LangLangCreations

Update

2010-10-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

If you've emailed me about adding you to my list, I have already sent you an invitation under the user name KHMama. Please check your junk mail folder if you have not received that email. You'll have to accept that invitation and log on to read the new blog. I will start blogging there on Friday Oct 8.

Secured Blog

2010-10-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hello hello!

So, this is my one and only no picture blog entry. I will be blogging at a new location starting this Friday. If you would like to come with me and join this new community, please shoot me an email. In you email, I will need your gmail account name. If you don't have gmail, I think the deal is you will have to sign up for one. Otherwise, I can still invite you but it's only good for a couple months.

Once I have your gmail address, I will email you back with my new blog address.

I know it's a hassle but as the kids get older, I feel that it is more important to only share their life stories with family and friends. If you've been a lurker of langlangcreations, now's a good time to "come out". :-) It's not like a have a selection process for who gets to read this new blog and who doesn't. I just want to keep track of who has access.

Thank you!

Belated (by a lot)

2010-10-03T07:49:00.001-07:00

I've been swamped lately. This video was taken last week... maybe the week before on the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival. See, I've been so busy that I've lost tract of time.

Anyhoo, thank you so much, Emily for making my kids so so so happy. Of course, the Boy meant "emily" instead of "enemy". He had this little girlfriend a long time ago that he also called "Enemy".

I am still looking into ways to "privatize" this blog. Coming soon...

Red Light Green Light

2010-09-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Noteworthy things in this clip:

1. The Boy can be bossy, too, sometimes.
2. The Boy is understanding rules and game playing. Yay!
3. The Girl can listen to the Boy when she really really wants to play!

Other random thoughts:

1. We've been insanely busy and sick in the past week. No time to think, no time to blog, no time to play! :-(
2. I am thinking of going "private". Most of my entries now will be family oriented and will not be interesting to people who don't want to know about the going-ons of our little foursome. So, I am going to investigate what it all entails for us to become a "password access only" blog. Are you in?
3. Why is there only 24 hours in a day and why do I need so many hours of sleep? See #1. :-(
4. Just finished reading two books. One was very uplifting and the other one sad as can be. I am caught in between these two worlds in my head. I am feeling a little schizophrenic. (The two books are Calligrapher's Daughter and The Blue Notebook if you are interested in some happy and sad reading.)

That's it for now. Happy Monday!

When Mommy Asks For A Nap...

2010-09-19T13:18:00.001-07:00

this happens.

Not Too Photogenic

2010-09-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

I've been really wanting professional family portraits for a long time. Last May, we finally won a session at the Girl's school silent auction. A couple weekends ago, we headed out and had these pictures done. The result was ok at best. Predictably, the only person who had good photos taken was the Girl. So not fair.

Here is arguably the best picture of the four of us.

Here is a random picture of the Girl.

The Pear

2010-09-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

The Girl was never a fruit fan, so seeing her eat a whole pear all on her own made me very very happy.

She actually finished that whole pear by herself. She even ate the peel, something I am not too fond of. She is, however, very picky with her fruits. Even though she'd claim to love pears, there are only certain kinds she would eat and if she takes a bite and decides it's not sweet enough, she will make up crazy things like "it's too spicy" or "it doesn't feel good to my tongue" to get out of eating anymore.

The Boy, who is usually pretty good about eating his fruits took one bite out of the pear and gave me this face. Don't be fooled. This is a pear-is-yucky face. He wouldn't go anywhere near that pear after one bite. Why don't my children like the same foods?

Still Crazy

2010-09-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

So the kids wake up after I do during the week now and that means they get to change and get ready with Hubby. Hubby lets them pick out their clothes not because he is one of those hippie my-children-should-be-given-free-will dads, but because he couldn't care less what they wear. The outcome is often, shall I say, eccentric?

For instance, this is what the girl chose one day. A long sleeved shirt (because a good Chinese mommy always told her children that they are never warm enough and my Girl took it to heart), layered under a apple patterned Hawaiian shirt, paired with gray bubble skirt with a blue flower and owl pants underneath (yes, it's always cold outside).

The Boy chose a more elegant look. Firetruck t-shirt layered under a blazer with drawstring khaki length pants and bright blue socks. His diaper is peeking out slightly so you can see the "huggies" that printed on the edge. I am sure as he get potty trained, he'd be one of those dudes who shows off their Calvin Klein waistbands. Yes, it's a new surprise every afternoon when I pick them up!

This was a particularly dressy day and it put them in a particularly crazy mood. Once we got home, the Boy started to wear this bucket over his head and running into the kitchen and asked us to look. The Girl totally egged him on.

When your audience laughs like this, how can you not give 110%?!

So the Boy gets back inside the bucket and continued to bang around the kitchen hitting walls and such to make the Girl laugh. That in turn makes him laugh and the cycle continued... for an hour!

Yep, going to full time care did not mellow them out. I am glad to say that it looks like I am not to blame for their craziness.

New Understanding

2010-09-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

After 4.5 years of living with children, Hubby and I were still not really understanding each other. I couldn't understand why he was never too enthusiastic about the millions of events that I planned for our weekends and he didn't get why I had can't seem to enjoy the simple pleasure of being at home.

That changed after 2 weeks of both of us working full time. Hubby now understand why I used to be so grumpy in the morning when I couldn't get the kids out of the house and I now definitely know why he wanted to chill and stay home on the weekends. Man, I am pooped after a whole week of work and I don't want to drag the kids around town to play. So, it took us a long time but we've finally come to an understanding and I sure have a new respect and appreciation for everything Hubby did and does.

While I am on the topic, I really should point out that Hubby has been stepping it up in the past two weeks. He's been so sweet, helpful and supportive. Thanks Hub!

So last weekend, the only thing we managed to do with the kids was a short visit to the playground.

This Girl LOVES flowers!

The Boy was in a really weird mood. He's been super clingy and though he made it very clear that he wanted to go to a playground, he refused to play once we got there. What is going on with him?

Oh, and our big accomplishment the previous weekend was to get everyone a haircut! Look at their funny facial expressions.

Finally, the kids just couldn't leave without helping nature along a little.

Elephant Dress

2010-09-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

I made this dress before we left for our big vacation early August. It was a lot of fun to make. I took this picture 5 minutes before we left for the airport because I wanted to bring this dress as a gift to a special little girl.

Here is a close up of the elephants.

I bought this fabric a long long time ago and thought I was going to make a blouse for Kira. That so did not happen and this fabric got stashed away. I am glad it is now being worn by the cutest baby girl. Happy birthday, Em!

Lucky Girl

2010-08-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

I've been told I am a pretty lucky girl. I've never won the lottery or anything like that but things have been pretty smooth for me most of the time.

I've been working for a week now and though a little hectic, things have gone well. The kids are adjusting. It's probably harder for the Boy than it is for the Girl. He's never been away from me so much. I did feel bad the first couple of days after drop off and I still feel guilty sometimes, especially when he comes up to me to volunteer a kiss or a hug in the evening. However, I know he is well cared for and that the ladies who plays with him during the day totally love him to bits.

From what the teachers told me, the Girl is doing great. She's napping with all the other kids during the day and she's usually very busy playing when I go to pick her up. She's happy to see me but there are days when she begs for just a few more minutes of play. That's a good sign, right?

As far as work goes, I really have been lucky. I have a really great teaching load. I also get to teach all my classes in one classroom - arguably the best in the department. (Other people in my department are teaching in 2-4 different rooms.) I have a lot of space in the office and best of all, I have a fantastic view. Hubby's been asking for a room with a window for 5 years and still doesn't have one!

Classes will begin officially tomorrow. A month ago, I'd tell you I would dread this day but after a week of really thoughtful and meaningful meetings and various chances to know the school and the people I will be working with, I am quite excited to start the school year.

I am going to be greedy and ask you to wish me more luck for the next 10 months! Here I come, full time job!

Water Park

2010-08-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

This is my last vacation post. On our last day in K-Town, we took the kids to the water park.

As usual, the Girl was all for it.

The Boy was much more cautious. It took a lot of hand holding before he would even go near the water. At one point, he was convinced that he'd just sit in the stroller and wait while the Girl splashed and sploshed.

Then, I showed the Boy he could control the water, and he eventually got into it.

They had so much fun.

At the end, the Girl basically refused to leave. She went back to say good bye to the water jets and her good byes involved hugging and kissing each jet of water. It was hilarious.

Parties

2010-08-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Once we got back to the city, we had party after party with other friends and family in K-Town.

While we were still rolling out of bed, getting breakfast, feeding and changing the kids, my MIL magically produced this spread for brunch.

Oh, and there were desserts. Yep, plural. DessertSSS!

Everyone had fun. Some were a little scared...

The big kids participated in dinner party preparation the next night.

After the guests were gone, the kids went back to the usual routine of running around making messes. While most people were outside, the Boy was very quiet and hidden in one room. I went to check him out and found that he had covered the room - furniture, pillows, our luggage, etc with stickers.

He was insanely proud of himself. His finest work was to plaster stickers all over his little cousin.

Strangely, this one activity was what truly brought them together. Now, the Boy has become the center of the foursome and it's just so cool to be covered in stickers. They consult him for the "rules of engagement" and what stickers should go on whom/where, etc. It was pretty funny. The next day, we went to the dollar store for some essentials and my brother-in-law bought a big box of stickers. That afternoon...

And...

Yep, she even put one on her forehead. The funny thing was the Boy started it all but he didn't have any stickers on his body. I'd have to say he's pretty smart because getting the stickers off was a little painful. He just directed and told people where to put the stickers and helped get the stickers on their bodies. Isn't it interesting what fascinates the kids?

Last Night and Day at the Cottage

2010-08-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

We are back to our regularly scheduled programming after that short break about sibling love. More pictures from our trip.

On the last evening we had at the cottage, our dedicated chefs served us yet another fabulous meal.

Meanwhile, my brother in law took care of all the kids.

That gave me time to enjoy this amazing sunset! This picture totally does not do the view justice. The sky was endless and there were so many different shades of pink everywhere. Truly gorgeous.

After dinner, we had a bonfire!

Can't you just imagine how excited the kids were?

Most of us stayed out to enjoy the fire. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it as much because I was attacked by bugs. I still have plenty of scars and bruises on my body to show for the little time I spent outside. What I did get to do was star gazing. I am not a country girl and don't get many chances to see the stars without the city lights. I was so impressed - I saw the Milky Way with my own two eyes! I also caught a couple of shooting stars. Yes, wishes were made and they are between me and the stars.

The next day, we drove back to my in-laws' house. The Girl was very excited about the ferry ride.

What a fun week we had!

More Sibling Love

2010-08-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy month and life has been super crazy since we came back from our trip. The kids were both in full time care and we had various engagements each night. Today is the first time we slowed down to catch a breath. I think the kids really miss each other. Sure they were together during our trip but they had so much going on and the cousins to play with that they didn't have any alone time with each other. Then we came home and they were at different places during the day. By the time they were home together, they were tired and cranky so they didn't really enjoy each other's company. This morning, they slept in, were well fed and were in good moods. While Hubby and I ran around taking care of things around the house, they kept each other happy. At one point, the Boy soothed the Girl by reading a book to her. It was so adorable.

Back to doing things. Maybe I will find time to put up more pictures from our trip later in the week.

Have a good weekend.

Beach

2010-08-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

We spent a lot of time in the water and on the beach. I don't have a lot of pictures because I didn't want to carry my camera when I could get wet. Here are the few that I have.

Throwing some rocks in the water in order to warm up to the idea of swimming in the lake.

The Girl pretty much dove right in. The Boy was a lot more hesitant.

We gave it another try when we went to the beach but he was still mostly interested in hunting for ladybugs (there were lots!) and making them go through his "tunnel".

The kids were so involved with what they were doing that in order to take a family shot, we had to ask our photographer to get ready. Once all the adults got into position, we just each grabbed a kid. You can see that they were not happy about being disturbed.

Here is a group shot of the three brothers and their wives and kids.

Thrity Years

2010-08-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my in-laws thirty year anniversary while we were there.

We all went out to town and had a fine lunch. One of the criteria when choosing a restaurant was to find some place that could accommodate all of us and that noise level wouldn't be a problem. We found this little cafe with a patio area. As soon as we got in, the Girl and the Older Cousin claimed this table as their own. These two were so cute together.

The Boy sat with the adults. He had a pretty good lunch, too. Yummy pizza and chips and a tall cool glass of chocolate milk. Pure heaven!

Bossy

2010-08-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

This picture sums up how bossy the Girl is and her amazing ability to make people listen to her.

"Why didn't you arrange this huge pile of rocks the way I instructed you to?"

Grass

2010-08-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

Since the kids don't always bring toys outside, they played with what nature provided. One thing in particular that made them very happy many evening was cut grass.

One evening, the Girl came up with this ludicrous idea of decorating a flower plant with some cut grass.

She roped her cousin into helping.

In no time at all, it turned into a game of decorating each other with cut grass. There were four little grass people running around. I couldn't get a picture of everyone because they were moving very fast and the light was not very good. Eventually, we cornered one.

You really have to see it in person to appreciate the mess that was made. They were COVERED in grass. That night, the bath tub was filled with grass after their bath. Now, why didn't the neat freak in me put a stop to this madness? 1. They don't get to do this often. 2. I was too busy eating chocolate cheesecake.

Play

2010-08-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

I don't think my kids ever had this much space accessible to them at all times. They loved being outside and just run around. When they are out, they don't even bring toys with them most of the time. What a refreshing change.

The Boy loved running around with the ball. He didn't always kick it or throw it. He just loved having it.

Dinner was served outside most night. It was great because the kids can leave the table and run around when they were done and we didn't care if they made a mess. The chipmunks would come and clean up after us.

Little explorers walking around after dinner.

A paddle boat ride after dinner. So romantic to see them ride off into the sunset.

The Cottage

2010-08-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Since there are 10 in our party this time, we rented a cottage to accommodate everyone. The main house has four bedrooms and a sun room and there is a boat house in addition. It worked out very nicely.

This is the first time all the cousins got together. The Girl and the Oldest Cousin immediately became best friends. They do everything together. If one wants milk, the other wouldn't dream of drinking water.

The Boy is learning how to be a "big brother" since the other Baby Boy cousin is a year younger than him and often like to follow the Boy around like a puppy. The Boy went from being totally freaked out to mildly tolerating it in three days. It's very amusing for me to watch because it's usually the Boy who tries to tag along with other big kids and now he is the big kid being followed.

Back to the cottage. Here is the view from our backyard.

There was a paddle boat that we used to exploring the coast.

The perfect hang out.

I really wanted to sit here and read all day. Although the bugs probably would have eaten me alive.

Flight

2010-08-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd start documenting our trip.

Our journey to Canada was quite uneventful. The kids know the drill and are generally very good fliers.

The Boy enjoyed a pre-flight snack...

... while the Girl stretched out her legs and snuggled with Daddy a little.

Good thing she did because once we got on the plane, she was on her own. We got three adjoining seats and one off on the other side. Hubby and I decided instead of asking someone to switch with us, we'd just put the Girl over there. If they can't stand her, they will ask us to switch. Look at how proud the Girl was of herself and how terrified the guy next to her was!

We watched some movies and the plane started to land. It was totally painless. Even the Boy tried to use the headphones to listen to part of the movie.

Artists At Work

2010-08-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

We had a little art session before we our fabulous vacation.

Boy artist.

Girl artist.

If you look closely, both kids were in pjs and these pictures were taken around 4pm. The week before our vacation was what I saw as my last week full time with the kids. I planned lots of playdates for them but we just had to have a pj day. We stayed home all day. We made yummy foods, watched movies, played board games, painted, played with ALL their toys, etc. It was wonderful.

Here is the art the Girl created.

This is the Boy's work.

Clearly, this post was done way after these pictures were taken. I was spending every second of my time with the kids that I just didn't time to take/sort pictures and blog. I will start my new full time job two days after we return from our vacation and that's stressing me out a little. So, in the mean time, I am just trying to relax and not think about work too much. We have spent the last three days in the Sun and swimming in the lake. It's quite ridiculous that we have to travel 5 hours by plane to get some beach and UV when we live in sunny California!

I will leave you with a picture of the proud little artist.

We Are On Vacation!

2010-08-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

12345 - Their respective ages by December this year.

We are loving cousins extravaganza! I will try and find some time to post when we come back.

Birthday Girls

2010-07-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

I made a couple more girls last week.

Here is Ginger.

This is Lavender.

Candy Land and Another Great Visit

2010-07-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

The Girl started playing board games about a year ago. We've tried Cariboo, Chutes and Ladders, and Tractor Tipping (board game based on Cars the movie). Right now, her favorite is Candy Land.

You see, usually, Hubby and I are the only people who'd play with her and after a game or two, Hubby and I get bored with the games. Furthermore, Hubby and I don't let her win and sometimes she gets quite upset. When my aunt and uncle came to visit, the Girl introduced them to the game and they played with "gusto"! My aunt and uncle really cared and they really tried AND despite their genuine efforts, somehow, the Girl always beats them. It's totally hilarious watching them play.

Here is picture of all four of them. My aunt and the Girl were playing Candy Land and my uncle and the Boy are reviewing their letters in the back.

Gung-gung: What letter is this?
Boy: M
Gung-gung: Really?
Boy: E
Gung-gung: What?
Boy: I don't know. Bye bye.

My aunt and uncle are natural with the kids. We are all going through withdrawal right now. I reprimanded the Boy this morning and he said, "I mad at you. I go tell Gung-gung." :-p Thanks for a great visit! Come back soon!

PS I thought I have those pictures of all four of you at the park near the swimming pool on my camera but they are all on your camera. So, you will have to try and email them to me! Time to review your computer skills. :-)

Boy Art

2010-07-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

The Boy has not produced much art. What starts as art session for him often ends up as water play. As a result, I am only able to accumulate two pieces of Boy Art in the past two and a half years.

He made this one long long time ago for Mother's day. It involved the placement of the various pieces, rubbing glue on the paper and choosing stickers to complete the picture. This one is being proudly displayed in our kitchen.

This second one was done with the help of his daycare "auntie". He told me this is a picture of the sun. He taped this one in his bedroom and told me a million times to not throw it out. I guess he is very proud of this one.

I really enjoy looking at my kids' art because I feel like it gives me a little peek into their heads. Can't wait until the Boy sits down and really draws or sculpts or glues or whatever other art form he chooses.

Short Visit

2010-07-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

My mom just came for a short, short visit. Too short, if you asked me. Anyhoo, the kids had a lot of fun and this morning, my Girl asked me why we can't just move Por Por's city right next to ours so we can "live with each other more often".

The kids got dressed up to go visit Por Por at her fancy hotel.

Once in the privacy of her hotel room, the Boy took off his fancy jacket and jumped on a big pile of pillows.

We shopped downtown one day. It started out nice and warm but got really windy by the time we were ready to go home.

Crazy Boy.

Crazy Girl

Right before we headed for the airport, we took a snap in our backyard.

Mom: Remember you owe me FOUR days! Come back soon.

I Want My Baby Back!

2010-07-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

What happened to my baby????

The Boy (sigh) rediscovered this monkey a couple of days ago and it prompted these pictures.

I showed him these pictures and he said, "I am not a baby. I am a goof ball!" He also asked to be put in that caterpillar shirt again. Good luck jamming your body into that shirt, Kid.

Happy 4th

2010-07-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

We celebrated by going to Hubby's company annual picnic on the 3rd. It was a fun day!

Our contribution this year - red, white and blue fruit salad. It's basically an everything but the kitchen sink salad. It had cantaloupe melons, watermelons, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, apples and marshmallows.

We don't really like lines and there is always a big line for ice-cream. We got there early this year and decided to start the picnic with ice-cream. Everyone got a cone before we even sat down for lunch.

"yum!"

Hubby had the most self control. He only took a couple bites of my cone.

There were lots to do. After a scrumptious lunch, we headed to the pony ride. The Girl looks good on Rusty! The Boy wouldn't go anywhere near that animal.

What he did enjoy was digging in the shallow part of Lake Ewok.

I am not a fan of mud and open water, so I quickly convinced everyone it's a better idea to hit the pool. Hubby thinks the Girl's swimming lessons are paying off. She can't quite swim yet but can do quite a bit in the water without death-gripping us.

The Boy was just happy and proud that he was allowed to walk around topless.

After over an hour in the pool, it was time for another round of food.

Who knew a hot dog bun and a slice of cheese in it could make the Girl so happy.

On the way to the play area, we stopped and admired the two spanking new fire trucks parked right outside the main area.

The Girl spent some quality time with a couple of Barbies at the play area...

... while the Boy played with dinosaurs. There was something for everyone.

We even tried the hula hoop.

It feels like every year we spend an extra hour at the Ranch. These were my kids on the ride home.

Happy 4th of July! Oh... and happy belated Canada day!

Diva

2010-07-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?

Getting Ready For Work

2010-07-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

So I should be getting ready for work. Reading, preparing lessons and other such things. I thought about it and actually started it. The thing is, as soon as I started, I got this overwhelming urge to craft like there is no tomorrow. Maybe that's just it - I feel like there is no tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to be working again but working means no time for all these other things that I do. Perhaps I am just anxious and expecting the whole work situation to be more demanding than it will be. In any case, instead of working, I've been "playing" hard! In addition to spending hours finished the dolls for the teachers, I finished some other long overdue projects.

Meet C. This is the BFF doll that I promised the Girl. Instead of a dress, I decided to make her kind of a bubble jumper. I have plans to knit her a jacket/cardigan for cold, foggy days ahead.

Oh... she will probably need some shoes too. Here she is in the original hair style. The Girl's friend often wears a little braid on one side of her head. The doll's hair gets so crazy messy so easily that I end up just putting a pony tail on her most of the time. I have to work on making better doll hair. Any good tips?

The other thing I finished were these bags that I owe Mrs Turducken. If you are reading this, the bags are on their way. Will probably arrive mid July. Sorry they took so long.

Girls

2010-07-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

My Girl finished her first year of preschool and is being transferred to a different class starting July 1. I still remember filling out the four page application for her last year, fearing that we may not be accepted and she won't get an education.

On the very long application, one of the questions they asked is what I expect the school to do for my child. My answer was that I wished for the school to be an extension of my family. I wanted the teachers to be kind, loving and I wanted them to care for my girl as if she were their own. Basically, I wanted them to be me, only better and more patient. Tall order, right?

Well, I think they did it! The teachers at the school showed my Girl so much love and kindness in the past year that I am very touched and I feel compelled to do something nice for them. As a parting gift, I made each teacher a doll that resembles my Girl. I asked the Girl how each teacher is significant to her and I designed the girls based on her answers.

Meet the Girls

This is for Yeung Sin Saang. She is the Girl's Chinese teacher. She always bring flowers from her garden as little gifts for the Girl because she knows my Girl LOVES flowers. She also keeps saying the Girl makes her really really want grandchildren. :-)

This is for Cheung Sin Saang. She is the "breakfast teacher". She takes care of the Girl on the mornings that we get to the school early enough for breakfast. She's also the first teacher who gave the Boy some food when he gave her puppy dog looks. Since then, all the other teachers took to feeding him when they see him and in return, he shows them his dimply smiles and says, "ng goi sin saang", which makes them very happy!

This is for Ms Tracy, the main teacher. The Girl says that Ms Tracy teaches her to write and draw and is her favorite. The picture doesn't show it very well but I got the Girl to draw a mini picture of Ms Tracy on the pink paper as part of the doll

The is for Ms Lori. Ms Lori has a kitty cat and she shows pictures of her cat to the Girl sometimes, which the Girl loves. She takes care of the Girl when I am late to pick her up. She also always has little gifts for the Girl.

The little kitty on Ms Lori's doll was made out of paper clay and then painted. I think this was our favorite doll. The Girl and I both wanted to keep this doll and give Ms Lori something else. Some of my friends (well, I can only think of one victim, really) have had a taste of my "I got you a gift, but I love it so much I had to keep it for myself" move and they didn't appreciate it one bit. I have to admit, it's pretty scummy of me. So, I have decided to teach my daughter to be a better person than I was. We decided to give Ms Lori her doll and we'll make another one for ourselves. Here is a close up of the kitty.

This is for Ms Joanne. She is the office clerk / librarian. She also takes care of the Girl when I am late and she always encourages the Girl to read books.

The little book has a real story in it about a little princess who goes to school. I made up the story. It's basically a story that says "thank you" to all the Girl's teachers. Here, take a peek over the girl's shoulder.

Here are the girls again. They were so much fun to make that I think I will make many more. I used left over fabrics from various clothes I made for the Girl for the dresses. Most of the accessories were made out of paper clay and then painted and varnished. I really enjoyed combining so many crafts (paper, book binding, clay, painting, sewing, gluing, etc.) into one project. I have plans to make them for my shop, too. Stay tuned.

Father And Son

2010-06-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hubby would argue that this is not a good picture of him. In fact, he wanted to throw a pillow at me when I took this picture because he was annoyed that I pointed a camera at him during a relaxing, simple, domestic moment. I guess I did interrupt the harmony but I had to capture this. Aren't they cute together?

PS I've been crafting like mad. Therefore, there was not time for blogging. I will be back with more craft related posts.

Crime Scence

2010-06-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Investigation report

Date: June 21, 2010
Time: 2:43pm
Location: Kids bedroom
Suspect: 2.5 year old, male
Incident:
During a routine patrol of the area, a foot was discovered. See exhibit A.

Exhibit A

Further investigation revealed suspect sound asleep on the floor, blocking entry to the bedroom. Suspect left an 8 inch space to allow a digital camera to be positioned for evidence exhibit B to be taken. Suspect is thought to have attempted escape during nap time. Suspect might have been overcome by sudden lethargy and passed out by the door along with his accomplice, Blue Lion. Their get away vehicle, a blue Hotwheel, LP#137 is still parked in suspect's right hand.

Exhibit B

Actions taken
Evidence collected. Investigator laughed uncontrollably for over 5 mins. Rushed to computer to blog about incident. Can't imagine the priceless expression on suspect's face when this report is revealed to suspect's girlfriend when he is 16.

Paper Dolls

2010-06-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

The kids saw me make the little paper figures for Hubby's cake and wanted to play with them. I didn't want them to ruin the cake toppers before I served the cake so I offered to make them another couple to play with. Meet Snow White and Prince Charming.

I modeled these guys, as well as the cake toppers after the kids and they love seeing themselves as toys. These royalties even have their own castle.

What a simple and fun toy.

Hubby's Day

2010-06-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ever since the Girl was born (in fact, it happened the night before the Girl was born), Hubby kind of lost his birthday. You see, Hubby's birthday is the day before the Girl's so 4 years ago on that day, Hubby "celebrated" his birthday in the hospital. Every year since then, I've been too busy planning the Girl's parties (Yep, parties. This year, for instance, she had 3.) that I don't have time to celebrate Hubby's big day. Plus, you can't really have two big cakes back to back.

Most years, Hubby just ends up with a slice of the Girl's cake and a little birthday kiss. This year, I feel particularly guilty because for his birthday meal, I offered him a loaf of plain Wonder Bread, a jar of peanut butter and a little bit of jam. He even had to assemble his own sandwich. So on Father's Day, I wanted to make it up to him.

We started with a special pancake breakfast followed by the presentation of gifts. The Girl made her Daddy a card and a bracelet which he wore most of that morning. Then, the kids "took him" to the movies. I made sure they got some coins out of their piggy bank to pay for the tickets.

This was the Boy's first theater experience. He gave me a very mixed review. One second, he'd say, "too scary" so I offered to take him outside. Then he'd say, "I love this movie" so we'd stay. The Girl on the other hand was a veteran. She said all morning that she was ready to hit the theatre. If I didn't know, I'd think she was going to the opera or something.

After the movie, we went to get a simple pizza lunch. Man, was I happy to see the Boy eat again. He's been sick for a week and hasn't been eating.

We came home and the kids took a little nap and gave Daddy a break. Then we had some friends over and we enjoyed a take out dinner from our favorite Thai restaurant. The finale was the cake that I owe Hubby. Come to think of it, I am not sure if I have ever baked him a birthday cake. This is a flourless chocolate cake and I think it is my favorite plain chocolate ever.

I am not an expert cake decorator... in fact, I don't know anything about cake decorating. So I just made these simple paper dolls to top the yummy chocolate goodness.

We finished the night with a few rounds of friendly Taboo with our friends and Hubby was the only undefeated player of the night. (Watch out if you ever play with him. He is REALLY good.) In his own words, the day was "much better than his birthday". Mission accomplished.

Embroidery Part 3

2010-06-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

The idea for this project started a long time ago when I read this blog post. Last year, I bought this plain dress and thought I would embroider one of the Girl's art work onto the dress.

Well, her drawing was not very interesting last year. They were mostly blobs of colours then so I put the project on hold. Seeing her embroidery brought this project to the surface again. We started with a drawing that we both liked.

I helped her redraw the picture onto the dress with a fabric marker. Drawing on fabric is a little hard because the fabric shifts around so much. I had to help her quite a bit. I am not sure if you can see the outline here.

With that, I set to work. I love the red/aqua colour combination so I just went with an all red plan. The embroidery itself was very simple. Except for the eyes which were done in a satin stitch, everything was done with a back stitch.

Don't you think a simple design like this totally livens up the dress?

The Girl was very excited about her new dress. She wanted to take a picture with the inspiration of her drawing, Stripy Sammy.

The cutting of the dress is quite forgiving so I hope she gets a lot of wear out of this garment. The only thing is that the neck hole is strangely small and my kids have big heads. I may have to cut a slit and make it a v-neck dress down the road. We'll see.

Embroidery Part 2

2010-06-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Encouraged by her success and enthusiasm, our second project involved a "pattern". I drew a simple picture with short line segments resembling stitches on a piece of muslin and mounted that on a hoop. The Girl was instructed to start on one end of each of those little lines and finish on the other end. Here, a picture is worth a thousand words.

See those little lines, they were drawn with a Sharpie.

She was so happy and relaxed during the whole process. It cracks me up that she made up this little song to go with her handy work and I love seeing her kick her little feet.

After about half an hour or so, we ended up with this.

Was she ever proud of herself. Then she got all excited and wanted me to turn this into a picture of her. "This is a Girl and she needs long hair." Well, she hasn't quite figured out that long hair equals lots of stitches. After about 3 more stitches, she gave up. So we put it away and brought it back for short periods of time over the next two days. Finally, this was the finished product.

I messed with the colors a little bit to show of the stitching because the palette she chose was very pale. I drew the stitch lines, tied all the knot, threaded all the needles and fixed a few unintentional knots and she did the rest. If you look at the outer most blue hair, you'll see that she got confused and filled in the white space in between the dotted line instead of filling in the dotted line. I considered taking it out for her and have her redoing it but decided maybe it's part of the charm of her first embroidery project.

I have a few ideas as to what to do with this. We'll see if she has the stamina to finish a few more squares for me to assemble a quilt for her. Otherwise, I can sew this onto her clothes or make another bag for her with it. A girl can't have too many bags, right?

Embroidery Part 1

2010-06-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

I introduced the Girl to some hand sewing last week while she was stuck at home. For the first attempt, I had her sew on a piece of felt mounted on a small embroidery hoop. The goal was to get her to understand where the needle has to go in and where it comes out. I also had her put what she now calls her sewing pillow on her lap so she won't stab herself. I gave her complete artistic freedom. She chose the thread. She decided where the stitches went and she decided what to do with the final product.

"Oooooh... thread...."

"This looks like a good starting point."

"Hold on, I need to concentrate."

"Success! One stitch down..."

This video shows her goofy attempts as well as her first sewing injury.

The final product was what she described as "little flowers on the grass". We sewed the little piece of felt into a pillow for her new "pet kitty". Presenting Stripy Sammy Napping On The Grass.

So proud of her work!

Colorful Beads

2010-06-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

I read about dyeing and making pasta beads a while back but never had time to try it out. The recipe is pretty simple. Just put some rubbing alcohol and food coloring in a container (we used small ziplock bags) and immerse raw pasta pieces until you get the color you like. We left ours overnight and the colors came out very vibrant and saturated.

The Boy watching paint "dry".

See the great colours? Oh and since you are so great at guessing which kid is which, see if you can guess whose hands are these. :-p

It's a great sorting activity which both kids love. Sometimes I wonder if my kids have OCD. They love counting and sorting.

Nicely sorted.

I fashioned a sort of needle and thread out of a toothpick, some tape and some elastic thread.

It was great that both kids were capable of threading these beads and were equal participants in this craft. Sometimes, the Girl does all the work and all the Boy gets to do is watch. Surprisingly, the Boy really enjoyed this one.

The Boy was very proud of his work and wore his bracelet all day long.

The Girl is showing off her double bracelet look.

Another sick day project accomplished!

P.S. In case you were wondering, the hands belong to both kids. There are two right hands in the picture and the one closer to the green bead belongs to the Boy.

How A Sick Boy Sleeps...

2010-06-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

The emphasis of the title is on the word BOY.

It melts my heart to see that even when he is sick and tired, he still clings on to his toy car.

Actually, he's been sleeping horribly. Two night ago, he threw up in his sleep and cried. Then he woke up the next morning with a bloody nose that freaked him out. Last night, he was woken up by another bloody nose and a coughing spell. Poor thing. He is still a little tired and clingy today. I have my fingers crossed for a healthy household by Father's Day. Wish us luck.

A Rainbow to Brighten Our Days

2010-06-14T17:22:00.001-07:00

Both kids have been sick for over a week now and we've been home bound the entire time. While we did a lot of napping, there were still lots of hours left. We haven't spent this much time at home since before the Girl started preschool. To entertain ourselves, we pulled out lots of crafts.

Here is the first of many craft related posts. We attempted the rainbow cupcake. I followed tutorials and watched this video. Our results were not nearly as pretty as the ones we saw on the internet but they were still exciting for the kids.

Rainbow batter:

How our cakes baked up. As you can see, they are more psychedelic than rainbow like.

I didn't use as much food coloring as some of the recipes suggested so the colour of my cakes were not as vibrant. I couldn't get the layers to lie flat either. The inside is just a huge explosion of colours.

This project was very time consuming and the result was only okay. I may try it one more time before I write it off completely. I will definitely make sky high icing for it next time.

Swim

2010-06-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Girl started an eight week swimming class. I don't think she will be able to swim by the end of the eight weeks but I hope she will be comfortable enough to not death grip me or Hubby in the pool.

Check out her new suit. (Note to self: Gymboree is a dangerous place. Don't go in there alone or with any money or plastic. Don't go within 10 feet of a Gymboree store during sales!)

Another pose before we headed to the pool.

This was the first time she was in the water without me. As you can see, she was a little hesitant.

But she warmed up to the water and the teacher very quickly. I went back to the pool with her the next day and she was able to support herself on a noodle without me holding on to her or the noodle. (Well, she thought I was holding on but I wasn't.)

They don't allow pictures at the pool so these are all the pictures I got. I am very excited for her. I am hoping the Boy will see that she has a lot of fun in the water and will want to swim too. Believe it or not, the Boy is a lot more timid than the Girl.

Two

2010-06-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Most people I know have heard me say that I wish I had two girls so they can be best friends when they grow up. I was worried that a boy and a girl wouldn't play well together. Was I ever wrong. While I still maintain that there is nothing like the bond between two sisters, my Girl and my Boy are giving me hope that they can grow up to be best friends, too.

Look at how in love they are!

I love it when they hold hands.

Well, of course, they are each other's best companion when they share food over a favorite movie. This is the very definition of harmony.

New Do

2010-06-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

"How much longer do I have to wait?"

"Seriously, I need to look better..."

"NOW!"

Annual Adventure

2010-06-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

"I am so excited!"

"About what? Excited about my new favorite book that I carry with me EVERYWHERE?"

"No, you silly head. We are going on our annual trip."

"U-pick!"

"U-pick what? Belly buttons? I got one already."

"Don't you know anything? U-pick strawberries! We do this every year. Daddy, let's show him."

"Ohhh! I get it."

"Can I pick this one? It's nice and yellow."

"Daddy, we should fire the Boy. Here, look at how beautiful and red mine is."

"Fine. I will just be the supervisor and quality control/ taste tester."

"All these berries sure are heavy and it's only half of what we picked."

"We scored over 10 lbs of fresh organic strawberries. So yummy. Dessert will be spectacular tonight! See you next year, strawberry farm."

Graduation

2010-06-05T22:27:00.001-07:00

No, it's not the Girl. It's the Boy. He graduated from his two hours once a week preschool co-op last week.

The graduate proudly wears the cap that he decorated all by himself...

... for all of 5 seconds. He kept it on for a whole five second because I promised him graduation cupcake!

Snack/cake time! His favorite.

The graduation "ceremony" was very cute. The kids got in line and took turns walking up to the mommy teachers who had fancy diplomas waiting for them. I didn't bring my camera that day so I didn't record it. One of the other moms did so hopefully I will get to see the video and maybe post a link to it soon.

Has your school year ended yet?

Little Performer

2010-06-02T21:33:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of videos of the Girl performing in front of my video camera. I wanted to get the Boy to do something too but he turns into Mr Silly as soon as I whip out the recorder. I will get him some day, some how.

First up, a song.

In case you are having a hard time understanding what she is singing, here is a link to the real deal. Don't worry, this clip is just the very beginning of the story. It's not that sad. She ultimately redeems herself as being a heroine who saves the country. It's a Disney movie so it has not at all historically correct but the message for the kids is universal.

Along the Chinese theme, here is some classic ancient Chinese poetry.

Meow Meow

2010-05-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Yep, you heard it right. She is really singing "meow meow meow". The Girl has been a real cat lover!

神功第二式 : 起飛腳+大鷹與雀仔

2010-05-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Maker Faire 2010

2010-05-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Warning: Long post. May take a long time to read. Start at your own risk.

So we went on our 3rd annual Maker Faire Expedition last Saturday. A little recap, the first year resulted in a broken back and a very happy wife. Said broken back opted to not participate the second year so happy wife ditched the kids and went solo. This year, we decided to experience the Faire as a family again and I'd say it's a great decision. I have seen it twice and don't feel the compulsion to see EVERYTHING. Believe me, you can't see everything. There's way too much going on. The kids are a little older and can participate more. I can't say enough good stuff about this Faire so if you haven't been, put it on your to-do list. You won't regret it.

"It's quite the event. Let's dress up for the occasion!"

It was quite overwhelming for the kids to walk into so much stuff happening. Loud noises, crazy looking people, giant flames, etc. The Boy is especially timid so it took a long time for him to adjust. This was our first robotic encounter. If you look closely, you'll see that he was pulling me away from the Thomas-like robo-train.

Next up was a craft your own hat booth. In the spirit of a craft fair, I helped the Girl make her first project at the Faire. Behold the catepillar and butterfly hat!

The Boy was still a little shy and he is not a big crafter. So he just took a sticker from the pile and put it on his hand.

We stayed outside for a while and ate some crappy fair food. The thing is, there's lots of great food but I was starving and overstimulated and made the wrong choice again. Note to self: make sure to try the paella next year.

After the food, we went inside. There were lots of cool stuff to see and touch. The kids especially enjoyed "light doodles". It's a simple concept that can easily be set up at home but it's still fun to do it at a fair.

The Girl LOVES these pictures of her under a rainbow!

Along the "light" theme, the kids also explored this LED light table. Again, simple yet fascinating.

I remember going to a tech fair with my dad when I was a kid and was introduced to the first mouse. I remember how my dad told me I had to be very careful with it and that I would have to be much older before I would master the use of it. It was a huge deal! Look at how my kids are interacting with computers now!

Seriously, the use of a computer is going to be so different for the kids. A touchscreen is so intuitive. Unfortunately, I don't own a tablet laptop or a touchscreen computer so I am always yelling at my kids to not touch the screen. I am sure they are very confused by the mixed messages. Anyhow, I didn't have to teach the Girl how to use this software at all and she came up with this:

The Boy might have been yelled at one too many times since he refused to touch the screen. Kept telling his dad no touch the screen. Funny dude!

The Faire wouldn't be complete without a Lego setup or... sixty! Legos were everywhere. This train was one of the Boy's favorite.

Hubby took the kids to see the Mousetrap while I went to the more hand-crafty area. Hubby took this picture. Since I wasn't there I can't say much about it except that I heard Hubby was suckered into carrying both kids through the whole performance. You wonder why/how his back broke that first year...

The handy craft portion was, in my opinion, pretty poorly planned. It was way too crowded in way too small a space. It's a very popular part of the Faire and it wasn't given enough space. I didn't enjoy that at all. No shopping or new projects to report from that.

The real highlight of the Faire for me this year was the best ever Mentos and Coke display! (Remember, kids, it's a physical reaction between the carbonation and the surface of the Mentos - not the chemical reaction that I made you write out a million times. Ah... this makes me want to teach science again!) I have done the Coke geyser thing a few times but this was truly amazing! According to the performers, it took hours to prep and the show lasted about 2 minutes. Total labour of love.

Here is another video of the same two guys at a different setting doing a slightly different routine.

That pretty much sums it up. There were lots of pyro displays. We took some pictures but they were more impressive in person. We also learnt that the Girl is a pyromaniac and the Boy is... what is the opposite? The Boy whimpered in my lap while the Girl kept asking for more. I am a little worried about them both.

We finished out day by having a buffet dinner. The big finale was candy covered ice-cream cones. I don't think I have seen a more earnest ice-cream eater!

"That was a totally awesome day. See you at the Faire next year!"

Progress Report

2010-05-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

I used to write progress report posts for the Girl but I seldom do it for the Boy. He is always expected to just keep up and I must admit that I didn't notice as many of his milestones. I was organizing the blog the other day and noticed quite a few Girl posts lately and so I thought it's time to think about the Boy and only the Boy. I took some pictures of him. It was a fun exercise. He cooperated for a little while and then went nuts. He tried to hide from me, put his face flat on the floor, make ridiculous faces and most amusingly, close his eyes.

IQ: He seems pretty smart to me. Okay... I am biased... He can retell events of the day. He can engage in pretend play. He can count up to 20 (but he doesn't understand one to one correlation). He is somewhat bilingual - better than the Girl was at this age but not as good as the Girl is currently. He can recognize some letters of the alphabet. He knows his colors.

EQ: He is clingy as heck! Dropping the Girl off for school is such a pleasant experience but such is not so with the Boy. It's been at least 6 months and he still cries EVERY TIME I drop him off. It kills me to watch. Other than that, he is usually quite cheerful. He can be very agreeable. Most people who know him have heard him say, "Okay" to pretty much anything I ask of him. He is very fond of big sister. He spontaneously say "I love you" to me about 5-6 times a day. He has yet to give me a kiss without being asked.

Social Life:
He has friends but he prefer the Girl's friends. He gets overwhelmed easily when there are too many people around. Once he warms up, he can be very friendly. For instance, he used to cry when I walk into the Y with him for fear of being dropped off at Child Watch. Now, he walks in there like he owns the place and often shows off his toys to strangers who work out there. He also loves going to the Girls school. It cracks me up every time he pull out a chair for himself at breakfast at the school and demands food from the teachers. The teachers are very kind and usually indulge him which only encourages this behaviour. I swear - the teachers there probably think I never feed my children at home.

Eating habits:
He is a pretty good eater. He prefers Chinese foods to American foods. His favorites are jook and soup made by his daycare lady. He hates pretty much all things I cook for him. So at home, he eats well when I heat up precooked things like chicken nuggets and pizza. On the nights that I actually cook him rice or pasta, I have to feed him and chase him down to eat.

Motor skills:
Not much fine motor skills to speak of. He is quite impatient with drawing. He hasn't produced much more than a couple lines on a sheet of paper. He is better at fiddling with puzzle pieces than the Girl was, though. His gross motor skills are also better than the Girl at this age. He can climb up and down the stairs on his own when the mood strikes. He can walk over 1o blocks with us when the mood strikes. He is still not a big fan of the water but I hope to start swimming with him regularly again this summer.

Physical growth:
He is a whole 35lbs of yummy goodness! He is pretty tall. I haven't measured him in a while but I think he is only a couple inches shorter than the Girl. Well... she is pretty short so that ain't saying much. Let's just say 3T pants usually fit him pretty well. His hair is definitely wavy like Daddy's and his complexion is becoming more fair.

Sleeping habits:
He naps 2-3 days in a week and sleeps through the night 3-4 nights a week. When he sleeps through the night, he would sleep for 11-12 hours. We are trying to teach him to go back to sleep on his own when he wakes up in the middle of the night. I think we are making some progress.

Potty training:
We have made ZERO progress with this and yes, it's all my fault.

Special skills:
He is a master at making sweet faces at you when he knows his is in big trouble. He is also very good at hiding body parts to avoid being accessible. For example when I say diaper change, he is very quick to sit down and say, "you can't get me". He is also the designated messenger in the house. Whenever the Girl wants something that she is pretty such I am going to say no to, she gets him to come ask me. It's hilarious how some of these messages are transmitted. The Girl says, "Go tell mommy I want to watch Tianna (princess movie)" sometimes ends up being "Girl wants no bad witch and the frog but *I* like McQueen!" When I say "tell the Girl to clean herself up and come talk to me herself", he would pass on the message of "mommy said talk to yourself!"

Conclusion:
The Boy is a happy, healthy, cute as pie (according to me) little person. He is growing up faster than I can keep up with. It has been a fun-filled, crazy, loud, and entertaining 2.5 years! We love you, Baby Boy!

Debut

2010-05-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before that the Girl's debut performance was this past weekend. It was a very crazy day that involved blood and the emergency room. Everyone's fine. Nobody in my family was hurt. The accident involved a friend that I invited to the recital and from what I have heard, she is recovering nicely.

With so much happening, we didn't take many pictures. We didn't even get to see the whole show. I took some pictures during the dress rehearsal and here is one of them:

Here is a video of part of the dress rehearsal. The Girl had a lot of fun running in circles on stage.

I was able to take a few pictures before the show started on the day of the actual performance.

Here she was getting her make up done.

All made up. I was not as shocked this year as I was last year.

Final touches put on and she sat very nicely near the stage to wait for her moment of glory.

The idea is that there are toys in a toy box that were brought to life by a couple of toy fairies. The Girl was one of the star dolls. This is a video of the actual performance. It's pretty hard to spot her if you don't know where she was.

There were lots of little dancers on stage and none of them had seen the whole dance come together. One of the most magical moment for the Girl was when the Toy Fairies came on stage to wake up the other dolls. These Toy Fairies wore ball gowns with lights attached to the bodice. The Girl was so impressed and mesmerized that she later asked me if the fairies were real. She felt pretty special that these beautiful fairy princesses had come to dance with her.

HaaaaaYaaaaa!

2010-05-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

一向體育走堂嘅媽媽發現原來亞女喺學校學功夫，先生仲話亞小姐打得吓。媽媽非常感動，幻想當年小龍女都喺咁開始嘅。唔知第日亞女會唔會搵番個過兒呢?

Dolly

2010-05-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

I should have shared this a long time ago but I was hoping I can share this Dolly and her BFF together. Anyway, here is the doll.

Does she remind you of someone we know? Look at how girlie she is.

What about now?

Now?

The doll is supposed to look like my Girl but I didn't make it for her. I made it for her BFF.

Her BFF moved away and the original plan was they would each get a doll that resembles the other so when the miss each other, they'd have the dolls to play with. I finished the Girl dolly in time but I haven't made the second one yet. It's all cut out and the Girl asks me all the time when I will get around to sewing it. I am going to say... in the next month or so. So much sewing to do, so little time. Look at these goof balls. I think I should make a set of funny glasses for the doll, too.

Silly girls scratching their noses.

Boy Time

2010-05-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Boy gets Mommy time every morning after the Girl goes to school. Often, this mommy time involves running errands and being dragged from point A to point B. Even more often, this time is spend waiting in the car for the next event. Here are some pictures I took of him with my phone. I just figured out how to transfer the pictures onto my computer so some of these pictures are a month or two old.

"Stop playing with your phone and help me off this chair!"

"I like mommy's sunglasses better than my own."

"How much longer do we have to wait in the car?"

"I want to be a goofy policeman when I grow up."

"Quick! Turn!"

Catch Up

2010-05-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

No matter how busy I get, I usually can sneak in some time to blog. I am going to blame this long break in blogging on my having too many cameras. I have my SLR, my point and shoot and my phone (new phone actually has a decent camera so I don't bring my point and shoot with my as much). Anyway, the result is that I have too many cords and too many adapters. I get discouraged when I can't find the right plugs and so I just leave the images on the memory card. Of course, we all know that one cannot blog without pictures. So, to play catch up, this post is going to include some random happenings of late mixed with some completely unrelated forgotten pictures.

First forgotten picture: Team Canada. Thanks for the cute shirts, Ida.

So we still follow a pretty tight schedule around here. The Girl has school in the morning and dance class one afternoon a week. The Boy has preschool one morning, dance one morning and daycare one day. We've been fitting in a few play dates with the Girl's friends from school. That leaves not too much time for us to just chill at home. When we do, I try to have them do "calming activities". These are the Girl's latest drawings during semi quiet time.

Robot:

Baby - I love how detailed her drawing is. I think her baby has a lot more character than mine.

In addition to our routine stuff, I've been doing a lot of volunteer work for the Girl's preschool as well as her dance program. We attended the school fundraiser at the beginning of the month. The event itself was a success and it felt like a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders when it was over.

This picture was taken at the fundraiser. Our princess thought the lion dancers were too loud.

The kids went on stage for a little catwalk. The Girl decided to go on stage with her best boy pal at school.

The problem with that arrangement is that the Girl promised the Boy she would go on stage with him. If you look carefully at the last picture, you'll notice the Boy sprinting down the runway to catch up with the Girl. Here, you can see him finally catching up and then being told that he has to just turn around and get off the stage. Poor Boy.

As a reward for their mad modeling skills, they were each given a Dum Dum.

While the Girl savored hers, the Boy devoured his and proceeded to show off his new tongue.

As for Dance, the Girl's first recital is happening this coming weekend. Like last year, I am helping sew costumes. Here is a little sneak peak of the costume.

Aside from wanting to help and being involved, the motivation behind all this work is too keep myself current and "employed" while I am a stay at home mom. I'd like to be able to show that I've made productive use of my time while I am not working (at a paid job) so that when I start to look for work again, I'd have more to show for my down time. I guess it's paying off because I recently signed a contract for a new job that will be starting in August. This will mark the end of my 5 years of being a stay at home mom. I know I will miss this precious time a lot. I intend to make the next three months I have at home with the kiddies even busier - playgrounds, museums, classes, trips, play dates, crazy art projects, sewing... It's going to be an interesting summer.

Emotions

2010-04-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-28T17:23:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-20T21:31:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Party Number One

2010-04-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

We had the party on Easter Sunday so all our little guests came dressed like little royalties.

Here our first guest, as he referred to himself.

Kids checking out the dress up gear.

Princess super heroes.

Another disguise. It's great to see that these girls have a sense of humor. It's not all about looking oh so pretty.

Princess got eaten by big bad wolf.

I think this prince was trying to save the princess from the wolf.

The little ones hovered around the train table most of the time.

After some play and pizza, it's cake time. Check out the plate full of princesses.

She approves.

He does too!

I usually don't like gift opening at parties but these kids are getting older and they chose the gifts for the girl and wanted to show them to her. So we opened gifts.

Other kids may want a chance to rip open their own gifts but our princess definitely didn't mind a little gift opening service.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful time! We are lucky to have so many great friends to share the girl's birthday with.

Birthday Week

2010-04-08T15:40:00.001-07:00

I am behind on pictures and posts again because this was birthday week. Two out of the three goof-balls in the family had a birthday. So, I was busy planning parties. Yep, parties, more than one.

Look at this silly girl. This is how she came in to my room on the morning of her birthday.

So silly princess asked for a princess dress up party. However, the guest list she gave me consisted of one girl and two boys other than herself. I am pretty sure the boys are not going to prance around in dresses so I had to come up with something that all the kids can enjoy.

Nothing says dress up to me like capes. There were 8 kids including the siblings so the first thing I did was to sew eight of these. The girl ones have hoods and fur and the boy ones either have collars or hood with no fur.

I gathered all the play dresses in the house.

Then to complete the royalty look, I made some crown. Just to make it even more boy friendly, I decorated with cars and trains.

Finally, I set up a dressing station and put a whole bunch of other accessories like shoes and masks near it.

Hubby was drafted to handle the decorations. He was asked to make the room very pink.

A final princess touch.

And the silly girl was transformed into a princess who is ready to party!

To be continued...

Family and Friends

2010-04-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Our 10 day trip was very busy. Although we do visit quite a bit, it always feels like there is not enough time to do everything.

This is what life maybe like with two girls.

And this is what life maybe like if we stick to the "have-a-kid-every-other-year" plan.

Our generous friend and his unfortunate cat. Although my kids loved the kitty, the feeling was not mutual.

Eat till you drop is a pretty standard Chinese operating procedure. So, we went for a nice buffet with my aunt one night.

Story time with Kai Ma.

Kira and her Kai Ba always have loads of fun together.

I love eating with my kids when I actually get to eat. Ah... babysitters.

We ended up spending a day in Seattle and I got to visit with some of my teacher friends.

The "Kai-siblings".

Hubby's cousin and her baby with our gang. It was a fun morning of food, play and free street entertainers.

There are our "platinum sponsors" and the best babysitters ever! Thank you so much for putting us up and taking care of the noisy duo.

We didn't get to see my mom very much this time. We'll have to try harder next time.

So this sums up our V-town visit. I am already looking forward to the next one. Better yet, everyone come here to visit us!!

The Wedding - Girl Edition

2010-04-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Girl was one of two flower girls at the wedding. I've been prepping her for months telling her what may happen on the day of the wedding and what's expected of her. She was very excited about her "job".

We took a couple of pictures at home before we left for the wedding.

Man, does this girl know how to pose.

My snow princess.

Here is a short video of the girls walking down the isle.

The ceremony was close to 45 min. The Girl is known to complain about tired legs after about a minute an a half of standing. I was sure she wasn't going to make it but she did! She did get bored after a while and tried to get the other girl to play with her but the other girl was all business.

Then she came up with silly games to play by herself. She juiced the remaining petals in her basket and ruthlessly threw them at the front row guests. Here she is seen caught in action.

Other than worrying that she won't be able to stand through the ceremony, my biggest worry was that she wasn't going to be able to handle the stairs in her poofy dress. Alas, she made it up and down the steps gracefully!

My angels after the ceremony.

There was a couple of hours between the ceremony and the reception. The Girl was so tired after the ceremony that she got into kind of a funky mood and refused to take pictures with the bride and groom. In fact, I don't have ANY pictures of the Girl, the Boy and myself with the bride and groom. How ridiculous is that!

The Girl pretty much fell asleep as soon as I strapped her into the car.

What a nap that was. She slept from 2:30 to 5 in the car and was all refreshed for the party.

We discovered that night that the Girl is a major party animal. First of, she would take the hands of anyone who comes by and calls her pretty. Then we found out that she is a maniac on the dance floor.

Here is another video of the dancing duo. Some people were blowing soap bubbles at the dance floor and that's what she's whacking at.

We partied until close to 11 that night. The Boy fell asleep in the car on the way home but the Girl was on a major high. I am pretty sure I fell asleep before she did that night. We shared a room and I remember hearing her say, "you can dance with me tomorrow if you want" as I drifted off to sleep. The Girl is going to be completely out of control in 10-15 years!

The Wedding - Boy Edition

2010-03-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

The main reason we took this past V-town trip is to celebrate our friend's wedding. Hubby and Girl were both in the wedding and I will put up pictures of them tomorrow. Today, I'd like to share some pictures of my all grown up and dressed up boy. For comparison, please check out these pictures.

Without further delays, may I present, Master Boy.

Here he was getting dressed. I tried to get him to take a picture without his lovey but then I decided it's the only evidence I have that he is still part baby.

What a goof ball!

"When I grow up, I will marry a super princess like this one." (Super princess is how he referred to the bride all day.)

We had some errands to run in between the ceremony and the reception. My mom took the Boy on one of these errands and I snapped this picture. Don't they look like a celebrity mom and her kid? Like one of those paparazzi pictures you'd see in a magazine.

Ladies and gentleman.

Me and my Boy on the dance floor.

This picture was taken very late at night. Things were winding down so the jacket came off and the Boy had to be entertained by his cars again.

Canadian Spirit

2010-03-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Although we missed the Olympic Winter Games, we were in town for the last day of the Paralympic Games so we tried to see some of the sites.

Our day consisted mostly of rides on various trains. We commuted for over 2 hours and spent maybe half an hour at our destination. The kids were fine with it though. The rides were new and exciting for them.

We started with the Skytrain. Here we were at the platform, getting ready for our first ride of our day.

Then we got on the mildly busy train.

We took this picture downtown during our first transfer.

Then we walked to another platform for another train.

This is as close as we got to the Mint.

We transferred to one last street car to get to our final destination.

The street cars were borrowed from Europe. I think they are giving them back after the Games.

At long last, we arrived at Granville Island.

We were pretty tired and hungry by the time we got there. Fortunately, these nice ladies were giving out string cheese.

We had lunch at Granville Island. This was my lunch, salmon burger with a chunk of that free fun cheese. Yum!

On our way out, we saw a street performance. Look at how much the kids enjoyed it.

Our entertainer.

We reversed our trip to go home with one small detour. We went to see the Cauldron. It was lit for the last day.

"Kids, what did you like more - the Olympic cauldron fire or the dude who juggled fire?"
"The juggler!"

"Did you have fun today?"
"Yes!"

Will Sew For Food

2010-03-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a 10 day vacation to Vancouver. Naturally, we were crazy busy before the trip so I have a lot of catch up blogging to do. If you just can't wait, I will soon put some pictures up on FB.

So, this has been a very tasty trip. One BIG (in every sense of the word you will soon see) highlight is the Pork-Turducken feast. It started out as some pictures innocently posted on FB. Friends of mine had the good fortune to enjoy one for Christmas and they put up pictures to show off their meal. I've heard lots about turducken and it's always been somewhat of an urban legend to me. Sure it's a great concept but do "real" people ever go into all the trouble to make one from scratch?

Seeing the picture made me strongly drop hints/beg/bribe/cry for one. Long story short, the kind chef agreed to make one for my next Vancouver visit. In return, I were to sew for his family.

I am quite sure I got the better end of the deal in this situation. All that was asked of me were a couple of crayon rolls and a clutch. As soon as the deal was in place, I started fabric searching for the crayon rolls. Making things for boys is sometimes tricky. They can't be too cute and I don't like things that are too loud. These are what I came up with.

I love this one. I think I should make one for the Boy. I have made at least 10 crayon roll ups and my children use ziplock bags to carry their coloring needs. I am ashamed.

This is the second one that was school themed. Both the outer and inner fabrics are Japanese linen and I think it has a great feel to it.

I thought the ribbon closure was too girlie for the boys so I used elastic and a button instead.

These were great fun to make. With that I held up my side of the bargain. Check out what I got in return!

See that cross section of the art piece. Starting from the top, the layers were turkey, pork stuffing, duck, pork stuffing, chicken, pork stuffing and turkey. We had four side dishes that went with this beauty: Eggplant Parmesan, potato casserole, cucumber salad and steamed broccoli.

This was my SECOND slice. Look at it. I know I am known to exaggerate but seriously, this slice was 2 inches thick! What mad man would serve this to his guest???

I made it through half of this before I threw in the towel. There was a spectacular chocolate pudding after the scrumptious meal as well. My brain was just too stuffed with food to remember to take a picture of that.

Going back in time a little. Putting on the finishing touches and getting ready for the feast.

Here is a picture to document the completion of our transaction.

I have always had a love-hate relationship with turkey. I think I eat it mostly because it's festive and I love cranberry sauce. The meat itself has always disappointed me but the turkey meat in the turducken was so so so moist. It was truly huge bites of heaven. The duck was my favorite part of the bird trio. Did I mention the gravy was also divine? Okay, I am salivating again just thinking about the meal. I am proud to report that I gained 2.5 lbs after this one meal. Honestly! I weighed myself before and after. 2.5lbs translates to at least a month of working out. It's all worth it.

A quick break after dinner. The Boy connect with another Cars fan.

After the meal, we all needed to work off what we consumed. Here is one way to do it. Choose a kid and do 20 reps of bicep lifts. Hint: If you plan on doing 20 reps, only promise the kid 5. He/she will keep demanding more. Remember, the kid you choose had also just eaten his/her fair share of turducken and is also likely on a sugar high.

We were all very happy that night. Great food, great company. Thanks so much A and T for hosting and M and M for cooking. I can't imagine how much time and energy and money you all put into this gathering. I can't promise anything this fancy but our home down south is always open to you and you will be well fed during your visit.

"What do you mean we were all happy? You forgot me! You all got to eat turducken and all I got was mush!"

So Sleepy!

2010-03-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have ever seen this baby sooooo sleepy. We took these during dinner time one night.

A few seconds later.

Art

2010-03-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by this blog to try drawing with the Girl. The idea is that we take turns coming up with a picture and the other would try and draw their version. Sometimes, I encourage her to copy me but other times I just let her loose and she can draw however she wishes to. This is what she refers to as "I want to draw with you" these days. She would draw tons of blank grids on a page and wait for us to draw with her. Here are some of my favorites.

This is one that the Girl draws first and I try to copy her. She is a big fan of the rosy cheeks.

Penguins.

Birds. Can you tell which is the original and which is the copy? Guess who started this one?

Robots.

What I wanted to be tiger stripes turned into some kind of a scar on her "baby kitty".

Snowy and Nakrc. She is pretty big on naming things these days. I started this one and after I drew the snowman, she wanted me to name him. I walked away and when I came back, she had her snowman and some letters that are supposed to be the name. We should have named the Boy this way.

Girlism and Boyism

2010-03-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

Scene 1:

Me: (lying down on bed) I have a headache.
Girl: You are okay. Just get up. (In the tone of voice I'd use when she falls down.)

Scene 2:

Boy: She opens her mouth. (refers to stuff toy he's strangling.)
Girl: Okay, I am coming with the ice-cream.
Boy: In her mouth, now! (continues to sit directly on top of said soft toy) Get her! She will feel better later. She will say thank you. (???? I have no idea what they were doing to that poor stuffed toy.)

Scene 3:

Boy: You have to share! (referring to a bag of candies)
Girl: Why?
Boy: Because I am your mommy! (wonder where he heard that one from...)

Scene 4:

Me: Who gave you that piece of apple?
Girl: I am snow white and the witch gave it to me.
Me: (Looked around the room to see all her teachers and school master standing around, hoping desperately that a friend gave her that piece of apple) Who gave it to you again?
Girl: (Points straight at the school master) She's the witch! (loud and proud)
Me: (A little embarrassed) We don't call people witches.
School master: No, we were playing. She's snow white and I was the witch.
Girl: (To me) That's what I told you. Then she chases me and pretends to bite me. Only pretend though. School Master doesn't really bite. Only mommy does that.
Me: (Even more embarrassed.........)

Why did I ever teach my children to speak?

Here is a random video of me watching my kids watch another kid on the computer.

Smocked Dress

2010-03-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty productive lately. After I finished the cropped jacket, I have since made another sun dress for the Girl and I am trying a vintage doll pattern. I don't want to show pictures of the doll yet because so far, I just have a couple bodies, three heads, 3 arms and 2 legs. None of them are sewn together so right now it just looks like a spooky pile of body parts. I am not making a bunch of dolls nor am I making an alien doll. The pattern I have doesn't include seam allowance and I am trying to figure out the fastest, laziest way to produce the best result.

Anyway, back to the dress. Here it is.

"Pssss, I have a secret to tell you..."

"Mommy made me a new dress! She named it the carnival dress. Doesn't it look like something you would wear to a summer carnival?"

"My standard princess pose."

I used some left over tweedle dee and a strip of random left over yellow fabric to make this dress. It was super simple and took about 3 - 4 hours total. I think it should be a little longer but the cool thing about this style is that it can easily be worn as a top. I left the shoulder pieces really long in case I want to lengthen them later.

This is what I would call an instant gratification project. I am craving another more complicated more detailed garment sewing project. Maybe a dress for myself. We'll see if I can find a nice pattern.

Which Hand?

2010-03-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

The Girl has always been kind of a magician. Remember when she was about ten months and would toss a ball over her shoulder and went "where did it go"? Well, her newest "trick" is to hide something in her hand and make you guess which hand it's in. Instead of trying to trick you into guess the wrong hand, she is very enthusiastic to help you guess the right answer. In fact, she would go as far as putting something in each hand to make sure you don't mess up.

Simplicity 2652

2010-02-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

I finished this project during the miracle nap a couple of days ago. I am very pleased with the result. The fit is great and there wasn't a lot of screaming/swearing involved. This, I think, is the first garment I have sewn for myself that I am completely satisfied with.

I documented this project in a lot of detail in a little notebook and that made it easy for me to pick up the project from where I left off. The project took 11 hours divided into 7 sessions. The collar and the lining were the most difficult for me. The two things I took away from sewing this project are: 1. Trace and cut the pattern pieces accurately. 2. Read the instructions. Commercial patterns have a seam allowance of 5/8".

I enjoyed making this little jacket and think I will make it again. I am not sure if I am crazy about any of the other variations.

The front:

The back:

Jacket modeled:

By some miracle/fluke, the pattern on the front of the jacket matches perfectly! I didn't plan it that way and wouldn't know how to do it if I wanted to. :-) This jacket is just meant to be.

Spoiled Rotten

2010-02-27T08:31:00.000-08:00

The little ones were spoiled rotten in the past two weeks. First a week long visit with Por Por and then another week long visit with Nanny and Papa. Yesterday was a shock for the both of them. One fun filled day with just Mommy doing absolutely nothing! Mommy cleaned and they sat around waiting for someone to open the door and play "incoming" with them. When they finally realized life is back to normal, they did the unthinkable - they both napped! The first things they said when they woke up was, "Where is Papa?" "When is Nanny coming back?" "Are we going to Vancouver yet?"

Come back soon, Nanny, Papa, Por Por! We miss you already!

The Before and After

2010-02-25T14:40:00.001-08:00

I've only been to LA 3 times, including this past weekend and I've never really been a tourist there.

We took a stroll on Rodeo Dr the night before the event to check out all the fancy stores. My eyes were blinded by jewelry bigger and shinier than my fake ones. They were really really gorgeous. I also had the "good fortune" to overhear an argument between a bunch of tweens over a "f***ing thousand dollar bracelet". They were fighting to buy it, not fighting over the value of it. One of the lines I overheard was, "it's just a f***ing thousand dollar bracelet, why can't you let me have it?" Yep, quite a different world out there.

We passed by this cake shop with some of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen!

The morning of the event, I had planned to lounge around the pretty swimming pool and work on my tan but the weather didn't cooperate. The best I could do was this picture.

Did I mention our hotel was super grand. Thanks to the generosity of Hubby's company, we got to stay at the swanky Four Seasons. This was the lobby when we arrived.

This was the lobby on day 2. Completely different huge floral arrangements.

The hotel was so fancy there was even a little bench inside the elevator.

My favorite thing about the hotel was the bathroom in our room. It was seriously bigger than my bedroom in my house. I especially loved this little vanity.

Ah... back to touristy stuff. We went to the La Brea Tar Pits the morning of the event.

I was convinced my teeth are bigger than the Sabertooth Cat's.

Okay, I thought the scientists there were pulling my leg. How can the speck be a bone and even if it were, how the heck did that find that from a pile of bones mixed in tar? (Oh, in case you can't read what the papers say... from left to right: large mouse toe bone, small mouse toe bone, mammoth toe bone)

The Food

2010-02-24T09:41:00.001-08:00

We were told that the food is usually awesome. I worked out really hard the two weeks prior to the event to make sure there is at least half an inch of eating space between my tummy and the dress. Looking good was secondary. It's all about the "full" Oscar experience.

This was waiting for us as we took our seats. Truffle soup, goat cheese and beets, arugula salad and a mushroom salad in a pastry box. The soup was really good.

The second course was ravioli. The ravioli themselves were good but the sauce was "Chef Boyardee"-like.

Oh... there was also this pretty center piece and bread basket.

The main course was a filet mignon and sea bass with sides of roasted butternut squash, potatoes and brocolini. The portions were huge. The taste was great (for someone who normally doesn't eat beef, I tried and liked the filet mignon) but the plating, as you can see, was a little disappointing.

I usually like to finish everything on my plate but I just couldn't finish this dish. After all, I had to save room for dessert. Peach cobbler and honey ice-cream.

All in all, I'd say it was a good meal. It's not the most phenomenal food I've ever had but it was definitely the best banquet food I've ever tasted. Bravo, Academy!

Science and Tech

2010-02-22T07:58:00.000-08:00

When Hubby started working at his current job, I often joked that it'd be a dream come true if he won and Oscar and brought me to the event. Much sooner than anticipated, our dream came true. Hubby and his team won a Science and Technology Award given out but the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and we were in Beverly Hills this weekend to celebrate the event.

I put some more picture here.

It was a great experience that I will blog a little more about later. In the mean time, we are all going to enjoy some time with family. Hope your weekend was as spectacular as ours!

Sewing Homework

2010-02-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

The Girl borrowed a naked Barbie doll from a friend one day. Before she went to bed, she told me that it's not okay for the doll to be naked. Barbie needed a mermaid costume. Green tail, purple boobies (that's what she calls a bra) and a flower necklace. I was to work on that while she slept so she can play with Barbie in the morning.

So after I tucked her in, I set to work on my assignment. Can't believe I am sewing for Barbie now.

A close up of Barbie the mermaid. I discovered the trick to these play clothes is lots of elastic. The tail has an elastic waist band and the bra was sewn with elastic thread. The necklace is just a piece of confetti from Valentine's day strung on a short length of elastic thread.

Here is a bonus picture of Barbie and my newest girlie toy: a pink camera. Thanks for being manly enough to allow a pink camera in our household, Hubby.

Happy New Year!

2010-02-14T22:55:00.001-08:00

The kids are totally loving having Por Por around. Let the parties begin!

I keep having to ask them to go easy on Por Por. She is staying for a whole week and I don't want the kids to break her on day 1. :-)

Cool Party

2010-02-13T22:40:00.000-08:00

We went to a birthday party on Super Bowl Sunday and it was super fun.

I never thought I'd see the day when the Girl is coordinated enough to do stuff like this. I am sure you can hear the excitement in my voice. (BTW, are you able to view my videos? Please let me know if they don't work for you.)

Then we had some dramatic/pretend play. This is such a great age and a great activity. I love it when the kids totally get into character and have a ball with the costumes.

Regal.

Girlie following the King around.

Then she turned into a chicken.

Did I mentioned that we were invited to this party because of the Boy? This is the Boy's friend's birthday and the Girl was the tag-along for the first time. Yet somehow, she still made it all about her.

Special Post for T and A

2010-02-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

If you are not my kids God parents, this post will not mean anything to you.

T & A: I hope this video works. Let me know if you can see this.

Fancy Pants

2010-02-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

Made by Rae and Made are blogging a whole month about crafts for boys! I've made plenty for the Girl but sadly not much for the Boy because things just don't look as cute. I saw this pant tutorial and it was just too chic to pass.

The pattern is supposed for a tall three year old but when I was finished they were just right for the Boy.

Lier, the pattern designer, was right. The double top stitching makes the pants way more professional looking. I also love how the side pockets look.

She was also right about the pants riding really low. I didn't make the button holes for a drawstring so I suppose I can open up the casing and tighten the elastic but I don't think that would be very comfortable to wear.

I learned a lot making these pants. I never knew how to put in side pockets and I've never made a pair of lined pants. Here is something I already knew - back pockets.

So I'd say these are stylish pants but the fit is not very good. I am ready to find a commercial pattern and try it again. Nonetheless, I am still happy to have a new pair of pants for about $1.50. The only thing I bought was the twill and elastic.

It's An Emergency!

2010-02-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

That's what these two were screaming on top of their lungs.

It's cool to see how the Girl plays differently with boys. Notice how even while saving lives, the Girl is still mindful of her attire. Here comes firefighter in a tutu.

This is a completely separate event. The Boy is pictured here playing with his preschool buddies.

I am doing the preschool co-op for the Boy now. This group of kids is very young. Most of them had just turned two so preschool is really play school. I don't try to "teach" much when I host. I like to do more physical things with them like having them learn to stand in line and take turns going through a tunnel.

So far, the Boy has not been a big fan of school. He loves going to the Girl's school and plays well there but he doesn't like being left with his own preschool group. I guess it will take more training before he is more comfortable. The thing is I don't remember it being difficult leaving the Girl during her preschool days. Both the Boy and I just have to tough this one out.

We Need More Testosterone

2010-02-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

The estrogen level in our house is usually considerably higher than that of the testosterone level. I am not saying Hubby is not manly. He is at work most of the time and the Girl is so so so so girly and I kind of encourage and feed her girliness so the Boy usually just caves. I mean look at all the pictures of him dressing up as a fairy/princess/ballerina.

This night, one of the Girl's boyfriends came over to play and after dinner, he asked to watch Cars. Now, we have that movie and the Boy LOVES it. It is definitely his favorite and if it was up to him, he'd watch it twice a day everyday. The thing is, it's never up to him. The Girl is older and wiser and louder and can usually convince/outsmart/strong arm him into watching princess movies. The few (like one in six) times that he gets to watch Cars, the Girl makes sure he knows she is granting him a big favor. If he tries to talk to her about the movie while they are watching, (something like, "look at Frank chasing McQueen and Mater") she will reply, "next time, we watch Snow White, okay!" So he doesn't talk much during the movie.

Now back to the night of the play date. When the Boyfriend asked to watch Cars, the Boy immediately ran to where he kept his precious movie and brought it to the kitchen where we were all sitting and yelled, "I got it! I got the the McQueen! It's here, I can push the buttons!" (Meaning he knows how to work the DVD and he can set it all up.)

With that, the boys hopped onto the couch and started some serious male bonding.

Really, I have never seen the Boy so happy while watching the movie and I've never seen the Boyfriend preferring to interact with the Boy more than the Girl. My Boy have seen this movie way more times than the Boyfriend so he was narrating and explaining during the movie, pointing out his favorite parts and his favorite characters.

It warms my heart to see how much he knows and how much he cares about something and how much he want to share his passion with others but it breaks my heart at the same time that he never had a chance. Maybe I've spent too much time finding the girl a girlfriend to play with. I think it's time I find the Boy a pal.

My Goofballs

2010-02-02T21:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some random goofy pictures of the kids.

The future king. I came out to the living room one night to find the Boy mastering the art of lounging. I think in his mind, he was taking up the whole couch and was the King of the world. Well... at least King of the living room.

The demure princess. I've been teaching the girl to sit with her legs crossed and this is the most demure I have ever seen her. Speaking of being a princess, here is a recent Kira-ism which is not new to those who are on FB.
I slipped and dropped the girl into the toilet one night and she cried and cried. Yes, it was my fault but after a few minutes of tearless crying, I said, "That's enough. Princesses don't cry." She looked at me with those big, accusatory eyes and said, with a sob, "except... they don't fall into potties either."

One night, I was telling a particularly juicy story to my mom on the phone and I didn't want to be interrupted so I hid in my room. I could hear them giggling and laughing in the living room so I assumed they were behaving and playing nicely together. When I came out, I found this.

From a distance, I couldn't tell what was going on and thought I had mistaken desperate cries for help as laughter and was going to yell at the Boy to get off his sister. Then I heard the Girl say, "now I am dead. You can sit on me and crush my tummy now." Where does she get this stuff and should I be worried?

CAT

2010-02-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

I really like this one. I am thinking of turning into something she can wear like this, this, this or this.

The Other Big Mouse

2010-01-30T20:45:00.001-08:00

We went to see a big mouse. No, not Mickey. We went to see Chuck. I remember loving these places when I was a kid but I've never brought my kids. So on one fine day after a long rainy stretch, we visited Chuck.

First, some warm-up rides.

Clifford scares me but the kids like him.

Then, lunch. Here are the two pizza buddies.

Chuck E Cheese pizza is like the Wonder Bread of pizzas. It's all fluff but the kids like them. Here is the boy showing off his "Pizza Happy" face.

And here is the "Pizza Crazy" face. His left eye is so much bigger than his right when he is excited.

Dessert was some homemade lollipops the girls made a couple days ago. We actually managed to convince them to save it till dinner time.

Then the gaming began. The Girl went off with her friend and I really don't know what they did. I guess they went on more rides and played a few games. I hung out with the Boy mostly.

"Woah! Shark scary. I don't think I should mess with him."

"But they said I need these little pieces of paper called tickets to get prizes. I guess I will have to try."

And try we did. We averaged 12 tickets per game on this machine. Dare I say we owned it?

Now, if the Boy ever challenges you to a friendly game of air hockey for your lunch money, run for the hills! He's a air hockey SHARK! Our visit to Chuck's was his first exposure to the game. He watched these two people play while we were waiting for the food and somehow, he knew exactly what to do.

Here is a short video of us playing. I did score a point at the end but I think this may be the last time I beat him at air hockey.

So for $30, 2 adults and 4 kids were fed and entertained for 2 hours. I guess it's a good deal. I see more mouse visits in our future.

Private Recital

2010-01-25T16:54:00.000-08:00

I am always surprised at how much of the dance she learned from last year that she remembers. Every time the music comes on, she's on auto-pilot.

This is a longer and more boring video but I caught the Boy "heigh ho"-ing his heart out near the end.

New Obsession

2010-01-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

In case I haven't talked your ears off about the upcoming fancy party, here's the deal: Hubby and I and Hubby's parents are going to the Oscars! Naturally, I started obsessing about finding a dress (the reason why I've been such a blogging slacker). After three weeks of very intense searching, I think I have found the one.

Now I am mildly obsessed about the shoes, the hair and the bag. I bought a pair of really really pretty shoes that are really really uncomfortable. The logical me is thinking I should take them back but the vain me is thinking keep them because they are so pretty. I am not sure.

I am also spending an alarming amount of time on youtube learning how to do my hair. I have a solid backup plan but I want to learn to do a messy updo with a headband like this.

I am considering making my own but if I see one I like, I'll just get it. Shopping on etsy has been super fun. Lots of hair accessories and lots of bags too look at. Now I just need to find someone to alter the dress and I am ready to party! Yippeee!

First Project of 2010

2010-01-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

Near the end of last year, most of my sewing was the "get-it-done-and-get-it-done-fast-because-I-needed-to" variety. There was a lot of repetition and time pressure but not a lot of creativity and learning to it. So after a month of rest, I am very eager to start something new and a little more challenging than the patterns that I now know so well. After a morning spent by myself at Joann, I have chosen Simplicity 2652. It's cute, wearable and there are definitely techniques that are new to me. I am making it in a size 8 even though I think I am more of a size 10 by the measurements given on the back of the package. Somehow, things I make always turn out too big for me.

Here is a shot of the pattern and the fabric I have chosen for it.

After 2.5 hours of work, I have cut out all the pattern pieces,

and made the pleats on the front and back and pleats and casing on the sleeves.

I also opened my new pack of butterfly pins. My old ball pins were all falling apart after a couple months of intense use. I am still getting used to the butterflies because they seem much longer to me than the old ones. They sure are pretty to look at though.

Another new thing is that I've been sewing under this light. It is amazing! I don't know how I have sewn so many evenings without it. The only criticism I have is that this light does not have a switch. It's possible that I just haven't found it yet but it'd be a lot easier if I didn't have to crawl under the table to plug and unplug it each time.

I feel like 2010 is going to be a good sewing year. Is anyone interested in sewing this jacket with me? Email me if you want to play too.

Oh, and while I was working, the kids were supposed to be napping. Instead, they did this to poor baby Ali (the doll, of course). So next time they see the real baby Ali, I wouldn't quite trust them to be Ali's babysitter yet. They both claimed that baby Ali asked to be made pretty and they were just trying to help. I guess the doll is plenty pretty now.