Thursday, June 28, 2012

Sakura's last day at the Cdc …. Saying goodbye to great friends

Sakura has been at the Cdc since she turned 2 years old.  While we love everyone at the Cdc, we were finding that Sakura wasn't being (what we considered) challenged enough, so we decided to make a move to a new preschool.  The Cdc offers preschool, but not until the child is 4 years old, and is based around a traditional school calendar, so Sakura wouldn't be eligible for that program until Fall 2013, and we didn't want to wait that long to put her in preschool - so that necessitated a move and quite a change for all of us.  Sakura's last day at the Cdc was also her "teacher's" last day as well, Miss Isabel was retiring at the end of June which is part of the reason we decided to move Sakura at the same time. I took cupcakes for her last day, and they also had "Splash Pad" day so I was able to get some pictures of the kids enjoying themselves too.  The hardest part for us was feeling like we were taking Sakura away from all of her friends.  She has been with some of these kids (Danica) since she started at the Cdc so they are pretty good buddies.

Ready for the party
Washing hands before eating .... ALWAYS! 
Here is Sakura with her two "mother hens" as they refer to them - Jade and Kaylie 
Of course it was Hello Kitty cupcakes!
 
YUMMMY!!!
With her buddy Danica
 
Sakura was telling Danica how much she liked her Tinker Bell swimsuit
The day before Sakura's last day they made these "japanese fish kites"
Fun at the splash pad with Kaylie
Sakura really loves these girls
As you can tell
Jade, Sakura, Kaylie and Danica
 
 
Soaking WET!
OF course she is hiding from me taking pictures!
SO grateful for the care she was given while here at the Cdc
Goodbye Miss Isabel - we love you and will miss you SO much - with Kaylie

Friday, June 22, 2012

Circle of Life Dance Recital - Groovy Chicken

Sakura has been in dance since she turned 3, and she LOVES it.  

This weekend was her first dance recital.  I was admittedly a little worried Sakura would freeze once she got on stage without Miss Karla dancing in front of them, but I was pleasantly surprised when Sakura went right out and did exactly what she was suppose to do. and make a quick departure off the stage too.  Our family attended the Friday night show, and I volunteered to be Room Mom for the second show Saturday matinee.  We are SO proud of Sakura!

Here are some pictures from the performance, and also a video of the dance.

Getting ready for the show .... as you'll see below they were on a big stage and asked for make-up, not something I was crazy about, but necessary due to the stage lighting, and I do think she looked beautiful.
Sakura LOVES make-up and held very still for it ... just like the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique she said.
All ready - Let's GO!
Daddy, Mommy and our little Groovy Chick aka: Sakura
SHOW TIME - always "Wide Awake" ... 
and I love to Boogie Woogie too - Sakura loves this part!
Wide awake
This is Miss Karla - Sakura's dance instructor - she was the adult Nala in the show
At the end of the performance, all 300+ dancers went on stage for their final bow ... they didn't tell the girls about this, or let them know what to do, so we had a little lost chicken, this sweet young lady spotted our lost chick and picked her up and held her over by the other chickens .... come to find out she is the daughter of a high school friend! 
Hannah and Sakura on stage for their final bows
That ugly guy is Ed one of the hyenas
Waiting for their Mommy's to come and get them.
We went out for a celebratory ice cream at AppleBee's afterwards ... can you tell how tired Sakura is?  She typically goes to bed about 8 pm, and this was near 11 pm!
Of course Papa and Greema couldn't miss Sakura's dance performance!

The second show is when I volunteered for Room Mom, I hadn't wanted to do it because I wondered if Sakura would fuss about her costume with me in the room, whereas I knew she wouldn't with people she didn't know very well --- but my friend Mayumi was going to be the sole Room Mom and I couldn't do that to her - so I told her I would volunteer too.  So these are some 'back stage' pictures.  We had to entertain 12 (or 13) girls all between 3-4 years old for HOURS!  The show is about 2 3/4 hours long, their part is almost at intermission time, needless to say we were HOPPING busy!  OMG I don't know if I'd ever volunteer again - some of these girls were great (thankfully mine is included in that), but there were some who didn't listen to anything we said, removed clothing, their shoes, etc, right before it was their turn to go on stage, we had lost shoes - omgoodness it was a lot of work!

The girls wanted to take turns with my camera - so here are some of their captures.


Me and my beautiful girl - taken by Candace
Me and Candace taken by Sakura
Carriana (Mayumi's daughter), Sakura and Candace

Sakura and Candace 
Making beaded necklaces

After the final show we all headed to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Sakura got a couple small gifts for her performance.

A new outfit for Baby Yuko - it was a ballerina outfit for her 
And a ballerina frog.
And now for the Groovy Chicken in action!


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Father's Day 2012

Happy Father's Day to Daddy!

Sakura was super excited for it to be Daddy's Day!  Daddy got home from his business trip late Friday night and she couldn't wait to give him the special tie she had for him .... she had gone to her new preschool earlier in the day Friday, and because she hadn't been there during the week, she didn't make a tie, apparently it really bothered her that her Daddy wouldn't have one of these special tie's, so Miss Clarissa offered for her to take the "sample" - Sakura was SO excited when I picked her up showing me this tie.  She also made a nice picture of a tree with her handprints, and at the CDC she had also made a couple cute projects....so gearing up for this day was pretty exciting for her.

Waiting for Daddy
Giving her tie to Daddy at the airport! 
Ready to go to dinner at Ah-So
It's SO hot, must I stand for a picture Mommy?!
Daddy and his girl at dinner!
 We went to Ah-So since they have the best sushi in town, and Jiichan loves his unagi!  We opted for the restaurant side this time vs. the teppanyaki.  It was delicious and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and time together.  
Dinner time with Daddy and Jiichan - I love this pic!
A little miso with your tofu Sakura? 
SO sweet - Sakura loves her Jiichan
I love my family!  We are SO blessed to have Bachan and Jiichan right here with us!

It's been a LONG day and Sakura passed out as soon as we got in the car.  She was beat!

Sleepy girl