Lunar New Year--Year of the Horse!

The afterschool Chinese class held a big Lunar New Year celebration for the whole school this year and we go to see all the hard work  from the kids pay off!  Here are Timo and Cameron in their Chinese outfits...it was fun shopping together and they go to pick out the ones they wanted. Cameron's had to pink and Timo had to have a big dragon on his.

The celebration started off with all the kids getting a red envelope from their Laoshi (teacher) and a big Chinese buffet for everyone. (no pictures of that, I was running around getting the kids dressed, setting up the coffee station and trying to save our seats!) Then the dragon dance stared to kick off the performances...so exciting but so loud!

This is the younger boys Mandarin performance...you can tell by the pictures that Timo was having fun!  These are pics from other parents...we were sitting too far away to get good shots, as you can see by the video...

Here is Cameron getting ready for her performance with her teacher, Shu Laoshi, so cute.  Cameron had to have her hair put up in two buns like a real Chinese girl and they put lipstick on all the girls...a real treat for Cameron!

After many, many other performances from the older Mandarin and Cantonese classes, the whole program came together to sing "It's a Small World".  It was a great show, I'm so proud of Timo and Cameron and how much they are learning and achieving in Chinese.  I know it's hard work sometimes but I know they will thank me when the Lord takes them to China one day to reach the unreachable :)

Re-Entry January

Re-entry from Hawaii was a little tough. It seemed to take a long time to gt over jet lag and back into our routine.  The first few day of school we were late because we just couldn't wake up on time!  Ugh.  But anyway, we recovered and went about the rest of our January, getting ready for Young's birthday!  We had a great hot pot dinner with his friends and then cake. He has been working so much, it was nice to spend an evening out with friends.

Timo has developed this new fear of the dark and wants his room basically lite up all night long...but Cameron needs darkness to sleep.  We try to compomise and leave the closet light on with the door cracked and the hallway light on. I guess it's not enough for Timo. A few nights I walked in to find him camped out on the floor at his door trying to get as close to the light as possible!  I'm not sure what sparked this new fear but I hope it passes soon...

Cameron started her new Anatomy Academy afterschool class and LOVES it.  She had to choose between starting gymnastics up again or taking this class...hands down, no competition.  So we'll put off gymnastics a little longer so my scientist can learn all about the body.

Young has started taking the kids on runs with him while they ride their bikes.  They typically go about 3 miles but have done a long 5 mile ride before.  I kinda jog behind in case someone gets tired and can't finish but I would love to get a bike to go on family bike rides...Mother's Day is coming up...

A couple of movie nights...we're going through a "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" phase...

I got to spend an evening out at the Warriors game with my best bud Jen!  We're both sports fan but our husbands aren't so we took matters into our own hands and got some tickets for ourselves.  Our friends Jon and Marge Bancroft have season tickets and great seats!!

This is how tired Young is...he tried to get some rest and get a little work done but just ended up falling asleep...

And Chinese class was busy this month getting ready for the big Lunar New Year celebrations...to be continued...

Birthday Weekend

Our weekend started with a baby shower for our dear friend Gwen Evans at our home. Since it was baby #3, we made it a diaper shower and diapers she got!  Our timing was perfect because she had the baby two days later!  Baby Jackson was 6 weeks early but mom and baby are doing great.  While the shower was going on, Young took the kids out for a special birthday lunch and then to see the Lego Movie!  The kids came home singing "Everything is Awesome!!..." and Timo got right to work on his Legos while Cameron picked up where she left off looming.

Granny and Grandpa's birthday gifts had arrived and boy oh boy, not sure what we love more...the bean bag chairs or the box they came in!!

They soon had forts built and pretty much stayed there the rest of the day and following morning.  You can see Timo having breakfast before church in his space ship (notice the marker decorations he added)

It was a beautiful Sunday so after church we took our new wheels and headed to the park...all padded up! Cameron got the hang of skating although she told me she need some padding for her bum!  Timo thought he could start out doing trick on the board but soon realized it wasn't as easy as it looks.  By the time we left he was able to scoot along.

The following day, Monday, was a holiday from school and birthday money was burning a hole in Timo's pocket.  He wanted to go shopping.  Guess he's starting to realize money=toys.  After we set apart some for tithing, he immediately said he wanted a new Nerf gun. But knowing he had enough weapons, we talked a while about all the different things he could do with the money instead.  Sporting equipment, a new shirt, books, something for the beach this summer, etc, you know, trying to be a good, Godly parent helping shepard my child into a wise, Godly decision.  Not so much, it all fell on deaf ears with Timothy.  I then tried to put him off by saying he might not have enough money for the one he wanted but no so such luck there either.  So we headed off to meet some friends for lunch and then do some shopping at Toys R Us.  The kids have never really been there, only when they were smaller and didn't remember so it was a special treat to be at a huge store filled with only toys.  Timo immediately picked out his purchase, the one with a scope on it. Much to my dread, it was his money so I let him make his decision.  He didn't want to look at anything else in the store, knew what he wanted and that was that.

Cameron, on the other hand, listened to me lecturing Timo at breakfast and decided to to be "wise" with her money and didn't want to spend any of it!  These two siblings are so different!!  She couldn't think of anything she wanted and said she just wanted to put it in her piggy bank to save.  Knowing she might feel different once we got to the toy store, I put it in my wallet and took it with us "just in case."  Good thing I did...once she got to the science section, she just couldn't resist getting an experiment.  She wanted to know the price of each one, what each experiment was, what it included and was really trying to make the right choice.  Again, Timo is all about instant gratification and Cameron is about getting the most out of her money!!  After about 30min she had decided on the bacteria growing set and we were off to pay.  They each had their money and paid for it...Timo's was almost to the dollar amount and Cameron, of course, had money left over to save.

I was happy when school started again on Tuesday  morning, drawing a close to the excited, busy weekend. The twins celebrated their little hearts out all weekend but it was nice to come back to reality and begin learning what these six years olds will bring us next!

Birthday Celebration!

The twins' birthday started a day early with cards bearing money from Great Grandma Cameron and Harmony and Harbachi. I love the message written to them in Korean from Harmony!

In like years past, I try to find a balance between Valentine's Day and Birthday...so it was a few Valentine treats for them and cards from Granny and Grandpa before their birthday breakfast of cinnamon rolls (a treat for a school morning)

They rushed to get dressed so they could open one of their birthday gifts before school.

Timo had asked for a skate board from Santa but I thought it he was getting enough so I got it but held onto it for his birthday.  He even said "Santa forgot my skate board..." on Christmas morning.  So he was supper excited when he opened his birthday gift!  And Cameron asks for roller skates every time we see the skaters in the park on our Sunday bike rides, so I knew she would love them.  We had a few minutes before school to take a test run...long enough to realized balancing on wheels is much harder than they thought!

At school the birthday kid gets to wear special hats all day, how fun!  I had to volunteer in the library that morning but hurried to Cameron's class for lunch to celebrate with her class with a special Valentine's lunch party.  The children ate and exchanged Valentines...I love Cameron's little Valentine pouch she made.

I then had to hurry over to Timo's class as they were coming back from lunch to have their Valentine ice cream party.  They exchanged Valentine's as well...I love how Timo just carried his pouch around his neck and got right to business of pass out his cards.

Cameron really wanted to be with Timo when his class sang Happy Birthday and her teacher graciously allowed her slip out of class for a few minutes.

Timo and his best friend Kane enjoying their ice cream treat..or rather just berries and gummy bears for Timo.  Whew, what a day!  Having two kids with birthday in two different class makes for one busy Mama!

They also had a little celebration for them in their afterschool Chinese class but I was kinda of a rush to pick them up I didn't get pictures.  I had plans to take them out to dinner for tacos (their new favorite food) and we had to get there early before all the Valentine Reservations came in.  We headed down to Cilcia's and I brought another gift for them to open...this one I knew would be a hit!

As you can see, the problem with opening a very exciting gift in a restaurant...they had trouble keeping their excited voices in check.  Rainbow Loom is all the rage at their school.  For a few weeks they both have been coming home with these bracelets other kids make for them or random tiny rubber bands they find. They taught themselves how to make the bracelets with their fingers but had been asking for the whole kit so they could make a necklaces.  The day before Cameron informed me she was using her birthday money to buy a Rainbow Loom, so I knew these would be a cherished gift. (Thanks to Emily Kapic on the Bandaloom tip!)

I had to be firm and and require dinner be eaten first before the looms were busted out so they enjoyed their special birthday Strawberry daiquiris (virgin) and literally inhaled their tacos!  I've never seen Timo eat so fast.

Then they got down to looming while I leisurely finished my dinner.  (Young couldn't join us...the price of being your own boss!) Wow, how quietly they occupy themselves with the looms!!  At least 30 whole minutes without a word!  A mom sitting with her two boys next to us came over and was giddy that I had twins and that their birthday was on Valentines.  She also showed us her loom bracelets that her boys, 7 & 9, made her.  Good to know boy embrace it too.

The restaurant then came out signing Happy Birthday in Spanish and brought an ice cream with a candle in it. The only problem was they only brought one and put it in front of Cameron.  I guess our waitress got confused and didn't know they were twins.   Timo got a little upset, understandably, and Cameron was a little taken back by the loud singing and couldn't figure out what was going on.  But it all worked out in the end because it was ice cream with chocolate sauce and Tiimo doesn't like ice cream or chocolate sauce...he brushed it off and quickly went back to his looming...

We got home and the children got to open their last gift (something I got for Christmas and stashed so well I just found it a few days before their birthday!)  Anatomy books on a shark and T-Rex!  We spent the rest of the evening reading about shark's teeth and T-Rex brains...perfect way to end birthday for my two little scientist!