Misc photos from the week

Sakura intently watching her DVD.
Playing with some cords out of the entertainment center.

Yancha Bozu - go away.....

Playing her flute - it's funny, she sees the flute and puffs her cheeks out blowing, even if it's not at her mouth - she knows what she's supposed do, sometimes she'll laugh and laugh ...

Sound asleep with Daddy - RIGHT before we had to leave to take Daddy to the airport

Those are the stragler hairs that always end up in Sakura's eye.

Hinamatsuri Part 2

Sakura with Manami last year on this day

Sakura was just 1 month old, and still in Japan waiting for us...

Do you think she's changed much (I know, I know, she still has the same cheeks!)?

Today on Hinamatsuri - Sakura is 13 months old.

Tonight we went to dinner at Ah-So, our only Japanese restaurant, Sakura enjoyed her favorites tofu and gyoza. She wore her jinbei at dinner, and when we got home, she changed into Mommy's kimono - ironic that Mommy had a kimono from when she was a little girl and would pass it on to her own daughter one day. I was given my kimono from my aunt who travelled all over the world, and brought souvenirs to me when I was little. I'm very happy to have this kimono to pass on to my daughter and it has even more meaning when I saw Sakura wearing it. Happy Hinamatsuri Day to all of the girls.

Give her a phone and she's quite content!


Mommy and Sakura at Ah-So

Our little bird :) Daddy feeding Sakura some gyoza, trying to stay a little bit clean!

No Hana Daddy

Sakura was having a ball with the straw to her cup...can you tell she enjoyed her tofu -

2 bowls of tofu I might add?!

My pretty girl

Playing outside, it was dark but there were a few lights on the grass...I thought these next few pictures came out kind of cool

Daddy and his girl

Sakura in Mommy's kimono -

This painting came from my Mom's friend Kimi, she painted it for Sakura for Hinamatsuri

Sakura's painting hanging in her room for Hinamatsuri

Sakura and her Hinamatsuri dolls

Sakura says "Happy Hinamatsuri" to all of her family and friends!

Happy Hinamatsuri Sakura chan

In anticipation of Hinamatsuri which is March 3rd, Daddy put up Sakura’s dolls on February 20th. Daddy made a special display area for Sakura's dolls, complete with red velvet.

Hinamatsuri literally translates as Doll Festival, but is often referred to as Girl’s Day. Celebrated annually on March 3, families pray for the happiness and prosperity of their girls, helping to ensure they grow up healthy and beautiful. On this day, families with young daughters celebrate this event by displaying hina-ningyo, special dolls for the occasion.

Handsome Emperor

Beautiful Empress

Although not a national holiday, the meaning of Hinamatsuri is to celebrate girls’ happiness, in Japan and the United States. Grandmother to mother, mother to daughter, the wish for a daughter’s happiness is both valued and treasured, and still celebrated in this spirit.

Sakura received her dolls from Daddy’s Uncle Tomohei in Japan and they are SO beautiful, if I had been able, I probably would have chosen the same set. Dean and I had not taken all of the pieces out until we displayed it on Saturday, so it was exciting to see everything put together. We will leave it out until Baa-chan and Jii-chan arrive March 6th so they can see everything displayed.

Spring Cleaning makes me sleepy

Saturday at home......well part of the day :)

Daddy decided it was a nice time to rearrange the bedroom furniture in our bedroom. Sakura happened to be napping and I commented that Sakura would be getting up and this bedroom was a mess...Daddy assured me that he could take care of this job in less than 45 minutes (HA!), needless to say, Sakura ended up waking up and the job took hours, not minutes. Sakura stayed busy playing on our bed (with supervision from either Mommy or Daddy), for quite awhile. I thought she looked so cute playing and grabbed the camera (hmmm, wonder why it takes longer than 45 minutes? J/K!). Here are a few pictures of Sakura chan being cute :)

Really you want me to just stay up here on the bed when there is stuff EVERYWHERE?

Playing with clothes hangars

Trying to crawl off the bed!

Spring cleaning makes me sleepy, maybe I should have stayed in bed?!

Fun with Mommy at the Park

After a busy morning of running errands in and out of the car, Sakura's LEAST favorite thing to do, and NO nap to speak of - I figured I'd treat Sakura to some park time. I worried that she might be SO tired that she didn't really enjoy it, but boy was I wrong - she promptly fell fast asleep when we got in the car to come home.

Sakura to Mommy "Mommy, I ♥ to swing!"

"Push me higher"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

"I see some kids!"

Over by the pond

"Thanks for bring me to the park Mommy"...

So Sweet - get well card from Samantha

So while Sakura was sick a couple of weeks ago, Samantha (Katie's daughter) made her a special card. I was busy with the birthday party when Samantha gave it to me and just ran across it the other night when I was putting away Sakura's birthday cards and couldn't help but share it with everyone. Samantha is 7. Sakura really is loved as you can tell from Samantha's card below - I could not be more fortunate to have such a good friend who offered to watch Sakura on the day's that I go to work - and love Sakura too! It's super special!

The front reads: Get Well Peyton and has a sad face.

The inside reads:

Peyton, I am me and you are you but your my sister and I am your sister you mean a lot to me and your my best friend BFF!

with a picture of Samantha and Peyton that Samantha drew.

Out and About

We had lots of running around to do - Sakura's favorite thing (NOT!), but it was a super nice day so off we went. I had to take a few pictures along the way, especially since everyone gives me a bad time about Sakura always being in pink - LOL!

I can push my baby (or empty stroller as the case may be) backward too - guess Sakura remembers when she was facing us ;o) J/K!

The weather was SO nice, it was supposed to be near 80 degrees, we took a minute to go outside while we waited for Daddy to get ready to go.


Watching the trees hanging onto my car


Out to lunch at Ah-So looking at the fishies (Sakura still ♥s watching fish!!!).

Sakura's favorite - Gyoza and Tofu!

Pretty flower

Watching the kids perform - there was a fundraiser for Haiti and the local school kids were singing/dancing/playing instruments - Sakura enjoyed it very much and clapped for them!

Headed back to the car with Daddy....well we did stop for some jammies for Sakura first :)