Mama Tried...

Lately, I've noticed that Emi-chan's bangs were getting pretty long. Usually, I'd wait until we're able to see Grandma and ask her to trim her hair, but some of the moms at the Parent-And-Me class mentioned that maybe Emi-chan might have some trouble seeing because her bangs were so long. I observed Emi-chan for a day or so and did notice her tilting her head back to get a clearer view of things. So, I mustered up some courage tonight and attempted to trim the little girl's bangs.

The first thing I realized was that I didn't have the right tools. I didn't have scissors for cutting hair. I did have craft scissors, though. Unfortunately, they were covered in glue (I didn't realize this until I stared cutting). I didn't have hair clips for Emi-chan's hair. I had to scrounge for a comb. I did have a squirt bottle to wet her hair, though. At least I had that. I started trimming/hacking away at her hair. I had no idea what to do. I thought I had learned something while watching Grandma cut Emi-chan's hair, but no way. I was lost. Chop, chop here. Chop, chop there. Here a chop, there a chop. Everywhere a chop, chop. Poor Emi-chan.She was so patient with Mama. Finally, I was "done." It didn't come out too bad. What do you think?

Before...

After...

What do you think, Emi-chan?


Err, I guess she isn't so keen about her haircut...

New Blog!

Although I have a problem keeping up with updating this blog, I decided to team up with a few other women to collaborate on a new blog. It's called 4FoodTourists. The other contributors are: JoAnn of Nevada, Lynn of Washington, and Chris of Japan. What drew us together is our love of eating good food and sharing the joy of food to others. JoAnn planted the idea and we'll see how far it goes. I'm pretty excited about this new adventure! I can't wait to see what the others will post. Oh yeah, I have to post, too. I guess that means I gotta go out and eat!

Experiment #1 (Part 2)

Well, Rick and I survived the night. We had no gastrointestinal distress, except I had a little bloating , but I think it's because I had 2 burritos and a bowl of strawberry yogurt with granola, rather than the fault of the cookies. Rick, the control subject, didn't have 2 burritos and yogurt with granola and was fine. We didn't break out in hives. No heaving. No little wormies in our...well, you get the idea. One box of cookies down. Thin Mints are next! What we do for science.

Experiment #1 (Part 1)

Yeah! It's Girl Scout Cookies time! It's almost as good as Christmas! We've been waiting all year for our new batch of cookies. We've already placed orders for some cookies with 2 Girl Scouts we know, and can't wait for the little girls to start showing up in front of grocery stores hawking their wares.

Now for the experiment part. Yesterday, I was digging around in one of the cabinets and found 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. And rooting around in the freezer, I found another. 2 boxes of Thin Mints and 1 box of Caramel Delights (aka Samoas). All 3 bought 1 year ago. Rick and I contemplated tossing the cookies, but the scientist in Rick and the curious part in me decided we're going to eat the cookies. So we opened up the Caramel Delights, took 1 cookie out, and broke it in half. We didn't see and discoloration or bugs wiggling in the cookie or in the caramel, so we each took a couple of cookies each and ate them. Now, we're waiting to see if we get totally sick. Stay tuned...

(Sorry no pictures today. Too lazy to get the camera.)

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.