New Visitors

This weekend was a busy yet important weekend for our family. B & B were able to meet their Grandma Jeriwan (Grandma Jeri) for the first time as well as their Great Grandma Sum Kee (also known as "Rose"). Both live in Las Vegas and when G'ma Jeri found out she had grandkids a couple of months ago, she has been calling and talking to the kids and decided to come and visit. After driving 19 hours, they settled in for the weekend, bringing a new puppy to entertain. Although it seemed like a crazy weekend getting used to a wild puppy, meeting new people (for the kids mostly), listening to Great Grandma Rose tell the same stories many times (she has dementia) and running various errands, it was nice to get to know them a little bit better. Both are funny and very talkative and love the kids. Jeri taught me how to make some authentic Chinese food (fried rice and egg rolls) and also made some other yummy food while she was here. We went to an Asian market for the first time together and she showed me how to look for the right kinds of ingredients and what kind of food is good to buy. HINT: if you like Asian food as much as we do, go to an Asian grocery store...Asian markets actually sell meat cheaper and also sell soy sauce, sweet & sour sauce, rice, etc. WAY cheaper than the grocery store.

Grandma J. works at Marshall's, so she brought all sorts of goodies for the kids like pillow pets, several dresses for Brynn, lots of shoes, and more. She even brought a present for Baylen for his birthday and bought each of them a toy. They were pretty excited about it all.

Great Grandma Rose speaks a little bit of broken English but mostly Thai mixed w/ Chinese. She is a bit hard of hearing and is waiting to get a new hearing aid as well as some new teeth b/c she had to get many of them pulled. She will turn 79 in two weeks. She was very happy to meet us and kept saying she would miss us. She had some really old pictures in her purse of her father and her brother. I'll try and post them later...her father was a very good Chinese doctor and used to help many sick people in his village and neighboring villages. He would find ways to mix herbal medicines to help very sick people return to good health. He was well known. It was neat to hear about the history of a part of our family.

The kids enjoyed meeting their grandmas and spent the weekend eating, talking, playing with the dog, reading to grandma, playing games w/ grandma, and getting to know them both.

Grandma J. and GG Rose left this morning to head back to Las Vegas. We hope to see them again sometime. Maybe we can visit them if we make it to Vegas in the fall for a little adult getaway...we'll see.

It was fun to have some authentic culture and learn some cultural traditions and language that our little family does have a connection to. It's good for our kids to learn about their roots too.

I can read, momma! :)

Last summer, I tried working w/ Brynn to start teaching her sight words. It went okay but I don't think she was ready...too young. So, we sort of dropped it and focused more on continuing to practice identifying our letters and thinking of words that started wit those letters on the way to and from school. Then we started working on words that rhymed. Last night, I asked Brynn if she wanted to start learning how to read. She was so excited and went upstairs to grab the books I bought last year to start teaching her sight words and reading easy sentences. The series of books are numbered, so each set of sight words builds on the next set or sound. Last night, we made it through the first four books. The third and forth books were tough for her, but she continued to try. I could see her trying to use her sounds and spelling out the word to try and figure out the sound or the word. Tonight, she made it through the first four books with ease! I was so proud of her! I even covered up the pictures so she could only see the words. She continued to make it through reading each book. It's so cute to hear and watch. She is so excited to feel so grown up and after she reads a short sentence she thinks about it and gets what the sentence is saying and reacts to it/comprehends it. It's super cute.

As a teacher, I think I am more worried about my kids being good students and prepared for school, even though it's still a year away for her. I know how important it is for kids to know how to recognize sight words even as they enter Kindergarten and the advantages they will have if they know how to read well.

Uncle Paul comes to visit

It's been a long time since we've seen Uncle Paul. He came up to visit this weekend so we could take him out for his birthday. We enjoyed seeing him and glad he was able to spend the night and some time w/ us. It's been over a year since we have seen him last. He has been working really hard to find a job after losing his almost a year ago. It's been a tough year for so many and hard to see someone you know and love have to play the waiting game for this long. In the last year alone, he's applied for almost 500 jobs. He has about 12 resumes out currently so we're hoping for some good news for him. He is qualified for so many of the jobs but someone else gets b/c he doesn't have a Master's Degree. While he continues to apply for jobs, he has decided to return to school for his Master's. Hopefully this will entice schools who are hiring as well.

Ken is in style!

Thanks to G'ma J., Brynn received a small box of very fashionable clothes for her Ken dolls. Both Kens have many exciting outfits to choose from. This is the first outfit that has been worn...matching cow pajamas (including a pair of cow boxers) paired with his fancy dress shoes.

Running in circles...or really slowly

I don't mind working out. I like it even better when I see results, which is why I was so stuck on (and still am) my Jilian Michaels video (The Shred). I enjoy being thinner and when I'm working out regularly, I feel so much better and I have more energy. These are all benefits. Sometimes, though, I need to mix it up. So...over the past year, I've picked up running off and on.

Honestly, I hate running. Even worse, I hate running outside. However, I know it's good for me, so I do it anyway. It's actually super hard on my hips, which I blame on my second pregnancy w/ Bay. I never had problems before that. Earlier this year, I had to go to the chrio to get some work done b/c my hip was completely out of place. This happened b/c I was doing a lot of jogging outside. I had to wear an ugly brace, It wasn't cool or fashion forward. My chiro urged me not to run outside but stick to a treadmill until I was able to run w/ longer strides and at a faster pace. I wish I had a treadmill. I would use it.

The weather has been nicer lately, and I have had a few free moments after school, so I took advantage. Dj bought me a couple of new Jillian DVDs, which I'll be trying on rainy days. But I vowed to myself that when it's nice, I will run outside on the track near my school.

I shouldn't say run; what I really mean is jog. Last weekend, I went out and ended up making it for two miles. It wasn't bad. This week, I've been continuing to jog around 2.1 miles according to my pedometer. I still don't love it, but I know it's worth it in the end. I just need to keep thinking: Prom in May....healthy....swimsuit in June and July...yeah. :)

When will they ever go to sleep?

We are having a hard time STILL getting our kids to stay in bed and go to sleep. Baylen is MUCH WORSE than Brynn. I am not sure what to do to get them to go to sleep. Are they night owls like their parents? Is his nap too long at school? On the days that it rains and they can't go outside, it's even worse. He doesn't have enough ways to expend his energy so he comes home and he's ready to just run all over. It is seriously so tiring. I thought with the time change, it would get better. It has not improved. He's in bed between 8 and 8:30 and at 9, even 9:30, he'll waltz down the stairs with a big grin on his face. While cute, it's still very irritating.

Thanks for coming to visit!

We had so much fun and they kids keep asking when you are coming back!