What Makes Me Cheer

“Sister. 

She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities.

She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway.

She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark.

She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink.

Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.”

 - Barbera Alpert

Feeling like a little black and white this week and catching up with some random images of my girls.

These days they fight like it's in their job description. Tim and I sigh with exasperation at their bickering, knock back another cup of coffee, and wonder if we're the only family with constant fighting! 

Of course, there are peaceful moments - when the girls will share with each other, say kind words and protect each other without us asking them to.

In those moments, I silently cheer - and catch a glimpse of God's heart for us - His deep desire for His children to love not only Him, but to love one another. 

How He must grieve at those times when we refuse to share, refuse to love and refuse to care for each other - when we let petty things divide us and jealousy, insecurity, pride, and selfishness break our relationships.

"...I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

one Lord,one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Ephesians 4:1-5

Challenging, but worth pursuing...worth getting up, dusting off your knees, and trying again after completely failing at it. (I know I have).

After all, as a parent, there is nothing more beautiful than seeing one child, truly remorseful, apologize to the other, and trying clumsily to play together again.

Hope this stirs up something within you as it did with me~

Looking forward to sharing more on the blog soon~

Milestones

Five.
You've been waiting such a long time for this age!
You love to read these days...


You've had this "Animal Alphabet" book since you were a baby. 

 I love your scrunched face when you're concentrating on sounding out your letters....

I'd be confused too...why does "xenops" start with an "x" but sound like a "z" mommy?


Some things you read make you guffaw. I happened to capture you mid-guffaw and I still chuckle over this picture. I think I'll look at this whenever I'm feeling blue.



Other things make you giggle. You're at the age now where if I say "underwear", you cover your mouth and giggle away. Oh to be five.



You're only five and there's so much more to look forward to....your first day of Kindergarten, your first loose tooth, your first time riding a bike without training wheels. 
You can't wait to do all these things...
I know you wish you'd hurry up and grow up, but we wish you'd slow down a little. Every year, I swear it seems like yesterday that I brought you home from the hospital...I guess my way of trying to slow down time is to take a million pictures.
Happy birthday to my little girl~
love
Mommy

One year ago

One year ago today, Japan suffered twin disasters...a 9.0 earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami.
I remember sitting on my couch with my laptop when the news broke.
Unbelievable.


I am Japanese-American and most of my relatives are still in Japan...some were in Sendai and Tokyo, cities where the quake and tsunami were most felt. Thankfully, they were all shaken but unharmed.


Japan is still in the throes of rebuilding their cities, but I can imagine that the psychological trauma from such a disaster will take much more time...I am amazed at the resilience of the Japanese people and their quiet determination to forge ahead.
Here are some amazing 'before and after' captures of the rebuilding process...


And because no post is complete without some photos, here are some images I took last summer with my own family in the WA coast...
Looking through these reminded me of the awesome force of the ocean...so beautiful to look at and vacation by, but also capable of immense destruction... and ultimately was reminded to cherish those I love and enjoy every moment of life given to us..it is truly a gift not to be wasted.

[My dad sketching on the porch]

[playing baseball on the beach]

Tomorrow I'll be posting up some images from a recent birthday bash, see you then!

Cool down

It's Monday and it's warming up here in SoCal.

I definitely see some iced coffee in my near future.

On another note, been busy lately but in a good way~ 

Lots of fun sessions coming up so stay tuned my bloggy friends!

Leap!

It was a hot-chocolate-drinking, puddle-jumping kind of day...

Wet socks and pants resulted, but it was worth it.

Happy Leap Year!

Be Mine

Big N is having her first preschool Valentine's day party at school~

We had 16 valentines to make.

I briefly thought about hand crafting a unique valentine for each child with my daughter. 

The siren calls of Pinterest were floating my way.

Tangent: I don't know about you, but Pinterest makes me feel like the most uncrafty uncreative mom ever. I have mixed feelings about this...on one hand, I love being inspired. On the other hand, I feel like I'd just pin a million things until my eyes glaze over and execute zilch. Anyone feel me? 

In any case, my husband vetoed my handmade valentines idea. 

He is a wise man.

Since my level of craftiness is pitiful and because what I really wanted to do was watch The Band Perry perform at the Grammys, I agreed. 

I love The Band Perry.

So to Target I went, and after browsing the candy aisles for way too long and buying a bag of snickers along the way, I came home with Valentine day supplies. 

Big N loved the cards.

Little N literally shrieked with joy over the heart shaped lollipops.

And speaking of craftiness, my talented crafty friend Christina from Lil Sprinkles has a beautiful new blogsite! Check it out for tutorials and to shop around for gorgeous handmade dolls. They are also doing a great giveaway that ends today - one of their very own custom dolls as a prize - so hop on over there and sign up!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Audrey's Piano Concerto - Sneak Peek

A wonderfully talented (and gorgeous) musician for whom the sky is the limit - watch out world!

More to come~

Carried

Bedhead

Softie

When I bake with my kids

(which is not often enough)
several things are guaranteed.

1. Playing around with the bakeware. Mask? Hat? Drum? The possibilities are endless. Actually, the possibilities come to a rapid close when mommy gets annoyed that all the bakeware is getting very dirty from being drummed on.

2. My kids will beg to lick the spoon/bowl/mixer. 

While they do this, I will secretly eat chocolate chips under the guise of cleaning the table.

3. Flour 

Flour in the hair, flour on the chair, flour on the face, flour in seemingly unreachable crevices. 

4. Complete silence while eating. 

Many crumbs. 

Many 

many

many

 many

crumbs. 

5. This Sheepish Face. 

And the words, "Mommy more?"

6. Naomi taking forever to eat one cookie. 

 Maybe she is savoring the delicate nuances of the Nestle Toll House recipe I used off the back of the bag. 

Maybe she's reveling in the awesome baker her mom is.

Actually, she's just a really slow eater.

Most of my baking experience consists of watching Ina Garten bake on Food Network,

and then going to the store and buying Pepperidge Farm cookies. Genevas are my favorite.

7. And my personal favorite:

Cookie Smiles~

So worth the mess of baking with my girls!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day - stay warm and bake something!