Happy Valentimes to everyone!

We recently rediscovered the Shrinky Dink, so Kara made each of the girls in her class a heart shaped key chain for Valentine's Day...

Ben gave out heart shaped Rice Krispy treats and Jason chose gummies and Ring Pops.  I was super excited on Friday to get all of that sugary goodness out of our house.

On Valentine's Day,  Jason started the morning by singing "Happy Valentimes to everyone" to the tune of Happy Birthday.  We enjoyed a very full family day with lots of hugs and love.  Even if it is a Hallmark holiday, I'm fine with the extra snuggles and reason to have strawberry cheesecake cupcakes (which also come with hugs and smiles) any day!

ABC

Before basketball season was in full swing, we decided to have our own basketball clinic rather than send the kids to the one in town.  And we figured if we were going to do it, we might as well make it more fun and invite some friends.  And the Academy Basketball Clinic was born.

Kara is practicing dribbling with both hands, she's working on her crossover and spin dribble. 

Ben has embraced basketball.  Sho asked if the headband (he received during soccer season) was necessary and Ben said, "Dad, you told me to wear it with pride."

Ben has been working a lot on his shot...

There have been days where he said he won't come in the house until he makes 30.

You have to admire the work ethic... and the thoughtful artwork!

What has been in full swing lately is JASON!  Though he'll dribble his basketball with the kids and join everyone for the clinic, if given the choice, he wants you to pitch to him.  

We might have to keep the "B" in ABC "ball"!

Super-snow Sunday

We've been wanting to go the the snow for awhile since there actually is snow this year and even though it was Superbowl Sunday, we woke up early and headed up the mountain.

For the first hour and a half, we were the only people there and we wondered if everyone really would stay home because of the Superbowl.  We made a snow-woman and had a short snowball fight...

The kids had fun just playing in the snow and sledding down the hill...

And whose kid is that?!?

We even walked through the giant sequoias, continually looking up in amazement at their beauty.

And sometimes we didn't even have to look up very far to see some amazing super Sunday moments.

Never Enough Aloha

On January 2nd, we headed to Oakland to catch the early flight out for our trip to Kauai.  Even though it was an early morning, no one complained and everyone was excited to get to Hawaii.

We lucked out and had perfect weather... every day was a beach day!

We visited our friend, Aaron, for shave ice.  Always an enjoyable visit.  Now that we have our own shave ice machine, we are definitely more knowledgeable and discerning about what makes a great shave ice.

Fun Uncle Todd lived up to his name... he snorkeled, he Yelped to find the best food, he introduced the kids to a new phone app, he drove when Sho was tired, looked out for Grandma and Pampa, indulged us in our quest to find him sunglasses, and was just fun to have around.

Kara loved snorkeling.  She took fish food out and experienced these fish up close and personal!  It was amazing to watch them and see them so close.  She also fell in love with kalua pork.

Ben was in heaven with Portugese sausage and Hawaiian chips.  He enjoyed swimming in the ocean, looking for "dinosaur bones" and snorkeling with the family.

Jason said his favorite part of Hawaii was going on the airplane and chasing chickens (since there are a million of them roaming around all over Kauai).  I think Jason was made for Hawaii... we figured he's got a good average going.  Five trips in four years.  Not bad.

We celebrated Sho's birthday while in Hawaii, which was perfect.  We had great food, shave ice, family time and talked about what we would do if we moved to Hawaii...

We had a fantastic vacation.  I think we downloaded almost 500 pictures!  We sat in front of the computer this morning, played some Hawaiian music, watched the slideshow and just reminisced... 

There were lots of "KBJ"s on the island... none as precious as ours...

And this morning, which was the first time we had a real breakfast all week... Sho made pancakes and all I could think about was our next Hawaiian breakfast.

Happy New Year!

We decided to try something new this New Year's Eve... and we reserved a couple of lanes at the bowling alley to bowl-in the new year!

We invited some friends to join us and though we initially thought that 3+ hours of bowling would be too much... we found out these kids could have bowled even longer!

The youngest bowler was even able to ring in the new year... and at 1am is still awake!

What a great way to start the new year... family, friends and a whole lot of fun.

A Very Merry Christmas

Our Christmas celebration always starts on Christmas Eve when all of the Kozuki relatives gather at Pampa and Grandma's house.  This year, the festivities started around lunchtime because my gift was perishable and had to be consumed!  We tried five different types of uni... all delicious!

And the kids opened one of their gifts early, which really might have been a gift for Sho.  They got a karaoke-on-wheels-complete-with-disco-ball machine, which definitely got the party started after the annual gift exchange.

On Christmas morning, the kids were up around 6:30am and they patiently sat in front of their stockings, waiting for everyone to get up before they opened anything.  I have not seen this kind of restraint before.  As Ben was waiting, he said, "I'm so excited... I think I was made for Christmas!"

Santa was good to everyone this year...

Everyone got exactly what they wished for.  Jason said, "I've been waiting for my whole time for a Lego Avenger set."

Tantie and Uncle John had to leave after breakfast, but we had a great holiday together.

Uncle Todd helped Jason build Stark Tower and Jason was proud to have something so cool to call his own.  I hope Stark Tower doesn't go through any renovations right away... but it's Jason, so all bets are off.

Ben built the General Grievous model he's been talking about for months... and he is patiently waiting to drive home to open and build his Poe's X-Wing Fighter.

It has definitely been a very, very merry Christmas.  As we post this blog, we're all still in our pajamas and it's almost dinner time!  That's a good day.

Happy 9th Birthday, Kara!

Kara also got a jump start on celebrating her birthday during Thanksgiving with the family...

But this morning's celebration started off with a bang!  Let's hear it for sour cream apple pie and ice cream, some strawberry soda and... Spam!

Apparently, having your parents bring you fast food for lunch on your birthday is the thing to do... so we obliged and Kara's choice was to enjoy a Big Mac and curly fries.

We talked the kids out of doing friend-parties this year, but agreed to let Kara invite a friend to go to Color Me Mine and then out to dinner.  Kiara joined us for the food and "entertainment."  Our kids love the fire... 

And we love that Kara has the good fortune of having such a wonderful best friend.  Kiara made Kara's special day extra special... like only a best friend can do.