We returned from Truckee, exhausted and with loads of laundry to be done. Along with the daily grind of caring for the children (and parents), our respective jobs, and managing the household and needless to say, it's taken me a while to get back up to speed.
We've pretty much had either an event or celebration every weekend since the beginning of April. It began with the Rock Canyon Circle Easter brunch. The kids enjoyed dying eggs (it's obvious what their favorite color is) and the subsequent Easter egg hunt. I know that I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I am so grateful to have good neighbors who are interested and active in fostering community, and who also have young kids of their own!
Egg hunt!
Checking out their haul
Ready, set, go!
Dyed, hard boiled eggs for breakfast: every day, for a week
Kids love blue eggs for breakfast
Later that evening, we went back to our old 'hood to meet with the Changs; it was great catching up and Kai and Sora inherited two trash bags full of James' old toys. We then went over to the Shaws' new home for dinner. They are currently in the midst of some massive home renovations, so kids enjoyed playing on the digger in their front yard.
The next day was Easter Sunday. I dressed Sora in a dress that my Mom had bought her the week before and put her hair up in pigtails. I don't know where she gets it from (certainly not from me), but my daughter has a girly streak. She had seen the dress from my Mom and wanted to try it on immediately. When I finally put it on her for Easter, she held out the skirt and posed saying, "look at me!" and then proceeded to strike a pose for both Nik and Kai as well. And for the next couple of weeks, she would ask me to put her hair up in "piggy tails."
Hangin' around
The next weekend, Nik pushed me to go out to a moms' night in with our church friends. I was on the fence initially since I'm used to being with the kids in the evenings, but I'm glad that I went. It was a refreshing time spent chatting, and doing silly things like face masks and manicures.
The next day, we drove out to Modesto to celebrate Jen and Randolf's baby shower. It was a beautiful event and perhaps the only baby shower that I've ever attended (and will ever attend) that had passed hor d'oeurves and a carving station, but that's Jen-style.
Baby bump photobomb
Later that evening, we attended part one of David's three-part 40th birthday celebration. He opted to have a more inclusive and casual family celebration at Newark Buffet. Part two of three was an intimate and formal family dinner at the House of Prime Rib the next day. Nik and I anticipated that this wouldn't be the kind of restaurant where we could let the kids run amok, so we came prepared with the tablet ready to go. With the kids transfixed, Sora the carnivore gobbled up the prime rib, while Kai the carb fiend ate corn.
Little girl likes buffets
That's a lot of meat!
Note the TV zombie kids in the back
After many Siblings Days had come and gone, I realized that we didn't have a decent, recent picture of ourselves. I asked my Dad for a picture and he took a burst of over 50 photos, so I guess I can't complain anymore
On a break from school, Matthew was back in town and we had him, Chris, and April over for dinner midweek. The kids had a great time topping their own pizzas, and Kai asked to make pizzas again for the rest of the week.
The next weekend, we met up with the Chenportillos, and Mei Li and Lin for dinner in Castro Valley. It was nice to see and catch up with old friends and we hope to do it more often!
On Sunday, we hosted part three of three of David's multiday birthday celebration (if you're going to go over the hill, you gotta go in style). We celebrated with catered tacos and sangria, and since James' birthday was close, we made it a double-header. Since many of the people who attended didn't have children, the adult to child ratio was reasonable and the party actually felt relatively sane (that was not the case with Kai's birthday party two weeks later).
Cake disaster averted! I was so impressed by Peters' Bakery customer service that I wrote up my experience on Yelp
Bubbles and popsicles kept the kids entertained
Midweek, we met up with Tim and Dali for dinner. They graciously spent their date night hanging out with us and our crazy kids. We're really glad that such an awesome family lives close by. The next weekend, we celebrated Benny's first birthday with a Hong Kong food truck (as would be expected of the Mos). The kids enjoyed painting and ransacking Benny's collection of toys, it was challenging to pry Kai and Sora away!
Yummy egg tarts!
The next weekend was Kai's fourth birthday party. We opted to keep it simple, getting pizza and churros from Costco, along with cake from Safeway. All in all, it was a success and Kai had a great time, though since every invited family brought at least two toddlers, it was absolute chaos at its peak.
Vienna jie-jie arrived early.. we're already training our future babysitter
The joyful birthday boy
Agape friends
Toddler chaos
I received a number of cards, craft projects, and a rose from Kai for Mother's Day. When Nik told Kai that he got me towels for Mother's Day (he really did!), Kai commented, "that's not so good." Harsh! We then had dinner out with the family at Din Ding Dumpling House.
The following weekend, we finally had a clear schedule with no parties or gatherings to attend (not that we're complaining), though since the Milpitas International Festival & BBQ so happened to be around the corner from church on Sunday, we decided to opt out of LSL and walked to the festival instead. It was a good time.. but hot, and a longer walk than we had anticipated.
Kai saw this picture and said, "This from Oahu?"
Couldn't get Kai to sit still long enough to pose with the fire engine
I don't always have the bandwidth for it, but on occasion, we try to do novel activities at home. With Nik at work this past weekend, the kids enjoyed painting.
Going a bit overboard with the paint
And rounding off the celebrations, just this past weekend, we celebrated my Mom's birthday with dinner at Din Tai Fung. David was gracious enough to wait two hours for a table so the rest of us wouldn't have to. Since Nik was at work, I whipped out the tablet immediately after we were seated and the kids were mesmerized for the rest of dinner. After dinner, we blew off steam at the Valley Fair soft play area. Kai loved jumping off the soft structures and Sora was proud of her climbing prowess.
Happy birthday, Mom!
Sora was so proud of herself after she climbed to the top of the submarine
Couldn't get a good shot of Kai jumping off of the structures since he either: a) jumped too fast or b) the shot was blurry
And finally, on Memorial Day we drove up to SF to help Benji and Willie celebrate their birthdays. It was great to see and catch up with Kristin and Rich, and they had the perfect kid-friendly picnic spread of crackers, cheeses, fruits, and other nibbles. We were hanging out at the playground, when I caught sight of two familiar kids: Joanne's twin girls. Turns out that their au pair just so happened to take them to the same playground that we were at. Our kids enjoyed the impromptu play date and Nik and the girls became fast friends after he gave them birthday cake. We said a quick hello to Joanne when she picked everyone up after getting off from work.
Cousins!
Sora loved climbing up the ladder at the playground and did it multiple times, climbing up ever so slowly and then sliding down the slide, only the repeat the process again and again. After spotting her the first time, she essentially did it all on her own thereafter. I was proud of my little nimble girl, especially since many older and larger kids had their parents helping or spotting them. The kids also enjoyed playing in the sand, I always carry sand toys in the trunk of our car for such an occasion and the kids loved it, though Kai was feeling a bit territorial and insecure when some bigger boys started playing with his toys. As the boys finished playing with each toy, he would snatch it away and put it to the side until he had gathered all the toys together. When he had collected all the buckets and toys, he declared that he wanted to go home, while clutching the sand toys tightly.
Spider-Sora
Just to give some perspective.. it wasn't easy, especially since Sora is so petite
Kai was sick yesterday, so he had to stay home from preschool. We ran a few errands together and then got lunch at Chipotle. Thankfully, after a day of enforced rest and fluids, the fever went away and today he was back to his usual self.
Yes, I know that there's food on my face. Mom life.
After a long weekend of caring for the kids, today comprised of a lot of rest for me and Nik. In the evening, I didn't want to cook dinner, so we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. Sora stole my ice cream cone.
Since allergy season is subsiding and the weather has been good, we've been spending more time outdoors. On occasion, we'll still stop at the Ruskin playground after picking the kids up. One day after school, Kai declared that he wanted to walk to the park. We walked all the way up to Alum Rock Park with the kids. Remarkably, they walked all by themselves, though Sora required more prodding and prompting than Kai. And the other day, we ventured out to the Berryessa Community Center playground, just to try something different. We had a minor celebrity sighting when Sora saw Elsa and Anna at a nearby birthday party. She was too starstruck to go up close to them, but did wave hello.
Ladybug sighting
When the weather was too hot or our allergies were too severe, we escaped to the library. The kids usually make an immediate beeline for the toddler computers. Sora has become quite adept at using the mouse.. in fact, I'd say that she's better than Kai at using it.
We ran into Leo at the library one afternoon!
Dancing at the library.. why? Why not?
The kids do have moments of getting along and playing well with one another..
As rare as a unicorn: they actually wanted to sit next to one another during breakfast
Everyone's yelling so it must be a good idea
They're so cute that you forget that Kai is rubbing an apple slice on Sora's forehead
We inherited Ryan's old engines and tracks, and the kids love it. Thanks, Ryan!
.. of course, that's interspersed with lots of fighting.
The Great Wall of Cereal Boxes
That said, it is nice to have some quality one on one time once in a while. One morning, Kai wanted to go for a walk and Sora wanted to stay at home. So while Nik accompanied Kai on his walk, I watched Sora at home. Sora enjoyed playing at home unencumbered by her brother.
Scribbled all over Kai's numbers. Yeah!
Meanwhile.. Kai played at the creek and walked all the way to the library only to discover that it was closed, but he did find some ducklings. Having a 1:1 parent to child ratio is easy peasy and the kids are much better behaved when they're on their own.
Sora loves playing doctor and will usually grab either me or Nik by the hand, say "you need check up," and then proceed to sit us down and run through her assessment (the reflex hammer is called "bang bang bang"). The other day, Sunny had some abdominal pain so the kids got to use their assessment skills.
Doctor and his students. See one..
.. do one.
Kai loves to help, we try to channel this energy into age appropriate tasks, but it can be a challenge, since having him "help"usually means more work for us. He and Sora love helping me make banana bread (probably because I reward them with chocolate chips after we're through) and the other day, he helped Nik assemble a tricycle.
And one last picture to close off this monster post:
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