Beautiful Seattle

 It was such a wonderful visit with Tracy and Terry in Seattle.  Kayla and Kari became fond of them immediately....Kari made a little drawing at lunch for Uncle Terry.  Quietly she whispered to me, "Mommy, how do I spell 'Uncle Terry'?"  In it she wrote, "Kari loves Uncle Terry!"  They had a blast running in circles with little cousin Mason.

Mercer Island was a cute little town.  Little drizzle of rain made the both beautiful and romantic.  Standing by the boating docks, Terry asked, "Is it raining or is it just me?!"  Little Kari standing next to him replied politely, "It is raining and it is just on you!"

Then we had the opportunity to meet up with cousin Demi in University of Washington.  The campus is nothing short of spectacular, with dreamy fall colors everywhere.  Kayla and Kari remembered Demi from their Taiwan trip, and hopped over to hold her hands right away.  The dormitory is super trendy with chalkboard scribbles and creative drawings on the wall, nothing like when we went to college.

 Mount Rainier is one of my favorite place to visit in Seattle.  It was snowing!!  The girls just love the snow...

                                      

The ferry ride to the island had the girls thoroughly confused...  They kept looking for the "Fairy" the whole time with great excitement and anticipation.  We drove the car up the ferry.  As we sat in the cabin enjoying the scenery outside of the bay and seagulls, little Kari asked curiously, "so when is the Fairy coming?..."

 There is the gorgeous seattle backdrop.  I miss this place dearly, my favorite city in the world.  And now with some of our favorite people/family.  Thank you for hosting us, we're sad to leave.

紅包 Red Envelope

Sumi Grandma and grandpa gave them some red envelope this birthday.  The girls took them and lost them through a night of playing.  In the early morning, Kayla discovered hers through the pile of toys she had in her room. Excitedly, she skipped towards me and waved her hundred dollar bill at me.  I took it out of her hand.  She looked confused.  I explained to her that I'd take her shopping and buy her the present she wants.  Gladly she obliged.

Wondering where Kari's red envelope was, I asked Kari, worried that it was probably lost in some other pile of toys.  "Did you throw it around randomly, or perhaps in your toys?"

Calmly and carefully she replied, "Nope, I put it away last night.  It is sitting in my purse"  Quickly she walked away with no intention to hand it over...  Looks like she'd rather go shopping by herself!

Happy Birthday girls! The big FIVE....

The wise one

That day when I went, they were the only two left to be picked up in the classroom... Has that ever happened to you?  Kari dashed towards me excited as usual screaming "mommy".  Kayla however walked over a little disgruntled.  "Mommy you are sooo late! Ugh....Look, everyone already went home, only us are still here..!"  Sad face.  "Sorry baby, it's one of those days... I 'll try to be earlier next time..."

On the way to school we stopped at a traffic light.   With the new "Vacation Bible School" songs playing,  I sang and signed happily with Kayla.  Looking in the rear mirror I noticed that Kari was very quietly focused looking forward.   "What's the matter, Kari? Why don't you sing with us?!"   Solemnly she replied, "well...Both of you are singing and signing.  Since nobody is looking ahead, I have to pay attention to see when the light turns green!"

That... put me to shame.

These are my sassy girls.  ❤

Sweet Snuggles

She woke up this morning, and Daddy had already gone to work.  With a tiny and soft voice she sat up and woke me from my sleep, "Mommy, I miss Daddy..." That's my Kayla.  She really missed her daddy today, and she said it all the way to school.

"How's your day Kayla?" Mommy asked.
"... I miss Daddy..." She replied.

Sweet snuggles everyday, wish you'd stay this small always...

Is it Diamond?

Daddy came home and said, "Come here Kayla and Kari, Daddy has something special for you!!"

The girls ran over excitedly.

Kayla asked shyly, "What?! Daddy? What is it?  Is it....Diamond...?"

uh oh....Daddy's in trouble.

皇上駕到

We spend our evenings... not reading books, not playing with ipads, but watching these Chinese old dynasty soap operas.  After some episodes, Kayla said, "爸爸，下次姊姊（herself) 說，＂皇上駕到＂，你們可不可以開門讓我進來？“ ("Daddy, next time Kayla says- 'the emperor is here'- can you guys open the door and let me come in?")

月亮的月 First Chinese Word by Kayla & Kari

They took the back of an opened envelope and doodled away...even in the first Chinese character they've learned over the weekend at Teacher Grandma's.   The woman to the left with extra-large head and whiskers supposedly is .... their mommy...

It may mean nothing to you, but I am obsessed with their cartoonish drawings.

Pizza Carrot Ice Cream Donut Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you seen a child who eats all of that in one meal sitting? I have. Those two. Love ya.

Mini Drivers and Adventures with Barbie Car

Cousin Timothy is visiting from Taiwan.  The girls are super excited and having so much fun with their new best friend.  This is Timothy's first time driving, and he did a fantastic job!

Dear God

RiRi has been quite a diva lately. She and I fight about what to wear to school everyday.  She asks about tomorrow's weather every night.  She loves it when it's hot, only because she loves to wear her dresses to school like Tiffany (her fellow classmate).

"Is it hot or cold tomorrow, Mommy?"

"COLD!" I'd reply promptly, quite true sometimes that the weather has been so unpredictable.  Although that's where our differences is, I'd much prefer her to wear pants to school EVERYDAY hot or cold.

Irritated she'd reply, "why?! Why is winter again?!"

"Ask God..." ...Mommy's thoughtful reply.

"Who is god? He lives on the cloud? He is bigger than me or you, or papa?!"

"YEP.  And if he wants the sun to shine, it shines.  If he wants the sky to rain, it rains...  The powerful almighty..."

Kayla, who had an sudden epiphany, interrupted, "Well...  Can God to bring us a bag of cookies now?" （媽米, GOD 可不可以拿一包 cookie 給姊姊?）

Her Prayer that ensued:

Dear God, thank you for a great day today.

Thank you for giving us good dinner.

Can you give me a bag of cookies now?
A-men.

只哭一半的小女孩

Just like that, emphatically, Lala demanded like a queen with a face full of tears.  "拿紙!!  GIVE ME TISSUE!" Loudly she said proudly with her head held high.  Then she stopped her sobbing, and told me that she only cried halfway, unlike Kari who specializes in full-on tantrum.

Lala likes to go to sleep at night, although lately she's been more afraid of the darkness.  She usually wakes up promptly, but today she kicked and fought and cried, "halfway".  She'd say proudly, "姊姊只有哭一半!" (Lala only cried halfway) and pads herself on the back.

The Most Dreaded Bacteria

Everything dirty to them is bacteria nowadays.  They went out to play, and pointed out to each other... "Beware that the scooters left out in the rain now is covered with bacteria !!"（有細菌）They gasped at the sight of "bacteria"(細菌) everywhere, on the chairs, on the concrete, on the seats of their baby scooters, and on Kayla's favorite blue ball.    Speaking of the beloved blue ball...  It was thrown by RIRI in an utterly uncontrolled fashion over the neighbor's fence, which caused a violent outburst of hysterical cry (although quite comical to me) that lasted a decade.   Lala mourned the blue ball tearfully and regrettably, pounding her chest and holding her head while stomping on the ground all at the once. Goodbye dear blue ball. It was good while it lasted.  Now life goes on.

The Mystery of The Shrinking Chair

Today Kari asked me, "mommy why is my chair getting smaller? Why is it so small?"

I looked at her curiously, "because it's made for babies like you!"

Agitated, she clarified, "no Mommy, I mean it was bigger before, really big!  Now it's so small!! What happened?!?!"

I laughed out loud, "it's you that's growing bigger, not the chair getting smaller.. baby."  

She laughed with me, a little embarrassed, and crawled straight into my arms happily.

Conversations with Kayla and Kari

 ...Regarding sharing, charitable acts, and good deeds.

Kayla found kari's new crayon pack and started to try to open it while Kari was struggling to put on her shoes.  On the floor Kari, with raised teary voice, demanded it back, became agitated and started to cry.  I asked her, "aren't you two sisters, and shouldn't you share anyway, be kind and caring to each other?"  She replied, nodding her head as tears dripped down her cheeks, "Yes, we are sisters, and YES we should share, but that is MINE, and *I* will share with her!!"  I got the point, the emphatic "I", loud and clear, made sense to me somehow.   She got her crayon back, but was angry that Kayla had tore it slightly trying to open it.  She said regrettably,  "see you tore it. Now I have to go buy me a new one!"

They couldn't find their bath toys, since I had put them away when they went on their trip.  Kayla was so sad that her face changed instantly and her eyes swelled up with giant tears.   I brought her toys back out, and joy and color flushed back into her little face. 

At night time, we sat around a circle having cheerios and cocoa puffs.  We talked about things like three old friends catching up.  Kayla told me that she was upset because she thought that I had dumped all her toys into the trash pile.  She furthered admitted to fake crying earlier by the bathtub.  She educated me on the reality of toddlers, "sometimes my cry is real, and sometimes it's just fake! And that one earlier was fake..."  Ahhh.....that was some real good acting skills I must say.  

I asked the girls if I should give away their bath toys.  I explained to them that not every kid is as lucky as them to have toys to play with, or money to buy books.  Kayla propped her face in her arm to the floor immediately buying time as she gave it some thoughts.   Kari stayed quiet for a moment, seriously contemplating the idea.  

Then she said calmly, "And some children don't have money to buy a house to live in...."  

"True! True..." I replied, nodding my head emphatically.

"So how about we let them live in our house with us?!..........This way they also get to play our toys, right?!"

Little Problem Solver, a good one.  

Little Leprechauns

Ms. Melli, she is the best and one of their favorite teachers.  They became little leprechauns through the St.Patrick's day celebration today.  The girls are going for a long trip and I asked Kari if she'd miss her teachers.  "Very...Very...Much," she replied, "I am gonna cry..."  We'll try to remember to remind the girls to send letters to them with love.

Kari mumbled to herself, "the bubble bottles can come on the trip with us...but it couldn't buy tickets, cus it doesn't have eyes... It can't see to buy to tickets!!"   What?!

Kayla loves singing the Leprechaun song.  I asked her to tell me the story about leprechaun, and she excitedly started to sing, "there was a little leprechaun and it lives under the rainbow....R-A-I-N-bow..."  I love the little song, thanks for teaching it to them, Ms Jaime.

Treasured moment

Courtesy of little baby photographer, Kayla Jade Fu, of Mommy and Kari (four year old).  She stood so proudly as she took these photos for us.  A rather serious yet comical photographer she is, She gave great instructions such as, "Oh no! Your heads are cut off!", "I don't want to see your belly Kari!", "Kiss like this for long time!!", as she stuck out her little pout way out with her eyes closed and demonstrated the right way to pose for a kiss.  I only wished that I had a camera on my hand then to capture her little hilarious photographer pose.  Love ya.

Headshots

I told the little girls that I needed to take their passport photos.  Kari would hold up two hands in front of her head and giggle at those words, "passport photos?! Like this?!" I am pretty pleased with the result after they were done making funny faces at Mommy.

Poor baby has had toothache since her dental treatment.  She cried inconsolably with the pain as she tried to show us the tooth that hurt.  No more candy!! I scolded them decisively.  Kari tilted her little head with tears still circling around her pretty little eyes, "...until Halloween, right?"  She refuses to give up her full right to sugar.  Afraid that her teeth would hurt with the hot soup, her grandma had the waitress take away the soup.  She protested sternly, "I told you my teeth doesn't hurt anymore, do you not remember?!!（你不記得嗎)" 

I have to remind myself... they are only four years old..

At night the girls would start out sleeping on their baby couch and baby car bed.  Kari asked last night when she could come up to our bed for some cuddling.  I told her that I would bring her up after she fell asleep.  Silence pursued for about twenty minutes, and I happily thought that perhaps the girls fell asleep early today.  Suddenly a little voice broke the silence, "May I go up now? (什麼時候可以上喫丫？）A little surprised that she was still awake, I replied, "I said when you fall asleep honey."

Little voice sounded disappointed, "but I fell asleep earlier already, and you didn't bring me..."

Obsessed with Princesses

They got their wishes....The beloved princess backpacks made the way into their princess collections.  (Thanks to John's Incredible Pizza and Daddy)My attempt to raise them without the Disney influence -- Epic FAIL.  Kari did so great with the dentist and Kayla with her first day alone at school, that they just deserved a wonderful presents as such.  Kayla said that she was very sad to go to school by herself, and she wanted to cry.  But she was brave and held back the tears...

Kari twirling around in front of the dentist's office, waiting to get in.  She was happy, with not a trace of fear.  She said she wasn't going to cry, and she didn't shed a single tear!  Still delirious from the conscious sedation, she asked if she could have "dippin-dots".   I asked if she knew that Mommy held her hand during the treatment.  She said she thought it was the dentist uncle holding her little hand...

My poor baby survived her first dental visit!  Hugs.

Little Fashionista

Through the melt-downs, tantrums, misunderstood demands...
She gives me these looks that make me giggle at the end of the day.

Her favorite things to say as of now:
"Everything is broking!"
"Mommy, you're in TROUBLE!" coupled with her cutest pretend-angry face that I never want to forget!

Just another day

    Although she rarely stands still for me anymore, Kayla posed here like a true princess, just before she happily went off to school.  Just another day of autumn, and just a little taller.

Autumn

   A stroll around the block, Kari greedily stuffed her little jean pocket full of beautiful autumn leaves.  She loves them just as much as me.  "Is it still autumn now, mommy?" She'd ask, afraid that winter will come too soon and sweep away all the gorgeous fall colors.  I want to stay in this season for just a little bit longer...  

More so, and perhaps greedy of me, I just want them stay this small for one more autumn...

                     Blissfully giddy over her collection of autumn leaves

                                  Kari F. The smile that brings light to my life.

2013 Day 2

Day 2 of 2013, as I sent them off to school.

My new year's resolution:
1. Be who I want my girls to be...  
2. Eat, stretch, and exercise.
3. Paint my fairytale and compose my own storybook, one day at a time, a story that belongs to me,  a tale that's decided by me, and a beautiful life that I choose to live.

2013 Day 1

Just waking up from her nap, she clutched to her Cinderella and gave me a big smile.  I know I will be saying this for years to come, but I can't believe she is growing up a little everyday.  It's getting harder for me to hold her, but I will for as long as I can.

"Happy New Year, Kayla!" I said as I held her in bed.  She said defensively folding her hands across her chest as if she's mad, "No mama, it's my normal ear, it's not new..."

Watching Ice Age 4 before bedtime, she broke the silence and exclaimed loudly, "EVERYTHING IS BROKING!!!!"

Don't ever change, Kayla, you are too cute.

By Kayla F. My Family.  

Lovely, although... who is that extra person in there?  (It's her cousin Kenneth, she said)   She drew figures the same way I did when I was little, without noses.   And no offense taken, the mother was depicted here as having enormous feet...

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Ready for another round of 365 days?  Bring it on!