Crazy Busy Week

It's been one of those weeks, just so busy.  Actually I often wonder what to write about because my life gets to be rather routine, nothing really happens, so nothing to write about!  Then things get crazy busy like this past week and I have no time or energy to write!
The week started out with a rather unusual problem.  The light switch for the toilet broke.  I thought the light had gone, so hubby changed it.  But the light wouldn't stay on.  It would go on for a few seconds, then turn off.  The switch is on the outside of the toilet, so one way was for somebody to hold the switch down while somebody else used the toilet!!!!  Not the best idea in a house full of practical jokers!  Hubby came up with an interesting idea until we got the switch fixed, he out a reading lamp inside.

Not the best solution but better than nothing.  Hubby managed to fix the switch himself.

The week was dominated by Halloween parties and the hundreds of cookies I made.  Talk about exhausted, I was up at about 5am every morning to make cookies and cakes.  Fun but exhausting!

Hannah helping out.

Mikey did most of the teaching last week and judging from the screams and giggles the kids had a lot of fun.  He also did some magic for the kids, that was a great hit!

Mikey also helped with the cookies!



Hannah's drawings




CUTE!!!!



Classroom dressed for Halloween



Mikey cuts off a kids finger then serves it up!!!!

Also this week David went to Tokyo for 3 days school trip.  He was not impressed, he said that it was expensive and crowded.  He took some photos, so I hope I can share some.
This coming week is also busy, but more relaxed.  I have 3 days holiday and I hope to go to Ikea.  I have been wanting to go since it opened but never had chance!  Also I do something for our kids for Halloween.  More baking and fun!

Halloween at Hannah's school

I was invited to Hannah's club to do a Halloween lesson.  the club is "The International Club", which is really the English Club.  Kids here get a little bit of English in the 5th and 6th grade but nothing before unless they have private lessons. The club is from the 4th grade and only meets once a month.  So I was expecting no English at all from the girls (all girls this year) but I was pleasantly surprised that they could answer basic questions like "What's your name?"  and "What grade are you in?"   I dragged Mikey along, I had to walk to the school carrying cookies and materials.  Mikey then took over and did all the teaching!  Aren't I clever?  He is such a good teacher and had the girls laughing and trying new words!   At the end we had them line up and say "Trick or Treat" to get the cookies.  Hannah was very happy that we came and the teacher asked me to go again for Christmas.  That should be fun.

Mikey teaching Halloween words

Girls having a good laugh

The rest of this week has been kind of busy, basically preparing for Halloween parties next week. I want to buy some food coloring, not the Japanese stuff that I have a hard time with but American stuff.  I have seen it in a shop somewhere, but this shop is in a mall and I have no idea where. So Thursday was spent driving to different malls trying to find this shop, I'll have to go again on Sunday.

I did manage to buy some color hairspray for Mikey, gold and red.  Been trying it out.  Fun.

And this is what happens when I leave the camera out.

Hannah's other school

long time

Yes I am still alive, some days only just.  Managed to finally get to the doctor for my allergies.  The medicine I have is really good.  But I have done my back in, not sure what happened, just a lot of pain.  I really can't seem to win!
The past couple of weeks have been busy. End of September was Hannah's field day.  I really wasn't looking forward to it, long day and just sitting around for hours doesn't inspire me at all.  The school is big and so each child only does 3 or 4 events,  lots of waiting in between.  Also Hannah managed to get sick the Thursday and Friday before the big day.  Just a fever and sore throat. Plus the weather was rather stormy with a typhnoon passing by and very cold weather on the morning.  But I made the obento and sat there all day.  Because Hannah had been sick and she was coughing again during the lunch time we managed to come back after her dance, about 2 hours early.  That helped a lot.  Took a load of photos, of course.

Ready, set, go

The school

Lots of waiting

Of course a terrible one of me

End of the dance

The next morning I saw the full moon at 6am.  I was very surprised and managed to get a good photo.

Beautiful!

Tomorrow I'm going to Hannah's school to do a Halloween lesson for the international club.  I've been busy making some cookies for the kids, hope they enjoy them.

Witches fingers!

I'll let you know how it goes. 

knitting

I like to knit, I'm not very good at it but making something simple that requires no shaping is doable.  So I made Hannah a scarf.  Not just any scarf but a nori-maki scarf.  It's quite good.

Looks good rolled up and it's very long and warm.

In other news I am still down with allergies.  I'm a bit better but still feel a total lack of energy. Most days I manage to make some lunch and dinner, tidy round a bit and teach my lessons, other than that I am out of it. The medicine I take makes me sleepy and unable to focus, that is one of the reasons I haven't been here much the past couple of weeks.
Had better see to lunch, one thing with the cooler weather cooking is a lot easier than before!

Eccentric and allergys

Christopher is studying for the 2nd grade Eiken Test at the moment.  One of the words that came up was eccentric.  This word comes from Greek and means out of the center.  This describes my kids to the T.  They' re all eccentric to one degree or another.  David, my 2nd son, will come up to me and say the strangest things, the other day he said "Did you know that if cats eat dog food they go blind"  then he walked away! This comment came out of no where, he didn't wait for a reply or to start a conversation on feeding cats, he just said his piece and left.  Of course that leaves me with my head spinning with question "How do people know this, do they feed cats dog food to see what happens, how can you tell that a cat is blind and how can you tell it is blind because of what it ate/ And why in the great order of things is this important and how does David know such useless information?"  David wants to study Buddhism next year and dreams of travelling to India.  Even that is not really normal.  Why don't my kids dream of having normal jobs?  Mikey is trying to become a professional magican, Christopher wants to be a writer.  Hannah's dream is to be a teacher, which is normal enough but she is possessed by the story of  'The Phantom of the Opera'  she has gone through 3 DVDs of the musical, has read the book 5 times and watched the other movie versions of the story, yep eccentric!
And allergies are bad, VERY BAD.  I can't stop sneezing and snuffling, my eyes are teary and itchy and I feel totally miserable.  This drives me crazy, the weather has cooled down enough to get somethings done but then I get sick, every year this happens!!!

Strange Week

Not really strange strange more of "what happened?" kind of week.  I have been really tired the past week and have spent a lot of time just sleeping.  I think the end of summer heat has caught up with me.  The past couple of months have been extremely hot, up to 35C some days.  My body doesn't deal well with the heat so when it cools down I tend to collapse.  But I managed to get a few jobs done, there is always something that needs to be done, something that needs to be put away or thrown away.  Never ending!
Sunday was the field day for Christopher, so I got up early to make a lunch box for him.  Christopher left for school at 6:50, he had to be there early to help set up the tents.  At 11 o'clock Christopher came back, the rain hadn't stopped at all so the event was canceled.  But Christopher still had a nice obento!

Hard to see but I made hamburgers, bacon and asparagus roll and salad, nice!

Looks a lot better, can actually see the sign

Hubby managed to get the front of the yard tided up, looks a lot better.
The back is really like a jungle but we have some veggies, pumpkin and beans and of course goya!

Pumpkin and beans!

I hope that this week gets better, at least the weather is a lot nicer for me!

Bomb Threat

Yes the title is right.  A bomb threat.  Here in Japan, the safest country in the world.  A bomb threat at the junior high school that Christopher attends!!
Yesterday morning at 11 o'clock Christopher came home from school.  Very strange.  The school is practicing for the annual field day, so the kids have 6 lessons a day which means finishing at 4 o'clock and then most days they are a bit late.  Coming back at 11am is unheard off.  I asked why he was home so early. Christopher said that a note had been found in the school entrance saying that there was a bomb in the school.  All the students were sent to the gym where they were told to go straight home while the police searched the school.  Christopher said that there was yellow crime scene tape across the school entrance and at least 20 police officers.  I just can't get my mind around the idea of bombing a junior high school, there is no reason that I can think of.  This is a small city, a nice place to live but not important enough to get the attention of terrorists, especially not the school.  So why a bomb threat?   The one thing I can think of is a kid not wanting to do the sports day practice, but would kids think of such a thing?   A lot of questions, I hope that Christopher has some answers when he gets back tonight!!!