Busy Christmas

Finally, things are calming down at the Yoshida Shire. Phew! It was a busy, but fun, Christmas season. It started off with opening presents on Christmas morning. Emi-chan didn't quite get the idea of opening presents, and why there were so many decorations, but she liked playing with Rick's toys.

Your toys are better than mine!

Ted, Yumiko, and Baby Mi-chan drove up to Grandma and Grandpa's place on Christmas day. We went down for the day. It was a little hectic, helping with last minute cleaning, but we had a good time hanging out and eating, a lot.

Grandpa and Mi-chan

The next day, we went back down to Uncle Vince's place to hang out with some friends.. Vince's sister and her family were in town and it was a very nice visit.

A following day, Ted and his clan came up and stayed with us. We went to the Friends' Christmas party and had a blast. Emi-chan was a little cranky. But she did make a new friend...

Emi-chan and Chandler the Cat

Ted and Yumiko gave Vince a Nacho Libre wrestling mask as a Christmas present, and we had fun taking turns being wrestlers.

Nacho Vince!

Nacho Ricky!

Nacho Mi-chan!

Playing a gift exchange game - I hope I get something good!

Then, the day after that, we rushed over to the mall and had the babies' (yeah, I know Emi-chan isn't technically a baby, but she still is to me) pictures taken. Mi-chan did fine. She was so cute and co-operative. Emi-chan, on the other hand, threw a fit and wouldn't sit, stand, lie, or hang still. The photographer finally got a few cute shots of the grumpy girl.

It was a hectic few days. Emi-chan's sleep is still a little off. It was a good week.

Happy New Year!

Emi-chan is asleep despite a stuffy nose. Rick is playing Guitar Hero. I'm updating my blog, Facebook, and MySpace accounts. I didn't make toshikoshi soba, but had spaghetti instead. We toasted in the New Year with sparkling cider and potato chips. I still haven't finished sending out Holiday cards. I'm not done with Christmas shopping. The house is a disaster. But for a moment, all is well.

Merry Christmas

Have a joy-filled day!

Christmas Ornament Tea Party

Recently, some of my girlfriends (Betsy, Calina, Cindy, Dina, Karen, and Lily) and I got together for our annual Ornament Tea Party. I can't believe it. This was our 11th year of getting together! That's a lot of ornaments. Let see...there are 7 of us girls, times 11, equals...a lot of ornaments (I don't do math after 8 PM)!

For the first few years, we just made a Christmas ornament for each woman. What ever inspiration hit us, that's what we made. The past 4 years or so, we decided to choose a theme and make an ornament for each woman based around that theme. For example, one year was fairy tales. Another was fashion. This year was recycling. We all made ornaments out of either recycled items and/or items we had around the home. We were allowed to purchase one item.


We got together at Betsy's home and had a wonderful time. We ate, and ate, and laughed, and laughed, and ate some more.

Then, finally we got around to exchanging our ornaments. I can't believe how talented these women are! I was pretty impressed.

Try to guess who made what

Next year we're trying something a little different. We don't have to make an ornament, but we have to make something for each woman with red as a theme.

Calina and Lily

Betsy and Karen


Missing, Dina and Cindy, and Me (I'm taking the picts)

Eating Beauty

Emi-chan was sick on and off since before Thanksgiving. It's been miserable. Not only for her, but for Mama and Papa, too. She was waking up every couple of hours because she couldn't breathe. She wouldn't eat. Yellow-green snot hanging from her nose (sorry for the gross imagery) and all clinging on us (we're clean now). Whining. Crying. Yaargh! Finally, she's better, and Rick and I are exhausted.

Now that she's better, Emi-chan's appetite has come back - with a vengeance. She's eating us out of house and home! She's even waking up in the wee hours of the morning because she's HUNGRY. Emi-chan's been demanding 2 eggs every morning. Plus she's eating things she's never tried or liked before. Oatmeal, pork spare ribs, chicken stew, ice cream, cheeseburgers, b-b-q chicken, just to name a few. Oh! And she's eating bread!!! Lordy! We thought she would never, ever try it! She does have a few quirks, though. She likes wheat bread with hummus, and for white bread, she likes mostly the crust.


She also tried an apple today. A big, unexpected surprise. I've been trying to get her to try apples for months, with no luck. I've been peeling them, pureeing them, slicing them, making cute little apple bunnies with them. All ejected. Recently, Emi-chan's became obsessed with apples on TV and in her books, so today when we went to Safeway, I bought a couple for her to look at. Before I knew it, she was gnawing on one, and seemed to enjoy it. Yeah!

Now, if she would try to eat veggies...

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope your day is filled loving family, wonderful friends, good food, and much fun.

Dina' B-day

How embarassing! I forgot to post about Dina's birthday a couple of weeks back. I've been a little preoccupied with Emi-chan's cold and temper tanturums.

It was a fun party. It was an adults only party (No. Not THAT kind of party). No kids, unless you couldn't get babysitting. Fortunately, Grandma and Grandpa were able to come up and take care of Emi-chan so Rick and I had a free night. Yeah!

After making an emergency trip to Home Depot to buy a dryer (ours finally died), we made our way to Rich and Dina's place. There were a lot of good friends and, of course, good food. We also played Scrabble. Just to let you know, Rick had never played Scrabble, and I haven't played since...I guess...5th or 6th grade. So this game was a bit of a challenge for the both of us. It's kind of funny to think that 2 people, Rick who doesn't know many long words, and me who can't spell playing this game. Needless to say, we didn't win. That's okay. We had fun.



We hope Dina has a wonderfully blessed year!

We Love LA

Recently, we took a quick trip down South to visit Ted, Yumiko, and Mizuki. This was the first time for me and Emi-chan to see Mizuki-chan. I was so excited! Emi-chan had no idea what was going on, despite Rick and I talking to her about riding a plane to visit her cousin and showing her videos of plane crashes on YouTube. Vince went down with us, and we were grateful that he was with us. He was a great help and a wonderful comedy relief.

Emi-chan freaked out on the plane. We decided not to use a car seat for her. Instead, we decided to use a CARES harness. The concept is great. Just use the harness and the seat belt on the airplane seat to buckle the child in instead of the bulky car seat. The website has pictures of smiling, happy children in their harness. Emi-chan was not one of them. She freaked out and screamed. And screamed. And screamed. She tried to tear the harness off. The people sitting around us kept glaring. But who cares about them! I'm dealing with a inconsolable toddler. Finally, she fell asleep and the rest of the flight was pretty quiet. I still like the idea of the harness. I think I should have prepped Emi-chan better.

Eventually, we got to Ted and Yumiko's apartment and saw Mizuki-chan. She's so cute! And smiley! And light (compared to a 30-lb. toddler)! Everybody loved her hair. It stood up like a little bush, and the tips looked like they were tinted reddish-brown. So cool.

The reason why the two aren't looking at the camera is because of ELMO.

The next day, we went to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. It's a fun shopping area. So many stores, so little time. And tons of street performers. Some were very good. Some were so-so. A few were pretty bad. TONS of people milling around. All kinds of people. Rich and poor. It's a great place to shop and people watch. We ate lunch at Hooters.

It was a belated birthday lunch for Vince from Ted and Yumiko. It wasn't my choice. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were quite a few families and tourists. And a lot of men. And cute, tiny, long haired girl-women waitresses in tight t-shirts. The food was okay. It was fun, though. The waitresses kept coming to our table to look at Mizuki-chan and Emi-chan snagged a key holder from one of the waitresses. A free souvenir. Happy belated b-day, Vince.

Later on, we Vince, Yumiko, and I went to see the promised land: Pinkberry. I wasn't sure what to expect. Just that it's the most sought after frozen yogurt on the planet. I got my order (green tea and chocolate), I was shocked. It was tart. It was sweet. It was SOUR. It was good. Rick HATED it. I see why so many women hunger after it. It satiates a certain craving women have that just sweet doesn't satisfy (especially during that time of the month).

Yumm-o

The next day, we drove over to Little Tokyo to have lunch with No-ah. It was good to see her. We ate at a place called Oiwake. It had a $7.50 buffet and pretty kid friendly. The food was decent and there was plenty of room to move around. Emi-chan had a hard time. Little sleep. Weird food. Hot Santa Ana winds. New people. She had a break down later on. Poor baby.

Rick and Vince ended the trip with a round of Guitar Hero.


On the way home, Emi-chan did better with the harness. It helped that I kept her medicated with chocolates.

Hopefully, we can take another trip down South to visit Ted, Yumiko, and Mizuki-chan again.

Happy Halloween!

Emi-chan went trick-or-treating for the first time tonight. I don't think she understood what was going on, but she had fun running around in her Abby Cadabby costume. And we had fun getting candy she can't eat, but we can.


So, okay, Emi-chan doesn't look like she's having fun, but trust me, she did.

A New Hobby

A few months ago, Rick started a new hobby. No, it isn't hang gliding at night dressed like Batman, or building the Millenium Falcon out of toothpicks. It is (drum roll please)...composting! Yes, the Yoshidas are going green. Or at least Rick has. I still toss plastics out in the regular trash and Emi-chan doesn't care either way, yet.

About 6 months ago, he noticed that the avocado plants he was babying were looking a little pale and weak. He began collecting used coffee grounds and left over salad in a container and once a week or so, he buries the pile in one of the planters in our "garden." He keeps the container in the fridge, so I have to be careful that I don't grab the compost container instead of the chocolate pudding container when I'm reaching for a snack. In the beginning, the front area of our home STANK. I wonder if that was the reason why in the newsletter the homeowners association sends out, one of the articles was on how we need to keep our patio areas pleasant for others. Oh well. The smell didn't bother me. I just kept the windows closed. Now, we have rich, black soil which nourishes our precious avocado plants...and the squirrels which periodically dig up the pile to get to the veggies.

A couple of months ago, Rick noticed a vine growing out of the compost pile. It turned out to be a tomato plant. We became organic farmers by accident.


Eventually, we had a handful of tiny tomatoes which were very yummy in our dinner salad.

Alive...

...and mostly kicking. We're down with colds and just plain tired. Here are some videos we enjoy. Hope you like them, too.



I don't know why, but I love this video.




I know, everybody's seen this one, but we love it.



This is Emi-chan's favorite video

Oh My...

...it's September! I lost track of time. It's been an especially hectic month. A bad hard drive didn't help, either. Now that we're all down with a cold, I have a little bit of time, and energy, to catch up and reflect on the past few weeks.

At the end of August, No-ah came to visit! Yeah! I haven't seen her since...before Emi-chan's birth. She's one of my oldest and closest friends, although she lives down South. Somehow, we've been able to maintain a strong friendship. No-ah couldn't stay and visit very long, but it was great to hang out with her and catch up.


Over the Labor Day weekend, we took a quick trip to the beach and visited Vince. At the beach, Rick and Vince had fun building sandcastles.



At Uncle Vince's, Emi-chan learned how to play video games with Selena...


...and Rick and Vince competed on Rock Star. I think they enjoyed this more than the sandcastles.

Rick was pretty pooped out from a fun filled day.



September 6th was my birthday. Yeah, yeah, rah, rah. I'm 41 years old now. Great. Not very exciting, but Rick got me some very nice desserts. Love, love.


Recently, I met up with an old friend, Lisa TS and her sister, Doreen, for lunch. Lisa is my oldest friend. We've known each other since junior high. I think we met in French class. It was fun hanging out. Thanks, Doreen, for distracting Emi-chan so I could scarf some lunch and speak 2 full sentences in a row. Hopefully, we can get together again soon for lunch, and Emi-chan will be in a better mood.


Gran Gran was feeling better, so her cousin, Yasuko, drove up from LA to visit. They haven't seen each other in about, oh, 40 years or so. They had much to catch up on.

Here are the young ladies together at last.

Although having the cold is a pain, it at least made us slow down and hopefully enjoy the rest of the month.

Happy Anniversary

Our duo events cake

This past weekend was our anniversary. Rick and I have been married for 4 years! Imagine that! It seems longer. Only kidding...sort of. It's actually have been 4 good years. Grandma and Grandpa came up to help watch Emi-chan while Rick and I went out on the town for our anniversary and painted the town milk toast white.


First off, we went to a restaurant called Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant at Vallco Mall (or Cupertino Square; what ever they want to call it). The restaurant was huge! and packed, but we were seated right away. Before we sat down, we were inundated by dim sum carts. The cart drivers(?) were a little aggressive and we got a couple of things we really didn't want because they kept pushing the little steamer baskets at us. Oh well. The food was pretty decent over all, except for a shrimp and veggie dish. We thought the white disks in the basket were water chestnuts or scallops, but they turned out to be sliced dough balls. Oh yeah, and the baus I thought were char siu baus were actually filled with custard. If I knew they were custard baus, they would have been fine. As char siu baus, they were awful. Not what I expected so my mind and tastebuds were discombobulated.

After dim sum, we got to do some things we haven't been able to do the past few months: go to a comic book store, go clothes shopping, go to 2(!) bookstores, and toast our anniversary with bubble tea and Jamba juice. You're probably thinking, what a boring couple. Well, we are. Besides, these are things we haven't been able to relax and do with Gran-Gran recuperating and we running her errands with a whiny toddler. We actually thought about doing something crazy and go out for a movie (oooh), but we couldn't decide on which one (actually we did. It's no longer playing in the area). So, we saw Ruff Ruffman at Macy's instead (no pictures. He was covered with little kids).



After a short pit stop at home, we went out to Kabul Afghan Restaurant. The restaurant is in an odd strip mall, by a Jack In The Box, tanning salon, and a donut place, but boy, was It good! Rick had lamb kabab, and I had gulpi challawa, a type of beef and cauliflower stew. We ended the meal sharing a nice piece of baklava. We want to go back again, and again to try out the other dishes. Maybe we'll be adventurous and bring Emi-chan with us, once she starts eating solids again.

It was a fun, sort of relaxing weekend. Now, for some down time. I don't know if we can take any more excitement.

Random shot with Rick and Emi-chan

Happy Birthday!

Today is Rick's birthday! May the Force be with you this year, Papa!

A Wedding

Recently, Julie and Ozzy got married in a private ceremony and invited friends to a fun and relaxing reception on the beach. We were a little worried about the weather, but it was a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz.


Julie looked lovely and happy, and Ozzy relaxed and manly. And there was a lot of good food and good friends.

We got a late start and got stuck in traffic (slowed down by 3 accidents), and we circled for about 15 minutes looking for parking once we got to the beach, so we were over a hour late. Once we got there, we found out there was no need to rush. The reception hadn't started yet. Phew.

It was Emi-chan's first time at the beach, so like any good toddler, she got grumpy and didn't want to be put down. Carrying her around was no problem when she was an infant. Now that she's a 28-pound 17-month-old, not so easy any more. The sand seemed to really bother her. Ironic, since she's always eating fistfuls of the stuff whenever we go to the park. Once we got her out of the sun and she saw a few familiar faces, like Auntie Selena and Uncle Nathan (see Nathan, I said something nice!), she loosened up and started having fun.

Emi-chan loved playing with the other kids, following after some friendly dogs, and especially playing in the water. She got upset whenever we took her away from the water. She's turning into a true water baby.

Yeah! Water!

The kids at play.

It was a joy filled day celebrating Julie and Ozzy's day.

Introducing...

...the cute and wonderful little Mizuki! Isn't she a doll? Rick, Grandma, and Grandpa had a good time visiting her, Ted, and Yumiko 2 weekends ago. I can't wait to meet her in person. Poor Emi-chan. She's going to be dethroned.


Here are the tired but proud parents. Don't worry. You'll eventually get some sleep.

July Synopsis

Finally! I have some time to blog! It's been a stressful month trying to take care of Gran Gran. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa, and some kind friends have been very generous in giving their time to babysit Emi-chan and cook a couple of dinners for us.

This month hasn't been all depressing and stressful, actually. We were able to have a few fun, mostly carefree days.

Auntie Julie and Emi-chan

The first event was celebrating Julie and Ozzy's engagement (yeah)! The dinner/shower was held at Sonoma Chicken Coop in Campbell. The food was pretty good. Much better than I expected. We were tucked into an out of the way corner of the restaurant (we had to go through a maze to get there), but there was plenty of space to move around, to relax, visit people, and let the kids run around. And run around they did. Emi-chan loved it, especially playing with the little girls. Also, this is where Emi-chan learned how to scream and we all learned how LOUD she can get (her screams feel like a sharp skewer going through your head, over and over and over again). It was a fun night celebrating a joyful event.

More of a poof than a boom

The second day was Fourth of July. We drove down to Monterey to Uncle Vince's house for a B-B-Q and to watch the fireworks from the hill he and his mom lives on. His sister and sons were in town for a week long visit. We wondered if we would be able to see the fireworks because of the fog that rolled in and the smoke from the Big Sur fires. Sure enough, the fireworks were pretty lackluster. When the fireworks went off, most were lost in the fog and smoke. What didn't get lost, got cut off. We saw some pretty clouds, though. The most important part of the day was that we got to eat some good food...and hang out with friends. It was fun just eating, laughing, and relaxing.

Yeah! I'm the center of attention!

The third event was Emi-chan's first visit to the Build-A-Bear Workshop for Hannah's birthday. Emi-chan was so excited. First, there were so many bears! and accessories (she loves the bling)! and all these kids! She didn't know what to make of it. She spent most of her time laughing, clapping her hands, running around, and screeching. Good thing the bear stuffing machines are loud. They muffled the painful parts of her screeches. She chose a doggie to stuff. Actually, I chose the doggie and its accessories because she was too busy running around accosting other kids and trying to take their animals. Ah yes. I can see her in the future. Emi-chan the playground bully. Anyways,she loved it at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. I might take her back sometime in the future, when we have more time, more money (the animals are fairly inexpensive; it's the paraphernalia you gotta buy that'll get ya!), and when she stops taking things from other kids...so it means we won't be back for a really long time.

So, we had a fairly good but busy month. Hopefully, the next month will be fairly quiet (hope, hope, please God, please!).

Note: Although this post was started on July 25th, I didn't actually get it done until July 28th.

I'll Be Back...

Things are starting to calm down a little bit at the Yoshida Shire, but I'm exhausted. Gran-Gran is getting better, and Emi-chan's teeth aren't bothering her as much...although I think she's giving us a taste of the terrible two's lately.

I'm working on a new post. Hopefully I'll have it up soon. Until then, please enjoy these videos I found during my moments of insomnia.

I want to dance with stormtroopers, too!

How geeky, I have most of the insults from this movie memorized.



Glue! I need glue!

Yeah!

Some good news! I'm an auntie now! And Rick is an uncle and Emi-chan has a cousin! Ted and Yumiko had their baby a couple of nights ago. Her name is Mizuki Kylie (I hope I spelled her name right) and she's so cute. We saw her on a web cam (not of the birth, but a few hours after). No photos, yet (HINT, HINT). We hope to see her in person soon,

A Mind Going in Circles

Gran-Gran is laid up with a broken hip. Emi-chan is teething - again. Unca Jeff is depressed. I keep losing my wallet, car keys, and cell phone. The air quality sucks because of the wild fires. Gas prices are worse. How do I help Gran-Gran when she gets back home? What do I cook for dinner tomorrow? What stores have the cheapest prices for groceries? Where did Emi-chan's shoes go? When is Rick going to buy new shoes? Can I afford to buy another pair of shoes? This is just the tip of the iceberg of the things that have been on my mind. No wonder I can't sleep. Oh, to be a toddler and have no real worries. But then again, she might have some worries I can't see.

Happy Father's Day

I'm late! But I hope all the father's out there had a good day today. Hopefully it was full of fun, laughter, and no bad attitude.

Fun Times

It's been a busy last few weeks at the Yoshida Shire. Where do I start? First, Rick, Emi-chan and I were totally rooting for Larissa on Jeopardy and was totally bummed when she lost after 7 days. She was awesome! We thought she was going to be the next Ken Jennings. After a little lull, we watched Sameer Mishra win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Yeah Sameer! We were on the edge of our seats. Then, there was a 10 millionth showing of the Deadliest Catch marathon. Every time it's on, we have to watch it. (Discovery Channel must have a Deadliest Catch marathon on every other week. On the off weeks, it's either Mythbusters or Dirty Jobs...don't they have any other shows?) Will Captain Sig and the Northwestern catch their quota of opilio crab? Will Blake get a chance to captain the Maverick? Are these men insane to fish during ice storms? Yes, yes, and yes. Emi-chan gets so excited when she sees kids, we let her watch the Jon and Kate Plus Eight marathon. She loves the show. This show has made us thankful that we do not have more than one. Now, Sci-Fi channel is showing more Star Trek! Star Trek: The Next Generation is on Monday nights, and on Tuesday nights, Star Trek: Enterprise is on. Oh boy! More Klingons! More Borg! More fake science! Good thing TNT wasn't showing a Lord of the Rings marathon, or we would never get anything done.

By now, you're probably thinking, do the Yoshida's do things other than watch TV? Do they go outside? And the answer is: Yes and yes...sometimes...when the pollen count is low, and the sun isn't out. Only kidding. We do go out to get food and toilet paper and stuff.

This past Memorial Day, Rick and I thought it might be fun to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and visit Uncle Vince. So, with guest passes in hand (thanks D and Uncle Rich!) we made our way down and hung out with Vince, Nathan and Selena. After lunch, Rick took a nap and we the rest of us hung out. Then we realized the aquarium was going to close in 2 or 3 hours, so we got ready and woke Rick up and headed to the aquarium. Once we got in, we were hit by a wall of people. Holy cow, I thought, there's more people here than fish! We couldn't take our time to look at most of the displays, but what we saw were awesome. They did a great job updating the Splash Zone. Emi-chan was intimidated by the crowds so she really didn't try out the exhibits, but she enjoyed being held and watching the fish and sea otters up close.

Checking out the sea otters

Hanging out with Uncle Vince

Ohh. Jellies

We are family...at least 2 of us are having fun

On June 1st, we went to Calina's 30-something birthday party. Ken, her hubby, actually said it was a party to celebrate the last year of her 30ies, but 30-something sounds better. It was a fun night catching up with friends we haven't seen in awhile. We found out Emi-chan likes udon noodles. Rick caught her sticking her fist into Daniel's bowl and eating out of it. Daniel was in a bit of a shock. I don't know if he finished eating out of that bowl.

Happy Birthday, Calina!

So, as you can see, we do get out sometimes. Now, back to My Name is Earl reruns...