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
We built a snowman!
Showing Mirei the snowman
Mio loving the snow!
A video I took of the girls playing in the snow:
Mirei with a snowball. Ready to start a snowball fight?
Such a sweetheart ♥
Of course, you can’t have a snow day without a snowball fight! Mio joined in and had a blast!
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!
It was impossible to get them to both smile in one shot! Sigh.
Smiling sweetly for the camera! ♥
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, and crostinis as an appetizer.
I ordered the duck leg confit with caramelized brussel sprouts, truffle aioli, and apple cider gastrique.
For dessert, we had the chocolate dumplings with fried pastry shell, melted chocolate ganache, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce.
…and the “omg” flourless chocolate cake. Both were amazing!
Love you hubby! Thanks for a lovely and romantic evening.
When we got home, Mio delivered surprise Valentines gifts from Dan!
A sweet Valentine’s card from Dan and the girls!
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 haul from her classmates. She loved it, and has been treasuring her bag of Valentine’s cards in the days since!
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 telling us about how she sent the Valentine in the mail.
Thank you sweetheart for such a beautiful Valentine! We love you and your sister so much!
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!
On Christmas morning, we gathered with our family to open gifts together with family, but Dan wanted to do something a little special for Mio since this is the first year she really understands the idea of Santa Claus and how he comes to deliver presents to each house. He found out about an app called SantApp, which uses the light and sound features on your phone to create the illusion that Santa Claus is right in your living room delivering presents. He set it up and woke Mio up early Christmas morning. We thought that it’d be hard to wake her up (because it usually is), but as soon as Dan said, “Mio, I think I hear Santa. He’s here!” she jumped out of bed and ran down to the foot of the stairs, from which Dan told her to wait and listen. It was really dark, so I mostly caught just the audio in the video below, but you can hear and see what went on below:
Afterwards, we let her open just one present before the rest of the family gathered later that morning to open gifts. It was her much-anticipated pink octopus that she’s been asking for from “Santa” (actually thoughtfully sent by Uncle Ted and Auntie Jackie) — you can see her happy (and a little bit sleepy) reaction in the following video:
We’re so happy that we could share with Mio some of the magic of Christmas, and bring Santa Claus to our home! We then went back to bed and slept in a little more, before Ted & Elisa came over and it was time for us to exchange gifts…
The gifts under the Christmas tree
This was Mirei’s first Christmas!
Ted & Elisa brought their dog Asher over! It was his first Christmas, too!
Mirei was happiest about the puffs she got from Grandma and Grandpa!
Mio hugging the Zoku Character Kit for our Zoku popsicles that we love to make!
Mio with her Christmas haul. I think she got the most presents out of anyone!
Dan handled cooking most of Christmas dinner, and it was delicious!
Christmas honey ham. So good!
Green beans with mushroom and bacon, made by me. I usually dislike green beans, but ever since my friend Mimi awakened me to this recipe, I can’t get enough of them!
Fresh salad prepared by my mom
Crisp potato roast! This was also delicious, and we made two pans of it!
Dan carving the ham
The family gathered for Christmas dinner
Christmas Day also happens to be my birthday, and this year I turned 32! Growing up, I used to be saddened by the fact that I often couldn’t spend my birthday with friends, or that a lot of them would be out of town when I had a birthday party close to Christmas, but recently I’ve grown to appreciate the fact that I’ve never had to go to school nor work on my birthday, and that my family is usually gathered anyway for Christmas, so I can always spend it with them. In a way, it’s the perfect day to celebrate a birthday!
Celebrating with a birthday cake after dinner
Blowing out the candles… Mio is very serious about helping me out here.
A happy Mio! She loves birthdays.
My first birthday with this sweet chubster! She has made this past year all the sweeter.
Mirei also turned 11 months old on Christmas Day! Her birthday is exactly a month after mine.
Love Mio’s ecstatic expression here!
We hope everyone’s Christmas was just as warm and sweet! There’s so little left of 2014, and we wish everyone the best as we close this year and ring in the new one!
With the holiday season comes so much joy and laughter, and this month was definitely full of funny and sweet moments brought to us by our little girls! Here are some moments that brought smiles (and at times, uncontainable laughter) to our faces!
Mio making “alphabet soup” with her fridge magnets
Mirei creeping up from behind… Mirei LOVES playing with the mixing bowls and strainers.
Mio making funny voices, trying to imitate Minnie Mouse:
Look at Mirei’s ecstatic smile! They are so happy that Daddy’s home from work.
Group hug! So sweet… TGIF for the Daddy’s girls.
The girls listening to the talking Mother Goose doll sent to them from their grandparents in California:
Mio’s preschool had a pajama day, for when Santa came to visit them.Â
Mirei climbed into a cardboard box, we turned it into a makeshift bed… and it did not end well.
Mirei leaning against and hugging her Ojiichan. ♥ So sweet!
Mio on her last day of school of 2014. She came back with lots of Christmas-themed crafts, along with little treats and gifts from her teachers and classmates!
Mio randomly said this repeatedly one night…
Who is “John”?! We actually don’t know any Johns…?
Mio is excited to try Snocream! (Taiwanese shaved ice served out of a bus! Love the ice cube seats.)
A multitasking Daddy!
Mio discovered her purple velour tracksuit twinsie at the grocery store!
…before she fell asleep in the cart. Narcolepsy strikes again!
Mio reading the library book we had borrowed for Mirei. She still loves baby books, and she’s still my baby. ♥
We hope these silly and heartwarming moments bring you some holiday cheer! Can’t believe it’s already Christmas tomorrow!
