the goofball, the brat, and the rascal

my babies

2010-06-07T13:00:00.001-07:00

Man, my babies aren't babies anymore. A couple of nights ago, I stayed up until 2am looking at old pics and movies of the kids. Dang, they were so cute. It's funny how they really haven't changed much since they were babies.

This one will be 4 in September! But, I'll always think of him as my baby. He definitely gets away with way more than Langston and Elise did at this age.

Kiefer was my smallest baby. A mere 6 pounds 15 ounces when he was born. He was the only one of my kids to have cradle cap, a really bad case of it at that. During his baths, I would put olive oil on his head and then rub off all the nasty, yellow flakes from his head. It took such a long time for it to clear. And, he had the worse case of exzema. On his face, of all places. He scratched and rubbed his face all the time. I had to keep newborn scratch mitts on him until he was like 4 months old. When he became mobile, he favorite places to go were in the kitchen. He loved to climb on top of the dishwasher door when it was open, he was always taking my pots and pans out from the cupboard and he would race to the refrigerator whenever someone opened the door.

The one thing that really struck me about Elise in her old videos was how much of a goof she was/is. I always think of Langston as being the goofy one but she's just as funny.

Elise will be 7 years old in December. She was a quiet baby. Well, I think most babies are quiet compared to Langston. Her Kindergarten teacher said that she challenged him to be a better teacher because she was his "hardest sell." Likewise, she has challenged me to be a better mother since the day she entered the world. I was alone with Elise the first night in the hospital. Giao went home to take care of Langston. That night, she cried and cried and could not fall asleep. Aren't newborns supposed to be sleepy? I looked at her and thought "you're different." Everything I learned from being a mom to Langston for 3 years did not apply to this girl. As a newborn, she hated to be held. She wiggled and squirmed in your arms. I was afraid to let people hold her, for fear she might cause them to drop her. Langston lived in my arms for the first 2 months of his life! She would get really grumpy when she was sleepy (nothing's changed) but hated being rocked or nursed to sleep. She would cry endlessly and could not settle herself. Sometimes it would take up to 45 minutes of nursing, rocking, holding a paci in her mouth, letting her cry then picking her up again, nursing, and letting her cry again, in order to get her to fall asleep. I remember yelling at my sweet 3-year old because he came upstairs to see what mommy was doing while I was in the middle of one of these exhausting and frustrating cycles of trying to get my 2-month old to sleep. I still feel guilty about that. Years later, I finally realized that Elise just needed to cry on some days. She needed that release. And, she's had to all the way through her preschool years. To top that, she hated being in the car. She would start crying as I belted her into the carseat. Then, she would cry for the ENTIRE car ride. I was convinced she got carsick. So, we turned her carseat around when she was about 9 months old, hoping that being forward facing would help. It helped a little. So, Elise wasn't my easiest baby. I will never forget what a woman told me at the checkout stand at Winco when Elise was 3 or 4 years old. We were talking about kids and she said "All my daughter did was cry for the first 8 years of her life but now she is such a wonderful daughter." That is so Elise.

Langston. My eldest, my first. He was such a sweet, sensitive, talkative, and happy baby. He's always been goofy and made goofy faces like this one.

He started babbling when he was 2 months old. Giao and I were so amused by it and since he was our first, we didn't know if it was "normal" for a baby to make so much noise. I think if I were to have another baby, I would want another Langston. He loved to be held. He loved to cuddle, which made bonding with him such an instant thing. At 9 years old, he'll still try and sit in our laps and if we could, he would probably let us carry him around. Don't let him know that I said that. But, it's so true.

After spending last Saturday with Giao's cousin, who is just 9 months old and one of the cutest babies I have ever seen, I started to get that motherly urge. I've always said I wanted four. I mentioned this to Giao and he instantly said "no." And, while I know it would be hard on us physically, emotionally and financially, I can't help but want another one. Who knows, it might happen one of these days, just not anytime soon.

weekend recap

2010-06-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

We had us a very full Saturday. We rarely have free and relaxing Saturdays anymore.

I took Elise to her ballet class Saturday morning.The girl has missed 4 weeks straight. Twice for swimming, once because they were closed for Memorial Day, and one other time because she just didn't feel like going (which is a nice way of saying she threw a fit and refused to go to class). Her recital is coming up in two short weeks and we will not make it to class this Saturday (because of swimming). I'm getting a little bit anxious about it, enough so that I think I've been grinding my teeth a little harder at night. But, after class on Saturday, I felt a little better. Elise seemed to know the routine and she was actually having fun during class, twirling around in her recital costume with a huge smile on her face. I have never seen her so happy during class. I'm positive that it had something to do with how cute she looked in her costume. A cute outfit always puts my girl in a good mood.

Then we headed off to a birthday party of a really good friend of hers. Elise never gets excited for birthday parties. More often than not, she will say she doesn't want to go to one. But, she was so excited to go to Hailey's. She kept asking me if we were going to be late. And, when we got there, she happily participated in all the games and activities. So uncharacteristic of her. When we met Giao and Langston at his Uncle's, Giao even commented on how good of a mood Elise was in. I swear, I think it's all thanks to her super cute recital costume.

Meanwhile, Giao took Langston to his second swim meet.

We swam against one of the fastest teams in this league. They blew us out of the water.

But Langston improved his time in all of his events. We're so proud of him.

Grandpa was there to cheer him on!

Listening to his music on his Itouch in between events. His favorite songs include Apologize, Mr. Brightside, I'm Yours, All Star, Hungry Like a Wolf, and Always On My Mind.

After the birthday party, we met up at Giao's Uncle's house to celebrate Great-Grandfather's 82nd birthday.

Here are the kids with their "uncles" and "aunties," who are actually Giao's first cousins. The kids love them.

We had a nice, relaxing Sunday at home. We planted a few bushes and cleaned up the yard a bit. Then, Giao swam with the kids. Well, with Elise, her bff, and Kiefer. Langston was at a friend's house.

Giao trying to teach Kiefer how to blow bubbles:

Seems so wrong, but I made microwave s'mores for the first time. They were pretty good, if you ask me and I'm not a big fan of s'mores.
And, if you ask Kiefer, he would probably say "They're awesome!" He loves using the word 'awesome' these days. Wonder where he gets that from?
We had an awesome weekend! ;)

one week down, 8 more to go

2010-06-04T10:03:00.001-07:00

The Grandparents treated Langston, Elise and I to a Cirque du Soleil show last night.

Giao stayed home with Kiefer because he's 3 and has the attention span of a, well, 3-year old.

Both Langston and Elise seemed to really enjoy the show. It ended around 10pm, I think, and by the last act both kids were fast asleep. I tried waking Langston up but he said "Mom, my eyes are really heavy." I think they could have shorten the clown acts between each of the main acts but, overall it was a pretty cool show. I haven't seen any of the other Cirque shows so I have nothing to compare this one to.

Ha! Look at Langston's hair! He's been styling his hair into a faux-hawk lately but it's a bit too long now. He needs a haircut really bad but he wants to grow it out. He has what I like to call "crunchy" hair. It's really hard and doesn't move. Just like his dad's. The only hairstyle that really works on him is a short buzz with a fade.

In other news, we've survived our first week of summer vacation! On Tuesday, our first day back home from our little trip, the kids were already whining about being bored and wanting to have playdates. Seriously, is this what I have to look forward to in the next 8 weeks?

I was pretty easy on the kids this week. They watched tv, played video games, and played with friends. I pretty much let them do whatever they wanted. Next week will be different. They will have to work on their workbooks and read, read, read. Langston is currently reading Rick Riordan's new book, The Red Pyramid. He really loved the Percy Jackson series. I'm hoping Elise will finish all of our Magic Tree House books this summer but she doesn't seem to be that interested in them. She's reading a Franny K. Stein book right now. I've let them know that they will have to read in order to enjoy privileges such as tv and video games.

In the next 8 weeks I will:

-enjoy the summer with the kids. take them to the water parks and the aquatics center, visit the library regularly, go on more bike rides, and just have fun.

-organize the kids schoolwork and have them fill in their scrapbooks.

-order photobooks for the year.

-apply for passports for the kids just in case we spontaneously decide to take a trip abroad somewhere.

-finish the backyard. we are so close to being finished. just need to plant a few more bushes and trees and put in the bark and we're done! we're debating if we should kill the grass and make room for more gardening.

-lose 8 pounds. i think i'm down 7-8 pounds since giao and i came back from our 7-night gluttonous cruise in february. more importantly, i feel slimmer and my jeans are fitting better.

-sign up for a half-marathon in the fall. i ran 8 miles today! my first time running more than 5. i figure if i'm running this much, i might as well train for a half-marathon.

-join a yoga studio for bikram yoga. i love yoga but i haven't been doing it as much lately. i'm just really focused on hitting my goal weight. once that happens, i want to incorporate more yoga into my workout regimen.

-have my Canon dSLR repaired or buy a new one. i miss taking pics.

-read, read, read.

-learn to cook like this girl.

-remind giao to play more tennis with langston and elise.

-teach Kiefer the abc's. He can name every dinosaur that ever lived but he still doesn't know all of his letters.

-go camping with friends, enjoy a trip to the central coast for a wedding and a trip to LA/SD. We will have a new nephew to visit in July!

-get rid off all the junk that is piled up in the garage via goodwill/salvation army, ebay, and craigslist.

memorial day weekend

2010-06-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

We took a mini-vacation to the Bay Area over Memorial Day weekend. We went to our first MLB game as a family. Actually, I think this was Giao's first time going to a MLB game.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in the city. AT&T park is pretty awesome.

We have several pictures where Langston is holding Kiefer's head still for a photo op.

Kids going on the slides at AT&T.

Once Kiefer spotted the cotton candy, we had to buy it for him.
Don't let the free caps fool you. We're actually Dodgers fans. I am from LA, afterall. I don't know why Giao is since he's from Sacramento but after the game, Giao and I were joking around saying "I guess we're Giants fans now." But, I think it's going to take more than one game and some free caps for that to happen.

We love it when we can see his eyebrows. Giao is always saying we should cut Kiefer's hair just so we can see his eyebrows.

Did I mention how much this kid loves cotton candy?

I regretted not hunting down the spicy mustard for this.

Being here brought back so many memories from my childhood. I remember the first time I had a Dodger dog and thinking it was the best hot dog I had ever tasted.

The next day, we headed to Doran Beach near Bodega Bay. Beautiful scenic drive going there. Kiefer loved seeing all the cows. He kept saying "Look more cows!" and if I didn't respond, he would get mad at me.

Daddy and Langston throwing around the football.

Much to Kiefer's delight, there were lots of ladybugs at the beach. Two landed right on Kiefer's shoulder. Isn't that a sign of good luck or something?

We met up with some friends.
After dinner we headed to the store to pick up some treats. Redvines for me, apple rings for Langston and Elise, gummy bears for Giao, and milk chocolate for Kiefer.

On Memorial Day, we headed to Pt. Reyes.

Did you know that there are a bunch of operating dairy ranches in Pt. Reyes? Who woulda thunk it? It is so beautiful there. The landscape just takes your breath away. I really can't believe we've never visited before but we will definitely make many return visits here.

Our first hike was right off the visitors center. A nice, short walk to a replicated Indian village.
With tipis and all.
This is a family sweat lodge ( does anyone know what that is?). It looked more like something out of the Shire.

Our second hike was to Mc Clurg's Beach.

So typical of me to go and ruin a cute picture by blinking!

A nice lady offered to take a family pic for us.

Old married couple:

As we were leaving Pt. Reyes, we spotted these beauties. They look so magical out there in the fog enshrouded field.
What a way to kick-off our summer!

the graduate

2010-06-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

Elise has graduated from Kindergarten!

I can't believe she's going to be in 1st grade! I'm glad, though. She's been ready to move onto first grade since, like 7 months ago. Kindergarten was a piece of cake for her, maybe even a bit boring for my little smarty-pants.

Elise's teacher did a great thing during the graduation ceremony. He called each child up and spoke about the child for a bit. He called Elise his "hardest sell." He said she pushed him to be a better teacher because things were so easy for her that he had to find ways to make things interesting.

Elise is an amazing reader and has always been good at math. She is a sweet friend and we are so proud of her.

swimming

2010-05-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

These are pics from a couple of weeks ago at our team's time trials. I couldn't take any pics this past Saturday at our first meet because I lost our camera the day before. Plus, my dSLR is broken.

We learned so much from the time trials. First of all, if it's too cold (the weather has been unseasonably cold here in Sacramento as of late), skip the early morning warm-up. Elise was so cold afterwards, she cried and kept saying she wanted to go home. Apparently, Coach Daddy did a good job pumping her up because she came in first place in the backstroke for the entire 6 and unders!

Secondly, we need to tighten the kids' goggles before a race. After Elise dived into the pool for her freestyle event, her goggles slipped up her face and she stopped a few times during the race, trying to adjust them.

This boy is an awesome swimmer. This is his first year on the swim team so he's competing against kids who have been doing this for years. He has natural ability, both Giao and I can see it. We know he's just going to get faster and faster as he builds up his strength. Plus, he has these huge, flat, size 5 feet that are like flippers! Whenever his feet hurt from too much walking or standing and he wishes his feet weren't so flat, we tell him they're good for swimming!

Swim team is a huge commitment. There's practices everyday during the summer, the meets are an all-day event on Saturdays, and the parents have to work at the meets. We're going to have to wake up REALLY early for some of the upcoming meets because they're far away. That is going to suck. But, it's worth it. It is so fun watching my kids and all the other kids swim. I am so impressed by all of them. I can't even get across the pool without stopping (several times) to catch my breath. I've always wanted to learn how to do the butterfly. Giao tried to teach me once. It was not pretty. And, here are my kids doing endless laps of all the strokes during their practices.

lazy sunday

2010-05-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

I was sick on Monday. I slept from the time the kids came home from school until 7pm. I was fine Tuesday and Wednesday but woke up feeling like poop on Thursday. I mustered enough strength to get up and get Langston breakfast and take him to school. Giao came home for the second half of the day and took care of Kiefer, picked the kids up from school and took them to swim practice. He also stayed home all day Friday and I started to feel better by the evening. We went to visit Giao's dad Friday night since he had to have surgery on his shoulder on Thursday. He looked so weak and frail just laying there in his bed. I'm used to seeing him on the go, playing tennis, gardening, working on the house...thank God he is going to be alright and is expected to make a full recovery.

On Saturday, I planted a few trees in the backyard, planted my tomato plants in my vegetable planters, and cleaned up the house. Giao and Langston headed over to the movies to watch Iron Man 2 with some friends. It was kind of a last minute thing so we told Langston that we had a surprise for him. He started guessing what it could be. "You're going to buy me a new airsoft gun?" No. "You're taking me to Gamestop to buy a new game?" Nope. "You're going to buy me an iPad?" Yeah right. LOL!

Elise was supposed to go to ballet in the morning but had a "little meltdown" and refused to go to class. She just loves to test my patience and I, for the most part, always fail. She is my strong-willed child and according to books about strong-willed children, she was born to test me. Or, as I like to put it, make my life as difficult as possible. By the end, I was spent. I felt guilty and I felt like the worst mother in the entire world. I have to get a handle over this and read up more on how to raise a strong-willed child and maybe even seek family counseling. My worst fear is that we won't have a good relationship when she's older. Later in the evening, we ate dinner at Boudin's and Jack's and then headed on over to Giao's parents house again since the kids were dying to see their cousins, who were here all the way from Tustin. Kiefer was slightly feverish all day and at one point he went into one of the spare rooms in house and just laid in the bed by himself. That was a sure sign that he was not feeling well since he is always on the go.

I am at home with the sick little boy. Giao and I had to, literally, force Tylenol down his throat. He depises medicine. Giao took Langston and Elise to Uncle Duc's house. The boys, big and small, are getting some father/son bonding time in with some D & D action. Nerds! I'm just laying on the couch with Kiefer, who seems to be feeling a lot better thanks to the meds. Once he goes down for a nap, I plan on watching all the Sex and the City episodes on OnDemand. Can't wait for the movie!

mother's day, etc.

2010-05-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Mother's Day, we were at Langston and Elise's swim team time trials when Giao gets a text from his mom saying that my father-in-law fell from his bike and broke his clavicle. Well, one broken clavicle turned into a broken clavicle, 3 broken ribs, and a punctured lung. It could have been so much worse if he wasn't wearing a helmet. Thank God he was wearing one. My mother-in-law updated her facebook, thanking Buddha. Haha! Most people I know would thank God but she thanks Buddha :)

I was exhausted from waking up early to get to the swim meet and spending 6 hours there, getting the right kid to the right event, drying off and warming up each kid after each event, making sure each kid had enough food in their tummies and enough sunscreen on their skin and making sure our 3-year old was entertained and happy. I took a 3 hour nap when I got home. Giao, being such a sweet daddy, helped Elise and her bff, Aubrey, set up their lemonade stand. They sold 5 cups of lemonade! One to Aubrey's mom, one to Aubrey's dad, one to Aubrey's brother and sister, and one to Langston, who saved himself 10 cents by bargaining with the girls. Ha!

That night we went to downtown Sac to see Giao's Dad in the hospital. A bunch of Giao's aunts and uncles were there, nieces and nephews, too. Not sure if it's a Vietnamese thing or if it's just Giao's family but, it's nice to see how the extended family always pulls together in times like these. I wish my family was more like this. Well, just sometimes. I'm sure my mother-in-law talked to at least 100 people on the phone that day. She probably loved it, but it would be a bit much for me.

On Mother's Day, I got my run in on the treadmill, showered and got ready to spend the day with my kids. I opened the gifts they made for me at school before heading off to South Sac for some Dim Sum. When we got to the restaurant around 1:30, it was so crowded that we decided to go to the Vietnamese restaurant we frequent, instead. We were all starving and needed to eat ASAP. We got some pho, fried pho with meat/veggie gravy, and meatballs with rice noodles. We enjoyed our meal but it wasn't exactly something I would have chosen to eat on Mother's Day. I would have chosen Korean but there really isn't a good Korean restaurant in Sacramento. Oh how I miss good Korean food! We then picked up a cake for Giao's mom and headed to their place. We spent the rest of the day there and had dinner at Giao's uncle house later that night. So, not exactly the Mother's Day I had envisioned for myself. But, considering my father-in-law's condition, we didn't really have a choice.

On the way home, I got a call from the anesthesiologist who was going to sedate Kiefer at the dentist's the next morning. I told him that Kiefer had a runny nose and was very conjested while sleeping. He told me to call him in the morning if I felt his condition did not improve. I did not sleep well that night. I kept having nighhtmares about the appointment. One being that we left Kiefer while he was getting the work done and then Giao and I got stuck somewhere and could not be there when he woke up. In the morning, Kiefer sounded the same, still very conjested. I called the doctor and cancelled the appointment. I just felt that he should be 100% if he's going to be put through something like that. We now have an appointment in June. I'm still very wary about the whole thing and may just cancel again and let his teeth rot and wait until he'll sit in a dentist's chair awake and unafraid.

what happened to april?

2010-05-07T17:25:00.001-07:00

The kids are in their last month of school! I wish I could say that I'm looking forward to summer but 100 degree Sacramento summers are the worst. I miss Torrance weather. We'll be busy with swim practices and meets and hopefully go on a few mini trips, too. Summer vacation always seems to go by in a flash, so I'm really going to make an effort this year to enjoy every second.

So, Kiefer has to be sedated to have his cavities filled. His appointment is on Monday. I'm really anxious about him going under (he's only 3!) but I'm trying really hard not to have any negative thoughts about all that could go wrong. He had his pre-op physical at his pediatrician's office yesterday and I was so surprised to see how good he was. A complete 180 from 5 months ago at his 3-year well. I told him we were going to the doctor's but that they were only going to check him out. And he asks "I'm not getting shots?" He did everything that was asked of him: getting on the scale, opening his mouth, taking deep breaths, etc. I was so proud. So hopefully this will be his first and last time being sedated for dental work and he'll start being less scared at the dentist's office in a couple of months, too!

today's to-do list

2010-03-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

1. trip to Costco for milk and allergy meds (vacuum?)
2. do something fun with the kids today- chuck e cheese's? lazercity? sky high? pizza parlor/donuts/ice cream?
3. pack for our trip to Santa Cruz tomorrow
4. buy tickets to Alcatraz
5. buy a new vacuum
6. call Canon to have my dSLR repaired
7. give Langston a haircut
8. trip to Target for Easter stuff
9. run 5 miles
10. pay bills
11. take Langston to piano at 3:30
12. take Langston and Elise to swimming

fur elise

2010-03-31T09:13:00.001-07:00

I've always wished I could sing or play an instrument. Sadly, I do not have a musical bone in my body. As a kid, I took piano and violin lessons but it was such a struggle. It just didn't come naturally to me. In high school, one of my best friends said I was tone-deaf after hearing me sing. But, my son seems to be showing some aptitude for music. About 6 or 7 months ago, I put him in piano lessons. He did not want to play piano, he wanted to play the guitar.

He wasn't having fun at first. But, Fur Elise changed all that. Langston has loved this song since he heard it on our electronic keyboard a while back. He would play it over and over again. Then after we got our piano a couple months ago, he would ask Daddy to play it for him. He loves watching and listening to Giao play.

About a month or 2 ago, Giao taught Langston how to play the first part of Fur Elise. I've had to listen to Langston play this song about 10 times a day since then. All through the day, when the mood strikes him, he'll sit and play this song. But, who are we kidding, I love it.

I honestly think that his desire to learn the rest of Fur Elise, is keeping him in piano lessons. He knows he has to get better and progress in order to play the entire song like his Dad.

"Puh" and poop

2010-03-31T07:32:00.001-07:00

Per Kiefer's request, we went to eat Pho in South Sac with Ong Noi and Ba Noi on Saturday.

This is how the conversation went.

Me: "Kids, what do you guys want to eat for lunch?"

Langston: "Let's go out to eat!" (This kid LOVES to eat out)

Kiefer: "I want Puh."

Daddy: "What are you? Korean?"

Kiefer: "Huh? What you talking about Daddy." (okay, he didn't really say this)

Daddy:"You're supposed to say yes."

Daddy and Me: LOL!

I guess you had to be there or 1. be Korean or 2. be married to a Korean.

Pho is seriously one of five things Kiefer will eat. He is that picky and he just doesn't have much interest in food. So opposite of his mommy, who is always thinking about what her next meal is going to be. :)
While we were eating he started talking to Grandma and Grandpa about one of his favorite subjects. You guessed it! Dinosaurs! "T-Rex has a bad attitude. He eats people!" Ha!

On Sunday, we were at Ong Ba Noi's house when we were treated to this lovely commentary by our little rascal:

"Haha. Poo wut like hot dog! Haha. Hot dog. Tiny poop. Tiny, tiny poop. A pile! Wut! It's going in the hole!"

Sorry if this grosses you out but Grandma and I were thoroughly entertained from the kitchen.

goofball

2010-03-26T16:13:00.001-07:00

Last night was Open House at the kids' school. Langston's teacher took a pic of each kid posing with her stuffed pig doll and put them up on display. I think some of the kids thought they were too cool to take a pic with a stuffed pig and took one without it.

Here's Langston, with his fist in the air, happily posing for the camera.

Of the 31 kids in the class, there was only one kid that didn't just stand there and hold the pig. And, of course, it had to be my goofball!

monopoly

2010-03-26T14:11:00.001-07:00

I was introduced to the wonderful game of Monopoly by a neighbor of ours when I was probably 7 or 8 years old and now I'm playing with my kids. We've played many times before, with me helping Elise a lot, but now she can read the cards and even count out her money.

Langston, Elise, and I had a good game going from the previous day. Elise had the most properties and houses on her monopoly but very little cash. Langston had a good amount of cash and owned a few properties. After resuming our game yesterday, we discovered that Elise "magically" had a big-ass stack of $500 bills in her pile that wasn't there when we stopped the other day. Langston and I just looked at each other and started cracking up. Elise sat there and tried her best not to look guilty.

We decided to start a new game. But, I had a toothache and a migraine and was in no mood to play. So, I told Langston to go do his homework. Twenty minutes later I hear "Mom, I'm done with my homework! We can play now!" To which I replied "I never said we were going to play Monopoly." I honestly don't remember telling him that I would play with him after he was done with his homework. I think I was secretly hoping he would forget about it. I told him "no" and that I had a headache. He was so disappointed. Then, I remembered back to when I was kid and how I would want to play Monopoly so bad that I would beg and plead with my sister to play with me. And, she would say no. And, I would be crushed. I knew Langston was feeling the same way. So, we set up the game and started over :)

finally

2010-03-26T13:37:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, Kiefer played at the Kindergarten playground at our elementary school.Whenever we drop or pick up his brother and sister from school, he asks if he can play at "Lee-see (Elise) school park."
And, I always tell him "no."
But, on that day, when we went to pick Elise up from her Daisy Scout meeting, he finally got his chance.

i've created a monster

2010-03-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

This little boy is way into dinosaurs. You could say he lives and breathes dinosaurs. He takes them to the park and feeds them sand,

he lovingly adorns them with his half-eaten bagels,

and he loves to watch dinosaur videos on youtube. For a long time, Kiefer's favorite videos were the ones with death metal music edited to them. Lately, his favorites are the ones parents have posted of their kids playing with their favorite dinosaur toys. This is how he discovered his love for Spike the Dinosaur. He's seen Spike at Target on many occasions, but it wasn't until he started watching these youtube videos, that he realized he just had to have one. The old me would not have a problem shelling out $120 for a toy but times are tough. So, I looked on ebay and saw that Spike was going for about $80-90. Still too much. One day, after dropping Langston and Elise off at swimming, I took Kiefer to Walmart. I went straight to the garden center where they were keeping all the clearanced toys from Christmas. No luck there. We went to the toy department just to look and lo and behold, there was one green Spike the Dinosaur on the shelf, clearanced at $35.00!

I really think fate brought these two together.

It doesn't end there though. Thanks to youtube, Kiefer discovered that there was a whole collection of Imaginext dinosaur toys out there that we have never seen in the stores. He kept asking me to buy him "Spinosaurus" and showed me the video. Turns out, these dinosaur toys are no longer made and no longer sold in stores. But, thanks to Ebay, I have a very happy boy.

Everyday Kiefer opens the front door to check if another "packages" has been delivered by the mailman and every morning he asks me to "check ebay." My God, what have I done?

a fresh start

2010-03-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

So, this is my first post since I accidentally deleted my blog last year. At least I have some printouts of my earlier entries so it wasn't entirely lost. But, it still hurts. Ah well, gotta move on.

Lots of things going on in the Vu household these days and I've documented none of it. Well, only through pics. I started a journal of memories when Langston was born and kept at it for a good while but I stopped sometime last year. I haven't blogged since last year and I haven't scrapbooked since who knows when. All those memories...gone. So, here I am...

Last month, hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. It's been 10 years since we drove to the Santa Ana courthouse on a whim and got hitched.

(relaxing in St. Thomas)

A couple of weeks ago, my baby boy turned 9! I have a 9-year old son. We celebrated at home with a video game lan party. We had 3 xboxes connected and Langston and his friends played Halo all night long. He was in heaven.

A week later, I turned 33. I can accept the fact that I've been married for 10 years and that I have a 9-year old son but I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around the fact that I am actually 33 years old. When did this happen?

I'm determined to keep up with the blogging since it's probably the only way I'm going to get some memories recorded. Until next time!