Happy October!!!!

We found  a new park by MG's school.  The boys and I had fun swinging on these swings!

 E found this and was riding it like crazy -- don't know where his final destination was but he kept telling me he was riding a hippo and that I needed to get out of the water before the sharks came -- of course, I jumped out of the way quickly! ;)

 MD loved hanging upside down on this -- never mind me saying yelling, "stop that, you might fall backwards!"

 So he sat down and gave me a smile instead... okay, much better!

 After school we went to Jim and Clare's to check out the backyard progress:

 Jim and Clare looking on... nervously....

 But no one fell....

 They loved the new beam that was put up!

 Looked so much fun Auntie Clare had to join in!

 Ta da!!!!!!!

Hope your weekend is going well....

A better day and escaping the heat

He was excited to go to school today -- sort of.  He loves doing projects so we kept discussing the fact that he would be doing a new project today...  which made him happy.  Happy, that is until he walked into the classroom.  Then he turned to me and said, "I'm going to miss you Momma."  And he began to cry.  I told him that I would miss him too but that I would be back after he finished his project.  He said okay and waved goodbye to me.  His teacher carried him to a table to do an activity and he cried... saying, "Bye Momma" as she walked away from me and the front door.  My heart... can it break that many times in a week???  Thank goodness we don't have to do this again until Thursday.  My poor broken heart will have a day of rest and to heal...
When I picked him up, he was not crying!  He came running to me and pulled me over to the table where his project was!  I am so proud that he can identify his own name and show me his work.  This is what I was greeted with after 3 hours -- check out the smile on his face!

He was very excited to show off his puppy that he cut and glued together.  AWESOME!!!!  Mrs. Gavin said he did much better today... okay, only 20 more days to go!  (yikes!)

Then we escaped the heat by going to the library once MD got out of his class.  There's a 30 minute difference so E ate his lunch while waiting.  Then this is what they chose to do while we waited to drive off to pick up MG:

After picking up MG, it was still HOT... so we escaped to Matt and Leo's so they could swim!  MG decided not to swim so we finished most of her homework.  E and MD splashed for a good hour before we went home.  It was nice in the shade for MG and I.  When we arrived at home the children ended up playing outside because it was just too darn hot inside the house.

The rest of the week promises to be cooler... yay!!!!

Something fishy going on here....

well, maybe some little ones at Half Moon Bay.
Vince decided to take us all fishing today -- yippee!  (insert sarcastic smile right about here :))
Here they are getting started:

 Everyone is excited!  Vince bought them each their very own fishing poles!

  or light saber... it's very versatile!

 The pier:

 Casting the first pole:

 The bait... fresh squid!

 Big sis helping out:

 

 One of our fishing neighbors gave us his fish...

 So the boys had some fun with them!

 Look mom!

MG is determined to get her very own fish - forget the neighbors' donations!

 The boys were content to play with the donated fish!

 Then he finally caught his very own -- great job MD!!!!

 Here it is... need a magnifying glass????

 Again, boys didn't care... they played with them anyway!

 And she's still determined to get her own...

When he became bored with the fish, he started to play with the bait!

 And MG's determination may be paying off...

 There you have it, baby girl finally got one!!!!!!

 Yahoo!!!!!!!!!

 In the bucket...

 Out of the bucket????

 It was time to go home so we had to decide what we were going to do...

 That one fish knew it wanted to go back into the water...

 MD voted for the fish to go home.

 MG wanted them to return to the water.

 Boys won the vote... the fish came home with us.

We were too tired to cook this evening, so we went out for Vietnamese food in San Mateo.  The fish are in the frig... waiting for Vince to fry them up... all 7 of them (hee hee, I know, what a feast that's going to be!).  They had so much fun today.  Well worth it.  It was hot in San Jose, so driving to HMB was worth it.  It's going to be 93 tomorrow... wow, a few more days of heat!

The zoo, a swim, a few lost photos, and a postcard swap!

The boys dug for dinosaur fossils this afternoon... it was a successful dig.  Don't look for them on the front page news though -- the fossil was place there by the zoo developers of Happy Hollow Park and Zoo!  Oh, well.  We'll have to seek our fortunes elsewhere!

For some unexplained reason E cried today at lessons.  Don't know what happened. He started out happy as a clam while waiting for his class to start and could hardly stand to be out of the water while M&M were in the pool.  The second his teacher came to get him, he almost ran away from her!  But of course, I made him stay and walked away while he cried... but went to him after I showered and dressed the other 2 after their lessons.

M&M had a fantastic lesson today.  They are by no means great swimmers, but they are surely more confident now than they were last month!  I look forward to seeing their progression this year.  They worked on their free style and breast strokes, then ended the day's lesson with treading water.   Both were able to stay afloat for 12 seconds! I thought that was a wonderful goal to reach for them both.  I forgot the camera in the car, so these few photos were taken from my phone.  I use it a lot these days!

While uploading the above photos I found the following in my phone too!

Last Friday we hung out a bit at Jim and Clare's.  Look how the back yard is coming along...  Jim and I just moved that big slab of concrete onto the dolly.  It may look small but it sure was heavy!  He couldn't move it further so that's where it stayed until Saturday when someone stronger would come by to help him move it further away!  MD is surveying the work.  I think he approves!  Just get it done so he can play in the new building!  :)

Just so you know, MG is not at all a typical girl!  She loves being a girly girl... but she can also hammer and make as much noise as her brothers!  (Even while wearing a pretty girly girl dress!)

This is the dress she chose to wear for picture day at school Friday.  Jim and Clare bought her this dress for her birthday.  Uyen says it reminds her of Sailor Moon.  

I've signed up for a postcard swap -- something for MG and I to do together.  We were given the country of Egypt.  It sounds fun!  And you know what's cool?!  The example she gave was the from the country of Cambodia!  See here.  Anyone want to join us?  The deadline is September 30, 2010.  Go check it out here!

The weekend in review

Vince's birthday sort of lasted all weekend!
Saturday we met his family at Palace BBQ Buffet in Sunnyvale.  If you like meat (A LOT of it) and cooking it on your own, this place is for you!

Vince and his brother had to sit at a separate table.  His sister and family were running late.  They will sit with them upon arrival.  They started...  They had a great time cooking their meal.

YUM!!!

Us, on the other hand... not so much!  My MIL (mother-in-law) and her family members cooked some meat.  MIL's mom (in white hat) didn't eat much.  Neither did her friends, sitting next to her.  They took a few bites, then ended up cooking meat for the sake of cooking meat... which MIL and I ended up finishing!  I was pretty proud of MIL and I -- we sure know how to eat!  :)

The children... well, they ate here and there, but they mostly had jello and watermelon!  Meat buffets are not their thing!  They prefer Fresh Choice -- mac and cheese all the way, baby!  But it was Daddy's birthday so we let him decide.  MG had fun using chopsticks!

Surprisingly, MD did not eat much.  What you see in front of him was barely touched in the end....

This little one ate a little bit of everything and then wanted to walk around.

It was a fun afternoon.  We then went to MIL's house and sat around chatting until later in the evening (I was full arounf dinner time so I skipped dinner... until 11PM when I was hungry again!).  The children went to the park and played with their cousins... who bought them ice cream from an ice cream truck!  I have NEVER purchased ice cream for them from an ice cream truck before -- so it was a wonderful treat for them.  My reason?  Why, when you can buy ten times the amount for the same price at Costco!  My friends, how can the experience be any different?  Just come home and have the darn ice cream in the comforts of your own home!  Oh well, I'm just cheap!  I gave them each $1 for the ice cream... but honestly, I wasn't sure if that was enough!  Thanks for taking care of them Tracy, Liberty, and Christine.  They had so much fun today.

Sunday rolled around... and they were jumping around again at Pump it Up in Sunnyvale in honour of Josh's 5th birthday.  

A whole lot of bouncing and jumping going on here!!!!

MD wanted to do this... but he needed someone to go with him.  MG could not be convinced.  E was too little to even think about doing it...

Guess who won?!  I overlooked my fear of heights and up I went!

Which then prompted Olivia to ask Melinda to go with her!  They both did very well!

Cake time!

Our friends from Allen:

The Mahs:

The Edgintons:

The Robertsons:

MG, Sarah, and Olivia -- I hope they will remain friends for many years to come!

Theodore and E -- whoops -- eyes closed!

The Quach3 and Asadas -- with a very jumpy Josh!  Happy 5th Birthday Josh!!!!  We had so much fun today!

Then we headed to Jim and Clare's to celebrate Vince's birthday (again!).

Auntie Clare let MG mash the potatoes (her favorite - I hope she didn't drool too much while mashing them ;) !!!):

She gave it her all!

Uncle Jim kept the boys busy using the toys from Josh's bday party bag:

Vince poured the champagne:

We cheered:

Dinner was served!  A delicious meal prepared by Clare -- pork chops on the grill, grilled bell peppers, steamed broccoli, green salad, and mashed potatoes.

Then MG brought out daddy's cake:

Uncle Jim presented Daddy with a gift that was given to him from his neighbor, Pat, who lives across the street.  This pick ax and shovel combo was once her husband's when he was in the military.  Bob passed away earlier in the year.  He was a good man.

Everyone waiting for Daddy to "cut the cake!"  (Courtesy of my mom, we now have a cut the cake song!  I will get the children to sing it one day!)

And that was our weekend... how was yours?!!!  Are you ready for Monday?!  I am!  Tomorrow I walk with Melinda.  We are starting up our walking routine again.  Tuesday, the boys start preschool and prekindergarten!  Let's see what the week has in store for us...

Oh, and a backyard update -- Jim has been working VERY hard!  This weekend there was a LOT of digging!

Guess what this is going to be?  Well... I'll give you a hint... if Jim leaves it there much longer, MG and E are going to get very creative with John's vehicles!  Know what I mean?!

And we have been enjoying these yummy treats!  Do you know what they are?  Asian Pears! Juicy and sweeeet!