Happy Halloween!

Last week was a very busy week!
We began the week with Jim's roof raising ceremony where the children were instructed to decorate the tree that would be placed at the top of the workshop for the ceremony:

Jim explained the ceremony and then champagne is shared by all!

Then began the school week with a group pumpkin patch trip -- MG's former Allen School playmates.  We still get together every now and then.  we're trying to make this a tradition - each Halloween make a shirt and meet at the pumpkin patch for a group photo:

And it ended with 3 different parades!  I can't wait until they are all at the same school and in the same parade!
On Thursday the boys had theirs.  E's class went first... I practically missed it because the teachers started earlier than they had told us... shame on them!  So I ran and found them...

 When he saw me, he said, "Mommy, you came.  You found me!"  So cute!!!!

When E was done, I waited for MD's class...?!

I asked for a pose before taking him to class... this is his pose.  I guess Mario likes to jump a lot!

The next day, Friday, MG had her school wide parade.  Can you see her?

 This is her 5th grade buddy and parade partner.

 M&M together.  She's Silvermist from the Tinkerbell movie.  Her headband kept moving... looks like a fountain coming out of her head here!  Yikes!

Her class:

Her friend, Hannah.  MG's been to her house once for a play date.  Nice girl - very shy and quiet.  Yes, i am talking about Hannah!  Can you imagine MG being shy and quiet?!  Ha!  ;)

Her other friends, Tia, Lyra, and Bella:

 The boys joined the fun too -- another excuse to put on their costumes again!

Wait until we go trick or treating tomorrow... oh my, the stories!  :)

Life has kept us busy and me away...

I am back and there's a lot of catching up to do...
They were finally able to get back on these things... after a YEAR!  No kidding!  After packing them up, putting them in the shed/storage, trying to figure out the best way to use these in our new setting...  I sucked it up, cleaned up an area of the garage and made room for these so they are more accessible to them.  They are enjoying them very much!

It has taken him awhile.. but he is finally a bit happier about going to school and making various projects!  (I hate that bowl cut look!  Often times I can fix it so his hair moves to the side... but today.. bowl cut -- ARGH!!!!!)

Jim's workshop now has frames... (October 8, 2010):

MD LOVES working in Jim's garage!

Of course, E is always near by trying to do all these big boy things!  (And of course, Uncle Jim is never too far to lend a helping hand.)  Today Jim watched the boys while I walked Morgan to school.  When I returned, they were all busy doing this...  (Melts my heart that they do these things together... Something I can totally imagine them doing with my dad if he were still here with us.)

(October 9, 2010) For the 6th year, we attended the Pumpkins in the Park event at Discovery Meadows Park in Downtown San Jose!

 But this year... Daddy was able to join us!!!!

While there, we ran into the Yeh family... and we invited ourselves over to their house for dinner!  (I do that often so I don't have to cook -- hee hee)

 While the children played...

 Ed and Uyen made this delicious meal -- awesome!  It's one of my favorite Vietnamese noodles dishes.

(October 11) After many tries.. we finally figured out what he needed to enjoy his swim lessons... his siblings!  E's instructor allowed M&M to join him and he had a BLAST with them!

Check out that almost smile!  :)

October 15, 2010 Check out the progress on the workshop!  It's coming along, isn't it?!

October 17, 2010 -- They made some more Halloween decorations for their room.

 And guess who stopped by with dinner?  Grandma!!!  E made her a bat to take home.  :)

October 20, 2010 -- They had "dress like your friends" day at school.  These are her new friends Lyra and Katrina.

 Look... the roof is getting started!!!!!

October 22, 2010 -- Due to potential rain Jim was motivated to act fast... first stages of the roof coming along just fine...  and FYI -- the roof raising ceremony is scheduled to take place October 24, 2010 at 11 AM!

October 23, 2010 -- Just hanging out today...  More practice on their bikes and scooters.  Rain came pouring down this early evening so we are all hanging out at home and staying dry.

MG's costume is finally done.  (Mom would have done a better job, but I didn't do that bad a job.  She is so thrilled that it looks like her drawing!  Hmm... is that a compliment for me?  But then, she is 7 and her drawing is pretty basic...  Oh well, it's done!  MD's hat is finished.  His overalls need to be dyed (I think?) and he needs yellow buttons sewn on them.  E's costume was store bought from a few years back, so he's done. (Phew! Not sure I could've handled 3 home made costumes!)  Now I have to figure out what I am going to dress up as...  Yee-haw is what i was aiming toward.

Learning and grape "juice"

He's writing much better these days!  I am so proud of him.   He wrote:  "On Sunday we went to Half Moon Bay.  We went fishing."  He was able to sound out most of the words and I reminded him about special words and letters that he could not hear but were there or words that required certain letters to accompany each other.  For example, we have been working on ar and er sounds.  In general, he will only want to write cr for car, but I remind him that a and r need each other to make a word that  makes sense and that all words need to have a vowel to make sense.

And he's reading too! (and don't mind the fact that I myself, did not know the date... It was September 28th, NOT February 28th that he read this!)

(I had to delete this video to make more space for other photos, sorry Ma)

E is doing what he does best... playing while MD and I work... bless him for being more independent these days!  (Might be the biweekly classes he's attending.)

After school we swung by Matt's house for some water... he offered the children grapes from the back yard.  MD asked if he could make grape juice instead...  of course, Matt said yes.  Yikes, I say!  Have a lookie:

Look at the "glop!"  (MD's own word)

And in the end... all 3 approved of the new treat Uncle Matt invented for them.  Grape juice, squeezed by their own little hands, sugar, and crushed ice...

Yum!  He took his remainder on the road... home, so that's saying a lot!

Thank you Uncle Matt for a refreshing treat!  It was supposed to be cooler today... alas, I did not agree!  I was too dang hot to enjoy the afternoon... looking forward to fall! Fall, I know that you are technically here (because the children wrote that during their last art project).   But I want you here and feel like you are REALLY here!  I want to whip out my warm coat, snuggle with the children, sip hot chocolate, and read books under a soft warm blanket...  Away with you heat!!!!

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!!!!

Meet DJ and an update

DJ is short for Daisy Juliette --Her Brownie Girl Scout mascot.  The girls are taking turns -- 2 weeks each.  Each time that the girls have her, they take her to different places and they photograph DJ with them.
I brought her to school today to surprise her... and you'd be shocked to read that MD carried it from the car, walked across a busy street for all to see... and then straight to her class and handed DJ to MG!  Visiting her classroom and school was our trip.  SO we had a photo session with DJ:

DJ at her desk:

DJ and the math manipulatives:

DJ and MG leaving her classroom corridor:

Look how big her school is!  This building you see to the left is for the 4th and 5th graders!

When we were in the class, I saw this hanging up -- I think it was up during Back to School Night, but I went by it too quickly to take a photograph.  It's so funny!

Can you see what she has to say?  (Let me help you...) 

Morgan

Very neat, boss to brothers, and nice

Daughter of Steph and Vince

Lover of reading and writing

Who fears bugs and other disgusting things

Would like to see Atlanta, Georgia

Resident of Los Gatos

Quach

After dropping her off at school today... we went to preschool/preK again. It's every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00-12:30.  So far, he's fine:

See?  He even saw a flower on the side, while walking to class and picked it up for me!

Unfortunately, once we walked up the steps to the classroom, he asked to go home.  We walked MD to class first then quickly said goodbye to him.  We walked next door and he kept saying, "Mommy, I want to go home, I'm tired."  And through tears he kept asking me to go home.  Mrs. Gavin took him from me and I walked out.  At one point he took a deep breath to cry and nothing came out.  I ducked and waited by the bench in front of his class to listen to him.  He eventually let out the cry!  But all turned out well.  He had a better day today.  The bonus was when he was able to have recess with MD.  They apparently played on the monkey bars together!  Hooray!

After picking up MG from school we went to Jim and Clare's for a bit.  The boys did some hammering...

MD made a table!

Tonight for dinner we had fresh green beans tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil, and red wine vinegar.  Our entree was lamb with a side of mashed potatoes.  MD cut the potatoes for boiling.  Then he and MG took turns mashing it with butter and milk.  When I informed them we were having lamb, MG asked what kind of meat that was.  I said, "lamb is lamb, you know like Mary had a little lamb."  She then clarified,  "No, is it like cow is beef? Pig is pork?  What's lamb?"  I repeated my answer... then she was quiet and just said, "Oh...." very quietly... as if she totally got the Mary and her lamb thing.  Sorry, Mary -- but lamb is delicious!  MD loved it and kept asking for more.  I only cooked one rack -- apparently I need to cook 2 racks next time! 

This little one liked it too!

In my dry rub, I used rosemary, sage, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, zest of a lime (because I couldn't find a fresh lemon in the house) and fresh minced garlic.  Rubbed it all over, popped it in the oven for about 45 minutes on 350/400 then broiled on low the last couple of minutes to get that crispy flavor of the garlic, salt, and pepper.  Yummy!

MG went to bed with four braids all over her head... picture day is tomorrow!  She wanted curly hair and to wear the dress Auntie Clare and Uncle Jim gave her for her birthday!