Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Quite and Honor - Tiny Prints Finalist

A month or more ago, I entered Sakura into a 'contest' to be the "New Face of Tiny Prints". We were quite surprised when we received notification on November 24th that Sakura had been chosen as a finalist (1 of only 4) by the panel of judges! According to our e-mail she was selected out of thousands of entries. We are quite proud needless to say!

Please help us to increase Sakura's chances to be the Grand Prize winner by participating in the ongoing voting - which ends December 24th at midnight PST. We are currently in 2nd place in the public voting and can use any and all votes we can get, please share with all of your family and friends. We would love to show the world our beautiful baby girl! You can vote (and are encouraged to vote) once a day. Voting is pretty straightforward, but if you need any help, PLEASE let me know and I will guide you through it - please refrain from voting from any other finalist each star (4 star rating system) is one point.
Sakura is already a winner in our book - and to have been chosen as a finalist is quite an honor; we think she is the cutest in the category :)
Here is the link to vote TinyPrints Talent Search

Thank you SO much!!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The rest of November!

Has it really been THAT long since I did the blog? Wow! I guess it's been a pretty busy month. We have had lots going on with Bachan and Jichan's move - and our normal routine, but things are settling down just in time for Christmas :)
Back on November 17th - we celebrated Bachan's birthday - it happened to be on the day they made the drive from California. They had eaten a late lunch on their journey, but how could we not go to dinner for Bachan's birthday and to celebrate them making the move - so we went to Olive Garden (MUCH later than our normal dinner time, and Sakura was soooo tired!)
Daddy and Sakura enjoying Yo Gabba Gabba

Everyone watching

Bachan's birthday cake - it was YUMMY!!!

Happy Birthday to Bachan - we are SO happy you are here!
I mentioned earlier in the post that Sakura was VERY tired.....as you can see below by the tears streaming down her face, when she thought she wasn't getting any ice cream and cake - poor baby was exhausted - I think we had cake and ice cream around 10 p.m.!

Even with tears, ice cream is yummy!

Big Bite of chocolate ice cream


November 20th is a special day for us -

not only it is National Adoption Day, but as you'll all remember, it was the day our adoption was finalized last year. We celebrated our special day wih another special girl - it was the day of Anabelle's birthday party so we went to her party and enjoyed the company of lots of friends/co-workers.

On our way to the party - Sakura is really loving the camera these days, can you tell?!

Anabelle's toys are much more fun than her own!

So we were outside, and Vanessa pointed our that Sakura was enjoying Anabelle's walker - she crawled in and would NOT get out! Finally when I pried her out she threw a big fit! Sakura is definitely going to have fit throwing down by the time she is two years old in just a couple months!
A few nights later we had sushi for dinner....Sakura wanted sushi so I gave her a piece...I had to take pictures since it was Sakura's 1st sushi!

Hmmmm, I can use hashi :)

She really studied it!

Going in for a taste!

Ummmm....not quite sure!

Dislike! She stuck her tongue out so far - I died laughing! Look at her tongue!
Last month Sakura also enjoyed her first breakfast in bed ... we were home on a Friday and she was watching TV in bed - so I figured why not? And brought her milk and cheerios (DRY) in for her to eat....she loved it!
Happy Birthday to Daddy and Happy Thanksgiving too!
This year Daddy's birthday fell on Thanksgiving - we went out to dinner a couple nights later. I didn't even get a picture of Sakura with Daddy - it was busy - between unpacking at Bachan and Jichan's and doing all of the Thanksgiving preparations, time just got away from us. I did snap a few pictures of Sakura as we walked down to get everyone for dinner.

A golf ball - of course!

Which she immediately dropped to watch roll into the street!

Sakura is really into stacking - and arranging things...
here she is with some blocks at Bachan's house.
That's all folks - it's been a busy month - but a good one!
Bachan and Jichan are getting settled in their new house - they've had 2 offers on their house in Yuba City and will probably be accepting one tonight! Things are going perfect - and we couldn't be happier to have them so close!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A morning in the field

Well we quickly discovered that Sakura is not one to head out first thing in the morning for pictures! Ugh! I really, really wanted some pictures of Sakura in the field by Urban Chic Portraits however Sakura was having other ideas of what we should be doing, when we arrived at the location, Sakura was clingy and whiny and just in a foul mood.....She wouldn't smile, cried every time I got off the couch beside her and just plain wasn't having any part of pictures that day....Sakura is much like her Daddy - if she's in a bad mood, she does NOT hide it or cover it well - unlike Mommy! Oh well - we will definitely be trying for more outdoor field pictures when we do her birthday pictures since this was our second attempt, and surely the third time is the charm! The first time was when we did her Christmas pictures - and the field had been chopped down just a day or two before our session.
So here are the best of the pics we could get - not too bad, but sure not what I had hoped for!




















Sunday, November 14, 2010

A visit to the big city

Since Daddy is gone to help Bachan and Jichan pack and move...I figured we'd take advantage and head to "Phoenix" for the weekend to visit Grandma and Papa...and of course we missed the Galakatos' more than ever so we snuck in a quick trip to Oregano's today before heading home.
Friday night my Mom was painting her project she was teaching Saturday and Sakura was right in there with her helping....but she was using paper instead of wood :)

Sakura and Grandma painting

Sakura's first painting - she chose raspberry paint all on her own :) That's my girl!

Deep concentration

Snuggling with Papa on the couch Saturday morning....Sakura wasn't real sure about it, but she did manage to sit there for quite awhile. She is definitely a Mommy's girl when she wakes up!

Snuggle time with Wrigley this morning....Papa was fast asleep still!

Ready to go to lunch and see Amy and Sinclair!

But first I must crumple up my painting!
We met up with Amy and Sinclair at Oregano's - YUMMY!!! The girls were fast friends, Sakura really enjoyed watching Sinclair who is quite entertaining! She will make you laugh and laugh, I don't know how Cory and Amy manage to keep a straight face with her!
She is adorable, funny, not to mention incredibly smart!
We are so blessed to know the Galakatos'!

Sakura and Sinclair enjoying their dough balls....(yes they tasted them). We enjoyed our pizza then we even got dessert today, which is my favorite but we rarely order - the pizza cookie!
I could eat the whole thing myself, so it's always nice to go with others and have to share!

Doesn't it look delicious? Nice warm chocolate chip cookie, crunchy on the outside but doughy on the inside topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips....to DIE for let me just tell you!

Sinclair eating her dessert...nice and neatly I might add.

Then we have Sakura...not so nice and neatly I might add!
Hopefully next year when she is Sinclair's age, she will be a nice neat eater :)


The sweet girls holding hands....melt my heart - but it only gets better!

SWEET hugs! Awwwwwwww!

AND a kiss too! Double Awwwwwww!

Then posing for a picture...or

Two...or

Three....

Thursday, November 4, 2010

21 Months Old

It is so hard to believe that Sakura is already 21 months old! She has grown up so much this last month, it's unbelievable how much they learn at this age.
Sakura continues to be a great eater :) She eats things that her Dad and I wouldn't touch and asks for "Mo" = More. She has turned into a climber and a sweet nutruring little Mommy too. She LOVES kids and waves at EVERYONE! She does not know a stranger...unless they try to pick her up, then all bets are off. She is quite the little charmer too.
Here are just a few pics from today - Sakura's 21 month 'birthday'!

Sakura LOVES to see our slideshow screen saver - she points at it and names the people (usually Mommy and Daddy, but she knows others like Kumi, Kiki, Papa, Yancha and Wrigley of course, amongst a few others).

I thought it was incredibly cute today while I was doing dishes - when Sakura wheeled in our travel stroller, with her baby in it. The stroller was half folded, but that didn't stop her - her she is - safety first, huh Sakura?!



Buckling in baby - or at least attempting to buckle her in.

Not going so well....

You do it Mommy.....

OK stop taking pictures, I'm pointing at YOU to buckle the baby up.

All buckled in.

Yay!
When the baby was all buckled up, Sakura put her arms up in the air and said "Yay!".
Later in the afternoon, I needed to water the new sakura tree. Some little one followed me out and enjoyed walking around the backyard a bit, so I grabbed the camera :) (It's never far away)
Sakura has this new 'stance' - her cousins were here last weekend and I think she saw Zakk doing this - he's 17 - so the copier that she is, she will stand there mimicing just about anything.
Once Daddy got home, we took a walk down to Bachan and Jichan's new rental house - we hadn't seen the inside (my Mom went and looked at it for us, since we were at Disneyland and we trusted her judgement and went ahead with it despite not seeing for ourselves).

Guess Sakura wanted a better look at the sink? Here is our little climber in action!

Where's Sakura?

"Baa" - there she is! Sakura loves this little coat closet right inside the front door - I think she is going to try to make it her hiding spot!
We cannot wait for Bachan and Jichan to get here - we will really enjoy our walks to their house when they are HOME! Sakura will love having them near, she's pretty close to them, maybe her japanese will improve :) Right now it's pretty limited to Inai, Inai, Baa.... but Bachan will fix that!
Daddy leaves to go to Bachan and Jichan's on the 11th - he will go up and assist with the packers, movers and realtor - they will drive here on the 15th or 16th and the moving van is scheduled no later than the 24th for delivery of their stuff. We will really miss our trips to Northern California for our visits with family and friends though :(