Monkey Business

I planned a sock monkey theme'd party to celebrate Mason's 1st birthday. His party wasn't as big as my 1st birthday party, but that was by design. I wanted to make sure we could spend enough time with all of our guests. We rented out a room at the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino, invited a bunch of my friends and ordered food from Gombei (my favorite restaurant). Since Mason really doesn't get the whole birthday party concept, I might as well make sure I enjoy the party.

Grandpa, grandma and po-po came down to help. Grandpa went swimming with Mason, dada and me while grandma, po-po and mama picked up the food and set up the room. Mason wasn't very cooperative when we arrived at the party. He only wanted mama or dada to hold him, but they were running around trying to set everything up. But he pulled it together before the guests arrived.

The food was yummy. And us older kids had a great time running around and exploring the community center. It was great to see a lot of our friends that we don't get to see very often.

Besides having fun with friends, the best part about birthday parties is the cake (and presents), of course! Mama baked monkey cupcakes and made sock monkey cake pops. She also made a special smash cake for Mason. Yes, I had to help him blow out his candle and eat his smash cake. That's what good big brother is for!

I think Mason liked the cake and frosting. What do you think?  

 

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate Mason's first birthday!

Tahoe birthday

To celebrate his 2nd birthday, Greyson invited me, Mason, Kyden and Sienna to party it up in Tahoe for a 4-day weekend. Woohoo! Our first family trip to the snow!

Dada got busy hunting for snow clothes. We got some hand me downs from Adrienne (mostly for Mason), rented snow boots for me and bought a ski bib for me. When I didn't want to try anything on, dada would remind me that snow is cold and I needed the right clothes to keep me warm and dry.  Fine, I guess I'll sorta cooperate.

We did great on the drive. It helped that we stopped for lunch and at great auntie Kathy's house to drop Tachi off.  I don't get why he doesn't get to go places with us.  When we got to foothills and saw snow, I said, "Oh look. Snow! It's cooooooold." And just to make my point, I'd pretend to shiver.

We had a blast playing in the snow all weekend long.  On Friday we went to Adventure Mountain, which had groomed sledding runs for little and big kids. Mason slept through most our time here. While mama kept him company, dada and I went sledding with Kyden and Gresyon. Sienna was napping as well. When we went down hill I kept saying, "Go slower." My favorite part was being pulled up the hill by dada and mama.  Mason managed to get one sled ride in, but he wasn't impressed.

The rest of the weekend, we played in the snow by the house. Dada built a super duper cool fort complete with tunnels to crawl through! I got to make a snowman, complete with a carrot for his nose. I even went down the ramp outside our house on a snow bike and a sled!  The best part was making snowballs and throwing them at auntie Char! Mama made a snow angel, but I wasn't interested.  I had a blast playing in the snow with Greyson and Kyden. Mason didn't make it outside at all. And Sienna only played for a little bit before she decided she had enough.

We had lots of fun playing in the snow. Can't wait do it again. I hope this becomes an annual trip...for Greyson's birthday or not.

Happy Birthday Grey! Thanks for inviting us to the best birthday party ever! And thanks for watching Tachi, auntie Kathy and uncle Tom!

You scratch my back...

And I'll just keep asking you to scratch my back. I discovered back scratchers at Kimora and Kyle's grandparent's house on new year's day. Grandpa showed me how they work. He's a really good back scratcher. So good that I kept asking him to scratch my back.

Thanks for scratching my back, grandpa!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013! I don't really have a grasp of time, so I'm not sure what the big deal is. Mason and I were in bed way before midnight.  We were just pooped from all the crazy, fun we were having with Ethan. Here's a glimpse of the craziness:



Can you imagine how much more fun it'll be when Mason's a better walker? He'll be a great partner in crime!

While Mason and I didn't make it to midnight, you'll never guess who did. Yup, dada definitely made it. But so did mama! She usually falls asleep on the couch shortly after putting us to bed. But she and dada were tired (more than usual) the next day. Dada even stopped at Starbucks for coffee before we headed up to Sacramento for New Year's Day celebrations with dada's family.

For as long as dada can remember, New Year's Day was spent with family.  Turns out New Years Day is a big deal in Japanese tradition. We always spend it with family and eat special food. The first time mama joined in the new year's celebration, she asked dada and grandma what the different foods meant. Neither one of them knew what they meant. It's just what you eat and do on new year's day.

Now that mama is a mama, she wants to know what these things mean so she can explain it to us if/when we ask her about it. So here's what she learned:

• Kuromame (cooked sweet black beans) symbolizes good health.  Mama and I like these beans, so I guess that means we'll have good health.
• Kamaboko (fish cake) resembles Japan's rising sun and are associated with celebratory, festive events. I like these too...just cooked, not cold.
• Ozoni is a soup made with mochi. It's just something you eat on new year's day, but it has it's roots with the samurai. While I like mochi, I didn't really care for the mochi soup. Good thing mama likes it! She's already looking up recipes to make the soup. 

She found all this info on the internet, so it must be true, right?

She also found something called Toshikoshi soba, which symbolizes long life and health. They're hot soba noodles that are supposed to be eaten just as the new year begins. Mama wants to add this to our new year's tradition and is looking for recipes online. Somehow I don't think Mason or I will be enjoying these noodles until we get to stay up to greet the new year. Bummer.

Happy New Year!

A rockin' new year's eve!

Mason's rockin' out on New Year's Eve. Special thanks to uncle Henry for his Pink Floyd t-shirt. Happy New Year everyone!