On Wednesday (Mio’s actual birthday) we celebrated at home with her grandparents, aunts and uncles with dinner, cake, and presents. Here are some photos and video from that day!
Mio opening her present from her grandparents (my parents).
Mio has been obsessed with Minnie Mouse lately… so she was thrilled to receive this Minnie plush!
Such joy!
The elated birthday girl!
Whenever we asked Mio what she wanted for her birthday during this past month, she always would respond with “bear cake!” She’d seen this adorable cake at Shilla Bakery and had her heart set on it for her birthday. It’s all she wanted! So of course, we had to get it.
Mio’s birthday bear cake
The much-anticipated moment captured on video:
Happily eating her birthday cake.
A family picture! 🙂
This time with the grandparents. Happy birthday Mio!
Mio celebrated her birthday with her preschool class on Tuesday, April 1. She couldn’t wait to bring these birthday cookies I baked for her class to school!
The teachers there are so sweet, and they took a couple photos of Mio during the class party (since parents can’t be there), and printed them out to give to me by the time I picked her up that day.
The birthday girl at preschool. ♥
Mio’s birthday celebration continues as we’ll be throwing a birthday party with all her little friends tomorrow! We’ll be sure to post photos and video from that after the weekend. 🙂
Mio turned two yesterday, and while we opted not to have a big birthday party with friends this year, we spent the daytime playing outside and had a little get-together with the family in the evening to celebrate with BonChon Chicken dinner, birthday cake, and opening presents! Here are some snapshots and video from throughout the day…
We had another little Easter egg hunt in the backyard in the morning.
But then she got distracted by the swing.
Smiles of delight on the swing.
And no day is complete without climbing onto furniture! Mio loves to climb to the top of the sofa and straddle like a horse.
Wearing tupperware as a hat. Silly girl.
Eating BonChon chicken for dinner. Mio always says “kokko-” (short for “kokekokko”, or “cock-a-doodle-doo” in Japanese) while eating chicken!
The birthday cake I made for Mio!
I love this video that Dan took of Mio while we sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She seemed to know exactly what was going on, and that she had to blow out the candles at the end! I love her excited smile and clapping at the end…
…but then of course she thought the candles were candy and stuck one in her mouth! Very much a Mio thing to do. haha* You can see how much she loves eating the cake in the following video:
Mio with a mouthful of cake!
Mio + cake = happy girl.
Mio and Mama both share a love for desserts and all things sweet!
Dan says Mio and I have the same face here. lol
“Whatcha lookin’ at, Daddy?”
After cake, we opened some birthday presents together! Dan and I got her a dollhouse, while my parents got her a family of dolls to match. Her reaction was more than we had anticipated — she was ecstatic! 😀
She also got some sweet and generous gifts from Uncle Ted and Auntie Elisa!
An AquaDoodle from Uncle Ted and Auntie Elisa…
…and a toy medical kit to play doctor! Conditioning her early… 😉
Curiously looking at the stethoscope.
While it was a small birthday celebration in comparison to the birthday party we threw her for her first birthday last year, it seemed to leave quite an impression on her. Afterwards, she kept saying “two” in search of the candle shaped like a 2, and has been carrying it around with her ever since! I also caught her serving her stuffed animals toy cupcakes and singing to them “Happy~ to you~” (since she can’t say “birthday”) yet. It warms my heart to see how much she enjoyed and appreciated the family celebrating her birthday and how much love she must’ve felt!
Mio wouldn’t let go of the 2-shaped candle! Happy birthday sweetheart. ♥
My soon-to-be sister-in-law Elisa’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day, and we had a birthday dinner at our house for her on Friday! My mom prepared a delicious sashimi dinner while I was tasked with making the cake! Elisa is one of the girliest girls I know and loves pink, so I wanted to make a very princess-y cake that would befit the birthday girl!
I have wanted to try a ruffle frosting technique that I’d seen on Pinterest a while back, and I thought that this was the perfect opportunity! I stacked ombre layers of the cake on the inside, and frosted light pink ruffles all around the cake. I was pretty happy with the result!
Ruffle cake for Elisa’s birthday
Top view of ruffle cake
Ruffling detail on the sides
Happy birthday Elisa! ⤠The birthday girl loved it – Mission accomplished!
The ombre pink layers turned out pretty well, too!
Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas holiday! We had a wonderful time spending it with my family at home. Here are some memorable moments from Christmas morning… it was Mio’s second Christmas ever!
Mio on Christmas morning
She looks so grownup here! Playing with her awesome magnetic wooden Tegu blocks from my parents.
Mio with her toy kitchen from Uncle Ted! I think I was even more excited than she was!
Playing with the bells from Dan’s parents
Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!
As many of you know, Christmas Day is also my birthday, and this year was an extra special milestone as it was my 30th birthday! Dan made it truly memorable by showering me with little treats, gifts, and love notes during the twelve days leading up to my birthday (instead of the Twelve Days of Christmas), and of course I appreciated all the birthday messages from friends and family!
Celebrating my 30th birthday in the evening.
Mio got to taste-test my tiramisu birthday cake that Dan & my mom prepared for me.
Making a wish…
30 has been wonderful so far, and I am so happy as long as I have this sweet girl and Dan by my side! They are my everything. ♥ Thank you to everyone who sent birthday messages, cards, and even gifts. And finally, thank you to everyone who supported and contributed to my charity: water campaign. Thanks to all of our collective efforts of 37 donations, we were able to surpass the $1,000 goal and raise $1,030! This will help 51 people get access to safe, clean water. In 18 months, we’ll be able to see exactly which products we’ve funded and the communities we were able to help. Thank you for helping to make such a big difference this year and making my 30th really count! My birthday wish has come true, and it’s one I’ll never forget. 🙂
Warm holiday wishes from our little family. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ♥
We celebrated Dan’s birthday with a quiet dinner at home and birthday cake, as we’d already had our fancypants dinner last weekend. For dinner, I made Dan’s favorite — unagi (eel) donburi — and for dessert, I baked and frosted a German chocolate cake (also his favorite!). It was my first time making the coconut pecan frosting from scratch, but it was surprisingly easy and turned out delicious!
The German chocolate birthday cake I made for Dan!
30! A milestone.
Putting the cake decorating skills I learned this year to use!
Homemade coconut pecan frosting on top and in between the layers.
The handsome hubby turns 30!
Dan was psyched by the Android series 3 collectible dolls I got him for his birthday!
Dan’s favorites from the collection. 30 years old but still a kid at heart! 😉
Happy 30th birthday to my better half! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband to me, and a loving father to Mio. I’ll be joining the thirties club soon enough, in a couple weeks!
