Celebrations Archives - Page 2 of 8

k is 11!

January 2, 2018 No Comments

This year our winter break started relatively late, so k actually had to attend school on her birthday. We do friend birthday parties every other year, so this year was a small family dinner celebration. k requested Panda Express takeout, and my mom made Spam musubi and chap chae. Unfortunately, my mom was not feeling well that day so she was not able to make it.

n photobombing the mini cupcakes.

Mini mango mochi with sorbet.

I am excited for k’s new adventures for 2018, including Outdoor Science Camp with her classmates, bridging with her Girl Scout Troop in San Francisco, and possibly two different week-long camps with church friends in the summer. It is really difficult for me to believe that we will have a middle schooler this year!

Celebrations, Napa

Thanksgiving In Napa

December 4, 2017 No Comments

I do not think that I wrote about this here before, but D’s dad passed away in July of this year. So, this was our first year celebrating Thanksgiving without him.

This picture from 2008 is one of my favorite Thanksgiving pictures with k and her grandpa.

We met up in Napa with D’s mom, sister and brother and his family after our camping trip. We visited grandpa’s site and placed flowers on it (still waiting for the headstone).

It might seem strange to take a family picture in a cemetery. However, it is a beautiful place, especially with the fall foliage and it seemed appropriate.

Cousins!

There was a beautiful sunset that night.

We ate dinner at the Marriott.

Isn’t this a pretty fall salad?

Mahi Mahi

Porkchop was an A+!

The kids shared an adult salmon entree and a kids’ grilled cheese. It might not have been traditional Thanksgiving food, but it was a nice dinner!

Celebrations

Happy Halloween From A Snowman + Jango Fett

November 1, 2017 No Comments

Testing out my new camera that D gave me for my 40th birthday. We went to our annual pizza party at the pool (thanks, Jeff Jones!) and went trick or treating around the neighborhood. D went back a little early to watch the World Series.

I wonder how many kids actually followed my instructions. n wrote the numbers on the bowls for further guidance–haha!

Celebrations, Family Field Trips

Father’s Day @ Huntington Beach

June 20, 2016 No Comments

We are officially on Summer Break! One of the things on the kids’ summer bucket list was to go to the beach. Even though it is not that far away, we rarely go. Saturday was the perfect day to go since we are in the middle of heat wave. The bad thing is that it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. Parking was a nightmare, but once we put our feet in the sand, it was all good. I actually needed a jacket because it was pretty breezy!

We ended up at Huntington State Beach. The kids did all of the classic beach sand activities:

Filling up their tunnel with water.

Burying someone in the sand.

n also worked hard on this tri-level sand recliner. Happy Father’s Day!

Celebrations

Baba’s Birthday

May 17, 2016 No Comments

I’m skipping ahead a few posts to wish my dad a happy birthday. We had a combined early celebration with Mother’s Day. That is what happens when we have so many things to celebrate!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake–not sure why it has five candles. I really appreciate the special bond between my kids and my dad. Happy birthday!

Celebrations

A Lovely Mother’s Day Weekend

May 14, 2014 No Comments

D was able to zip around in an MX-5 over the weekend. He even took the kids for a test drive, but only around our neighborhood.

We hosted our small group on Friday night. On Saturday, two of my college roommates stopped by for a short visit. It is always fun catching up with them.

On Sunday we had breakfast at church (pancakes, eggs, fried rice and shoyu sausages + jook for those who want it). After church we hosted a joint celebration for Mother’s Day and my dad’s birthday. D christened our bbq that we received last year.

We sang happy birthday to my dad and ate this cake from Costco, which should be called “Death by Chocolate”.

One of my Mother’s Day gifts was a Grand Canyon puzzle. Hopefully there are no missing pieces!

Celebrations, n

Happy 5th Birthday to n!

March 28, 2014 1 Comment

On n’s actual birthday, we celebrated as a family, at home. We tried to duplicate the ice cream nachos from Farrell’s that he loved so much last year.

For his birthday party, he invited a small group of friends and we went to BrewBakers in Huntington Beach for a root beer and pretzel party.

The place is quite small, and there was another large party scheduled right before us. There was too much “down time” for my liking, but it all worked out in the end. Here the kids are rolling out their pretzels.

Next came the brewing of the root beer!

They had the kids play “kick the keg”.

Next we were shown how to bottle the root beer.

Finally, we sang Happy Birthday and ate skateboard-themed cupcakes that I made for the occasion.

We let the kids enjoy some of the root beer at home. It was really good, probably the best I have had. The flavor had a lot of depth. I’m still having a hard time accepting that n is really five years old!

Celebrations

Rainbow & Butterfly Birthday Party

October 8, 2013 2 Comments

I haven’t been blogging recently because I feel like we haven’t been doing anything “blog-worthy”. There were some activities that I thought we could do this past weekend, but then it was so hot and windy (and smoky, due to a fire, on Sunday), I just felt like staying inside. We did help with our church’s rummage sale, though. The kids enjoyed sorting, and we scored some good finds, including a sauce pot and non-stick frying pan. We also used my birthday BOGO for Souplantation, also a favorite with the kids.

The weekend before, k went to a school friend’s birthday party at Pump It Up! The birthday girl’s mom is very creative/crafty and went all out with the theme, as you can see (so cute!):

I appreciate how, at this stage, all of the parents have opportunities like these to get to know each other better.

Celebrations

Pool Party @ Splash Zone

August 12, 2013 No Comments

The reason for our recent absence is that D and I spent the last week in Baja, Mexico building houses with our church. I took a lot of pictures, but first I want to document a first birthday party we went to for k and n’s third cousin the night before we left for Baja. The party was at a place called Splash Zone in Rosemead. The birthday girl’s mom (my second cousin) is the ultimate party planner, and this was no exception. There was Hawaiian food (yum!) and a really cute cake. The kids (and D) loved the water slides. It is a smaller place, with only two slides, but it was the perfect size for the kids. n was excited, as he just barely made the height requirement for the slides.