Ballet Recital and Wedding Anniversary!

Today is Abbie's BIG DAY! We went to Auntie Weijen's house to get Abbie and Carina's hair done. They looked like little 'grammas' in their steam curlers!

Before the recital, the little ballerinas gathered in a room while parents and grandparents got seated. They were excitedly giggling and running around in their pretty dresses!

We thought we couldn't videotape the dances, but turned out that everyone brought their video camera! Unfortunately, I pressed the wrong button and only recorded the last few seconds of her dance. Waah! So we're waiting for the dvd so we can YouTube the dance for our dear friends and family.

Later this night, I showed the kids an 11 year-old video. Today, June 20th, is our wedding day (anniversary), and I almost forgot about it! So I showed them our wedding video so they'll know what life was like before they arrived on planet earth. They watched and LAUGHED the whole time! Silly kids!

Father's Day and Graduation!

Sometimes life seems to be a series of monotonous to-dos and routines...but I look back and realize that this is what life is made of! We are now 24 hours away from the end of Caleb's 2nd grade 'career'!



When I watched the Pixar movie "UP" 4 days ago, I remember the 8- year-old chinese boy saying, "I know the things I do with my dad are boring, like eating ice cream sitting on the street curb counting cars, but these are the things I remember the MOST!"



Maybe doing these mundane things over and over again....is what solidifies a child's sense of security, zest for life, and experience in being loved and accepted! Tomorrow Caleb will be done with 2nd grade, just as I was in 1982. Over a yummy Baskin Robbins ice cream cone yesterday, I shared with him that in the summer of my 2nd grade career, on Father's Day, we (my mom and siblings and I) left Taiwan forever to live in the U.S.!

Life was never the same after we left Taiwan, but we didn't have to fear because God was with us the whole time! I look back at the past 27 years, and I cannot believe how fast time had gone by! From being a 2nd grader not knowing any English, to a mom of a 2nd grader (and a preschooler), God had led me to the land of California, and then to UCSD, then to my hubby, and now to Mommyhood! (Oops, now you know I am only an elementary school graduate....of a mere grade 2!)



Though I don't know my dad very well, having lived w/grandparents from 0-5 yrs, and with mom from 7 years onwards, I am thankful that He gave me my dad. He may not know Jesus yet, and be aloof in relationships, and perhaps shortchanged family for a pleasure-focused, work-only life, I know that God hand-picked him and that all things work together for good. I pray that dad will get to know the Lord soon, and experience true peace and unconditional love.
Whatever your relationship with your earthly father was like, remember that your Maker, your Heavenly Father, loves you and gave you the most abundant life (now and forever) by giving you His most precious Son. Each day is a blessing, because each day is a present from the Lord.

Happy Graduation, my dear children. You'll grow up to be a man and woman after God's heart, because we dedicated you to the Lord, and therefore, you're in good hands ~ His Hands!

Here's what a typical night (after dinner) is like for our family ~ for those who live faraway or are bored/curious. I guess I have too much time on my hands (or can't stop snooping in other people's lives....^_^) Every boring night makes up every year, which are special memories to reflect upon when the kids go to college....gulp....in 10 years!

The Cost of raising Princesses

~Abbie posing in her room~

Abbie's recital is coming up 10 days! The teacher required complicated hairdo and her hat positioned 45 degrees on the side of her head....I tried with all my might and still the hat flipped off her head within seconds. It's interesting how fancy and expensive girl activities are compared to boys' activities!

Put the boy in his hat, jersy and kleats, and he's ready to go for several months for a fraction of the girl's activity costs! The girls have their weekly ballet class, complete with ribbons for the head, leotards, tights, tutus, ballet shoes, recital costumes, seating tickets, DVD of the recital (cameras and videos not allowed), and photography shooting!

I used to shake my head when I hear about parents splurging on their kids' fanciful activities....until that kid became my very own.......
But even so, we parents still shell out our hard-earned $$$, because we know that these are memories that will stay with us forever!

One day our little princesses will grow up and create memories of her own with her little ones too!

What a Nice Chinese Seafood Restaurant!

Last weekend we went to the 7-yr-old son of Dzung and Amie (our college buddy/church friend/next door neighbor's) ~ Ben Ben's birthday party! It was really fun! It's in Dana Point, and the seafood swam before our very eyes! For us (hungry chinese visitors), seeing all these delicious food items swim around before our eyes tempted us to point at the delicacies and holler, "I'll have one order of this over here, please!"

This Sting Ray was very hungry, so by swimming on his back, he's telling us to hand-feed him! This water dance was fascinating. Uncle Joseph Tsai touched him and almost got bitten! Below is the squid dissection class (remember your bio class?).... Now if we only had a satay stick and a grill ~ Voila! Lunch is served!

Abbie watched the stingrays and after 15 minutes, her right eye swelled up! I couldn't believe it! I've heard of people developing allergic reactions AFTER eating seafood, but Abbie was only WATCHING them! Oh My! We reckon maybe she touched the border of the aquarium above, which had sea water?


The kids had yummy Kirkland pizza, large sweet strawberries, and ice cream followed by a very cute, individually decorated chinese cake!

After the party, the boys played by the shores, trying to outrun the waves before it swooped them into the ocean! The little ones played with sand toys and built pretty castles!

No "BONES" about it, this was the best chinese restaurant we've ever visited! It's also called, "The Ocean Institute"!

Notice the lack of emotion on our little one standing next to the educational "Abbie-sized" skeleton ~ scared the bejeebeeez out of her! I guess this may traumatize her 'till adulthood?

Whose Face Do You Resemble? ^_^

This week, Caleb got an interesting homework assignment.... I'm thinking maybe it's Father's Day coming up? The teacher asked the kids to write down mom and dad's physical and personality differences...and in the middle is a circle representing Caleb's overlapping features of both parents.

What is interesting is that I recently discovered that not only do our kids display distinct personality differences (e.g. Caleb very quiet and low key like dad, Abbie very talkitive and social like mom), but our other pair of kids, Kobee boy and Jubee girl are exactly the same!


Notice how little Kobee talks compared with Jubee girl.... ^_^



Even if it's not the talking genes inherited from me or Abbie, our family's 3rd girl ~ chubby Jubee ~ obviously loves to talk (and pretend cry?) as much as we girls do! Little boy Kobee, as you can see, just sits and looks around, maybe bites me occasionally ~ But he's observant, quiet, and mellow, like daddy and Caleb! Maybe God made women from the guys' ribs ~ to be his LUNGS. ^_^


Notice how little Caleb talks compared with little sister... ^_^

Most importantly, I suppose we all are little representations of our Heavenly Father, hence "Christians". So I'm learning that when we spend time with our Heavenly daddy in the Word and in prayer, we display His likeness and temperament too!

Early Happy Father's Day to the dear daddies out there!