i three now

although we're almost a month now from her big day, little girl is only too pleased to share her age. and tell you all about her birthday celebration.  


after seeing a picture of the caterpillar birthday cake i had when i was six (thank you, mrs. jones, for making it all those years ago!), little girl requested her cake also be a caterpillar.  


i could do that.  anything for the birthday girl.  and when little girl saw her cake, she said, "that is the best cake ever, mom."  and even though my efforts are far from "cake boss" or "ace of cakes" -- her compliment made my day.


the best part of her celebration -- watching little girl blow out her candles.  she blew and blew and blew -- with no results.  and we didn't use trick candles.  i kept moving the pan closer to her without getting it too close.  no need for hair fire repeats!  after five attempts, she blew out her first candle.  with the other two extinguished shortly after.

all little girl has wanted the past few months is a bike and scooter like many of her friends.  she only got one for her birthday -- a balance bike, a strider.


little girl picked out her own bike helmet and loves "riding" her bike.  (we are far from balancing or gliding yet, but she's getting good at scooting and has almost perfected her steering.)


watch out for us on the bike trails.

many thanks, williams-sonoma

thank you, williams-sonoma, for making little boy's birthday something galactical.  

these jedi tools turned this recipe into a delectable birthday treat. 

you can have your storm trooper and eat it too!

may the force

a year ago in a galaxy not so far, far away, a baby boy was brought into the world on a day of great significance -- may the fourth.  


to many, it is just the day before cinco de mayo.  but to those with jedi knowledge, it is a call to channel the "binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power in the fictional (or perhaps non-fictional) universe of the Star Wars galaxy."  (see wikipedia: Force.)  and with this power, we have nurtured our baby into his current little boy form.  and the force is strong with him.


happy birthday, little boy!  one year and counting . . .

what better way to celebrate little boy's special day than with a tribute 
to our favorite jedi master - yoda.  

do or do not -- there is no try.

you must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the cookie.

11-month birthday and a small fire

when blowing out candles, it's best to tie up loose hair. don't you think?

poor little girl. she had to learn that lesson for us the hard way.

in a sweet sisterly gesture, little girl offered to blow out baby boy's candle for his 11-month birthday. mr. pike was traveling that night, so i was the only one chaperoning. and as you can see here, i was busy taking pictures to document the celebration.

as you might expect, the celebration ended there. there were some tears and big hugs. but fortunately cupcakes have a way of making the world seem wonderful again. especially, because it was for dinner. (since two little ones didn't want to eat my delicious smoked gouda mac and cheese.)

happy 11-month birthday, baby boy! it's one we'll never forget.

ps-you'll be happy to know that after a bath, little girl has no visible signs from the fire.

drum roll, please

baby boy is 10 months old! i know it might not really be a big milestone. in two months there will be much more fanfare.

but baby boy is sure excited about being 10 months old. he ate his first doughnut. and if only we had gotten pictures of him smushing it into his mouth, you would have seen his pure delight.

nine months - out

it's hard to believe that we've had baby boy with us for the same time he

was incubating. last week, he turned nine months old.

we sang "happy birthday" to a boogie-down beat.

(a #10 can and chopsticks are all you need.)

a s'mores bar for baby boy. (why not?)

getting a big bite.

yummy chocolate and marshmallows. it's good to be the birthday boy.

and it's six months . . .

happy, happy birthday, baby boy. six months. can you believe it?

we made apple cider doughnuts to celebrate. and mr. pike did baby boy's hair.

the fifth month

someone turned five months old a few weeks ago. and baby boy thinks five months is great!

he can roll from back to front to back. and he's also developed a taste for baby oatmeal and some solids. (squash and sweet potatoes are a few of his favorites.)

happy birthday, baby boy!

three months

happy three month birthday, baby boy!

as we were about to sing "happy birthday," little girl blew out baby boy's candle. i told her it was baby boy's birthday and that we need to sing to him before blowing out his candle.

so we all sang. and then little girl patted baby boy's shoulder and said, "blow, baby." when baby boy didn't blow out the candle at the moment, she tried again, "blow. blow, baby."

i told her we'd count to three and she could blow with baby. one, two -- and little girl blew out the candle right before three. baby boy didn't have a chance, even if he could blow.

happy birthday, baby boy!

HAPPY, happy birthday, baby boy!

while we were out of town, baby boy had his second month birthday. he celebrated by watching all of us enjoy his birthday treats -- chocolate chip cookie bars made by auntie a. de-lish!

a week of birthdays

can you imagine who just turned two years old? our very own little girl. while grandmom was in town, little girl picked out a pink cake, pink frosting, and pink ice cream for her celebration. (pink is really strawberry flavor.)

little girl blew out her candles for the first time. and hopefully made one awesome birthday wish.

and just like her first birthday, we partied at the pool after dinner but before cake. she still loves the water, although she's not so fearless as she once was. (which is much more manageable when there are two kids to watch.)

then three days later, we celebrated baby boy's 1st month birthday. a monthly tradition we started with little girl. as you can tell, someone was already drooling at the chance for a birthday treat. unfortunately for the little guy, he has a few more months to go before he gets the taste of real food. (although little girl has done her best to share a few of her favorite snacks with him, including a carrot, graham crackers, pecans, and peanut butter crackers.)

one year. it's here.

baby girl is officially no longer a baby. she's a certified little girl -- one year old and everything. can you believe how time has flown? i know. it's been a whirlwind (and sometimes quite literally considering the way little girl moves).

and while little girl has grown over this year, i have too -- as a mother. i was excited to become a mother a year ago. and now i'm loving being a mother, even during the grumpy, clingy moments. those moments use to always make me frustrated (and sometimes they still get the best of me), but now i say to little girl, "you need me? i need you, too!" and i pick her up and hug her.

i've learned that attitude makes the greatest difference -- in how i feel about myself, my family, and my job as a mom. and that's when i feel like i've been given the best gift from God. i truly feel honored to be a part of little girl's life.

happy birthday, little girl! here are some pics from our festivities. first, celebrating at home with grandma on skype. we had just returned from a swim at the pool. (which turned out to be convenient for cleanup!)

the second celebration took place at my parents' home while little girl and i were visiting for my sister's bridal shower.

i don't know that little girl actually ate much cake at either party. she did get messy, which i think is her favorite part of eating anything!

eleven months too fast

someone just had a birthday. and i can't believe it.
baby girl is eleven months old. 11 MONTHS!
wow -- the year has flown.

baby girl is a big girl already. she stopped being my baby a long time ago. (even though there are moments when i'd like to have her more as a baby again.)

she walks; she empties the dishwasher (onto the floor, but it's a start); she dances to music; she gives hi-fives; she does a good asian squat; she throws things in the trash can (mostly things we don't want in there. i think we accidentally threw away our 1/4 measuring cup recently. can't find it anywhere.); she'd rather walk than ride in her stroller.

baby girl keeps mr. pike and i smiling. we love her to pieces.
and are so glad to have her in our family.

the clip below is just one of the many things she does that keeps us laughing. i shot this this morning, the day after her birthday celebration. the leftover toll house caramel bars we had the night before must have been calling to her, although she tries to play off her craving. but i think the evidence around her mouth is clear.

hurray for nine months!

it's happened again -- another month has passed. and baby girl is now nine months old! we celebrated with dreyer's slow churned girl scouts samoas cookie ice cream. i love dreyer's slow churned. it still tastes so rich and creamy with half the fat and a third fewer calories. and i get to eat three times as much ice cream for the same amount of calories!

baby girl enjoyed her first tastes of samoas. (unfortunately, mr. pike and i missed the boat to order girl scouts cookies this year. so i hope there's a troop selling them in front of a grocery store around town, because i love samoas!)

happy birthday, baby girl! time has flown so fast! it's amazing to think that she's been with us now as long as she was incubating inside me.

happy eight months!

another month has started -- and baby girl is another month older. eight months now!

so, what has baby girl been up to in the past month? she crawls, she stands, she slurps through a straw, she eats real food.

this month for baby girl's birthday treat, i found another dorie greenspan recipe -- caramel peanut topped brownie cake. the pictures of it looked so good! i couldn't wait to try it. and neither could baby girl! (she couldn't get enough of the chocolate cake!)

when we sliced it up, the cake didn't seem very brownie like to me. and then the next day, the caramel topping wasn't so caramel-ish anymore. it had a granular texture that wasn't there the night before. and the topping was harder and crumbly. it was quite disappointing.

so, we're not keeping this recipe. maybe someone else out there will have better results -- and maybe i'll even play around with my own version of this cake, because i think the concept is delicious!

happy, happy birthday, baby girl!

two birthdays -- one special day

happy new year's! and happy, happy birthday mr. pike. and happy, happy seven-month birthday, baby girl. same day -- two special people.

mr. pike wanted his mother's yummy cheesecake -- so the two shared dessert. baby girl was happy to try a lick of dessert. and surprised us all by cutting her seventh tooth!

baby girl's half birthday

baby girl's half birthday started in new mexico. her cousins and auntie and uncle sang half of "happy birthday" to her. and gave her a ball that has all these holes in it, so it's easy to grab and hold. (baby girl loves it! she played with it our entire thanksgiving trip.)

then we hopped on the first of two planes that would bring us back home. followed by a ride on the subway and then a train ride and finally a walk from the train station to our home. the weather was beautiful, and baby girl loved her traveling adventure. so much excitement for a birthday!

both mr. pike and i had things to do at the church last night, so i didn't have a chance to make a special birthday treat for baby girl. but we did stop by the ice cream shop on the way home, and baby girl had her very first taste of chocolate oreo ice cream. delicious!

she sure enjoyed finally getting a taste of her birthday treat! (as you can see, by the end, baby girl was a little possessive of the ice cream cone -- holding it close to her. which made a lovely mess of both of us!)

baby girl is such a joy to have around. it's hard to believe she's already six months old. we're so happy she's ours.

happy birthday, baby girl!

celebrating at dairy queen

thursday, october 1 was a whirlwind of a day. i wanted to make something special for baby girl's four-month birthday, but the day ran away from me between cleaning, errands, and visiting baby girl's new cousin. baby girl and i are away from home this week, visiting my parents and miss m. and on baby girl's birthday night, we drove with granddad to accompany him to a church meeting.

while granddad was at his meeting, grandmom, miss m., and i celebrated with baby girl at dairy queen. baby girl fell asleep on our hour-long car ride and was still asleep during our celebration. so, unfortunately she missed her birthday sundae. but, we thought it yummy!

of course, i couldn't let her birthday go by without a proper celebration. the next day, i made banoffee pie -- a british dessert that they think is american. miss m. tried telling them the british people that they were mistaken on the origins of this dessert. but after trying it, i don't mind taking the credit. delicious! (see recipe below.)

three months

monday night, baby girl was having a hard time getting to bed. this is what mr. pike and i heard, then saw happening in her room. (sorry the video is so dark; we were hoping not to distract baby girl.)



i think she must have been super excited to turn three months old the next day. i had been telling her about her big day for a while now. and she had helped me make her birthday treat -- barefoot contessa's orange pound cake. so with all of the anticipation, i know she was just too excited to sleep.

happy birthday, baby girl!

ps- the pound cake was easy to make and pretty delicious. i did over bake it slightly, so mine was not as moist as the contessa's. but if you like orange, then you'll have to give it a try. you can find her recipe in barefoot contessa family style.

happy birthday, baby girl

baby girl's two month birthday was a few days ago - and i'm finally getting around to posting our celebration. we had tollhouse cookie pie for dessert. it was my favorite dessert when i was living in the dorms, so many years ago. every sunday i'd look forward to a slice (or four - yes, one day i ate four delicious slices) of this little piece of heaven. i recently found a recipe for it, and it was a scrumptious walk down memory lane. happy birthday, baby girl.