Just a few days behind...

Sorry folks, things got a bit hectic and the first thing to go was my sanity - and then came the blog. So... we'll back up to Friday and I'll make it as short and sweet as possible.
Friday was the day that Taran was due for his one week check up for his knee. Ian took him from school and left Joisan and I to get ourselves home. Joisan took the bus and I used one of the bikes that Ian and Joisan left at the school last week. I did well - I made it in only 20 minutes and it's all up hill! I made sure that Joisan was home safely and then biked to the office. While I was there a mushroom farmer came in and brought me a bag full of shitake mushrooms! Yum! I managed to fill an hour with investigating more of the contents of the desk. It's a bit of a schmozle so it will likely take several more Friday mornings to get it sorted out. I rode the bike home (love the basket on the front to carry the mushrooms!) and started dinner 'cause Ian and Taran weren't back yet.
When they did get home it was with a full cast on Taran's leg. They took another 45cc's of blood from under his kneecap and imobilized him from his upper thigh to his ankle. They didn't quite know what to do about the fact that he's still bleeding under the knee so they cut a hole in the cast, right over the knee to allow room for it to swell. They put the part they cut out back in and wrapped it with a bandage to keep it in place.
After we ate and got cleaned up Ian and I started work on the stuff we needed to do for the Halloween party. I decorated the hall while Ian made cookies. It was a pretty late night as there was lots to do. I think we rolled into bed sometime after midnight.
Saturday was crazy hectic. I got up at 6am to ice the cookies Ian had made (can you say 'tired'?) We headed off to school - only 8 minutes late - and I used the time there to print off and prepare a game for the adult Halloween party. At the appropriate time everyone from the school went next door to the Warashibe for their festival. There was a mochi making demonstration. Mochi is the product of pounding rice in a mortar with wooden mallets. It is a two person job with one person doing the pounding and one person wetting the rice and turning it (and risking their hand!) I tried the pounding and managed to get a good rhythm going. There were a few games that the Jr. High students ran for the festival and I played (and lost) each one. There was an awesome lunch and the students from the Jr. High sang and played the Taiko drums. We had to leave a bit early to come home and get ready for the Halloween party.
Taran dressed up as a pirate and Joisan wore a piglet costume she bought in Date. I wore my best black clothes and a hat and cape and was a witch. Ian wore a pumpkin hat that we found here. The kids started arriving about 10 minutes to 3 - around the same time it started snowing! In all there were only 10 children but it was good because I was able to give everyone a costume prize. We carved pumpkins and played games and had fun! There was a bit of a lull toward the end because they went through the activities I had planned much faster than I thought they would. Everyone seemed to have a good time though.
When the kids left we had only a half hour to clean up and get ready for the adult party but thankfully we had help. In the end there were only 7 people who showed up for the supper but we had a good time anyway. We played a couple of games and talked and visited. It was fun.
Today we slept in and lazed around, watched a movie and basically did nothing. I got to have a couple of skype calls and we all just relaxed. The kids don't have school tomorrow because it's a day in lieu for going to school on Saturday, and Tuesday is a holiday so they're enjoying this gift of a three day 'weekend'! Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow so now that we're caught up I'm off to bed! Photos to be posted soon!