Lyla's trip to Japan part two: Hakone

Some pictures my mom took in Hakone.  Lyla is with my aunt Keiko in most of these and my mom is behind the camera.

These are at a glass museum in Hakone

a glimpse of lyla's trip to japan

This is the first picture my unle Shu-Chan took when Lyla arrived at the airport in Haneda.  She looks pretty excited!

Eating breakfast or lunch somewhere in Tokyo.  Lyla, of course, hamming it up for the camera.

Lyla went to Hello Kitty world with her third cousins (my cousins' kids).  I am sure that she got a few adorable things from this store.  I am so jealous!

Putting on a show for family.

This past weekend Lyla went to the Anpanman museum.  She got to hug her old pal.

Sweet treats from the Anpanman cafeteria.

Yum!

We got to skype with Lyla on Saturday evening (Sunday morning Tokyo time).  She is having the time of her life!  This coming week she will be taking a trip to Hakone with my mom, my aunt Keiko, and my uncle Shu-Chan.  I can't wait to see more pictures of Lyla's adventures in this coming week!  Stay tuned for another update soon.

at the AWANA drive-in

AWANA does a drive-in movie night once a year where the kids get to bring a cardboard box car and watch a movie under the stars.  Due to poor planning, Lyla did not go last year.  But we planned ahead this time and marked it on our calendars.  I reminded Travis a few nights prior to drive-in night that he needs to make her a car.  Although he had so many other things going on, he decided to start on it right away.  I encouraged him to keep it simple, but in true Travis form, once he gets going he wants it to be exactly right.  He pulled an all-nighter on Monday night to make this awesome rat-rod for Lyla.  He used a diaper box for the body, pizza boxes, paper plates for wheels, paper towel rolls for the pipes, plastic bins for the front and back windshield, water bottles for the headlights and tail-lights, and a bottle cap for the fuel cap.  What a great creation!  I was shocked when I came downstairs in the morning to see this bad boy in our kitchen.  Lyla was pretty jazzed too.

We pulled up to AWANA and the kids got to "park" their cars wherever they wanted.  Some of these cars were really spectacular!

There was a volkswagon bus, hot pink cadillac, princess carriage, old-school batmobile, and so much more.  Some of these parents really spent time on these beauties.  A few of them even had working headlights!

130 kids watching Veggietales as the sun goes down.

Lyla sat still in her very cramped car enjoying the movie.  I somehow was able to stuff her in this thing with an entire mexican blanket to keep her warm and her jacket to use as a pillow.  Her little arms could barely maneuver enough to hold onto her box of popcorn.

She had such a great time and she was very proud of her little vehicle.  She got lots of comments like, "cool car, lyla!" to which she replied, "Thanks, but it's not a car, it's a rat rod".  She is surely her father's daughter.

girls night out

Lyla and I went on a mommy/daughter excursion last night.  We got all dressed up for our first night out together.  Just the girls!  We left the boys at home and went out to paint the town red.

Travis bought us tickets to see a play at the Old Town Temecula Theater.  It was "Wizard of Oz" by the Christian Youth Theater performers.  They are a group of actors and actresses between the ages of 8-18.  This was Lyla's first play and she was very excited.  We have some friends whose children are part of the CYT program, so they offered us the tickets.

Here we are at the theater taking pictures during the intermission.

She was so cute sitting in her chair.  She's not really big enough to hold the seat down, so she was sort of folded up in it the whole time.

The show was great!  It was fun to see some of our little friends on stage.  After the show, our friends were kind enough to introduce us to a lot of the cast members so that Lyla could get some autographs and snap some pictures with them. 

With Dorothy.  She is 13 years old and this is her 14th CYT show!

With the Lion.

With Tin Man.

and with the Wicked Witch of the West.  She was awesome and she's only 14 years old. 

We had a wonderful evening out and I hope to take Lyla out again.  I just might wait until after the baby is born and I can handle saying out until nearly 10pm.  This pregnant mommy was wiped out last night!

lately lyla

Lyla is currently liking...

favorite food - mac and cheese and pb&j sandwiches

favorite toys - leap pad and cinderella dress

favorite movie - mulan

favorite book - bible stories book

favorite color - pink

favorite bible verse - "Jesus called them and immediately they followed Him" Matthew 4:21-22

How to get this look: headband and knit sweater from target.  jean jacket from gap.  black shiny leggings from american apparel and red boots from boot barn.

"I will only let daddy cut my hair"

I dread combing through Lyla's tangled mess of hair in the mornings.  Travis and I were hoping that her hair would smooth out as it grew, but it just seems to be getting more nappy the longer it gets.  She has only had two cuts since she was born and they were both just trims.  Her hair takes forever to grow, so were were trying our best to be patient and see what happens.  But, we decided enough was enough and it was time for a change.

BEFORE

(and this is her hair in a relatively tame state)

Washing up before the cut.  This is when Lyla said, "I will only let Daddy cut my hair". 

This was when things got tricky.  Lyla did not want to sit still and Travis had to do some precision cutting. 

Curls on the floor!

AFTER

Lyla got a cute little bob haircut.

She loves it.

kawaii baby

My mom posted this photo on the right of Lyla dressed up in her kimono today.  She wore the same kimono almost exactly two years ago on this day.  I love to put pictures side by side and compare how the kids have grown and changed.  She is such a cute little japanese princess!

Lyla might be able to go to Japan this May with my mom...it would be such a wonderful opportunity for her.  We are praying that it works out and she can go on this amazing trip with her baaba and meet all of her family there.  But, we will miss her while she's gone.

mommy and me red boots

Lyla has been obsessed with my red cowgirl boots for a long time now.  She often goes to my closet and tries them on or insists that I wear them.  Then she sighs and says, "I wish I had some Jessie boots".  Jessie is the cowgirl character from the Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 movies.  Her wish finally came true this Christmas when she got these beauties.  It's so sweet that she actually wants to match her mommy.  I know this won't last, so I am enjoying it while I can. 

a mad hatter tea party for lyla

We had a whimsical "Lyla in Wonderland" theme for Lyla's 4th birthday.  Here's the invitation that I sent out to about 18 of Lyla's closest girlfriends (16 were able to come).  I ordered these invites from partystarking on etsy.

Travis as the mad hatter, lyla as alice, and me as the queen of hearts.  It was not a costume party, but we decided to dress up as the hosts.  Lyla's dress and my apron both came from lover dovers clothing on etsy.  They are super cute and really amazing quality.  We will totally reuse them for Halloween costumes.  Trav's hat was from village hat shop in san diego.

The table.  This was the central highlight of the mad hatter tea party.  Every little girl had a place setting with her own tea cup and top hat.  The center of the table featured various teapots, pocket watches, and a centerpiece of red roses. 

The show-stopper was definitely the string of colorful paper lanterns that I bought from the paper lantern store. 

The raspberry tablecloth and purple chairs were rented from raphaels in san diego.

Travis painted a welcome sign on posterboard to let everyone know that "We're all MAD here!"  It was accompanied by the white rabbit of course.

We had painted signs to help guests know which way to go.

A small table also greeted guests that resembled the table Alice finds when she tumbles down the rabbit hole.  Sugar cookies featuring sayings like, "eat me", "take one", and "try me" adorned the food table too. 

Cake pops were baked by my dear friend, Melissa.  I added the wilton cake pop flowers that I purchased from Jo-Anns.  I stuck them in a round floral foamcore that I wrapped with green yarn so that it would look like a hedge in the royal garden.

My wonderful mom was in charge of the food table.  We had a variety of tea sandwiches, pigs in a blanket, fruit skewers, and vegetable trays.

3 different flavors of IZZE sparkling sodas were available with "drink me" tags that I printed on cream colored paper.  We put them in this cool vintage ice chest that belonged to Trav's grandmother.

Lyla greeting grandma cheryl and aunt kandice and showing them the way to the party.

I try to keep party games pretty simple.  Especially for a 4-year-olds party.  I figured it would be fun to have a simple craft the kids could do.  We had a hat decorting table where the girls could decorate their top hats with feathers, buttons, and ric rac.

The girls chose which hat dressings they wanted and travis and I hot glued them on to the top hats for them.  I ordered the felt hats from rebel daisy designs on etsy.

The hats turned out super cute!

All 17 girls sitting around the table enjoying their tea.  I used this recipe to make a decaffeinated hibiscus cranberry tea for them.  It got mixed reviews.  Some of the girls loved it and some said it was not so great.  I love how kids will give you their honest opinion.

Lyla's custom ice cream cake creation was from our nearby coldstone creamers.  It was a red velvet cake with layers of cotton candy ice cream.  The icing was chocolate with rainbow sprinkles.  The message on the top said, "Lyla in Wonderland".  In hindsight, I would have ordered a larger cake so that the adults could have eaten it too.  Whoops!  Lesson learned.

My mom passing out cake to all the little girlies.

The grand finale included the flamingo pinata.  I searched everywhere for a pinata that would go with our theme and finally found the pink flamingo online at hobby lobby.

I love watching the little kids trying to hit the pinata.  Their approaches range from ultra timid to freakishly aggressive.  Some are super coordinated and some of their swings are mostly aimed at the crowd.  Yikes!  Pinatas are always a festive (and slightly dangerous) way to end a kids party.

The mad tea party was such a fun concept to let my creativity run wild with.  I only wish that I had more time and money to put into it!  The party planning started about 5 months ago.  It began with a lot of google image searching and browsing through etsy shops.  I had all these grand plans of turning our backyard into the queen of hearts royal court complete with croquet and oversized decks of cards.  But, I had to scale way back when the spending started getting out of control.  My party "budget" was a joke.  I still believe that the party was a hit.  All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and I know Lyla had the time of her life.  She was just glowing all day.  My sweet little Lyla is now a big 4 year old.  I can't believe how this past 4 years has flown by.  Now that the whirlwind of party planning is over, my first thought is...what should we do for her 5th birthday? 

All photos done by Kata Christian of mukibaba.