Happy 2nd Birthday Saya

Saya getting ready to blow out her two candles.

"I ate it all, Mommy!" well of course, you did!

Saya was very cute.  She just dived in mouth first. 

Today (4/25), Saya turned two!  Happy birthday, my little girl.  I cannot believe how much you've changed in the past year.  You were the little baby, the most inocent and dependent.  But now, you are a smart, sometimes cunning, independent, funny, quick-handed, and infectiously adorable little girl I cannot live without.  I like how you talk about how much you like the color yellow and Mommy and Anpanman the first thing in the morning in your crib.  I like how you draw your chin in when you smile and squint your nose, showing off your big teeth.  I love your chubby thighs sticking out from your onsies and how I like to squeeze them whenever they are out.  I like to pat your full belly after your meal because they stick out like a middle aged beer belly.  As much as I protest it during the day, I do like the livelyhood you show when you are mad or frustrated.  I think of it at night when everything is quiet and it makes me laugh.  Happy second birthday, Saya.  I am so glad you joined our family two years ago today.  I am excited to see what your second year brings.  I am sure you will acomplish amazing things!  And... you will always be the baby of the family no matter how old you get.

Happy Easter!

Saya found an orange egg and carried it around with her for a long time.

Alyson was proud to have found many eggs and was showing me how many she put in her bag.

Sean was leading the search and Alyson followed him around.  She was a little frustrated that Sean found more eggs.

Grace decided to join the fun but she would rather find an Easter bunny instead.

It's all about smiles from the kids when we are outdoors.

They built a new look out deck overlooking the tiny fall we have in the trail a few years ago.  It still looks new and nice.

Every Easter, we hunt for eggs in our yard in the morning.  I had Mike hide 15 eggs in the front yard while the kids ate breakfast.  Sean, remembering from last year, was very excited to collect eggs and Alyson was just as excited seeing her big brother's enthusiasm.  It was Saya's first time participating as she was still a baby last year.  Now, she is a boots-wearing, fast-walking little girl who noisily bursted out to the front yard as soon as we opened the garage door!  Noah was very excited as well, but had one thing on his mind... to get to Teagan's front yard across the street, which he thinks is a secret garden with golden shimmering light.  He got sent back inside the house since we couldn't keep up with making sure all kids stay in our property (which he wasn't happy at all).  

Sean was very serious about finding the eggs.  He found the most number of eggs and was running around making sure he collected all of them.  Alyson followed Sean around and picked up what he missed.  It was a drizzly day unfortunately, but we all had our rain boots on and covered out head with rain jackets.  Saya found one egg and stood there for a while surveying the surroundings and watching her brother and sister.  She was content with finding one egg and clutched onto it remainder of the time. 

After the egg hunt, we all went for a walk in "the jungle" down the street.  Anywhere indoor is closed for the Holiday, so it was our best bet since the thick woods keep the trail mostly dry.  The kids had a lot of fun.  The nature is very calming to all of us and we always enjoy outings in the woods and mountains.  Saya did fall and ate dirt since she fell on her face, but she stood up, chewed some dirt, spit it out and moved on.  She is a very tough little girl!  Noah wanted to go off trailing but he could not get very far. 

It was a very wet and gray Easter, but we had a lot of fun.  We will try coloring the real eggs next year.  I have to learn all these American traditions since I am not that familiar with them.

A visit to the Kelsey Creek Farm

My trick - I ask kids to give me a hug and as they approach me, I snap a picture~

Noah, loves being outdoors.  He will be a great hiker someday!

Saya had a very concerned look on her face.  I wished I could have heard her thoughts.

Looking at chicks in the chicken nursery building.

Noah and the chicken having a small talk about the day.

A quick lunch motivated by more playtime at the playground.

Which is more fun?  They certainly think what others have is far better than what they have.

Sean helped push Noah's swing.  Noah liked it and Sean enjoyed helping!

On last Saturday, we took the kids to see farm animals at Kelsey Creek farm nearby.  We went to see the shearing of their sheep, but their Sheep Shearing Festival is held the very last Saturday of April.  We had fun though looking at goats, rabbits, chickens and little sleeping piglets who were born a month ago.  The piglet reminded me of red-faced Noah and Aly sleeping side by side in the crib.   How they grow so fast... I can't keep up.  Saya was scared of them and back walked to get away from them.  Noah had a good conversation with the chickens, but wouldn't even look at the bunnies.  Sean was very relaxed around the animals and asked lots of questions about them.  I may consider putting Sean in the farm's summer program!

Spring Break 2011

Girls playing together and both insisted of wearing their backpacks!





Saya loves her new Hello Kitty backpack grandma gave her.

Cuddling with Mommy on the couch.

Noah playing on our little playground in the backyard.

They can't get enough of swinging.  Noah likes patting the stone statue.

Lunch at Crossroad.  We get a lot of stares, smiles and pointing since we have many kids close in age.  We are used to it by now.

Aly and Sean making factories and rocket launching pad.

We had a good spring break this year since we had grandma until the mid week, which put everyone in a good mood.  We were expecting a melt down even bigger than post Christmas/New Year celebration when my Mom left, but Sean has been very good and hasn't shown any instability.  On the day she left, Sean stood at the door and watched her leave on a taxi.  He was sad for a little while asking why she had to leave and saying how much he dislikes the taxi that stole her away from him. 

The rest of the break was passed pleasantly with lots of play time and hugs.  I may sound nuts but I do enjoy when I have all four children with me.  I wouldn't say I would love it all the time, but I do feel like I don't spend enough time with my big boy since he is gone most of the day four days out of the week.  I realized that he loves it when grandma is here because she takes time to play with him, giving him 100% of her attention.  I may not have paid him enough attention in the past since I was always doing something else while I "played" with him.  So, I have been smart about my daily chores and now able to squeeze in an hour before dinner time, a dedicated play time with them.  Maybe that is why he hasn't had a big melt down as yet.  We shall see!

More from Grandma's Visit

Grandma is usually stuck at home working hard for the family when she visits us, so we wanted to make sure we take her out to see what else is out there other than the malls in Bellevue.  On Saturday, we went to Sakura Matsuri, Cherry Blossome Festival, at Seattle Center.  The kids are familiar with the Space Needle now, but they were mesmerized by its height.  Someday, we'll take them up - when we say good-bye to the double stroller for good. 

The festival itself was like the Akimatsuri held every fall at Bellevue College.  The kids are a little too young to participate in the activities at the booth (Sean might have had fun), but they got to see people in worrier costumes (which scared the heck out of them) and Japanese arts.  Grandma showed them how to fold origami and they liked that a lot.  But the most fun they had was out at the giant fountain.  They could have stood there for a long time if we let them and Noah would have surely marched right in and gotten himself soaked.  It was a cold day, so we didn't stay out too long.  We hurried home and ate the take out from Facing East, which was good as always.


On Sunday, we went to the UW to see the famous cherry blossome trees.  I've been reading about it for a while but this was my first time.  I parked too far from the spot and poor grandma had to walk quite a bit, sometimes pushing the single stroller.  It was a good exercise regardless!  I sometimes forget that she is 72 since she looks young and has a lot of stamina!  Once we got there, we were so happy that we finally arrived.  The trees were big and old and had dreamy light pink flowers floating like clouds.  They were very beautiful.  I now understand why it's been talked about a lot on Japanese community paper.  The kids were running around looking at the flowers and people.  There were many people out there enjoying the view.  There were two Japanese ladies playing koto, an ancient string instrument.   I wanted them to play the cherry blossome song, but they never did.  The kids had a lot of fun and were pretty tired by the time we got home.  We definitely wore grandma out, but I hope she had a good time, too.

Mommy's Birthday~

I celebrated my 39th birthday last week!  I was happy to spend it with my Mom, which does not happen very often since I left the nest when I was 18.  I am at exactly where I want to be at this age, so I have nothing to complain but to be thankful!  I've had practically a four-day celebration for my birthday in Durango, Mexico and that was the most grand of all, however having 8 little arms giving me hugs and my handsome husband smiling at me, red cheeked from excitement, after revealing "the surprise" make this year's birthday the best ever!

So, the day went like this.  Sean and Noah had school, so Sean wished me a happy birthday when he came home.  He sort of demanded a birthday cake and I told him a birthday cake is a cake for the person who is celebrating the birthday and normally someone else buys or bakes the cake for that person.  I continued to tell him that Mommy normally is the person who orders the cake and Daddy is not a cake guy, so there probably won't be any cake today.  He looked a little disappointed, but he moved on.  My Mom was laughing next to me. 

When Daddy came home, I opened the present from everyone, Mike, the kids, Pinky and Nana.  I got a Garmin Speed/GPS/Distance watch for running.  I've been wanting a watch for running, so it was perfect!  I will use it for my run for sure.  Thanks everyone :-)     We had a reservation for Maneki at 7:30 pm and Amy came to watch the kids.  It was raining pretty hard that evening, but Seattle is pretty in rain.  I am very interested in the history of the Chinatown in Seattle these days, so I love visiting that area. 

 So, where's the cake, Mommy?

 My running new running watch!

 Jen and Kevin gave me a hand mixer and pretty tulips in a vase!

The cake was from Fuji bakery in Bellevue.  It was delicious!  Mike ordered the cake in advance and Jen and Kevin brought it to the restaurant.

We arrived at the restaurant and told the hostess that we have a reservation for three at 7:30.  The older woman who is the owner of the restaurant struggled to find our booking.  Then Mike corrected me and told her that the reservation is for five.  From then on, I lost grip on things. It was all orchestrated by Mike, which doesn't happen that often in our relationship.  Mike had invited Jen and Kevin as well for dinner as a surprise.  I was so impressed with Mike!  The dinner was yummy as usual and the company was perfect.  I had my Mom and two of my best friends, plus my hubby with a new shimmering light.  To top that off, a perfect birthday cake pops up with candles and writing in Japanese.  Only a few people sang in the restaurant, which was perfect because I wanted to hide under the table otherwise.  Who knew Mike had it in him?  Now I have to plan something even better for his in June!

So, in a nutshell, I had a really good birthday this year.  My facebook friends were so kind and left me many messages on my page.  No matter what age, you do feel a little special on your birthday.  I am in my last year in 30s and what a fun ride it was~  Now, I feel officially a little wiser and mature, maybe!

My Mom's Here!

Grandma in action, helping Saya eat.

Sean and grandma - playing market.

Alyson and grandma - happy together.Noah got a hair cut the other day. I can't decide if he looks like a girl even more so or not. He's cute though.

My Mom arrived last Sunday (3/27) and it feels as if she's always have been here all along. The children, especially Sean, has been very happy to have grandma here and has not stopped being chatty and sweet all week. Noah took a little time to get used to her again, but now he wants to be held by her. Alyson and Saya have been entertaining grandma saying funny things and being cute. Aly learned new songs from her and can sing them very well now.

Grandma is the busiest person in the house, cooking, cleaning, playing with the kids and doing diapering duties. Mike and I are so grateful for all the help she provides because one pair of hardworking hands certainly make things easier for us. I do want to be like her and be there for my children when I become a grandma someday, but she is setting the bar pretty high! I have to keep up with my exercise in order to stay energetic like her.

Cute moments:

Sean - For the first two mornings since she arrived, Sean woke up and went downstairs looking for her saying "Grandma?" as if to make sure she is still here.

He loves to cuddle with her. One morning, my Mom wrapped him in a blanket and they sat together giggling.

After his bath he asked Mike "can you wrap me in the towel like a burrito so that I can show grandma?"

Noah - He's been a a little sick for the past few days (again!) and he sat with grandma, clinging to her more like for a long time and didn't want to be let go.

Alyson - She gets tricked into eating more since grandma makes eating fun. Grandma praises Saya when she eats her veggies, so Aly wants to eat more, too. She would proudly show my Mom the empty bowl when she finishes eating. The big smile on her face is just priceless!

Saya - She says "grandma!" randomly and loudly so my Mom has to stay alert and be at little princess' service any time.   My Mom thinks Saya is the funniest thing.  She smiles big at grandma with crinkled nose showing off her emerging canines.  I did the PJ test on my Mom and she passed although she struggled a bit.  I did the same to my Dad when he was here in January.  It's a test to see how much the subject struggles putting a PJ on Saya.  Saya usually puts up a good fight!