Saying Goodbye to Banner Drive

In many ways, Christy & Keoki (Blake's parents) have been our best friends here in San Jose, and their home on Banner has been our second home.  In fact, we lived with them for a year right after college until we saved up enough to buy our condo.  But even after that we would go over to their house several times a week - never less than once a week for Sunday dinner.  We would go when our upstairs condo was too hot - for BBQ dinner and dips in the pool.  We would go sometimes just for Christy's extravagant Saturday morning breakfasts.   We would host parties and dinners - I can count on one hand the parties/dinners we have NOT held at the their home on one hand.  We'd go on walks, work on projects, music, movies, you-name-it.  Claire's room was the one with the red bed.  She called it, "my red room with the shells" (not sure where the shell thing came from).  I had a spot where I always dropped my purse & shoes & misc belongings.  I knew the kitchen as well as my own. 

Yesterday they drove away with their 24' moving truck PACKED tight.  They are retiring out-of-state.   We are really sad to be separated from our good friends, our kids' Grammy & Papa, but at the same time we know that the move is right for them and so glad that they will be with everyone else in the family, and we know that we'll be seeing them regularly.

But the house is another story.  There's going to be another family - ironically, a young family with a daughter about Claire's age and a baby boy who will have their grandparents living with them.  We won't be regulars in the house any more.  I think we're mourning the loss of the house.  And I'm just the daughter-in-law.  That's the house where Blake and his siblings were raised for 25 years.  I'm sure it's harder for him and them than me.

The night we said goodbye for now to Grammy & Papa we had been next door having a bite of dinner at 9:30 at night after packing all day and the kids were melting down.  I didn't get my last longing look at the house and I didn't get to formally explain to Claire that the move was now.  I knew the termite tent would be on by 2PM the next day so we ate lunch and ran over at 12:20 PM to say goodbye to the house.  The tent was already on.  Claire and I were pretty sad.  We parked across the street and stayed in the car.  Claire said "Goodbye house.  I hope you have a happy..." (she couldn't think of a good word here so she then said, " I hope you have a nice family living there."  Good job sweetheart.  That's a great way to look at the situation.  So in my attempt for some closure, I've gone through some pictures to post here.

Anson's 1 year old birthday party in the backyard, where we also had our wedding reception in 2002.  

Below that, both of my baby showers were there.  We've had so many friends join us so many times - Can you see Beth and Dee, Penny, Kim...?

 

 We'll miss lazy Sunday afternoons, especially while Daddy & Grammy were off talking about music for Zion or at rehearsals.

We all love playing Grammy's grand piano.  Blake.  Me.  Even Claire & Anson enjoy banging on the keys.  We'll need to find another piano to get our piano fixes.

So, Goodbye Banner Drive.  We've loved our moments, our years there.  We hope you have a nice new family, too.

Down Time & Anson's New Words

I'm not sure how we had down time as a family, but one night Claire got her play camera and had us pretend like we were using the self timer.  We had so much fun we decided to get our real camera out and let her push the timer button.   Just in case you thought we were always serious take a peek.

In other news, Anson's working on two new words:  "Amen" and "Diaper".  It might seem like a funny combination but it made me realize we say both of those words consistently and about the same amount of times per day.  So, son, well done on picking those up!

Father's Day 2011

We he'd a really nice Father's Day. Well, at least I did and I hope it was great for Blake, too. The day started off like this:

And with a card with this message from the kids (as dictated by Claire):

To Daddy,

Thank you for reading stories, big hugs, tickles, snuggles, big kisses (mmmoo-wah!), going to the park & library, smelling flowers, playing & jumping high, singing songs, playing dress-up, and playing ball. We love you very much!

Love,
Claire & Anson


We hope all you fathers out there had a happy Father's Day, too!

Anson's First Birthday!

We had a fun first birthday party for Anson.  Yakitori (marinated Japanese chicken kabobs) on the BBQ, potluck sides, creamsicle cupcakes, and a pinata decisively not filled with candy (we filled it with organic fruit snacks, 100% fruit roll-ups, crayons, and mini bubbles).

Happy 1st Birthday, Anson!

Here are some pictures of Anson at 1 year.

Our washing machine gives rides during the spin cycle.  The knobs are fairly kid-safe and Anson loves buttons!  He gets to play while I'm doing laundry.

Anson loves music.  He'll conduct music or dance or clap (almost in rhythm) when he hears it.  If the guitar is out he's all over it.  If he's at the piano with you his hands are the only ones allowed on the keys.  We bought him a little toddler electric piano for his birthday

Pre-hair cut.  His hair was in his eyes and he had knappy hair after every nap in the back.

And, of course, didn't hold still....  I make no attempts to consider myself skilled in the hair cut area.

Baths are pretty much his favorite thing to do.  If you say or sign "bath" he'll drop any toy or any food, gets to the bathtub as soon as he can and squeals with delight!

And when Jiichan comes over with his laundry basket the poor grandfather doesn't get a break from pulling the kids around.

Kidisms

I'm trying to simplify my life. One of my methods that I uninstalled Facebook from my iPod. It's working well but when Claire says something amusing I crave sharing it. So I've decided to record them here. This is supposed to be my family journal anyway, right?

Now, for the Claire-ism that prompted this post...
Claire was jumping around practically singing, "I'm a happy girl!"
Me: I'm so happy when you're happy!
Claire: Me, too. We share!

It's true.  We share our joys & our sorrows in families, don't we?

More:
6-07-2011: Something made her giggle and she said, "It's tickling the feelings in my heart!"
06-07-2011:  The "Zeezle" moved something from it's put-away place.

Amanda's 18th - Pokemon Party!

A photo journal entry of Amanda's 18th birthday party!

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY, AMANDA!  It's going to be a GREAT year for you!

Flower Girl

This weekend we attended the wedding of Neil & Rui in the beautiful Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley.  The wedding was intimate and everything was beautiful and tender.  We are so happy for Rui & Neil!

Claire was invited to be the flower girl.  We watched several youtube clips in preparation, got the dress, made a headband (with the hugest white flower Claire could find at the craft store) and had many failed attempts at cute hairstyles and methods of curling.  Even the lure of flower-girl-dom wouldn't keep Claire from taking out everything I tried.

She's been talking about this for several days.  Finally the day came!

We practiced several times as the event was getting set up and decorated.

Anson was in a remarkably good mood the whole time.  Thank Heaven!

 In the end Claire did a great job!  She started out with a finger in her mouth unsure about when to really start going, but took it out in time to hand out flowers to every aisle person on every row.  The one thing we forgot to practice was SMILING.  (sigh)  Standing in front for the whole ceremony was a little long for her.  Once I looked over and she was actually jumping up and down for about a minute.  Luckily in the really tender moments I wasn't distracted by her.  A big THANKS to the bridesmaid Jessie for holding her hand throughout!

 Claire had such a good time at the wedding & reception, and having a friend like Valerie (Blake's buddy Greg's daughter) there put it over the top.

 Rui & Neil, thank you for letting Claire be a part of one of the most important days in your lives.  We wish you every happiness together!