smileface

how we celebrated our 10 year anniversary

front side

we rented a little cabin in the woods.

backside

we were supposed to go to italy for 2 weeks, but last year we went to chuck e cheese, so i guess this is a step up.

 

it was perfect, though.

we had our own creek, fire pit, jacuzzi, and the kids had a small loft to sleep in.

have you ever had a tin foil dinner? i was really proud and excited about these until i realized the meat had a very metallic taste. hmph.

my favorite part of any trip is when we stop talking to each other and hang out in peace and quiet. i know, i'm so much fun. but telling ghost stories in the jacuzzi was a close second this time.

breakfast always tastes better in the woods, always!

that there yonder is an alpine slide. something like half a mile long i think. it was soooooo fast, i was terrified! but i'm chicken.

not these guys. fearless!

that is not us.

bungee swing. i should've tried this. maybe next year.

think this mini-golf course took about 5 minutes to complete.

if i remember correctly, this is called a "zorb," which is essentially a human hamster ball.

 

i swear the guy let them stay on these gocarts for 20 minutes. they looooooved it!

 

that's my fearless baby girl way up there!

what i would do for some maria's? the search for good mexican food in oregon continues...

that's what she said.

goodbye, summer...

we had a really short summer this year. even by portland standards. i can't tell you how much we've learned to appreciate sunny days and clear skies.

we spent a lot of time outside to capitalize on the weather, and spent almost every friday of the summer at a rainbow trout farm not too far from our house. its the perfect spot for picnicking and fishin with the fam. can't wait to go back next year...

next year i'll figure out what the heck to do with all the fish!

the merry kitchen

when i first heard about the merry kitchen, i knew i had to take the little girl. she's obsessed with food and loves to cook. i'm all for it, 'cause it's all about self-preservation. one day she will cook all the time and therefore, i won't have to anymore. it's genius.

here they are with julie, who is superb with kids.

stirring the crab meat and mayo together.

she sure loves to stir...

everyone else is watching julie cook garlic.

the day's theme was sponge bob. these are the krusty krab bites. i don't have to tell you that i ate mounds of them, so i won't.

at the far end you can see sponge bob's pineapple hut. devoured. period.

and of course, the man of the hour, himself. such a fun morning! thank you, julie!

the 4th

a few months ago we celebrated the 4th of july.

the kids participated in the "happy valley 4th of july bicycle parade." in other news, i've never felt so white in my life.

then we went to brent/irene's for some chow.

and then we went to dan/esther's to watch fireworks. it was a good day. happy 4th!

we went fishing

month of glory: day 30

our last night in socal. april seems like eons ago. we capped off our trip with one last family dinner at los angeles institution- el tepeyac.

we waited centuries for a table big enough for our clan. everyone was starting to lose their cool. do you enjoy hearing about our first world problems?

holy burrito! my fam rules.

month of glory: day 29

we are seriously amusement park freaks, no?! sigh.

cal actually hit this bonus! it was amazing!

awesome, awesome day.

month of glory: day 26

uncle paul & auntie fo's kiddie pool.

froyo.

and i believe this is also the day we took 4 exhausted children to picture people and forced them to smile for mother's day pictures. that didn't fly, needless to say...

month of glory: day 25

ahhhhhhhhh... day 25 was spent relaxing... the kidlets and i grabbed some in n out and ended up at a nearby park for a day of kite-flying. lemme tell you, kite-watching on a breezy, sunshiny day never gets old. love.

if only every day could be a kite-watching day! love, love, love.

month of glory: day 24

on this the 24th day we celebrated rylan's 3rd birthday adventure, and it was good.

happy birthday, little ry!

month of glory: day 22

according to my iphoto calendar, this took place the day after legoland. fo, did you seriously drive out to loma linda the day after leaving carlsbad?! you crazy lady. oh, how i wish this photo was in focus. alyssa's expression is priceless.

month of glory: day 21

here's the whole gang at legoland. from oldest to youngest- caleb, noah, casey, jacob, alyssa, tyler, brady, and andre. we took 8 children under 8 to a giant amusement park. we's crazy people.

here are the two big boys. not a single peep out of them the whole day, they were awesome.

here we are at what is essentially the teacup ride from disneyland disguised as bionicles slash hero factory. off-camera is our little casey bawling her eyes out. old enough but not tall enough to ride.

lookie who we found! these guys are enjoying their SECOND day at legoland. lucky duckies!

while the big kids were off playing carnival games, the little ones got their faces painted.

we waited an ETERNITY for this ride. 6 cars for 100 crazy kids. no bueno, legoland.

this was the kid's favorite exhibit. forget what it was called but you build your own lego-car and then race it on a ramp against all the other kiddos. they were having so much fun in there that i...

...snuck out to see miniland for the first time. i loved it! it's amazing what you can do with legos.

ok, i feel like i'm going overboard with these.

i have to draw your attention to these two gentlemen behind the miniland hollywood bowl. they are cutting the grass with scissors. seriously.

and that concludes our day in carlsbad. :)

month of glory: days 18-20

there are no pictures because we spent these three days recuperating from our hectic schedule.

we: 1. ate at maria's, twice. 2. ate at adong, twice. 3. went to cabazon, once. sigh, i wanna do it all over again...

month of glory: day 17

enjoyed a lovely day at oak glen in yucaipa w/some of our favorite people in the world. we were there for the apple blossom festival, but there were no blossoms. apparently the blossoms are waiting another 3-4 weeks. in other news, have you ever had apple cider donuts? oh my.

month of glory: day 16

pharoah's lost kingdom. oh yes we did! this colossal mess was built when i was in high school and though it's undergone a recent renovation, it's still as boring as it was 17 years ago. too bad, so sad.

month of glory: days 14-15

finally... in LOMA LINDA!

month of glory: day 13

six flags magic mountain. i took this picture as our tram was pulling away at the end of the day. oops.

dear lisa, you are simply the best. we love you.

month of glory: day 12

day 12 kicked off with a trip to visit newborn amelia in the hospital. here she is at a wee 3 days old. babies are such a miracle!

the kids were so proud of themselves for being old enough to hold their cousin without any adult supervision. congratulations, joey & sarah!

we spent the afternoon in hollywood.

here they are comparing hands to shirley temple.

my cousin lisa got us some VIP tickets to el capitan to see mars needs moms. the movie didn't fare well in the press, but i thought it was so fun!

here we are at the old-fashioned disney soda shop next door killing some time before the show.

this is a rootbeer freeze. muy delicioso.

i used to love the walk of fame when i was younger. can't believe i'm old enough to bring my own children now. it's wild.

thank you, auntie lisa, for an amazing afternoon!

oh yes we did.

month of glory: day 11

month of glory: day 10

we woke up sunday morning in sierra madre- we are traveling animals! originally we had planned on meeting sarah & joey for brunch, but surprise! her water broke that morning and she went into labor. WELCOME, AMELIA! (i'll save that for another post). here we are enjoying froyo before brunch because the wait was too long - do you spy deanna & rylan?

cute little restaurant in south pasadena.

nothing like a little buttcrack in the morning.

it was the perfect day for kidspace museum- lots of sunshine and lots of breeze. what would've been even better is if we could've hopped over to the rosebowl flea market that was going on next door. someday!

month of glory: days 7-9

here we are in the 909. riverside, to be exact. my paternal cousins live there, and we went to spy on them for a few days. my little cousin stacey went to pâtissière school and now works at the cupcake shop at mission inn. we popped into her work one night and even got a surprise tour of the bakery. the cupcakes are delish!

here's sung. he used to live with us in portland and the kids absolutely adore him. he tells them funny stories about what it was like to live with their crazy selves and they die laughing.

the tops are cut off, dried, and crumbled to make topping, did you know that?

so proud of you, stace!!

hi, jina! i used to make jina brush my hair while we watched tv. i made her my hair-brushing slave and she loved it. now she is a voice coach and works with talented children. how times have changed.

have you heard of john's incredible pizza? it's pretty dang incredible.

one night stacey created this gorgeous homemade fruit tart and we had a chic flick fest. i am so spoiled, it's ridiculous.

thank you, sweet cousins, we love you.

ps. check out the awesome party we went to on the 9th. happy birthday, john & josh!

month of glory: days 4-6

after 3 days in vegas we parted ways with the maternal side of my fam and hit the road to cali in a trusty rental car (kia forte). first stop: my dad's house in apple valley.

there sure is a lot of water in this particular section of desert (answer: man-made lake)

my dad's office. he has promised to help me drop 20 pounds. when this happens i will let you know and give you his number. :)

since both my dad and stepmom work during the day, we had a lot of time to kill. that meant hours of aimless wandering at the local super target and lots of vitamin d consumption at a nearby playground.

we also hung out at the victor valley mall which is possibly the lamest mall ever. there were some shady characters hanging about, i was actually afraid at one point.

thank goodness for scandia!

and for three square meals a day of homecookin goodness. yum.

 

month of glory: days 1-3

we met the fam in vegas for a reunion long overdue. caleb was the only child at our last getaway and that means 2 things: (1) it's been that long and (2) i can see why people think 1 child is enough. just kidding.

creatures of terror.

miniature creatures of terror.

but i am powerless against this face.

the children left the pool only to pee, poo, and sleep and if i'm being honest, not even then!

aw, we miss you, daddy.

by the way, happy birthday, old man!

here's a picture of the house. it served us well.

here we are at gameworks on the strip.

dinner buffet @ the cosmopolitan

not a bad way to start off our vacay. dear family, i love you. love, sonia

from the video archives

"check out the new booms over here..." / may 2009

 

the best things in life are free

notes on doors by five year olds

google searches left by 7 year olds

you gotta love a theme birthday

the january update

- the kids collect flattened pennies now. at 51¢ a pop, i thought i had figured out a genius way of spending less money on souvenirs. turns out those stankin' machines are everywhere. apparently there are 96 different designs at disneyland alone. nice one.

- the manchild is surprisingly skilled at taekwondo, which requires quite a bit of hand-eye coordination and strength. yet at swim lesson he looks like a salmon fighting the current. confuse.

- there is a place called la petite provence near my house. it is a delightful little french bakery and restaurant. we love the risotto cakes, poached eggs, and croissants w/housemade strawberry jam.

- the little one loves to act 2 years old and routinely pastes buzz lightyear and strawberry shortcake bandaids all over her body. one day she asked me to remove one on her neck, and i demonstrated the fast-and-painless-removal technique in the airspace between us several times before i finally convinced her that it was the best method. little did i know that her skin is freakishly thin and would come off along with the bandaid. oops.

- whenever something in the house goes missing i immediately want to blame my housekeeper and that makes me a nasty and horrible beech who doesn't deserve a housekeeper at all.

- the skin around my elbows is becoming thin and old-ladyish.

- i lovelovelove that you can read long excerpts of books on itunes or kindle before committing. ham on rye by charles bukowski...to buy or not to buy?

- i can't believe i almost didn't graduate from college yet have obscenely high academic aspirations of my children.

- i really want to make one of these, but i'm scared i won't do it right.

- the downstairs toilet's handle keeps getting stuck and then the water runs continuously until someone gently sets it back to neutral and it has been driving me way past bonkers and insanity for weeks now. fortunately my husband put a stop to the incessant sound of running toilet water (or was it my high-pitched whining he got sick of first?) and wedged a giant foam sticker onto the back of the lid to keep said lid from interfering with the handle. unfortunately my husband seems to believe that a giant foam sticker stuck to the back of the toilet lid is a permanent and not, as i had hoped, temporary solution to a rather disturbing problem.

- newman's own sockarooni sauce tastes exactly like a sauce i've had at a restaurant somewhere. olive garden, is it you?

- we don't eat at fast food restaurants anymore because after eating chicken nuggets one day the little one broke out in giant hives all over her body the same way it used to happen to me when i was her age.

- my sister turns 30 this year and i feel a deep-seated need to top the trip to tulum just so i can show her who's boss. where to?

- one of my new year's resolutions is to follow my children's example and be a loyal and unconditional friend.

the aftermath

so. how was your christmas? ours was a gross display of gluttony, in case you were wondering. we have impulse-control issues and a general lack of good senses. 

did i say we? hohoho, i make jokes.

i am thoroughly disgusted with myself and shall wallow in self-loathing until next christmas, i promise.

let it be known, however, that just prior to the annual massacre of christmas morning presents, i did actually manage to sit the two chilluns down for a lecture on the nature of advent and the miracle of Christ's birth. i waxed poetic on the anticipation of His coming and the blessings that overflow in our household due to His ultimate sacrifice and mercy. i explained that as we rejoiced that morning in the comfort of our warm home, there were others less fortunate who would go hungry and cold.

and then, like rabid monkeys, they proceeded to decimate the entirety of my first floor, tearing into their gifts in endless succession, barely pausing for photos, and issuing half-hearted, parent-coached thank-yous over skype to faraway relatives.

new year's resolution #1 - something has got to change.

THE MOTHERLOAD

emery sehrin oh is born / portland, or / jan.2010

kevin / ocksda church / jan.2010

open gym / precision elite / jan.2010

visiting emery / @ the ohs / jan.2010

cc kindy / good roots community church / jan.2010

caleb & rylan / @ the shims / jan.2010

esther's baby shower / @ the shims / jan.2010

bowling day / big al's, vancouver / jan.2010

w/the kwons / big al's, vancouver / jan.2010

bella's art party / ceramicafe / jan.2010

roc youth come over / @ the shims / jan. 2010

caleb / in the car / feb.2010

assembling care packages / ocksda church / feb.2010

skating lessons / sherwood ice arena / feb.2010

bffs / @ the shims / feb.2010

charis yuna lee is born / portland, or / feb.2010

making art / @ the shims / march 2010

orange bear / sinju / march 2010

sydney's tea party / the dollhouse tea room / march 2010

looking for breakfast / st.helena, ca / march 2010

w/daddy & charlotte / san francisco, ca / march 2010

jen & dave's wedding / san francisco, ca / march 2010

lizzy & baby / photo receive via text / march 2010

cc end of term party / good roots community church / march 2010

introducing himself / good roots community church / march 2010

superstar / good roots community church / march 2010

snow day w/friends / mt.hood, or / march 2010

ten grands concert / arlene schnitzer / april 2010

well-check / east portland pediatrics / april 2010

w/uncle brent & cousin emery / @ the ohs / april 2010

roc women's retreat / yelm, or / april 2010

roc women's retreat / yelm, or / april 2010

golfing on his bday / langdon farms / april 2010

casey takes a picture / nordstrom / april 2010

casey takes a picture / nordstrom / april 2010

cc friends come over / @ the shims / april 2010

youth lock-in / @ the shims / april 2010

youth lock-in: the morning after / @ the shims / april 2010

alyssa & casey / seattle children's museum / april 2010

packing up the car / on our way to bend, or / may 2010

babysitting cousin brady / @ the shims / may 2010

shopping w/mommy / anthropologie / may 2010

my brady / great wolf lodge, wa / may 2010

portland rose festival / waterfront pdx/ june 2010

lunchtime / @ the shims / june 2010

besties / @ the changs / june 2010

hanging w/dad / oregon zoo / june 2010

girls' trip dinner / kokkari estiatorio, san francisco / june 2010

emily's birthday dinner / red robin / june 2010

fourth of july fest / hv park / july 2010

pet hospital / portland children's museum / july 2010

w/ rowen / portland children's museum / july 2010

father & son camping / location unknown / july 2010

father & son camping / location unknown / july 2010

rylan comes to visit / oaks park / july 2010

storytime / bridgeport village / july 2010

henry's swim party / mt.scott aquatic / aug.2010

belt-testing / westcoast tkd / aug.2010

belt-testing / westcoast tkd / aug.2010

audra nicole saesim is born / loma linda, ca / aug.2010

roc camping trip / beverly state beach / aug.2010

roc camping trip / beverly state beach / aug.2010

goobers / @ the shims / aug.2010

hen house / @ the paks/ sept.2010

chuck e cheese / se portland / sept.2010

brian & katie get married / laguna beach, ca / sept.2010

taekwondo lesson / westcoast tkd / sept.2010

chuck e cheese again / se portland / sept.2010

foodcarting / 12th & hawthorne / sept.2010

cc of milwaukie / good roots community church / sept.2010

annelise's gym party / precision elite / sept.2010

annelise's gym party / precision elite / sept.2010

sara bareilles / roseland theater / sept.2010

ella's princess party / @ the kims / sept.2010

swimming w/cousin becca / @ the kims / sept.2010

sophia sungah lee is born / loma linda, ca / sept.2010

grace & lisa / portland marathon / oct.2010

rocstars!! / portland marathon / oct.2010

ice cream w/sophie / pdx waterfront / oct.2010

cow train tickets / sauvie island, or / oct.2010

cousins / oregon zoo / oct.2010

gomo grace & alyssa / liepold farms / oct.2010

sienna rielle im is born / portland, or / oct.2010

brady @ the pumpkin patch / sauvie island, or / oct. 2010

andre javier cheng is born / los angeles, ca / oct. 2010

nixon hwanju cho is born / pasadena, ca / oct.2010

ninja / halloween / oct.2010

shark girl / halloween / oct.2010

harvest fest / ocksda church / oct. 2010

brother & sister / maui, hi / nov.2010

sungoddess / maui, hi / nov. 2010

cal & alyssa / kirkland sda / nov.2010

gomo & emery / ocksda church / nov.2010

thanksgiving dinner prep w/eemo / @ the shims / nov. 2010

thanksgiving dinner / @ the shims / nov.2010

alexis taehee kim is born / loma linda, ca / nov.2010

cc xmas party / mt.scott roller rink / dec.2010

cc xmas party / mt.scott roller rink / dec.2010

olivia paige liao is born / loma linda, ca / dec.2010

casey turns 5 / build-a-bear / dec.2010

casey turns 5 / spaghetti factory / dec.2010

roc fellowship boys' choir / ocksda church / dec.2010

staff christmas dinner / a cena, sellwood / dec.2010

kev & rielle / secret santa party / dec.2010

casey & auntie esther / secret santa party / dec.2010

caleb & auntie jenn / secret santa party / dec.2010

family portrait by andy / ocksda church / dec.2010

here's to another incredible year. happy 2011!!!

hello.

a creek near our home / july 2010

hi, rylan!! i miss you.

there in the back is my dear friend d. who has since brought another child into the world. welcome, nixon!! 

i miss summer, don't you?

i think it's time to move...

wailea beach, maui / nov. 2010

it's not over till it's over

e & c / maui airport / nov. 2010

we've been back from maui for 24 hours now so it only makes sense to pack up again for a short trip to seattle tomorrow. i have so many pictures to show you! that's the plan over thanksgiving break. see you soon...

this is the face of gratitude

church harvest fest / oct. 2010

this is my daughter looking pissed off because (a) this is the face she believes sharks make before they attack or (b) because i was disrupting her prize-winning streak by sneaking in a quick photo. you decide. (they are, in fact, equally true.)

guess what? tomorrow morning our family will board a plane destined for maui. i am so excited i could piss myself. i have no idea what to expect, but i do know this: (a) i will sleep 12 hours a day and (b) i will be poolside/beachside the remaining 12 hours consuming all manner of guiltless garbage (in one form or another). can i get a hip hip for vacay!? wish you were going!

pioneer livin'

about 15 minutes from my house you will find philip foster farm. a place frozen in time.

we had no idea what to expect and what we would see.

according to the kids in our group, this is how they traveled back in "jesus times."

these are the kinds of things they learn in homeschool. keke.

they also learned some blacksmithin'.

some log-cabinin'.

apple ciderin'.

log-sawin'.

biscuit-makin'.

animal-skinnin'

goofin-offin'.

we ate this corn and it was good.

hanging on

CC fieldtrip / Pendleton Woolen Mills / Oct. 2010

the weather here's been gorgeous for over a week. like unbelievably. this is a matter worth celebrating, and trust me, normally i would be.

if it weren't for these kids and their overextended schedules, we could go on a picnic or a spend the day at the zoo or something. like the good ol' days circa 2009 when they weren't schooling, fieldtripping, taekwondoing, and swimming 24 hours a day.

but noooooooo, we're too busy learning about thread counts and phonics and the phases of the moon. it's never going to be the same, is it? i sure do miss toddler life, when the most important event of the day was a good poop or a good meal. the things i used to take for granted!

country livin'

our friends ken and junghee live in salem, oregon- about an hour outside of portland proper.

they have real live chickens. or should i say hens? (you don't wanna know what happened to the roosters...)

just a little terrified.

these hams could pose for me all day long.

k&j's lovely daughters

don't think this guy left the hen house for the entire 8 hours that we were there. such an awesome day... thank you, paks!

school's in session

casey goes to kindy / august 2010

if i had an extra 5 hours a day, i would get so much done, i'm sure of it. i wouldn't waste it on tivo and kdrama, i swear. why am i SO BIZZAY?!?!

reason #56 why shopping-with-children should be avoided at all cost

this monstrosity now resides in our mall. tsk tsk.

summer's over. cry with me.

oaks park / july 2010

dear auntie esther, thank you for this totally tubular shirt. love, casey.

you are what you wear.

and i don't know how that pertains to this post, but whatever.

did i mention that rylan came for a visit? hi, buddy!

i think he had a pretty good time. :)

fourth of july

happy valley park / july 2010

excited much?

free rides/games/jump houses/ice cream? yes, please.

uno.

dos.

tres.

confidence is key?

sometimes.

uno.

dos.

tres.

uno.

dos.

uno.

dos.

tres. ah, so close!

pdx walking tour / june 2010

this is peter.

peter has his own brick at pioneer courthouse square.

this is pioneer courthouse square, where we met up with peter for one of our CC field trips this summer (in which we took a 5-hour tour of the city. FIVE!).

here is my sweet friend jaime, who has 5 children under 5. (FIVE! UNDER FIVE!) you go, girl. (actually, i think her eldest is 6 now, but just work with me here.)

have you seen inception? we have a version of our own penrose stairs. yeah, i don't get it either.

we learned a great deal about the vibrant history and rich culture of our city, including many of its well-kept secrets. (you'll have to take the tour to find out...)

standing in an echo chamber. cool.

4 going on 40.

side-walk scratching.

we got to see the bridges rise for a passing barge...

got to play in various fountains...

just an overall spectacular day. thank you, peter!

i am officially one-year behind on birthday letters. here is one i found in the roughdrafts folder of my account.

the fun-dip incident of aug '09

dear boy,

at 6 years old you have completely morphed into a miniature version of your father. i'm trying to decide if that makes you mature beyond your years or if your father is really just a child in a man's body. the jury's out.

like your father, you are a rather sensitive individual. the other day you strung a safeway grocery bag onto a long stick and packed a change of clothes for yourself. it was a hobo sack. i have absolutely no idea where you picked this up, you scare me sometimes.

with the sack slung onto your sad, slumped shoulders you said goodbye in between gulps of teary breaths. "i'll miss you, mom," you sobbed, choking back tears.

i believe you were upset, because i wouldn't buy you any fun-dip. you said you wanted to start a fun-dip collection. i mocked your idea of making this collection for yourself, and you packed a hobo sack and fashioned a plan to runaway from home.

because of the fun-dip.

i am 100% serious.

this is how delicate and sensitive you are. just like daddy, who's nickname is tulip for this very reason.

once i pinched his waist and pulled him close to me. "come 'ere, fatty," i said, giving him a loud smack on the lips. i want you to realize that this is the equivalent of calling a homeless cat a gluttonous pig, but fast forward 3 months later and your father has transformed himself into a beefy mancake just to spite me. my words carry some weight around here.

once i threatened to throw away that filthy pillow you drag around everywhere and you left a note on my bedside table. it read:

IF MY MOM CHRIEEZE TO THRO MY PILOE I AM GUNNU HIT HERR WITH MY PIGGIE BAK.

this is disturbing on infinite levels, but alarming-violence-towards-loved-ones aside, i choose to focus on your atrocious spelling. back to work, lad. don't make me regret this homeschooling business.

today you are 6 years old. i treat you like a little boy, but i need to remember that you are an old soul with old soul feelings. and i'm sorry about the fun-dip. (check the drawer next to the fridge). happy birthday.

love, mama.

catch-up post #4: taekwondo

ok, so the skating lessons were kind of a bust. first of all, it was way too far (30-40 min). second, the boy was discouraged because progress came slow. third, did i mention the commute? after 6 lessons the kids can shuffle around the ice without falling. mission accomplished.

here are the kids before class with master chan. we had arrived a little early, because for the first class we were literally 20 seconds late, and that is a big no-no in the world of discipline and focus. forgiveness, please.

i've been waiting for the taekwondo studio by my house to open for months. this is one of the few things the boy has been dying to learn, and i wanted more information. i was kind of avoiding the idea altogether, because i didn't want him to think that fighting was okay and of course, didn't want to encourage aggression.

thankfully, i was worried about nothing. these lessons are FANTASTIC. master chan has such a special way with kids, and he makes sure to emphasize the most important elements of being a good person- discipline, honor, patience, and hard work.

my kiddos absolutely love it. it is excellent exercise and did i mention the stickers? and the different colored belts? needless to say, they are highly motivated.

now that we've gotten the exercise bit checked off the list, gotta round out our homeschool curriculum with some music.

i'm thinkin violin for the girl and guitar for the boy. (way in the back there you can see grand master shin who is a 9th degree black belt and coached a nepalese olympic team to a medal sometime in the 80s. he runs a lot of the drills.)

mini-taekwondo uniforms, mini-violins and mini-guitars? i die.

waiting for her brother to finish his class. who knew life could be this good?

catch-up post #3: bob's red mill tour

one of the many field trips we've been on this break- the bob's red mill world headquarters is located not too far from our home. that translates to freshly milled grains anytime we want! yum!

first we watched a video. do you know what teff is? i'm very, very curious. we can personally vouch for the quinoa, flaxseed, and buttermilk whole grain pancakes. delish!

lots of viewing windows. among other things, we got to see corn being ground down to meal and how the machines individually package everything.

the reason why bob's products are tastier and healthier than others. quartz stonemills from france.

we got to meet bob! can you see the boy saying hello?

he even played a fun jazz number for us.

a rare moment in which they are not fighting.

one of our newest students, matthew, also played us a tune.

my favorite part of all these trips are the free samples. we walked away with some muesli, mighty tasty gluten-free cereal, steel-cut oats, a bowl scraper, a chip-clip, a couple spoons, and a magnet. cha-ching! thank you, bob's!

heartstring

tinkerbell ballet party, dec. '09

in t-minus 3 days i get to see this here little booger. have you missed me, alyssa? do you know who the heck i am?

kids these days.

you give, you give, you give, and what do ya get?!

here she is wandering aimlessly.

which is basically what she did for the entire 45 minutes.

lil' booger.

here she is following cousin casey.

who reveled in being the eldest for once.

can't wait for saturday!

the "high-time" update

st.paddy's CC homeschool party

it's been awhile. sincere apologies. been busy gearing up for our 6-month summer vacation (CC wraps in two days!). homeschool rocks.

so do themed parties.

and color-coordinated foods.

once, one of our CC moms made a beautiful fruit and vege platter artfully arranged in a brilliant roy g. biv scheme. i thought that was rather creative and badass. you should try it.

things i must accomplish during our 6-month summer vacation:

- read The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor- the first selection in the bookclub i recently started. i was all stressed out in picking our first book, because i didn't want the club to go down in a ball of flames on account of a crappy 1st choice. this one is 555 pages... oops. (insert ball-of-flames here)

- book my annual trip to socal. 3 weeks in aug-sept. i'll have my people call your people.

- exercise with regularity (read: drop the last few baby pounds so that i can stop whining about it to my husband and the whole of mankind once and for all)

- set-up a home office for myself. where can i hide for 2 hours a day out of reach from 2 certain individuals who shall remain nameless? hmm...

- take my first prerequisite class for nursing school. yeah, you heard me. anybody wanna take 12 units of A&P for me? barf.

- finish the scarf i started knitting 3 months ago.

- mourn the loss of this totally rad vintage pull-down map. please don't bid against me on ebay. (sidenote: how amazing is this?)

- make one of these so that i can finally purge my closet of the 5,389,234 pieces of paper ("artwork") piled up in there.

a lot can happen in 6 months, right? even miracles.

sometimes...

safari sam's/dec.'09

...they make me want to gouge my eyes out.

2022 winter olympics, here we come!

skating lessons. can there possibly be anything cuter? they've had 3 lessons, and i am very pleased with their progress so far.

here's my little hockey stud. i die.

can't wait to see kim yuna tear it up!

alarming in more ways than one

 
 

to grandmother's house we go

 

happy birthday, angel.