Last pics of 2008- Divine

Tonight, we went to see "DIVINE" Performing Show.

It is a group of performers made up of mostly ethnic Chinese who was born in USA and share a passion for Chinese culture. We were told at the performance. It was a fabulous show and a good show for the kids to get a taste of their Chinese heritage.

The following is a quote from the website.

"Divine Performing Arts presents classical Chinese dance and music in gloriously colorful and exhilarating shows. An art form some three millennia old, Chinese dance is refreshingly dynamic and expressive. Ancient legends and heroic figures come to life through its leaps, spins, and delicate gestures."

This is J/W and I before the performance. We all had something hot to drink. Daddy was absorbed in reading the program.

This is J/W during intermission. The kids behaved really well during the show and enjoyed the show.
J poses in front of their poster at the end of the show.

2008 Kids' favorite

J/W had a great 2008. We are very thankful and feel truly blessed as a family. Praise the Lord!

Here is J's 2008 top 10 favorites.

1. Tobogganing/Tubing
2. Camping
3. Beach
4. Air Zoo
5. Watching Christmas Carol (Barbie)
6. Playing in the snow
7. Sleeping in mommy's bed
8. Making crafts (butterfly,snail,etc)
9. Watching Eloise at Christmas time
10. Opening presents

Here is W's 2008 top 10 favorites
1. Air Zoo
2. Watching Eloise at Christmas time
3. Opening presents
4. Playing with his toys
5. doing Yoga with mommy
6. Spending the night at hotel and swimming with cousins
7. Sewing
8. Tobogganing/Tubing
9. Playing in the snow
10. being the 1st to wake up

Share a few pictures from our 2008 album.


J/W at our camp ground. Do you see the beach in the background? Here J/W in U.P.


1st firecracker for the J/W. J/W feeding a lamb.

another fun day

My hubby and I met the gang at the hotel this morning around 9am. I was pretty tired myself this morning so I forgot my camera. (that's my excuse whenever I forget my camera) ;-)

We found them eating breakfast and little blurry eyed but in good spirit. In talking with their aunt, we found out all the kids did not go to bed til 1:30am in the morning- too much fun!! Aunt T told us W boy was really good at the Hungry Hippo game and won many times.

The children were more than ready to go swim again after breakfast. After taking a short break, they did. This time, only the children were in the pool. None of the adults went with them. Nonetheless, the kids had a great time playing catching the ball in the water. When it comes to fun, the children have lots of energy.

Afterward, we went back to the room and the children spent time free play. Iz even sang us her made up version of Jingle Bell and showed us a little dance. :) Wish I had my camera. It was really cute. Then it was lunch time and all the children wanted to go to McDonald. All the children ate at one table, and again, they were all giggling and having a great time. This is a great age mix- N(8.5 ), J(6.5), W(almost 5) and Iz (almost 3). Actually, Julia (2) was there too but she sat with her mommy.

Finally, it was time for us to go home. You can tell, J and W was tired, especially W boy. The kids fell asleep in the car on our way back and had a good 40 minute nap. After we got home, we all took a bath, rested, and enjoyed some snuggle time in bed with a few good books. :) Looking at animals is always a favorite around here especially with W boy.

But tomorrow, J said, she wants to skate,paint, draw, and play Blokus. Good grief....good thing I did not plan on going with friends to GFV tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will just chill out and enjoy some down time until the night. ;-)

all play

Today, it was all play for the kids. From the time since they got up, til they fall asleep tonight (they are having a sleep over with their cousins at a hotel), J/W have been playing. First in the house, then at the mall, and finally at the hotel.

J/W were very excited this morning because they knew they were going to be swimming today with their cousins. J got more excited when she learned she could spend the night at a hotel. J/W loves hotel (for what reason I'm not sure, but a scrumptious breakfast is always a good thing) W was a little more tentative but he usually likes to stick with his sister. J got 3 sets of clothes out and told W to do the same thing. It was a mess in J's room. Then she came to my room to lug out my suitcase which I used when I was flying out of town!! She also packed her bible and another bible story book. Her school bag was bulging so much when were done packing.

Anyway, we got to the mall to meet up some of our friends and spent about 4 hours at the mall- at the play area. J was acting very motherly toward E and Iz. She would hold the little one's hand and let them direct where she was going. Very cute. More impressively, they clung to her. There were about 6 kids (exclude 2 little ones) there and they all played well together.

Then it was off to the hotel. After a nice dinner, the kids were all in the swimming pool. J/W sort of forgot how to swim (especially W boy), but after a little while, they were swimmers again. I took lots of pictures until my camera's battery died. Some of the best pics were toward the end, but suffice to say, J/W had a fun doing what they love to do, play!

A funny story is when Iz was in the floater and my hubby tried to help and push her, she turned around, looked innocently and straight at my hubby and said, "Kow-fu(uncle in cantonese), I don't need you. I need MZ(J's name in cantonese)." LOL! Later, when I said, "Iz, you stabbed Kow-fu in the heart today." she said, "I know." :) She is 2, almost 3years.


Here is the crew of 5 (2 hidden in the back) and one is missing in action (with daddy). There is E in purple. There is also Julia in the back with her mommy but too blurry to see. See how J is being "motherly"?) :-)

After all that play, snack break. Those pretzel are good, huh? Or just some very hungry kids. Here is the camera shy N. But he loves cinnamon sugar, licked it clean. :)


J at the hotel. That bed is really comfy. The 4 are trying to get adjusted to the water. W and his goggle. He swims so much better with them. Later, Julia and Jacob came too.

W demonstrate P.P.P.

W boy doing his Pitter Patter Polt. This is from Enki's Learning by movement. It took W a little while to be able to get the rhythm and the movement correct. But now that he got it, he enjoys doing it. :)

More presents....

Today we had a 3 hour dim sum with our extended family. The kids got their Christmas presents from their uncles and aunts. W boy could not wait to go home to play with his presents so he kept telling us to leave. He was also shy today at dim sum and took a while to warm up to aunts/uncles wanting hugs. Kisses were definitely out of the question even for J.

W opens his present. J shows one the presents she got. A floppy ear bunny which she carried everywhere.


1) W tells Uncle J to come over so W can take a picture of him and his sweetie. W is quite the photographer.
2) J explains the available choices of her Girl Scott Cookies to auntie S. She sold 17 boxes today. Thank you everyone for supporting J!
3) J/W with their cousins. ( Iz loves J and she give big hugs to J and was always mz,mz(J's Chinese name; It was so cute.)

J's new hair cut

J's hair has always been very tangled; not sure why. I think it is related to the way she sleeps and just the texture of her hair. So today, I decided to cut her hair. She had always wanted long hair and that is why we had let it grow. But J also had enough of the tangled hair. Anyway, she is very pleased with her haircut. She says it feels much lighter. I think all her aunties will be surprised by J's short hair.
Much shorter now, huh?

Another set of present came for the kids in the mail today. This time from my friend, Jess. Clothes is usually a safe bet. J/W are not very picky about their clothes.

J has also been practicing her "asking for help"/"selling" skill. We will be meeting our extended family tomorrow for dim-sum (sort of like brunch) and J will be trying out her skill in selling her Girl Scott cookies. I'm confident she will do a fabulous job. I taught her a little "small-talk" skill as well since J sometimes is a little shy especially around male adults.

one of those days

Today, our extended family was suppose to come over, but one of the auntie got up "really late" and she had to do some "after-Christmas shopping", therefore plan for coming to our place got canceled. All the aunts (and uncles) wanted to come together so if one can't come, they all want to come on a different day.

J/W was really looking forward for their cousins to come. They even cleaned up their room and helped to clean our house. They must got that from me. LOL. Whenever we have guests coming over, it usually get our whole family cleaning, hubby included. :) And today was one of those days. Anyway, the new plan is to meet for dim-sum (Cantonese for "little snacks" in case you do not know) tomorrow. Uncle J is treating everyone since he is moving. Originally the plan is to meet Sunday for dim sum, but someone's plane is leaving 7am instead of 7pm.

In light of this change, our plan to go to the zoo tomorrow is canceled. Hopefully, there are some warm days ahead. I figured what better way to teach hibernating than actually seeing an animal doing it.

So today has been one of those days...one canceled plan after the other.

But while out shopping today, unknown to me, I dropped my phone outside my car. And when we came back to our car, the lady from the next car asked me if it was my phone she found on the ground. She said she was going to put it on top of my car. And surely it was my phone. So Thank God for the good "Samaritan". Praise the Lord I did not loose my phone and no one took it and made calls on it.

Christmas part 3- traditons

In previous years, we always got together with our extended family but due to circumstances, I think from now on, we will be celebrating the holiday by ourselves and then getting together with them after Christmas.

Anyway, I'm starting some family traditions for our family. I like traditions. : )

One tradition I plan on doing is the lighting of the candle. Tonight, J/W lighted the beeswax candle they made at the Bazaar and sang "Silent Night". It was recommended to us to wait until Christmas or later to light the candle. J girl says we should light a candle for every holiday. Good idea. :)



Another sort of tradition of our is to have chocolate fondue or make sugar cookies around the holidays. This year I got lazy, and tonight I just made the chocolate in a pot. It didn't turn out as good (little lumpy) as it usually does but I guess chocolate is still chocolate and everyone was still digging in. J/W made s'mores. Yum!

Later we played Blokus, a board game. This is another tradition I'm going to start with the family- playing family games. Daddy says he can't win the game because everyone (meaning the kids) was being "nice" to mommy and would not block me and was always blocking him instead. LOL! Gotta love the loyalty of these kids. :-)

Anyway, with our tummy full, and the clock pointing to 11pm, we all went to sleep happy and peaceful.

Christmas part 2- adventure in "the forest"

We went to a near by trail after lunch (I call it "the forest") for a little adventure. I wanted to see more animal foot prints but what I really hope to find was a fallen bird nest. Look, I got my wish (or as I like to say, God must have heard me. Praise the Lord!)


Something we did not expect... spotting an animal in the "forest". The animal was pretty far from us, but it looked like a dog, wolf, or coyote (this is what my hubby think it is). Whatever the animal it was, after we spotted, it ran away. My hubby jokes it is because it heard my loud crunchy snow shoe. :) Anyway, I definitely don't want to have a close encounter with a wolf or a coyote unless it is in a zoo.

Another thing we found... hanging on a tree was bones of a dead animal and hanging from the bones was the remains of another much smaller animal. It looked like it could have been a bat or something that size.

Below, J/W on the trail. Usually, our car could drive in. Since it it winter, it is blocked and we had to walk. W enjoys sliding on a hill. J collects twigs/barks etc for building a fairy house later.

Some more animal foot prints. dog prints in the first picture? I have no idea what the 2nd picture is.

Christmas part 1- Presents

These cards are the first thing to be opened on Christmas. These are J's card for everyone in the family. Click on the photo if you want to read the message. They are full of love. :)



J shows off her handmade wrapping paper and inside were her drawings. W's gift not shown.


W boy also gave me a sweet card. In his card, he said," Dear Mommy, I love you. You are so, so sweet. You are also very beautiful. I am going to be considerate when you are sick. Love W."

Blockus/Qwirkle were from our good friends, S/G. We plan on playing them tonight!! :) Thank you! Twister is a present the kids got from mommy and daddy. They played with them immediately after getting them.

Below are the handmade gifts the kids picked out at the Steiner school Bazaar. Hand folded stars(the kids punched the holes, and J put the string on so it would hang), handmade ginger cookie (yum!), marbles with hand sewn bag (J practiced multiplication/division with those marbles along with other games she invented to play with W), and a mobile made of origami birds. There is also a pair of handmade slipper J picked for I.

What a fun Christmas morning! Here is wishing everyone is having a wonderful Christmas.
PS. As if all this is not enough, they will get more presents from relatives later. We feel so blessed.

Christmas Eve party

We spent Christmas Eve with our friends. Everyone had a wonderful time. We stayed a lot longer than I had intended. I didn't realize it was really late. The kids also didn't realized how tired they were until they were in the car. They were still playing and having just a fabulous time til the very end. We're very thankful for our friends.


The kids opening their presents. J/W shows off their new presents.


E got Connect 4 and all the kids took turn playing with J. J played the game for a long time with K who is 8 years old. (2nd picture)

Here, the boys are having a little fun of their own. Group picture and everyone said "cheese."