Karen's 8th Birthday

For Karen's 8th birthday, we went bowling at the local bowling alley. It was a cosmic bowling event so a lot of neon lights, fog and a mirror ball. It was kind of cool. I think the best part was the funky 80's music in the background. Karen had a couple strikes and one spare. Thanks to Wii bowling, she knew what she was trying to accomplish. See....video games are instructional.

Hannah Montana birthday cupcakes. A must for any little girl.

School and neighborhood friends. This was also Maya's first time bowling. She had a blast. Klair just enjoyed running around with a balloon tied around her waist and feeling the hand dryer on her face....forgot to take a picture of that.

Well spring is........was....... not quite here yet. But it was nice to get the kids outside and get a little sunshine.

Bringin' the Sunshine

After an unusual snow day in March, our cousins from Hawaii came and brought a little sunshine to Seattle. It was only 5 days, but the Sakuma girlz had a great time seeing the Seavey girlz. That's right....6 girlz...."Girlz rule!!!"

A little Seattle waterfront action. We joined the Seavey's to act like tourists.

It was nice to have a little sunshine in Seattle. Klair was finally able to ride her tricycle outside. She has been practicing in the house all winter.

Happy Valentines Day

I decided to volunteer for Maya's Kindergarten valentines day party. It was nice to see the children having a lot of fun giving out cards and candy to everyone. A lot of parents came and brought cookies and cakes, I think it was more impressive than the Christmas party they had. It is always nice to see your child's friends and see them interact well with others. We stopped by Karen's class as well and took a picture with her teacher.
February is also the busiest month of the year for the extended Sakuma family with 9 birthdays. A happy birthday to Paul, Elika, Grandpa, Grandma, Marques, Kumen, Hugo, Yumi & Rumi....just in case I forget:)

A little get together to celebrate Grandpa (2/11) and Grandma's (2/12) birthdays.

My new calling is the Girls Activity Days Leader. I have been the primary pianist for 2 years. This will be a big change for me, but I am looking forward to this new challenge. I have always enjoyed working with young girls. Just had to take pictures for our first project with many more to come. A visit to the Boehm's chocoloate factory in Issaquah. Unfortunately they were not handing out free chocolates this year. I guess everyone is feeling the economic crunch. A neat little factory and chocoloates, too.

He's gettin' up there

It was nice that all 3 of my sisters and my brother called to let me know how oooooold I am. Just wait, you all will be there soon. At this point in my life, its nice to have daughters who are more excited for my birthday than me. By the way, just to let everyone know, it's Kaori that does the digital scrapbooking. Thanks Kaori for bringing life to the pictures.

Celebrating birthday dinner at Blue Fin. All you can eat sushi.....It was a GOOD day.

WHITE Christmas 2008

A typical Seattle Christmas is wet and cold. At times I remember wishing that it would snow if it is this cold and wet. Well, we got our wish this Christmas. Maybe a little more than we bargained for. This was actually the first time that I had to put chains on the tires since living in Seattle for over 20 years. Of course, it would of helped if I had a 4x4 this year.
We had a mellow Christmas this year compared to last year when we had the whole Sakuma clan celebrate in Hawaii. Grandma & Grandpa came for dinner. Due to the weather, we hanged out in pj's all day.

Thanks Kurihara family for the art set. The girls are always drawing and we go through coloring books pretty quickly, so it was a great gift. Thanks Uncle Atau and Aunt Kiyomi for the webkinz as well. Dad is sporting his new remote control car from Karen which she bought from the school bazaar.

Ho Ho Sno!

Our first snow of 2008 and it was a doozy. No school for a whole week, which was fun for the kids. It was good timing for our cousins from Hawaii to enjoy the snow as well.

Maya started ballet this year and had her first open house for parents to see all their hard work. Our little ballerina did a very well arabesqe with her friend Sasha.

Our cousins from Hawaii came to join us for a little pre-Christmas get together. Luckily, they came just in time to enjoy the snow storm. 7 little girls (and Kashus) were running around in our little house. Girls at this age tend to play a little nicer than boys, which is a good thing.

Happy Turkey Day!

We had a partial Sakuma family Thanksgiving. We stayed away from our usual staple rice, and enjoyed potatoes and stuffing. Dad did the turkey, but since he forgot to remove the foil cover, the turkey did not have the nice brown crunchy color. The turkey looked raw so Kaori censored it.

After Thanksgiving, it is a family tradition to put up the Christmas tree the following Monday. Yes, it's fake but the kids had fun putting it together. This year, the kids put all the ornaments.