Isla's Baby Shower

This weekend my Mom and Aunt Sandy hosted a beautiful baby shower for our Little Miss Isla Kawahito! It was such a special day. My Mom and Aunt did so many sweet and thoughtful things to make the day memorable and unique and it meant so much to me that they came in from Toronto and that so many of my girlfriends were able to make it as well. I'm so excited to meet this little lady and to see what kind of big sister Mikaella will be and the shower was such a wonderful way to welcome her arrival. Only a couple more months to go!

The adorable invites!

Cherry Blossoms are my favourite!!

The cupcakes were from Magnolia Bakery and were scrumptious!! http://www.magnoliabakery.com/home.php

The entire house was covered in fresh pink flowers~

Hilarious game that my mom played and we had to see how Daddy did! [the winners of the games won prizes to go to DryBar!]

My Mom asked everyone to sign a heart that she had sewn onto a piece of fabric so she could make Little Isla a quilt~!

Everyone recieved a pair of heart slippers.

Our amazing new bassinet that my mom and girlfriends picked out! I can't wait to see our little sweetie snuggled up in there :) http://www.montedesign.net/bassinet.html

So funny! A little gift for Mikaella to not have her feel left out.

One of the most creative gifts! A set of baby wash clothes rolled up into sushi roles to celebrate our Japanese heritage!



~Mammoth~

We had our first family adventure to Mammoth this month and had such a great time. Mikaella loved playing in the snow and watching everyone skiing and snowboarding. We considered having her take her 1st private lesson but decided to wait till next year when she would have a little more coordination but when we went to the mountain she found the hill where they teach the little ones how to ski and she was very eager to try and put her ski boot in pair of ski's she found and kept pointing to go up the chair lift! We have decided that we will make this an annual tradition :)
Here are some pictures from our trip there...

We went up with another family and the kids were so cute together. We would have hot chocolate in our chalet, hang out in the hot tub and pool and loved every minute. The drive there was spectacular and we stopped in at Erick Schats Bakery and it is a must for anyone else heading up there!! http://www.erickschatsbakery.com/

SIAAT a.k.a. "Sites I am addicted to!"

So, from time to time I want to share websites that have caught my eye [and that I may spend too much time on!] so I will be referring to them as SIAAT's.

Here's my latest craze....

http://www.houzz.com/

Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

Tonight Jim, Mikaella, Honey and I went down to the beach which is at the end of our street and watched the sunset. It was exceptionally pretty tonight and made me think of all the amazing times we've had here. We met 7 blocks away at a little beach bar and have so many memories since we've been together. Jim surfs right by this pier at the end of our street and while I was pregnant with Mikaella we would go together almost every night after work. I'd watch him until the sun went down and I would feel Mikaella kicking away in my tummy and then when she was 2 days old we brought her here and from that day forward she has spent almost every day here exploring and playing and enjoying all that the beach has to offer. We would bring her here to practice walking since it's a very forgiving surface to take some tumbles! and now that we are pregnant with our 2nd little girl, we are enjoying all the same memories all over again but now with our little sweetie.

I've been thinking a lot about where is best to raise a family. We think it's very beneficial to be so close to the ocean but on the other hand what we forfeit is space. We will have to make a move in the somewhat near future as we will outgrow our current space as we hope to have one or two more kiddies and we need to figure out a better solution for our children's education as the public school district for our zip code is unfortunately not great. I've had to really educate myself on the different areas within Los Angeles that possess a strong school board as they are not as common as one would think. The private schools in the area are quite good but Jim and I would much prefer Mikaella and her future siblings to go to a strong public school. Our goal is to try and stay close to the ocean but in an area that has a strong school system but also isn't too far from Jims office. I can't believe how many factors have to be considered when deciding where you will raise a family but it's a decision that I take very seriously. I have visions of what I think would be great but then I get very sentimental about our current home. This is where we spent our time together as newlyweds; this is where we brought Mikaella home from the hospital and this will be where our daughters will spend their early days as sisters together. I love that we have had a myriad of visitors over the last 2 years that we have been here and I adore the memories that we have made with all of our friends and family. I think we are getting further in our decision making and will keep you posted on where we decide to move but in the meantime, we will continue enjoying every day that we have here on Galleon Street :)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...

Today Mikaella and I had a good ol' fashioned girls day of shopping. We needed to look for a snowsuit for our upcoming ski/snowboard trip to Mammoth and although we turned up empty handed as every store we went to was showcasing their summer collections we had a great day.

Here's how it all began...

Got to get our start at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Loving Sephora!

Hmmm, should I do my toes this colour?

Giving our salesperson high 5's on our way out the store

Got my Bag and I'm ready to go...

 Stopping to Make an Important Phone Call at Pottery Barn Kids

Laughs at LuLuLemon

Stopping to give herself Kisses {after she just danced to Michael Jackson in the middle of the store}

And what shopping trip wouldn't be complete without stopping to make a wish and throwing coins into the fountain??

Our Anniversary

This week Jim & I celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary and it really meant something to me. I remember 2 years ago being in the British West Indies on an island called Anguilla waking up on our wedding day so incredibly excited to marry this man. I remember running in my wedding dress into his arms and couldn't wait to say "I do." I have never been so sure of anything else in my entire life, I just knew he was the one for me. We met unexpectedly in the summer of 2009 and had a whirlwind romance that makes me get butterflies every time I think about it. I loved every minute of falling in love with my husband and feel beyond blessed that he asked me to be his wife. Everything great and wonderful that has meant the most to me in my life is because of him. He makes waking up every morning fun and exciting and I love daydreaming about what adventures we will have in our lifetime together. I still have to pinch myself that I have found my one and only and that everything has come together the way it has. I love that because of him, I have become a wife and a mother and love these two roles more than I could have imagined. My heart is so full of love for him, Mikaella and our soon-to-be-born daughter, Isla.

"You know you are in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
Dr Seuss 1904-1991

Tots & Tutus

Yesterday was Mikaella's 1st official Tots & Tutus class. Creation Station is a cute little dance studio in Culver City where they encourage dancing for girls from 18mths through till their teenage years.  For 18mths - 3 year old the class is called, Tots & Tutus and we are now officially a part of it.

Mikaella dances to pretty much any and all types of music and has for a while now. There are times when I don't even realize music is playing in the background but my little muffin has music radar and will be dancing away in her own little world as soon as she hears it. I grew up really loving sports and being a Tomboy so this whole area feels a little foreign to me. My Mom always wanted me to pursue dance and my Dad was always encouraging of music but I had another agenda [playing any & all kinds of sports, wherever I could and preferably with any boys I could find in the neighborhood as they better athletes than the girls I knew]  However, my little mini-me seems to possess interest in both areas which is making her Grandparents very happy.

I have to admit that although I had no desire whatsoever to go to a dance class or anything to do with music when I was growing up, it is pretty darn cute watching how much joy Mikaella derives from the arts already at this young age. In Santa Monica there are a number of outdoor-style shopping areas and since we are blessed with beautiful weather year-round, Mikaella and I frequent these destinations. Mikaella will be holding my hand and will stop abruptly or "put the brakes on" as I refer to it, and start dancing in the middle of the sidewalk because she can hear the sound of the music playing from inside the store out onto the street and she must dance until the song has completely finished before she begins walking again. It cracks me up!! Not once have I done something like this so to me, this is all her. She also can hum the tune of all of her favourite nursery rhymes which blows me away because she is only 18mths old. She is starting to speak but has shown more in terms of her musicality vs her verbal communication skills.

The other day we were at Starbucks and while we were waiting for our order, she heard a song that struck a chord with her and all of a sudden started doing her "slow groove" as we call it in the middle of the store. It was early in the morning and all the other customers were in their busy get to work mode, and they all stopped to watch my little sweetie dance it up. She made people smile that would normally not look twice at a little 18mth old girl during their morning commute but she made it so that you couldn't not stop and giggle. At the end of her dancing which simultaneously was when our order was ready, she turned to everyone and started waving and said, "Byeee" in this cute little upbeat voice. Then reached for my hand and walked out of the store as if her work was done for the day. This is my little Mikaella :)