so, i made a turkey yesterday, with stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, steamed vegetables and rolls. i also remembered to serve the cranberry sauce (that i forgot at christmas), which tommy and sasha remembered and pigged-out on. yoshi wanted to invite his co-worker and his family over some time, and since i had the turkey (which was marked down to a great price at costco) *and* it's still heavy-dinner weather (that is, winter-cold) we had a nice afternoon dinner with them. afterward wii was played and tired children were consoled, and then we went to costco (they had never been but really wanted to see what it was like). they are nice and their kids are about the same age as hiro and sasha, but oh, what a long day for me. especially since i stayed up late tidying and got up early to clean and prepare the food. i was also worried because as i was stuffing the turkey, i kept finding ice in it! i cooked the turkey on the steam option, and it was done in less than three hours, so now i know what the steam oven is capable of.

at costco sasha and hiro wanted to ride in the cart. i had put tommy in first so there was a lot of shouting and crying. eventually we put tommy in the other cart but then sasha got really worried, asking where tommy was. (we kind of separated as we had different interests) and then later on when we met up, tommy was anxious to be held (well, he also needed a diaper change!) but everyone survived, aided by lots of ice cream!

yoshi's co-worker is new in town, they've only been in fukuoka for about four months. i am sure we will be having them over again some time soon.