birthday celebration - 5 years old!

banner up, and presents ready to open in the morning

per the birthday girl's request, strawberry cupcakes!

we were lame and had no party this year. noa was away on a trip, but we did have tutu and grandpa here. unfortunately, i came down with stomach flu a few hours after completing these cupcakes, and tutu got it the next morning (both girls had it a day and two days prior to us). so, nanea's 5th bday was a bust. she did get to stay home from school though. mostly because i could not drive her, and that afternoon she came to my bedside and declared, "this is the BEST birthday EVER!" i did manage to pull myself out of bed that evening to take her, makena and grandpa to her restaurant choice of genki sushi (for tofu, aka miso, soup) and then to baskin robbins. i couldn't eat, but i made it through the experience!

happy 5th birthday goosie!

age 1

age 2

age 3

age 4

age (almost) 5

it's hard to believe that we have a 5 year old. happy birthday to my sweet (and sometimes sassy) nanea. we couldn't have asked to be blessed with a more bright, dynamic, loving little.

the big santa present

the girls' big santa present this year was a kitchen (thank you ikea!). it's surprisingly well-constructed (real wood!) and compact and pretty enough to not ugli-fy my living room. they both love it and have been "cooking" up a storm since christmas morning. with lots of wooden food from tutu and grandpa, and lots of accessories from many friends and family, they were all set! check out nanea's chef hat made by aunty norma. she also made a matching apron, pot holder and hand towel. i'm taking orders for her etsy shop that i'm going to make her start. hee hee.

happy new year!

new year's eve

cheetah sweaters courtesy of aunty tiff.

can't do a loud, fireworks new year's without pink head phones!

2010 christmas photo shoot

ever year our friend lisa, a fabulous photographer, does a family shoot for us. alas, this year busy schedules and bad weather caused us to never be able meet up, so i was forced to coerce the littles to pose for me. no easy task, and i'm a horrible photographer. so, with lots of bribing (marshmallows), this is what i came up with. not too bad, except we have no actual family photos. back to lisa next year!

nanea's school christmas program

nanea was lucky to have baby mili, aunty sonia and uncle liko come to see her performance. it was quite the show!