Chloe's Minnie Party

This year we did a Minnie Mouse themed party for Chloe's birthday.  She just loves Minnie Mouse (not really into Princesses yet) and the timing of our Disneyland trip was perfect!  Our family and close friends came over to help us celebrate and even though you can't tell from the pictures, Chloe had a blast!  We don't know why she refuses to smile for the camera.  She had a straight face pretty much all day until her car was put together.  But you can still tell she was having fun! :)  A special thanks to my Mom for (always) helping with the food and making the most adorable cupcakes and to Jen for helping me cutting out ALL those decorations, getting the Mickey Mouse mac & cheese when you went to Disneyland (as well as the rest of the favors I needed) and for lending me your sandwich maker!  Of course I suck at taking pictures at my kids' parties so I have no pics of the decoration or the fun food. :(

 This was the best pic I could get of her in the whole outfit.  She REFUSED to let me take a pic! She kept turning away.

 The cake & cupcakes.  My Mom did such an awesome job with the cupcakes!

See...not even smiling while opening her presents!!

The famous car from Auntie, Uncle & Amo Bachan that finally put a smile on Chloe's face!

All tuckered out after a fun party!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

2 years ago our sweet baby girl entered our lives.  I must admit that I didn't want a girl at the time, but now I can't imagine life without her!  She has made our family complete and added some much needed girliness into our home.  I absolutely love having a girl and a boy and I absolutely love that they have each other.

Chloe, we love you so super much!  Thank you for keeping us on our toes and keeping us laughing!!

Christmas Tree!

This year I really wanted to get our tree early!  Usually we wait until a week or so before Christmas and it is always slim pickins.  I wanted to go early and pick the perfect tree so we went Thanksgiving weekend.  The kids had fun and we took the same pictures we take every year!  We can't help it...they are just so cute!! :)

Growing too fast!

Usually we tie the tree to the roof of the car and then sit the kids up there and take a pic (just like my family did when I was little). This year it was easier to just throw it in the back of the van so that's where the picture took place!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house again this year!  It is always a great day because the family all gets together!  It's usually pretty low key.  We just eat, hang out and enjoy each other's company. A great time was had by all!  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

This was the only pic where we got both of them (kind of) looking at the camera.

Olivia's 1st Thanksgiving!  The turkey was bigger than her!

Kari made a Thanksgiving turkey for the first time!

Police Department Visit

Since I had the week of Thanksgiving off, I was looking for fun things to do with the kids.  My friend, Dave, from high school works at the Menlo Park Police Department and invited us to come down to the station!  I knew this was something Dominic would absolutely LOVE so we took him up on his offer!

First Dave, who is a detective, showed us his work space and gave the kids some stickers & coloring books.  The next stop was an interrogation room and their jail.  It didn't look so much like a jail. It was just tiny rooms with a bed & toilet.  There was an area outside the jails where there was a bench that had handcuffs attached to it.  Dave explained that this area was where they kept the bad guys and they used the handcuffs to make sure they didn't run off.  I think this kind of freaked Dominic out.  He was super shy and quiet (which is totally unlike him!).

After that, Dave took us outside where we got to Dominic's FAVORITE part!  Dave drove a police car down (with siren on & everything) and let Dominic sit inside and play around with the buttons!  Dominic spotted the motorcycles so Dave not only brought him over to the bikes to check them out, he let Dominic & Chloe sit on them.  They thought that was the coolest thing!

After the tour, Dave took us to lunch and it was so nice catching up with an old friend!  I think Facebook for making it easier to keep in touch with good friends from different times in our lives.

Thank you so much, Dave!

Dominic's Sign

At the East Hills Preschool Auction last year, we placed the winning bid on naming the street sign for the school's driveway.  We tossed around ideas for the sign.  Did we want to name it after Dominic or after the family or what?  We asked Dominic and he said he wanted to name it Family.  So cute!!  In the end, Dave & I decided to go with Dominic Drive.  Once the new sign goes up next year, we'll get to keep Dominic's sign and put it up in his room.  So when Chloe goes to the school, we'll try to win the sign again and name it after her for her room!

We attended the annual planting day at school and took the opportunity to take a few pics of Dominic with his sign!

Everyone pitching in for planting day!

Plantings done, play time! 

Dominic & his sign! 

Disneyland!!!

Dave started the Executive MBA program at Santa Clara University this year.  As part of the program, his cohort goes on a trip to China for 10 days.  To try and distract the kids from his absence I planned a trip to Disneyland for the last half of Dave's trip.  I'm so glad I did because Dominic has been so attached to Dave lately and he missed him so much!  The morning Dave was leaving for China, I went downstairs after waking up and found this on the couch...

Dominic had woken up in the middle of the night while Dave was still up getting everything ready for his trip so Dave let him come downstairs and took a little nap with him on the couch.

Luckily my parents agreed to come along to Disneyland and help me out!  I don't think it would have gone as smoothly otherwise!  Even though the weather wasn't so great, we had a blast!  There were no crowds, we pretty much walked onto every ride and since the park hours were shorter (10-8ish) we didn't have to get up early or stay up late!  The kids met all sorts of characters (and this time Chloe wasn't afraid of them!).  They went on all sorts of rides!  Dominic did save one of his favorite rides for the next time he came with Daddy.  One of his favorites is Soarin Over California.  He went on that ride twice with Dave last time we were at Disneyland.  When I asked him if he wanted to go on this time, he said "No, I go on that ride with Daddy. We should come back with Daddy."  Okay. We'll most certainly do that!

Just waiting for Bachan & Jichan to wake up so we can hit the park!

IHOP & Disneyland...2 of Dominic's most favorite things!

First time on Star Tours 

Mine & Dominic's scores on Toy Story Mania.  When he went on again with my Mom, his scored improved to over 20,000!! 

Ready for a cold & rainy day at the park 

Minnie & Friends breakfast! 

Chloe was SO EXCITED to meet Minnie this time! 

There was something about Rabbit that Chloe just loved.  She kept giving him kisses on the nose and Rabbit just loved that!  He gave Chloe a really sweet hug before he went to the next table. 

More love! 

Having fun on Dumbo!

We always have to get a pic on the fire truck!

Running through Downtown Disney in our ponchos 

A Disneyland tradition 

Finally meeting the big guy himself!