Christmas!

Here's our month in a nutshell!
We started the month off visiting the mall Santa with our playgroup. I was really hoping Lucas and Marisa didn't inform all their friends that Santa is just a man in a red suit ...


... baking cookies ... I really relaxed this year and let them do whatever they wanted with the frosting and sprinkles. They did have some interesting cookies (or should I say lumps of frosting and sprinkles with bits of cookie?) What a good mom I'm becoming ...

... volunteering for Marisa's Kindergarten Christmas party. It's fun to see her interact with her school friends!

... I planned and ran Lucas' party so I didn't get any pictures of his. But Victor and I had fun watching the school's Christmas program on their last day of school. They have each class get up and perform things that they have been learning - like jingle bells in Mandarin :-). Here is Lucas' class playing a song on their recorders. (This is their dress uniform for special occassions. The everyday uniform is much more casual.)

... Christmas morning! 2 excited children in their new Christmas pj's!

... and now it's Christmas vacation - and Lucas and Marisa have to find something to occupy their time! So, they made a garbage tree! Actually, have been making a garbage tree would be more accurate. They have been adding to this tree over the past few weeks. Amazingly enough, Victor has actually not said anything, and is just pretending it doesn't exist.

... piano lessons - for daddy! Lucas is teaching daddy how to play the piano.

... and of course my angels ALWAYS get along. I found this note written outside on sidewalk chalk, supposedly written for her brother. I'm so proud of Marisa's ability to express herself and put words into sentences! Is it too much to ask that they be nice words? In case you can't understand Kindergarten spelling - it says "I do not like you."

... and last but not least ... no comment.

I LOVE IT!!

The other day we were driving behind someone with a movie playing in their van's DVD player. Lucas wistfully said "I wish we had a DVD player in our car." Half jokingly I said "But Lucas we have books to read in our car, that's much better! He was silent a minute then said "Yeah mom you're right - books are better than DVD's." I love it! It's worth it to not have a TV in our house! He LOVES to read!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Marisa is enjoying the turkey leg! Her favourite part! We had a great Thanksgiving with my mom joining us from Ontario. It's good to have her here for 2 weeks.

Yes, I'm one of those crazy people who goes out shopping in the middle of the night. (It's all about efficiency - I get major bargains and a huge chunk of time without anyone bothering me.) I'm quite pleased with my loot! :-) I arrived at the outlet mall at 2am when most other shoppers were on their way home and then I headed to the Carlsbad mall at 6, then to the Christian bookstore, and Michaels. Home at 9. That's 7 hours of shopping. I think I'm done now. One of my best bargains was a Gymboree ski jacket for Marisa for $11.20.

From Pumpkin Patch to Pumpkin Stew

Look at my new pot! This was dinner last night - beef stew in a pumpkin.

I made beef stew and put it in a pumpkin to bake for an hour. Fun dinner.

Yet another pumpkin patch ...

Yet another pumpkin patch! How many pumpkin patches can we get to in just one October?
This is part of the playgroup that Lucas and Marisa have been in since Lucas was 2 months old. It'll be 7 years this month! We've gone to this pumpkin patch every October for the past 5 years. It felt like 90 derees out this day. Not right.

Another pumpkin patch visit ...

Last week we had another pumpkin patch visit. This time with Marisa's Kindergarten class. She wanted the green pumpkin. :-(
Don't you love the messy hair? Sorry Kristen, I just can't do it right!

The little Chinese girl she is with is the daughter of the Mandarin teacher at the school. Yes, they learn Mandarin starting at Kindergarten. I was commenting to the Mandarin teacher that we would love to visit China someday. She said "I go a few times a year. I'd love for your family to join us and I could be your translater and tour guide! AND I have an apartment in Beijing where you are welcome to stay!" I almost have the flights booked already I'm so excited.

And here is Marisa raising her hand to answer a question in the pumpkin program. After answering she said to the lady - "next time I answer a question if you want to call me by my name - it's Marisa." :-) I wasn't sure whether to burst our laughing or die of embarrassment.

The Yearly Pumpkin Patch!!

Last week we had a day off school for Parent Teacher Conferences so we headed to Bates Nut Farm for our yearly visit.
You never know what the temperature is going to be like in October here. Too hot for the Halloween sweaters - but good thing we have Halloween t'shirts too! One day last week it was in the 90's. Usually when you mix 90' in October in San Diego, that means fire, but last week it didn't thankfully!

They had fun in the straw maze - Marisa is pretending to not know where to go next!

And my little drama queen trying to pick up the pumpkin ...

Ahh, there we go - she got it.

Music to a Mother's Ears

Tonight Lucas said he hopes he doesn't get sick this winter because he doesn't want to miss any school. And if he does get sick, he said he hopes he's only sick on the weekends so he can be in school on Monday so he doesn't miss anything fun. :-)
Gotta love it.

Miramar Airshow

We've gone to the Miramar Airshow at least 5 out of the 7 years we've lived here. It's amazing and Lucas and Marisa LOVE it.
Before the show started we walked around and toured the planes and tanks. What more could a boy ask for? He had a chance to get in a tank and pretend to shoot a gun. If only I was as excited about this as he was ...

Now, just pretend that I now have pictures of many airplanes flying in close formation, doing all kinds of wild and crazy stunts in the sky. Put your hands over your ears to protect your ears from the ear splitting noise of the planes overhead, close your eyes and watch the parachuters coming down out of the sky, and ooh and ahhhh as you see the ground troops put on the "WALL OF FIRE".

See? A thousand words are worth a picture. :-)

Tooth #4

This tooth was so loose it literally fell right out all by itself. He is so excited to be SLOWLY catching up to all his friends who have lost many more ...

Tooth # 3

Lucas is a little behind in the tooth losing department. He just lost #3 last week. It had been dangling for so long Victor finally said he was going to do the "tie a string to it and slam the door" thing. Lucas was giddy with excitement but then chickened out numerous times. Victor finally just yanked on the string and it was out with no pain! Ahhh, the joys of childhood.

Happy Anniversary to me ...

Nine years! Wow. How time flies when you're ... going crazy? That's about how life feels sometimes. We took a one night getaway to La Jolla last weekend for our anniversary. Our new adopted grandparents - John and Jessie took Lucas and Marisa for the night. (They were THRILLED!!) Our anniversary took on new meaning this year as we were very thankful to have each other. The week before, my good friend lost her husband and father in a tragic plane crash. She is left with 3 young girls to raise. Amazing how all the petty little annoyances go away when you realize how insignificant all your whinings are.
The actual day of our anniversary - Wed, Sept 30, I had planned a nice meal (meaning I bought something from the store all ready prepared so it would taste good) and we sat at the dining room table. I had pictured nice conversation around the table with Lucas and Marisa about love, marriage, God, faithfulness etc etc. Then we were going to all 4 move to Marisa's bed and look at wedding albums and I was going to attempt to fit into my wedding dress for Lucas and Marisa to see. It was such a nice evening - in my mind. We actually talked about school and homework, fought over bedtime, rushed through showers and they went to bed without seeing the skintight wedding dress. (Some things are best left alone.)
Happy Anniversary - I love you!
OH, and I appear to have forgotten that I own a camera. We still look the same - few more pounds, a little less hair, a little more gray, a few wrinkles here and there ...

My great idea

I was so proud of myself last weekend. I came up with a great idea, if I do say so myself. We were out on a date night and had a girl babysitting who had only babysat for us a couple times before. Our regular babysitter from the past 5 years just left for college :-(
She mentioned when I took her home that L and M were a little wild. An understatment I'm sure. They admitted to me the next morning that they were indeed VERY wild. So, my punishment to them was they had to help pay the babysitting fee! There eyes were very big and full of remorse as I took money out of their banks and put it in my wallet. I just may have good children next time we have a babysitter! :-)

Yearly Playgroup Camping Trip

Almost every year for the past 6 years, Lucas and Marisa's playgroup has done a weekend camping trip in the area. It's always a fun, chaotic messy time. Here are the highlights! Let's start at the end. Dirty feet. They were actually pretty clean every where else, but those feet ...

LUcas and Marisa love to sleep in a tent. We're the only tent campers in the group, everyone else has nice trailers ... someday. Until then, we're building tent memories. :-)

Some of the moms relaxing while the dads took the kids "fishing" to a nearby creek. Lucas actually caught a fish with a stick and a hook and worm!

And the dads playing horseshoes ... or is it a new dance they're practicing?

Camp food! BBQed hotdogs, watermelon, corn on the cob - what more could a kid want?

They also want s'mores of course!! The best camp dessert.

The moms agree. ALthough I did see some of them just taking the chocolate ...

After smores it's time to "plug the kids in" and put on a movie shown on a white sheet on the back of one of the trailers.

ONe of the evenings we had glow sticks too. There were not enough glow stick necklaces to go around, so Lucas very kindly gave up his and said he'd rather have the earrings anyway. So, should I be proud of his unselfishness or worried about his interest in earrings?

We had plenty of bubbles ...

Plenty of playdough ...

Plenty of children riding on bikes ... (and also dads doing wheelies on bikes trying to teach Lucas to do wheelies on his bike ... thank you very much Jim!)

We took a side trip on Sunday afternoon to Julian to pick apples hoping to escape the heat in Ramona. But it wasn't meant to be. (Escaping the heat that is.) But we did find a nice airconditioned restaurant to eat delicious Julian apple pie.

A great weekend! Now to the laundry and those feet!!

My babies are gone!!

The first day of school! Wow!! Marisa has been beside herself with excitement waiting for her first day of Kindergarten. It was really quite cute. Lucas did not even mind putting on a long sleeve dress shirt, tie and vest in the heat! (This is their "dress uniform" for special occasions. For regular days, they have shorts and polo shirts.) We weren't sure about traffic this morning so we left with lots of time and got to school 35 minutes early! :-) We will have fun with teacher names this year. Lucas' teacher's name is Ms Kang and Marisa's teachers name is Ms Chang!! I'm very excited about the school year and I'm thankful to God that the transition to a new school has been relatively painless. I'm very excited about the 7 hours of free time I will have each day. But I know it will get filled up quickly! So far I have 4 Spanish classes I"m teaching, so I"m looking forward to building that up and hopefully providing a small amount of money for "extras" - like a vacation to see the great wall of China or the pyramids or the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately Victor wants to buy groceries with my money. Can you believe it??
And here are Lucas and Marisa waiting to go into the chapel for opening ceremonies. They were greeted by the Headmaster who welcomed each one by name, and they were to respond "Good Morning Mrs Kim" (and she made a point of making sure each child looked her in the eye as they addressed her. I love it! I'll let the school teach my children all their manners and I can sit around and eat bon bons all day.)

Last Minute Summer Fun!

One day last week when they were bored, they were going through old Halloween costumes. Marisa came out in this 18 month size giraffe costume that Lucas wore when he was 15 months old. I knew Marisa was petite but THAT PETITE??!! She obviously does not take after either parent.
Today was the last day of summer vacation for us! Tommorrow is back to early mornings out the door! So we went to Wild Rivers and got in for free with our Legoland passes. We had a great 2 hours going down water slides and swimming.

Last week L and M decided they wanted to do a lemonade stand. :-) So we hand squeezed lemons and made lemonade to sell. We went down to the end of our street where more people pass by and they actually made over $7.00 in an hour. Our neighbors are very good tippers.

And of course the beach! It's so nice being only about 15 minutes from the beach. We tried to go almost every week this summer. Very relaxing. And of course very sandy when you get home ...

It's been a good summer - and now school begins. I will probably drop Marisa off at the Kindergarten door with some tears - tears of joy that after 7 years I have a good chunk of time every day to get something done, and tears of sadness that my baby girl is all grown up and going to school! I can't believe she's 5 already.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

We had a fun birthday party for Lucas - our 7 year old! Wow. How did that happen? I'm enjoying each year with my Lucas more and more. Here we are at the cake and icecream time - and I decided I didn't want to spend the money on paper goods so I got a $5 rain gutter and lined it with tin foil and then put the icecream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and peanuts up and down the "pigs trough". The kids loved it. And I'm sure there were absolutley no germs spread at all.

And here we are with our "Mad Scientist - Mr Vazquez". We did some fun experiments with the kids and they enjoyed the science experiments for the most part - until my dear husband got a little too excited and went into a little too much detail about molecules and atoms and their eyes started to glaze over ...

Time for some games! ...

It's kind of hard to out hop Lucas ...

And here's the birthday boy on his actual birthday eating pancakes on the "You are special" plate. I'm looking forward to journeying with him the next 7 years! Here are a few words that describe Lucas: energy, movement, friendly, legos, reading, soccer, extravert, wiggly, fearless ... that's my Lucas!

Next topic - New Soccer Season!!

Marisa joined the soccer ranks this time and is proud to be a "Bumblebee!" It is hilarious watching a bunch of 4, 5 yr old girls playing soccer. They clump together in one huge group with the ball somewhere in the middle of the huddle. They push (or at least Marisa does) and move the huddle up and down the field and the ball kind of moves along with them. Marisa is more interested in making friends with the players on both teams then kicking the ball, so unlike her brother, her shoes are unscuffed when she comes home.

Go bumblebees! :-)

I'm a soccer mom now!