Around 2:30 PM,

"Mom, I'm home!" my daughter cheerfully exclaims as she returns from school. She drops her backpack and bustles into the living room.

"Guess what happened at school today?"

Listening to her stories over a cup of tea is a cherished daily routine.

On days without extracurricular activities, it's just the two of us girls until my older and younger sons come home.

Once my sons return, our house becomes the liveliest it gets all day.

We have a "3 o'clock snack" tradition in our family, so the three siblings gather around the table.

This particular day, I offered them colorful, candy-wrapped chocolates for the first time.

So many different colors, and each one a different flavor—it was a huge deal for the kids (laughs).

They earnestly tried to guess the flavor from the wrapper's color, hoping to pick their favorite piece.

"The pink one is strawberry! See, I was right!"

"This one... it has to be green tea, it's green after all."

Adding the fun of "choosing" to our usual snack time,

I smiled, seeing how much more fulfilling their time together seemed to be.

My two older children are in elementary school, and my youngest son just started kindergarten this year.

With school and習い事 (習い事), the children's individual activities increase, and the opportunities for the whole family to be together gradually decrease.

That's why I want to cherish the time we have together now.

Even squabbling over the chocolate colors will surely be a cherished memory for them.

On weekdays, after the children are asleep,

the time I have to myself until my husband comes home is also a small pleasure.

After washing the dishes, I enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of chocolate in the kitchen.

I've completely fallen in love with the "milk tea flavor,"

and I think it's a luxury to spend time brewing delicious rooibos tea just for that one piece.

With my husband, who often comes home late from work,

we make sure to find time to talk, even if it's just for a little while at night.

Even when it's "just the two of us," we mostly end up talking about the children.

But perhaps that's just how we are (laughs).

My husband, who loves white chocolate,

exclaimed "Delicious!" with childlike delight, and I found it rather endearing.

I wonder if my daughter would be happy if I put the colorful chocolates in a glass dish?

I'll try brewing some delicious coffee that pairs well with my husband's favorite white chocolate.

I believe these chocolates, with their nostalgic wrappers and various flavors, that you can't buy at the supermarket,

are adding to the story of our family as it grows busier.

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The Yuko family.

A family of five: Yuko, her husband, eldest daughter (8), eldest son (5), and youngest son (3).

Yuko juggles raising three children while working in food and lifestyle-related fields, including interior and tableware coordination and recipe development.