Noah's Cross Country Marathon at the local elementary school...

In Japan at many elementary schools, kids do a Cross Country race, in Japan we simply call it their marathon. Our school in our tiny town does the same thing at our local elementary school. Grades 1 all the way to the 6th grade. All grades, every child participates. There is a lead up beforehand... where the kids all practice for a good 3-4 weeks beforehand. Our school has the kids runs laps around the school field. The day of the big race. The kids at our particular school run around the natural terrain of our part of Japan. So the kids in our town who attend this school they run laps around rice fields. All grades run 1 lap. How far, the specific distance is determined by which grade you are in. And all 5th and 6th graders run the farthest and they have to run 2 huge laps. It's exhausting for them. But they all manage to do it. When Noah was younger, in the 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade Noah was super into running. He loved it. He lived for it. And he won many medals. But after the 3rd grade he told me, "mommy I'm not into running anymore" And I said...I love you no matter what, win or lose. I just want you happy." And so after the 3rd grade, he has always ran for pleasure and with a great big smile on his face. No more medals granted...but he's so happy running. He came in 17th place out of both grade of boys so about a total of about 50 (25 from each grade). So not too shabby. This pic was taken after we parked Noboru's super tiny mini minivan, can park here perfectly. My car is too big to fit on this tiny narrow space. But his car fits so nicely here. Noah's Cross Country day was Tuesday, December 12th.

We came right at the time the 4th graders were finishing up. And we saw the 5th and 6th grade girls run first. I cheered and clapped for some of Noah's good friends. And then the 5th and 6th grade boys went next. They were the final team running in the cross country. : ) This pic is of the 5th and 6th grade boys. Go Noah go!!! Have fun!!! Those cars belong to parents watching the kids run. We too parked along the rice field roads. The streets are closed off around here for thru traffic on race day. Good thing we all live in such a tiny town. That us parents can just park along the outskirts of where the kids all had their race. : )

This was Noah's final 2nd lap. His first lap was all smiles. And this lap, I have a nice smile captured too. But I let Noah pick out his 1 pic that he would like to share on here and he picked this one. : ) He said...because it shows him running. Awww. We love you so much Noah!!!

Noah's 6th grade class trip...

Some of the cool snacks for Noah that I picked up for his final 6th grade over night trip. The frozen mango gum looked *very* cool and different, I liked that it was so unique looking. And the Gaburi chew in white grape flavor I thought looked nice too. 

These were Noah's snacks. I always buy my kids snacks from the old school Japanese snack shop. You can get tons more snacks, for the same exact price. Noah's 6th grade class trip was Wednesday November 1st to November 2nd. It was just a 1 overnight trip type thing. His final trip for elementary school.

The day before Noah's trip. October 31st. Halloween. I was packing up Noah's snacks, clothes, bath towel, toothbrush kit, mini shampoo and body wash etc. Packed him up 2 Ziplock bags full of snacks, I pack my kids snacks for each way... for their round trip. One for going there and one for coming back. I put 5500 yen in his Adidas wallet. 

I bought Noah the bag on the right and bought Bran the bag on the left. I have one of these for myself, I have been using for years. I packed all of Noah's underwear and socks in this yellow bag (2 each, even though it was just an overnight trip). These came from the 100 yen shop called Seria. 

The omiyage Noah brought home. 

Branden brought back Noah a gift on his 6th grade overnight stay. I did not ask Branden to do that. He did that all on his own. He brought Noah back a little wooden spinning top. Noah loved it and has it still to this very day. Noah is also equally thoughtful of his brother....and brought back for Branden this little wooden doll. Totally cute. Branden loved it and it is currently on his pencil box. I'm so glad they have each other and are so close. Since I was an only child...I truly love that they have each other. 

Noah only brought back 1 small thing for himself, a golden coin that he had his name stamped on it. See? It says...Noah!!! What a wonderful keepsake for Noah's 6th grade trip.

These cookies are the best. Branden brought these back and Noah brought these back too. They're delicious. Noah's trip was to Kamakura in the day time. Each group got to pick what they wanted to eat for lunch. Some groups picked McDonald's. Noah's group picked an Italian restaurant and so Noah's group all had pasta for lunch. But in the evening and at night, his 6th grade class went to stay the night at a hotel with a nice onsen in Yugawara. They also ate dinner at a buffet. By November 2nd evening around 6pm. Noah was back home. How did Noah like his overnight stay? He loved it!!! : )

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opening day...

Last night our family went to go and see the Last Jedi on opening day at 6pm. Everything went off without a hitch. Dinner was finished baking by the time I brought Noah home from school. We 4 all ate. Baked ravioli. I quickly put everything into the dishwasher. From 3:20-5pm we were home eating or relaxing before the movie. And at 5pm we left to the small city nearest our tiny town and we arrived there around 5:40pm. Folks were buying tickets for various movies. Thank goodness I already did that...that morning. So the males all went to the restroom, the 3 of them and I went to the girl restroom by myself. And we all met up in front of the concession stand. We quickly got all our movie theater stuff. Popcorn and sodas. And we went and got ourselves seated. There were only about 25-30 people watching Star Wars the Last Jedi and that was so awesome. A total bonus and plus for living way out in the inaka/countryside. And most folks were sitting in the center/middle seats/section. So nobody even remotely sat near us. So super nice.Look how happy the kids were in this picture!!! Branden, omg you guys....all Friday he kept saying...I can't wait for The Last Jedi....I can't wait. Clearly he was super happy about seeing it. So were the rest of us too. : )

In our seats. Everyone already turned their cell phone volumes way down and Noboru was doing that in this picture too. Yay...in a couple minutes we will be having our minds blown...by the Last Jedi!!!!

Got snacks...check! So anyway....what did we think of Star Wars the Last Jedi? Oh my freaking gosh you guys!!! It was amazing! And no we did not find out who her parents were. Someone very important dies in this movie. I will NOT say who, no spoilers from me. THIS movie was so good. In the Star Wars The Force Awakens. My feelings were...I hate or dislike Kylo Ren a.k.a. Ben Solo. Why would he kill Hans Solo? When Hans clearly loved him so much. So yes my feelings were from the last movie. Kylo Ren... strong intense dislike. But this movie.I liked Kylo in this new movie 90% of the time...and then disliked him very much 10% of this movie. He seemed much more human in this and I could see the inner conflict in him. So a definite improvement from the last movie. Rey, I lovelovelove her. She is so freaking amazing. Other characters. Were lovely, like Rose. Also, loved seeing Carrie Fisher's real life daughter have a small role in this. I like Billie Lourd a lot. Just finished watching her on American Horror Story Cult this season. She is amazing and talented all on her own. So yep...loved seeing her in this. And loved that she wore her mom's princess Leia cinnamon bun hair-do from the 70's. Loved it!!!Didn't say who dies. Didn't say how it ends. Didn't say what happens. Only said that I liked both Rey and Kylo in this. And this movie was freaking fantastic. If you do get the chance and you like the Star Wars franchise at all. Definitely go and check this out. We will most definitely be buying this on DVD whenever it comes out. 

After leaving the movie theater in the small city nearest us, we drove back to the rural town we live. This is a tad blurry but it's so funny. Because it's honest and it's true. A train was running through our town and as you can see, there is no convenience store or building or bright buildings around. It's pure dark rural town lit up by 1 lone train. Noboru *always* says...the trains in our town remind him of the cat bus in Totoro at night that went looking for Mei in the movie. LOL. : )  Anyway Star Wars the Last Jedi? Two thumbs way up from us. : ) Have a fantastic weekend everyone. : )

Tickets have already been bought for tonight's movie...

Today is Friday, December 15th for us in Japan. I know it's only December 14th in the U.S. mainland. But for us it's already the 15th. And you know what that means. Today is opening day for Star Wars The Last Jedi. Now you all know... our family loveslovesloves Star Wars movies. And we have been on opening day the last 2 years. And obviously today would be no exception. Usually we will buy our movie tickets... online a few days earlier. However....Noboru had enough points for a free movie. And so the rules for our specific movie theater nearest us.... using your points to redeem a free movie ticket. #1 you can't buy online if that's the case. and #2 you can't even buy the day before... if you will redeem a free movie ticket. They will ONLY let you redeem the free movie ticket the same day you plan to see the movie. So that's fine....to save 1500 yen....of course I do not mind.. 1 tiny bit to wait until Friday morning. So sure enough the second after Noah was driven to school at 7:30am. The movie theater opened today at 8am because some movie was starting at 8:30am. I checked last night, so I would be prepared. So...the second I drove Noah to school. I immediately drove to the small city nearest our tiny town. And I went inside. And got 4 movie tickets for tonight showing of The Last Jedi at 6pm. Paid for only 3 movie tickets. Redeemed the one free movie ticket. Picked our seats and everything. I see that 8 other people have already picked seats for tonight's 6pm showing.

Branden finished his semester tests yesterday/Thursday. He crushed all his tests... this week. He did so good. Bran has NO school today. He got to sleep in this morning. And by the time he woke up, I had already taken his brother to school. And also came back with tonight's movie tickets. Noboru is so cute...he watched the last Star Wars yesterday on DVD here at home... so he would be reminded of what happened last time. The kids and I did that a few days before. So we're all ready. We're all set. So super excited for tonight. 6pm. Noah gets out of school today at 3:15pm. And I already told Noah, Mommy will be in the parking lot from 3pm. No worries. Just walk down the hill with your class. And we'll go home. Ready to start our weekend. And ready to enjoy the Last Jedi. We have all seen about 20 YouTube conspiracy theories about...who is Rey? Is she Luke's daughter? Or Leia and Han's daughter and therefore Kylo Ren's sister? Or is she his cousin meaning....Luke's daughter? Or is she a Palpatine? Who is Rey. That is like the biggest mysterious question we all have. And of course I will not tell ya'll who read my blog. I will not ruin it or tell.

Tonight's supper? I am making a baked ravioli. Like a layered lasagna, but with ravioli. It's so good. But most importantly it is so quick...so fast and easy peasy clean up with just 1 baking dish and plates involved. I will prep dinner at 2pm. And I will whack it in the oven when I leave to go and get Noah. I shouldn't be gone long..20 minutes most and both Noboru and Bran can be home with the baked ravioli as it bakes in the oven. We will start the drive to the movies around 5:10pm. Anyway...everyone have a wonderful weekend. If you also go and enjoy Star Wars the Last Jedi this weekend....right on!!! Enjoy it too! I know I have a few posts to get up still. But honestly with Christmas so close....and family time at it's most highest right now...I'm sure you all understand. : ) 

Our weekend. Nabe. Christmas cookie baking. Family movie night and more...

How was everyone's weekend? Ours was really nice. Spent the whole thing at home. Didn't leave the house even once. We hunkered down for the entire weekend. Last Friday, like I said, we had curry soup nabe. It was super simple. Super healthy. And absolutely perfect for a freezing cold Friday night and the start of the weekend. 

Friday and Saturday everyone munched on the chocolate chip walnut cookies. We were set to bake the Christmas cookies Saturday afternoon at first... But since my family had 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies to finish. We baked our Christmas cookies on Sunday instead. Friday night we watched Young Sheldon and then we watched the movie... Guardians of the Galaxy part 2 again. The kids *love* that one and I admit Noboru and I do too. : )

Saturday morning. I made the kids a 6 egg cheese omelette. And for Noboru and I, we shared a 4 egg cheese and jalapeno omelette. We both like our food spicy. And so we loved it. We had omelettes and toast. Saturday morning. Branden studied. Noah and I set up the Christmas trees. 

Saturday nights supper, I made a big tray of beef and cheese enchiladas and a small tray of chicken and cheese enchiladas too. 

Enchiladas and some Spanish rice. We had cokes with ice to go with our meal. Quick showers and  a bath Saturday night. Before movie night once more.

Because of the highly anticipated new Star wars movie coming out next Friday world-wide. American cable TV... has been airing all Star Wars all weekend long. They did this last year too. We watched Attack of the Clones on Saturday. Does that little logo... say the TNT channel or the TBS channel? Bottom left hand corner? Anyway...some cable channel. Such a great movie.

Sunday as soon as breakfast was done. Noah and I got cracking on the Christmas cookies. Bran was in the kitchen but...he was study for his 2 tests this Monday/today. 

We baked 3 dozen Christmas cookies. Noboru took some to work today. Branden took some to school today too.  

Christmas trees. We prefer our Christmas cookies without the overly too sweet sugary frosting. So we just use the pretty sprinkles. It's perfect for us. Just the way we like ours.

And Christmas stars. Like on top of your Christmas tree. Awww. Very pretty. We will be baking more of these this coming weekend too. Besides us going to see the new Star Wars movie this coming weekend. 

Anyway...anything new to add? Noah has his elementary school marathon tomorrow. Also...our New Years cards got here today. They came out so cute!!! I am so glad I did them early. Tonight, for supper we're having a great big pot of beans, that are already made, done by 11am today. And a great big pot of pork green chili that should be done in about 10 minutes. Why? Because with me being at the school tomorrow.... for Noah's marathon. Us having tasty delicious leftovers for tomorrow nights supper will be super appreciated. So that's why. : ) Thinking ahead and planning ahead. Regarding meals. Really helps us all. : ) Anyway...I'm gonna go give the chili a stir. As for Bran....he has been home since 1pm today. He has half days all this week. Because of it being test week at high school. Talk to you guys in a few days. Not tomorrow though... because you know we have Noah's marathon tomorrow. Bye for now. : ) 

Spiral ham bought for Christmas dinner already. Made 2 different types of cookie dough today. Baked one type of cookie today and tomorrow it will be Christmas cookie baking time...

A pic from last Friday nights supper. I made just a simple American dinner last Friday, December 1st. I made cheesy corkscrew pasta, enough for 4 people, plus extra servings for Bran and Noboru. Steamed broccoli and buffalo fried chicken breasts. I used 3 large chicken breasts, 1 for each of us. But because they were so thick, I sliced them in half, width-wise. Because we love a thinner piece of chicken. So while it looks like 2 pieces of buffalo fried chicken...in reality it was just 1 huge chicken breast sliced in half. So it would be thinner. Noboru, I know prefers dark meat and thighs are his fave, so I fried him up some buffalo fried chicken too, but I made his a thigh. And he actually got 2 thighs. Last Friday, everyone was happy the weekend was here and it was nice for everyone to come home and we could all just eat and relax. 

6:21am. I am always driving my high schooler to the train station at this time. All toasty warm in my car. A full tummy for my son...full with breakfast and a packed lunch made by me. And I am always there to pick up both my sons after school too. Both at the train station and elementary school every day after school. : ) I never mind. This particular morning it was so foggy. Actually quite a few mornings lately have been super hella foggy. And like my car says in this pic, it was 4C that day. That's 39 degrees F for us Americans. And this morning/today it was actually minus 1 Celsius during our drive to the train station. Which is 30 degrees F for us Americans. This morning was icy. Thank goodnes my car has the technology that it's set to preheat for me during the school week, before I even leave my house, my car is preheated and warm and waiting for me to drive my son. And I set and control when it turns on by my cell phone, so I don't even have to leave my house. So by the time Bran and I get into our car, the windshields are all melted and defogged. And the inside of the car is all toasty warm. Phew. But seriously...it is so creepy driving through all this intense fog.

Yesterday, Thursday, December 7th. I went to get the spiral sliced Christmas ham at Costco. Do a little shopping at Costco. I was at Costco waiting at 10am. And I went to Joyful Honda/Japan Meat first at 9am, I was actually in Inzai by 9am and then went immediately to Besia after Japan Meat. As usual for me. I shopped in 3 stores and had my weekly menu/grocery list written. Everything needed for the next 7 days written down. Like literally to a T. I bought a huge amount of meat at Japan meat. Stuff for pot roast, nabe, green chili again (love it), chicken parmesan. A whole bunch of stuff. Talked to my fellow foreign wife friend who is now working at Costco. We don't get to chat too long... but we always try to chat for a good couple minutes to catch up. Because of my list, I only spent about 20 minutes in Joyful Honda and Besia is smack dab right next to Costco. So, I was on my way home by 10:40am after shopping in the 3 stores. I never need longer than 30 minutes in Costco.What did I buy at Costco?  Spiral ham for Christmas. 100% ground beef for taco night (Noah, omg he loves taco night so much) and enchiladas. You see that butter that's in a 2-pack, between the ham and cups. Christmas means...it's cookie baking season for us Americans, so I had to get real butter for the cookies. A rotisserie chicken we had that... for dinner last night. Huge amount of red plastic cups. Not sure if you can see the laundry soap underneath the cart? 

Black pepper. Case of eggs. 

Hello laundry soap. 

Tortillas in front of the pizzas that are in the freezer now. 4 cheese pizzas are now in the freezer at home too. Thank goodness for having a huge amount of freezer space. For the ham, plus the pizzas and tons of meat from Japan Meat/Joyful Honda. Not sure if you can see the cheese under the eggs? 

Disposable cups. Just make my life easier. 

240 cups, yes and thank you.

Mozzarella and red cheddar. I prefer buy American brand cheese. Chalk that up to personal preference. I buy what's familiar. But my store was sold out totally. @_@ And so I bought this. Like I said, chicken pamesan is coming soon so needed mozzarella. And enchiladas and pork green chili are coming soon too. According to the backs of these, the red cheddar is from America and the mozzarella is actually from Germany. 

This morning as soon as I sent both boys to school. I made chocolate chip walnut cookie dough. And Christmas cookie dough too. I baked the chocolate chip cookies this morning after I finished cleaning the house and throwing everyone's towels in the dryer as soon as they finished washing. The Christmas cookies the kids and I can bake tomorrow.  

So today...as soon as the kids get home from school. They will see some homemade from scratch cookies waiting.

These cookies will be gobbled up as soon as Branden and Noah get home. Noboru is home today and tomorrow. And he had a cookie already. : ) 

It is a super cold day outside. Gray, cloudy and just bitterly cold outside. What's for dinner tonight? Friday night dinner tonight will be...curry nabe. I have this big pack of chicken tenderloin. And chicken meatballs for the hubster. With cabbage, bean sprouts. Udon doodles. Mushrooms, potatoes. OMG! It's gonna be perfect for a bitterly cold Friday night dinner. A nice hot pot of bubbling nabe on the kitchen table. With the family gathered around.

This one by Ajinomoto is my favorite because it has no fish dashi or seaweed dashi. Nothing seafood-y at all. It's totally yum.

Noah had been getting out at 2:20pm all week this week. But today he gets out at 3:45pm. And as for Bran. Next week is finals week. So he's testing all week next week. He got out of school yesterday at 2pm. And today he gets off at 2pm too. And next week Bran because of finals next week...he will be getting off between 11 and 12 noon. Bran goes on Christmas break from December 15th. And Noah doesn't go on Christmas break until the 21st or something. I did buy 10 days worth of food yesterday on purpose. I usually buy 7 days worth, like I said. But...I know...if Bran gets out at 11am, everyday next week. That won't give me enough time to make it to Inzai/Chiba New Town. I can shop in the evenings though...and just bring the kids, if I have to next Friday or next Saturday. But...just in case...10 days worth leaves me feeling comfortable. Noboru just came inside the house just now. He said...it might rain or actually it may snow tonight. He was outside flying his drone just now. It's THAT cold today. So anyways...glad I have a packed pantry and kitchen. That way if the weather goes to all heck tonight...we won't have to leave the house for days unless we want to.

We will be watching a family movie tonight. After eating chicken curry nabe with yummy udon noodles and tons of fresh veggies. And cookies for dessert. As soon as I post this, I will go in the kitchen and make a batch of popcorn on the stove real quick. For tonight's movie at home. Stay warm everyone. And have a nice weekend. : )

Next Friday, Star Wars The last Jedi comes out and as you can guess. Yes, the 4 of us will most definitely be going to the movies for that, next week! We can't wait! Anyway...Bran just messaged me...he's on the train and coming home. I bet he and Noah will be getting out around very similar times...so I can swing around and pick them both up at the same time. Okay...I need to post this now. Pop some popcorn for tonight's movie at home. And then chop some veggies and preset the rice cooker. 

Last Saturday. Buying a gift for a Secret Santa. Drone flying fun. No more Advent calendars for us. And omg, that Christmas Pepsi...

Last Saturday, I slept in until 7:30am. I was so refreshed. I woke up. Set the hot water pot downstairs. And while it was heating up. I jumped in the shower, washed my face with some Basis face wash. Shampooed my hair with some Pantene shampoo and conditioner. Washed my body with the regular scented Biore body wash. And got out. Got dressed. Did my eyebrows with my ABH pencil. And wore no other makeup that day. I went downstairs with a towel on my head with my clothes on/fully dressed meaning no house clothes. And had a nice hot coffee. And read through a stack of emails. Read the online news. Blow dried my hair. Then made some pancakes. Everyone smelled breakfast and came down the stairs. We ate. And I told everyone. We would be leaving by 10:30am. To go and buy Bran's secret Santa gift for the girl whose name he picked randomly in the Santa hat. It's a secret Santa for his English club. The limit is 1000 yen/US$10 bucks. We went out and purchased her gift at a body shop place that sells really nice stuff. Bath bombs, super nice ones. It's a shop in the little city nearest us. Not a LUSH or Body Shop chain. We just live too far from those. But this shop... I have purchased stuff from there... before. I love the quality and scents. We bought her a very nice gift set. All in the scent green apple (there were yuzu scented, rose, all sorts of scents, but Bran picked green apple for her, because he said that smelled so nice). It had bath bombs, 2 of those, a hair wrap thing, when you're in the tub. Some lotion. It was all wrapped up and gorgeous. And it was exactly 1000 yen. I know this girl will love her gift. Bran has to give it to her.... this coming Thursday. I also asked the girls working there, to wrap it Christmas style and they did a fantastic job. We came home. Had lunch. And the 3 of them went and spent about 2 hours in our backyard. Noboru flying his drone. 

You know how the Kingsmen are the British special team and the Statesmen are the American team. Well there is a roping lasso guy in the American team. And ever since my kids have been watching the trailers for that. Bran has been roping things in his spare time, ps they have zero idea I bought them the DVD already. Oh and also important to note. About 3 weeks ago...I saw the new Christmas edition Pepsi. Noah's holding one in this picture. I didn't buy it... but I first wondered if it was Crystal Pepsi. But by one glance... you can tell it's super cloudy. So I knew it would be nothing like Crystal Pepsi at all. Also it looked cloudy, okay I just said that.... and for some reason it looked super overly sweet to me, because it was cloudy, don't ask me why. Something just gave me the vibe of...I do NOT want to try this. So when we were at the mall buying Bran's secret Santa gift. We all grabbed a drink at the store before we left for the drive home... back to our rural town. I grabbed a sugarless jasmine tea by Ito En. My most favorite drink. And the kids each picked a Lipton Lemon tea at first and I thought okay. And then they saw the Christmas Pepsi. I told my kids....you have never tried it...and if you wanna try it...you can for sure, your choice. : )  But I did say....to me...imo... it looks way too sickeningly sweet. They still wanted to try. So...they put their teas back and each grabbed one of these. When we were in the car. We could smell this overpowering sickeningly too sweet smell. Smelled like...Chipu Chaps. Strawberry Chipu Chaps. Or...something but OMG...it smelled super sweet. I didn't say anything, because it's already been purchased and it is...what it is and sips have been taken. Noboru picked a bottled iced coffee, fwiw. As we were driving down the rode. Branden said. It tastes funny. I said...what do you mean. He said...tastes weird. We drove some more. And then Noah said word for word..."I don't like it...it's too sweet...tastes like cookies mixed with cough drops." @_@ That image is STILL in my head even now...cookies mixed with cough drops? OMG. And I thought...just Chipu Chaps was bad enough. In any case...if you ever wanted to drink a liquid strawberry Chipu Chaps...try the Christmas Pepsi. On the other hand...if you don't like overly sweet, like me. Avoid it. I am so glad I avoided it. However I did still...smell it...and smelling it... was more than enough for me. Blech. 

Okay Bran...dad's taking video of you now...that drone takes the best, most smoothest high resolution video. 

Oh my gosh...I'm in the house prepping supper. And throwing the lunch dishes in the dishwasher. 

Branden's gift for his secret Santa person. Squeak. I'm so excited. High school in Japan is so fun, you guys. There is a light at the end of the JHS in Japan tunnel. : ) 

Saturday's simple supper. Chicken teriyaki bowls. Chicken breast, button mushrooms, broccoli on a bed of white rice. Mine was smaller than Branden's and Noboru's. Noah's and mine were about the same size, pictured here. Theirs were double the size of ours, which they need. Saturday was a very chill day. And I'm not just talking about the weather either. It was so relaxed and restful. We made sure to buy his secret Santa gift. They spent some time outside. I meanwhile stayed inside our toasty warm house. We had a nice simple dinner. And enjoyed 20/20 on TV. The Meghan Markle interview called...The American Princess. Loved this 20/20 very much. After that we watched ghost stories on another channel. Saturday was a very nice day.

Oh and...we're not doing Advent calendars this year. When my kids were little they looked forward to them every SINGLE day. Could *not* wait for their daily chocolate and the count-down to Christmas. But last year...I could tell...maybe at age 15 and 11. They just weren't as excited about it last year. I went and bought them the coolest Kylo Ren Advent from Star Wars... from Kaldi, last year. I always immediately bought them right before Thanksgiving. A few times last year...my kids would go... 2 and 3 days and they wouldn't open them. And would open them and eat 3 in a row because they had missed a few days. A clear sign...yes that they just weren't into it anymore. And I quietly got to thinking. Maybe they just outgrew them. And if they did. That's okay. I have always bought Advents for my kids because it made my kids SMILE. Not because it was blog worthy. Do you know what I'm saying. And yeah at the end of last year...I was deeply thinking...maybe I shouldn't buy them next year. So now to this year. I'm at Kaldi...sipping on that free coffee mini sample. Looking at all the Advents. They didn't have any Star Wars ones for older kids this year. Hmm. But I saw a Toy Story one that looked very cute...but my kids seemed a bit old for that...and a Mickey Mouse one. I called my boys...on my cell to their cell. This was a few Saturdays ago. And I said..."Branden...ask Noah if he'd like a Toy Story Advent or a Mickey Advent? Mickey looks very cool and retro." And...he asked Noah..."it's mom...she wants to know if you want a Toy Story Advent or Mickey?" I could hear Noah thinking in the background going...ummmm. And Branden said..."Just get Noah one...I don't need one mom...I'm just not into them anymore, but thank you" And Noah finally answered after hearing that and he said..."can you tell mom, I don't need one either" Like a sucker punch to my gut ya'll...My face maybe looked slightly devastated, shocked or in mild to mid pain???? LOL....Because the Kaldi lady was staring at me, she knows me well and likes me, always chits chats with me and I her but this particular morning she was looking at my face and...she looked a tad worried. LOL. Was my jaw wide open...or on the ground? I never ever ever... want my boys to feel guilty...or feel bad about growing up and getting older. I **want** my kids to get older. Duh. And be happy about it. That's part of life...so while I was still on the phone..as best as I could muster... I tried to...give a non-chalant..."oh...okay not a problem. Talk to you later." And I left Kaldi without any advent calendar this year. And yes, I did tell the Kaldi lady..."seems my kids don't want any of these this year" She's about mid 50's, so I am sure she has kids much older than mine, so I am sure she could relate on some level. And for a few days I was sorta secretly sad. But now...I'm so totally over it. Onwards and upwards. I write these little snippets on my blog... of my true daily or weekly musings. Because maybe...just maybe someday...it will be your kid who has outgrown an advent someday in the distant future. And maybe you will feel a sad twinge too. And you will remember me writing about this from my heart...with all my most sincere feelings....my refreshing candor and honesty. And hopefully knowing someone else went through it too...will make you smile that's it's just something we as parents...we all go through.