California rolls

Mirei’s First Birthday Party: Part I

January 27, 2015 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Kitchen Concoctions, Milestones, Mirei Tags: appetizers, baby, birthday party, birthday poster, cake, cake topper, California rolls, cupcakes, dan, family, first birthday, friends, fruit, fruit skewers, hors d'eouvres, hydrangea cupcakes, lollipops, Mio, Mirei, misono, one year, one year old, party, photobooth, pita, pita bread, pita platter, poster, smash cake, sugar cookies, vegetable platter

The day before Mirei’s actual birthday, we threw a small, intimate birthday party to celebrate the milestone of her turning one! We were admittedly feeling a little overwhelmed (and a little lazy) about doing a big celebration, but we kept the guest list short and decided we’d just do what we could and that helped ease the pressure and stress on us parents. 😉 My brother Ted and his wife Elisa were gracious enough to reserve the party room at their condo for the celebration. Unfortunately, it snowed the morning of the party and some of our guests couldn’t make it because of the weather, but we still had fun with those who were able to make it, and we stayed warm and cozy as the flurries swirled outside!

Birthday cake for Mirei… intended to be smashed later in the party.

Mirei's cupcake tower — A tower of birthday cupcakes

"one" cupcake topper — Dan and I made these cake toppers — both the “one” atop the cupcakes and the one with her name on the smashcake.

erabitori items — The items for erabitori

Mirei's first birthday party — Cookies to be taken home as party favors.

birthday banner for Mirei — Special thanks to Miwa, Hyo, and Elisa who all helped with getting the party decorations up!

Mirei with Grandma, Uncle Ted, and Auntie Elisa — Everyone crowding around the birthday girl!

So glad Nancy and her girls could make it! Welcome back to the States!

Birthday girl walking around — The birthday girl walking around

Pat and I with our baby girls. Thanks so much for coming! â™¥

Aunties posing for the photobooth — Mio with her aunties, posing for our makeshift photobooth.

We had set up our own little “photobooth” with an iPad app, and the kids had so much fun with it! It was really fun to see the collection of pictures at the end of the party:

We felt so blessed to be able to celebrate Mirei’s first birthday with such loving family and friends, and are so thankful that she is such a happy and healthy one year old! More posts to follow with the first birthday activities from the party — stay tuned!

Aubrianna’s First Birthday

December 9, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love Tags: Aubrianna, birthday, cake, California rolls, Centreville, mussels, Shin Nan, Yewon

Last Saturday was our friends’ daughter Aubrianna’s first birthday party! The three of us were happy to go celebrate the special occasion with them, and they hosted a lovely party for sweet Aubri. Here are some photos from the party!

Mio at Aubrianna's birthday party — Mio reaching for a balloon at Aubrianna’s birthday party.

The spread at the party was amazing — so much good food! We all stuffed ourselves.

Mussels! — Yewon made mussels with garlic — heaven for a seafood lover like me!

Marinara mussels — Mussels with marinara sauce, cheese, and hot sauce.

She was constantly eating! — Everyone was impressed (or rather, aghast?) at how much Mio was constantly eating… lol.

In the Korean tradition of Doljanchi, there were items placed in front of Aubrianna for her to choose something that represents her future calling. (Very similar to the Japanese tradition of Erabitori, which we prepared for Mio’s first birthday.) Everyone watched with anticipation to see what little Aubri would choose!

She was intimidated by everyone watching her. — Aubri was intimidated by everyone watching her, and burst into tears.

The PlayDoh! — After getting comforted by Mommy, she chose… the PlayDoh!

She then chose the toothbrush! — …and then the toothbrush! Future dentist, perhaps?

The beautiful cake again — Celebrating with one of the prettiest birthday cakes I’ve ever seen! Yewon’s friend is a professional cake decorator and made this gorgeous cake for Aubri.

The birthday girl and her mama — The adorable birthday girl and her lovely mama!

Daddy's girl. — Daddy’s girl sitting in Dan’s lap.

Mio had a great time playing with the other kids at the party, and especially enjoyed indulging in all the delicious food offerings! Happy first birthday Aubri!

Mio’s First Birthday Party: Part I

April 3, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Kitchen Concoctions, Milestones, Mio Tags: appetizers, baby, birthday party, brownies, bunting, cake, cake topper, California rolls, cupcakes, dan, family, first birthday, friends, fruit, fruit skewers, futomaki, hors d'eouvres, hummus, Mio, misono, one year, one year old, party, pita, pita bread, smash cake, sugar cookies

On Saturday, we threw Mio a birthday party to celebrate her turning one year old. We held it at Dan’s parents’ house because our own place is too small to accommodate all the guests, but it still got packed with almost forty loving friends and family, and we are so thankful to everyone who made it out to celebrate with us, despite the torrential rain earlier that morning. I had started planning this party about a month ago, and the past couple weeks had been all about preparations for it, and despite some stress and a couple anxiety attacks, I’m happy to say that it turned out to be a wonderful party, and even better than I expected! Thank you to our friends who helped with the cooking and grilling during the party, as well as those who swooped in to help with last-minute preparations. We couldn’t have had such a memorable, enjoyable party without you all! 🙂

Because we have over 300 photos to sort through and video footage that still needs to get uploaded, I’m going to split this up into a few blog posts, or else it will take me forever to get them up. (Additionally, I feel no shame in milking the party for as many blog posts as I can get out of it, because I-worked-hard-godammit! :P)Â So this first post will highlight the party decor, food, favors, etc., while subsequent posts will focus on the birthday activities. Enjoy!

Mio's Birthday Invitation — Invitation for Mio's First Birthday Party

Mio's smash cake. — Mio's smash cake that I baked and decorated for her.

Homemade bunting and lettering cake topper. — I made the cake topper with the bunting and lettering, too!

Party favor mason jar mugs — Custom mason jar mugs that doubled as party favors.

We frosted a custom message onto the glasses. — We created a stencil and frosted 48 of these mason jars so that each guest could take one home!

Complete with a tag and paper straw. — It took Dan and I almost a week to frost the mason jars, but people loved them!

More cupcakes! — It was my first time making fondant, but it was fun!

Homemade macarons... (not the best batch ever, unfortunately.) The pink ones had matcha flavored filling!

Fruit skewers. Special thanks to Sam, Wynn, and Megumi for cutting and assembling them last minute!

I gave these away as favors, too! — Sugar cookies I baked for Mio's birthday. I had a whole bunch more that I packed in 50 little bags as party favors, too!

Futomaki and California rolls that Grandma made — Futomaki and California rolls

The birthday girl! She was so excited that she skipped her morning nap.

hanging decorations — Hanging crinkle fans and pom poms

Mio with Auntie Tarrin — Mio with one of her favorite aunties, Tarrin!

…and this doesn’t even include the hamburgers and spare ribs that were cooking on the patio. Special thanks to John and Brent for grilling them! 🙂

3 month old Izumi-chan — Three month old Izumi-chan joined us for the party.

She is so cute! — So adorable! Hard to remember when Mio was this little, even though it was less than a year ago!

Sung-kook with Jinwoo, Easton, and Mio — There were plenty of babies to be passed around.

…and a couple older kids for the babies to look up to, too.

Lunch out on the patio — Friends spilling out onto the patio to eat.

We were reminded of how truly lucky we are to have such wonderful people in our lives, seeing the outpouring of love at Mio’s birthday party. Stay tuned for more posts in the coming days on the fun activities we had prepared for Mio!