Birthday Weekend

Ivy had her first haircut on Saturday at CJ's Cuts for Kids... her stylist Marie was very patient, despite Ivy's tears! She got her hair washed and then cut and styled. We got a before and after picture and some locks to save in her book. We were nothing short of amazed at the difference in her appearance after the cut! She looked months older!

After the cut, we went next door for a "mommy and me" photograph at the Silver Spoon and followed up with some lunch at the cheesesteak place!

Ivy showed off her cool new hairdo and outfit that Daddy picked out in the backyard.

She can kind of ride this bug now... but not totally on her own yet. Note the shoes from Sue Sheperd last summer... they finally fit! Speaking of things that fit and don't. I spent some time in her closet yesterday weeding out the things she's outgrown. I can still get her in some things, but they look funny because she's taller now. So pants become capris and her belly shows with some tshirts. It's like she's a shipwreck victim, but more stylish!

I made her home made strawberry cake for her birthday... yummy!

We headed to the Fountains for lunch at the Sake House. To kill time before they opened, Ivy rode a grass hopper at the playground.

Ivy and Daddy on her Birthday!

Hmmm, what will I have? I think the Salmon Bento Box!

We shopped for a bigger carseat for the tot at Goore's, and decided to wait a bit longer until she can be front facing in the back of my car. Probably June or July will be new carseat month! After a nice long birthday nap, we had dinner at home with my parents and then some friends came over for a piece of cake!

Ivy's opening Auntie Jess' present!

I love the look on her face in this picture... its so classic Ivy.

Yay! I'm one!

This is her little cake that I made for her.

This is a bigger cake I made for everyone else- with pretty but un-tasty fondant topping.

Awwww!

Hmmmm, what do you want me to do with this?

Oh, its tasty!

This is actually the next day... leftover cake... and she got more into it without the audience-- rubbed it in her hair, played with it... it was sticky!

Off to the bath!

Thanks to all our friends and family for the birthday cards, wishes, and gifts. We really enjoyed celebrating with her-- it seems completely unreal how fast the year has flown by!

I'll be honest with you... you may not see another update until the middle of May-- when we go to Disneyland to meet up with the other ATWA families and meet a bunch of other sweet kidlets and their parents. I may try to post pictures after the Kentucky Derby party we are having this weekend- or after (my first!!)Mother's day... but we'll see!

I'm hoping the next time I blog that there is a tooth to display in Ivy's mouth at last... but no promises!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is Ivy's new tutu and fairy wings that we had made for her birthday- there will be some better pictures, but we just opened the box and couldn't resist!

For Easter, we headed to Fairytale Town in Sacramento to meet up with Ivy's friend Kristina and her parents. There was an egg hunt scheduled for different age groups and lots of fun stuff for the kids. She liked looking at the animals!

We forgot to bring her Easter basket, but as it happened, Kristina had a spare! I am sure that next year the egg hunt will be a lot more fun- she was pretty fascinated with just one egg... Easily amused like her mother!

Getting all of us to look at the camera is not easy...

Here's Ivy and her Easter swag! Several bunnies, toys, books etc... and chocolates for her parents, of course!

So here's Ivy sitting in her little chair. She can now climb into it and out of it on her own. Oh, and also she can stand up in it!

I'm guessing she's telling the squirrel a story, or maybe a joke.

This is not a great picture of Ivy's fantastic new book case that my dad made her for her birthday!

These days, Ivy likes to share! She keeps trying to share her binky with her babies.... I just hope she doesn't offer it to the cats!

Also she likes to hug and kiss everything in sight... a magazine, a book, a toy, her reflection, a shampoo bottle... she's not picky!

Every morning, Ivy enjoys fruit and buttery, cheesy scrambled eggs! It's not so good when she rubs her hands through her hair before I get a chance to wash her up! Then she's a greasy baby for the rest of the day!

Pre Easter

So busy these days!! This is a picture of Ivy having a playdate with Kristina, her friend from Grass Valley. Kristina is a couple of months older than Ivy and already walking- but they like to play together once a month. We went to Royer park first to go on the swings, and then played in our back yard for a while.

She loves to pull herself up on this toy box in the living room-- its very cute! She has a box of toys in every room, so there's plenty to play with. That doesn't stop her from getting into cabinets and drawers and bookcases that are endlessly more appealing, though!

These next pictures seem like a long time ago! We took Kensuke to San Francisco for a couple of days at the end of his visit-- it was super fun for all of us! Ivy did well on the ferry- and liked looking out the window. Ken really wanted to visit Alcatraz, and we made a point of going there for him, and surprised ourselves by enjoying it! It's an eerily beautiful and interesting place.

I really liked the out buildings and the grounds.

Here's Ivy inside the prison!

Awww, pretty flowers.

Who doesn't like jumping on a hotel bed! Yay! Right after this, we popped Ivy in her carrier and hopped on a cable car to go down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. After dinner, we rode a street car to Union Square for some shopping, and then back to our room for bed! It was a long day!

All dressed up in owls for a day on the town! We started with breakfast at Sears Fine Foods for breakfast-- my favorite!

We took an open topped bus tour of San Francisco for an hour and a half- went across the golden gate bridge, through postcard row, Golden Gate Park, etc. It was cold and breezy, but a unique view of the city I'd never seen before!

After the sightseeing bus, we visited Japantown for shopping at Sanrio briefly and then a delicious lunch of Udon! Then we hopped back in the car to drive over to Muir woods for a quick look at the redwoods. The redwoods were delightfully serene after busy San Francisco. This picture is of moss, with Brian, Ivy and Ken in the background.

Ivy really seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of the woods- she just kicked back in her stroller and enjoyed the ride!

March Madness

It's been a pretty busy month for us so far... Ivy got a mild case of croup, and we dealt with that for about a week. She's fine now, but we felt bad for they tiny tot with the big cough!
Last week, we met Kensuke, our Japanese exchange student, who is staying with us for 2 weeks. He is a delightful young man, and Ivy just loves him! He plays with her and the cat alot- fun for everyone!
This is a cake that was at the welcome party for the exchange students last week. There are 15 boys in the group, and they are on a basketball team together in Japan.

Hanging out at home with the squirrel. He is probably really puzzled about all of the squirrels I have hanging around the house.

As mentioned, Ivy just loves him! Ken has a 4 year old sister at home, so he's used to playing with a tiny tot!

Now that Ivy can stand up in her crib, she has fallen asleep in some very strange positions lately, including this one a few days ago. It would, of course, be easier if she would just lay down for her nap, but whe feels the need to explore her surroundings!

This is the beautiful udon meal that Ken made for us on Monday night! We all loved it!

So Tuesday was our big day in court to finalize Ivy's adoption paperwork! And of course she had a fancy new dress for the occasion!

Killing time before the proceedings.... it's always fun to pull everything out of a purse for inspection. These items happen to be from auntie Dianne's purse. Apparently, Ivy's examined these items before and has even made some accidental calls on Dianne's cell phone!

The court proceeding was very quick== just signing some paperwork. The judge was very nice and friendly- we can't really express how wonderful it was to have this last hurdle officially cleared!

Sharing a moment with Daddy!

After the court house, we all came back to our house for a small snack and some tea.

Sara Takehashi is now officially Ivy Sara Handshoe! She celebrated by taking a nice long nap...

During the last week or so, Ivy has sharpened her mobility skills-- she crawls easily all over the house, pulling up on any and all furniture within reach! At work, she can "run" in her walker down the wide hallways-- we have to block her with a chair so she doesn't head for an exit!

She's been kind of picky with food all of a sudden, so we checked it out with the doctor just to make sure she is ok-- he said that she is officially teething now- there's evidence on her gums that teeth are on the way. As we've been saying she's teething for months, I'll believe it when I see it!