trouble

now look at what i got myself into....
















homemade scrapbooks

a birthday letter

dear aaron,

today is you a special day for you. it's your 4th birthday! in the past year you have grown tremedously! although you only weigh 35 pounds, you have grown so much as a person. you can speak clearly, you've finally caved in and sing(!), you have your own fashion sense (stipe shirts and jeans are your favorite), your competitive side is coming out, and you are a smart boy. you can do basic math, you can count to 100 (with a little bit of help), you're starting to read, and you can write your name! oh, and you can pronounce your middle and last name! how many 3-4 year-olds can say "mi-ya-gi-shi-ma?"

we had a big party for you at our house yesterday. all the people you love were there! your school buddies (jack, scotty, and ethan) came to celebrate your birthday too! you all had a blast! we continued the celebration today at disneyland and got your first annual passport so that you don't have to say you're 2 any more! we then went for lunch at red robin. you ate a whole corn dog, mandarin oranges, fries, chocolate milk shake AND an ice-cream sundae! (did i tell you, you only weigh 35 pounds?! :) you also had your first taste of gum today! you did great!

i hope this year will be a year where you'll discover sports so that you can keep up with your neighbor, katie! i hope you'll learn to swim, learn to ride a bike w/o training wheels, do some karate, t-ball, and basketball this year. don't worry, no pressure! daddy has high hopes for you in kendo, but that's not until you're 7 or 8. in the meantime, enjoy age 4 because soon, you'll be off to big boy school - kindergarten! mommy will sure weep then....

i love you!

- mommy -

custom scratchers

we had aaron's 4th birthday party yesterday and boy, was it a full house! we had a lot of fun and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

we had scratchers as "door prizes." i made scratchers for kyle's birthday and i thought i'd resurrect it!

here's how to make your own scratchers:

material:

• heavy cardstock
• color printer
• word document software or other software to create the card is fine
• scratch-off stickers

steps:

1. make the scratcher card using word doc (use whatever image or layout you like); make sure the words/prize area will get covered by the scratch-off sticker
2. cut and paste the scratcher card so that it fills up an 8x11 cardstock paper
3. print
4. cut out each card
5. remove the scratch-off sticker and place it over the writing/prize area!

have fun and get creative! i'd like to hear from you if you've tried making your own!

have you seen me?

ok, you guys can all call off the missing person search. i'm back!

i've been quite busy planning family night at aaron's school, making maddie's super late announcements, and planning aaron's 4th birthday party. plus, i've already gotten my in-laws 50th anniversary party, teachers' birthday celebration and teacher appreciation week activities spinning in my head. i swear i feel like i have A.D.D.

so here's aaron's birthday invitation. i'm not 100% happy with it; i had a creative block and time was running out. i will be posting maddie's announcements as soon as her mommy sends them out (i don't want to spoil her "surprise.").

happy birthday!

happy 4th birthday, houston!

fishing you a happy valentine's day!

fishing you a happy valentine's day!

i was supposed to post this earlier this week, but i had too much to do. anyways, these were the valentine's cards i made this year for aaron's classmates. i got this idea from family fun magazine and they have tons of other great valentine's ideas on their web sight.

this fish card is so easy to make. here are the steps:

1. cut out 2 large hearts and 1 small heart from cardstock. ( i used the template from family fun. i had to shrink to the right size.)
2. glue on 8mm-10mm rollee-eyes depending on how big your fish is. (i used 8mm here, but i think i could have gone bigger.)
3. draw the mouth on the fish
4. to attach the string to the fish, use a needle and thread the string through the fish's mouth. then tie it into a knot.
5. to attach the string to the pixie stick, use a small piece of scotch tape to tape the string to the pixie stick (alternative: a pencil)
6. write a message on the back of the card.

have a great valentine's day!!!

truck load of fun for nicholas

happy 4th birthday to nicholas tanaka!

february 7, 2009