New Years Day

In Japanese we say Akemashite omedetou!

I headed over to my mom's at 8:00 to have our traditional new years breakfast and watch the rose parade.

Breakfast was beautiful. From the sweet black beans to pickled radishes, sashimi, ozouni (mochi soup), kimpira gobo (burdock root), fish cakes, and dried fish, my mom spent much of the past days creating each dish. Our names were written on our chopstick holders.

The festivities at my grandmother's house began at 1:00 and we usually have about 20 people come. The food is outrageous. Traditional Japanese food. Not only is the food delicious, but the way it is presented is something else. Each piece is strategically placed. We spent the afternoon/evening eating and chatting and spending time with each other, while watching the football game.

Hopefully this is but a glimpse of what the new year has in store for our family.

Happy New Year Everyone!

New Years Eve

It's hard to believe this year is over. It really came up fast.

I've been stressing about tonight because of the little one. What if he won't sleep? What if he wakes up? The stresses that go along with sleep training! We decided to brave it and just bring him everywhere with us. I'm glad we did.

In the morning we made mochi (Japanese rice cakes) at my moms. It's hot and fresh out of the mochi machine and we shape them into a ball-like shape. There is nothing like fresh mochi. I can't quite explain it, but it is warm and chewy and delicious. I could eat 10 in one sitting if I could. We stole a piece here and there, dipped them in different things like butter or a sweet soysauce concoction or even with a sweet radish and soy sauce dip.

My mom was busy in the kitchen preparing for the new year-TONS of traditional food being made, which one day I'll have to learn how to make.

The rest of our day:
We spent the first part of our evening visiting the Toshimas. They got to meet Keagan for the first time. It's been a meeting long overdue! It was brief, but we got to see the girls and Reiko and Scott too so it was nice!

We headed over to my grandmother's house for ramen and hung out for a bit. At the end of the year it is tradition to have toshi koshi soba. Long noodles representing long life, but we kind of cheat and have ramen. I ended up having 2 servings. What a fatty!

Then it was off to the Lees for our annual New Years Eve celebration. As we get older, our parties aren't as crazy as they once were and I think I like it that way. We now have kids running around and lots of mommy talk going on. It's nice having lots of mommy friends. Keagan slept the entire time as we rang in the new year over a bottle or two or three of bubbly.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope for a year filled with new adventures and time spent with loved ones!

Halloween 2010

A baby's first Halloween is a big deal. What do you dress up a 4 month old as? It's hard to be original. I wasn't about to make a costume. So I searched high and low for the perfect costume. My husband poo poo'd my idea, but eventually learned to love it. We were the hot dog family. My sister made Keagan hot dog labels and Tommy spent time smudging mustard and ketchup all over our aprons. We spent time at our church for a mini Halloween party, then celebrated with our friends at our home. He held hands with Wayles for the first time . We then trick or treated around the neighborhood with Kat and Char.

Slawdogs, Polkatots and Auntie Thea

Today we headed out to Slawdogs in Pasadena for a quick lunch. TL came home early so we decided to head out. I ordered the most interesting dog. It was stuffed with peanut butter, wrapped with bacon, and topped with bananas. I can't imagine most people ordering this, but one of my philosophies in life is to try everything (well almost everything) and I am so glad I did. You only live once, right? And who knows-maybe this hot dog will never ever be created again. It was delicious. Sweet + savory=amazing. Thank you to the creative creators at that Slawdogs!

We picked up 6 Polkatots cupcakes. We wanted to share them with Thea. In the past I wasn't too impressed with their cupcakes, but this time around, they were really tasty! We got strawberry shortcake, red velvet, Happy Monkey (a banana cupcake), Lemonade (lemon cupcake with a lemon buttercream), cookie monster (cookies and cream) and Dolcissimo (a dulce de leche cupcake).

Auntie Thea came over to visit. She's been in Italy for 4 months! We are so happy you are home and we hope to see more of you!

Here's to a relaxing night at home. We need nights like this to unwind.

The Keagster

His name is Keagan Masaki Vuong. Where did his name come from? We found it online and loved it. What does it mean? It means ardent. He's a cancer which means he's sensitive and does not like the unexpected.

He's funny like daddy, has eyes like mommy and has a full head of hair which curls in every direction. He's teething, drooling, scootin' around and eating solids and brings a smile to our face every time we look at him. 6 months came up fast.

Splendid Littles

Target has launched a new line for babies! Splendid Littles! I am a big fan of the Splendid line. I own a few of their pieces for my own wardrobe and now they're coming up with a line for the little ones! They're known mostly for their striped pieces. Now the little man and I can match!

2010 in a Nutshell

I haven't posted since we got married and a lot has happened since then. It's been an amazing year. The greatest gift of life was given to us on June 23, 2010. Keagan Masaki Vuong was born at 8:35pm at 19.25 inches. The past 6 months have been quite an adventure as many of you first time parents can attest to. I have decided to try and blog about our adventures as a new family and as a couple beginning in the new year. This will be one of my new years resolutions.