Spring is in the air!

I guess spring doesn't technically start until Sunday, but the weather is warming up which means more outings to the park, bubble-chasing in the backyard and sleeveless dresses!



Ben is singing his ABCs and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.... while Kara learned a "Days of the Week" song at school that goes along with the Adams Family tune, that she's proud to sing on her own now.



Ben used to always sleep with a little wash cloth, just like Kara did when she was little. These days, Ben chooses an object, whether it's his hammer, a magic wand, a car, or once, a bag full of corn puffs, to take to sleep with him... and he usually tries to sweet talk us by saying, "Go Mommy and Daddy's bed?" He has mastered the art of quietly sneaking out of his room and climbing into our bed at night... And when we're ready to go to bed, we find him sleeping, so sweetly, sideways, in the middle of the bed with some random object by his side.



And since it's Mach..... Let's hope we have something to cheer about when UCLA plays against Michigan State in Round One of the NCAA basketball tournament!

What's New.....

It sometimes seems like really, not much has changed... but I know both of the kids are growing and learning and changing...



Kara enjoys spending her time coloring, drawing, writing her letters and reading books. She does a great job coloring and is often her own worst critic if she happens to color outside of a line... she pouts and says she needs to start over. Quite the perfectionist.

Ben is talking up a storm these days! He's put together sentences like, "Daddy, me window down please" or "Go to Grandma's house right now." He definitely understands 'right now' and 'later' because if he asks to do something, like watch Cars and the answer to right now is 'no', then he says, "later, right, Momma?"

What has not changed, besides those bear-towels, is how much we love to watch them togehter... to see the kids spontaneously hug, to hear Ben say "sorry, Ka-wa bug", to watch Kara help feed her little brother, the dance parties in the living room..... absolutely the best!

Snow Day at School

Kara's preschool brought in snow for a day and the kids had a great time playing in the snow.... Kara made a little pyramid-snow person, complete with pink star.



With the help of food coloring, she also made some pink shaved ice....



And a pink snowball pie.



I guess we will definitely have to do a trip to the snow next year - Sho and I went to help out and wore our snowboarding gloves.... which we took out of storage... because we haven't gone snowboarding for the last three (ugh!) years.

Day Trip

We took a day trip to Santa Barbara over the weekend and visited the SB Zoo for the first time. We saw the live giraffes, but only happened to take a picture of Ben in front the statues... It was a beautiful day, lots of sunshine, lots of green grass to run around on, a train to ride and lots of animals to see...



We made a very short stop at the Camarillo Outlets and the highlight of the trip for the kids was the 50 cent little ride outside of the bathroom.... go figure. Kara is trying to help Mommy get Ben to look a the camera. What a helpful big sister.

Back in LA!

We're back in LA and came home to warm weather! Despite the sun and 77 degree temperature, Ben wanted to wear his rain boots and get the umbrellas out. Uncle Bill was kind enough to join Ben in the "rain".

More Monterey

We explored the tidepools and enjoyed the ocean views.



The kids had fun at the big park.... new slides, new steps and a BIG train.



We strolled the pier and looked for mermaids...



And it wouldn't be a Kozuki vacation without ice cream!

Monterey Trip

We took a Kozuki family vacation to Monterey and visited the aquarium!



Ben enjoyed seeing all of the sea creatures... and was very excited each time we saw something new. I wish you could hear him saying, "Hi, turtle."



Kara and Ben quickly found the Nemos and Dorys in the tank. Kara was always on the lookout for pink fish.