Wow, Happy Autumn Everyone!

When school started on 9/2, I became a free mama bird again! The kids would get onto the bus at 6:50am (Caleb) and 8:08am (Abbie), then I would come home and play with my 4 month old baby Frosty. Then when he napped, I would hand feed Kobee, Jubee and Autumn their daily special mesh and supplement! I never imagined not needing to take my kids to and from school..... it's so wonderful!



A month passed and suddenly we are in Autumn season! The leaves are turning red/yellow and are falling and decorating the lawns and pastures with beautiful foliage! The view of Fall is so beautiful here in the Northeast, and every day I can see the different shades glossing the beautiful trees. We are enjoying the periodic rainfall and the gentle breeze, as well as the cool temperatures and crisp (freezing) morning autumn air. Even Frosty hopped onto the wall to enjoy the wind blowing on his muzzle! Speaking of falling leaves.....Frosty is losing his fur like there's no tomorrow! I think he's like Tinkerbell in a way.....I'm afraid to touch him because his fairy dust will start to flow and float, and just fall everywhere. My house is littered with fur bunnies so if you guys come over, just blow it to the corners! I literally spend 50 minutes a day grooming him (make that 70 minutes including wee wee/butt wiping and feet cleaning) and every 2days I can literally make a new dog from the furry clump I gathered.

 

Abbie turned 9 on 9/19 and enjoyed her first birthday in the Northeast! I gave her a puppy banner surprise and she even baked her own homemade Birthday apple pie! It was SO delicious!

Soph's Digression ~ Last Saturday  I put this on Facebook timeline:

Soph's Peculiar Experience: Yesterday I had a big argument with Abbie at Peddler's Village fall festival. We had to leave in 10 min due to her big tantrum. I haven't had such a big with her since moving here (Philly)! As I was driving I was so angry as I lectured her but I could feel my blood boil! I even contemplated pulling over to the side and give her a piece (more pieces) of my mind.😬 Suddenly, I felt a fuzzy warmness on my right forearm. It was .... a PAW! ... I haven't been this angry in a looong time, both mom n daughter were in a tense car, and was unusually quiet and calm. He has never before put a paw on my right wrist/arm before. When he calmly laid paw on me for a whole 60 seconds, I whispered, "Thank you, Frost..., Thank you. ....". Then after 5 min. He came back next to me and put his paw on me again. I was reading that assistance dogs can sense epilepsy, blood sugar, heart attacks forthcoming, etc. Perhaps Frosty sensed my blood pressure rising😅. I thank the Lord for using any created beings, be it a donkey or a puppy, to remind me that He IS here, He knows our (Parenting) struggles, and that everything will be alright!🙆 Thank you for your love n patience for me!😅

 

 

 

Hubby has been traveling every week for 5 days out of 7, but thankfully the rest of us are settling into a comfortable routine and are relatively healthy!

Abbie opened the November Dog Fancy Magazine and screamed! Frosty's pix is in the magazine!

 

Frosty has began obedience class 3 weeks ago and is beginning to enjoy his weekly meetings with his 9 puppy classmates! Currently he knows his basic commands, but I think it will take another year before he stops running around in circles every morning upon waking and biting us all in the arms, legs, wherever. All of us have holes on our pants, sweaters, socks...... But when he sees any of the neighborhood kids, he's as sweet as a marshmallow and kisses/licks each of their chubby hands.  At first I thought he may get kicked out of puppy kindergarten because he refused to go into the room, barked incessantly while other pups sat obediently and politely, and peed/pooped (once so far) in class. He initially cowered at the corner and pulled me towards the exit every few minutes. I'm so thankful for Susie (our dear trainer) who is so patient and kind, and helped us feel comfortable and allowed Frosty to be the demo dog to keep him busy!



I miss my dear friends and family in California, but I know that God has wonderful plans for us here. We made wonderful church friends and neighborhood friends, and Abbie even had friends sleepover last weekend! Caleb started playing basketball on Saturdays with 4 new friends and is more outgoing than he every was in the past 12 years. We are very thankful that we have the opportunity to meet a wonderful family (who also moved from CA) last Sunday! We went to Chinatown for dim sum for the 1st time!

Let the wonderful Autumn season begin! Frosty is now 20 weeks and is no longer tripping over the newspaper he picks up for us in the morning!! He is now ~20 pounds and 3 times his baby size!

Our Laker Team's Very 1st Basketball Championship Victory !! ~ (^_^) Woohoo!

 

 

I look back and Caleb has been playing seasonal leagues (8 weeks per season) since quitting his baseball career last March. It was super hard for us all to change gears about his decision to stop baseball altogether (after all, he's going PRO, right?), not to mention the financial commitment ($500+) for his new travel-ball team membership/uniforms/equipments, etc. 

But after a chilling 3 day tantrum/meltdown marathon we realized that his mental health was more important than anything else.

So we accepted the end of his baseball career and just focused on letting him get the exercise & teamwork/skills exposure regardless of what sport he chooses, AND not expect him to be the one realize our (ok, dad's) athletic career (day)dreams! Little did we know that this was the beginning to great opportunities and a wonderful turning point in his (and our) life!!















Note: And really, looking back, I'll DEFINATELY choose sitting indoors, on actual chairs, for just one hour, OVER being outside....lugging around folding chairs/heat lamps/blankets/ski jackets/baseball bats, helmets, gears, in the cold/rain/wind/blazing heat, for 2+ hours, watching my kid stand around on the field or sit on the bleachers waiting for his turn to touch the darn ball... ANY DAY!



We played a few leagues in the past and it was hard for Caleb to get used to the extreme physical contact of this sport, not to mention the gigantic boys constantly towering over him. He was always the youngest in his academic and athletic life due to his late birthday (Thanksgiving), but he seemed determined to enjoy and do his best at whatever he puts his mind to. At first we thought if none of the 'balls' worked for him, he can enter Track and Field in Tesoro high school, since he was nicknamed "Dash" for his super speed! I guess with our latest Basketball Playoffs, the speed paid off handomely too!

We had super skillful, wonderful and gentle Coach Dan and Assistant Coach Ara! They coached for many years and taught the boys all the basics so they would have a solid foundation. He helped train them in teamwork, attitude and skills. All the boys played extremely well with one another, helping each other out when needed on and off the court, and no one was ever left out. The whole season was full of fun, and went super smoothly....so smoothly that we were undefeated all season! We thank the coaches especially for the time and energy they dedicated to train/lead our boys, by experience and by example!

Yesterday we played 3 games at the playoffs. The last 2 games in our Championship games were with the "Heat", a formidable team that was undefeated except when they lost to us one time. Amazingly, the boys put all their skills and coolness to the test and came out triumphantly! We played them twice and we rose to the top at the end!! The Youtube videos (sorry, mama Soph is an amateur videographer....I'm sure someone on the team has super highlights with captions and bubble annotations, haha!) speak for themselves!
Enjoy the videos, dear Lakers team and Coaches!











You are all wonderful, respectful and kind boys (and our dear girl KELLY!). We are so blessed to get to know all of you in these short weeks! Look forward to seeing you all at the Summer League or when school starts in the fall....or at Pavillions?!!

With Love and Gratitude ~
Sophie, Mark, Caleb (#4) and lil sis Abbie
 

Happy June, Sweeties! Where Have I Been??????

Hi sweeties!

Happy June! Boy, I haven't blogged for 5 months! It's like I fell off the edge of the earth! Well, I blamd Blogger/Google. Apparently they 'upgraded' to a new style/version, blah blah, and I could not even get into my own blog (and neither could my friends, family, or enemies...) without a 12 step verification thru a setting button that I couldn't find for the last almost half a year. So thankfully we're back in business....I hope....can anyone see this post????

Well, let's see what happened lately..... We went to a retreat with Grapevine fellowship for Valentine's weekend at Palm Springs....very nice and lovely! Then it was sad cuz my mother in law passed away on March 1, so we were busy with funeral arrangements and relatives visiting from Taiwan for the funeral. It was a really touching funeral/burial, and Caleb played clarinet during her viewing at Rose Hills. It was her favorite song, "In the Garden"!




We took dad in law Caleb wherever we went after mom in law passed away, like Taekwondo tournaments in SD, basketball games, weekend sleep overs, and just had an exciting 4 hours basketball championship (more on that later)!

We also had Easter, which was great, and a parachuting Easter bunny (who was a 60 yr old Navy Seal guy with a great body) came down from an airplane along with 40,000 Easter Eggs at Crossline church! Amazing! We also did something crazy when hubby and Caleb went to their 'dad and son trip' to Texas. Abbie and I went to Norco/Riverside to ride horses for 2.5 hours and the next day we bought 2 baby chicks from a nice Vietnamese dad of 23 boys named Scott  in Little Saigon! More on that later too!

So this past Spring was really busy....hectic... We were happy, then sad, then happy again, and so far....busy and hectic again....because the kids get off for a whole 13 weeks for summer vacation....in just SIX point five days..... SCARY! All the moms are having panic attacks just about now! But I'm so thankful that the kids are older now and can get along for 15 minute stretches without fighting...or at least they are old enough to determine whether the blood coming out from scratching/biting/hitting each other are serious enough to tell mom....or call 911.  This summer Caleb doesn't want to do anything but veg out.... it's kind of scary he might gain like 50 pounds....but if he sleeps late all summer he may actually grow 18 inches, which helps his basketball career. He is able to survive on the one culinary skill I taught him early this year.... Cook, actually...just heat... Progresso Noodle Soup (from Costco) in a pot after opening can with can opener (he actually used scissors to manually cut around the can for weeks until I discovered it)....and dump into bowl and eat. I think that is important skill to have in case something happened to me and it takes hours for daddy to find out about it. He can also feed little sister the same food too!

We had tons of school/piano/taekwondo testing as well as piano/clarinet/band concerts and singing performances. Not a day goes by that something is not needed for school or after school activities or a BBQ/Picnic/End of year something....   If it was in the olden days, there would be tons of weddings or babies getting born.

Oh, speaking of babies being born.... My sweet nephew Christopher Solomon DID get born (or borned) on 4/16/13 in Taiwan (so that's 4/15 here? Tax day!)! He is a handsome fella who is a hefty 7 lb 8 oz at birth! Can't wait to meet him next month! And my dear buddy Cathy had her baby boy Jeremy.... he is a sweetheart too! Tons of hair! So this is a very productive year indeed! I live vicariously through them, hold their babies, then return them when noise or poop emerges from them (^_^)! I am glad I finally came back to blogging.... I've been using shortcuts....FACEBOOK posts....for the past half year!

p.s. My leaping frogs leaped away in March when I cleaned their tank....so sad.... maybe that's why I got chicks...to fill the void in my heart.... And hammie/cheddar has 1 year to go....their bday was last week! I'll enjoy them while I can....cuz they only last 1 more year! Lots of parties coming up as school year/fellowships/Awana ends......I'll take it one day at a time and enjoy!
Hugs!

First Day of School & Mooncakes!

This was the long awaited DAY! The kids were excited and so am I ~ They are finally starting school! We were blessed that our beloved neighbor Katie dropped off 2 surprise cookie packages for the kids to give to their teachers!

For Mrs. Cameron, from Caleb

For Mrs. Schofield, from Abbie

The morning of 1st day of school:

CAleb rides into the horizon...ur...sprinklers, as he casually leaves for 1st day of 5th grade!

Caleb couldn't wait for me to drive him and sister, so he decided to take off at 7:25am to be one of the first kids to arrive at school!

Abbie and I had a hard time finding parking space, but glad we made it in time!

It's so hot and crowded mommy!

There was a HUGE crowd, and it was already 79 degrees at 7:50am!

Abbie's classmates all had new backpacks! So cute!

The kids love going back to school, and all the excitement of new teachers, friends, backpacks and schedules were shown on their faces! Some mommy friends were a bit anxious, but I know that slowly they & their kids will enjoy a smooth a smooth routine after the hustle and bustle of week 1 of school!

Professional homemade Green bean pons!

We topped off the night with homemade mooncakes (Green bean pon) made by my college friend Daisy's mom & dad! It's SOOO delicious, addictive, and I look forward to eating them every year at Mid-Autumn Festival! Abbie LOVES eating them (and all chinese foods, even chicken feet!), though she's an ABC kid!

SO yummy, mommy! More please!

This year this Chinese holiday falls on 9/11, which is another memorable day in U.S. history. As we gather 'round the table with loved ones for dinner and mooncakes, we also thank those who sacrificied themselves to give us freedom (And Jesus ~ who sacrificed himself to give us eternal life! Yeah!)

Happy Back to school week and Mid-Autumn Festival!

~ Mannix Peacemakers ~ The Heroes in Our Lives



The 31 Nobel Peace Prize Presenters!


Today I attended Caleb's "Peacemaker Presentation".... And as I entered the Hall of Champion, I heard the song "Hero"....and witnessed our kids in Mrs. Mannix's class march up the stage elegantly. It suddenly struck me as a "Graduation-like March"...and if we fast-forward to 2019.....near this time....Caleb and friends will be graduating from high school!



Seeing the kids so well-rehearsed and proper up there made me cherish the 8 years left of Caleb's time in our home (assuming he'll be living in a dorm in college (^_^)....But if he's at Saddleback, great!). I will really treasure the times our kids spend in our care!

Caleb mumbles his way through his speech as "Albert Schweitzer"

Caleb was "Albert Schweitzer", though he spoke super softly and quickly... so I still don't know much about 'ol Al! (^_^)




Is it just my kid, or are other kids too shy to take pix with mommy? (^_^)
The right top corner is what Albert Schwarz looks like in person. Should have given Caleb a Mustache!!

The kids sang SUPER well, like professional choir children on Christmas Eve! All of the Mannix Maniac parents are super proud of them!




Ok, they looked sleepy ~ It was a long program! Good job for sitting so long!



Kids sat patiently and listened to their friends share their Nobel Peace history!

Keep up the great work, kids! We love you! 29 more days of school! (Today is 5/11/11)!

Miss Julia and Friends did really well! Proud of you all!

Chaparral's Jog-A-Thon was as Festive as Ever! (^_^)

This year, our Princpal Joe continued to promote a very healthy activity on campus called "Jog-a-Thon". The kids continue to run for 26 minutes (or walk, if they run out of gas)..... and there are water stations they can stop by to get drinks. This is good because the kids get used to running and exercising with their friends, a terrific physical and social activity!


Another Mannix Maniac Moment!

 Caleb was accompanied by his classmates and all the 4th graders at Chaparral, and even the teachers (and daddy Mark) joined too! It was great to see them run so well and Caleb ran 20 laps (6 laps = 1 mile)! Hubby Mark chats with Mrs. Mannix in the video....good job guys!



I enjoyed watching father, son, and tons of kids exercise and enjoy life together. These are the times we can spend with them carefree, when they still WANT to hang out w/us. It will be hard 30 years later for them to run leisurely with us (imagine how busy their schedules would be....just like us now!). So I'm savoring every moment. The class picture was super wonderful too! Mannix Maniacs were all in blue and Mrs. Mannix said their team name was ironic since the kids are all very gentle and super nice!

Mrs. McLaren lines up the Runners!

Abbie's class ran 2 hours later....And before they began, Mr. McGann showed them some interesting moves...

Mr. McGann, are you showing them how to break dance?

Abbie had a blast as this was her very first Jog-a-Thon! Mrs. McLaren stretched and did 'Jumping Jacks' with them before the race began!



She was very excited as she began to run her first lap and also see her 3rd grade buddies from Mr. Trager's class come cheer them on too!



I was taking videos at first, but was later dragged into running with them as well..... I realized how little I had been running the past months and was soon out of breath AND sore for days afterwards!

The class picture was super cute too! Thanks for all the hard work everyone!!



Caleb's Class "Boot"!

Abbie's Class Boot!




Principal Joe & Office Staff  Boot!

 


Happy Chinese New Year 兔 You! (^_^) 2011

Dearest Friends and Family ~(^_^)~

Happy Chinese New Year! I cannot believe how fast time has gone by! Though it's not as festive as it is in Taiwan, we are blessed to have Chinese New Year here in Southern California (as seen by the yummy rice cakes, decorations and new year candies everywhere in 99 Market) ,and in Chinese school too! Today we celebrated with poems, singing, dancing, lion dance, and chinese new year snacks!

We enjoyed watching Abbie and Caleb's chinese classes recite New Year's poems too!

We saw puppet show which reminded me of childhood times when we watched them on TV (and our parents watched them on street corners)! We are blessed for these programs as it gives the kids a glimpse into our childhood and the chinese culture ~

 New Year's Snack!! 

From Chinese New Year Celebration 2011 (^_^)

Paparazzing over my little playground patrol boy (^_^)

Caleb the Campus Negotiator

I never thought I'd do this....but Today I became a paparazzi mom! In chinese they call it "Dog chase Team" (狗仔隊)! Yesterday during our site council meeting, I heard my boy say to Mr. McGann (our school principal), that he will be a PAL today!!



So, I became my son's nightmare today. I followed (he claimed I chased) him around during recess, camera in hand, while he dutifully made his rounds as a PAL!No wonder they call people like me "狗仔隊"!



He didn't look too pleased when he saw me sneak up on him...



Recently I learned of a very interesting project done at our kids' school! They call it the PAL program, though I can't remember what it stands for. I heard from my 4th grader that they pick 8 kids from each class and they dress like safety patrol guys, walking around campus with clipboards in hands! It's a great program, wish they had it when I was little! And it trains the kids to help their peers too!

Caleb's Buddy Andrei helps a student

When they see kids fight or argue, the negotiator team of 2 goes out and settles disputes! One asks important mediating questions while the other acts as a recorder! It's amazing how organized and orderly the kids work together, and conflicts are usually resolved peacefully!

Caleb supervises students as they play dodgeball

I think we could keep peace and order if we had one of these PALS in our neighborhood, or in our homes! The questions are great, and even likens to questions asked by marriage counselors country-wide!



He kept running away whenever I approached and snapped shots of him. And after school, I asked him if any crisis arose that morning. He said his biggest conflict that day was trying to escape from a probing mommy (^_^)!



Hey! Stop following me, mom!!


But things are easier 'read' than done. When Caleb and sister were fighting one day, I patiently asked them these exact same questions....but....they continued fighting and didn't even respond! So I guess it's a lesson for us all....to apply communication skills gracefully to ourselves and our beloved when disagreements do come up! And inevitably they will, but that's okay, as it's part of life with our loved ones.....(^_^).

Is it Thanksgiving Already? Wow....

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone! It seemed like last week that we went to Yosemite for my birthday in August, and now we're almost through with this year!

Today was the first time Abbie and I went to school at 8am! It's Thanksgiving feast day so instead of her usual 9:45am start time, she starts at 8am, just like big brother! She was up bright and early at 7am, awaken by big bro, and dressed/ate like a champ!

They sat on their 'lines' and celebrated November birthday kids, and big bro ran up to the front when his name was called. Time Flies! He's going to be NINE years old next week!

Caleb was one of the kids who donated a book to our Chaparral library in honor of his birthday, so he took a picture w/Mr. McGann and other kids as they held their 'celebration book' proudly!

Kids did flag salute and Abbie was so cute singing it! I never seen her sing it before!

Later at 11:15am, the kindergarteners had their Thanksgiving Feast and it was so wonderful to see them seated and enjoying the blessings God bestowed on them this year! Have a great year, my sweetie pies!

The Lord will keep watching over all of us in the exciting new year to come! This past week was rough, as grandma Kathy's house had water damage & discovery of abestos. But God will help us all through the challenges life brings, because He said, "My Grace is Sufficient for You"! ~(^_^)~

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!