8/28/2011 - Safety First

From Drop Box

Finn received not one, but two Lightning McQueen Scooters for his birthday. We decided that we should keep them both so that both Finn and Dylan could have a scooter to ride. We insisted that Finn wait until we purchased a helmet before he could ride it. He actually LOVES his helmet and was happy to wear it for us. Happy boy. Safe boy!!

8/27/2011 - Birthday Party Madness

From Drop Box

We had an amazing time today at Finn's 3rd Birthday party. Old friends, new friends, and family made for an amazing time. Finn raked in lots of cool birthday presents today. We are experiencing the madness of present opening right now. Old lord, where are we going to put all of this stuff???

8/26/2011 - Cupcake Love

We bought fancy cupcakes for Finn's Bday party tomorrow. Can't wait to dig in! Red Velvet, Chocolate, Vegan Carrot, Sea Salt Caramel and Vanilla. Yum yum!!

8/25/2011 - Lollipop Lollipop

From Drop Box

The boys enjoyed a summer night treat of a lollipop on our stoop. Love the warm weeknights where the boys can play outside and the parents can congregate on the driveway.

8/24/2011 - Don't kiss me!!

From Drop Box

Hilarious Pic. No explanation needed!

8/23/2011 - The Routine

Introducing the chaos that is our house! Every night it is the same drill and you would think that we would have the routine down, but we just can't seem to keep it up. I feel like I need to clone myself and Jesse in order to keep our house somewhat orderly. I know in our heads that we really really want to prevent the mess, but somehow it's like the mess follows us. And most nights I don't have the time and energy to try to remedy the situation. I keep thinking that somehow we are going to catch up, but something else comes up. Life just keeps happening and we can't really stop it. Someday ... we will be rich enough to have someone keep our lives orderly for us. Nah ... I don't really want that.

8/22/2011 - Riding with the big boys

The boys' school is closed for the week for teacher prep week. Baachan and Jiichan are taking them for the week, but she had to work in the afternoon today. It gave me a good excuse to take a half day to hang with my boys. After a nice lunch with some of my girlfriends, we headed to Costco to run some errands. Liam didn't seem to want to ride in the Ergo, so we tried out riding in the cart. He looked so cute riding along next to his big brother. Finn was supportive and sweet to Liam. Liam kept trying to grab onto Finn's hand. Ah, they are growing up before our eyes.

8/21/2011 - Snow White

From Drop Box

Introducing my fairy tale bike, Ms. Snow White. So excited to test her out for a long ride really soon. For today, riding around in our car port and driveway sufficed. It made Finn so excited that he insisted on going on a bike ride with mama. I swear that kid mastered riding his Skuut overnight. It was pretty amazing. I'm not so bad myself, being that I haven't ridden a bike in YEARS.

8/20/2011 - Retirement Party

From Drop Box

After 18 years of working at the I house, Gabe finally quit. Stacy threw a surprise party for him at our place. Her friends Ada and Chris made gorgeous decorations and a pinata in the shape of the I House. Plus, Stacy had a taco truck cater it! Yummy food, good conversation definitely made for a fantastic time for all.

8/19/2011 - Breaking bad habits

I have been a nail biter for as long as I can remember. THere have been times in my life when I stopped the bad habit, but it never really lasted that long. It has been a strange stress relief, while also being something that is a big cause of stress as well. So, here I go on the 500th attempt to stop the habit for good. Step one, paint the nails. Step two, do NOT scratch off the polish. Step three, stop focusing on it. Here we go again!

8/18/2011 - Sitting up

Our little Liam is learning new tricks every day. He has been sleeping at least part of the night in his crib every night for the past couple days. I stuck him in his crib for the night, he seemed in good spirits. So I just layed down on the ground next to crib and waited for the sleep sounds to dissipate. When I thought he was asleep I stood up to check on him and he had moved himself up to sitting and was just hanging out. Things are changing every day! So exciting and sort of sad at the same time.

8/17/2011 - Making Friends

From Drop Box

Tonight was the end of year picnic for Finn and Liam's school. It was fun to be able to meet some of the other parents with kids in Finn's class. Finn got the chance to play with my new mommy friend's son, Evan. The boys are becoming good buddies. I love seeing him connecting with new friends.

8/16/2011 - I do it myself

Finn is in an independent stage and wants to do everything himself. He has never been a particularly neat kid and this new stage is not helping the messiness. We do get some super cute pictures of him with his messy face. The kid is a huge ham. I love it!

8/15/2011 - Cribs

From Drop Box

Liam slept in the crib overnight for the first time. He woke up in the middle of the night and Jesse took that shift. Liam seemed to be in a good mood so Jesse laid the baby down in the crib in Finn's room. I have been scared to make the move over to the crib, but it was great. He slept for about 4 hours in that room. Change scares me so much ... but this was pretty painless.

8/14/2011 - Walk down memory lane

 
Today we hit up the Concord Obon Festival. It was a total walk down memory lane. As a child, we had always been a member of the Japanese America Club in Concord. I must have worked at that festival at least 10 years in a row back in the day. I remember dressing up in my kimono and uncomfortable tight obi to perform Japanese Dances. I remember how good the shaved ice was on those hot August days. I remember how delicious the Udon tasted in the evenings after the Japanese Obon dancing. It was cool to bring my three boys there to experience this. It was also pretty cool to run into some old friends. We just might have to join the JACL in a couple years.

8/13/2011 - Happy Birthday Jesse!

From Drop Box

Today is Jesse's 32nd birthday. We are enjoying spoiling him as much as possible. We had bagels, donuts and coffee on Lakeshore, followed by a quick grocery trip. Then, we took the boys in the double stroller down to the Laurel Street Fair today. It was a nice sunny walk down to our neighboring little hood. Finn enjoyed the petting zoo, bouncy houses and a crazy looking pirate ship ride. Jesse and I enjoyed fresh lemonade, a good cover band and some delish onigiri (Japanese rice balls). The boys had their afternoon naps (Finn is actually still sleeping) and then we will head off to look at bike accessories to pimp Jesse's bike out. Busy, but good day. I think that he is enjoying his day so far and I hope that continues!

8/12/2011 - Awesome Aunt Rhea

From Drop Box

My best friend is visiting from Bellevue,WA this weekend. We braved the commute traffic and dragged two semisick kids along to visit with her. Finn enjoyed watching the Disney Channel on the big screen tv. Liam loved being doted on by Aunt Rhea and Aunt Genie (Rhea's mom). I enjoyed another reminder of the fun in store for Jesse and I, when I played with Rhea's 14 month old. Ahh, we are going to be busy busy parents with our two boys!

8/11/2011 - Cousinly Love

From Drop Box

Finn has had such a fun time playing with his cousin Kai. Today we said goodbye to them. We will hopefully be seeing them around January. I wish that they lived closer because those two boys just love playing with each other. But we will take whatever time we can get!

8/10/2011 - Hand me downs

From Drop Box

We have been lucky enough to receive so many hand me downs for Finn and Liam and we can finally pay it forward. These lovely bags of clothing are going to a lucky friend's little boy! I am thankful to pass them along and get them out my house!!

8/9/2011 - Bibless

From Drop Box

Liam is the strongest little baby I have ever known. Every time we try to feed him baby food, he always manages to rip off his bib. Jesse and I have just given up and let him get food all over his clothing. It saves us time. Rather than continually trying to reattach the bib, we just let him make a mess of his clothing. Most of it will wash out ... we hope.

8/8/2011 - Savoring the summertime

From Drop Box

The weather was warm tonight, so Jesse took Liam on a walk down to Safeway to get us all dessert. He bought little individual serving sizes of 6 different flavors of ice cream. Finn immediately chose the Mint Chocolate Chip. That kid ate his ice cream slowly ... savoring each and every bite. So cute!!

8/7/2011 - Superhero

From Drop Box

Our neighbor kid is obsessed with superheros! His parents purchased him his Halloween Costume Early. It was cool to get a visit from a superhero!

8/6/2011 - Date Night

From Drop Box

We had such a busy and fun day. 163 pictures worth of fun and this is the one photo that defines our day. Jesse and I attended a fabulous wedding in the hills of Carmel. The setting was idyllic. The bride and groom were gorgeous. But the best part was having some alone time with Jesse. I did have the kids on my mind, but really enjoyed just the two of us. We got our drink on, we got our dance on and we definitely got our grub on!! They had the most amazing sliders ever ... and that was just during the cocktail hour! They had an 80's cover band with a lead singer that looked like young Rod Stewart and a guitarist that Jesse thought looked like Dudley Moore. Too much fun. I know that date nights are a rare occasion, so I glad I got to savor this with my hubs!

8/5/2011 - Cousins!!!

From Drop Box

Kim, Tim and Kai have been in town since Tuesday. Finn has definitely been having fun with running around with Kai. Liam got some snuggle time with Kai tonight. So excited to have them all so close in age. In a year or two, they will all be running around together. So great!

8/4/2011 - More fisheye fun

From Drop Box

Love my Jesse!!!

8/3/2011 - A different perspective

From Drop Box

I got a fisheye lens for my camera. Here's a fun picture that Jesse took! We took some goofy pics. I'm going to have so much fun with this!

8/2/2011 - 20% of my lifetime

On the eve of my 34th birthday, I dedicate this post to my lovely and amazing husband. We have been together for over 7 1/2 years which is almost 20% of my lifetime. 7 1/2 of the most fun and loving years of my life. Without you, I would not have my two beautiful boys that give me smiles and love every day. Without you, I would never have been able to accomplish half of the runs that I completed. Without you, I would not feel like the world was my oyster. You make each passing year better and better for me. You make the tough times bearable. You make the good times feel even better. Thanks for making me feel like everyday in my birthday. I love you the most.

8/1/2011 - Train time

From Drop Box

Jesse put Liam down to sleep tonight, so I got the chance to help Finny build his train track. He was proud as can be of his train setup. Such a ham! Just love that smile. It makes me melt every time.

7/31/2011 - First time on a swing

From Drop Box

Finn had a playdate with his new buddy Evan. While the older boys swung higher and faster on the swingset, Liam experienced his first baby swing. He enjoyed it, I think. He especially enjoyed eating the swing. Gross!!!

7/30/2011 - Naptime naptime

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping babe. He looks so peaceful and lovely. Just loving these two boys so much!! He's becoming a good napper. What a relief!