We celebrated Grandma’s birthday with some bbq and cake:
Normally, our family photo’s don’t turn out very well but this time we got a good one:
Someone, *ahem* Bryan, jumped the gun on the silly picture:
Now it is silly picture time:
Right after Grandma blew out her candle, Stacy sneezed right on the cake and then proceeded to smile for the picture:
Sadly, our family had to take home the side of the cake Stacy sneezed on. Boo.
Grandma Chaunch invited us out to Kitayama to celebrate Stacy’s 4th birthday. It was a surprise to me and Stacy! I thought we were just meeting up for a family get together but then the waitress brings out a candle and ice cream for Stacy and she was soooooo HAPPY!!
Stacy couldn’t believe we were all singing for her…but her cousin Nicole has her eye’s on Stacy’s ice cream!!!
This was just the first of many birthday celebrations!!
This year Stacy got a Flutterbye Fairy for Christmas. Apparently that was the gift she really-really wanted because she saw it on tv. Who knew?
Anyway, you hold your hand under the fairy and it flies up:
It looks super easy on tv and the concept is easy:
Yet this thing has a mind of it’s own and it is super hard to control.
At least in the pictures it looks easy and fun to play with. Actually Stacy has fun playing with it…while I cringe watching this thing bounce off everything inside the house. It was now ruled to be an OUTDOOR toy!
Usually Aunty Dawn builds Ginger Bread houses with the kids but since Jack went to a friend’s I told Dawn she didn’t have to do it with the kids. Well, Grandpa and Grandma ended up building some Ginger Bread houses with the kids. Stacy building her foundation:
Viola! Lets just say Jack’s is the second best one.
Jack was invited to a friend’s house to build Ginger bread houses:
Surprisingly, he didn’t do a bad job…but let’s just say it was the 6th best one:
The Pirates basketball team had our Christmas party at Powersurge. Genius here played on the Wii U instead of looking up at the BIG tv in front of him:
Luckily the bulb went off later and he was using the big tv:
Pirates and siblings:
This ended up being more festive outside, but not all the Pirates were in the picture:
Jack is sort of into Minecraft and Stacy has no idea what Minecraft is but here she is trying to participate:
Lift up the mask and it doesn’t get better:
It has been unseasonably warm in Southern California, so what better way to spend the winter than at the pool! Jack getting his swim on:
And his usual jump into the pool:
Then lounging:
Stacy has to jump in holding all her stuff…then I realized she didn’t have a floaty on…but luckily she can swim a little:
It helps when I remember to actually TIE the noodle around her first:
These two just use me to get into the pool and then for butler service:
It was the end of the year and we just got back home from my parents house on New Year’s Eve. Aya and I were debating to watch a movie and/or stay up to watch the ball drop at the stroke of midnight.
I took a shower and shaved for the New Year. As I was shaving, I noticed all the stubble was not quickly draining down the drain like usual. I realized the sink was not plugged but it was slow. Since the sink was now full of water and draining slowly, I told Aya to wash it all down after she showered and I would fix it in the morning. Well, after Aya showered she wanted to fix it herself that night if I helped her.
I reluctantly went to help and when we took the drain apart we got rid of the blockage . As I went to put everything back together, I gave Aya and the sink stopper and told her to put it in once I go under the sink. I could tell Aya thought it was gross to hold the sink stopper but hey her hair clogs the sink. As I lowered my head under the sink Aya drops the sink stopper on my head!
All she had to do was HOLD onto it. I handed it to her in her hand. She held it. I got down to go under the sink and she drops it. Seriously. I just got out of the shower, she is suppose to HOLD it AND she drops it on me. Needless to say I was upset. Now I am hot and sweaty as well.
No movie watching for us but we did stay awake to see the ball drop. What a way to end 2013…with sink gunk dropped on my head.
I don’t know if this is Jack’s thing or a young kid thing, but Jack uses the word “yo” to end his sentences. For example, “Did you shoot off that guys head, yo?!” Or, “When is it dinner, yo?!”
Here is his Christmas gift to us wrapped in his own “special” gift wrapping paper. It is suppose to read UCLA Yo-Bro, but he has no idea where to put the UCLA letters to be legible:
And I know you are dying to see what he gave us, so with no further ado…a picture of himself!!
Really, yo?! A picture of YOURSELF for Christmas. Where can I return this and get a refund???
The second annual Fantasy Football Yoshioka cup has been completed and this year’s winner is <drumroll>….AYA!!
Aya narrowly beat the combined team of Dawn/Bryan to win the 2013 Yoshioka Cup! Aya reluctantly getting the Yoshioka Cup from last years winner:
2012 and 2013 Yoshioka Cup winners!
I vow to win the championship in 2014!!
Sad to say, 2014 did not have me repeating as HORSE champion. The good news is that we had more players participate this year. Harrison and Tom joined the group this year:
Thomas, Bryan, Scott and I rounded out the rest of the group. You would think Bryan (who plays the most basketball out of the group) would do well, but he was FIRST one out!
Scott was the 2012 HORSE champion and regains the crown again. Boo.
I knew I saw a picture of Grandma on New Years. Here it is with some of the sushi that she made in the background:
HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA!! I realized it wasn’t a good picture after I took it but that didn’t stop me from deleting it, but here is a better picture:
As usual we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for our New Year’s feast. This year, Aya and I went over a bit early to help out for the first time. (well, not Aya’s first time…usually Dawn and Aya go over to help but this was my first year helping…usually I am in supervisory role and taste tester).
Aya and I had a little assembly line going to make won-tons:
Stacy even made ONE of them:
Dad was outside grilling the meat:
and then inside doing the spam musubi:
Grandma was too busy making everything else to be in the photo’s….or for some reason I didn’t take a picture of grandma cooking.
Aya and I fried the won-tons but after several oil burn mishaps of me burning Aya, I was relegated back to picture taking duty:
Dawn filled her usual role as fryer with Aya and did the shrimp:
The first pics of 2014 of the fam-bam! Stacy is either practicing her sign for a made 3-pointer, or she is signaling how Uncle Bryan camps out in the key at Sunday night basketball:
Jack in a collared shirt:
Toshihiro & Uncle Bryan:
Cousins:
