making barbie cake

This is as much a "me learning" experience as it was for the kids. I had a really hard time, many frustrations, and wanted to throw in the towel many times.

But I guess in the end, I'm glad I didn't but I'm not sure I want to do it again. I suppose at least now I have most of the tools and know more or less what to do.

J did all the decorating, and had fun playing with Barbie's hair and of course tasting the icing. She was also a really good mixer. I didn't even need the electric mixer.

Decorating. I don't think I got quite the right tools; so many things to get. It was just crazy.



Little tasting.

Look at those pink hands! We all got them. Gloves might have been helpful.

Here she is. J gave all Barbie all the jewelry a girl could want, necklace, earring, bracelet, and ring. :)

Look who's turning 7?

Today is J is officially 7! I let her decide how she wants to spend the day. She actually just wanted to play at home and do her normal thing including attending a book discussion at the library. She did request some Timbits from Tim Hortons for breakfast.

A surprise of the day is a trip to Chuckie Cheese which is always a favorite of my kids. I had coupon for 20 free tokens so why not?

J's getting fancy. Instead of sitting next to Chuckie, she sits on the car. Is that a 7 years old thing?

The kids got cotton candy using their tickets.

J chilling out and doing a little building.

A surprise for mommy came in the mail- a box full of of a different variety of books courtesy of an old friend. Thanks, E! J loved these little blank notebooks so I gave them to her and guess what she immediately did? She colored a little bit (said the crayon didn't work well on the cover) and wrote down lyrics to like 5 or 6 Enki songs. She says she is trying not to forget them. I was moved. I thought the pretty cover was going to inspire her to do some flower drawing or something but guess that's not what she had in mind. Daddy says that's her "memory system". ;)

A birthday sundae. She'll have her cake and a little party on Sat. The plan is she will host her own party as on her hand made invitation, it says, "hosted by J". (kid you not.)

Happy Birthday, my sunshine! You are such a delight and just a sweet, sweet girl. Love you lots, mommy.

fishing w/o real fishing rods

This weekend I learned from my friend how to let a whole bunch of kids fish w/o breaking the bank. Take a Popsicle stick, wrap string around stick and add hook and of course, bait (worm) for the fish.

This is J and Prime's first fishing experience. It was a fun for the kids because I think all the kids who wanted to catch fish caught at least 1 fish. The hardest part was actually letting the fish off the hook. Sometimes, the fish get caught and getting them off is not always the easiest task. The best is when the fish flip and dance themselves back into the water (reminds me of mermaid). :) All the fish caught had to be let back into the water.


1st thing was finding a good location to fish. We had to try a few spots before J found a sweet spot.


J caught her first one. The water was pretty clear. A lot of the time, you can actually see the fish.


Prime caught his first one. There is J with her 2nd one. I think she is a little scared of the fish flipping.


Prime learned that fishing is more fun when you have a friend to talk to all the time. Those two were so cute as they were always together and they moved to different locations.


The man behind the action (prepared all the fishing supplies for all the children, hooking the worms , and fixing things for everyone, etc). Thanks F!!

This is the biggest fish caught that night, I believe.

Colors of July 4th

J and Prime's attempt at painting their picnic caddy (made at Home Depot) in 4th of July colors.




Happy July 4th everyone!

Honest Scrap

Lisa from Goose and Binky passed this along to me, so here goes mine.

1. I was born in China and came to the US when I was 10. I have a hard time finding my identity and my circle of friends. Up until 5 years ago, my good friends were all Asian American who have similar backgrounds as me. There is also a lot of nuances in the Chinese circle but that's another story. Now, my very best friend is a Caucasian and she is the sweetest friend in the world. She even gave me a 5 year friend anniversary gift! I even have a few good friends who are black and even one Indian friend. I feel God is really stretching me in this area continuously because otherwise He knows I would just stay in my shell.

2. Just yesterday, a family member asked me how long I plan to homeschool? And I said I don't really know for sure. He made a comment and said it will probably only be 2-3 years. His concern was that parents can't be good in every subject area esp. subjects like chemistry, biology, etc. So I explained a little bit about the many opportunities out there for homeschoolers. And I thought to myself, well, even though I can't say for sure, my hope is to homeschool my kids through high school. So maybe that's what I should tell people next time. Whether that will happen is a different story.

3. My hubby is the best in the world. He is supportive in everything I do and lets me do whatever I want. On days I don't want to cook , he'll cook or pick up food. And on weekends, he usually does most if not all of the cooking. Some of our friends think he is the cook in the house! I have some back problems, so on most days, he gives me a back massage and it really helps.

4. I am suppose to take vitamins every day because of a condition I have that cannot change fat into energy so I feel tired a lot of times and yet I still hate to take the vitamin. It smells awful and it is such pain to take the vitamins out of each bottle. So recently, my hubby got me one of those weekly vitamin boxes and he fills the vitamins for me every week. But I still don't take it everyday. I know I need to be more disciplined in this area.

5. I admire people who are really talented in making their house beautiful and esp. women who do home improvement project themselves.

6. I have a love and hate relationship with blogging. I love to do it but find I love it too much and spend too much time in blog world. I love to read what other homeschooling children are doing (activities, what curriculum, the how and the whys, the more detailed the better). My kids say, mommy you are always blogging! And I say, okay, give me 1 more minute.

7. Lastly, I didn't think I would know what to share, but as I started typing, words just came.

I would love see Julie from A celebration of our journey and Harvest Moon from Along the crooked path do this if they like to.

Encouragement from God

The kids are having a sleep over at their aunt's and this morning my house is so quiet, so peaceful. I'm drinking my morning coffee and reading, "The Old Schoolhouse Magazine".

I have had a few issues arrive since we started homeschooling but this is the 1st time, I found so many wonderful and helpful articles that I feel this must be God encouraging me. Thank you, God! (To think yesterday, I wasn't sure if the kids should spend the night at their aunties.) But I'm sure glad the children did and they get to spend some time with their cousin who came back from NC for a brief visit and I got some of my own needs met today.

Below are a few writings that really encouraged me.

I was really surprised that when Todd Wilson (author of Lies Homeschooling Mom believe, help! etc and founder of Family Ministries) did an informal poll asking homeschooling mom if they think the are doing a good job homeschooling children, the % of moms who felt they did a good job so far polled in the last few years - 0%! I know I have doubts often time if I am doing a good job, if its enough. These doubts often plagues and keeps me awake at night.

Todd had this to say,

"... You're not perfect, and yes, you have have shortcomings and failures... but overall, your children are better off for having YOU as their mom, not someone else. ...God knew your children needed you. They need your shortcoming as well as your strength. God could have chosen to given your children to any mom in the world, but He chose YOU. He looked into the future and thought (my words), "Boy, those kids are going to need ________(fill in your name) as their mom. "

Another word of encouragement came from Jane Claire Lambert (she and her husband Steve operate Five in a Row) who had the following to say,

" When we become worn out and exhausted, esp. in our homeschooling, it might be because we've been operating at a non-sustainable pace..... We hurry and push and cram - forgetting all about the "gentle rhythms" of life. ... Last we should never make decision or judgment or taking actions such as changing curriculum or setting corrective measures when we are discouraged. Instead, we need to make a note of the things we are worried about. Then we can take however long is necessary to find wisdom and vanquish fear. We can wait, pray and make necessary changes or correction at the right time with peaceful smiles on our faces. "

Here is wishing you all have an encouraged and blessed day!

Compassionate souls

J and Prime were watching Chinese cartoons and they watched "The Ugly Duckling". When the ugly duckling was being made fun of, chased, abused, I saw tear in Prime's eye. This morning we were talking about compassion, J says she cried too when she watched "The Ugly Duckling" too. So even though they only understand some Chinese, they can see what is happening and felt sad that the ugly duckling was treated so badly.

I think this is the first time they watched something and had tears.