Fudge

Me: Hey, this fudge tastes like brandy.

Mommy: How do you know what brandy tastes like?

Me: Well, it tastes like how it smells.

Storytime!

The Frog and the Turtle
by Yoshimi
December 17, 2009

One day a frog and a turtle met at the pond. The frog said, "Do you want to jump on lily pads?" And the turtle said, "No, thanks. Do you want to go to my house?" The frog said, "No, thanks."

"Then what do you want to do?" said the turtle.

"I want to jump on lily pads and hide in lily pads."

"I already said I don't want to do that," said the turtle. "What I want to do is make something good to eat."

"Good idea," said the frog.

"Let's go do it," said the frog.

So the turtle and the frog got lots of candies and lots of stuff to make sweet treats and gingerbread houses. They had a very good time.

"This is fun!" said the turtle.

"I know!" said the frog.

It looked delicious.

When they were finished, they ate it.

The end.

Racing dive

I love swimming! Here's me and my friend K taking practicing our racing dives. I went first. She went after me.

Don't forget to count 0

Daddy: Yoshi this will be your 6th Christmas.

Yoshi: No, it'll be my 7th. My first was when I was zero, then my second was when I was 1, so now that I'm 6, it'll be my 7th.

At the symphony

Last week we took a field trip to Davies Symphony Hall. To see the San Francisco Symphony. Mommy even came! She rode the bus with us and everything. Mommy said something about liking the shoulder seat belts in the bus. She's weird.

Mommy sat next to me. I pointed out these clear plastic rectangles hanging down from the ceiling. She asked what they were for. I told her it was there so the music can bounce off it and land on the people watching. Mommy said something about uh-coo-stix. Again, weird.

So the music people started coming onto the stage and setting up their stuff. Mommy and I chatted.

Mommy: Ooh, look! There are some people with cellos over there. (She points to the right)

Me: No, Mommy, the cellos are over there. (I point to the left.) That's the bass and double bass. (I point to where Mommy pointed before)

Mommy: Oh. We'll I'll be!

What will she be?

Jingle Bells!

Fun at Bachan and Jichan's house!

In my head...

Me: I have a hundred things in my head that I'm thinking about.

Daddy: Really? Wow!

Mommy: That's a lot!

Me: Oh wait, I mean I have two things. I was thinking of eating walnuts and something to show you.

Storytime!

Rabbit and Mouse
by Yoshi


Once there was a little cute rabbit. And a cute mouse. They played together every day. They were very best friends! They had lots of fun together. They went to animal parks and stuff.

One day, a giraffe walked by. The rabbit and the mouse got very scared. So they left into a different wood. On the way there the rabbit found lots of carrots. And the mouse found lots of cheese. And when they got there, there was lots of cheese and carrots.

And the rabbit jumped to pick the carrots and the mouse scurried everywhere to pick the cheese. The rabbit and the mouse were very happy.

At dinner, the mouse had cheese soup and the rabbit had carrot soup. For dessert, the mouse had cheesecake. And for dessert, the bunny had carrot cake.

For breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, the mouse always had cheese things and the rabbit always had carrot things.

They found lots of stuff to make furniture and stuff. And they found other things to make decorations. And they had a very happy time and they made mouse and rabbit friends. And they partied a lot. And they drinked fruit punch. And sometimes they ate different colored marshmallows and cookies and brownies and muffins and cake and doughnuts.

The end.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

You're the best. I'm happy that you're my daddy. I love you!

Yes I can. No you can't.

Daddy: I'm the daddy so I can do whatever I want.

Me: Well, you can't punch me.

Daddy: You got me there.

Needles make me sad

I got a flu shot today. Mommy and Daddy said it wouldn't hurt. Not true.

Big needle + little arm = owwww!!!

My needle was much bigger than the ones that Mommy and Daddy got. That wasn't fair.

But! I got another flu medicine that sprayed up my nose in both nose holes. It felt like sneezing backwards.

Tonight I get to sleep with Bandit Snoopy. That's Mommy's very special Snoopy that always sleeps in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Bandit Snoopy helps make my arm feel better.

Picture picture

About a year ago, I got a really fun cupcake baking set from Auntie Sharen. She's the Mommy of Kristen. And I was the flower girl in Kristen and Trenner's wedding. The baking set is really fun. Everything is Yoshi sized—small and perfect. Small bowl, small mixing spoons, little measuring cups, a mini cupcake pan... it goes on and on. There's even an apron that's the perfect size.

Anyway, when I first used it to make cupcakes, Mommy took pictures of me. Mommy is always taking pictures of me. Sometimes she gets kinda annoying with that camera in my face all the time saying, "Hey, Yoshi! Look here!" But don't tell her I said that. Because it might hurt her feelings. And also, I don't want to get in trouble.

So she took a photo of me. And then she gave it to the dad of my friend Leo (he was in my class last year). Leo's dad is a painter. And he made a painting of me! It's called "Yellow Bowl." That yellow bowl is actually a bowl from Jichan's Mommy. Now we have it. It's part of a set of 3 different sizes—mommy, baby, daddy sizes.

So here is the photo and painting side by side:


The painting is framed and hangs in my kitchen. I really like it.

Read-a-thon

Today we got to wear our jammies to school! I wore my purple and green froggie jammies because they are nice and soft. I brought my slippers in my backpack to wear in the classroom. I wore my bathrobe as a jacket. Fun!

Today was called Snuggle Down and Read to start the first day of our Read-A-Thon. That's where kids read books and then get money! But the money doesn't go in their piggy banks. It goes back to my school so that our library can get more books. And you know I love books! And you wanna know a secret? I love smelling books.

So this readathon goes something like this. Starting today until December 4th, I keep track of the amount of time I read every day. I also keep track of what books I read. Or chapters of books if the books are long. If a grownup reads to me, this counts too.

I write all this down on a reading log. This is not a tree that fell down. This kind of log is fancy talk for a piece of paper with information on it.

If you want to help me and my school, you can sponsor me. You can pledge to donate a certain amount of money, like 10 cents for every minute I read. And then let's say I read 15 minutes a day, every day. That's 0.10 ($) x 15 (minutes) x 30 (days) = $45 that you will give to my school. Or you can say you will donate a certain amount of money for every book I read. Or you can pledge money based on how many pages I read. I hear that you can even just donate a flat amount. So many choices!

So if any of you want to sponsor me or want to know more about this read-a-thon stuff, please let Mommy or Daddy know. You can email them, leave a comment here, or send them a Facebook message. Or the good ol' telephone works too.

Thank you very much!

Trick or Treat!

"Trick or Treat!" is what you say on Halloween when you want candy. I wish Trick Or Treat worked all the time. This year I was brave and went up to many houses. Last year I was more shy. I think it's because I'm six now.

For my school parade on Friday, I dressed as a Hindu princess. I wore my sari from Dee's wedding. I felt very sparkly in it.

For Halloween night, I went as a regular ballerina (I was a princess ballerina last year). I decided to use my blue bucket to hold my candy. I went trick or treating with my friends. Yay!



Mommy and Daddy let me eat a lot of candy that night. I went crazy.

Here is my loot! I couldn't get a photo of the candy I already ate since it was in my tummy and it's hard to get a camera in the stomach because eating it wouldn't taste good.

Another tooth...

...fell out! It happened like this. So I'm at L's house, eating dinner. I'm there to learn about taking care of her cat while she is in Japan with her family. I take a bite of yummy pizza. But then my tooth really starts to hurt. Then I realize that my tooth is sticking out flat. Mommy and Daddy say, "Pull it out!" And so I do. I bleed a little, just like last time. L's mommy is very excited. So am I! Mommy wraps up the tiny, bloody tooth in a napkin and puts in in her bag.

My tooth is now in another cute little envelope under my pillow. I wonder if the Tooth Fairy is going to come tonight.

Birthday paper fun

Mommy made me a beautiful birthday banner. It's so happy! I like the circles. I like the colors. I like that it spells out "Happy Birthday Yoshimi!" Mommy even used my favorite blue for the ribbon. She said we can hang it up every year for my birthday!

Here's my name up close.


I made the invitations that I gave to my friends for my sleepover birthday party last Saturday.


Mommy made birthday hats for me and my team (my two best friends). We wore them at the party!


Birthdays are so fun!

I'm six years old!

Today is my birthday! I'm six! I like being six. It's even better than being five.

I asked Mommy to make zucchini muffins to bring into my class today. So she did. 'Cause I'm the birthday girl! At first, when my classmates learned that there was zucchini in it a lot of them were grossed out by veggies in their treats. But then they all ate it and said, "Yummy! It's so good!"

Every kid in my class said something nice to me when the kids took their turn doing the Birthday Toast. This kind of toast has nothing to do with bread though. Weird! Here are some things my friends said:

"Happy Birthday, Yoshi. I'm glad we're friends."
"You're always nice to me. You're never mean. Happy Birthday!"
"Happy Birthday, Yoshi!"
"Happy Birthday!"
"You're a good friend. Happy Birthday!"
"I like playing with you. Happy Birthday!"
"I'm glad you don't have lice anymore. Happy Birthday!"
"Happy Birthday, Yoshi!"

Then Mommy led the class to sing Happy Birthday. And everyone said, "Cha! Cha! Cha!" after each line.

Mommy picked me up a little early from school today and we went with one of my friends in my class to a cafe. We did our homework first. Then we drank Italian sodas. Yummy! I had orange soda and my friend S. had strawberry. She had a cookie and I ate a buttery croissant. Then we went to the library that just re-opened and looked at all the books and videos. I picked out a Snoopy video to take home.

We ate one of my favorite meals for dinner. Mac and cheese! We had an indoor picnic in my room with my little star light and a candle. I drank fizzy orange juice and it was the same color as my food!

Then Daddy and Mommy read me two chapters of a Roald Dahl book and then put me to bed.

I feel very special. I love being the birthday girl.

Tooth fairy!

Look what the Tooth Fairy brought! A crisp dollar bill and and pack of yummy gum with squirty flavor inside!

I lost my tooth!

I lost my first tooth today! It happened this afternoon. First, it got caught on my sweater sleeve because I like to chew on my clothes sometimes. Then, the bottom of the tooth was all bloody. Mommy says, "Oooh! You're tooth is ready! Yank it out!" So I did. There was a little bit of blood. I was really excited and happy. I jumped up and down. Daddy worked from home today so I brought the tooth over to him.

Yay!


I put my cute, tiny, bloody tooth into a cute, tiny envelope that Mommy let me use. I put it under my pillow. I hear that there is a Tooth Fairy. I wonder if she's going to visit.

Two wheels!

I learned how to ride my bike today! I went to Golden Gate Park to meet up with my friends. We all brought our bicycles. I had training wheels on mine, but Daddy took them off after five minutes. I was a little nervous, but really excited too. Look! I'm riding my bike! And my friend Leo is chasing me!



Then I rode away!

2 surprises!

Guess what? I have a wiggly tooth! And guest what again? I have another wiggly tooth! Two wiggly tooths!

Daddy and I play chess

"I like playing chess 'cause I can do it. So it's cool."

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Yesterday was Mommy's birthday. She's much older than me. She's an old lady. I told her this. Then Mommy asked, "If I'm an old lady, then what is Bachan?" I said, "An older lady!"

I made Mommy waffles using Sha and Brenda's most favoritist Belgian waffle recipe. Daddy helped a little. Mommy loved my cooking.

I also made Mommy a chocolate cake while she was at her photography class. Daddy helped a little. I made sure the batter and the frosting tasted good. 'Cause you don't want to make a cake with yucky batter or yucky frosting.

Watch the video of us making the cake!

Early night sky

Last night I stayed at school for a super long time--12 hours. There was a Pee-Tee-Yay meeting. It's where the parents and teachers talk about school stuff. I hear it's pretty boring, so after the potluck dinner in the cafeteria me and the other kids played together and watched videos while the parents talked their boring talk.

It was very warm on the walk home, even though the sky was dark. There was a breeze, but it was toasty and felt good. I tilted my head back to look up at the dark, blue-black sky. I said to Mommy, "Ooh! The sky is so pretty! It's like... drinking blueberry juice... and the stars... they remind me of cookies."

First Day of First Grade!

Today was my first day of first grade.

Usually I sleep without clothes on because I get hot. But last night I wanted to make sure I would not be late for school, so after Mommy and Daddy gave me my bedtime hug-kiss-nosies, I put on my school clothes. Then I went to sleep. In the morning Mommy found me sleeping in my clothes. I told her that I wanted to be ready for school. She said that I'm very efficient, whatever that means.

After eating a toasty bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with brown sugar for breakfast, I brushed my teeth, put on my shoes, and put on my backpack (with my lunch bag inside). We went out the door but then I realized it was super cold so I put on my sweatshirt. I didn't zip it up though 'cause I didn't want to cover up my doggie picture on the front of my shirt.

Mommy, Daddy and I walked to school. The big hill didn't feel so big this time. Mommy said it's because I'm stronger now than when I was in kindergarten. I walked ahead of them on the last couple blocks because I was so excited.

We actually made it to school before the bell rang. This hardly happened last year. We always ran late for some reason. They really should just make the bell ring later. Then we would never be late. It was great seeing everyone again. Except for the boy team that my team always runs away from. We usually play Chase. I don't always like it though.

I lined up with my class and we walked in the room together. My teacher is very nice and she told us the rules of the classroom and all that. I found at my desk my very own box of 24 new crayons. And pink scissors! And a pencil! And an eraser!

I had lots of fun in first grade. Except that we only get to play once in the classroom. The rest of the time we do first grade work. But that's okay. It's still fun. And we get to play a lot in the After School Program too.

And guess what else? On the walk home, Mommy and I saw the SF parrots near our house. What a long, happy day!

My new craft

Mommy taught me how to sew. This is my first project. I call it a Hanging Bear because it's flat. You have to hold it up and the bear hangs there. I only poked my finger once with the needle. I didn't cry because I'm very brave. And I didn't really poke the needle very hard. I'm giving my bear to my friend Z tomorrow.

Mommy made me a tiny pincushion out of a bottle cap. It looks like a mushroom. I picked out the fabric and let her use some of my red ribbon I had in my dress up box. I have pretty pins and my needle in my pincushion.



I love sewing because I can make neat things! I'm now working on a sheep.

I'm back!

I had a great time in Orange County visiting Uncle Eric, Auntie Wendy, and baby Ellie Belly. Here they are in case you don't know what they look like.



Lots of fun. I took their doggie Sami out on walks. I went swimming almost every day. I even went to the beach and made a fancy sand castle with seaweed and shells.



I played a lot with Ellie. She likes when I make funny faces and sounds at her. I met my other cousin Cali. She's fun too!



I also spent some time with Auntie Wendy's family. They are very nice but I'm very shy around them.

We visited a placed called something like Mission San Juan Capastrami. It's an old building. There is a Mission near our house here in San Francisco. But the one we visited in Orange County was a little different. I liked jumping around.



I also did a little photo shoot with Ellie. A photo shoot is where Mommy fiddles with her camera for way too long to get "the perfect shot" and I get impatient. How hard is it to press a button? I've been pressing buttons since I was a baby. Just take the picture already. But I do love holding Ellie.



I love a vacation, but I also love being home. I really missed Daddy when I was gone. Mommy missed him too. I think Daddy was bored without us. When he picked us up from the airport, I gave him a super big hug.

Later that night we went to watch the Persied Meteor Shower near Mt. Diablo. My friend Izzy and her mommy came along. We got to lie in our sleeping bags and stare up at the sky. We saw some really neat shooting stars with long tails fly across the night sky. So cool! But Daddy got really sick and threw up a lot. He mostly looked at the ground while we looked at the sky. I don't think he saw many shooting stars.

Two days later, I got sick. No fun. It was pretty miserable. I threw up a lot. I cried a lot. I stopped throwing up yesterday, but I'm still tired. I've been keeping busy by sleeping through. I told Mommy that I wish people never got sick. It really hurts.

But I'm feeling much better today. And did I mention that Ella is visiting again from Israel? My best friend is back! We have a sleepover planned for this week. Yay!!!!

I love Ellie!

She's so cute. I love giving my baby cousin hugs and kisses.

No more stuff!

Hello! This is Yoshi's mom.

As you may or may not know, our household really wants to have a simple, but full life rich with experiences. And one of the ways to reach this is not to be bogged down by "stuff." Sure, it's just about impossible not to have material goods in this day and age, and we are definitely fortunate that we can live comfortably with modern conveniences, but it seems that when I have a lot of Stuff, I end up worrying about Stuff, and then wanting even more Stuff. Stuff that really isn't important and ends up taking up space, not being used, and then creating a lot of guilt of owning it but feeling bad getting rid of it.

And from an environmental standpoint, Stuff takes a lot of resources. Think about that one plastic bottle of water you drink, the energy it took to make the bottle, to transport the bottle, to package the bottle among other bottles, advertise the selling of the bottle, then the energy to recycle that bottle once it's used. Ugh.

But I digress.

This is another plea not to give us material goods. Chances are if we've gone this long without it, we don't really need it, and probably don't want it. And this rings especially true for things given to Yoshi. She doesn't need anymore things. And to be completely honest, I will probably be offended if you read this post and continue to give her stuff.

If you want to give her something, please, please, ask me first. I hate to be the Mean Mommy when I end up taking away a toy she got from someone else.

And if you have a compulsion to spend money and want to put it to good use, consider donating to a charity or non-profit like Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society in memory of her grandpa, or to her elementary school.

Thank you for your support and love.

Baker Beach

The ocean has a lot of water.

Joke of the day

Me: What smells like a banana and is invisible?

Mommy: An invisible banana?

Me: No. A monkey's burp!

Story: Shapetown

Once inside of Shape Town, there were a couple different kinds of shapes. There was Square and Triangle, Circle, Oval, Diamond, Rectangle. And those were the only shapes.

And one day, five Letters moved in from Letter Town. And then the four friends, the Diamond, the Oval, the Circle, the Square and the Rectangle and the Triangle, they said, “You don’t belong in Letter Town. We do!” The Letters said, “We’re the beginning of the alphabet. We’re A, B, C, D, E! We heard there were more houses and we came to move in. That is why.”

So the four friends five friends moved in. And then the five letters and the five shapes became ten best friends. They played every day. And then five animals moved in. There was a cow, a chicken, a cat, a horse, and a frog. Moved in to Shape Town. And then it was called Anything Town where move five things like Five Bottles moved in. A tall bottle, a fat bottle, a skinny bottle, a soda bottle, a metal bottle. And then five chicken pox roosters moved in. They were covered in red chicken box ‘cause they ate too many red gum! And they got some medicine and then they ate healthier.

And animals kept moving in. And different things keep moving in.

Doo doo dooo, doo doo doo. (sing this)

And one day something big and scary moved in. It had a weapon! It scared everything. They were frightened and cuddled together. It was a giant Transformer named Bumblebee!!!!

They all ran away. And came back. And then the five bumblebee transformers all became friends with the rest of them. They always ate dinner together, ate lunch and breakfast and they did everything together. It was so happy story, that they wanted to always have more friends moving in and one day….

They had a new friend come in. They didn’t know what it was. It was a person in a racecar. Five persons in a racecar. And they became friends, too. And they all had smiles when they met.

The end!

I'm So Sari!

About a week ago, Mommy, Daddy and I went on an airplane. We flew to New Jersey for a wedding. Daddy went to college with Dee. Dee is the bride. I was a flower girl.

A couple days before the wedding, we went to Dee's Mommy and Daddy's house in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I didn't see any cherries or hills there. That's weird. We were there for the Mehendi Party. Everyone wears green. All the girls get their hands painted with Henna. Henna is a plant that is used to make this brown paste stuff that colors your skin. It looks like chocolate, but don't eat it because it's not chocolate. It's henna. Dee got the most special henna designs because she's the bride.

Here I am getting my hand painted:


Waiting for it to dry (see the peacock?):


The rehearsal was on Friday, the day before the wedding. Rehearsal is when you practice. It took a long time for people to rehearse I guess. But I hear practice makes perfect. We must be perfect after all that practicing. I mostly waited around for everyone else because I knew my part well.


Finally it was Saturday, wedding day! I got dressed in my yellow sari made especially for me in India, which is a country far, far away. It's sparkly and I feel like a princess when I wear it. Daddy didn't have a sari because he's a boy. And he wasn't a flower girl either.


After the Hindu ceremony, there was a break so we could get ready for the Catholic ceremony. I changed out of my sari and put on my poofy white dress. I made sure I had all my flowers in my basket. I did my job walking down the aisle and threw flower petals on the ground. Fun!


I got hungry towards the end.


More wedding photos can be seen on Mommy's Flickr.

Me and my cousin

I love Ellie!

Fun time at the zoo

Lately I've been spending my time at the zoo for day camp. I know all about the zoo. If you want, I can show you around.

The people that work at the zoo get to hold the animals because they know how to hold them. But we get to pet some of the animals while they are being held. And guess what? Today I pet a Koala Bear!! She is 13 years old and really soft and cute. Almost as cute as a giraffe.

Oh! And speaking of giraffes, I saw them today. Usually when Mommy picks me up after camp ends we go straight home, but today we decided to hang out a little longer at the zoo. We went to see the giraffes together. It was their dinner time. They were eating leaves, alfalfa and giraffe kibble. They have long tongues that are purple. I said to Mommy, "They have the biggest, darkest, most perfect, round eyes ever!" So pretty!

Alcatraz

Alcatraz is a jail on an island here in San Francisco. But bad guys no longer are there. It's a museum jail. That means regular people get to visit and walk around. I had a good time and learned a lot about how people try to escape from jail. They should really practice their swimming.

Pay attention, Mommy

Sometimes she misunderhears me.

Story of a house

Once there was a house. Inside of the house was a little girl. Her was name was Yoshimi. Her mom was named denise. Her dad was named Tom. They were a good family. The best cereal Yoshi liked was Honey Nut Toasted Oats and Honey Nut Cheerios. One is toasted and one is not.

Yoshi loved to wear any type of clothes that looks good to her. Denise likes to knit stuff. Tom likes to work in an office. You can draw on the windows or you can draw on the board. If you draw on the windows you have to draw on the windows with the kind of makers that you use on the white board. Then you erase it. Yoshi once in San Mateo worked and drawed a picture that was as big as herself.

5 Years

I don't really remember Grandpa alive because I was only a little baby when he passed away. But I know he and I had a lot of fun. This picture was taken the last time I played with him. It was at the beach. We were good buddies. He loved me lots.

I went to his Rock at the special park for dead people who are rocks. I said hi to him and told him that I was a flower girl at a wedding the day before. I also told him that I finished Kindergarten. Then I picked flowers from the grass and put it on his rock. And I arranged his other goodies already there on his rock to make it look more nice.

I miss Grandpa.

My favorite animal is a giraffe

Once there was a zoo. In the zoo lived a zebra and a giraffe. The zebra liked camels but there were no camels in the zoo. The zebra was sad. So she almost cried. The giraffe likes people feeding her but at this zoo no one could feed the giraffe! The giraffe was so sad that she almost threw up and cried.

One day, a little boy came and the little boy had a pet camel. Zebra was so happy that the zebra and danced for joy. (do a dance and sing: hmm hmmm hmmm hmm mmmmmm!)

Then came a little girl. She had giraffe food. Giraffe was so happy she dance around and danced and danced.

And then they were both happy dancing around.

The end.

I'm now a first grader!

Today was my last day of kindergarten. Now I'm big.

In kindergarten, I learned how to count by ones, twos, fives, and tens.

In kindergarten, I learned how to read.

In kindergarten, I learned how to write.

In kindergarten, I learned how caterpillars turn into butterflies.

In kindergarten, I made new best friends.

In kindergarten, I had a lot of fun.


Here is a page from my writing and drawing that I do every day.



"In kindergarten I learned how to do my writing and how to play nicely."


I wish I could go to kindergarten forever.

Wouldn't it be funny

Yesterday, Mommy and I looked at new photos of baby Ellie. Mommy asked me what I'm going to say when I finally meet my new cousin.

I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if I shook her hand and said, 'Congratulations! You just made it out of a belly!'?"

Mommy laughed. I told her not to tell anyone I said that.

A Mother's Day video for Bachan!

I'm going to Seattle this weekend with Mommy and Daddy for a wedding. I won't be able to blog until after I get back so this video is a little early. Happy Mother's Day, Bachan! It's from me, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Eric, Auntie Wendy, and baby Ellie.

Dogfest

Saturday my school had a big fun-raiser. A fun-raiser is where you have fun and make money. The fun-raiser we had was called Dogfest. It's a party for dogs. And kids too! There were all sorts of games, facepainting, and food. Mommy made cupcakes with sprinkles. My favorite!



I dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz because Dorothy has a dog. I brought my Snoopy in a basket. Snoopy pretended to be Toto. I got my face painted with a butterfly. That's me in the top picture in case you didn't recognize me in my disguise.

There were so many dogs. Big dogs, little dogs. Some dogs had a lot of fur. Some had hardly any.



Mommy told our friend Sabrina to bring her doggies and enter them in the "Best Coat" contest. Her doggies are big and super fluffy white. They look like clouds that drool.



And guess what? Her dogs won!



I told Mommy, "When Sabrina's doggies won, I felt really happy on the inside."

"How did you feel on the outside?" Mommy asked.

"Even more happy than on the inside. I said, 'Yay!!!!!'"

She's cute!

When I saw this picture Ellie this morning, I said, "Awwww! She's sooooo cuuuute!" I really want to see her in real life.

She's wearing a hat that Mommy knit her.

I'm a big cousin!

Uncle Eric and Auntie Wendy had a baby last night. The baby's name is Ellie, which is a nickname for Elizabeth. The baby was born while I was sleeping. Doesn't Ellie know that she should have been sleeping too? The night is bedtime for kids!

Here's some things you might want to know about the baby.
Her name is Elizabeth Quynh Haruko Iwamoto. When she's in kindergarten, it's going to take her 10 minutes and two sheets of paper to write out her name on her homework.

She was born on April 13, 2009. That was yesterday.

At 9:06pm. That was last night.

6 pounds, 14 ounces. I weigh a lot more than that, like more than five Ellies put together.

20 inches long. I'm taller than that. I don't know how much taller though. Much taller if she's lying down.

I can't wait to meet her! I have so much I plan to teach her, like how to carefully place small toys on the floor so Mommy and Daddy can step on them. But first I will have to teach her not to eat small toys. Because that's dangerous.

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Super Yo!

I drew this picture a couple days ago. It's me as a superhero. See my cape? I'm flying high in the air. That's why the clouds are below me.

Happy Easter!

Today is Easter. It's a day to celebrate spring. It's also about chocolate and eggs. And going to the park. First, we had an Easter Egg hunt in my backyard. Daddy wanted to know if the Easter Bunny should hide the eggs. I told him, "No, the Easter Bunny isn't real. You and Mommy hide the eggs!" The Easter Bunny isn't real like Santa Claus. Silly, Daddy should know that.

My little 2 year old neighbor Z had her first egg hunt. I hid the eggs for her and then she and her mommy looked for them. Z really liked pouring the eggs out of the basket and hearing them go Crack! Crack! Crack! I hope she washed the eggs off before she ate them.



Then Mommy and Daddy hid my eggs so I could find them. Some of them were easy to find. But I had a lot of green colored eggs that looked a lot like the color of the plants in our backyard. They were tricky to find. But I found them. Eventually.



After the egg hunt, we packed our lunch for the picnic at the big park by our house. The Sisters are there every Easter and host a big celebration. We went early for the Easter Egg Hunt. I didn't get any eggs there though because I was kind of nervous being with so many people and I couldn't see Mommy or Daddy. A little girl gave me two of her eggs when she saw I had none. She was very nice to do that. Inside the plastic eggs were chocolates! Yummy!



We set up our big blanket on the grass and sat with my friend Izzy and her family. They brought homemade Challah bread using Daddy's sourdough starter.



We had a great time eating, playing, and seeing all the Sisters. The Sisters are actually grown up boys dressed up as girls. They wear a lot of pretty dresses and fancy makeup.



Mommy said she wishes she was a guy so she could dress up like a girl. Mommy is so silly!



Izzy's auntie's friend James is a Sister. He made a special hat that looks like a big orange flower! With big bees that fly around his head! But they aren't real bees. Just stuffed animal ones. I wasn't afraid.



There were so many people at the park! It's nice to see everyone out on such a nice day.



Lots of people dressed up. Some people wore all pink! Pink is a good color. Maybe I'll dress up next time in my princess costume.



I can't wait until next Easter!