Valentimes means...

Before school today, I asked Jason what Valentine's Day means to him.  He said, "Valentimes means loving and caring and treats."

Fortunately, we have plenty of all of that to go around in this house!  Hope every day is filled with "Valentimes".

Bruins on 3! 1-2-3-Bruins!

We found out about "Small Ball" at Reedley High School and the kids were eager to improve on their skills.  The clinic ran for four Saturdays and and every week, Ben would ask about how many more days there were until Saturday and he'd lay his clothes out on Friday night so he'd be ready to go.  He was at the gym early each week to get some extra shooting in. 

Both kids enjoyed Small Ball and it was fun to be back in the Reedley High School gym!  Brings back memories.

We signed Kara up to play in a co-ed basketball league and she was a little hesitant at first, but everything is more fun when you have your best friend by your side.

Kara scored her first basket tonight, driving down the baseline and taking her shot.  She also played great defense.  That's our girl!

Sho and I debated for a little while on whether or not we should coach Kara's team... Sho said it will either be pretty fun or it's going to be really frustrating.  This is an instructional league where they don't keep score (but of course people keep score) and we were warned that it is the most competitive non-competitive sport that's run... but rather than take our chances, we decided to coach.

I jokingly said that coaching together might lead to divorce... we have some fundamental differences in what we feel 3rd through 5th graders should run on defense. 

One thing that was easy to agree on was our team name.  Ben and Jason asked if they could do the 8-clap at the game... gotta love it!  Without fail, every game I smile when I see how happy Kara is to play and how energetically our little Bruins yell it out... literally... 1-2-3-BRUINS!

Everyone is Growing Up

For Sho's birthday, we started the day at Paradise, literally, having pho and eggrolls for brunch!  I felt like it was my birthday too, since this is my favorite meal.  We're so glad that the kids enjoy Vietnamese food as much as we do.

Since we had to have something sweet to celebrate... nothing beats Ampersand!

Today was a realization that the kids are also growing up... This is the first time I've seen Jason make a basket using a real basketball.

And since Kara got a cookbook for Christmas, she's been experimenting with new recipes and she's enjoying being in the kitchen.

Kara made Sho his special birthday dinner and we all got to enjoy the deliciousness!  I guess there are some positives to this "growing up" thing that's happening that we cannot seem to stop.

Happy New Year!

After last year's New Year's Eve bowling night, we made sure we reserved our lanes early!  We invited some friends and ended up with six families bowling until 1am!

Everyone seemed to have fun, whether they were bowling, enjoying snacks and drinks (adult and kid friendly), making fashionable glow stick accessories or just hanging out.  Jason was a dancing machine and everyone commented, "he'll sleep well tonight."

When we all finally woke up on New Year's Day, we decided fresh squeezed OJ and cake seemed like a good way to start the new year.

We enjoyed Japanese food for lunch with Grandma and Grandpa.

Kara donned her new apron, used her new cookbook and made a special drink and dessert for everyone.

I hope the new year brings us more of all of this... fun times with family and friends, good food, new recipes and naps.

Happy New Year!

Is today the day?

Jason woke up this morning and asked, "is today the day?"  The kids have been patiently waiting for Christmas to arrive... and this morning they were up somewhere in the 4am hour. 

Talk about patient - the rule is that they cannot open their stocking or any of the gifts until everyone is up.  So it was a long wait until the rest of the house was up around 7am.

Ben sat by his stocking, looking at it and saying, "I just want to touch it."

Each of them got a new shirt... and many other great gifts that they have already started to enjoy.

This year there was a departure from our usual Kozuki celebration.  Instead of turkey and stuffing on Christmas Eve, we had a bunch of appetizers and a burrito/taco/nacho bar.  Grandma and Grandpa left this morning to head to Santa Barbara for an anniversary celebration for their friends, so the house is already a bit more quiet.  It's not even noon and Jason is already taking a nap...

But my consistent memory of Kozuki Christmas is sugar cookies... fortunately, the next generation enjoy decorating (and eating) sugar cookies, so regardless of what we have for dinner, I am confident that Kozuki Christmas will be around for many years to come.

Double Digit Birthday

It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were ordering Barbie cakes and buying gifts at the Disney store... but somehow Kara reached the milestone of being double digits.

Though she has grown so much, she still has the best best-friend...

And a great group of friends at school.

So what does a 10 year old do while waiting for her grandparents at the grocery store before dinner?  Well, since her mom got a new phone with more available storage... photo shoot!

The kids all had piano lessons after school, so we didn't have a lot of time, but we've gotta eat!  Kara chose teppanyaki, which is always a crowd pleaser.  The chef asked if she thought she could (with the help of her brothers) blow out the biggest birthday candle of them all...

We ended our celebration with Ampersand ice cream.  Yum!

Even though there are no Disney dresses wrapped up, Kara will always be our princess... no matter how many digits.

A Burger-Burger Birthday for Ben

To start off Ben's birthday celebration, he had a cream filled chocolate donut.  Though there are three donuts pictured... I assure you he only had time this morning for one.  Since we missed parent-teacher conference week, we met with Ben's teacher before school today and got a great report on Ben's progress at school.

When asked what he wanted for his special birthday lunch, Ben asked for a Big Mac.  Done.

Ben's friends were happy to come and hang out with Ben after their own lunch... since Ben was sweet enough to sit and have lunch with his parents!

Ben's only request was to go to Color Me Mine after school.  

And after painting, he wanted... another burger.  No one complained though; we all love Five Guys.

And no birthday is complete without something sweet... and Ben's birthday wouldn't be Ben's without some kind of Star Wars element.  

And Legos.

It's been quite a day... I think we covered it all and as you can see, Ben was all smiles all day.