Elegant Dinner Party

Earlier in March, my friend and local legend Cian organised an 'Elegant Dinner Party'. Basically consisting of dinner and drinks at a restaurant, the key point was that everyone had to dress up. Now I spend most of my time in jeans and am quite happy that way, but I do love to dress up now and then and I happened to have just the dress...

Lots of people complimented me on the floor-length, sleeveless dress I wore, and I had great fun telling them that not only did it belong to my mum in the early 1970s, but that she made it herself!

So thanks to Mum for the dress, to Cian for giving me a chance to wear it, to my lovely friends Lisa, Adeel and Hiromi for letting me nag them into going to the party with me and to H for staying home with the boys. I do have one other dress I'd like to wear sometime though...

Happy Birthday T!

Yesterday was T's 2nd birthday. Being a Thursday, I also had swimming with T in the morning, and a class in the afternoon. Unfortunately it also coincided with H having a high temperature (suspected, but later disproved, flu) and being in bed all day, so there wasn't really much time left for birthday fun.

The night before, T had figured out how to get out of his cot, and the two little monkeys had had great fun Not Going To Sleep. I was up and down the stairs telling them to go to sleep, in between wrapping presents, finishing off the birthday crown, putting up the birthday banner and occasionally checking on my poorly husband. K (yes K, not T) was up at 6.30, full of birthday excitement, but I was ahead of him, already decorating the cake (including a quick trip to the 24 hour supermarket for emergency cream cheese at 6.50).

By mid-morning, there was time for present opening...

 

...before heading off to the pool. Then it was time for a quick lunch before I headed out again, leaving the boys with H's mum, in a living room still scattered with wrapping paper!

Finally, cake time!

The cake was met with smiles, and T had those whiskers out and eaten in no time. He can already blow out candles better than his brother...

See that little badge there, with T's face on it? H made that. It's got Maisy on it too...

Plan A (pre-suspected-flu) was to go out for dinner, meaning that there was very little food in the house, especially special party food. On the way home from my class I picked up a couple of pizzas at the supermarket and added extra toppings. Hardly a luxury feast, but the boys were happy and ate it all up with enthusiasm. Quick to prepare too, which is an important factor now that T's favourite game while I am in the kitchen is Throw All My Toys Over The Counter Into The Sink (Bonus Points If You Hit Mummy)...

Today we went to the play centre and then spent the rest of the day at home, playing with new birthday toys and clearing up some of the post-birthday-rush mess (can you guess who did what?). There were still a couple of birthday-related treats too, including rabbit cakes from H's mum...

...and an Anpanman towel/costume from Adeel and Hiromi:

So, although things may not have gone exactly to plan, I think it turned out to be quite a fun time for a freshly-minted 2 year old (and his big brother). Oh, and H is much better today, thanks.

End of the school year

The school year in Japan runs from April to March, and today was K's last day. He has now completed one year at kindergarten, and has one more to go before starting elementary school. When he started kindergarten last year he couldn't really speak Japanese at all and sometimes had difficulty expressing himself. It never seemed to bother him though, and now he is as much of a chatterbox in Japanese as he is in English.

I think it's been a great year for him there. He settled in very well, and was happy to go from the very beginning. He's made some good friends and has lovely teachers too. They don't overtly teach academic subjects, but focus on craft, music, physical activity and social interaction. K has had a lot of great experiences, such as sports days, the school play, day trips and picnics, and 'exhibition day'. He has learnt to do origami and to skip, he can swing around the horizontal bar on the climbing frame and he has become an enthusiastic artist and inventor.

Each month the kindergarten holds a little birthday ceremony for all the children born in that month. Being a March baby, K has had all year to look forward to his turn. I went along last week, and saw him join the other crowned children proudly on the stage.

 

In turn, the birthday children were asked to give their name and class, and to say what they wanted to be when they grew up. I couldn't catch a lot of the replies, even though they were using a microphone. Several girls said they wanted to be 'a mum', and there were also the usual 'nurse', 'cake shop owner', 'soccer player' and 'superhero'. What do you think K said?

'I want to research space' (宇宙を調べたいです).

This prompted several 'ooh's from the watching parents, and knowing nods from people who knew him well.

So today K said goodbye to his teacher and his classmates from Sakura (cherry blossom) class. The 3 classes in his year will be shuffled to make 3 new groups from April. He found out today that he'll be in Fuji (wisteria) class, but he won't know who the teacher is until school starts again. K is excited to be moving up, and hopes to get Teacher K, because he does magic tricks...

Decluttering

I've been gradually decluttering the house, sorting out clothes, books and a wide variety of stuff that I no longer need. Actually, much of it is stuff that I never really needed in the first place but we do have a tendency to accept other people's cast-offs and freebies. Like someone being offered an unwanted dog in danger of being put down, H and I are both suckers for things which 'will be thrown away if you don't take it'.

So last Sunday K and I loaded up the car and went off to a flea market. I'd had a booth once before at this particular flea market, and sold quite a lot. This time I had even more stuff, and it was quite a challenge to get it all set up before the waiting hordes of bargain-hunters were allowed in.

And then the doors were opened.

And 3 people wandered in.

Sadly, that set the pace for the day. There were very few customers, and most of what I did sell was to other stall-holders. I made enough to pay for the pitch, plus about enough for the pizza we ordered for dinner that night. My main aim though was not to make money but to get rid of the stuff! It was quite disappointing to have to load it all back up into the car again, and then to find space for it at home. I think I'll try again at one more flea market, and then I'll just give up and give it away to anyone who'll take it.

Looking on the bright side, I had a lovely day with K. I wasn't sure about taking him with me, but he was really well-behaved. It helped that the stall opposite ours was being run by the mum of one of K's classmates! She had all 3 of her daughters with her (plus her husband, who helped me pack up my stuff at the end), and K had great fun playing with them. Several stalls (including mine) had 'please help yourself' boxes, and the children were very pleased with the treasures they managed to acquire for free. K also had 100 yen to spend as he liked, and was very proud of the toy dinosaur he bought All By Himself. Overall, a fun day out.

K is 5

As usual nowadays I am very behind in posting here, but last Tuesday K turned 5. He was so excited at the prospect of his birthday, and the little party we'd planned for a few of his classmates. I was surprised at how much he remembered from his birthday last year when we started talking about what he'd like to do this year.

The day started with crown-wearing and present-opening...

... and then moved on to birthday pancakes and a phone call from Gran and Grandad.

Then after kindergarten came the best part, the party! 5 of his classmates came, plus all their mothers and a couple of baby siblings. Here's the birthday boy eagerly awaiting his guests by the front door:

We kept things very simple at the party: a few party games, birthday cake and a bit of running around in the garden since the weather was lovely. Simple as it was, it was probably more than most of them expected and I think everyone had fun.

 

I may need to rethink the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey blindfold for future use, since 4 of the 6 tails were stuck in exactly the right place...They also played pass-the-parcel and musical statues, all new to everyone except K.

Months ago, K told me that he wanted the same train birthday cake as last year. It's a bit of a fuss to decorate, but I'm glad that he liked it so much. And of course, it does tend to impress the audience ;-)

After K's guests had left we all headed out for a nabe dinner with H's parents, and before bed there was even a bit of time for star-gazing. Lots of K's favourite things all squeezed into one busy day! Once again, his friends and family proved how well they know him in their kind gift selection - Lego, toy cars, Roald Dahl books, space-themed things, puzzles, maps and more.

Finally, a little collection of photos from March 5th, from 2008 to 2013. Hasn't he grown?

Valentine's Day

Did you do anything special for Valentine's Day? We didn't really, but the boys did make some hearts to decorate the living room. I cut out lots of paper hearts, then the boys painted one half and folded them to make symmetrical prints. T got really into it, choosing colours and splodging the paint on. K approached it differently, painting careful lines and patterns onto his paper.

Once they were dry we taped them onto some string and hung them up at the living room window.

We also wrote a list of things that each boy loves. K and I decided T's list between us, and then K told me what he loves. I thought it would be fun to do this every year and build up a collection of hearts showing the boys' interests over time.

K takes a packed lunch on Thursdays, so I thought I'd make it a little bit special on Valentine's Day, putting heart-shaped carrots, cheese and mini-tomatoes on top of the rice. I very rarely put any kind of dessert into K's lunch, but this time I added one (1) individually wrapped chocolate. After school K told me that his teacher said I must never do that again. Sigh...

Listmania

Last week I didn't get around to posting for Listmania, and this week I'm rather behind too. We were invited to take photos throughout the day and present 'A Day in the Life'. I'm not sure that my daily life is terribly visually interesting. Actually, it's probably not very interesting in words either, but anyway, here we are.

6:45 Breakfast and blog-browsing in peace, while everyone else sleeps.

7:45 Breakfast for boys, while I get things ready for the day.

I

8:45 T, supposedly getting ready to leave the house...

10:00 After taking K to school, T and I stop at the supermarket for a few things.

10:45 H's mum comes over to take care of T while I teach a class at our local community centre.

12:30 Home again, and a quick lunch.



1:30 T's passion for Maisy continues, as does his lack of napping.

2:30 Time to go and pick up K. T now insists on walking there and back...

3:00 Home again, record speed for T!

4:00 After snack-time, out come the crayons and old calendar paper.

4:45 Along with Maisy, The Gruffalo is pretty popular here nowadays. After reading it together, I printed off a few colouring sheets, mazes and so on.

5:30 Time to make dinner. Here's what was in our Yoshikei box today.

6:15 I should definitely have put that piece of fish on a smaller plate... It was a much better meal than it looks here!
 

After that, but not photographed, I went to yoga, leaving H to put the boys to bed. Once I got home again there was just enough time for a bath, a cup of tea and some Internet browsing before going to bed just before 11.

Hmm, it seems that I have presented a day in T's life as much as a day in mine. Oh well, that is at least accurate I suppose, if not very exciting. I'm sure you'll find some much more interesting stories over at Listmania central, Home Life Simplified. Now to get my thinking cap on for next week's list!

Treading the boards

Last weekend K's kindergarten held their happyoukai, or school concert/play. It was split into 2 parts, held on Satuday and Sunday mornings, since the school hall isn't big enough to comfortably hold all the parents at once. Half the classes performed on Saturday and half on Sunday, with all students also performing a musical number with their whole school year on both days.

You know the story of The Wolf and The 7 Kids? The one where the wolf disguises his voice and hands, tricking the little goats into opening the door thinking that it's their mother? The kids are all eaten up except for the littlest one who hides in the grandfather clock, alerts his mother and helps her to rescue his brothers and sisters. This is the story which K's class put on except that, in true Japanese kindergarten fashion, it was turned into 'The Wolf and the Family of 20 Goats' so that all the children could play a goat (the teacher played the wolf). The children sang and danced, and performed their lines in chorus, as groups of 3.

The opening song

Running away from the wolf

Taking a bow

I often hear horror stories about kindergarten mothers being expected to sew elaborate costumes for school events, so I was quite relieved when I heard that costume prep consisted of bringing a pair of white tights. That was entirely within my capabilities. The children wore goat ears attached to polysterene bowl hats, and their usual kindergarten clothes plus little coloured waistcoats.

The musical finale for K's year group consisted of a song and a Pianica performance. Do you know what that is? It's a little piano keyboard attached to a tube that you blow through while playing the keys. I suppose it's name comes from it being a cross between a piano and a harmonica. They have only been learning to play it since October so the performance was pretty simple, but well done. In fact, during the whole show, the only mistakes I spotted were those by nervous teachers...

Pianica playing
 

The Book Depository

I'm sure you've heard me mention The Book Depository before. Anyone who knows me in real life has definitely heard me going on about it. They sell a huge range of books, all with free international shipping. Yup, free postage on any book anywhere in the world. In the last year or so I've bought a couple of big, hard-book books for K which would normally cost as much to ship as to buy, but yet again, free shipping.

Every so often they have a special day with a featured book on offer at a really low price for just one hour. They're doing it again on Thursday, but with a new book on offer every 15 minutes! It's quite exciting, popping back in to see what the next book is, and then quickly deciding if I want it before it sells out. Last time I got The Complete Works of Beatrix Potter, a beautiful big hard-back book, at half-price and with free shipping from the UK to Japan. I've been reading it to K every night for the last couple of weeks and we are both enjoying it so much.

I should let you know that I've become an affiliate for The Book Depository. That means that if you follow one of the links on my blog and then go on to buy something anytime in the following 30 days, I will get a small commission. I'm only recommending them because I use them myself though. I tend to research books on Amazon, where there are more reviews, and then buy them at The Book Depository. Since all their books have free worldwide shipping, it's also a cheap way to send books as presents to anyone you might know who lives far away (subtle hint....). Anyway, check out the big sale day, it's going to be fun!

Toddler T

 

In just over a month, T will be 2. Although he sometimes refers to himself as 'baby', lately he's been making it clear that he's A Big Boy Now. The biggest change is the end of nap-time. Up until the beginning of last week he would settle down for a nap without complaint. Last Monday, however, he stood up and cried when I put him in his cot. I left the room anyway, thinking he'd probably soon give up and settle down but, instead, he took off all his clothes and did a wee in his bed... For the next 3 days, exactly the same thing happened. On the 5th day, I admitted defeat and didn't even bother trying to put him to bed; you can put a toddler to bed, but you can't make him sleep. He's also tried the deliberate wee-ing weapon as a way to watch more TV, but I managed to hold out on that one.

 

T has also decided that he's too big for the push-chair now, and that he should walk everywhere. He is particularly adamant that he should walk to K's kindergarten every morning and afternoon. It's not far, maybe 400m or so, but that's a total of nearly 2km a day which does sound like quite a bit when you're not even 2 years old! I'd hoped that the extra walking might prompt a few naps, but no such luck. He does at least actually complete the walks himself, without wanting to be carried, but it can take a Very. Long. Time. There are an awful lot of interesting stones between here and the kindergarten.

 

Other Big Boy activities are mainly along the 'Anything K Can Do, I Can Do Better' line. He will copy K quicker than I can say 'Don't do that K, T will copy you'... As well as naughtiness though, he does copy more positive behaviours too. He likes to 'read' books aloud, is working hard on dressing himself, has gained his Jigsaw Proficiency Badge and looks to soon overtake K in chopstick handling...

Cheers!

Remember the umeshu (plum liqueur) I made in June?

I pretended to forget about it for a few months, and then actually forgot about it for a few more, so that in the end it had nearly 7 months until I opened it. It's changed into a lovely golden colour, and it's pretty strong...

I first opened it on a Games Night (aka a meeting of the Bread and Butter Pudding Club), and Lisa joined me in the first tasting. Since then H and I have had the odd glass now and then. It's a good thing that it improves with age, because it's going to take us a while to get through all this...

Listmania 3

This week's prompt was 'Crushes: Then and Now'. Hmm. To be honest, most of my crushes have been on people I actually know, rather than actors or singers, but I will certainly not be listing any of those here. Celebrity ones are embarrassing enough. So, for your amusement...

An early one - Morten Harket of A-ha. Actually, he's still looking good now...

Later, we move on to X-Files era David Duchovny...

...and Goran Visnjic, aka Luka from ER.

Nowadays? I don't know really. Not very original, but maybe Johnny Depp, who didn't interest me in the past, but who I've come to like (and admire as an actor) more and more in recent years.

And now H is commenting and teasing me by suggesting Nicholas Cage. Oh, I can't stand him. He just really gives me the creeps...

So, pop over to Debra's blog to see who else is listing their crushes, past and present, and maybe add yours too!

Little monkeys

 

I know that most of you only come here for photos of cute little boys, so here's a little visual summary of what went on in January...

 

Just enough snow for a snowman, but not enough carrots

K loves all his Christmas Lego

T-in-a-box

Little boys getting up to mischief

K getting some free oranges at Tondo-san

T's 'pretending to sleep' face