Noah's, American passport needed renewing. Because kids grow so fast and change so much their passports are only good for 5 years at a time. I think getting them renewed every 5 years is a wonderful idea because Noah's first passport was taken when he was just a few days old. And now that he's age 4, and using a passport photo of a few days old of himself. Many times when we enter the US, the US immigration always jokes with him and says..."wow you've sure grown since your photo", ha ha ha, they did the same when B was 4 years old and using a passport pic of when he was a baby too. Now that he's going to be 5 shortly, it was time to get it renewed. Noah's thrilled he gets a more current picture on his new passport. We had an appointment in the American services section (the department where we submit our American passport application) both hub and I were there and Noah needed to be there as well. We all took an oath. The American lady who handled our application was so awesome. She said Noah was so handsome and she doted on him quite a bit. She was awesome!!! She really rocked this lady! The whole process took us maybe 20 minutes or less because we downloaded our application from online, days earlier and completed it at home, the passport pics, I took myself at home, we had everything. She handled our application process and we were out of there and heading back to the parking garage and heading back to the inaka before we knew what hit us. The passport will be mailed to our house. So that was that. Phew, so glad we got that over with. ; ) We made it back home before I needed to pick up Branden from school.
No housework was done Thursday, with being at the US Embassy and all, it couldn't be avoided. But, the bright side is, B enjoyed his day at school. And I was able to make dinner while the kids did Kumon. We had sweet and sour pork. Not sweet and sour chicken this time. It was really good. Anyway that was what we did Thursday. : ) In other bits....
Father's Day: My dad received his cookies and card and was really happy! ; ) And I know Noah is making something for Noboru at yochien. ; )
Next Wednesday, June 23rd, I have a games committee meeting. It starts from 9am until the kids get out of school, it's a half day so should run until around 11:30am. So not so long. I think we will start putting the games together. If you recall last year we put together make shift purses and bags for the kids out of plastic pet bottles. Not sure what we're doing this year but the note said to bring scissors and a box cutter type thing.
Next Thursday June 24th, I am going to my friend Jogo-san's house and will be meeting up with Namiki-san there as well. Namiki-san studied in Canada years ago, she has 2 daughter's, one is a blue badge this year and the other is about age 2, she's really a smart little girl though and very outgoing, she's a cutie.
Women's cancer check, June 30th. Our town is very big on screening for cancer for women. Ovarian cancer, cancer of the cervix, you name it, if it's down there, they check for it. And they also check for breast cancer VERY thoroughly, both manually and by painless ultra soundy type machine. If you're 33-34 or over and you live here, you will get an actual letter every year around the first week of June. They tell you....you can pick between 3 dates of the mass cattle call type days. And so, the first day they were allowing us ladies to make appointments, I called. Took me 15 minutes to get through. I live in a freakishly small town but I swear half the population must have been trying to get through. And yes, I would have just driven down there *but* the letter specifically said appointments by phone! I did get through after 15 minutes and I picked the first day available. June 30th. The other dates are in July sometime. My appointment time is for the morning and I picked a time when the boy's would already be at school. That way I can get tested feeling relaxed. And while we do sit in the same room waiting for our name to be called, the exams are very private as they should be. ; ) Last year the letter said to bring a towel, so I will bring my towel this year just in case. : ) As a few of you may know, my mother had breast cancer the year after Noboru and I got married. My mom did chemo, radiation, she opted for the lumpectomy versus the mastectomy. But believe you me, every painful decision was thought about and thought about. We read books... searched online, we joined a support group at the hospital. Got very comfortable being on the oncology floor at the hospital and met many many wonderful people. My mom did beat cancer. And she's fine today. I know I don't often talk about my feelings or ever delve too deeply on my blog other then just touching the surface of my day to day type life and I do that to keep some sort of buffer of privacy up. However, I will say, I hate cancer. There is no silver lining or good thing to be said about cancer. For me personally, it's touched our lives so closely that I feel sometimes I can't even put into words how much I dislike even the word cancer. I do contribute money to breast cancer research every single year hoping someday it will be stomped out completely. Cancer is a club nobody wants to be a member of or belong to. Last year when I had my yearly cancer check. That whole 3-4 weeks after my test...I was dreading getting my results. Would it be bad news for me? Yet hoping like hell for good news. Then I wanted the results over with. I thought and thought last Summer waiting for my results. And I honestly think because it happened to my mom, I am probably rightfully a bit more nervous, anxious about the whole testing and results. I know my chances are a bit higher of getting it and that mere thought used to enter my mind so much I banned myself from thinking about it too much. And yes I did read the blog of the American woman in our community who also had it and passed away. I read her blog quietly for years. Being in awe of her. She was a remarkable human being. Cancer is a really emotional topic for me to talk about, so I'll switch subjects now. Anyway, so June 30th is my day for the test and then I will wait for my results. And I will probably be feeling anxious again like last year.
Branden tested and he is now a #3!!! When he completes and passes level 1 he will get a big trophy and his picture will hang at the swimming school holding said big trophy for a whole month. Looks like that time is growing closer for Branden! And we couldn't be prouder! He's such a good egg, he really is. But then you all know that, you've all been watching him grow up all these years through this blog. ; ) Sniffle sniffle. ; )
Monday evening, I had to get all of B's stuff all packed for swim school at the elementary school. In Japan all the kids learn to swim at the elementary school, I think this is a very cool idea. Starting in the 1st grade all the way up throughout elementary school. Now both my kids swim at a private swim school. Since B was a little guy in yochien and same with Noah at age 3. But that doesn't mean that Branden doesn't still enjoy swimming at the elementary school because he totally does! He loves swimming at shogako a lot. 
The Spongebob towel has to go to the elementary school now and stay there unless he can bring it home to be washed but otherwise it now has to stay at the elementary school. And his spare towel is outgrown, so I can see a trip to the Narita mall back to the swimming towel department is in our future, ha ha ha. @_@ Heck what can ya do. He needs one for swim club too. He'll just take his spare until we can get to the Narita mall. According to his card and his sensei last year, Branden was the best swimmer at the elementary school in the ichinensei class 2 years ago when he was an ichinensei and during his ninensei last year. At elementary he's ranked a dolphin which is as high as you can go at our school. He is looking forward to swimming quite a bit at shogako this year. They'll be swimming 2 or 3 times a week and for 2 consecutive classes now. Such as, the 3rd and 4th period will be spent swimming. So they will be swimming quite a bit at the elementary school this year. He's really looking forward to it.
Got everything set and ready to pack. 1 swim towel...check. 1 pair of swim trunks navy blue. Check. 1 swimming cap, check check. And 1 pair of flip flops. And double check. And the swim bag, check.
Note says the same thing each year. Make sure you name every item...and I did, I wrote his first and last name on each flip flop. His swim bag, and sewed his label on his swim trunks. Phew.
Tucked his flippies in the zippered compartment.
And got everything packed up and Branden has since taken it to shogako. They start swimming next week. But they needed to all bring their stuff early.
Tuesday was "Chiba Day" Now what does Chiba Day entail? What does it stand for? What should we do to celebrate this wonderful magnificent day you ask? ; ) LOL. You sure got me! I haven't a clue and wasn't particularly interested to track the answers to those inquiring questions down. : ) To me, it meant I got to sleep in until 7:20am. It was drizzly so that meant a load in the wash and then the dryer. So much easier. I had been wanting some more cheese. And though this is like half way closer for me then say Costco Makuhari. This is still quite a drive. Both the boys got strapped into the backseat in my little red car and off I drove. The music in my ipod played and it was a nice drive. A trip I'd only be willing to make once a month for sure. : ) I wasn't doing my weekly shopping, just picking up some cheese. They have a huge section of cheese. This is a gaijin paradise, their cheese selection. Every single type of cheese I can even imagine. This was only half of one side of the cheese area they had a whole other backside too.
Huge blocks of cheese.
Ricotta, cubed misc cheese, teeny tiny blocks of cheese, mascarpone cheese.
Parmesan..so many different types of mozzarella. Shredded, buffalo mozzarella. You name it, they had it cheese wise. Now you know our family loves cheese, don't we all though? ; ) All I can say is we were in cheese heaven Tuesday, the boys and I. ; )
This meat said, Hokkaido BBQ college. Never knew they had an actual BBQ college. But I guess you learn something new everyday. ; )
This is another reason why I made the long drive, these chicken leg quarters. 5 of them for super cheap. Though they have them at a store closer, the price here is better plus the cheese was the big draw for me.
What I brought home Tuesday from Joyful Honda, aka Japan Meat.
Gyoza, they make some *delicious* gyoza. 2 huge blocks of red cheddar and 2 of those microscopic sizes of sour cream. Sorry but we do get the tiniest sizes of sour cream in Japan... it's unbelievable. Ha ha ha. I'm sure Costco has bigger sizes, but for regular stores, it's like they're just so so small. But, I still needed those for when I make fajitas this week. ; ) And the price was cheaper for sour cream at Joyful Honda then at Cainz. Cainz 290 yen and here 248 yen. Figures I recall that, but seriously a savings is still a savings. So, I try to remember stuff like that.
These pictures don't do these justice they're so big. They're way longer then the size they sell at Costco but thinner, so they could be about the same size of the Costco blocks but the length is just so funny to me. The length of my forearm. From elbow to wrist. When I see this cheese, I see augratin potatoes, homemade mac and cheese, fajita toppings, grilled cheese, I see endless possibilities. Happy sigh. : )
Whole wheat bread and a cheap loaf of regular bread and then left Joyful Honda. But before we left...I bought the boys a 100 yen ice cream from Mc D's before making that trip all the way back home. The boys and I had grilled cheese sandwiches on whole wheat when we finally arrived home from the Joyful Honda. Yumm.
So my phone I had all these years on the left. It died. The screen went out. I honestly wanted the same phone, but then Noboru searched online and found out my trusty phone on the left. Actually has so many complaints. Seems in Japan so many people had their screens go out too. And Samsung apparently admitted that there is a faulty wire, something that should have been recalled type stuff. A defect. But they didn't recall them. So overtime of sliding the phone to turn it on or talk, for a lot of us who had these phones the wire/sliding mechanism gets disconnected making you have a dead black screen. After hearing that...good grief. The scramble was on for me to get another phone. I need a phone...with me running here... zipping there. I REALLY need one. I'm not really a gadgety type gal. My slidey phone on the left had a TV and you know, I never not once ever watched TV on it, lol. It also had bluetooth. Nope, never used that either. My husband kept telling me my cell played music, like an MP3 player or whatever and still...nope didn't use that function either. Drove my husband bonkers actually. Anyway...so many free phones at Softbank. That iphone was free for 3-4 month's from like October to January. Nope didn't get it. And even still, I gather I could have got one. I told my husband, as long as it's in English, I really don't care. He searched the softbank website and finally asked me...how about that girly phone Cameron Diaz was selling/promoting here in Japan. That new pantone phone is what it's called. The Pantone can be switched over to full English. So, I said, go for it. And there you have it. Yes, I probably have the most simplest phone in all of Japan. That's okay. As long as it picks up and dials and it's all in English and it's teeny tiny, that's for me. 
I picked a citrus wallpaper for now. Especially since the weather's heating up and I rather like seeing that when I open my phone. Anyway...moving along. : ) Long story short I have a different phone now. ; )
Anyway back to Tuesday's day off for Chiba Day, dundundundun! ; ) After we got home and had the grilled cheese on wheat, the boys played with the neighborhood boys for a while. Until 3pm. And at 3pm, I just went and did the weekly shopping back at Cainz to get it over with. I did that because I had been shopping on Wednesday's lately however I had my movie "meet up" with my friends on Wednesday. And so, I could either shop the day before or the day after. If you know me at all...you'll already know, I hate procrastinating anything. And I prefer get things out of the way. So, I figured, just get it done with and so the boys and I left the house at 3pm. And went and picked up, a nice beef roast that I'll dice up this week to make beef curry. A nice pork roast as well... for something else. Picked up my usual Downy detergent, a bottle of dish soap. And wanted just a bottle of shampoo, however the shampoo was 578 yen for 1 bottle, however this set was 758 yen for a shampoo, conditoner plus treatment. I thought it was a better deal, so I picked that up. We headed home, with a full weeks worth of groceries, meat, veggies and whatnots in the car and we had dinner.
I fried up that pork we bought at Joyful Honda earlier that day. We had rice and veggie. It was simple, by now I was exhausted. Flat out tired. The doorbell rang.
While I was cooking, the kids looked at the security monitor/cam and answered the door after recognizing the person. They didn't call me to the door. Hmm, I was still in the kitchen tending to the pork. Our neighbor, Rumi-san brought us some vegetables.
What kindness...honestly. To know these types of people and have them in your life. For someone just to give you something just because. It truly affirms my faith in humanity honestly it does. Just to know there's good people out there like Rumi-san.
I do not know where she gets her potatoes, does she grow them herself, does she buy them at a farm? wherever she finds them I'm not sure but, they're gorgeous potatoes. I have since been trying to think what should I do with these potatoes? Should I make baked potato soup? Augratin potatoes? Hmmm. Yes mentioning it twice in 1 post...augratin potatoes must be on my mind. ; ) Slurp, maybe I should make some soon.
Wednesday, the dearest most sweetest ladies and myself went to the movies. We caught the 9:30am showing, yep it started at 9:30am. So, Wednesday, I made sure both the boys got sent off to school okay, obento made. And I was at the movie theater parking lot at 9am or 9:05. The doors did not open until 9:15am, so we stood near the door until they opened. A few other people stood outside waiting to enter as well. We quickly bought our tickets. And went and enjoyed the movie. I told them....I had not seen the first Iron Man. I was a bit worried if I would be able to follow along or if there would be huge gaps in the story for me, but it was fine. I really enjoyed the movie. In fact, I'd like to see the first one now. Maybe in July, we can rent it. After the movie, we went to lunch. We went to a ramen restaurant. I had the tantanmen. It was very delicious. Noriko-san and Jogo-san I think are very open minded people, very up to date with current events. Such as the World Cup, etc. So there's always 100 different things we can talk about. They are NOT boring ladies by any means, there is no huge gaps of silence. It's always fun and lively chatting with them. We talked about soccer and the world cup. Japan had won the night before. We also discussed hanging the laundry. To be or not to be was not the question for us that day.; ) Actually for us it was to hang the laundry inside out or not. There are good reasons for both actually. According to many websites in English hanging clothes inside out prevents your clothes colors from fading by the sun. However now we also discussed for people with allergies and pollen issues it might not be a good idea to hang clothes inside out because it could make their skin itchy etc. So there were actually pros and cons both ways. And as usual with most things we decided it's basically up to personal preference. If you're family suffers from allergies you may want to not hang your laundry inside out, yet for some who may be more worried about colors being sun bleached, you may want to hang inside out. Anyway we enjoyed our time together and our conversation flowed and flowed and flowed as always. It was a lot of fun. Hope everyone has been enjoying their week! : )
Wednesday evening, the boys and I baked some homemade chocolate chip and pecan cookies for my dad (grandpa) for my Father's day gift to him. And Thursday after sending the boys to school and making obento, I headed to do my weekly shopping at Cainz.
After coming home and unloading the groceries from the car into the fridge and pantry. I sat down and wrote out my Father's day card for my dad. Dad, I know you're reading...so please just don't read this part of the post. I want you to be surprised, or at least semi surprised, or okay at least you can "act" surprised, how's that?! ; )
25 homemade cookies and a handwritten card.
I had 11 extra cookies and I thought maybe we could eat them? Hmm that does sound like a pretty delicious thought! But then I thought why not make another person surprised and/or happy. And so, I sent them to my MIL in Osaka instead. So that's just what I did, Thursday afternoon.
Before picking up Noah from yochien on Thursday, I stopped off at the post office and mailed my dad his cookies and card. And I also sent Mitsuko hers as well. I'm glad I mailed my dad's stuff early enough that I am sure he'll get it before Father's Day for sure.
Thursday afternoon and home from school and Kumon...Noah watered the plants. In this pic he's watering one of the 2 zucchini plants.
Noah watering the 2nd zucchini plant.
And dad's corn. Mommy's corn was next! ; ) Noboru and I are sort of having a corn contest. Details on that another time.
And now Noah's watering the cucumber plant! What a very helpful boy! ; )
Friday morning after getting obento made and getting both the boys sent off to school. I raced home to get the house finished off before the weekend. I love my upstairs vacuum! I brought it all the way back from Denver, it's for carpet and really cool looking. ; ) But my downstairs vacuum for flooring not carpet. Ehhhh. My MIL picked it out for me, hence the pink color. However ugly this vacuum is, it is surprisingly powerful and still going strong. Now when it does eventually break, I'll pick out the new one. And the reason she picked it out at all, was because I stood in Hawaii, 2 weeks later then Noboru with B when he was about 1 years old. Meanwhile my MIL was trying to help Noboru by picking out stuff for our house rental. Which sounds nice and it is. But the pink vacuum took me many a years of getting used to. ; ) I vacuumed the 2nd and 1st floor. Swooshed both toilets, did the laundry and hung it outside before the boys even left to school (the laundry part). And then around 10am, I jumped in the shower to clean and scrub it from head to toe (2nd time this week) And then cleaned the sink upstairs in the laundry room and that was it.
Checked on the clothes outside, the dry stuff I brought in.
A few things still outside Friday. Orange shorts inside out. Blue gym shorts to the left of said orange shorts inside out. By 11:30am, I was done Friday. I washed my hands, had lunch and flopped on the couch until 1pm.
Friday, Noah at swim club! And when I saw the coach holding everyone's cards/sheets. I knew they were indeed having a test on Friday. And by the way. All his pink badge and red badge friends left and he was arriving since they swim in the A course. But that's okay, he can play with them at yochien. However there were about 4 blue badges in the B course for Friday. We greeted the blue badge mother's. And they were pretty shocked about Noah being in the B course. They asked, "is he 5 already?" No, I said. One blue badge little girl is a level 16 and the other little blue badge boy is a level 14 same as Noah and I think the other 2 are level 17's. or possibly 18's. Anyway....
The coach picks Noah to test first. I thought, he's the youngest kid, Noah's never tested as a B course before EVER yet they pick him to test first??? @_@ Errr okay. Whatever.
This is Noah's first test in the B course. He had to swim the entire length of the pool like B does. Or else he would fail. Branden looked on, so did Noboru and I did too. Time is not a concern or a factor yet. When he reaches a level 6, I think is when time becomes a huge factor on passing. But for now he has to swim way way longer distances then he did as an A course and his technique pretty much has to be spot on. To be totally honest with you...I REALLY wondered to myself if Noah could really swim THAT length/distance. Because it's quite a distance for anyone. And he's so young and his body is so tiny. I really wondered. But I didn't say anything, I just watched from upstairs through this glass window. Helpless really, I mean what could I do? Nothing. Nothing but watch. And so I did. And I be darned.....Noah made it! Yes he did, that teeny tiny body swam the entire length of the pool. I gave Noah a thumbs up before he jumped in the water. And he went and did his thing. Noboru said, his arms are so straight he's like a robot. Branden agreed. He really does have the most amazing swimming technique it's so clean! When his little hand touched the opposite side of the pool (he's nearing the end in the pic), I knew he made it! Yet again, I wanted to jump up and scream...oh yeah!!! But I did not. I have blogged many a times of wanting to do that before. ; )
And then it was over. Here's Noah and his friend who also goes to the same yochien, but he's a blue badge. ; ) However, you know I've known that beautiful little boy who's down in the pool with Noah since before he was a yellow badge! Yep, his mom has 3 boys! One's a 2nd grader, and then him who's a blue badge now (still can't beleive he grew so big) and another one who's about 2-3 years old. His mom is very very nice and a lovely woman. Always smiling and kind.
Noah and his buddy played after testing. And then they showered/rinsed, sauna-ed and then us mom's were waiting to dress our kids.
I'm so glad Noah has so many good friends at the swim school and in yochien. For a parent, it's truly peace of mind. 
#13, we are so proud of you Noah!!! Congratulations baby well done!
Ribbit ribbit, he passed the test!
Noah, you earned it, you worked very hard!
I made chocolate brownies with walnuts Friday in the day during my free time in between my channel surfing time after I cleaned the house. This was a great surprise dessert for the family Friday night. ; )
We came home from swimming school Friday night and started up the BBQ. Friday night's dinner? Cheeseburgers, and 2 chicken teriyaki sandwiches and fries. A simple BBQ was had Friday night. The start of our weekend. Usually I use Japanese teriyaki sauce. But today, I used the American kind with the splash of pineapple juice added with it, it was so yumm! I love this sauce now so much for chicken sandwiches.
6 cheeseburgers, 1 teriyaki burger and 2 American flavored teriyaki type chicken breasts with melted cheese on top. Noah smelled like a swimming pool during dinner. ; ) And dinner was REALLY quick to make, but then obviously burgers and 2 chicken sandwiches take barely no time at all. And the fries are fast too. Within an hour of coming home from swim school, dinner was done and the boys were soaped up, showered and shampoo-ed! ; ) We watched the DVD "Did you hear about the Morgan's" On dvd as a family, all 4 of us, though Noah zonked out after the first 15 minutes. : ) I actually caught myself starting to doze off in bits here and there on the couch myself. Would open my eyes @_@ I only caught myself dozing off about 3 times. But yeah...waking up early Mon-Fri, for the boys schooling really does take a toll on a mom, you know! By the time the movie was over with, I was more then ready to go to sleep.
Saturday was observation day at the yochien for the father's. Only half of the mom's showed up. But that's only because us mom's had our own weekday observation the week before. I went anyway and I'm glad I did. I was able to get a new print out from the "games" committee captain (one of the ladies I actually went to the Indian restaurant with a week or two ago ; ) for when our next get together is going to be held to start preparing the games for the Summer festival. Meanwhile before the observation day started, they said on the loud speaker....no pictures allowed during observation day. They said it was so we could soak up the fun in the now. @_@ But what I really think it is....is that the school is wanting us to buy the pictures at 100 yen each picture and I think that price is absurd! But now we're all forced to buy the pics if we like it or not because none of us were allowed to take any pics of our own! : ( I did however take this 1 measly pic AFTER observation was over before we left the building/school grounds to walk to our car.
Noah and Branden holding hands. You know Noah is so lucky to have such a protective older brother like Branden. A brother who is never too busy to play with him. Or to cheer him on during an undokai, or swim test, or even like Saturday, when it was a race between the yurigumi's and the baragumi's. I must say, the yurigumi's won every single race except 1 from the baragumi! ; ) We had lots of things to cheer at school about, especially us yurigumi's! ; ) Please don't think it's cheesy but...it really was a bonding experience...even the new class red badge kids. The mom's we really don't know too well yet, we got to bond with them and cheered for their red badge yurigumi's when they raced against the bara class. And the red badge yuri class mom's screamed, whoot and hollared and cheered for Noah and the other pink badges as we beat the baragumi's in a"father and child" race. The whole school was cheering for their teams!!! Yurigumi's versus the baragumi's. Branden and I were like..."Yurigumi ganbare...ganbare!!!!!!" So honestly it was a very bonding fun experience for us all on Saturday and I am pretty glad I went.Us old school yurigumi's bonded with the new yurigumi's and the baragumi's bonded with the new baragumi's. So it was honestly quite cool. 
Two very close brothers!!! Also, Branden got a chance to hang out with a few older kids from the yochien from his age and class. There were 2 friends of his that are 2nd graders now but they know B and he knows them really well. And two 3rd graders who also had siblings at the yochien on Saturday. So, I heard lots of "Branden-kun let's play" .....Noah's best friend Hikaru-kun the one he went to ensoku with and climbed up and down the jungle gym down together at the same time. ; ) The one who is now a yurigumi this year. Anyway they're like peas in a pod, Noah and H-kun. Also, H-kun has a 2nd grade brother, a ninensei. And he's a good friend of Branden's actually. When B swam in that Golden week compressed course, H-kun's older brother was actually swimming in it too. So, yeah, these people we see everywhere. At yochien, at swim club, just all over the place. ; ) And they are the family that's going to Guam in August for their 10 year anniversary. So yeah we know this family actually quite well. Their older boy is a friend of B's and Noah and H are like best friends in yochien this year, they're really close.
We went to the barber directly after observation day on Saturday for both the boy's to get a haircut. and then to lunch at Mc Donald's. Headed home, relaxed and then when it was a good time to start dinner, we did. First went on the corn. Who wants a corn on the cob? Hub and Noah said no thanks. And B and I said, yes. Hmm, maybe Noah was just not in the mood for it this time because he loves corn usually.
Pulled the meat that was marinated and chopped since before we headed to the yochien. Noboru also had a ton of beef.
Getting ready to eat....
Grilled veg! Lettuce for wrapping our meat with.
That's a whole lot of chicken!
And only half the amount of beef. The other half was still on the grill.
Like many of us, the weekends are the time, for me to recharge my batteries. Needless to say...this meal with the family...and the BBQ the day before. Definitely hit the spot!
Eating as a family is so important to us.
Branden stuffing up on yakiniku!
Noah taking a drink.
Yes, don't be shy Noah! ; ) You can fit how much rice in your chopsticks? ; )
The way he looks at his food. Always just kills me! It's a look that says..."here I am and I'm gonna eat ya"
Listening to Noboru telling some story.
And then B added to it. So Noah looks towards Branden....
Oh holy goodness mom's taking my picture...cheese! We enjoyed Saturday's BBQ quite a bit. Sure we didn't go out to a fancy restaurant or anything. Though not really our style anyways. But we did stay home and have a really nice BBQ and some good quality time as a family.
Which brings me to Sunday. I had my 2 loads of laundry out and hanging by 7am. I'm usually earlier on the weekdays. But ehh, it was the weekend. I don't care about what time I get it out on the weekend at all. Skillet fried some potatoes, made some omelettes and toast. Juice for the kids and coffee for Noboru and I. I did diddly squat all day Sunday. Just sort of enjoying my last day of the weekend. Both Branden and Noah played with about four 3rd grade boys good friends of Branden's all day long Sunday. And on Saturday after the yochien observation thing and the barber and stuff, B and Noah played outside with about five boys in the neighborhood. Genki-kun included. ; ) 
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