Thursday, March 19, 2009

Of Kisses and Sharp-dressed little men

I am a lover of kisses. Both the real kind **mwah** and the chocolaty kind.

If you go HERE to the main site of the very famous chocolate company that makes the most delicious little bits of chocolate yumminess, you can find out all sorts of interesting stuff. I have to admit that I was a bit curious as to how many different kinds of Kisses are actually made. According to Wikipedia, many flavors are "limited", some are "international", but I'm thinking all are delicious. Have you ever had a bad Kiss?
(The candy ones, my dears, I'm thinking we've all had at least one bad one of the other kind!! Blech!!)


I do have a special weakness for the peanut butter ones....and the cookies n'creme ones...and ones filled with caramel ones....and...well...I could just go on and on.


Now...you can add another kind to that list.....this one:


One of my students brought back a bag from her trip to Hawaii. Yes...macadamia nut Kisses. They are.....maybe not as high on the list as the peanut butter or the caramel ones, but, definitely...in the top 5. A huge Mahalo to my lovely student...thank you so much for thinking of me. We do so appreciate your kindness. (The caramel corn was great, too!!)


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Tomorrow is a special day for us here at Kamp Kuroiwa....it is Koji's graduation from kindergarten. Here in Japan, kindergarten is NOT a part of the public school system. You can choose a private kindergarten or, as in Koji's case (and Issei's before him), the last year of daycare is the equivalent to kindergarten.


Graduation is a pretty big deal here. Everyone gets dressed up in their "good clothes" (Issei got a new pair of pants and shirt, the K-man got a new tie, and Mommy? She hasn't decided yet what she's going to wear....grrrrrrr.) The little girls will have on new frilly dresses and the boys might have on their jackets and ties. Everyone is sparkly clean and on their best behaviors. After the ceremony and all the pictures have been taken, the parents, some of the teachers and the kids (of course) are planning on going to the Best Western Hotel for a nice luncheon to celebrate. It is indeed, a very special day.

Here is a picture from Issei's graduation in 2004. He and his friends looked so handsome.



Graduation marks the beginning of the end....the end of Koji's daycare life. On April 1, he will officially go to the "after school care program" that Issei goes to most days, Saturdays and during the holidays. He will be leaving his daycare friends.


As was the case with Issei, Koji is the only one that will be attending this elementary school. Everything and everyone will be new. He does so dearly love his friends at the daycare and we spend most mornings on our drive there talking about how he can meet his friends maybe during the holidays and how he is going to be making so many new friends.


This is a little scary for my usually brave little man.


I know that he will be fine. We just have to convince him of this.




Last night, after bath (hence, the wet hair), we did a dress rehearsal of sorts, for Koji. He has a different jacket and shirt...but the tie and the shorts are the same ones Issei wore...which is really funny, because I don't think of Issei as being that small~~he's pretty husky, now!!


One very excited 6-year-old.

I'll try to post pictures from our day in a day or two....now, I really have to dig through my closet to see if I can find something...anything...that will be appropriate for tomorrow.
~~sigh~~This could be very interesting...wish me luck!!


**Pictures from Google Images and my camera.

9 comments:

smalltownme said...

Congrats to big boy Koji.

Mmmm, I want some macadamia kisses!

Janet said...

woohoo! How exciting :-)

Helena said...

He looks adorable with the wet hair and smart jacket and tie!

I'm sure he's upset about not seeing his friends on a daily basis anymore. And he probably doesn't realise at all that he'll make lots of new friends at school. Good luck with convincing him!

Nancy said...

Congratulations Koji!!

Love the smile =)

And mom? You'll look just fine in what ever you put on.

Celebrate !!!!

3rdEyeMuse said...

Woohooo & three cheers for Koji!!

Gina said...

Congratulations to Koji! I love kindergarten graduation. I'm sure he will make new friends very quickly.

Mary Alice said...

Oh my goodness...trying to control the urge to pinch those cute little cheeks...what a happy smile on your boy. Cute photos.

SaraRow said...

Auntie Sara & uncle Jarrett are sending lots of luck and hugs to Koji - I can't wait to hear stories from his first day! Why is it even the biggest trouble-makers look angelic when you put them in a tie? ;)

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

How fun--I'm sure you'll make sure he gets the requisite number of embarrassing mom kisses that such a special occasion calls for!