A day in the life of Winter 2014-2015

 Max has been loving Kindergarten,...he loves His teacher, Mrs. Lewis, his friends, reading, and writing...he also loves having me pick him up from school and walking home together everyday...

 

 On special days we would go and have a treat...his special treat of choice is still always McDonald's...

 The girls have loved their play groups, story time at the library, their shows, Sophia the First (Sophia the Worst according to Max), Little Mermaid, Team Umi-Zoomi, bath time (bath hour), princesses and Disney's amazingly profitable Frozen and it's accompanying paraphernalia...

 ...they also love noodles...always with the noodles!!!

 Max still loves being a super hero...fighting the bad guys!!

Eric's birthday celebration at Jim & Julie's with Banana cream pies...

 ...and cousins!!!! They had their own picnic in the back yard.

 a floating bubble kit with special catching gloves was one of the gifts in Eric's treat bag for his birthday...the girls loved it!!!

they each wore one of their dominant hand Kiri (right) Lia (left)....so cute!!!!

Pizza party with Will!

We had a play date one night and asked will what he would like for dinner...he replied,

"pizza, pizza or pizza..." so, we made Pizza...it ended up being a blast!

will with his Pizza...

Kiri waiting for the Pizza's to finish and writing a menu...

Lia, ready and waiting to help take the pizza's out of the oven...

Here are the four kids finished products...fun times...

Happy birthday, Eric & the PTO Bake sale...

 

We flew home just in time for Eric's birthday...the kids loved giving their dad breakfast in bed with homemade cards

goofing around before giving dad their cards....

taste testing the pie before we put it in the refrigerator...

Max (in pretzel) I love 'u' (in fruit loops-the I and love were consumed by younger sisters) to mom (in pretzel)

Max is such a sweet boy...he often times will leave little notes and messages for me and his dad...for his grandparents, his Pua-Pua & gong-gong, his teacher & friends...he's a great boy!!!

I also got to do a second Bake sale with the PTO and it was  lots of fun and pretty lucrative...well, the generous gave lots...the cheap...well, there might have been a penny given for a treat and just a whole armful of treats taken with barely a thank you from another...but in the end, it was well worth the effort! Go Sage Fox...though we are going to be StAGEcoach  next year...so, really...go Stagecoach!!!!

Happy Year of the Sheep!! Chinese New Year 2015

 

  My mom and I  decided to go to SF Chinatown to the Chinese New Year parade...really because we wanted to go to the King of Dumpling house!!!

This picture was just such a funny juxtaposition...

 We also went to Lake Merrit and Children's Fairyland...Kiri is such a girly girl!!!

 the girls had such a fun time running around...it usually take my mother and I about 40 mins to walk the entire 3.2 miles of the lake...it took the four of us about 3 hours since the girls kept stopping and wanting potty breaks and snacks...

 It's funny how an image can bring back so many memories...as we drove from the lake to Lakeshore Ave to get some Noah's and Trader Joe's (both of which were not there when I was growing up) I saw this mural of the side of the underpass...it immediately brought me back to being a preteen in my mom's Volvo , listening to New Kids on the block, dreaming of the exciting adventures I would have one day as an adult...

 Here is my cute, cute nephew Parker, giving his teacher flowers!!!

 Kiri eating Max's favorite salt & pepper fish...

 Lia, also, eating Max's favorite salt & pepper fish...in an act of sisterly love, they thought we should send these pictures to Max so he could see that they were enjoying it without him...

 we went out to eat with cousins...Kiri, Devon, Parker & Lia...we ate at a  southern restaurant with Beignets, fried fish, & Bayou Burgers with Blue Cheese...

 This was their favorite part of the meal...

 This was our favorite part of the meal...baby Sierra!

 

at the New Year's dinner, my cousin Angela couldn't make it due to the horrible weather they've been having in the East Coast...Lia was still happy to show off her increasing talent with Chopsticks.

 The girls showing off their Chinese New Year spoils...they love getting their 'hong bao's!'

 

This is always how I will remember them on flights with me...Lia with her shrimp chips and fan tuan...Kiri with her san zha piens...then, right before the plan lands...

Heaven sitting one on each knee...