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
 

Hello Sweet Chickies! Welcome to Our Family! (^_^)

On 4/11, Abbie and I looked at a Craiglist post about baby chicks just 10 days old! So ...
we did the unthinkable and drove to Saigon with bird carrier in car! We went and saw the most adorable puff balls in the world! 

The owner decided on two different color/breed chicks saying that it would be a more interesting flock, and they were the yellow Buff Orphington and owl-patterned brown Welsummer (Hybrid of 4 kinds of breeds). They are super cute and fall over and sleep whenever they are tired, even when they are halfway through eating! SOOO adorable!



The chicks were just the size of my fist when they first came, and we had to use Caleb's study light with a disco white lightbulb (100 watt) which was really cool! They were nice and cozy (but not so hot that they cooked...) and slept a lot!

Mocha suddenly flops over fast asleep while eating...

They even slept on my lap and shoulders! I took daily naps with them while the kids watched "Arthur" for an hour at 3pm! Abbie also fell asleep playing with the chicks (or waiting for the chicks to nap...).

They kept me company while I did house chores or walked on my treadmill (Yes, I got a treadmill too)! Hubby wasn't thrilled about both the chicks AND the treadmill and nagged a lot about them taking up space and were noisy....but thankfully after 2 months, he had given up any hope of these 3 special gifts I got for myself and started to enjoy them too!

The chicks slept in a large laundry bin until one day (week 6?) hubby declared they are sleeping outside TONIGHT! I'm not sure why but maybe their midnight chirping sounds are driving him insane and there were feathers wherever he sat (^_^).

It is a fun 7

weeks since we got Nugget and Mocha....and lo and behold they quadrupled in size! They look like the big soy sauce chickens you see hanging in Sam Woo store window! Scary! And they don't look like the cute chubby baby Easter chicks you see in Photography studio pictures anymore! At 2 months old they look gigantic.... and Mocha looks like a roadrunner with reddish head feathers and has a creepy looking gray fluffy beard that taunts me... to grab my scissor and cut them off. I'm not sure why she suddenly became a bearded,  chubby girl?!! Maybe their plummage will keep changing and one day grow into more normal-looking chickens. I hope Mocha is not a man...bird.

 

I'm looking forward to having them lay their first eggs around late September, when they are about 6 months old! So excited! Their eggs will be brown eggs. I will trade them for yummy pastries my church mommy friends make, hahahaha! So I'm feeding them organic non-GMO chick feed, the 1st ever certified feed in the U.S., from Scratch and Peck company! So their eggs will be nice and organic too! Abbie keeps them healthy and free-range muscular by chasing them many times after school....in the yard....so they hide when they see her come through the door! (^_^)

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!