My Kids Have Attitudes

Kira is the copy cat in this case.


Kiraism of the day: (it's been a few days since this conversation took place. I am trying to remember the exact words and this is as close as I came.)

K: What does daddy do at work?
M: He fixes things. He researches. He studies. He tells people how to fix things.
K: What did you say, mommy?
M: Daddy helps people make movies.
K: Daddy makes smoothies? Like the strawberry kind I make?
M: Movies. Like what you see on TV.
K: Like the Nemo one?
M: Yes, like the Nemo one.
K: So daddy makes the Marlin and the Nemo. Nemo was in trouble because he didn't listen to daddy. Like if I don't listen to daddy, he will make the robot diver to get me when I am in trouble.

Whatever He Can Do I Can Do Better

Remember a few days ago when I blogged about the un-wake-able baby? Well, I think Kira proved that she can also sleep... like a baby.



We went to the library to watch the lion dance. I thought it was going to be this great experience for her. I mean, look at how much fun these kids were having.


We've talked about it. I've shown her pictures and videos. We read about it and we prepared for it all morning. Then she fell asleep on the way to the library and wouldn't wake up.

Here she was sleeping through the opening Kung Fu act.


Here she was sleeping through the actual Lion Dance. Listen to all the drumming. How can anyone sleep through that?


We had serious front row seats. I could feel the big eyelashes of the lion as it brushed passed us. Baby got "lettuced". Kira did too and she slept through that as well. I just left the lettuce on her and let her ask questions when she woke up.


The girl slept the entire way home and when Brett tried to transfer her, she woke up. Her first words, "I want to see the lion dance now."

Out takes

Here are some other pictures that didn't make the cut yesterday. Some of these were taken a long long time ago...

恭喜發財

祝

步步高昇


年年有餘


牛年進步


新年快樂！

Education

So my friend sometimes gets a little discouraged when Kira doesn't quite get the lessons that she taught during preschool. (Like... Kira thought Christmas was all about cookies and crabs have wings) I just would like to put this here, on her birthday (Happy Birthday!), to show her that it's not at all personal. This girl's brain is all messed up and can't keep things straight. She is just crazy and, seeing how Brett and I are, will only get crazier as time pass.

I tried to review the things that she learned from preschool (taught by someone other than this friend). She learned to make smoothies this past Wednesday and the theme of the day was the color purple. Here is what she took from that lesson...

Shhhhh.... baby sleeping

So, one night a couple of weeks ago, Hayden decided to party. He woke up at 4 and wouldn't go back to sleep no matter what I did. Coincidentally, I had a hard time falling asleep that night and didn't do so until 1am. That means I had a whooping 4 hours of sleep when the party began. Needless to say, I was grumpy, very grumpy the next day.

I had plan to take a long long nap myself while Kira and Hayden are both sleeping. The trick to that plan is to not let Hayden nap in the morning. I had to hold him off until around 2 so that he can go down with Kira. My plan had failed miserably because the kid was so exhausted that he fell asleep around noon and refused to wake up. Here is evidence of that:


This was 2 minutes out of the 20 that we spent trying to wake him up. In the end, I gave up and just left him on the floor like that while I had lunch in the kitchen and left the big kids to play in the living room with sleeping beauty. He eventually did wake up screaming. When I asked Kira what happened, she said, "I took his eye and lift it." What???!!! "Ricky poked one eye, too."

I'm A Big Kid Now

Check this giant out!

He naturally gravitates towards vehicles of all sorts.


I thought this was funny. Little boy tried so hard to steer this monstrosity.


A more suitable size.


Hayden started going to the community center baby gym with us when he was 3 weeks old. Back in the day, I'd carry him in a pouch of some sort and help Kira on and off various rides. Look at how Hayden fits right in with all the other kids now. Boy, do they grow fast. I have to stop watering them so much.



He just loved this popping machine.


Finally, he is the big boy!

Concert Part 4 of 4

Since this is the finale, we thought you might like to learn a new word or two.

Concert part 3 of 4

Another bit of Kiraism:

M: Kira, come inside and have lunch.
(Girl stays outside playing with her kitchen.)
K: I am not ready yet.
M: You have to be. Come in now.
K: No, mommy, I am still cooking.
M: Kira, it's lunch time. Come in.
(silence)
(a couple of minutes passed)
M: Kira, come in for lunch.
K: I am not ready yet.
M: Kira, now.
K: Stop talking mommy. I am trying to think.

Concert Part 2 of 4

A little bit of Kiraism:

(daddy took out an empty pizza box.)
K: mommy, how come daddy went out?
M: To throw away the pizza box?
K: How come?
M: Pizza box is dirty.
K: How come?
M: Lots of grease on it.
K: How come?
M: There's cheese on the pizza.
K: How come?
M: Makes it taste good.
K: How come?
M: I don't know, Kira. How come?
(very thoughtful for a moment.)
K: Because it's a pumpkin!
M: ???!!!!

Concert Part 1 of 4

Kira's back to allowing photography and video taping while she performs. She was especially enthusiastic this fine morning during breakfast.(translation: please excuse the pjs and messy hairdo) So, I asked her to sing 4 different songs and caught it on tape. Here is part 1:

Comedians

Do you like stand up comedy and fart jokes? Here is our version of "sit down" comedy and em... well, you'll see. I actually think she was going for a game that I sometime play with her that is closer to "popping a balloon" than a certain bodily function. It just came out that way when she does it. Did I just move my blog from G to PG... maybe even PG-13?

Not As Advanced As an Ape

I remember learning that Apes are intelligent because they can use tools? See how the baby holds a shovel with one hand to swing it around while digging with his hand? Em...



Isn't it also true that apes are considered evolved because they can stand up straight?



In conclusion, baby isn't quite as advanced as an Ape but look how far he's come! I am still a proud mommy. Oo oo ah ah!

Portion Control

Want to lose weight? Try attaching one of these to your leg when you eat. It begs for food, therefore reducing the amount you eat and it rushes you to finish so you'll probably only manage to take a couple of bites before you have to get up/ let it sit on your lap/ put down your food and take a picture of its adorable little face.

Play with a boy

I am still learning how to play with a boy. I mean, I play with Hayden plenty but I want to let him lead and see how he plays. I am sure he is getting tired of all these imaginary food that we (Kira and I) make him eat and dolls that we make him kiss and all the blankets we put on him to make him sleep. So, on this Hayden day, I sat him down and took out some of his cars and watched.



Look at how happy he was to get mommy's undivided attention.


Then, of course, I couldn't help but ask him to blow me a kiss. What? I am trying to raise a sensitive boy... and notice that he's wearing manly clothes. (I know the quality of the video is really bad. My camera has gone mad with it's focusing abilities. Sorry.)

Tresspassing

We've been quite fond of the playground lately. The weather has been beautiful so we can take a short walk and just throw the kids in the sand and let them entertain themselves. I've waited long for this day! Yeah!

On this fine day, I decided to take the kids and break into the YMCA playground. It's usually for members only but I thought we could be prospective members...
Kira was quite impressed by the fact that mommy can open really big gates and get her into these fun play structures.


Sharing imaginary food. Well, that's what Kira was doing. Baby was just plain confused.


Peek-a-boo


Total admiration.


"Who? Me? I am still looking for that food that Kira supposedly gave me."

Wasted in Vegas?

That's what these pictures look like to me. Really, these were taken 2 minutes before bed/bath time one night and they were both in really good moods.












You can hear the excitement in my voice. I get so hyper, too, when the kids act crazy. Hubby is such a lucky man.

School is in session

Circle Time. Look at how Hayden is front and center and paying full attention while Kira sits in the back with her friends and was fooling around.


She learned to make crescent rolls. It didn't look very crescent like...

Getting Back To Normal

Getting back to normal involves hosting playgroup. I am so used to having all these kids at our house a few times a month that not hosting playgroup seemed wrong. So, we picked up the first shift of the month.

I imagine this is how they'd play if one kid is in jail.


Kira is clearly working her feminine wiles.

Back To The Playground

We headed back to the playground after a long break. Kira has become very enthusiastic about it. She's been quite adventurous and independent. It's fascinating for me to watch because I still remember the days when she is attached to my leg and I thought she'd stay that way forever. In a way, I miss those days but I am also enjoying our current status. Kira plays happily and Hayden tries very hard to keep up with her. It's great!

Hayden surveying playground.


Kira was very happy to be there.


At one point, everyone wanted to be on the baby swing but there were only two. So I decided to put both kiddies in one bucket. I know my kids are a little on the chubby side but they still fit together, so there! Here a short video of my conjoined twins.

Can We Call This Walking?

Then, they went for a walk to the "mommy's room playground".

New Shirt

My first craft of the year. Actually, I am cheating already, I made this shirt last year... 6 days ago to be exact. The pattern came from a book I got for Christmas - Seams to Me. The sewing was pretty easy to follow and the pattern was very easy to alter to the size I wanted. I love peasant tops like this one for little girls. Really, I want one for myself.

The shirt. Try to enlarge the picture to check out the print. It's a cute Japanese fabric I got last year.


The front. Excuse the model. She's in a no-pictures phase.


Back.

New Era

Happy New Year!

When I started blogging on Jan 1 in 2008, I didn't know what I was getting into. I thought I'd last about 3 months and it would be another project abandoned. 244 posts later, I am still loving it. I can't help but think where I am going with this. I wanted to share the kids' everyday lives with family and friends and I think I accomplished that. A hidden agenda I had was to be more crafty and get some feedback on my sewing. I love reading other craft blogs and I want one like that more and more. So, in 2009, I resolve to be even more crafty and creative. More craft posts and maybe one day, I will have enough material to split the blog into a family blog and a craft blog.

Oh, and by new era, I mean the baby is going to walk any day now. He just started this funny crawl last night.



Of course the girl had to join in the fun. It looked like I had two bears in my kitchen.