Tid bits from today

J went to her piano class and declares that as her favorite class. She is on her own with the practicing and I have secretly been surprised that she is practicing consistently on her own. Her teacher says she is "soaking it up". Too bad she only has 2 more classes before her teacher will be out of town for the summer. I'm hoping we can catch her sometimes in the summer for a few classes.

J also learned how to purl today. My yarn got tangled up but hopefully we'll be able to do more tomorrow. I also took a knitting class tonight so I might be able to show J a few things I learned at class tomorrow too. I took the class more for her than for me. But I enjoy knitting too, though what I learned tonight was a little tough and takes a lot of concentration. After this class, I'm hoping to take a class that teaches me to knit baby booties and baby sweater. The samples were just darling.

Treat for myself also came in today... "Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day". Hopefully I will find some time to read it soon and make some yummy bread.

"Yoga Pretzels- 50 fun yoga activities for kids & grownups" is a treat for both the kids and me also came in today. I seriously need to get some exercise to have more energy. I think I hold in too much tension and need to learn to relax. Is that weird?

Prime made improvements on writing; technically it was more line drawing (diagonals, from one corner to the middle of another line). It was challenging for him at first which made me think perhaps it was too hard for him but then after a little while, he made great strides and was happy he can do it.

Wordless Wednesday- Preparing snack

Corner View 3- transportation

This week's theme for Corner view, started by Jane, is transportation.

J's favorite, scooter, even though she rides 2 wheeler with back pedal for break too when it's a whole family thing.
Prime's favorite. I'm hoping he'll be able to take off his training wheel and join us on the bike trail.
My favorite. I really need a car but for leisure I like to walk and bike too. Though in NYC and Philadelphia, I had my share of taking bus and the metro, rain, snow, and sun.

In Kyoto, Japan, I had to sharpen my bike riding skills as part of the way to the university I had to use a bike (with a big steep and long slope). It seemed to me, the Japanese are the experts in bike riding. They can ride with one hand while holding an umbrella in another while navigating in streets that is only 1 1/2 lane wide and is shared by 2 way pedestrian, 2 way bikers, and 2 ways cars. It scared all the foreign students who thought they knew how to ride bikes.

Many others are participating. So check them out too.

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie,esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, samantha, kyndale, capturereflection

What kind of a mom?

I was thinking about this question the last few days... I think it started when someone commented I'm a fun mom or something like that. My first reaction was I am? Then I was thinking, maybe I am. :)

The reason I was little surprised is because when I studied abroad in Japan, I lived with this host family and in contrast with with my friend's host family, my friend's host family seemed more fun! My host family was matched up to my interests at the time. My host mom was very dutiful as a mom and wife. She kept her house (very) clean, always cooked nutritious dinner, played piano, had a daily routine for herself and her children and shaped her hair nicely everyday. Her hubby as is customary in Japan, left the house early (before I woke at 7am) and came back about 9pm every night. In Japan, rush hour is at 9pm. So needless to say, he eats dinner after 9pm and they have a little together time, reading newspaper, watching a little TV, talking about each others day. My host mom also spoke English well and since I spoke little Japanese, we pretty much had to communicate in English.

Now my friend who lives just down the street lived with a different host family who I considered at the time, "very fun". They were always on the move, taking my friend to fun places all the time, always had company over and enjoyed having company or drop-ins guests. The hubby worked for a waste management company. I'm not sure what time he left but he always came back on his motorcycle between 4-5pm just in time for dinner and all the company. My friend did remark, however, with all the activities going on, sometimes laundry gets forgotten and he have no clean clothes to wear and have to ask his host mom to do laundry for him. Of course, the house is also pretty messy as it is not easy to balance everything. They have 3 young boys.

They also had cell phone when not many people, not even many people in Japan have it so they appeared very cutting edge to me. At the time, most people in US don't even have pagers yet unless they live CA, they might. That family also had GPS in their car as well when that notion was completely new to me. Now, its a must as I'm bad at directions. They also enjoyed bungee jumping and other thrilling sports. My friend says he tried bungee jumping at their urging and thought he was "going to die". :) But he loved his host family even though he did not speak any Japanese and his host family don't know how to speak English. To see them communicating is just hilarious with lots of hand gestures, drawings, acting out (charades), looking up words in dictionary etc. Just imagine you can't use language to communicate day in and day out and you'll understand what went on in that house. :) this host mom, like many people in Japan dyed her hair. Her hair is more brown than your natural brunette. Both of these moms stayed home with their children. They didn't homeschool but both moms had little one (s) who was not in school yet.

So you see why I was little surprised to be called "fun" mom. I'm not saying my host mom is a not great or not fun or imply she didn't take me to places, its just in comparison, the other mom seemed a lot more "fun" . Fun mom is not the first word that comes to my mind if I were to describe her.

My hubby and I were discussing this and he said, fun mom doesn't mean you had to do thrilling sports nor have people over all the time as I am not that way at all. A lot of the time, I like to do my own thing rather than coordinate with my friends. Sometimes, but not every weekend. And with homeschooling, sometimes I also just need to limit the social activities otherwise not much schooling gets done.

So anyway, I have been thinking more about what kind of mom I am. It'll probably be an evolving role. My house is pretty messy most of the time too and I spend daily cleaning and getting the kids to pick up their stuff but stuff seems to pile up faster than I can clean up. Same goes with cooking + dishes; for me, 3 meals + snacks + cleaning all that up at home is no easy feat. I'm sure all you moms can relate even if you don't have 3 meals/day at home. It's just that I'd rather be reading or something. I do love reading homeschooling books about different methods to teach your children. Or just reading all of your fascinating blogs and check out what other people like to do.

I asked my kids this morning if they think I'm a fun mom. J said yep, because you invented that ball game (with the big yoga ball) with us and you made the wooden horse with us. Uh, daddy made the wooden horse. J says but you wanted to so it was your idea and that was fun. I see. Prime says, yes because you let me sleep with you (after he understood the questions. First he understood it as am I a funny mom? LOL) . Okay, not exactly what I expected but will do. Kids' answers always surprise me. Its fun to see how and what they define as "fun".

Anyways, what kind of mom do you think you are?

Crazy 8 and playing football

We went to the mall today and had to stop by Crazy 8 store. I think this is becoming my favorite store for the kids. This is a fairly new store. I think my friend told me it's subsidiary store of Gymboree. Their prices are very reasonable and their stuff are adorable. I got J 2 really cute sets of swimsuit for $10 each. If you have one near you, it's worth checking out. I have yet to find some sandals for Prime but I did get J a pair of sandals which she says is 11 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest. To check out J's swim suits and sandals, see J's blog. She wanted to post the pictures on her blog. :)

I finally got Prime a set of football gear. I have been wanting to get him a set for a long time. Today I was lucky, it was on sale. He LOVES it. He couldn't wait and had to try it on right away and played it inside the house.



Our last stop was at Gymboree (I don't shop there) but if you shop there, they are having $3.99 and $6.99 sale. A gorgeous formal dress was only $6.99 .... too bad they don't have J's size. There wasn't enough time left to look at my stuff but I'm glad the kids like what they came home with.

late Earth Day celebration

I thought I missed the Earth day celebration at our local park but for today I wanted to take the kids to this nature center. When we drove close to the location, we realized they are having Earth Day celebration event that I thought I had missed (yet another free event). I'm glad there are many free fun events near us or as my hubby thinks I just developed more interests after having kids. Yeah, I think that is true as well. I think before kids, I definitely spent more time shopping at the mall for clothes. LOL. Now I'm lucky if I go clothes shopping once in every 3 months. Good for the budget, you know?!

Anyway, I'm so glad we went to the nature center as the forecast for today was scattered thunderstorm so I wasn't sure if this was a good day for the nature center. But it was. Thank you, God!

The kids enjoyed making their visor the most. I think they miss doing something crafty as I haven't done much crafts with them lately. I really like how they need to peel off the backing off the stickies. Good fine motor practice for Prime. :) He really likes to write lately and he wrote his name not 1 but 2 times on the back of his visor ! LOL.

Holding a python.

Petting a box turtleThe turtle ate grass....it was fun to watch. After it ate, it was moving at turtle pace but it startled some of the kids as it came closer and closer. :)


Prime getting creative decorating his visor - that took up a lot of time; the bubble wand was a big hit too.


The parade- see Mother Earth? J enjoys a good run down the hill. It did rain a bit (2 minutes), therefore the smudge on my camera lens and picking flowers (wild violet ?) right by our car.

learning through stamps

We went to a stamp show today. The best part was the part for the kids. There were over 100,000 stamps on the table just for the kids to collect as they like. Needless to say, we collected a lot. Actually, Prime fell asleep but J collected some and I collected some more. I think I enjoyed it more than my kids. :) But one of our friend was there, and her son, age 7, collected about 8 bags. He LOVED it!! I was so busy collecting that I only took 1 picture before I got taken by collecting stamps. I collected stamps as a child but this is way more fun. All the stamps we collected were donated. Inside the real show, people was selling collective stamps. The best way to learn about stamps is to get a catalog. We learned about the difference in the border, some all 4 edges are toothed, while others only has 3 sides and still others that has only 2 sides toothed which I believe means they came from a roll. Anyway, it was fascinating. I was most interested in collecting foreign stamps, USA states and later I collected famous people who got their face printed on the stamps. :) I could have stayed a lot longer but got other stuff to do and had to tear myself away from the hunt. I think we might join a stamp collecting club or something. J says she is interested in that.

You can click on the picture and it will be more clear.

Are these stamps from England? They all have the queen symbol on them.

These are Middle Eastern and some South America stamps... I think.

These are stamps from Canada, and Mexico. I did not think the queen would be on a lot of Canadian stamps but she is.

These are stamps from Asia... I found China, Taiwan, Japan, Macau, India, etc.

These stamps are from Africa. Lots of South Africa stamps.

These are some of the USA states stamps. I'm missing a whole bunch.

These are from New Zealand. Again, see the queen on some of the stamps.

These are European stamps- I found a lot of German stamps, there also Italian, French stamps, etc. There are also stamps called, "Europa". Are these stamps used by EU countries?

Here are some fun and interesting USA stamps. ( 1 Australia stamp) Not shown here but I also collected are historical events stamps like Boston Tea party, Independence stamps, etc.

I was unable to identify what country these stamps came from.

So many stamps, so many stories. Oh, my! J and Prime also got a big jig saw puzzle for finding certain stamps.

This was all for free. In fact, majority of the events we go to are free. But next week, we might go do some "treasure hunting" (at Good will or garage sales) and see if we can find any treasures. I don't think I ever found anything super great at yard sales nor Good will. But we will try again. Wish us luck.

Enjoying outside

Today is windy but weather is very nice. The sun is shinning brightly though the ground is very soggy and some area are still little flooded. We are soaking it all up and looking forward to many days like this. :)



Doing a little free dance; J doing the hippy hippy shake shake in the 1st picture. Prime is enjoying the sun and doing his little dance # as well.


I found this mushroom under an evergreen tree. We first saw these little pine cone then J found much larger one from this pine trees.


She is taking it all home; some for the nature table and some we will roll seeds and leave it for the birds. I'm just noticing how this branch is going straight up... then I noticed a lot of these trees are growing upwards into the sky.

I asked J why that is despite gravity, they still go up and she replies quickly," because the trunk is strong enough to hold them up. "hmmm... is that so?

nature sounds

birds, nature calls and friends

Today, we saw a bird with a red speck. The red really stands out. We also saw a bird with deep green blue head, didn't capture on camera as I was driving. But it was really pretty. I'm glad we are seeing more variety than just the robin though we are fascinated by them tow. We saw one pooping on our deck this morning. :) They are a pretty regular fixture on our deck though I don't think they used our grill for a nest that is sitting out all year round. :) That would actually be nice as we hardly use the grill.


There is the red bird. When the picture is larger, the red stand out a lot more. Bird nest inside thorn bush. Too bad there was no bird egg.

Plant that looks like a caterpillar. Prime learning about earth quake. Their hot little hand made the cap move.


This is what we saw in a parking lot. The pigeon was not scared and came for the bag. Looks like he is doing ballet in the 2nd picture.

J acting like a protective mommy the whole time with K at the playground. She held her most of the time and was not interested in playing with Prime. Usually, she will always find a friend or two, and normally they will be girls and all the girls tend to want Prime to be the bad guy and he really doesn't like that. LOL. But he is okay if its just regular tag.

I was going to upload a video but it seem to take forever... maybe I will try again later. I don't know what animal is making these sounds. Crickets, frogs? As you can see, I'm learning about nature as much as the kids. :)