Mickey & Minnie party



Kai chompin away on watermelon



Kai probably ate like 5 pieces of watermelon!!

 

Kai LOVED making BIG bubbles



well, maybe, I enjoyed it, too... :)


Thanks to all our friends who came out.... We were glad you could share this special memory with us.  I hope that years and years down the road we will all still be friends and our kids will be teenagers looking back and laughing at these photos from when they were babies and toddler friends together. I missed pics of the Prices and Valerie and Jacob... but here are MOST of the people who came to celebrate with us!


Tiffany & Max



Enjoying the nice weather before the COLD



Naomi & Stanley



Alisyn & Erykah, my little buddy



the Perera family, my favorite chunky monkey had a sad look because she wanted more cake! Love her!



the Kwok family

that other cute, chill asian boy at church, caleb!

the Pons fam bam

the Iwata fam.. River is always stylin'. We missed meeting his new brother Rhys.. hopefully for Halloween!

the Stonerocks.. I am hoping to spend lots more time with this family. Really cool peoples.

Kathryn & Gerber boy Braden

the Fishers.. I appreciate Amanda and our friendship more throughout the years. She has given me so much encouragement and advice as a mom.

Dawson's Creek! I keep falling inlove with their boys.. such handsome little guys!

DANG! Natalie & Kylie monster, genius girls.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Kai & Keila!!



"Mouse" party hats :)



Kai turns TWO!

Short chunky, sumo roly-poly legs are now running, climbing, jumping, skydiving and are now long, lean, and DARK!  The vacant stare and garbled noises are now expressive smiles and actual words..
Kai is still my sweet, gentle, handsome boy, but it is amazing how he is now into his 2s.  He has grown so much this year in so many ways and I think that I have too as his mother.  Kai has a lot of words under belt and can recite most of his ABCs and some numbers in English and Japanese.  He is no longer in his crib and is so much more confident in his movements, finally climbing ladders and going down slides.  He is getting better using crayons and art materials.  Kai is getting better with brushing and flossing his teeth.  Most of his buddies are on their way to being older siblings. 
For me, I think that we have learned so much as parents.  We have learned how to talk to each other more about our expectations on how to raise Kai.  We are learning how to discipline together and still learning how to set clear, healthy boundaries.  I am learning patience and asking for help and advice and how to be giving and nurturing and to be engaged and interested. 
I had a great talk with my friend Sarah over the phone the other day and she shared how being a parent gives us glimpses of God's love.  We can understand some of God's feelings for us when we think about our own feelings for our kids.  It is just a small degree of the vastness of God's love.  This reminded me of a scripture we looked at at one of our mommy bible talks this summer. 

Psalm 18:35

You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

We talked about how as moms we are often stooped over to change diapers, pick things up, pick up our kids... and how God stoops down to make us great!

This year, Kai and I have been making lots of friendships.  He is still going to Gymboree and LOVES teacher Beth.  "Tee Beh"  He went to a Mommy & Me class.  Recently, he started going to CSLOT.  He was referred by the pediatrician at his 18 month to the East Bay Regional Center.  He qualified for services and started getting "preschool" services at CSLOT which focuses on speech therapy.  Since April, we've been meeting with lots of different friends and friends from church for a mommy bible talk group about every other week.  That's been really refreshing getting with other moms.



September 26, 2009



He was SUCH a cute little fattie!!!



1st studio pics at 5 months.. oh how I miss all those chunky rolls!



Kai's 2nd pic over a year later...



Almost 2-year-old Hawaiian boy



This weekend Kai will celebrate his birthday with all his friends and have a joint party with his long-distance girlfriend Keila.  I got a little carried away with the Mickey and Minnie theme.  I will post pics and recap on it later on the blog....

School's out for SUMMER!

The summer heat wave is finally coming. The sun is peeking out from the rain clouds FINALLY! This past week, Kai had his "last class" at the Hyman Center and when I enroll him in August, he'll probably move up into the 2-3 year-old class.  It was kind of funny to leave and tell all of the other kids and moms, "Bye! Have a great summer!" Gosh, my little boy is growing up too fast.
This morning, Kai and I went over to Graham for the 6th grade graduation.  My first class of students who I taught in 2nd and 3rd grade are now moving onto the junior high.  Kai did very well and sat during the whole 2 hour ceremony.  It was amazing how big they made a "graduation" for 6th graders! Some of the girls were wearing prom-like dresses and lots of families showed up.  It was so nice to see some of my old kids and their families.  I will miss seeing their faces and being a part of that community.  One little boy, Christian, the student council president and graham's student of the year, made an eloquent, interesting speech.  He started with "My fellow students and teachers..." He sounded like such a politician, but I pictured him in a Peanuts cartoon. It was very endearing to hear him talk about his memories of elementary school and how he appreciated his teachers helping them get ready for the next step of junior high. 
The past couple of months have been unusually cold and rainy and gray, except for our brief memorial day weekend roadtrip down to Irvine and Oceanside.  Now, the heat and sun and summer is here! I'm so excited for more trips to the park and to the county fair and to the swimming pool!!
Here are some recent pics--

we LOVE the dream park!!

@ Little Madfish happy hour with the Jerdees :)

Visiting with Kale'a, first days home from the hospital!

"Oh, Erkyah, you are too cute!"

"I like eating sushi with you, Kai."

"borrowing" a bike at the park

Look at how short Kai is next to the net!

future Grand Slam champ

taqueria lunch with my big cousin, Evan Kai

"Thanks, GG, for lunch!"

visitng the Fukuda home in Irvine

So happy being together again! :)

With my "sis" Katie :) Miss you guys!!

C'mon Kai & Keila.. getting a cavity is worse!

In San Diego on Josh's police bike.. It is neat because we have a black and white picture of Ryuta at the same age on his dad's police motor bike.

A rest stop at McDonald's on our first big family road trip

SPRING!

Currently as I look out the window it is gray, windy, cold, uninviting.  Thank God Kai finally decided to go to sleep.. there really isn't much else to do!
Other than the past few days of miserable weather, we've been enjoying really amazing warm, sunny weather this spring.  Almost every day we've been getting out of the house and usually head to the park.  Despite my efforts to keep Kai protected from the UV rays, he's still managed to get a tan on his face and hands.  A friend at church yesterday said she thought Kai looked filipino!
Here are few shots of our life this spring..

Kai & Keila reunion: Singing a duet of "Musunde Hiraite" at the piano

Kai with his long-distance girlfriend, Keila

I found an easter egg!

at Easter service with Valerie & Jacob

I wish I took more pictures on Easter. Kai had on the most adorable, old-man-style Easter outfit...

My first chocolate chip cookie

a little picnic with the Dang girls

Our fashion model

A couple of our friends have put their kids through modeling and a few people have told us that Kai should model or is such a handsome boy.  I can't really complain or disagree, so I finally decided to try it out.  We are going in tomorrow to JE Models to check it out.  I'm not so sure about whether it is worth the time, but it would be really cool if Kai got his picture on a big ad!  The extra money would be nice, too, to put aside for Kai's college fund.
Here are some more shots that my dad took on his fancy camera: