Sleepy Boy

Blake sent this out to our family yesterday:

Anson turned 2 today and we found our ways to celebrate. Janet updated her blog. We went bowling yesterday. and today Anson decided to start nodding off during his dinner and we decided to capture it on film. It's a fun five minute clip. We hope you enjoy it. We obviously enjoyed it as you can hear from our laughter in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_E9NkmwCKg

Have a great week!

Anson's 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd birthday to my Anson boy! 

Today is Anson's birthday but we celebrated yesterday by bowling with the family.  I don't think we've taken him bowling before but thought he would love it. 

After getting over the fact that he had to wear shoes, and after crying over the first few turns (not sure if he was sad the pins were knocked over or if he was sad to loose the bowling balls) he loved the rest of it.  Every throw ended with clapping and high fives.

This is my Anson.  He's my buddy.  He basically wants to be at my side always.  Even though his separation anxiety drives me crazy when I'm trying to get a sitter or leave him somewhere I appreciate feeling so loved and that I'm important to him.  I do hope I get to leave him in Nursery without him crying but I hope we always love being around each other for the rest of our lives.  He's a happy kid and loves being a part of everything.  He often says, "I see.  I see." or "Me do" or "Me, too".  He also tries to get things done himself, which can be a blessing and a curse, but I'm sure this will be a great personality trait for future success.

Gramma, Uncle Sam ("Koko" for "uncle"), and Amanda joined us.  We all had a great time.

And for his birthday cake, my amazing cousin Amanda helped me make a Totoro cake.  Right now Totoro is his obsession.  He asks to watch it all day long every day.  He shouts along with the characters and sings along to the music every time.

Happy Birthday, little buddy!

The Last Few Months via Instagram (Sorry these are out of order...)

My dad brought some flower clippings from one of his gardens to show Claire.  This is where they ended up.

We were talking about how mom has a mom, and dad has a dad, grandparents have grandparents, etc. To keep people straight we made stick figures with pictures representing something about them.  Both kids still like looking at the pages.  This was one of those teaching moments that came out of the blue based on a question C asked.  The Spirit of Elijah is at work with these little guys. :)

And we got a brand new minivan.  Two strange things for us: new and minivan.

A Sunday afternoon "puppet show" with an audience.

Claire gave a 3 minute talk in Primary all by herself!  Primary is the Sunday School class for kids ages 3-11.  The topic assigned was, "Living prophets teach me to choose the right."  We talked about things the living prophet and apostles teach us,  Claire picked some topics and drew pictures for them.  We wrote the simple sentances on the back so she could remember when she held up the picture for the other kids.  She did a great job!  And super bonus is that Grammy & Papa happened to be in town so they got to hear, too. :D

Even though we were in Utah for only about 48 hours, we had to stop and walk around the place where Grammy & Papa's new super house is going to be.

It wasn't raining that day, but they found the umbrellas.  Just before moving away they started playing out on the balcony more.

We've been saving boxes for a long time in preparation for moving.  Claire adopted one of them.  She and Becki (babysitter) turned it into a magical castle.  Not only did this box survive the move, it's also survived unpacking.  It currently lives on the back patio and still gets played with every day.

Claire was very excited to be taking a plane to Utah for her Kunzler cousin's sealing.  She sat like this for probably half the flights two and from.

While Claire was pretending to pack herself into the luggage, Anson was pretending that he was an engine and the luggage were his train cars.  I'm sure the neighbors did not appreciate the back and forth down the hallway as much as I did.

Being half-Japanese we ate a lot of rice growing up.  And since I do the cooking around here we all eat a lot of rice.  Some people say rice doesn't have a flavor.  It's not true.  Fresh rice out of the rice-cooker is one of my soul foods.  My kids must have inherited this or acquired this.  I caught Anson eating (and loving) a chunk of plain, cold, brown rice before I had a chance to warm it up with leftovers.

I think this photo sums up both musical nature and nurture.  Anson's not even 2 years old yet and he still can hold his own in a "jam session".  It makes me happy.

We sometimes make our goal of going to our temple in Oakland once a month.  This is especially hard during busy season for me, but one Saturday in the depth of busy season we made the commitment to go early in the morning.  It was hard getting up before the sun but by the time we came out the spires and the tulips were encouragingly looking upward.

In case you can't tell, this bear (dressed in doll clothes) is at a picnic.  And this is a common site around the house.   Not this exact set up, but this type of resourcefulness and creativity.  There is no shortage for imagination around here.

We can't break in new luggage without buckling ourselves in for the trip and zipping ourselves inside.

Anson is getting big enough to make things happen on his own!  He found his binky (only allowed for sleep time) and snuggled into the chair where we sing his lullabye.  Every time we snuggle, he also hooks his fingers into the afghan behind us.  My (late) Japanese grandmother made the blanket.  It makes me feel like the generations are somehow connected.

Every Monday night we have family home evening (FHE) as encouraged by modern apostles and prophets.  FHE ideally has a song, prayer, mini-lesson, mini-activity, song and prayer to close, and a family treat.  Every week it looks and feels different, but we always have a good time.  How can eating ice?! 

Anson loved looking at the planes from the ground.  He cried and asked to get off for absolutely the whole flight to Utah.  It's really too bad there isn't a direct flight from SJC to SLC.  On our layover Anson and I bolted to be the first ones off the plane to let him calm down a bit.  Poor kid.

I walked into the room one afternoon and saw this sight which warmed my heart. :)

From behind I couldn't tell what these two were doing sitting perfectly still and silent.  Not sure who started it, but they sat for a while listening to songs together.  I'm pretty sure it was classical music because Claire asked for a song change when a "cool" song came on.

At Chuck E. Cheese my kids are really the only ones who stop and listen to the animatronic band.  The first trip both kids were mesmerized.  I showed tugged at their hands, I shook the cup of tokens in their faces, and they just wanted to stay and watch.  Claire's reply was, "But Mom, they're great!"

Little boy.  Steering wheel.  By himself.  Enough said.

We've been storing up boxes for a long time in preparation for the move.  The kids have played with the big ones in a million ways.

Claire is starting kindergarten this fall!  She was a champ and got a kick out of all the pre-K tests at the doctor's office and the first three shots.  The last two shots didn't go so well...

Before the Utah trip Claire talked and talked about all the things she was going to do in the snow, including catch a snowflake on her tongue.  There was hardly any snow on the ground even though it was February and only briefly snowed flakes a few times.  But she caught one!  Mission accomplished.

Papa and Grammy came out in March for almost a week.  They literally walked in the door, got hugs from everyone, and an invite (kind demand) from Claire to sit down on the couch so she could read them a story.  The preschool reading program has been amazing.  I think I didn't read like that until I was in first grade.  Kids these days!

Driving in the car Claire says, "Mom!  Look!  Those clouds look like birthday streams!"  I had to agree.  It really did look like crepe paper streamers in the sky.

This was my first stack of packed moving boxes.  I tried to do a box every few days.  I consider it an accomplishment during busy season and all!  I'd get a stack like this, then we'd take it to the new house, and then start over.

Pajama Jamming

No back story.  I just want to remember moments like these forever.  Bed head.  Pajamas.  Making music together.

Claire's 5th Birthday Party

We had a really fun birthday party for Claire this year.

We used to always have parties at Blake's parents' home since it had so much more room for people, food, and parking.  This year we decided since we were paying rent for our rental home a month before we moved in we might as well use the space for the party.  We had literally moved nothing in but a few lonely boxes and wall prints.  We used folding tables and camping chairs for furniture.  I don't think the little girls minded.  Thanks go to my mom for letting us borrow most of these!

And this was the first year that she really had a say in her birthday arrangements.

Choice #1: no boys.  I really tried to talk her out of this one because we have so many close friends with sons, and even boys that are her personal friends. But for whatever reason, day after day, every time I brought it up she would think silently about the question and come up with the same answer.  No boys.  She never would offer an explanation, though...

Choice #2: jungle party.  I gave her a party catalog for her to get ideas from.  I really wanted her to have a princess party and have my brother and a friend dress up like a prince & princess to "host" it.  She chose a jungle party because she really wanted inflatable jungle animals (you'll see these scattered through the pictures).  It ended up working out.  The party was scheduled for St. Patrick's day so the green worked in well.  We used green streamers all over the room hanging down loosely and randomly to resemble jungle vines from the ceiling.  We tried to wear green clothes for the holiday & the jungle.

Choice #3: St. Patty's Day cupcakes.  I opted to buy cupcakes for ease of baking (tax season crazy time) and serving/clean up (empty kitchen in the new house) but comforted myself by saying I'd let her choose what she wanted.  The grocery store had a big display of St. Patrick's Day cupcakes as you walk in the door.  I convinced her to still look at the other cupcakes in the store but we still ended up with leprechaun and clover green cupcakes.

 

We had a bounce house in the garage due to the rain (and big thanks to the Coyle's for letting us use it!), jungle animal games, hawaiian pizza (Claire's favorite), presents & cupcakes.  And then more jumping, of course.

Here are more photo highlights:

The most exciting present was a new pet Beta fish.  We now have a family pet.  And it's still alive.

Claire really wanted a bike for her 5th birthday.  Since we knew we'd be in a house soon she got a new-to-us purple princess bike!  Thanks, Blake, for coordinating and cleaning it up to look like new!  Now she has to learn to ride it...