Blooming by the Bay – Page 13 – The Endless Stories of Dan & Misono & Their Beloved Mio

Video/Photo Catch-Up

March 1, 2015 By Misono in Mio, Mio Says, Mirei, Videos Tags: ã„ã¨ã¾ãã¾ã, band, bath, bathtime, bell, car, ç³¸ã¾ãã¾ã, dance, dancing, February, humble home, humbled home, ito maki maki, January, March, Mio, Mirei, Mother Goose, pesto, photo, photos, pop-on toy, sisters, sway, swaying, twirl, twirling, video, winter, xylophone

I have been a horrible procrastinator about updating the blog lately! Here are a bunch of photos and videos from the past couple month that we’ve taken of our sweet girls! Some are quite funny — never a dull moment with these two!

Mio singing “Happy Birthday” to Mirei, about a week before her birthday. We had been telling Mio that Mirei’s birthday was coming up.

Mirei riding the zebra toy — her favorite!

Mio singing and guiding Mirei through the Japanese song, “Ito Maki Maki.” She was pretty sick and sniffly at the time, but it was really sweet to see this moment between the two of them!

Mirei clapping to the Japanese songs in her musical book! This totally reminds me of the video of Mio doing the same thing when she was around Mirei’s age!

Sisters scooting around on their princess ride:

M&M riding their princess-mobile together — It was pretty adorable!

Mirei continuing to ride while Mio dances around her…

Mirei next to me — Love her sweet gaze ♥

Mirei is kind of scared of the talking Mother Goose doll she received for Christmas:

Warming up to it, but still seems distrustful…

Mio climbing the bannister — Mio climbing up the stair railing

Dance party in Mio’s room!

Mirei loves to pick up apples and oranges while we’re not looking, and walk around taking little bites out of them. She’s definitely a fruit lover!

Mio peeking from behind — Mirei is quite the messy eater!

Messy eater Mirei — She’s a big eater, just like her sister!

“Welcome to my ‘humbled’ home.” Not sure where she picks these phrases up, but I love it! (Dan claims she probably learned it from Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.)

M&M at the kitchen table — Blank stares… lol

Bathtime with M & M!

Mirei dancing (or rather, swaying) to the music from a Japanese kid’s show.

Mirei stole Mio's snacks — Stealing a snack from big sister.

Mirei playing with pop-on toys:

"avocado soup" — Mio explained that she was making “avocado soup” here.

Mio's marshmallow teeth — Marshmallow teeth!

An attempt at playing instruments together… our family never really did have any musical talent. haha*

Mirei trying to twirl to the xylophone music: (Her hair looks funny because she had just pulled a pigtail out.)

Mom’s Day at Mio’s Preschool

February 26, 2015 By Misono in Mio, Videos Tags: badge, chapel, classroom, craft, Jesus Loves Me, Mio, Mom's Day, preschool, singing, song, video, Yoga Clock

Mio’s preschool had a special “Mom’s Day” on February 25, where mothers of the students could come about an hour earlier than the regular pickup time to spend time with their children in the classroom and see what kinds of activities they usually do, before attending the weekly Wednesday chapel that the kids go to before dismissal. I’ve always been so curious about how Mio acts in school, so it was fun to get a little peek into her life at school, and observe her in a classroom setting. My heart was warmed to see how excited she was to have me in class with her, excitedly showing me the toys and games she likes to play with!

Mom's Day at Mio's preschool — Mio showing me an activity at preschool

Mio’s class singing and moving to the “Yoga Clock” song — so cute!

Here’s Mio singing “Jesus Loves Me” on her own at chapel, but then she forgets the lyrics towards the end and gets stuck repeating the same part over and over. lol

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

February 23, 2015 By Misono in Recreational Fun, Videos Tags: baby, dan, family, Mio, Mirei, misono, snow day, snowball, snowball fight, snowman, winter

We have been getting a lot of snow lately! Here are some photos from Sunday, February 21, when we went outside and played in the snow! This was Mirei’s first time being in the snow, and she seemed kind of stunned and fascinated by it.

Mirei's first time playing in snow — Mirei’s first time playing in snow

Standing in the snow — We built a snowman!

Mirei's first snowman — Showing Mirei the snowman

A video I took of the girls playing in the snow:

Mirei with a snowball. Ready to start a snowball fight?

Snowball fight!!! — Of course, you can’t have a snow day without a snowball fight! Mio joined in and had a blast!

Valentine’s Day in Philadelphia

February 16, 2015 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Recreational Fun, Seasonal Celebrations, Wanderlust Tags: art, art museum, Audabon Bakeshop, day trip, Debbie, Deborah, friends, girlfriends, Jen, Julianne, Kanella, Mimi, museum, Philadelphia, Philly, snow, soup dumplings, The Barnes Foundation, Valentine's Day, Valentines

On Valentine’s Day, a bunch of my high school girlfriends and I drove up to Philadelphia for a day trip to visit our dear friend Debbie! (Dan was a great sport about watching the girls while I got to spend time with my friends, and we had already had our own Valentine’s celebrations in the days prior.) Jen, Mimi, and I headed out in the morning, and got to Philly in time to enjoy soup dumplings for lunch with Debbie! Juli flew in to join us afterwards for post-lunch dessert at Audabon Bakeshop!

Mimi & I at lunch — Mimi and I at lunch right before.

Dessert at Audabon — Neat signage at Audabon Bakeshop

Delicious macarons from Audabon Bakeshop

strawberry brick toast at Audabon Bakeshop — Strawberry brick toast at Audabon Bakeshop

Walking to the Barnes museum — Walking to The Barnes Foundation museum as the flurries fell around us.

The Barnes Foundation museum — The snow made everything look so romantic!

Cool crystals hanging from the ceiling of the museum.

Juli, Debbie, and Jen! — Juli, Debbie, and Jen at dinner

Dinner at Kanella — We enjoyed dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant called Kanella. We didn’t realize that we’d be dining off of their Valentine’s menu, so it ended up being quite a meal!

Shepherds Pie from Kanella — shepherd’s pie

chocolate cake with lavender ice cream — Chocolate cake with lavender ice cream. My favorite dessert there!

dessert from Kanella — This was also delicious.

post-dinner group photo — Our day trip to Philly was quite eventful! It was a fun and memorable day, and it was so enjoyable getting to spend Valentine’s Day with these amazing ladies!

We got caught in a bit of a blizzard on the way so it took us a while to get home, but thankfully we made it back in one piece around 2 in the morning. Can’t wait until we are all reunited again!

Valentine’s with Our Family

February 15, 2015 By Misono in Foodie Love, Local Gems, Milestones, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: beef cheek, beer braised, chocolate, chocolate dumplings, crostini, dan, dinner, duck, duck leg confit, flourless cake, macarons, Maple Ave Restaurant, Mio, Mirei, misono, mussels, PEI mussels, Pineland Farms, preschool, school, truffle aioli, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day card, Valentine's Day cards, Valentines, Vienna

We celebrated Valentine’s Day a little early this year, because I had plans to visit my best friend in Philadelphia with my girlfriends on February 14th. I took some photos of the girls matching in red to commemorate Valentine’s 2015!

Valentines M&Ms — It was impossible to get them to both smile in one shot! Sigh.

My Valentine Mio — Smiling sweetly for the camera! â™¥

My Valentine Mirei — Mirei’s expressions look so mature lately…

Dan and I got to have an early Valentine’s dinner date on Thursday, thanks to my sister watching the kids for us! We dined at Maple Ave Restaurant, which we had heard so many good things about! We were pretty excited to have a quiet romantic dinner together, and the food did not disappoint. Everything was so incredibly delicious!

steamed PEI mussels with saffron coconut broth, chinese sausage, crostinis — Steamed PEI mussels with saffron coconut broth, chinese sausage, and crostinis as an appetizer.

I ordered the duck leg confit with caramelized brussel sprouts, truffle aioli, and apple cider gastrique.

Dan had the beer braised Pineland Farms beef cheek with sweet potato purÃ©e and caramelized onions.

Hubby at our Valentines dinner date — Happy Valentine’s Day to my sweet hubby! â¤

So nice to have a relaxing dinner out — It was so nice to have a relaxing dinner out.

For dessert, we had the chocolate dumplings with fried pastry shell, melted chocolate ganache, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce.

"omg" flourless chocolate cake — …and the “omg” flourless chocolate cake. Both were amazing!

Love you hubby! Thanks for a lovely and romantic evening.

Mio delivered Valentines gifts from Dan! — When we got home, Mio delivered surprise Valentines gifts from Dan!

Valentine's card from Dan and the girls — A sweet Valentine’s card from Dan and the girls!

Mio signed her Valentines! — Mio signed her Valentines to her classmates this year! This was actually her first time writing her name out. We’d been encouraging her to write her name for a while now and she always resisted so we’ve tried not to push her… but she willingly wrote it this time. So proud of her!

Mio's Valentines from classmates — Mio’s Valentines haul from her classmates. She loved it, and has been treasuring her bag of Valentine’s cards in the days since!

Valentine's card in the mail from Mio (via preschool) — On the same day (Friday), we received this card in the mail. Mio’s preschool class has been learning about the post office, and apparently they sent their Valentine’s to their parents out in the mail in time to get to us by Valentine’s Day! I will treasure this always.

Mio with her Valentine's card for us — Mio telling us about how she sent the Valentine in the mail.

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