My Boy's Birthday

I'll take a break to tell you all about Luka's 1st birthday!

Luka turned 1 on June 3rd, and since we were not planning a big birthday party for him, I just made sure to take lots of photos of his everyday life, including some of his new skills.

Just Mama & Luka: Happy we got through one whole year in one piece!

Clap Clap Your Hands, Clap 'em just like this. Luka's first word is "clap" pronounced more like, "cla, cla, cla"

Getting ready for a bath. 

With Papa in the morning. Often, Papa is delegated to getting Luka dressed in the mornings.

Happy Happy Boy

Eating birthday breakfast of chocolate chip steamed muffins & yogurt.

Waving Bye-bye

About to dig in to his birthday dinner of cream stew & french bread.

And, about that cake! This was my failed cake, but everyone ate it very obligingly. First off, when I de-panned it, the top of the cake got scalped! I patched it back together, and then stuck it in the freezer. Didn't solve the scalping problem though!

Then I frosted it (with Ailin's help!), but I over-whipped the ganache frosting and ended up with this very strange texture. (It's supposed to be a flower!)

I employed my mother-in-law with the task of making the bugs. I bought a kit at ToysRUs and realized when I got home that the bugs needed to made from scratch! She had to use ingredients like coca cola, apple jam, grape juice, etc. Of course, all are edible. I thought it would be fun to have this cake for Ailin's sake, but apparently, she was totally grossed out and wouldn't eat the bugs or the cake that had been touched by the bugs.

The traditional "first piece of cake" for a one-year old's birthday didn't go over so well with my Japanese family. They all cringed every time he dropped a piece on the floor or squished some up to his mouth. It's wasn't the most jovial atmosphere in the world.

Presents: Thanks to Shannon for sending some gifts over. We still haven't gotten any from my side of the family. We gave Luka a wooden fire truck, an activity cube, and his first pair of shoes. Shannon gave him some toy trucks, a remote control toy & another toy which we are waiting to open (don't remember what it is at the moment!). Aunt Nanako sent over some towels and wash clothes which will be useful for daycare. Then, she surprised us with a special delivery from a balloon store - 5 helium birthday balloons and one has his name on it! Grandma Yuki gave him some packaged food that will be useful for when we go out to eat ... sometimes the restaurants don't serve food appropriate for young children.