Fashionista!

Cameron loves to pick out her own clothes and it very careful that they match...pink with pink, purple with purple and so on. This day she pick out polka dots with polka dots! I don't think there is any more I can say about my little one's fashion choices...except good thing it was a rainy day and we didn't have to go out in public!

Korean Traditions

In the Korean culture, one of the biggest holidays is New Year's Day. There is a certain meal you eat, a certain way you address your elders/love ones, and a little ceremony of children bowing to their elder relatives and receiving money. We thought this year would be the year to start Timo and Cameron celebrating this part of their Korean heritage.

Young started teaching them how to say Happy New Year in Korean a few days earlier, seh heh bok mahn ee bahd euh sae yo, which translates to "Receive a lot of new year's blessing". We called Young's parents, Harmony and Habachi, to wish them a new year...here are the kids saying Happy New Year in Korean.


The next step was to say the same thing to Young while bowing down and they would receive money. If you are with your whole family then the children get all dressed up in their hanbok (traditional Korean outfit) then bow to their parents, grandparents, and uncles, saying seh heh bok mahn ee bahd euh sae yo. It's a whole big ceremony and the children all make out like bandits! Grown children (like Young and myself) still do this to their parents if you are with them...maybe next year. Cameron did really well, if you can see, she bows all the way down...she really wanted the money!


They rushed to put their money in their piggy banks!
Later that day I made our Korean dinner...a soup called Dook Guk, or beef rib soup with rice cakes. We typically go out for the new years day feast but decided after our NYE dinner, it would be wise to eat at home. It turned out super yummy, thanks to some pointers from the Korean ladies at the Korean market! I'm turning into such the Korean wife and mommy!! Seh heh bok mahn ee bahd euh sae yo!

New Year Eve!

Happy New Year everyone! We're only a month late...but better late than never, huh? This year Young and I decided we wanted to really celebrate the new year with Timo and Cameron. They are just coming into the realization of "holidays" and we wanted to mark the beginning of a new year as a family. The past few years consisted of us putting the kids to be early and falling asleep on the sofa in exhaustion. But now, with a little more understanding, we thought they would enjoy making a special evening of it. We knew exactly where we wanted to ring in the new year...Four Seasons, downtown San Francisco! We opened with a toast to the new year! (lemonade for the kiddos!)
We love the Four Season because it's a nice restaurant, totally kid friendly and has really good food! The kids get these sticky sticks to build, cups with straws, coloring books and crayons. Both Timo and Cameron love the sticky sticks!
Timo tried Young's caviar and loved it! That's make this chef Mommy very proud!
Cameron decided her last meal of 2011 would be a PB&J while my foody son wanted steak...which Cameron ended up eating half of anyway...
Dessert! (the most important part of a meal as far as I'm concerned) The desserts all around were so much fun! Timo wanted fruit which he specially requested honeydew, Cameron requested white ice cream with chocolate sauce and we adults got some super yummy 2012 sweet treats. My fav was the white chocolate/raspberry/almond cake dessert.

Finishing up dinner with chocolate covered strawberries and a Thomas the Train story from Daddy.

A little New Year's Eve dancing by Timo!


The whole restaurant was decorated for NYE and the staff was so nice to let the children have a balloon. It was a wonderful end of 2011!! A huge thank you to the staff at the Season for making our dinner so special and accommodating two 3 year olds on one of the busiest nights of the year!

Holiday Randomness

Here are just a few activities we did while the kids were out of school on Christmas break. I hope this is the last of the Christmas pictures...

Decorating cookies with our friend Lucia!
Going to the Academy of Sciences with our friends Sophie Grace, Caleb and Evan. There was a snow machine inside and reindeer outside! Oh, and the fish, of course...


Some days were spent at home...building forts and jumping into the "swimming pool".
The kids got some money for Christmas from their Great Grandma Cameron, so sweet! Timo asked one day to go to the Dollar Store to spend his money...I've trained them so well! Cameron was having a blast cruising the isles seeing what she could see...

They didn't really see anything there they wanted so we headed over to Target to the "Dollar Spot"....but got a little sidetracked in the toy dept...uh, oh.
We managed to make a clean exit thanks to the promise of pizza for lunch!
And let's not forget all the new Christmas toys...thank goodness for new toys to keep them entertained! Cameron LOVES her new spin art.

And the super hero capes were a hit!


I kinda forgot how long the days are when they are home all day, everyday...but I also remembered how much fun it is watching them see and do new things all day, everyday! I'm already looking forward to their week vacation in Feb!

Discovery Museum

The kids Christmas vacation allowed us time to hit all our favorite museums we have been missing out on. The first one we made sure we went to was the Discovery Museum....or the "paint on the window" museum, as the kids call it. So, of course, painting on the window was the first thing we did!

Cameron so proud of her snowman made from the moon dough table...
The boys at the train table...and Cameron not to be left out.
Ah, the gravel pit...just what a dump truck loving little boy needs!

Lunch on the rocks with a view!
They were all trying their best to take turns ringing the bell...but it was just so much fun, some (Timo) forgot they just had a turn and butted in line again!
The giant Tinker Toys were back! They all worked together really well to build a river!?
We love Discovery Museum! Can't wait to come back on our next school break!!