the one where debbie just stopped by to make sure things were going okay....

.......and to holy moly, i know it's late wish you all a very happy new year.

2012 is the year of the dragon...

and since we are almost at the end of well into the month of january, it can be safe to say that

the dragon is treating us pretty good....so far.

the purchase of a not really new but used as a test drive car right before the holidays has already proven to be a really good financial decision for us for the new year.

we bought a kei car....or K car as the Bare Naked Ladies sing about and though it is small and light (K comes from the japanese word karuii, which means "light")...it is still pretty roomy, especially in the back seat where we have 2 sets of very quickly growing legs sitting back there.
plus, i can already see a big difference in what i spend on gas every week.
that is good.

we went for a nissan moco...
she's very cute....

and no, she's not pink....she's actually more of a coral color.
we love her.
and by the way, she doesn't have a name yet...we keep tossing around a couple, but nothing seems to really work....we're not going to rush the naming....i would really hate to choose the wrong one.
we'll keep you posted.

the boys are in the process of winding down their school year....our year goes from april to march.
this week, issei, as a second year student in junior high (in the states, that would be 8th grade) is doing his
shokuba taiken gakushu ("experience the working world") project.

for 3 days, (and this is happening all over the city....some schools do it in the second term, others in the 3rd term) junior high school kids are out in droves in various places around town "working".
issei and one of his friends are at the supermarket not far from our house.
he seems more excited about getting to sleep in a bit and not having to wake up at 6:00 for three days than actually doing the project!!  yes, he'll fit right into the working world!!!

as he was walking out the door this morning (in the light snow we were having....it was so pretty!!), he turned quickly and said,
"don't come and take pictures.....no blogging about this."
"whaaaaaa? do you think i would do that?"
"just. don't."
spoilsport.

so....here's what i'm going to picture him as:

(except...without the tie...)

okay....even as i type, i have another blog post brewing in my head and it's trying to muscle in on what i've got going here....i need to see about doing something with that .
i had possibly and unofficially made tentative plans to put up more stuff this year....gosh! i looks like january might actually have 2 posts!
**gasp**
i know....it's kind of exciting, isn't it?
(^-^)/*
(hahahaha)

happy new year from us, here at kamp kuroiwa....
may your 'year of the dragon' be filled with wonderment and all sorts of fabulous stuff!!!