I am one of those who hears a song and then suddenly it is stuck in my head until the next one comes along.  I see Tomo is that way too. 

You know how every once in a while a song comes along and it really speaks to the people and culture and then suddenly it becomes iconic?  Then you know how the iconic song is everywhere?  I have to say this at first because the song that is stuck in my head is from pop culture Japan.  I really do not even follow JPOP, but when it is everywhere, and trust me, I DO mean everywhere, then pop...it is stuck in my head.  I am not even a fan of SMAP, but this song is catchy and the words are actually not too bad.  I found a version that doesn't feature the group.  I think the flowers are a better choice of background than the pretty boy band.  Hopefully it doesn't get too stuck in your head, but it is kind of catchy, especially if you hear it all over the place.  You be the judge.

Then this is the song that I am sure will NEVER leave Tomo's head, and yes, this one has been stuck in my head a time or two as well.
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This song is one that Tomo's school sings pretty frequently and it is also the opening song for an anime that comes on daily, so there again is a song that one can hear everywhere.  I been gone from the US a while and when I am there I do not really pay attention to pop culture, but it seems that Japan gets really stuck on certain songs.  Maybe it is that way over there too.  I am also surprised by some of the songs that get repeatedly played here that are songs from other countries.

For example....No, I will make this a quiz.
What song from the overseas is played all through the Christmas holiday here in Japan (has a number of remixes)?  If you know, then...you really deserve a prize.   No fair for residents of Japan to answer this one.

It has been a full and busy week, so I am pretty tired. Funny how holidays can do that to you. Yesterday we celebrated a birthday, but being the odd ball people we are, we celebrated without the person. We all knew it would happen that way but there was much that could be done to help that. The birthday gal did get some sushi at breakfast, miso, and strawberry pie as well. Hey, like I said we were an odd crew.

I made two strawberry pies yesterday. I used two recipes to see which one I preferred. Yesterday's ha one crust and didn't set even though I had it in the fridge 3 hours before we needed it. I did manage to set by morning today. Though it tasted good it lacked presentation. The pie for today was a double crust and different strawberry base an it set just right. Delicious too. I made it for church today.

Corey decided to make dinner tonight. He opted to make calzones instead of my plans for yakisoba. Yes, basically he rocks!

My kids gave me a Starbucks gift card, so I am plotting my escape, I mean my outing to get a strawberry soy frap. The 3 extra boys brought home some flowers and gave them to me for Mother's day.

Last week was a really strange week, so I feel really put of my groove going into this week. Maybe I should start by getting a good night's sleep.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my grandma Edie!

It has been a full and busy week, so I am pretty tired. Funny how holidays can do that to you. Yesterday we celebrated a birthday, but being the odd ball people we are, we celebrated without the person. We all knew it would happen that way but there was much that could be done to help that. The birthday gal did get some sushi at breakfast, miso, and strawberry pie as well. Hey, like I said we were an odd crew.

I made two strawberry pies yesterday. I used two recipes to see which one I preferred. Yesterday's ha one crust and didn't set even though I had it in the fridge 3 hours before we needed it. I did manage to set by morning today. Though it tasted good it lacked presentation. The pie for today was a double crust and different strawberry base an it set just right. Delicious too. I made it for church today.

Corey decided to make dinner tonight. He opted to make calzones instead of my plans for yakisoba. Yes, basically he rocks!

My kids gave me a Starbucks gift card, so I am plotting my escape, I mean my outing to get a strawberry soy frap. The 3 extra boys brought home some flowers and gave them to me for Mother's day.

Last week was a really strange week, so I feel really put of my groove going into this week. Maybe I should start by getting a good night's sleep.

From last Friday we entered into a week called Golden Week. It is a series of holidays strung together and make for a "Golden" holiday. Last Friday was thrift shop and the SSSspeech festival. It was also a day off for Tomo making it a three day weekend. Monday was a normal day for all. Followed by 3 more holiday days. Our friend from Niigata came to visit and we had a generally good time of hanging out together. We did go to the zoo, but it was a holiday, free day, and a new panda was on exhibit, so or was really busy. We didn't even get to see the panda.

Here we are Friday already. Tomo had school and Skyler went to visit the 4th grade class at CAJ today. It seems super strange to send your kid to school just Monday and Friday in the week. Yet that is a typical scenario during opening week of May in Japan.

Robin headed back to her mom because she has to work tonight too. I prepared for my class with my 2 students this afternoon.

It has been nearly 2 months post quake. Things are relatively normal here now. Foods and supplies are not really being rationed much any more, but electricity is something that people give serious consideration to conserving. Stores still only use partial power. Authorities are warning that summer may be hard and there may be blackouts due to power shortages.

Meanwhile, up North, things still are creeping along. It will just take a lot of time to work through it all. Keep praying. Time passes by and it be ones easy to forget because new news fills us with things to think about. I flipped through the channels today while I pulled my lessons together, and I was surprised that in that time slot 3/4 of the programming related to some aspect of the earthquake. The kids, the zoos, the housing, the cleanup, the ...you name it it probably had a spot on TV today. It was a great reminder to me how much life has changed for the people up North.

Pray for workers... the harvest is ready, but the workers are few.

Been a fairly busy week doing fairly normal things. Easter was such a great experience this year. Then we stepped into a busy week. I saw the doctor for a follow up visit, and he is now thinking that this thing is a virus. Maybe? Who knows?

Trying to take little steps here and there to stay on top of things and to get ahead. My May menu is ready to roll. Crazy isn't it? May already!

The big yochien news is that we are now the proud owners of a pianaka, or melodia. Tomo will be learning at school how to play it and he is super stoked about it. He was really disappointed when he took it to school this morning and his teacher kept it. I had to supress my smile as he told me about his disappoint with is sincerely sad face.

Tomorrow is a holiday, so no school bit we will be busy. One of the things that will happen is that Skyler will recite a poem during a speech festival with the homes hook program at the international school.

Now I am going to chill with my husband while watching the freshly downloaded episode of Survivor.

Here are some random pictures of our day:

Life is busy as usual. There have been a lot of things where I thought I should write about them but never had time to do so.
Like needing to buy bigger school shoes for my 4 year old. He's getting so big!
Like how much I love teaching my two kiddie on Friday nights.
Like what a stinker Maya is.
Like how Skyler is growing in his writing skills.
Like how much I dislike termites.
Like how I do not like how dependent we are on computers and how they are not always time savers.

You can be sure there are stories hidden in there somewhere.

I think we are all ready to roll for Easter tomorrow. We are praying that we will have many children tomorrow at our outreach event. Praying the favorable forecast holds true. Praying that the people of Tohoku will have the chance to hear of the risen Savior.

I am having one of those kinds of weeks that when it is over I will wonder where it went. I have been running non stop to keep up with the schedule. Homeschool is busy. This April all my children's schedule changed and like an upset fruit basket, I am trying to settle everything back down again. Actually that has been the story of life since the month of Earthquake, aka March. Tomo's school has also changed, he is there longer, and even longer this year because they increased all the hours for the children. Maya is wanting to take her nap right at lunch time, so I have to take that into account in working through all the other plans throughout the day. This morning was hectic. Wednesdays are recyclable trash days, CAJ's late day, and the day all of my family; except Tomo, goes to Japanese class. Getting everyone headed in the right direction is quite challenging, and throw in the curveball of a meeting with the the other moms and the teacher of the Kawa class. Not all the trash made it out this morning and Corey even head to do a little clean up when a trash bag was gotten into by some crows, and Tomo got to school just about a minute after they closed the gate, but other than that I think everything managed to get accomplished. Of course, I never made it to Japanese class, and neither did Corey for that matter, but Skyler did.

In other exciting news, today was the first day of a school provided lunch. Each Wednesday I will not have to prepare and send a lunch with Tomo. I am glad for this little change and Wednesday is a great day for our family for me to not make a lunch for him. I think that school provided lunches are a good experience for the kids. It made a difference for Skyler when he was in kindergarten. Tomo had soccer last night. He seems to enjoy it, and the other mothers comment on his ability. He has got quite a lot of spunk in that little body of his.

Well, that was my ten minutes. Time to go pick up Mr. T and head straight into the afternoon and evening activities.

Waiting for one more student to return from a visit home over the weekend.  In the meantime, a short update.

This afternoon Corey headed with some friends with a van load of supplies up to Ishinomaki.  It is one of the hard hit areas from the earthquake and tsunami.  Corey will spend the day tomorrow handing out supplies and then doing just whatever needs done.  The thinking is that this group will be back late Monday night.  I will try to keep updated on how things go and certainly when Corey returns I will have him update as well.

Now that breakfast is baked...banana muffins and banana bread...I am ready to head to bed.  Oh and the first obento of the new school year is made.  Not a work of art, but very edible!  I will see about posting pictures as we tried out a new obento box, that I am am just loving.  So yes, I am a bit of an obento geek.

Tomo has a full day of school tomorrow, Skyler has a full day, and Maya has a full day to be mischievous.  Ok, well, this post feels like it is quickly becoming aimless.  My brain is getting muddled with tiredness, so I am gonna go for now.

A few pictures from a while back:
From our little celebration for Maya's coming home anniversary.  Don't worry the coffee wasn't hers, but she will always be our "Starbucks" baby.  That is where I first got to hold her!
This was a snowy day in February: Tomo is his uniform...yes, those are shorts.

And from our outing to the park: