I've had a few friends ask me for the link for this blog and I've always been hesitant to share it. Not that I'm secretive or anything, but moreso because I don't want them to think I write this blog because I want to broadcast our lives out there. It really is just a weekly journal of the stuff that the kids are up to and what I happen to be feeling at the time. Quite boring stuff if you ask me, but if I didn't have this blog, I'd probably be really lax about keeping our photos organized. I'm crazy, my phone has every week of the kids' lives chronicled in photos. So if you have access to this site or get an emailed weekly update, really there is no pressure to read it. It's quite boring and repetitive I think! I've recently started posting less on Facebook and made almost all the photos I had uploaded previously on there private. The world is a scary place and I'm finally listening to my mom who's warned us about sharing too much on the Internet. So everything will just have to go on this blog. Of course, sometimes there are pictures that are just too cute not to share!
Ok, onward to the silly shenanigans of the kids this week. Exciting stuff- Katelyn has developed a newfound love for HAM! Since Tyler doesn't go to CDC anymore, we pack a sandwich in his school lunch/snack. He's very particular and only wants bread with ham. Nothing else. Not even cheese! So of course I buy the large portion-sized ham from Costco. On the days that I have Katelyn, she happily eats some ham for her early lunch/snack before heading off to an early nap. She's been so great with this new routine. Drop off Tyler at 10am. Hit a park or run a quick errand. Home by 10:30am-ish. Quick snack, a quick story, and she's in her crib putting herself to sleep before 11am. I am so thankful for her nanny Cheyenne that sleep-trained her at such a young age. There's no fussing or crying or patting or crazy-me-pulling-my-hair-out-because-she-won't sleep. She tells me good night and she rolls around in her crib until she falls asleep. It's magic. She'll fall asleep from anytime around 11:05am to 11:20am. By then I'm cleaning the house, catching up on emails and enjoying some nice quiet time. It's necessary for my sanity! Tyler's class ends at 1:20pm so I almost have to wake her up by 12:50pm. I used to completely dread waking her up (tantrums have been known to follow) but she has been wonderful. The key was giving her some time to adjust to being awake, playing a little in her room before we head off. Plus she loves that on Monday and Wednesdays Tyler has Taekwondo. I'll entice her with that if she's seeming a little grumpy and she'll yell "I want to go to hiyahhh!".
Tuesday morning was Tyler's Waterworks swim class. He is improving a lot! This was the first lesson where I actually thought that the classes were actually worth it. It's quite pricey, and I didn't really have any hope that he'd be swimming in time for our Hawaii trip. But he is swimming! Not crazy strokes or anything, but he'll do a couple strokes and turn onto his back to float to get air, and then turn back again. I thought his teacher was pulling him along the pool but he was actually moving by himself! Haha! Here's a video of swimming.
I've been volunteering in Tyler's Kindergarten class every Tuesday since the start of their school year in July. It was really quite exciting at first- getting to see Tyler interact with his friends, get to know his little friends, and seeing what they're teaching in there. Now, uh, it's starting to drag a little (I know, bad mommy!). I'm only there an hour on Tuesdays (the last hour of their day) and sometimes I want to have a drink afterward because omg some kids are just all over the place and can not sit still. Tyler LOVES it when I volunteer. He'll run over and give me hugs constantly, so much that I've had to tell him that he needs to tone it down. There is a little girl in the class, Calleigh, that is so adorable. She's always so happy to see me, gives me hugs, and tells me I'm so pretty. Haha!
After school on Tuesday, we headed over to Tutti Frutti at Woodbury Town Center for an impromptu playdate with my friend Bonnie. I've been a little lax on playdates lately - we're so busy and I'm a little burnt out on reaching out and setting them up. Impromptu ones are the best and so easy! Tyler was so excited to hang out with his friends out of school. It made me reconsider my recent playdate outlook. Not enough that I've done anything about it yet though!
This Tuesday was a very important Tuesday. It was election day! Tyler's Kumon center is located in the same plaza as my voting center. Perfect! They had talked a lot about the election in school that day, and it was the perfect opportunity to take Tyler with me after he finished his Kumon class. His friend Norah came along too.
And Tuesday night I met up with a couple of my girlfriends for a mini night out at Yardhouse at the Spectrum. Being a stay-at-home, I find it's really important to carve out some time every so often where I can hang out with my friends and not talk about kids all the time. Although it's a little hard for me because, uh, sometimes I feel like that's really all I have to talk about! I love hanging out with these two- they're great listeners and always offer great advice.
And.. then it's back to the grind. :) Tyler has changed a lot these days, he's really matured in some aspects. There's very little fussing/grumbling when it's time to do his Kumon. I think he's finally accepted that it is part of his every day routine. Plus it's getting easier for him and that's made a huge difference. I've caught him bragging a couple times in school that so-and-so is easy for him and I always have to pull him aside and remind him that it's not nice to brag. It's this weird line between teaching him to be confident but not cocky. Other times though, he'll break down over the smallest thing and cry and I'll be reminded that he's still a young 5 year old boy. Especially when I'm getting really angry at his behavior. I end up feeling really guilty later. Ugh! He's such a sweet kid though, I need to give him a break! Here he is with Mojo. After watching a Powerpuff Girl DVD, Katelyn has started calling our cat "mojo-jojo" since she now knows that we named him after that silly monkey. Haha!
Here's a video of Katelyn playing with Mojo and a pretending to read a Star Wars book. I love that she loves both princess stuff as well as Star Wars/Ninjago. Hopefully I'm raising a well balanced daughter!:
On Thursday, it rained! Oh, it was so wonderful. So cold. So wonderful. I would say, "Oh I'm so cold" but I would say it the same way that I'd say "Oh, I'm so happy!". I busted out the boots and scarf and everything. Due to the wet fields (and an under-the-weather coach), our soccer practice was cancelled that evening. We had plans to have dinner afterward with the Owyangs (Luke is on Tyler's team) but instead we picked up take-out and ate at their place in Northpark. I LOVE their home and neighborhood. I used to always say I wanted to move to Woodbury but now I'm seriously considering Northpark / Northwood Pointe. The kids had a great time and they even got to practice their Chinese!
Friday, whoohoo, the end of the week is here! Instead of hitting a park after dropping of Tyler, Katelyn and I did some quick grocery shopping. There's a Hawaiian BBQ place in this plaza and we picked up some spam musubi for lunch. She LOVES that stuff! She also liked playing around the fountain they had near their food restaurants. Days like these, even running some simple errands, I get a lot of enjoyment out of. It's just being able to spend time and giggle together that makes my day. I need to remember that the next time she's screaming angrily at me about something lame.
Saturday! The weekend is here! Weekends to me mean that Will is around to help out with the kids. Haha! We headed to a local sporting goods store in the morning to see if we could find a football jersey for Will to wear to a Halloween party we were attending that night. It was pretty funny watching the kids interact with the mannequin. That's a male mannequin in the hot pink clothing! Katelyn would shake it's hand and say "nice to meet you!". On the way to a potty break, we passed by a couple little girl bikes. She was quite adamant about getting on them, even though they were both chained (in opposite directions) to a bar. She looks pretty convincing riding it though, don't you think? Currently she rides Tyler's Thomas-the-Train scooter without any complaints, but I think we'll need to get her a little bike of her own soon.
Next we went to Tyler's soccer game. Only one more game after this one and the season is over! I felt a little guilty since we had missed the last two games. Thank goodness that our opposing team was quite possibly less skilled than ours! Tyler and Luke were on the same team (finally!) and they had Elliott, our ringer, on their team as well. What a difference! The kids were in great moods and Tyler actually even scored a goal! YAY Tyler!
Of course there was also some goofing off with his buddy Luke.
This was Luke's last game since they won't be able to attend next weekend's last game. I am so grateful that Tyler got to experience his first AYSO season with his friend Luke. Not only have they become better friends, but we have gotten to know the Owyangs better as well. I think our families are quite similar and I'm looking forward to a long and wonderful friendship with them. Plus they're drama free. Tyler's piano teacher was a referral from them and I'm always motivated to improve Tyler's Chinese when we hang out. Luke is quite fluent! Jason (Luke's dad) is coaching basketball in the upcoming season and he pulled some strings to get Tyler onto his team. Hopefully everything will work out and the boys will get to play (and maybe win? haha!) together. Will signed up to assistant coach, so we'll see how things go.
After the game, we put the kids down for a much needed nap. I love love love that Tyler will still nap on the weekends. It is especially vital when I know we'll have a late activity that night. Many of our friends have kids that dropped their nap at 3 years old! I'm holding on to their naps with a death grip. Especially love that Will and I get some quiet time to ourselves on the weekends as well. After naps, we got the kids dressed in their Halloween costumes and headed over to our friends the Garners for their After-Halloween party. The kids were SO excited to wear their costumes again. Katelyn decided she wanted to be a cheerleader again and would yell "Go Team! Go Team!" in the car as we drove over.
Katelyn can be such a girly-girl too when she wants to be. This first picture is of her and Kylee. Kylee is almost a year older and Katelyn's passed her in height and (long ago) in weight. The next is with Madison who is almost 4! She can totally hang with the big girls, and loved playing with Kylee's dolls and doll stroller. Hope she doesn't get any idea.
As the other families arrived, the kids wasted no time in running around and playing together. These get-togethers are more rare now that some of the kids go to different schools. The kids have been friends for so long though, that they don't even miss a beat. I love that kids are so easy going like that. Drama free. Dinner time was easy and the kids happily ate spaghetti and hot dogs. Then they were off to play more.
After the kids ran off to play, the party became more focused on the adults hanging out. It's wonderful that the kids are old enough to keep themselves occupied so that the adults can actually hang out and have a good time. You can see from the mom photo that only half of us dressed up. Will and I haven't dressed up since the Halloween before I found out I was pregnant with Tyler, but I was glad that we decided to this year. We're not crazy about costumes but my friend Taylor (batman below) made a good point - that the kids will just remember that we dressed up and had fun with them, and they won't really care what we dressed up as. It makes for good memories for the kids. :) Following is just a bunch of random party pictures. Let's just say the Sweet Tea Vodka was free flowing and everyone had a good time (especially those with the sweet tea vodka). Haha!
Will and I with the Garners. It took a lot of crazy drama to come to the realization that there are true friends and there are 'friends'. The Garners really fall into the category of true friends and I am so thankful that we have them in our lives. Sometimes it takes something negative to happen to really make you open your eyes. I'm so excited that we will be in Hawaii together next month!
Look at our cute little pink girlies. These two together are so cute, I love it. Jen used to pass me hand-me-downs from Kylee, but now Katelyn wears a bigger size than Kylee. Bummer!
Family picture near the end of the night. We almost all match with our sports theme, no?
The mandatory huge group picture. We've stopped pushing the group picture because there are always a couple people who drag their feet about taking it. And it annoys me. Why wouldn't you want a group picture with all the kids and parents for an event? It's so lame. Please just say no thank you or something and move out of the frame. Annoying.
Katelyn discovered some of Kylee's princess high heel shoes, and was obsessed.
Party winding down. Kids are back downstairs watching TV. They look tired.
Sunday, the middle of the long weekend. Tyler had Chinese School in the morning. Will was nice enough to take him so I didn't need to get dressed (I had a hard time getting out of bed that morning!). After naps, we headed over to the grandparents' place for a quick visit and give them the iPad mini Will had bought for them. The kids were very excited to show nainai how to play the games on there. They're pros!
Afterward we headed up to West Covina to hang out with our friends Shirley/Jesse. The drive actually isn't that bad! They are dear friends to us and we don't see them much because of the distance. At least that's what I always say. Then I realized that it's not even really that far, and that we really need to make the effort. Especially since their kids are younger than ours and it's harder for them to come down here! Katelyn liked playing with baby Justin. I thought he looked quite small for 6 months but Shirley reminded me that most kids can't be compared to Tyler/Katelyn at 6 months since they were HUGE. Haha! I loved hearing their daughter Sharon speak Chinese. She has the cutest little voice! She even called Katelyn "meimei" and asked her to come play toys with her. In Chinese of course, not sure if Katelyn understood but she went running over there!
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