Post V-Day Potluck

Mia and I had some friends over tonight. We had 9 adults and 11 kids going crazy in our lil' house. The adults ate, drank and laughed and the kids, well, let's just saying "went crazy" is fairly accurate. Here are the kids begrudgingly agreeing to take a group picture.

And here are two sleepy heads who stayed up until 11:30pm! Mia is always sleeping over at her cousins and pao pao's house and was sad because no one sleeps over at her house...well, needless to say, Anika made Mia's weekend!


I took a bunch of cute pictures and here they all are:

Happy Valentine's Day

We hope you have a great Valentine's Day and hopefully you received our card. If not, let me know cuz if you know about this blog and have any interest reading it, you should be on our holiday mailing list.

The pictures were taken by my brother, Randy. Mia was getting bored, but good thing Auntie FerFer was around to keep Mia interested and entertained. Here are the good photos from the day's shoot. The girl is definitely a poser. I swear, I didn't teach her!!!!

Mia & Mason together again

The last time we saw Mason, he had no real interest in playing with Mia. But now that he's older, they had a blast together! It was great that they enjoyed each other's company so the parents could catch-up and enjoy Julie's home cooked meal.

They liked playing in the cardboard house that Jules recently bought. It was so cute cuz they were pretending to be monsters and making it a "scary" house. But I think the big hit was Mark's iPhone...who knew there was a "farting" application. You spin the wheel and it lands on a different fart sound. The kids loved it. What is it with kids and farting and burping?!?!?

We tried to get a hugging picture, but silly us, we tried to take it with the tv on. Mason had zero interest in the camera and Mia is so used to me putting a camera in her face that she can do a quick smile and turn away to not miss more than half a second of whatever is going on.

Mark and Jules live in this awesome building in the city. It really makes me miss living in the city. Maybe one day I'll move back...like in 14 years when Mia is off to college!

Pre-Valentine's Celebration

Today was a big day at school...Valentine's Day parties! We got so excited about our V-day cards, Mia picked princess cards and I picked up some cute lollipops at William-Sonoma that looked liked cherries so it was a double lollipop. Well, our bubble burst cuz they said NO candy with the Valentine's (mommy doesn't read so well!), so they sent all the cute lollipops home. Oh well, more candy for the crazy kids, just what we need.

The kids were in a posing mood for the camera for once. Well, they probably thinking, if we just pose real quick, she'll leave us alone to enjoy our lollipops...

Mia

Dan Dan (Jordan)

Jalen

Lunch at the Ferry Building...again!

Whenever the weather is nice, I've decided that I'm going to hop on Bart with Mia and head into the city. I love the city and miss living there but I'm happy that Mia loves it there as much as I do...so city, watch out, these two girls are heading out there more often!

Another reason I love the city is that I get to visit with my friend Emily. Mia has not seen Auntie Em in awhile, but she has a good memory and remembers that Auntie Em is fun and nice, so she gets a big hug and cute picture.

My girl being cute.

We were at the Ferry Building again for lunch. On Monday at Lulu Petite (yum) and today at Hog Island Oyster (double yum).

Lombard Street and the Ferry Building

We took Auntie FF into the city today to pick-up some things from her doctor's office. Since it was such a gorgeous day, we took full advantage of it. Somehow, no matter where we are, Auntie FF comes up with the best ideas. We took Mia down Lombard Street twice. She loved it! She calls it the curvy street. Then we headed to the Ferry Building for lunch. I just love that place. After lunch we took in some sun and the beautiful view.

A curtsey for the camera.

Silly Mia.

Back into the Ferry Building for dessert. I love this picture and I'm bummed Mia turned out blurry.

The best sorbet we've every had!

After the city, we went back to Castro Valley and Mia got silly with Auntie FF's beanie. The girl finds fun in everything.

Chinese NYE Dinner

Not that we need an occassion to get together, but today was a special day...Chinese New Year's Eve. We headed to my parents for what was sure to be a feast. In addition to all the traditional NYE food that we have, my dad shows me one of the treats...


Here are the kids after begging them to take a picture together. Why do kids hate getting their pictures taken? Or is it just that they don't like to listen. Mun Mun had to be bribed with a cookie to get in the picture. I could honestly see MM going into a job interview and saying..."Will work for food." No joke!!!!

And of course, a silly photo of them. I love that Baby even has a silly face!

Our girls. I really should have put Mia on the bottom and MM on top. The girl's head is sooo large, especially compared to Mia's tiny head.

Jalen read a story to the other kids. So cute!

Baby loves to dance and loves an audience even more. He stood on top of the coffee table and put on a show for us. We were chanting "Go, Baby, go Baby..." and he loved it.

Karate Girl

Mia started taking karate lessons. She seems to be a enjoying it and she is listening well and doing what the teacher tells her. I really wonder if kids just don't listen to their moms! I swear, she is an angel to everyone but me. All I hear is...Mia is such a sweet girl...Mia has the best manners...Mia is such a good listener and so well behaved. And on and on...I'm thinking, yeah, she is all those things at certain times or after a battle, but man, can she be a handful or two at home! I'll just be happy that she doesn't embarrass her momma in public...that's all that matters, right? ;p

Back to the karate, here she is...



Mia doesn't have a karate outfit only because she doesn't want one. If she continues to like karate, I hope she'll be willing to wear the outfit for the next class. Aren't the four year olds cute in it?

Sharing a historic moment with my daughter

I was asked a few times..."Why do you want to go to the Oakland Coliseum to watch the inauguration, especially with Mia and the large crowds?" It is a historic moment, WHY wouldn't I want to be surrounded by happy and proud people? While staying at home might have been easier and less exhausting (the kids were asleep at 10:30pm and awake at 6:30am!), it was a moment that, although Mia may not fully understand or even remember, I want her to look back on these pictures and say...that was an important day and I was with my mom and thousands of others to celebrate. Whoever thought this would happen in our lifetime? I'm just thrilled that Mia gets to benefit from the breakthrough of this barrier.

One of my new favorite pictures of us.

Kids for Obama! Mia, Ethan and Elizabeth.

Can you tell that Ethan is happy with his button?

Obama Girl!

Ellen and Manny standing proud.

This turned out to be a cool photo, even though Mia was trying to poke me with her flag!

Look at all these people...all happy and excited. If we can keep up this engery, we can be the change that is needed to turn things around!

Obama Girls

I overheard Mia telling her princess figurines that "You're Obama girls, okay?" Definite proud mommy moment. =)

Heading to the Cho's to spend the night so we can get up early to watch the inauguration at the Oakland Coliseum. Whooohooooo!

Here's a video from earlier in the day. We definitely have "Obama Kids"...well, except for one...I think it's just her being shy rather than being, dare I say, a Republican!

Academy of Science

It was so busy at the Academy today. But we still had a great time even though we didn't get to see the rain forest and had to manuver through massive crowds with three walking kids and one in a stroller. I found out later in the evening that Tina & kids and Panda & kid were there today too, but with all the people there, we didn't run into either of them...darn!

On the walkway over the aquarium tanks.

The kids studied that map and told me where to go to find the penguins.

They like the lil' sea eels in the tank.

Getting a lesson from a docent at the touch pool.

Outside enjoying the amazing sun and getting some fresh air.

Baby can twist his tongue!

Mia is doing an apple juice commercial.

Watch out people, the kung fu crew is in town...and then of course, Baby had to join in.

Loving kids...

We are hoping the weather will be nice later this week so we can go back to enjoy the rain forest and maybe even throw in a cable car ride afterwards!