MOM

Right around Mother's day we went to the Downtown Mall and we found this nice MOM sign!

Had to take a photo of course!

We were meeting up with friends for lunch so she took the photo for me.

(Luka didn't want to be in the picture.... )

After some yummy Poke salad and Wood Fire pizza for the kiddos (yum) we of course had to stop by the LEGO store.

Luka built a train in a matter of minutes and wanted to take a photo to remember his creation.

And I got some gifts for Mother's Day!

Kai drew me a beautiful family picture, a letter and a flower bouquet!

Luka also wrote me a letter and a handmade necklace♥♥

沖縄グッズ！

お揃いで沖縄シャツ貰いました！

かわいい！！

My parents recently returned from a trip to Japan, including Okinawa!

These shirts are from Okinawa and they are so cute!

 All matching!

I really like this one...the 2 little ones waiting for Kai to get off the bus.

And it gets better!

I told Luka to say cheese so Milo looks on and gets inspired...

Milo decides to copy Luka....

And here it is!

Squat and scrunch up your face and flare your nose and show those chompers!

Hilarious!

visits !

Auntie went on a solo trip to New Orleans earlier this month and came back with some goodies♥

Some really cute shirts for the kids!!

Thank you Auntie!  Luka LOVES his 'skeleton' shirt.

the Grandparents also dropped by for an early birthday visit for Luka.

Thanks for dropping by!

It's been a busy few weeks that I haven't been able to make it to their house.

Hopefully soon!

Kai's birthday...part 1

カイの誕生日は21日！でも日曜日にケーキとプレゼントを開けました。

風船もたっぷり！

Kai's 3rd birthday is on Tuesday but we decided to have a small celebration on Sunday!

I prepped plenty of balloons!

エリカおばちゃんだ！

look, it's auntie!

"trying" to blow out the candles...

I will upload a funny video tomorrow.

ろうそくを吹こうとするけどなかなか消えません。

のちほど動画をアップします！

日本のケーキ屋さんでケーキを注文しました。

可愛くできて嬉しい！

this year I went ahead and ordered a birthday cake from the Japanese bakery.

I added the extra candles.

Curious George this year!

wow look at that baby butt!! 

ルカちゃんの大きいお尻♥

his two favorites were the alphabet mat and Jake's pirate tent!

and we had a surprise Sunday delivery at our door--Papaw's birthday gift!

Kai's favorite McQueen♥

Thank you Papaw!

日本からお土産！

so my parents have returned from their (all too short) vacation/trip to japan.

seriously, 10 days is NOT enough time to see everything/everyone in japan.

but they had a great time and i'm glad they finally got their vacation together.

here are some of the souvenirs and gifts baby Kai received:

おつかれさまで～す！

うちのお母ちゃんとお父ちゃんが日本から帰国しました。

10日間の短い旅だったけど、楽しんできたそうでよかったです。

日本から海ちゃんへのお土産をご紹介：

お！これは気に入りました！

名前付のはしです。

（ママちゃんもパパちゃんも貰っちゃいました）

みんな梟のおそろいで　きゃわいい～♥

these are personalized chopsticks!

my mom got our names embossed into them.

James, Aibi (my japanese name) and Kai (kai's japanese name)

very pretty~ they're even owls on them! (my favorite right now, if you didn't know)

apparently owls are really popular in japan right now too--!

（これは海ちゃんじゃなく、私が貰いました。あめ大好き、お菓子大好き！）

ok, these are not for Kai, but for me.

CANDY!!!!!! japanese CANDY~!!!!

my favorite kinds, nostalgic kinds, new kinds, ALL KINDS!

これは、男の子の日に飾るそうです。

（女の子の日はお雛様。男の子は鯉幟だけだと思ってたけど、

このような飾りもあるんです！お～勉強になりました。）

and these are the more traditional japanese baby gifts.

some toys, some clothes, and then there's this really cool Samurai helmet display 

that is specifically for "boy's day" in Japan.

Boy's day is on May 5th.

海ちゃん！いろいろ貰って嬉しいね！♥

みんなありがとうございました！

yay Kai! you got so many great gifts--Thank you everyone♥

日本からプレゼント！

なんとKAIちゃんに日本からお土産が届きました！

アンパンマンの赤ちゃん用の食器ですね！

使うのが楽しみ★

cute dishes from a friend in japan

can't wait to use them!

そしてこれ！

赤ちゃんの調理セットです！

これは助かります！

ありがとう★

and this is a cool baby food prepping set.

it's for puree-ing food for when he's read for solids!

handmade goodies...!

check this out!!

so alon is seriously like the craftiest most creative hands-on person i know!
look what she made for the baby!
it's a diaper changing travel pad AND an adorable stuffed animal♥
YES, all made from sewing!

here's what it looks like opened up!
it's got pockets and omg...i LOVE the print!

and here's the stuffed kitteh who will no doubt get slobbered all over in the future!
thank you alon! these are great!!

also, spring and julie knit/crocheted these blankets as well!
they came out gorgeous!
i can only crochet one pattern... i should learn to do these intricate patterns!

shower gifts...!

these are just some of the gifts i received from my awesome co-workers!
so many cute things!
i don't even have the clothes and handmade goodies pictured here!
i'll need to post those next!

yep, that's james' shoe AND future baby shoes!
seriously..look at that! it's soooo tiny!

i built the bouncer right away :)
we temporarily have snoopy sleeping in it--jamus is not amused...

ok, this has somewhat of a backstory.
so my whole time working at emeritus, i've had squirrel things all around my desk.
(c'mon squirrels are uber cute!)
then alon got me the squirrel underpants one day!
(yes, this really exists. you can buy squirrel underpants)

hahaha! well it turns out at Archie McPhee's you can buy and actual canvas painting, framed in gold!! hence the gift! HAHAHHAHA!!!!

it's so great, i'm gonna hang it in the baby room♥ he's gonna be so confused by it...