My Very First Table!

Today, I also woke up with a big surprise.  I fell asleep after our shopping to trip to Ikea last night so I didn't get a chance to see what we bought, but when I woke up this morning, I found the table that I had picked out at the store the night before!  And, there was also a matching chair!  Apparently, daddy put it all together while I was sleeping so that I could start using it right away.  As you can see, I was very busy today with a lot office work. 

Ikea

Today, mommy, daddy and I went shopping at Ikea. This was my first time to go to this store. They wanted to find me a little table that I could draw at since they know how much I liked using the kids table at Aunt Carol's and the babysitter's place. I helped them pick out the one that I wanted after I tested out a few. We also got to eat Swedish meatballs as it is a Swedish-owned store - I feel so cultured already!

Today I received an omikuji (OH-ME-KU-JI) from grandma and grandpa in Japan. An omikuji is a fortune that predicts a person's chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. You can receive anywhere from a very bad fortune to a great fortune. Mine was 'good', so I was very relieved!!

Kohana's 1st Office Work

I can take a memo!

Hanging out with Hanaka & Manaka

Today I went to my babysitter's house and had lots of fun playing with Hanaka & Manaka. They are twins so that means I get 'double' the attention! They let me color in their Hello Kitty coloring books, and we also took some time out to pose for some pictures. For lunch, I ate a big bowl of hayashi rice, which I hear is one of my mom's favorite foods - it must be a hereditary thing!

Happy New Year Everyone!

On New Year's Eve, mommy and daddy had their friends Denise and Akio over to ring in the new year. We made sukiyaki, and they let me stay up for the ball drop, which was very exciting! I didn't get to sleep until almost 1am! Then, on New Year's morning, I helped mommy put the finishing touches on her 'osechi ryouri' and make ozoni (traditional Japanese New Year's food). This year, mommy made 'kyozoni', which basically means that she made the ozoni soup with saikyo miso, a type of miso that is popular in Kyoto, It is more sweet and lighter in color than the regular white or 'shiro miso'. I'm learning alot about cooking already, and now that I have a step stool, I can join mommy at the kitchen counter and watch her when she's cooking.

After we ate our New Year's food, I went to Barnes and Noble with mommy where we met one of my friends, Juliana. I haven't seen her in a while, and was happy to see that she is now walking! We then went to the playground but since there was too much snow, we could only go on the swings. It was Juliana's first time on the swings in a playground, and she really liked it! She was quite upset when we had to leave.

When we went home, daddy had a few of his friends over to play mahjong (Akio, Ito, Daisei). Every year on New Years Day, daddy likes to get together with his friends to play this game. They play for hours and daddy usually ends up winning since he's so clever! He said he's going to teach me how to play someday.

Akio's wife also came over, and while mommy was taking care of the laundry, Denise read me a couple of books. I also helped mommy down in the laundry room because she had so many clothes to wash. She would hand me some clothing, and then I would help her by putting it into the dryer. I thought that was so much fun! We also tried to talk to ba-chan and ji-chan in Japan over Skype, but our video camera wasn't working, so we could only see them. We decided that we would call again once our camera has been fixed. I did get to see my cousin Masamune for a few minutes though. I can't wait to go visit him in Japan again!

Osechi 2011

Now that I have some teeth, this year was my first year to enjoy mommy's osechi (traditional Japanese New Years food). It was yummy. I especially liked the kuromame (sweet beans) and the ozoni soup (New Years soup). Mommy said that next year, I may even be able to help her make some of it - I can't wait!