marked down to $8 dollars. I wanted/hoped it would be marked down more but figured I might not end up with one if I waited again, so $8 bucks was the price I paid. And it is so cute. I am happy I ended up with it. And I also stocked up on some Christmas cupcake liners.
I think I ended up getting a good deal on this. : )
It is indeed deep enough to hold some Christmassy M&M's or something or other. I'll think about that next year. : )
1 pack of Spongebob underwear for Branden. B just got quite a few packs last time we were there. Noah hadn't, so the other 2 packs are for Noah. He got a mix pack of Lightning McQueen (Cars), Buzz, Nemo, Wall-E, The Incredibles, etc. And a pack of Cars undies.
Some magazines. Apparently, Katie Holme's prenup has expired since she has been with him the amount of time so far and they are renegotiating another prenup for another set amount of years. Good thing her father is a lawyer.
A new calendar. With all the boys 1/2 days and observation days etc etc. I really need to find a calendar I like. ; )
I love Chelsea Handler, if you recall I have her other book I picked up in Hawaii this past Summer. She writes so honestly and with such humor. I was glad to pick up this book. Her 3rd book is coming out this coming March. I also picked some some Christmas gift tags at 50% off. They'll come in handy next year.
A Blockbuster run was in order. Desperate Housewives the 5th season. This is why I was so delayed in my blogging, after we got back home from Guam, I started watching this and let's just say 6 whole DVD's later (the 7th one is a sneak peek dvd of Ugly Betty and other shows) This was probably my favorite season of Desperate Housewives, *so* much has happened. We also got the Wizards of Waverly Place the movie dvd. And the movie Julie and Julia. This looks fantastic and I love Meryl Streep, so I am looking forward to this.
Branden's keyboard, his Christmas gift from grandma Mitsuko.
Noah's gift from grandma Mitsuko. His gift was really marked down and it was a mere $16.00. Bless his heart. Mitsuko told the boys they could get anything as long as it was jointly under 25,000 yen. B's cost was $169.00 US (about 15,000 yen). A costly gift and I didn't even wanna let him but Noboru and my MIL discussed it at the Indian restaurant the day of Noah's recital and she said please get that for Branden from me. She insisted. We then told Noah, granny said you can choose anything you like he walked around the KB toy store and he fell in love with this toy little boys gun set. We even asked him, do you want anything else? he said, "I don't need anything else" Noah has always been this way, never had a greedy heart or bone in his body. Branden either. But Noah is something really special and I was pretty proud of my boy. So, yeah I think he picked a pretty good gift. He's definitely no Veruca Salt, let's put it that way. ; ) Plus he got gifts from us, quite a few and from my family as well so both the kids actually made out pretty well in the presents department. ; )
I like the Ralph Lauren shirts with the big pony's on them. Look at Branden's side of pics on the front of this blog and where it says, "my prepster" you see B wearing a Polo with a big pony. Anyway I had been wanting to get both my son's some new ones, but the Macy's didn't have any of the big pony's just the regular sized ones. However the DFS had them.
We bought Branden these 2. A traditonal navy with white pony, he's had this one before but different size. And the orange one was really gorgeous we thought.
B wears a size 10-12. The Ralph Lauren online says the numbers do not match the age. That was a bit shocking when I read that a few years back because every other store a size 4T is for a 4 year old. Apparently not at Ralph Lauren. @_@ So, since I read that, I always make my kids try them on. The size S that is for an 8 year old is skin tight on Branden and like a half shirt almost it's small, let's put it that way. Seriously. And I don't think my sons a giant either, ha ha ha. But the 10-12 is good and a bit of room to grow. I wish they'd make the age match the size. Grrr grumble grumble.
The size 4T was way too tiny, then the size 6 looked like a dress on Noah. @_@ But the 5 looked about right, a bit of room to grow. I said to Noboru, seems the age matches Noah but not B. And then the crazy size chart at Ralph Lauren then mucks me up completely.
I tucked Noah's away in Noah's closet and B's in his closet. They all hang nicely and will wait for the Summer.
Noboru bought me a Prada bag for Christmas.
Cloth bag cover. I have quite a few Prada bags already (about 5 bags and 2 cosmetic cases) and a Louis Vuitton bag, and I always enjoy the covers that come with. And to be fair, I also have Target bags and Gap and Old Navy. I'm not caught up on name brand, if it's cute, it's cute. ; )
It's a cross body and I love the size. Large enough to fit all my stuff but not so large that it looks like I am carrying a diaper bag. : )
Wide enough to hold my wallet, my camera case, my keitei. Looks like I'm set. : ) I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, I know we did. I hope to catch up with you all soon. : )
Tampons, now I am a Tampax Pearl user, I am, I am. Sorry if it's a bit TMI for you. But then I saw the Kmart brand ones. It said with silky smooth applicator and I thought, "ugh huh! a knock off of the Tampax pearl" and then I looked at the price. Because saving a few bucks is just plain smart. And Tampax pearls were $5.99 a box and these were $2.99 a box. Saving 3 bucks a box and 6 bucks for both, heck yeah. So, yup, bought these. I'll try em. Rolaids. Because while I do like spicy food, you know like Indian or Mexican. I do get hurt burn sometimes, not all the time. But these rolaids will definitely come in handy. Furniture polish. And 2 deodorants. I have a few deodorants here already. So, I'm good now. I'm naturally a brunette but I find myself going from brunette to red head sometimes. And no, I'm not like a chameleon changing month to month, ha ha ha. It's just sometimes I feel like a change and keep it for a few months then dye it back to a near exact match of my regular. It just depends. And this time I was thinking, redhead again. My hairs still growing like a weed, it's long and still straight as a pin. Now I am just deciding brunette or redhead. Hmm. :P Okay I just gotta share this story. I saw this really amazing Christmassy platter/candy dish. I saw it and it was $10.86. That's too high, I thought (okay and honestly not really too high but I know how they have discounts after the holidays so held out). So, I held off. These were being sold at the grocery store by the way but too cute for words. I counted them, there were 10 of them. I wanted this and whenever I went to the store the stock of these platters was slowly dwindling. They ended up with 5 last time I checked and I contemplated buying it? Contemplated how I would feel if they sold out and then I would not get one? I imagined I'd be beyond disappointed and then I'd kick myself for being such a cheapskate! Ha! But I didn't buy it. Christmas came and went and on the actual Christmas day, after we spent the day at the beach and the hotel swimming pool. And while we were heading to lunch I went into the store real quick for a looksee, they were closing Christmas day at 2pm and it was 1;30pm. I ran in and there were now only 3 left and they were marked down to $8 dollars. I wanted/hoped it would be marked down more but figured I might not end up with one if I waited again, so $8 bucks was the price I paid. And it is so cute. I am happy I ended up with it. And I also stocked up on some Christmas cupcake liners. I think I ended up getting a good deal on this. : ) It is indeed deep enough to hold some Christmassy M&M's or something or other. I'll think about that next year. : ) 1 pack of Spongebob underwear for Branden. B just got quite a few packs last time we were there. Noah hadn't, so the other 2 packs are for Noah. He got a mix pack of Lightning McQueen (Cars), Buzz, Nemo, Wall-E, The Incredibles, etc. And a pack of Cars undies. Some magazines. Apparently, Katie Holme's prenup has expired since she has been with him the amount of time so far and they are renegotiating another prenup for another set amount of years. Good thing her father is a lawyer. A new calendar. With all the boys 1/2 days and observation days etc etc. I really need to find a calendar I like. ; ) I love Chelsea Handler, if you recall I have her other book I picked up in Hawaii this past Summer. She writes so honestly and with such humor. I was glad to pick up this book. Her 3rd book is coming out this coming March. I also picked some some Christmas gift tags at 50% off. They'll come in handy next year. A Blockbuster run was in order. Desperate Housewives the 5th season. This is why I was so delayed in my blogging, after we got back home from Guam, I started watching this and let's just say 6 whole DVD's later (the 7th one is a sneak peek dvd of Ugly Betty and other shows) This was probably my favorite season of Desperate Housewives, *so* much has happened. We also got the Wizards of Waverly Place the movie dvd. And the movie Julie and Julia. This looks fantastic and I love Meryl Streep, so I am looking forward to this. Branden's keyboard, his Christmas gift from grandma Mitsuko. Noah's gift from grandma Mitsuko. His gift was really marked down and it was a mere $16.00. Bless his heart. Mitsuko told the boys they could get anything as long as it was jointly under 25,000 yen. B's cost was $169.00 US (about 15,000 yen). A costly gift and I didn't even wanna let him but Noboru and my MIL discussed it at the Indian restaurant the day of Noah's recital and she said please get that for Branden from me. She insisted. We then told Noah, granny said you can choose anything you like he walked around the KB toy store and he fell in love with this toy little boys gun set. We even asked him, do you want anything else? he said, "I don't need anything else" Noah has always been this way, never had a greedy heart or bone in his body. Branden either. But Noah is something really special and I was pretty proud of my boy. So, yeah I think he picked a pretty good gift. He's definitely no Veruca Salt, let's put it that way. ; ) Plus he got gifts from us, quite a few and from my family as well so both the kids actually made out pretty well in the presents department. ; ) I like the Ralph Lauren shirts with the big pony's on them. Look at Branden's side of pics on the front of this blog and where it says, "my prepster" you see B wearing a Polo with a big pony. Anyway I had been wanting to get both my son's some new ones, but the Macy's didn't have any of the big pony's just the regular sized ones. However the DFS had them. We bought Branden these 2. A traditonal navy with white pony, he's had this one before but different size. And the orange one was really gorgeous we thought. B wears a size 10-12. The Ralph Lauren online says the numbers do not match the age. That was a bit shocking when I read that a few years back because every other store a size 4T is for a 4 year old. Apparently not at Ralph Lauren. @_@ So, since I read that, I always make my kids try them on. The size S that is for an 8 year old is skin tight on Branden and like a half shirt almost it's small, let's put it that way. Seriously. And I don't think my sons a giant either, ha ha ha. But the 10-12 is good and a bit of room to grow. I wish they'd make the age match the size. Grrr grumble grumble. The size 4T was way too tiny, then the size 6 looked like a dress on Noah. @_@ But the 5 looked about right, a bit of room to grow. I said to Noboru, seems the age matches Noah but not B. And then the crazy size chart at Ralph Lauren then mucks me up completely. I tucked Noah's away in Noah's closet and B's in his closet. They all hang nicely and will wait for the Summer. Noboru bought me a Prada bag for Christmas. Cloth bag cover. I have quite a few Prada bags already (about 5 bags and 2 cosmetic cases) and a Louis Vuitton bag, and I always enjoy the covers that come with. And to be fair, I also have Target bags and Gap and Old Navy. I'm not caught up on name brand, if it's cute, it's cute. ; ) It's a cross body and I love the size. Large enough to fit all my stuff but not so large that it looks like I am carrying a diaper bag. : ) Wide enough to hold my wallet, my camera case, my keitei. Looks like I'm set. : ) I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, I know we did. I hope to catch up with you all soon. : )
This is the yuri-gumi class. Noah's the first row, 3rd one from the left. : )
They're singing a song here. : )
Still singing. The note on the gate of the yochien said long socks required for all kids. I was thankful for that, only because Noah has only long socks anyways. Well except for that pack of medium length socks we had to buy for undokai. ; )The kids just about ready to switch to a different song. Next one...with jingle bells and a few other instruments. : )
Kids were singing and about to start jingling!: )
And as you can tell, now it was indeed time to ring those bells. Noah did his and his friends on the right and left were also jingling their bells. Well done Noah, well done kiddo! ; )
Then the red badges left, pink badges went on and the nencho in between. And then the red badges came back on and did this performance. Noah was a squirrel! : ) : )
Really getting into it here! And all smiley! : ) Go Noah, go!!! : )
As you can see behind the kids. That chairs name was "dozo" and so people kept taking what was left on the chair and replacing it with something else! As you can see in this picture, the squirrels, left the baguette of bread for the chair. And took what the animals before had left. Then the red badges performances were done for the day. The pink and blue badges had two performances left, one each. Three red badges were chosen to be in the nencho-san's final performance and Noah was asked to do that. He was quite happy about that. : ) What part did the 3 red badges play???? Look at the next pic to find out! :P
They were sheep. They had to sit behind the grass and not move! Ha ha ha.
A little smile from Noah. : )
Some of the nencho class plus the 3 sheep. Some angels and the 3 wise men. : ) : )
Okay here is nearing the finale. We have Mary and Joseph. They are really into their roles here! Awesome job kids! And then.....
Our "Joseph" cracks a little smile, bless his heart. And mind you I can see in this pic he is missing at least 1 front tooth. : ) That charming toothless grin made me smile. Yup, a toothless grin from our Joseph. But he did such a fine job and he's probably only 5 years old, so he really did a fantastic job as Joseph considering he is only 5 or 6 years old. None of us expected him to be all serious anyway. Well done little guy! I think he did a fine fine job! All of the kids did a great job! They all did their best!
The 3 wise men brought gifts and so did everyone else in this particular play. The sheep herder and her sheep *ahem* (Noah-chan) walking and just brought a gift for the new born baby Jesus.
Nearly done, well done kiddos, well done all of you!!!
And then that was that! It was all over before you know it. It was an awesome play! All the classes, red, pink and blue all did so well!
Finishing up the final song, applause from all of us parents. Then we parents went downstairs and waited near their classrooms. And we headed home. Got the pizza dough made and sitting. Final vacuum around the house.
Everyone at the yochien were given a wrapped present. That was very nice of the school. It was a book by the way. : )
Meanwhile I had a lot of missed delivery notes in my mail box PLUS the 2 final December DVD's came in the mail. After calling the kuroneko and the regular post office, they said they'd redeliver within 30 minutes. Which was great for me, because I was due to leave and get B from shogako and meet my MIL at the swim school. So glad the redelivery was going to be fast and to just get it over with and done. This was from my MIL (mother in law)
Karaage, potato salad and her super hot buta kimchi sauce. Man she must have been reading my mind because I have been eating buta kimchi a lot lately and working on my own make shift sauce. Hers is delicious and way better then mine, so I was happy to get some.
The kids last presents from us. But these ones are from Santa. (wink wink) And will be hidden and even taken to Guam so we can lay them out in the middle of the night all nicely wrapped. There are 2 smaller things in the box so it won't take up any room in the suitcase.
A batch of cookies for my BIL and his family. I wrote to Satoe-chan. And I did that because as a wife myself, I know how good it feels to be included especially from my husbands family. And I want her to feel the same. And my BIL knows we love him already. And she knows too. : ) But I wrote to Satoe-chan. And I gave these to her at the swimming school and boy was she happy! Her face lit up and that made my BIL happy. So, I was glad the way I did that. And would you believe she brought us something too?
She brought 2 snack packs for the boys. 
Cookies and cakes from Kaldi and I thought that was really right on of her to do that! Man, my SIL is so cool and so nice!
A whole array for the boys. Hmm, next time I give them something I'll put to Mia-chan, sorta mix things up that way. : )
Mitsuko and Noah watching Branden down below Wednesday evening. Noboru was sitting to my left. Mitsuko really enjoyed watching her grandson swim!
Branden with the turquoise swimming cap. One of the boys on the left of B with one of the black swimming caps is his very good friend since their yochien days. That is Aoi-kun! : ) Since they were pink badges is how long they've known each other. And the girl on the right with the pink swimming cap and pink goggles with her hands on her hips. That's Saya-chan! She went to a different yochien completely. Branden and her did not know each other until they started the first grade. They were in the same 1st grade classroom together and are in the same 2nd grade together now. And she lives in the same housing community. For whatever reason, Branden and Saya-chan get along REALLY well. They're like really close friends. Branden has best guy friends for sure, but she is his best girl friend for sure. She's always riding her pink little bike to our house and playing. She was at our house just this past week. And B also goes over to her house to play too. Her mom is really nice too! : ) She's an only child. So Branden going to swimming club is a learning experience yes, but it's also a really fun social time for him too. He gets to be and hang with all his friends.
The kids are paired up in groups of 3 and they must swim against each other and work on timing. By now they all have the techniques and swim moves all down already. Now it's timing. The timing has to be right or it's a no go! So you are matched with your level and then you swim against each other. Branden is the one closest to the bottom of this picture.
You can see the 3 kids in the water racing, B is on the bottom of this picture, the turquoise cap, far left I guess would be the description? He's ahead by a hair in this pic, and Branden won the race. My friend told me, "Branden's hayai" I thanked her, but told her, sometimes he can "run out of gas too though" Ha ha ha. : ) You know, don't wanna seem boastful so it was a better way to reply. The kids all by now, know how to do those wicked cool underwater turns to switch direction in swimming. Dykwim? Like you swim one way get to the end of the pool, and wanna switch direction so, they do a little flip under water and it's amazing to watch them do that turn.
The coach determining who to pair up against one another next! My MIL meanwhile said, geeze if the pool is 25meters and he has swam way over 4 times back and forth, he swims more then 100 meters in one swim class? We said, yup they swim more then that actually. She was like @_@ And they go *fast* I mean like super speed competetive type fast, they all wanna make the time, so she was like doubly @_@ They must have gone back and forth 6-8 different times just during the matches/races. Mitsuko loved watching the kids swim. My BIL stood and watched it for a bit as well. Mia-chan was asleep in the car so Satoe could not come in.
Branden's in the middle in this pic. His one friend in the black cap on the left (but not Aoi-kun). It always sucks to have to swim against your good friend. : ( But they do it. When they're in the water and swimming against each other it's not personal at all and they know that totally. And when they get out.... they get back to chatter when they're outta the pool.
Branden ready in the dive position, waiting for the couch to blow her whistle for the kids to GO! The coach paces along the sides of the pool back and forth. Keeps checking her stop watch. Making corrections, you need to do this or correct that. Kids hear and make the correction for their next turn in the water. This goes on for a good length of the class. But kids rest when it's not their turn. 
And then it was over, and for literally 2 minutes before class ended they got to play. And only about once a month they get to play after class so it is rare so they made the most of it. It almost seemed like only for 1 minute. Ha ha ha. Also, I think Branden was having trouble deciding if he should play with the guys or Saya-chan. But Saya-chan called him over and so together they went and got this floating mat thing and they went in the water and splashed together. Yeah they really are good friends. : )
Saya-chan smiling and leaning in to tell B something. : )
Man, she's still telling him something. Branden's face is a bit blurry during this pic, but he's smiling. What she told him? You sure got me! He didn't say! : ) And no it's not like hubba hubba they like each other. They'e truly just good good friends.
We went home, all 5 of us. I showed my MIL to her room, gave her a clean towel for her shower (she knows which room to go obviously, but manner wise it was nicer of me to go upstairs and show her anyway). Told her she could go ahead and shower first, since I have to get dinner made. I took care of everything. She said okie dokie. And took a shower. I meanwhile got the crust rolled out, toppings on the pizza. Salad made. And we all ate dinner in the living room on the coffee table. It was just a casual dinner, nothing fancy at all. She loved the pizza and the salad. We all ate dinner. Branden was STARVING because he swam so much. After we ate, I showered a fast shower, Noboru cleaned up the dishes, just put them into the dishwasher. I came out in like 7 minutes, Then Noboru and the boys showered. Real quick. My mil was in bed by 8:30pm. The kids too. And I stayed awake until 9pm. I need that little 30 minutes at least to unwind, to decompress. Sorta surf the channels watch a little TV before bed. It helps me relax.
The next morning. My mil went outside and enjoyed the view and did some light stretching. She told me the way the sun rises right behind our backyard and the view always takes her breath away. I smiled, let her have at it back there. And I meanwhile got B sent to school, Noah ready for his 2nd and last Christmas recital of the season. And got myself dressed as well.
Thursday morning you will never know how busy I was...man it was crazy, I was like a flash or a blur that morning. Rushing one kid to elementary and 1 kid to yochien with his granny, plus getting myself ready. You truly have no idea how I zoomed from here to there that morning. But with it being the 2nd to last day of school, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel for sure. While Mitsuko and Noah were at the yochien enjoying/performing the recital. I was at home baking my mil's batch of Christmas cookies. I wore my apron so I didn't mess up my clothes. Music cranked up in the kitchen and baked her a few dozen to take back to Osaka. At 11:45am Noboru and I headed to the yochien to get my MIL and Noah. She loved the recital. We went to lunch afterwards. We went and had Indian. Yup 3 weeks in a row! They must think that's my favorite place by now! LOL. I had as usual, the kobocha/pumpkin curry and I debated whether I should choose hot or medium, medium or hot? Hmm. I went for the hot. It was so good and not as hot as last time. We went home, and I got her all packed up with cookies and stuff. At 2pm, Noboru and Noah left to drive my MIL to the bus station so she could cath a bus to Haneda airport. Meanwhile at 2pm (same time), I left in my little red car to go and get Branden from school! I hugged my Mil said good-bye and we both drove off, Noboru driving away in the MPV and myself in the R2. Thursday was nearly over. B did Kumon after school and came home and enjoyed supper and just relaxed. I have been doing the count down. And that night I told the kids, only *1* day of school left!!!! Woohoo! 
Friday morning, I got both kids breakfast, made sure Branden got dressed and stuff. Branden was driven to school, by me in my fleecy yoga pants and sweatshirt (as usual). Noah in his jammies. But he ate breakfast already. Rushed home with my Starbucks tumbler with hot caramel machiatto (instant store bought but delicious). Rushed in the house, got Noah's teeth brushed, his hair combed. He sat watching cartoons while I got myself dressed and my face on. The ceremony said, the start time was 10:15am. I arrived at 10am. I am a tad embarassed to always be a bit early but then again, it is better then being late right? ; ) ; )
The candle light ceremony was gorgeous and lovely as usual. All the kids came in and brought a Christmas stocking to the baby Jesus. Us mother's all lit candles Manami-sensei lit my candle, then I, in turn lit Jogo-san's candle with my candle and then she in turn lit Rieko-san's candle and so on and so on. It was very beautiful. The nensho class sang a song that is one of my favorites. Then the other classes sang. So the nencho sang then the youngest class, the red badges sang next, then the pink badges (the middle class) sang last. It was really really cool. From 10:15-11:20am and then it was over! At 11:20am, we went downstairs and collected our kids and went home. School was officially on Christmas break for Noah! Woohoo! I thought, 1 kid down, 1 kid to go! : ) : ) We sat at home and relaxed. Noboru took Noah to swim school at 2pm. Meanwhile I went and picked up B on his last day of class at 2pm, as well! All the kids for Yuka-sensei's class came walking down the hill, wearing Santa hats. The ninensei #1 class did not make hats. : ( But the Yuka-sensei's ninensei #2 class (the class B is in) made cool Christmas hats! All the kids were lugging all their school things and seat covers etc back home for the winter break. Loaded up my son into my car and we went home! Now we were officially on winter break! Both kids now on winter break! And yes, I honestly really did do my happy dance.
These are the presents Noah had received from the school. All kids received them. The book, it's a really nice thick hard cover book. And a bag of snacks. Our school rocks regarding giving really cool gifts to the kids, it certainly makes the kids faces light up. : )
My good friend Jogo-san went to Disney-Sea this week. And she brought me back an omiyage. And I really appreciated her thoughtfulness. The Nemo ride just opened, October 1,2009 and so this gift was realy cool. Chocolates are inside. Chocolate with rice krispie stuff inside. So think along the lines of a yummy Nestle Crunch but a different shape and they're all wrapped individually.Yumm. : ) It's nice to have good friends, and honestly for that I feel really really lucky.
Christmas art projects for both of the boys! The Christmas stocking was Noah's. : ) And the hat was what Branden made at school in the 2nd grade! : ) I think they both did a great job! : )
Awww! : )
These are the DVD's. The last 2 DVD's we rented for December. Two comedy's. Night at the Museum 2. And Year One with Jack Black! We saw "Year One" last night (Friday) it wasn't as funny as I hoped. : ( And tonight we will see the other one. And tomorrow morning before we leave we will drop the DVD's in the mail and get them sent back to Tsutaya Discas right away.
All the baking I've done. This batch of M&M cookies I baked on Tuesday. : )
They came out really good and colorful. perfect for Christmas, everyone got some of these as well as the butter Christmas cookies. : )
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