Another Bday Cake

Yes, it`s another birthday.  Yes, I love the kiddies.  Yes, I like cake.  But no, I don't like the sign on top of the cake though...Spent the day with the kids and they were nice to me.  No tantrums or talking back.  We had alot of parties during the holidays so it was nice just to hang out.

I played hookie the next day (with Rich) to enjoy a day without the kids.  Had breakfast at IHOP, lunch at Boathouse, watched a matinee, then had dinner at Browns Social House.  The day went by so fast and it felt like we did nothing all day.  Thanks Tweet for taking me out.

Christmas Dinner at the Wongs

For this year's Christmas gathering, the Leung family and Wong family celebrated together.  This year, we made turkey and lamb, which turned out good and not good respectively.  The turkey was nice and moist. The lamb, was hard and overcooked.  Luckily there were lots of other foods to around.  Due to a dairy allergy and vegetarians, people also brought in food to ensure there was something to eat for each person.  

The party continued even after we put the kids to bed (yay) and the adults sat around having drinks til past midnight.  It was a fun gathering with family.  Next year, we'll have to bring out the karaoke and we'll have to take more pics!  (did anyone notice the light disappeared in the above pic?)

16 Months - Josh

Little Josh is 16 months.  He really enjoys attacking the Christmas tree with his toys.  When we first put the tree up, he kept on going up the tree and touching the branches to pull off all the ornaments.  He knows better now.  He's not allowed to touch the tree!  So instead, he takes a toy and pokes the tree with it.  What a smart monky.

Sierra Xmas Party

The is the first year we've attended Sierra's company Christmas party.  Ho, ho, ho... wow, were there alot of young families in this company.  We met several of Rich's coworkers who also had 3 kids, also in the same age range as our family, so we fit right now.  

The girls had a terrific time, doing arts and crafts, watched a magic show and met Santa for the very first time!  Santa was so nice; he had presents for every child.  Granted, all the kids were good this year, right?

Here are a couple of pics of the kiddies:

Walking Josh (video)

Josh is walking, yay!

Meant to upload this video a while ago.  Because Josh was a runner (always running instead of walking slowly), we were too busy chasing after him so he didn't fall on his head.  So in this video, he is already walking quite well:

Food Allergies

It's been a few years since the girls were tested for their food allergies.  We finally saw the pediatric allergist today, after a 6-month wait.  Both girls did the prick test on their arms and both were itching, scratching and complaining.  The conclusion:   Jas is allergic to peanut and grass.  Julia is allergic to peanut, grass, weeds and dust mites.

Interesting - no wonder both of their asthma acted up when they played soccer over the summer.  They are both allergic to grass!  I guess no more soccer for them.  Little Jules gets to buy special covers for her mattress, pillow and duvet, to avoid dust mites.  Another thing on our shopping list.

A Day Off from Work - Black Friday Shopping

Both Tweet and I took the day off work today, for Black Friday shopping tomorrow.  We've never gone down before so it'll be neat to do it.  Not taking kids though, too dangerous.  We took care of the kids during the day and then drove down in the evening.  We packed the day with activities:

- we walked Jas to school.  It was stuffy day so she took her beloved Pikachu to class.

- and then we walked Jules and Josh to the nearby school, to register Julia for her kindergarten class next September.  We haven't used this double stroller in quite some time, but it seems like the kiddies like it.  Josh didn't fuss at all.  

- Mommy then went for an acupuncture treatment while Daddy put Josh to nap
- then at 3pm, we picked up Jas from school and headed to the community clinic for both Jas and Julia to get the flu shot
- at 5pm, off to Bellingham for shopping
- all of these things done in 6 hours...
- PHEWF!  Best of all, we brought back $800 of stuff and was not taxed!

15 Months - Never Stops

Boy, can he move fast.  We've been trying to get Josh to walk slower around the house.  He's been walking for about 2 weeks already but very unsteadily.  He doesn't just walk...he runs.  Unfortunately, he is like how Jas was when she was learning to walk.  And Jas fell alot.  Josh charges off, not cautious at all.

To ensure that he doesn't fall over like a tree and bonk his head, we basically have to follow him everywhere, chasing him here and there and catching him whenever he takes a tumble.  This is the best pic I could get of him.  He just keeps walking off..

Jessica Yee Yee Visits

From the kids:   We met with Jessica yee yee and Uncle Carl this week.  She is Mommy's friend from a long long time ago but she moved to HK.  They haven't seen each other in 8 years, before I was even born.  Wow, they are so old...jk.

Mommy went out for dinner with Jessica yee yee and Auntie Daisy at Minami, where they served really good Japanese food.  I heard Mommy coming home at 1am in the morning...bad Mommy, partying out all night.

And then one night, Jessica yee yee came over to our house for a visit and brought lots of presents.  I was so excited; I love new toys.  It was really late though, 10pm, way past my bed time so I wasn't allowed to play with the toys until the next day.  We did take a couple of pics.  Too bad I was in my pjs already.  I wanted to wear frilly dress.  

Thanks for coming over to play.  Please come and visit again soon.

Ice Skating - Backwards

Both Jas and Jules are taking ice skating lessons on the weekends.  They love it.

For the past 3 weeks, they've really improved a lot on the ice.  They went from being scared to go onto the ice and hanging on the side railings, to now - skating backwards!  Pretty impressive.  Soon I'll need to ask them to teach me how to skate.

Happy Birthday Jas!

It's another cupcake success! Jas is celebrating her bday at school this year, as we are not having a bday party for her.  Her newest passion is Pokemon so we made chocolate cupcakes (nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free) with Pokemon thingy's on top, for her to take to class.  She was very happy that day.

For home, we bought a chest nut cake (bad Mommy...forgot about the nut allergy) so only the adults could eat the cake.  Yay, more for me...   Happy Birthday Jasmine!

Jas Bonked Nose Accident

Jas started a new school this Fall term and I haven't received any phone calls from her school yet (I knew it'll come one day).  And then today, I got a call from the school counsellor.  There was nothing "wrong" but she's calling all the new students who entered that school year.  Oh, ok.  How nice and thought nothing of it.  

It wasn't until I got home that I realized what happened.  Jas had a terrible fall at school today; she fell flat on her face!  And came home with a really scratched up nose/face.  Poor Jas.  

Yee Yee Bday Visit

We celebrated Yee Yee's bday today with a special dinner that Mommy cooked and special cupcakes.  It's soooo special because Mommy never cooks... LOL.  And that the food were free of gluten, dairy, soy, egg and nuts.  The kiddies all miss Yee Yee.  Thanks for hanging out with us.  Happy Birthday to Yee Yee!  

Halloween Night

Trick or treat, says the girls.  They were so pumped up to go out this year that they finished dinner by 6:30pm (and that never happens).  The 3 Js were:  yellow angry bird, pink butterfly and green dragon.  Not sure why, but it seems Josh was much happier when he was a devil!

We walked in the neighborhood and visited the small complex a block away.  People were scooping handfuls of treats for them.  Jas' bucket handle broke, cus it was so heavy.  After 45 minutes, we were pooped and went home to light up fireworks.  Poor Josh was so scared of the noise that we had to carry him the entire time.

Didn't get any time during the week to decorate the house so I threw all of the decorations onto the house after I got home from work.  This is what the house looked like.  Not bad for 1.5 hours of decorating.  Can't wait for next year!

14 Months - Josh

Little Josh is now 14 months.  He loves to climb on and into things, especially the laundry baskets.  One of his favorite sitting spots is in Jas' laundry basket, next to the bookshelf, where he reads the musical books.

Taking pics of Josh is getting harder and harder.  We did manage to grab this shot of him when it was pouring outside and we threw Daddy's cap on him.

Future Profession Decision - Josh (video)

Do we have a future doctor in the house?  For each of the kids, after their 1st birthday, we predict what profession they will be in the future.  We do this by offering them a selection of items that represent the different professions:  singer, dentist, engineer, accountant, doctor, chef, gambler and writer.

And guess what?  Little Josh picked being a doctor!  Yay!  So now, we are expecting a doctor, a dentist and an engineer...    (see below posts for Jas and Julia's pickings)

http://leungwong.blogspot.ca/2008/12/is-she-going-to-be-dentist.html

http://leungwong.blogspot.ca/2011/02/julia-1-years-old-video.html

Thanksgiving in Victoria

We went to Victoria for Thanksgiving dinner this year (thanks YJ for cooking everything.)  It was great seeing the family.  The kids loved riding on the ferry and chasing the cats around the house.  Of course, they really enjoyed playing with cousin Kyle, who they don't see often enough.

We stayed at Parkside hotel, a 2 bedroom suite for 1 night.  Wished we could have stayed longer as it was really nice inside, around 1000sq ft. and they had this indoor pond with live gold fish.

The 2 girls were easy to travel with but for Josh, not great.  Because he wasn't used to staying in a weirdo hotel, he woke several times during the night so I ended up carrying him all night long.  Because of this, I don't think we'll be traveling much til Josh is a little older.  Til next year...

Vegas - Last Minute

(High Roller ride at The Linq)

We did it.  We managed to get away on our own without any of the kids.  We went to Vegas for 3 nights. For $250/person including flights and 3 nights hotel at Palms with daily breakfast buffet, how could we resist?  

The week before, both Jas and Jules were sick so we thought the trip was cancelled.  But on Monday night at 11pm, I asked, are we going?  Our flight leaves at 8am in the morning.  The girls SEEMED not sick.  So we decided to take the chance.

The first day we arrived, we ate at the Seafood buffet at Palms.  The crab legs, to die for.  You grab a plate, pile on as many crab legs as you can and ask the guys to steam it for you.  YUM!  I had 3 full plates.  And I also had 3 glasses of wine (included free with buffet).  And dessert, and that was all I could handle.  I collapsed in our hotel room after that.  Rich did better.  He had 3 beers and 3 glasses of wine...

We bought the Powerpass and visited the Voodoo zipline (Rio), National Atomic Testing Museum, Springs Preserve, Sky Zone trampoline, NYNY roller coaster, LV Mini Gran Prix.  It was fun.  On the last day there, we went shopping at the outlets and Mr. Tweet found some great deals and bought a gazillion amount clothes.

In my hand, is a cracked geode busted into tiny pieces.  There are tiny crystals or quart in it.  I wanted to crack in half, but I got crumbled pieces.

It was a terrific trip; if only Tweet didn't get sick on Day 2.  Hopefully we'll be able to have more alone time in the future.

Eating Fun - Video snippets of Josh Learning to Eat (video)

Finally had some time to convert videos of Josh eating in his high chair.  He sure makes alot of funny faces.  I try to capture all the fun times.  It's a short video of about 8 clips combined.  I love it.

Accidental Bonk - Julia

Poor little Muimui bonked her head today.  And she fell on her head yesterday too.  In these pics, she has a bruise/large bump on her right forehead, but not sure if I actually captured it.  

It's really strange lately, she's been tripping over her own feet and falling down on her face alot, for no real reason. Maybe distracted and not watching where she's stepping but if it keeps up, we'll take her to the docs to get assessed.  

Front Teeth - Jas

Poor Jas, one of her front tooth was hanging on a thread in her mouth.  She's been pushing and turning the tooth to help it fall off.  While at school today, her teacher asked to help her with the tooth and just yanked it off.  And Jas said that it didn't even hurt!!!  Yay.  See her smile now.