We were invited to celebrate Anna’s fourth birthday at Mobu Kids playgym in Falls Church! The girls had a blast and we loved seeing and catching up with Anna, Cara, Pat and Theo. 🙂 Thanks so much for inviting us to be a part of sweet Anna’s birthday celebration — can’t believe she is four already!
When we arrived, Mio ran right in and started climbing everything. No hesitation!
Mirei needed a little more coaxing but she eventually warmed up to the play area when I went in with her.
Circle time with the instructors
Mirei with the egg shakers
Mirei was having such a great time!
Mio playing with the egg shakers
Parachute time!
Anna and Mio with the parachute
Anna and Cara in the middle of the parachute
The girls all got to go in the middle of the parachute, while everyone else pulled the parachute around.
Lots of girls!
Mirei refused to get off so she stuck around for the boys’ turn… lol
Mirei didn’t get to wave the parachute up and down, but she definitely enjoyed the breeze from it and seeing the balls bouncing!
At one point, Mirei went under the parachute and got lost under there, which made us panic for a moment:
Dan also captured the funny moment:
Mirei running around in excitement!
Chasing after bubbles with Cara
Such cutiepies!
Mio in her element, scaling the rockwall
The kids enjoying pizza and cupcakes
M&M with their cheeks full of food
Singing “Happy Birthday” to Anna!
Mio loved the cupcake cone!
Pure bliss!
Mirei playing with the water fountain… we were surprised she climbed up on the stool herself and started pushing the button
With lovely mama Pat, one of my dearest friends. ⤠Thanks for inviting us to be a part of Anna’s birthday party! Can’t believe our girls are four… it’s been such a joy to experience motherhood at the same time with you!
We were invited to celebrate Liam and Ellie’s joint birthday party to celebrate them both turning five! It was so much fun seeing our friends and getting our kids together for loads of family fun! There were lots of great food, a well-planned obstacle course, and exciting activities for the little ones. Thanks to the Jubb and Jenkins families for having us!
The spread for the party was impressive!
The kids running out onto the front yard for the obstacle course.
Waiting in line in their teams for the first part of the obstacle course…
…the egg race!
It was Mio’s first time competing in an egg race! She ended up being the last one to finish because her team got a late start and she was the last leg, and she kept dropping her egg, but the other kids cheered her on and she did great! Proud of her ♥
Mirei was too young to participate to participate in the obstacle course, so she stayed comfortable with Daddy.
Part 2 of the obstacle course: ball throw!
Part 3 of the obstacle course: a mummifying game, reminiscent of the toilet paper wedding dress game that’s often played at bridal showers. 😛
Setting up the pinata!
The finale of the obstacle course was the pinata! Here’s Mio taking a swing at it:
When the seemingly invincible pinata finally did get destroyed, the kids descended like vultures!
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!
First year poster for Mirei
Birthday cake for Mirei… intended to be smashed later in the party.
A tower of birthday cupcakes
Dan and I made these cake toppers — both the “one” atop the cupcakes and the one with her name on the smashcake.
hydrangea cupcakes
The items for erabitori
Cookies to be taken home as party favors.
lollipop party favors
First birthday sugar cookies
Don’t look too closely… it was my first time using gold dusting powder on sugar cookies!
Special thanks to Miwa, Hyo, and Elisa who all helped with getting the party decorations up!
Everyone crowding around the birthday girl!
The adorable kids arriving
The aunties
Cutiepies Mirei and Cara
So glad Nancy and her girls could make it! Welcome back to the States!
The birthday girl walking around
Pat and I with our baby girls. Thanks so much for coming! ♥
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!
The day after our routine ultrasound, we gathered a bunch of the family members and had a mini gender reveal party on Saturday afternoon, so that everyone could find out whether our second baby is a boy or a girl. (Some of my siblings had ongoing bets since the beginning of the pregnancy on what gender this baby would be, and they were eager to cash in!) We had some delicious cupcakes ordered from Georgetown Cupcake, filled with either blue or pink buttercream to show what the gender of the baby was! Mio was tasked with revealing the inside filling by biting into a cupcake.
Here’s a video of the gender reveal fun!
Delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake!
Topped with fondant ducks, they were filled with butterecream colored either blue or pink to reveal the gender of the baby.
Pink filling, which means… It’s a girl! ♥
So there it is! We’re thrilled to announce that we’re having a girl! Mio will have a little sister, who she will grow up to (hopefully) be best friends with. I cherish my own relationship with my younger sister, and so I’ve always hoped that Mio would get to experience the same joys of sisterhood. I’m sure they won’t be without their moments of competition and occasional jealousy, but it will be so beautiful to watch them grow up together. As for me, I’m elated to be a mother of two sweet daughters — I’ve always imagined myself a mother of daughters, and I look forward to the bond we’ll share as the ladies in the family. 🙂 Dan is very happy, too; Mio has been more attached to Dan lately and is growing into a total Daddy’s girl, which melts his heart! He’s very doting and protective over his little girl, and I know he’ll be like that with our second baby girl, too. ♥
Continuing from Day 1 in Los Angeles, we stayed in and relaxed for most of the day on Day 2. March 3 also happened to be Hinamatsuri, or Girls’ Day in Japan, and Megumi went all out to celebrate this special day!
Hinamatsuri cookies made by Megumi!
Beautiful Hinamatsuri gift basket Megumi put together for Mio for Girls’ Day! So sweet and generous of her. â¤
We woke up to an amazing breakfast prepared by Megumi.
Possibly the best breakfast potatoes I have ever had! It was surprisingly light but really satisfying.
Homemade scones… I love Megumi’s baked creations!
Refreshing fruit salad 🙂
My kind of breakfast! With a tiny hand sneaking in to grab a bite…
Megumi also got Mio this sweet toy cookie set from Melissa & Doug! Mio immediately fell in love with it. It goes perfectly with her cupcake set back home!
Estella stopped by to say goodbye!
It was great hanging out with Estella and Brent, even for a short time!
For lunch, Megumi was preparing a Hinamatsuri feast and invited a bunch of her Japanese American girlfriends, as Hinamatsuri is a celebration of girls everywhere! We were all floored by how much food she prepared, all according to the traditional dishes that are served for Hinamatsuri. Of course, she put a few of us to work to help with the food prep. 😉 I love helping Megumi cook/bake — it’s part of the fun, I learn new tips and techniques, and all the effort is rewarded with good eats!
Making ichigo daifuku with Emily and Stephanie. It was a sticky process!
The finished result! Ichigo daifuku – mochi with strawberries and red bean filling on the inside. 🙂
Chirashizushi
Pretty sakuramochi
My favorite type of mochi! Does anyone know if there’s a place you can buy sakuramochi in the DC area?
Matcha (green tea) cupcakes
Hinamatsuri desserts, including hishimochi (diamond-shaped colored rice cakes)
Nigiri, futomaki, and inarizushi
Ushiojiru, which is soup with clams. Clam shells in food are deemed the symbol of a united and peaceful couple, because a pair of clam shells fits perfectly, and no pair but the original pair can do so.
Shots of shirozake
The ladies at Hinamatsuri lunch. What a feast! Mio was napping for most of it, but there was still plenty of food for her when she woke up.
Cutiepies Mio (23 months old) and Hiroki (16 months old).
Mio dressed in her jinbei for Hinamatsuri. Here she is upon discovering a cat (behind her) by Megumi’s apartment.
We had such a wonderful time in LA! Thank you to Megumi and Daniel for being such amazing hosts and making our stay so memorable and fun.
Our time in Southern California was short but so sweet! The LA portion of our trip was over, but we still had lots of fun times ahead of us up in Northern California. Stay tuned!
