How Do They Know Their ABC's?

So Sam seems to have mastered most of the alphabet. It was quite a shock to me. You see, I never actively taught any of my kids their numbers or letters. I hired a publicly financed tutor who is extremely creative and imaginative with teaching children the alphabet. Puppets are used to help get the message across. And sometimes, because this tutor is connected, and hey, we do live in LA, I get a celebrity in our house. Each of my kids sat with this tutor for hours daily, sometimes all day if I was especially tired or just gave birth to yet another baby.

Another success story, courtesy of Sesame Street!

A Spamtacular Mistake

So I am guilty of emotional eating. I eat my favorite ice cream (B&J's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch) practically every night as a means to treat myself after a grueling day with the kids.

Despite the torrential downfall of rain, I still had to run my usual errands, one of them being Costco. I have to say, it really sucked. I didn't strap Sam in because the safety belt was soaking wet. So the whole time, I was trying to keep him from taking a flying leap from the cart. Finally, I put him in the back part of the cart and he happily beat on the boxes of pull-ups like drums.

When I was at the checkout line, the guy who loads up the carts asked me to put Sam into the front part of the cart. He might as well have asked me to conjure up a two headed snake out of thin air. Both were impossible tasks, and the whole time they were ringing me up, I was wrestling a screaming Sam, trying to cram his feet through the leg openings of the front part of the cart. After the sadistic cart-loading guy watched me attempt mission impossible, he told me it was okay and let Sam stay in the back while he loaded up the cart. When I got outside, the rain was pouring down. I let Sam hold the umbrella while I tried to run and push the stroller. Sam thought it would be funny to hold the umbrella upside down so it would catch the rain more than repel it. Yeah, not very funny.

By the time we were on our way home, I was already done for the day, and it was only 11:30 am. I was soaked with rain and self-pity, so I drove to the nearby In-N-Out and ordered a cheeseburger (animal style), fries and a chocolate shake. I totally deserved it, right?

Well, that night, I lost it again. I mean, really lost it. So after we put the kids to bed, I made myself S'mores. It hit the spot and the world was good again.

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Do you ever get a craving for something and that desire to eat it just simply won't go away? Well, I have had a hankering for Spam for weeks now. Probably due to this blog post. Clearly, Spam is not the healthiest thing to eat and honestly, do I want to bring it into the house and raise up a new generation of Spam eaters? If we were extremely healthy, maybe I would have given in earlier, but as you can see, we're not. So it took all my willpower to say no to the Spam. But we were at a mall yesterday and there was an Ono Hawaiian BBQ place. The Spam Musubi was crying out to me like a muse and I could no longer resist. I got two Spam Musubi. You know how they say that there will be a big feast in heaven. Well, I have not doubt that Spam Musbi will be one of the many treats in the heavenly buffet.

Unfortunately, my body did not agree with the excessive intake of Spam, and I think I have been cured of my Spam cravings for quite some time. But God, please keep Spam Musubi on the menu in heaven because up there, we won't have to deal with indigestion, right?

Two Worthy Causes

There is a five year old boy of Korean descent who needs to find a blood marrow matching donor. Please consider joining the bone marrow registry. Click here to join and a registration kit will come to you. All you need to do is swab the inside of your cheek and send back the sample. Or, if you are like me and joined the registry so long ago you don't even remember when or where you did, then chances are you have moved and the registry does not have your current contact information. Click here to update your address. I couldn't imagine if one of my kids were sick like this. It makes me feel bad for being such a foul-mood mom when they really are such a wonderful gift.

If you live in LA county, please consider signing this petition. LAUSD is going to cut 50% of its arts programs in 2011 and the other 50% in 2012. Help to convince the school board this is a critical mistake. My girls love art so much and to think that there won't be a formal art program available to them at all in school makes me upset. If you are willing to go an extra step, send an electronic letter to our superintendent. All this takes two minutes and hopefully it will make a difference.

Art-y Party

It's always a little tricky when I discuss the girls' birthday parties with them. If we talk about it too close to their birthday, then the wait becomes impossible and the party becomes the ONLY topic of discussion. I can't handle that sort of torture. So to avoid such agony (and because I love to plan things well in advance), I will bring up ideas and desired guests for the next birthday party at least four months earlier and then not bring it up again until the week of the party, sometimes not until the day before.

So Joey and I discussed her birthday in October and she wanted to do an art party and I had her write down the names of the friends she wanted to invite. After all the expensive options available outside of our home (seriously, why does a kid's birthday party have to cost $1000?), I decided to do it at our home and serve hot dogs and chips. I was stressed about having 18 kids inside our house but the weather was perfect so we held it in our backyard.

The kids made mosaic crowns:



They also drew pictures which I scanned onto an iron-on transfer and (at a later time) made into a t-shirt with the obligatory jewels.


For her "cake," I made Joey a cookie tower. She freaks out at birthday parties because she doesn't want to eat cake or cupcakes. Before cake time during a birthday party, she runs over to me and asks if she has to eat cake. "Of course not, but mommy is going to eat it," I reply.

It was a fun day. The next day we took the kids to Disney on Ice. Sam loved the Cars but began to lose his patience with Tinkerbell. But I think his favorite part was holding and eating the $10 popcorn.

Happy 6th Birthday Joey!

My dearest Joey,

I can't believe you are six years old already. Time has flown by and you have already grown into a beautiful little girl. There are so many things that I love about you--you are compassionate towards others, a wonderful older sister to your siblings, and you have such a big heart. So many times you sacrifice things that you really want, and give them to others because you like to make other people happy. I see all the ways that show your love and amazing capacity to give at such a young age, and it makes me so proud of the person you have already become, and the person you are going to be. Love, compassion, empathy--these are the gifts that you have been given, and I pray that you will continue to cultivate these gifts as you grow older. I pray that these godly characteristics will flourish in you and that you will continue to touch others with your magnanimous heart. Already I have been so blessed to see such purity in your actions and am so excited in anticipation of what the future holds for you as a woman of character.

You play your role as the oldest sibling so graciously but I also hope that you will learn to be generous with yourself. Sometimes you make comments that denigrate yourself, and I know it is because as hard as I am on you, you are hard on yourself. I hate to see you beat yourself up. I really pray that you learn that every accomplishment is a process. As intelligent and bright as you are, nothing can take the place of perseverance and hard work. Things have come to you easily because you are smart, but when things like spelling or playing a new song on the piano gets hard, you beat yourself up, and want to give up. You are slowly (albeit painfully) learning that practice makes perfect. I'm sorry that I get so impatient with your own impatience! Hopefully we can work on it together.

I love it when you laugh with abandon and when you beam with pride while showing me your drawings or other artistic endeavors (I hope you never stop drawing, creating, and imagining). I love it when you are playing nicely with Elysha and I see the foundation of a lifetime friendship. I love it when you take care of Sam by reading to him or playing instruments with him. I love to hold you and cuddle with you, and let you know that no matter how big you get, you are still my little baby. Thank you for being who you are, for being patient with me, and for showing boundless love from that great big heart of yours. I love you so much and am so grateful to God for you everyday.

Love,
uhmma

No Surrey for Sammy

I got the weekend off from my grueling PB job last weekend so we decided to go to Santa Barbara for the day. It was our first time going and the weather was perfect.

We started off with a leisurely lunch outside.

Then we decided to rent a surrey. Poor Sam wanted to drive and pedal all by himself. So he cried for 75% of our time on the surrey. I held him after a while and even then, it took him a good 15 minutes to calm down. My iron man had to pedal for all of us because having Sam in my lap and trying to pedal was like trying to bike uphill on the 10th gear. Of course, Chang didn't think I was pulling my weight anyway and said it didn't really make a difference whether I pedaled or not. So I didn't and enjoyed the ride with the kids.

We went to the zoo afterward and the best part was this tiny astroturf hill. Kids were "sledding" down the hill on cardboard scraps.

We waited about in an hour long line to ride on a 10 minute train ride.

After the zoo, we went back downtown and rode the carousel.

The girls were really sweet to each other for most of the day. We had a great time and was back home in time to put them to bed just a little past their bedtime.

This is Why...

Joey and Sam are both sick right now. At least I am assuming Sam is sick. I think I can safely say that Sam's nose has been running for a good three months now. When I took him in for his two year check up, the doctor said that it was allergies. Apparently, even if there is color to his mucus, if it clears up and thins out by the end of the day, it most likely is allergies.

But for our story's purposes, Sam is sick and his nap was equivalent to a long blink. We also put him to bed late because we went to a local sports bar to watch the Orange Bowl (go Hawkeyes!). By the time we got home, gave them a bath and got them ready for bed, the girls were tired and Sam was losing it.

So I scooped him up and squished his body into the length of my cradled arms so that his feet were tucked under his knees. I carried him into this room and rocked on the glider. His head was nestled just above the crook of my arm (too big to fit anymore!) and I pulled him tightly so I could whisper a lullaby and prayer into his ear. When I was done singing, I squeezed him even closer against my body so I could hug him as I carried him to his crib. As I laid him down already half-asleep, I gave him as many kisses as I had breaths and tucked him into this Lightening McQueen blanket. I gently ran my fingers through his hair and said, "I love you Sammy."

With a soft voice and entranced soul that had already begun its journey into dreamland, he whispered, "I love you Mommy."

This is why...