Emotions

I am always curious about how my kids feel. They use words to describe their emotions but I am not sure they always understand what they are saying. Every so often, I'd asked the Girl to show me some faces or reaction so at least I can see if those emotions are positive or negative. One morning I took some pictures. She acted so quickly that you will see most of these pictures are quite out of focus. I guess it captures the energy she put into those emotions.

Happy


Sad


Angry


Surprised


Silly


Crazy


Confused


Bored


Hungry (Okay, I know hunger is not an emotion but in this house, hunger makes people emotional. I am just throwing it out there. She clearly didn't know how to act out hungry.)


Finally, just for kicks, here is a picture of my goofy Boy. I asked him to go through the same exercise but he got very stuck on "crazy". I don't mean he had a hard time acting that one. I mean he couldn't stop being crazy. He didn't quite have the attention span to listen to all my requests and just ended up running in circle while shouting unintelligible remarks.

ROY G BIV

I was home alone with the Girl the other afternoon. I was busy on the computer so I sent the Girl out on a photography assignment. I asked her to walk around the house and find objects that are colors of the rainbow.

Red


Orange


Yellow


Green


Blue


Indigo


Violet


I know indigo and violet look pretty much the same but indigo was a difficult one to explain.
In all fairness, I can't think of anything in our house that is indigo in color.

Final assignment - self portrait.


Now I will leave you with your assignment. See if you can figure out what this is. The Girl took this picture when I asked for "brown".

Through the Eyes of Hubby

We went to BADM over the weekend and I asked Hubby to guest blog. While he declined my request, he did agree to be the guest photographer of the event. So, most of the pictures I am putting up today are taken by Hubby. Being the control freak that I am, I did grab the camera and snapped a couple pictures of the kids.

You don't see a lot of pictures of me on my blog because I usually take the pictures... well also because I don't like looking at pictures of myself. Here is the first picture Hubby took after I gave him the camera.


So, I guess I was pleased that the first thing he saw was his wife. Then he saw a busy bee.


Then some wet wet kids.


I guess most people see me like this a lot - chasing after my kids while carrying a million things. Not very graceful but hey, I get the job done.


This is kind of a funky picture. See if you can figure out what it is.


Happy Mama and happy kids.


I took this picture on our way out of BADM. Hubby did it! I also want to show that he can still pick up both kids at the same time. That's over 70lbs!!!

Shelly

The Girl got a bug kit from school one day and has been bugging me to go outside to catch bugs with her. I told her mommy doesn't handle bugs. That's daddy's department. So she waited and waited for a sunny weekend to go outside with daddy. This was their "catch". She took care of Shelly all day and released it at the end of the day. She is much closer to nature than I am.



And here is a picture of Daddy and the Boy in matching outfits. I love sunny days (when I am not sneezing.)


By the way, I have been having difficulties uploading videos that are .avi formats. I have to convert them to mp4 before I can upload them and that's a pain in the neck. Is there a better way? Does Blogger not support avi anymore?

Cherry Blossom Festival

We went last Sunday to the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Streets lined with gorgeous pink and white cherry blossom trees is on the top my list of things I miss the most about Vancouver. There are some cherry blossom tress here but they are not as big, not as common and somehow, just not as impressive. One version of my dream house has a couple of cherry blossom trees groomed into and archway leading up to the front door. So on this fine Sunday, we went out there and celebrated this beauty of nature.

These first pictures were actually taken in my own backyard. We have a single cherry blossom tree in the yard and I love looking at it when I sew. Sometimes, I'd see a hummingbird hovering around it and it's just picture perfect.


I am not sure how I really feel about taking kids to these events. I don't like standing in line and standing in line at a crowded place with the kids and a honking huge stroller is just not fun. But the mood stroke and I actually stood in the two longest lines for some super popular Japanese fair food. First up, red bean cake.


It was worth the wait. My kids and hubby didn't care for them but I say "yum!"


Next up, Takoyaki.


This is kind of a weird one. It's a batter with octopus mixed in, grilled and served with a special sauce and seaweed over it. I think it's an acquired taste. I had most of the order. The Boy took a few bite and the Girl and the Hubby just said forget it.


We stuck around to watch the parade. Unlike the hardcore parade watchers, we didn't stake out to get seats or a spot on the sidewalk. Instead, we pushed our stroller up the already packed street in an attempt to find a reasonable spot. Our one criterion was that it had to be shady. Hubby and the kids fry easily.

We parked in front of a bank that was closed and had the Boy sit on Hubby's shoulders and the Girl stand on the stroller to watch the parade. If we had stuck with that plan, Hubby would have been broken (we recently weighed the Boy and he is a mighty 33lbs!) and the Girl would have whined for an hour. Luckily, someone who had a great spot got up and left not ten minutes into the parade and we jumped and took their spot. Here are some nice pictures I was able to take from our awesome seat.

Beautiful fabric. I really wanted to rip it off her and make a bag out of it or something.


Giant paper marche Daruma.


Cosplay group.


I was pretty exhausted when we got home and I was trying out a new allergy medication. So, with Hubby's blessing, I went to take a nap at 3. I remember hearing the kids run around the house and jump on Hubby but I just couldn't care less. When I woke up, it was 6:30.

Ah! Nap! Wonderful nap!

Healthy Kids Day

I haven't given up blogging. I just feel like I have never recovered from the Girl's parties. We've been so crazy busy I haven't had a chance to sort my thoughts let alone my pictures. I know I will catch up though. For starters, let's look at some pictures from Healthy Kids Day.

The local YMCA had a kids' event last weekend to promote an active life style for kids. Different Ys did different things. Ours had a bouncy house, face painting, some games and healthy snacks.

First, the Girl convinced the Boy that the bouncy house is a great idea and then she abandoned him.


"Here I am! I wasn't hiding from Baby, I was hiding from the big kids."


Both kids quickly decided that the bouncy house was too rough for them so we moved on to side walk drawing. Look at my little artists.


Soon after that picture was taken, both kids flipped out. One wanted a snack and the other just wanted to cry. Luckily, our friend came to our rescue and got some food for the hungry one while I took the crying one to the next activity - face painting.


Usually, the Boy is not interested in sitting and letting other people touch him. However, he saw a red car on the book of pictures this face painting artist was using and he was sold on the idea. He sat still and got his car.


He was one proud kid.


I don't have any pictures but I wish I could show you how obsessed he was the rest of the day. He stopped to admire the car on his face every time we pass by a mirror and he ate dinner in front of the oven so he could see his own reflection. The grumpy one was just, well, grumpy.


30 minutes before the event was over, we finally found the one activity that both kids enjoyed. We spent the rest of the time making a huge mess at the sand table.


So in keeping with the healthy kids theme, we are going to try and have a screen free week. That means no TV, no computer, zero screen time. Today is day two. I have big plans to spend the rest of the week outside. I just hope the weather cooperates.

Party Number Two

On the actual day of the girl's birthday, she had another party at school with her school friends. I was instructed by the teacher to bring 14 cupcakes and 14 little gifts for the kids.

I got there a little early so I got to see a little bit of her mandarin class.


I was happy to see that she paid attention and participated. She clearly didn't understand much but she was willing to try.


Then, it was birthday talk time. Her teacher told a story about birthdays and introduced the character, the Girl. Then all the kids said happy birthday and sang the birthday song in three different languages.


The Girl was asked to hand out the little gifts and each time, the kids have to say happy birthday to her in whatever language they choose and the Girl had to say thank you in that same language.


Then they sat down to eat cake and sang happy birthday in two different languages this time.


Finally, cake was served! But wait, they were then told that they had to finish their lunch first. I made another batch of the cakes with little characters on them so the teacher said the first person to finish gets to pick their cake first. I watch these kids eat a lot and I have never seen them eat so fast!


What a fun and educational birthday.