Extracurricular

So after years of saying that we wanted to enroll the kids in some extracurricular activities, we're finally somewhat getting our act together. This past summer after hearing that Micah would be attending the same class, we had Kai and Sora in a two week intensive swim camp. It was a challenge the hustle the kids over to the class in Willow Glen every morning before preschool for two weeks, but the kids did amazingly and by the end of the two weeks, the kids were not only ducking their heads underwater, but they were swimming a few feet on their own! The best part was that we had a church outreach event at Cull Canyon the weekend after swim camp, so the kids had a real world chance to use their newly acquired skillz!

The first day: Kai was hesitant at first and freaked out and was crying during the last 10 minutes of the class

Lots of fun with Micah

Monkey walks

.. and after two weeks: swimming!

Before swim camp, this sight would've freaked me or Nik out

We also had been talking to the Rongs about enrolling Kai and Ethan in martial arts together, and so after a year of talking about it, we got our act together and enrolled the boys in a Brazilian jiu jitsu class. It hasn't been easy and the first week was a disaster: on Tuesday, Kai had a meltdown and left early, and on Thursday, Ethan refused to join the class and left early. Since the first week, it seems to have gotten a little bit better but it still hasn't been perfect. Kai freaked out during one class when another student pinned him down and hurt his arm. We'll see.. I hope the boys stick it out, they certainly love wrestling with each other at church. :P

Not one to be sexist, I had offered to enroll Sora in BJJ as well, but she flat out refused. So on a whim, I decided to look into a nearby dance class for Sora. It turns out that it was the first day of their school year and after trying it out, we decided to enroll Sora. Our tiny dancer is a natural and loves it. It doesn't hurt that her pink leotard has a skirt and sparkles, amusingly, most of the other little girls in her class have the exact same leotard from Target, so I know it's not just Sora.

First day of dance photo op

Big boy bike time!

About a week ago, after watching David and Dylan biking around Kai expressed interest in using a bike without the training wheels.. perhaps it was a combination of being comfortable with gliding on a glide bike, practicing pedaling on a bike with training wheels, and just being ready, but he got it! I was actually really amazed at how quickly he picked it up. Literally two days ago, he could barely ride across our patio in the backyard and today he biked all the way down the street! In fact, he inspired Isaac to ditch his training wheels too!

Teamwork to ditch the training wheels :P

First week of kindergarten

We survived the first week of kindergarten! Kai had said he was "a little bit shy" about starting kindergarten, but on the actual first day of school he was excited and ready to go, he ate his breakfast faster than I'd ever seen him eat it before.

Timothy from Agape is in Kai's class. Micah and Jo Jo are also at Noble!

Kai was able to meet his teacher and see his kindergarten classroom the week before class started.

Before the first day of school, Kai and Sora met and played with Nora, one of Kai's classmates

The weekend before the first day of school, we also visited Noble with the Ngs to get the kids excited for the new school year. It was nice to have Sophie and Brandon show Kai the ropes.

We've adjusted our bedtime to an hour earlier to accommodate the fact that we need to wake the kids up at 6:30 am to have enough time to eat breakfast and get ready for school. Kai usually passes out at bedtime, but Sora (who still naps at preschool) fights bedtime and will stay up for at least 45 minutes after we say goodnight. Dropping Kai off in the mornings can be a bit chaotic, since if one of us is working, it means unloading all three kids to walk Kai to his classroom in the morning.

Feeling a little bit guilty about Sora remaining at preschool full-time while Kai is on half days at kindergarten, I've been taking Sora to the playground to play a little before I drop her off for the past few mornings. Needless to say, she loves the special treatment (gotta make sure she doesn't get middle child syndrome!).

Speaking of kindergarten half days, we weren't sure what to do with Kai for the first week of school. We thought we would try to keep him home, but after a week of having him at home (and having Kai complain that he's bored at home and that he wants Teacher Bea to pick him up), Nik and I have thrown in the towel and we're starting Kai in part-time afterschool care next week. We're weak.

Kai said he wanted to surprise Sora when she got home from preschool <3

Kai: "This, Jaddy, is a cookie." More time at home means taking my boys out on errands

On the move!

So in my last post, I wrote that Jad was very nearly crawling.. this time around, I'm calling it: Jad is on the move and he is officially crawling. Over the past few days, the big lunges forward have transformed into actual crawling Of course this now makes everyone's life a little more difficult, Kai and Sora now need to mind their stuff, and Nik and I now have to worry about all the little Legos and beads that Jad might grab.

Jad is such a joy. He loves the kids and they love him. He's always full of giggles and smiles and will grin and shriek with joy if you just give him a shred of attention or love. It's not perfect--I wish he ate/slept better and he's a bit clingy.. but he's a pretty darn good baby.

The kids wanted to hold Jad's hands as Nik was carrying him

And during preschool dropoff.. all the kids are delighted to see him and scream, "baby!", so I let the teacher present him to the class

Sleep training.. and a new hope

Today we started sleep training Jad. Lately, he's been waking up every 2 hours. I've been blaming it on teething (his second tooth also popped out), but last night was particularly horrible, between waking up, feeding him, and bouncing him back to sleep, it felt like Nik and I were up every hour. Fingers crossed, he seems to be asleep and it only took 45 minutes.. much better than Sora's two hour record of non-stop crying and eventual collapse.

I used to find time in the evenings to update the blog, but between Sora and Jad's recent sleep problems, I'm usually ping ponging between kid sleep disruptions in the evening, and by the time I have a little time to myself, I don't have much energy for anything besides browsing my phone. -_- Sora's sleep seems to be getting better and I'm hoping that Jad's sleep will get better soon.. that would be a revelation for Nik and me.

Better enjoy this happy moment in the pack n' play while it lasts, Jaddy

Very nearly crawling: he lunges forward and scoots around. He can go from prone to sitting up now. I often find him a few feet away from where I initially set him down

The kids went to Noe's birthday party last weekend, it was great besides the fact we didn't realize that Kai was sick until during the party and he had already spread his germs to Niko. :(

Paint party!

Playing with the big boys

 Eventually, Sora also got sick and between Kai and Sora being sick, the week flew by. By the grace of God, Jad was spared and did not get sick. Buoyed by Tylenol, we did manage a trip to the playground and library.

Jad's first time on a swing!

Building Rapunzel's tower at the library..

.. only to crash at home after the Tylenol wore off

By the end of the week, the kids were fully recovered and were ready for a visit to the Rotary Play Garden and Sweet Tomatoes.

Hamming it up for the camera. "Mama, take a picture of me!"

Sora's been acting up lately. Not sure if it's just leftover crankiness from being sick or middle child syndrome, but she hasn't been listening (to me or her teachers) and will defiantly look you in the eye as she deliberately does the exact opposite of what you ask her to do.

She thinks she's a princess #smh

June and recent updates

[Note: I wrote this post at the beginning of July and I'm publishing it just now, so the time references probably don't make any sense. :P]

It's been so busy lately that it's been difficult to keep up with this blog. I will (eventually) finish my blog posts about our So Cal trip in April and last week's camping trip, but those will need to wait until I have a little more time to sit down and write.

June was filled with a number of transitions: Kai graduated from preschool and Sora advanced from Ladybug to Butterfly. Although Kai graduated, he's still attending Agape through the summer, so it's not much of a transition yet.. still, it felt like a milestone to see my little big kid wearing a cap and gown. At bedtime yesterday I asked Kai if he was excited for kindergarten and starting a new school, and he replied that he was "a little shy to start at a new school." A few of his classmates from Agape will also be attending Noble, so I hope that will help facilitate the transition.

My preschool grad <3

Emily is one of Kai's good friends from school

How about graduating from drooling, Jad?

Sora moved over to Butterfly to join Kai's class for the summer. For me, it's been awesome since there is only one location to drop off in the morning now. This will be the last time that they'll ever be in the same school classroom together. I made cupcakes to help Sora celebrate her "graduation" from Ladybug. With Kai in the class, her transition to Butterfly has been seamless.

Jad stayed for a little bit of circle time on one of Sora's last days at Ladybug. Sora was so proud and excited!

Silly Sora :P

With Teachers Frida and Jovita

Sora's first day at Butterfly

We also welcomed Grandma Udom back from Portland in the beginning of June. The kids have been enjoying spending time with their Grandma and having a spare set of arms is always helpful these days!

Crawfish boil!

As I mentioned before we returned from a camping trip just over a week ago. I'll write about that in a separate post since there's the usual glut of pictures from when we travel. But we've been keeping busy through the summer. We hung out with Viet and Lin (and their respective kids) for Taco Tuesday a few weeks ago, and saw them again this past weekend to celebrate Marco's birthday.

Taco Tuesday aways ends with everyone running around and climbing

"C'mon Uncle Viet, you know you want a third kid." (Uncle Viet looks skeptical :P)

We also got an annual membership to Happy Hollow since our membership to the Children's Discovery Museum expired and since our kids are more interested in rides than before. Kai rode all of the rides, including the roller coaster! No longer my fearless girl, Sora was interested, but chickened out last minute on some of the bigger kid rides.

Who's driving this thing??

Though the rides are fun, the kids still love climbing around a good playground

We had an early Father's Day dinner at Outback Steakhouse with my parents and on Sunday, I got the kids out of Nik's hair for a little while to work on a craft project.

Father's Day craft time! (the gift was primarily taking care of the kids while Nik got some rest)

Kai had a stomach bug at the beginning of July and passed it onto the rest of the family (Nik still hasn't recovered completely and it's now nearly the end of July) and Sora's sleep is still touch and go, so that's probably part of the reason as to why it's taken me so long to complete this post. It's been a fun and busy summer (Joe and the family just visited and took Grandma Udom back up to Portland, and the kids just completed a two week swim camp), I will try to post more by the end of the this week to catch this blog up to current events.

Sick Kai.. no picture of the rest of the sick family, but it was pretty miserable :(