Our first Halloween in the US

This was our first Halloween in the US.

I attended the Halloween party held in the ESL class which I belong to in the morning.

I went to see the Halloween parade held in my children's elementary in the afternoon on Oct 31.

They also had the Halloween party at school.

My children and I went to trick-or-treating with our friends.

My children were so excited!

We walked around our neighborhood for two hours!

I prepared treats for children at home and my husband took care of it.

He called me that they were all gone at 7pm because a lot of children came to our house for trick-or-treating.

I asked him to give them our stock of snack.

It was a very busy day, but we had a lot of fun.



Today I would like to write about how my impression of Halloween changed after I experienced it in the US.

Actually, I didn't have any interest in Halloween when I was in Japan.

I have never celebrated Halloween and I didn't know the origin of Halloween and why people cerebrate it.

I only had an image that Halloween is just a costume parade, young people all gather Shibuya with creepy makeups and they didn't have any rules and manners, sometimes caused the troubles.

I had wanted the Halloween events to end quickly.


But....

I changed my image of Halloween completely changed.

I saw not only children but also adults enjoyed Halloween costumes very much.

The Halloween Parade in the elementary school was so cute!

Children were so excited and walked in the parade proudly.

The teachers were also wearing costumes, those were very interesting!

I was so surprised to see the amazing hospitality of our neighbors.

They were Halloween-friendly neighborhood.

They decorated their houses and gardens with spider web, skeleton, witches, scarecrows, ghosts, and so on.

Some residents wore costumes and tried to surprise children.

They didn't get mad with children even though they were so excited that they walked on their grass.

They kept the manners well.

Of course, there were the people who didn't join in the event.

There was a sign that they didn't turn off the entrance light and the people didn't ring the bell of those people.

I was able to see that they enjoyed Halloween very much.

I was very impressed to see that the neighbors tried to entertain the people who visited their houses and they also enjoyed themselves very much.

I liked to say "Happy Halloween!".

I thought it was like "Yoi Otoshiwo" in Japanese.

This is a greeting when we ususally say at the end of the year, it means that I hope you will have a happy new year.



I thought a lot of Japanese people misunderstand Halloween.

I realized that it is not only an event for young strange people.

But I was also impressed that my children's school prepared another option for children who didn't want to join in the Halloween events.

In Japan, it's normal for students to join in the school events.

Japanese people tend to avoid doing different things from others.

I like the generosity which admit the differences.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

The differences of schools between Michigan and Japan

I have two children, 9-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.

One of my biggest worries regarding moving to the US was about them.

Will they be able to adapt to the American school?

Will they be able to make friends?

Will they forget Japanese language?

Will they be late for Japanese curriculum?

The list is endless.

As I wrote in the previous post, they enjoy going to the local school now.

Actually, there are a lot of children who came from abroad in their elementary because we live in diverse and international city.

That's why not only my children but also other children have some difficulties to speak in English.

But teachers are skilled and very used to such children.

They help such children and they are getting used to school little by little.


I started taking the ESL class two weeks ago.

It is very inspiring and fun for me!

As well as my children's school, the ESL class is also very international.

It is opened only for adult.

The students are eager to learn English, and very friendly.

They don't stick to their friends who speak the same language, they enjoy talking to the students who are from different countries.

They try to speak in English even when they talk to the students who have the same mother tongue.

I like the atmosphere there!


I found some differences of school between Michigan and Japan through my children's elementary and the ESL class.

They are very interesting!


1. Teachers sometimes talk sitting on the desk.

When I saw the scene, I was surprised because Japanese teachers never do like that because it is usually regarded as a bad manner.


2. Children read books while lying down.

Children have a reading time in the elementary in Michigan.

My children were so surprised to see the other children's behavior.

They read books while lying down on the carpet and while eating snacks!

It could happen at home in Japan, but children have to read books while sitting on the chairs in school.

And they must not bring snacks to schools in Japan.

They can bring snacks only when they go to the field trip.


3. The students can go to the washroom during the class.

There is a washroom in the classroom of their elementary.

They can go anytime they want to go without permission of teachers.

In Japan, children are offered to go to the washroom during the recesses.

Children have to manage it by themselves.

If they want to go during the class, they have to tell their teacher.

The teacher would say like that,

"OK. But you should go to the bathroom before the class."


4. School lunch doesn't seem to be good for health.

I make lunch (bento) for children every day.

The elementary school offers school lunch.

But I don't think the menu are not good for health.

It is offered in the buffet style so that children can choose what they like.

But some parents or adult who are living in the school district have to help them as a volunteer at the lunch time.

Unless children choose vegetable, children don't eat vegetable no matter how much they offer it.

In Japan, the menu of school lunch is made by the Nutritionist.

Children and teachers eat the same one.

All children have to be on a school lunch duty in turns for a week.

They serve their lunch and clear the tables by themselves.

As I mentioned, children must not bring snack to school in Japan.

The lunch time is only the opportunity to eat in school.

Even though there is something they don't like, they get to eat it because they are hungry.

But recently, children can reduce the amount of the dishes before they start to eat.

Since my 8-year-old daughter always doesn't eat a lot, she often reduced her meal before she ate.


5. Children don't have to clean their school.

In Japan, there is a cleaning time every day and children have to clean all the classroom, hallways, entrance, school ground, and washroom.

They sweep with brooms, put the dust and garbage in the dustpan and throw it away in the dust box.

They also wipe the floors and hallways, wipe windows with a damp cloth.

In Michigan, children don't have to do it.

My children are glad, but I want them to learn how to clean.


6. Children go to school by a school bus.

My children take a school bus to school.

I think school bus is the best way for children to go to school safely.

In Japan, they walked to school carrying a heavy bag like a backpack named randoseru made of leather with a lot of textbooks and notebooks.

It was hard for the first-grade students, but it makes them stronger.


7. Teachers try to teach children with fun.

Children enjoy the local school because the class is fun.

Teachers seem to let children have more fun with learning.

They have a few homework.

The ways of teaching are quite different from each teacher.

The school seem to leave it to the teachers.

In Japan, children learn a lot of things in school.

Sometimes they don't enjoy it because it is like a training.

Teachers have to follow the curriculum guideline issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Children can learn in the similar way wherever in Japan, but teachers have a very heavy workload.

They have a lot of homework every day, reading, Kanji workbook, math workbook, and so on.


I have more other things I want to write, but I would like to wrap it up today.

Just one thing I could say, if my children are used to American school too much, they would have a hard time for them to adapt the Japanese school when we go back to Japan.

Because I think American school tend to make them have fun and Japanese schools tend to be stricter.

It is not that which school is superior, or which school is doing right.

I just would like to say that there are so many differences in both.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Our Hello Project

My 9-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter go to the local elementary school on weekdays and they also go to Japanese school every Saturday.

They are busy, but they enjoy both.

My son is not shy, he wants to speak in English and has made a lot of friends in school.

My daughter is shy and not good at speaking.

She had a very hard time at the local school in her first week.
(I will write about this later, it's a long story.)

But she has been getting used to being there little by little and could make good friends there.


They started learning English in January from online Japanese teachers.

The teachers were amazing and very kind to my children.

My son seemed to be good at remembering language, he learned very quickly.

But my daughter didn't.

She enjoyed the English lesson, she liked her teacher, but she forgot what she learned easily.

Actually, she didn't even know ABC's.

I think she tried her best.

But she needed more courage to speak in English.


When we moved to the US, it was during the summer vacation.

Even though I took them to the park, supermarket, museum, and so on, my children didn't have any opportunity to speak in English because I had to speak instead of them.

For example, I let them buy something at a food stand.

I told them,

"Say 'one hot dog and one French fry, please' to the staff."

My son tried to say it to the staff, but the staff couldn't understand him because his pronunciation was not good.

My daughter tried to say it to the staff, but the staff couldn't understand her because she was shy and her voice was too quiet.

In this case, the staff asked me with troubled face what we wanted to order.


I thought that was too difficult for them, so I suggested to them:

"Why don't you try to say hello to people who pass on the street?"

I thought it would be an easy thing for them to try.

Actually, we don't have such a custom in Japan.

If people we do not know say hello to us in Japan, most of us would be surprised and think:

"Oh, who was she/she? Did I see them before? If so, I might have ignored him/her. I wonder who he/she was..."

Of course, NOT all Japanese people have this reaction.

Some of us would say hello and some of us would ignore it.

But here in the US, people tend to be more social and say hi more often than the Japanese.

I like this custom very much.


They named this  the "Hello Project" and started trying to say hello to the people who met on the street, near our house, at the park, and so on.

The reactions from the people who were said hello to by the children were very interesting.

Some of them seemed to be surprised at first, then smiled and said hi to them.

Some of them didn't say anything.

My children were disappointed to see such a reaction, but I explained this to my children like this:

"There are various kinds of people. Some people say hello, but some don't. That's same in Japan, too. You don't have to be disappointed even if they don't react to you."

One day, they said hello to a young man who was walking near the supermarket.

He answered "Hi, how are you?" so fast.

My children took some time to understand what they said.

A while after we passed the man, my son finally said "I'm good, thank you. And you?".

But he already had gone far from us by that time, but he said to them in a loud voice:

"Good thanks!"

We were very glad to see his reaction.

This event encouraged my children very much.


I think language learners need courage when we try to speak in foreign languages for the first time.

But when we find that they can understand what we say, we feel very happy and it encourages us a lot.

I wanted my children to experience a small success and a sense of grafual achievement little by little.

I believe that little improvement will build up and they will become confident.

And the same goes for me.

After I moved to the US, I had to adapt to the new environment.

I sometimes hesitated to try speaking and was disappointed because I couldn't do it well.

I didn't want my children to hear my complaints, but it made me drive into a corner.

When I felt tired and troubled, I shut myself in my house and didn't go out all day.

I called to my mother using my iPad and told her how I had a hard time getting used to my new life.

She listened to my story patiently.

Thanks to her, I was able to feel better.

I believe it's sometimes OK if I want to take a rest.

Little by little, I want my children to enjoy their life, and I also want to enjoy my life in the US.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

An ordinary Japanese mom in the US!

After a long interval, I have finally come back here!

Our family moved to Michigan in the US at the end of July because of my husband's job transfer.

We will be living here for about three years.

The first time we came here, we suffered from the terrible jet lag, especially my children!

My children fell asleep in the early afternoon because it was night time in Japan, and they woke up at night and stayed up all night!

Since I was able to sleep well on the flight, it was terrible that they interrupted my sleep every day.

I had to take a nap every day to compensate for the lack of sleep.

I would like to write about what differences I was surprised by between the US and Japan, after I started living here.

1. The different units of mesure

When I went shopping at the supermarket, I was confused the different units of mesure.

What is lb?

What is oz??

What is gal???

When I bought a bag of cherries, it was $3.99.

I thought it was very cheap because I believed that the price was for a bag of cherries.

But, it wasn't.

The price was per lb.

I ended up buying a bag of cherries for more than 9 dollars!

I don't understand Fahrenheit and mile well, either

They are still confusing to me.

2. The differences in traffic rules

I already passed the American driver's license test, but I was very scared of driving when I started practicing driving.

Because cars drive on the left side in Japan, but it's totally opposite in the US.

I often opened the right side door by mistake to sit on the driver's seat because the driver seat is usually on the right side of a Japanese car.

I often turned on the wiper by mistake when I wanted to turn on the blinkers because their places were totally opposite from Japanese one.

I was always saying "keep right, keep right!" while driving.

I was surprised that we still can turn right even the traffic light is red, if there is no car in the way.

We must wait until traffic lights turn to green in Japan.

I like this rule, it's very efficient.

I also like that highways are free!

But I was surprised and scared that cars drive so fast!

The speed limit on the highway in Michigan is faster than the Japanese one.

3. The days are longer

In summer, the sun sets around 9pm in Michigan.

It's about 7pm in Japan.

My children assumed that they could stay up late during summer.

I understood their feelings, it was too bright to go to bed at 9pm in summer.

But at a result, they couldn't wake up in the morning until after 9am.

I don't think it is a good for them.

4. Various diverse groups of peole

Needless to say, the majority of people living in Japan are Japanese.

Of course, some people are from other countries, but they are still very few, especially in rural areas.

Various kinds of people are living around here.

I realized that the US is a multicultural and ethnically diverse country.

People who live here are used to people who are from other countries.

They never seem to think that I may not be able to speak English.

They talk to me very fast and cheerfully.

Such kinds of small talk don't happen so often in Japan.

I can speak English, but it is often hard for me to catch what they say because they speak too fast.

I would like to improve my English more during our stay.

I would like to write more about the differences, but it would be too long to read.

I will write more about this over time.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

My worst incident

Last Thursday, I was so irritated because of my children’s attitudes.

My 7-year-old daughter went to her friend’s house after school.

I always tell her to come home no later than 5pm because it’s getting dark by then and dangerous to walk outside alone.

She broke her promise last week, so I scolded her.

Then I asked her the reason.

“We took of our shoes and were kicking our shoes away from the top of the slider, then my friend’s shoes caught by a branch of a tree. It took some time to take it.”

She said.

I said,

“Oh well, I will only allow it this time. But you should follow our promise from now on.”

Although I explained to her why she should come home until 5pm again, but she still came home at 5:10pm.

I asked her why she was late.

She said she enjoyed playing with friends and forgot to check the time.

As a mother, I was glad that she had such a fun time with friends.

It was only 10 minutes late, but I wanted her to follow the rule.

I was really irritated about it.

On that day, my 9-year-old son had a reservation for an online English conversation lesson from 5:30pm.

I turned on my husband’s laptop and said to my son to prepare for his lesson and review the previous lesson before the lesson started.

I was so irritated because his laptop was running so slow, and I couldn't log in to Skype.

I tried to enter my password many times, but it didn’t work.

I pushed Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys together to close all windows to restart his laptop, but it didn’t work.

We had only 15 minutes before the lesson started.

I felt frustrated and expected that we would not make it on time if I kept waiting for the laptop to restart.

I turned on another laptop and kept trying to restart my husband’s laptop.

At that time, I saw my son had started reading a comic.

I couldn’t believe his attitude.

I wondered why he didn't prepare for his lesson and review the previous lesson even though we only had 10 minutes.

Then I flipped out as if a volcano suddenly erupted, and ended up hitting the keyboard of the laptop strongly.

“Why are you always doing things like this? Why don’t you study English seriously? If you didn’t do it, YOU would be in trouble in US!”

(Actually, our family have a possibility of moving to US this summer and stay there for about three years due to my husband’s transfer.)

I couldn’t control my anger.

At last, I had to hold down the power button of the laptop to terminate it.

After a while, I turned on the laptop, but it didn’t start up any more.

I tried the diagnostic program which was already installed on his laptop, it found out the reason.

It was a failure of the hard disk drive.

We lost our data that was saved on it.

Since my husband hadn’t come home yet, I sent him a text message to explain what happened, and apologized to him deeply.

He was disappointed to hear what had happened, but he never got mad with me.

I regretted and was deeply ashamed that I couldn’t control my anger.

I felt really sorry for my husband.

I am usually a calm person, but sometimes I can’t control my anger in front of my family.

When I feel that I can’t put up with my frustration, I tend to take my anger out on things.

For example, I have thrown a cup and broke it.

After I do things like that, I always think I shouldn’t have done it.

I hate myself for doing this again.

I know I still depend on my family, it is evident that I don't like dealing with things alone as an adult or mother.

I want to be a “real” calm person like my husband.

He is always calm, and rarely gets angry.

I was ashamed that I was unable to see things from another persons point of view and lost my temper.

I apologized to my children.

“I’m really sorry. I did it again, even though I tried to stop. I guess you two don’t want to see your mom gets mad too much, and losing my temper . Don’t be like your mom in the future. I will make an effort not to act like this in the future.”

My 9-year-old son said with a smile,

“I have already gotten used to it. I won’t be like you. Don’t worry about it!”

My 7-year-old daughter said,

“It’s a little scary when you get mad, but I love you even though you get mad!”

Forgive an immature mom.

I told my husband about this incident in detail early in the morning.

I also told him that I was sick of getting mad with our children every day.

In fact, I didn’t want to say “Hurry up” to them, but they will not do anything if I stop saying that.

But I have changed my mind that it’s their problems, not mine.

They need to notice it by themselves, otherwise their attitudes will never change.

I am wondering if I should stop saying scolding them.

My husband said,

“This incident was really so you. I have already given up thinking that your character will change, ever. You couldn’t help it. But we need to encourage our daughter to keep her promise. Actually, I'm so excited see if I will be able to extract our data from the broken hard disk drive or not. I've never failed to recovery data!"

I was impressd to hear that.

He is familiar with computers.

That's so him.

He told our daughter to eat breakfast quickly so as to be on time for school  many times.

It was rare for him to rush her.

Thanks to him, I didn’t have to say “hurry!” this morning.

I am really thankful of him.

He is always like so.

He usually doesn't ay overly sentimental words to me, but his attitude show me his kindness and consideration.

I really have to learn a lesson.

I will learn from this mistake, not to let my dear family feel uncomfortable.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Homemade Birthday cake

February 11 is National Foundation Day, one of the national holidays in Japan.

And it's also my father's birthday.

Since my children's school is closed on that day, we can go to my parents' house and celebrate with him every year.

My 7-year-old daughter said,

"I want to make cookies for grandpa!"

I suggested to her,

"Why don't we make a birthday cake for him? I used to make it when I was younger. Do you want to try it?"

"Yeah! I want to try!"

She was so excited to hear that because she loves cooking very much.

We went to the supermarket near my parents' house and bought some ingredients like flour, fresh cream, butter, strawberries, and so on.

My children and I started making his birthday cake at my parents' house.

My daughter said to her grandpa,

"Don't come to the kitchen, it's a secret. Look forward to it!"

Actually, he really wanted to see what we were doing, but he had to wait for us.

My 9-year-old son also tried to beat eggs.

It was rare for to help with the cooking, but it seemed to be fun for him.

The cake was baked well.

My children came to the oven and said:

"What a good smell!"

I sliced the sponge cake into two pieces, cut some strawberries, and put them with whipped cream between them.

My daughter enjoyed applying whipped cream on the cake.

She and I decorated the side of the cake with whipped cream, too.

I didn't agree with the idea at first, but my daughter insisted on sprinkling colored chocolate sprinkles on the cake.

"Grandpa! Happy birthday to you!"

My daughter said to him and I brought the birthday cake which we made to him.

He was so glad to see that and said,

"Wow! What a wonderful cake! Thank you so much, I am really happy."

I lit the candles, turned off the room light, and we sang a happy birthday song for him.

The taste was good, but I thought we could have improve upon it.

Of course, a birthday cake which is made by a pastry chef is better than our homemade cake.

But I thought it was really good to make a birthday cake because my father seemed to be really happy.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

My husband's masterpiece

My husband made "Shirokuma (しろくま)" for our 6-year-old daughter during Golden Week.

Shirokuma (White bear) is character of Sumikkogurashi (すみっコぐらし), which is very popular character merchandise among little girls.

Sumikko means at a corner of a room, and Gurashi means "living".

All characters of Sumikkogurashi like staying in a corner.

It means Japanese people tend to feel more relaxed staying at the corner of somewhere, for instance, a corner seat of a restaurant, a corner seat of a train, and other places like that.

Similar to other girls, our daughter loves Sumikkogurashi, she said during Golden Week;

"I want to have a Shirokuma stuffed toy!"

My husband said:

"But these are expensive. All right, I will make one for you."

"Really? Please don't make a promise which you will not be able to keep."

I told him.

"It's easy for me! I will definitely do it!"

He said.

"Wow! Thank you dad!"

Our daughter was so excited to hear this.

I wondered if he would keep his promise.

But, he did.

He made it using a towel!

"What an amazing dad! I can't believe!"

I was so suprised and said.

My daughter sew on its hands and feet.

I was surprised at my husband and daughter's incredible work.

Actually, I am not good at sewing.

I am glad that she is handy like her dad.


Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

My son's great idea

March 31st was the last day for us to go to my 6-year-old daughter's nursery school.

She will enter the elementary school in April.

On the night before the last day, I told her:

"Why don't we make thank-you cards for the teachers? Teacher A and B really take care of you, don't they? I'm going to make the cards using my laptop, so can you write a letter or draw on them?"

"Sure, I want to write messages to them!"

We started making the cards.

After we finished it, I noticed that I didn't have any nice envelopes to put letters in.

"Oh my goodness! I only have normal envelopes for business! They are not suitable for putting in thank-you cards in!"

I told my children.

"How about drawing or decorating them?"

My 8-year-old son said.

"Oh, what a nice idea! It's better than using the normal envelopes.  All right, I'm going to decorate them with masking tape, so please draw pictures anything you like."

I said.

"I'm going to draw the teacher and me!"

My daughter said and started drawing.

It took about an hour and finally we finished it.

Next day, she handed them to the teachers before we left the nursery school.

"Wow! You drew the picture? How nice! I'm so happy! Thank you so much!"

They were glad to see it.

Spring time is the season of encounter and parting in Japan.

We thank those who part from us, and look forward to seeing new people.



Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Considerate family

I have some topics that I wanted to write recently.

But unfortunately, it's hard for me to make time.

I can't write about them on time, but I would like to try to write them one by one before I forget them.


I went to work last Sunday.

A troublesome incident suddenly occurred, which we had to resolve before we could leave the office.

As a result, my coworker and I had to work overtime for 2 hours, but we couldn't solve the problem.

When I went to work, I told my husband that I will come home around 5pm, but I came home at 7pm.

I was so exhausted.

When I opened the entrance door of my house, my 6-year-old daughter came to me and said;

"Hi Mom, we are making dinner now!"

"Oh, you are trying it, are you? Wow, thank you!"

My husband and I were making dinner in the kitchen.

Then my 8-year-old son said;

"Look mom! I put all things away in the living room. It's clean, isn't it?"

I was surprised to see the tidy living room.

"Wow, I am glad! You did it by yourself. Thank you son!"

He looked happy.

My daughter told me:

"This is a special dish I cooked only for you.  Try it!"

She made an omelet for me.

She wrote "ありがとう (Thank you)" with ketchup on it.

I was really impressed to see it.

"How delicious! I am really happy. I'm sure you will make a good cook in the future!"

She was glad to hear that.

My husband cooked other dishes.

"Thank you, all of you help me a lot. I forgot how tired I was!"

I was really moved by their kindness.



Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Night running with my kids

The long-distance running race was held last Tuesday at my son's elementary school.

I couldn't go to see him because I was up to my neck in work.

"How was the race today?"

I asked him after we came home.

"I finished in 26th place."

He answered.

I was surprised to hear that and said:

"26th? Of the 30 male students? What place were you in last year? I recall you were the 16th place, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I got tired while running."

He told me regretfully.

"I think it is meaningless to compare with your friends. It is important whether you improved your personal best. How was your result? Could you run faster than last year?"

I asked him.

"My result was as same as last year's."

He answered and I said:

"It is maybe because you always play the DS(game) and you don't try to play outside recently. You need to practice running more."

"I have come up with a good idea! I want to practice running! Let's go together starting from today!"

He suddenly said.

"Really? It is very cold tonight. Do you really want to run?"

I was surprised and asked him.

"Absolutely!"


That said, my children and I started night running from Tuesday night.

I chose the running course which we run around the neighborhood.

The distance is about 700m.

On the first day, my 6-year-old daughter couldn't run all-out to the finish, so we walked on our way to the finish.

My son's result was 5 minutes 55 seconds.

On the second day, my 6-year-old daughter also walked on her way to the finish.

My son finished in 5 minutes 45 seconds.


We ran again last night.

My daughter finally could run all-out to the finish!

And my son finished in 4 minutes 45 seconds!

I was out of breath and said:

"How fast you were! I can't follow you!"

My son looked proudly and said:

"But my friend who won the first place ran within 4 minutes. I want to catch up with him!"

My daughter said:

"I hate to lose. I want to get in first place!"

Night running is a happy time for me, because I haven't had time to exercise and we can enjoy the precious family time to reach each goal.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Welcome to our house!

The piano for my 6-year-old daughter which we bought last month finally came to our house yesterday!

I have been very busy making room for the piano for a month.

I changed the arrangement of the furniture, disposed what we don't need, tidied three closets up and put kids' toys away.

"Wow! How big! I want to play it!"

My daughter was so glad to see the piano, and she was playing it for a long time.

I was also really happy.

I played it, but it was completely different from playing the Electone.

I don't know how to use the pedals appropriately.

I will practice it with my daughter from now on, it will surely be fun for me and give me great happiness.

In fact, it was my birthday yesterday.

My husband made dinner for us and they celebrated my birthday.

It was one of the happiest days for me this year.

～～～　Notice　～～～

I have been writing this blog for two years to improve my writing skills.

But recently, it is difficult for me to spare my time to write it.

I have been very busy for my work, house chores, looking after my kids.

I hate to say this, but I'm going to stop writing it regularly.

And I will delete the links of other blog sites except Google+.

I would like to spare my time to improve my speaking skills, it hasn't improved yet even though I could pass the exam of Eiken Grade Pre-1.

I am grateful to all of you who came to my blog.

I am sorry for my late replies to the comments, I will surely correct my errors.

I might update it from time to time when I have something to wirte.

Thank you so much!


Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

The piano will come to our house

I wrote about the sports day of my 6-year-old daughter's nursery school in my last post :
http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/10/teru-teru-bozu.html

After all, it was postpond today even though it didn't rain after we recieved the email which informed us the cancelarion of the sports day at 7:20am.

Maybe teachers weren't able to make a decision of carrying out the sports day because it started raining around 6:45 am last Saturday.

It will be sunny today, so I am looking forward to going to see the sports day.



By the way, I am very busy recently because we finally purchaced the used piano for my daughter.

I wrote in my previous post that I decided that I will let her learn both Electone and piano : http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/09/piano-trial-lesson.html

She likes practising the Electone and practises playing it for about 30 minutes every day.

She is good at music dictation and modulation.

I want to enhance her motivation and music skills.

I believe that piano lesson will improve her performance skill and increase the interest in music.

The piano will come to our house at the end of October, so I need to make room to install it.

We need to move the Electone to the kids room on the second floor.

I already moved the bookshelf in the living room, and decluttered it last weekend.

I sold old CDs and books at the CD at the ricycle shop.

I still need to screen a lot of things and throw unnecessary things away.

It is a very hard work and I need time to do it, but it is also fun for me.

I am looking forward to coming the piano.

We visited four piano shops and I really liked its sound when I tried to play the piano which we bought.

I also want to practise piano with her and hope that it will be my fun in my rest of life.

I was helping her Electone practise last evening.

My 7-year-old son wanted to play it.

He had also learned playing the Electone until last September, but he quitted it because he didn't pracitse it at all.

He could still play it, but after that, my daughter played same song and he realized that she played it better than him.

He said:

"She has a great music talent than me, but I have a great drawing talent than her! I am going to draw a picture, it's my homework today. It will display at the citizens exhibition."

It was funny for me because he finally admitted that her sister is finally able to play the Electone better than him.

But he always doesn't want to lose to her as her elder brother.

She played the songs called "Pretty Bouquet".

Please try to listen it if you like.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Teru teru bouzu

The sports day will be held at my 6-year-old daughter's nursery school today.

But the weather forecast said that it will rain today.

We will have a 60% chance of rain this morning.

When I went to her nursery school to pick her up last evening, I found that a lot of Teru teru bouzu were under eaves.

Teru teru bozu is a small handmade doll made of white paper.

We make it before the important event in the hope that it will be a sunny day.

My children and I prayed together last night.

I explained to my daughter when we watched the weather forecast on TV:

"The low pressure is a possible cause of rain."

Then she put her small hands together and said:

"Hello Mr. low pressure, please come after our sports day finishes."

I thought how adorable she was.

A lot of little kids are looking forward to coming to the sports day and really hoping that it doesn't rain.

If it is postponed, the sports day will be held next Wednesday so that my husband and parents will not be able to come.

Please hold out until the sports day finishes!!

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

My funny children

When I went to the children's house last evening to pick my 7-year-old son up, I found something written on his arm.

"What's that?"

I asked him.

He answered:

"I can't talk with anyone."

"Why did you write it? Maybe I guess your friends asked you to play with them so many times even though you wanted to read comics, and it was bother for you to refuse their offers, right?"

"Exactly!"

He answered.

"It's so you! You are really funny."

I couldn't stop laughing for a while.

I don't worry about his friendship at all because I regard as with his interesting personality.

He is a person who does things at his own pace and wants to give priority to doing his favorite things even if he is alone.

Furthermore, I know he has good friends.



We went to the supermarket to buy some groceries, then went to the nursery school to pick my 6-year-old daughter up.

My son told her:

"Hey! Our mom bought us Giant Caplico today! Let's eat it after we go home!"

My 6-year-old was glad to hear that and said:

"Wow! Hooray! Anyway, what is Caplico?"

I couldn't stop laughing again.

Why was she glad even though she didn't know Caplico?

She was really funny!

"It's a chocolate snack shaped like an ice cream corn."

My son explained it to her.

"Oh, I know! I like it!"

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

A Cardboard house

7-year-old son made a small house using a cardboard last Tuesday.

This is the living room on the first floor.

He made a table, TV, sofa, room light, window, and steps.

This is the second floor.

There are some books in the bookshelf.

My son wrote their titles on each book.

There is a wash room behind the door.

The picture of a flower is hung on the wall.

He was absorbed in making this for a while.

I was really impressed with his detailed work and creativity.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!

Sports day

The sports day was held at my 7-year-old son's elementary school yesterday.

It was a really busy day for me because I had to prepare lunch box for my all of family members and my parents.

I had to work overtime for one hour last Friday because we had a lot of customers, so I finished working at 5pm.

After that, I picked up my son and 6-year-old daughter then went to the supermarket to buy some groceries for lunch boxes.

After we came home, I did laundry, prepared dinner, washed dishes, then prepared some dishes for lunch boxes.

I wanted my children to go to bed by 9pm because they had to wake up by 6:30am next day.

But they were still playing together after 9pm, so I was irritated to see them.

"Look at the clock! It's already 9pm. Will you be able to wake up at 6:30am? It's sports day tomorrow! Go to bed right now!"

I scolded them, then they immediately went to bed.

I woke up at 4am and made the lunch boxes.

I finished making them at 7am.

I was really tired but glad that I finally finished them.

My husband went to his school to get a spot.

He was surprised that more than 100 people were already in line waitnig for the school gate to open.

Some people brought small tents.

When the entrance gate was opened by a teacher, he said:

"Everyone, please don't run! It's dangerous!"

But most of them rushed to get a spot.


My family and parents went to his school at 9am.

It was going to rain soon, so everyone hoped that the weather would hold out until the sports day finished.

Finally, it started raining in the early afternoon.

The teachers decided to postpone the rest of the programs until next Monday.

Children seemed to be disappointed, but we weren't because the teachers had already changed the order of the program efficiently, so the popular programs which parents wanted to see were already finished in the morning.

The happiest thing is that I finished my big task, making the lunch boxes!

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!