White Christmas

Snow is finally stopped now. We got more snow on Christmas Day, and it's the 5th White Christmas in Seattle since 1891. We got total of 9 3/4" of snow in December.

It was really pretty to look at but we all got the cabin fever after 12 days of snow-in. What else is to do better than bringing out of a 1,000 pieces jigsaw puzzle?

Like every year, I asked kids to pose in front of the Christmas Tree before opening presents on Christmas morning. And they graciously accepted my request every year. My pride and joy.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2006

Shocking! More Snow

So we woke up this morning with more snow, and we are officially stuck at home. There is so much snow in our neighborhood street that only our SUV is able to get out. The other two are stuck in the garage. I am working from home but can't stop goofing off. Like blogging and Facebooking instead of running reports. It's 3 days before Christmas. I can't believe someone schedules a meeting on Dec. 23rd. Hello?

While we slept, more snow fell. Patio off my kitchen is now covered by snow.

I measured the snow fall in the yard this morning. 8.5", not to shabby.

There isn't that much snow on the BBQ grill. That's because my Cave Man decided to BBQ in the snow last night. Whatever left on the grill was about 1.5".

See how much snow we got in a week. This was taken last Thursday, Dec. 18.

This was taken this morning.

Kids woke up and exclaimed, "More snow!" When asked if they would like to play outside, both declined. Wimps.

Winter so far

We got a good dump of snow in the past few days. Although winter does not start until December 21, we are into the Winter Wonderland realdy.

Friday, December 12.

Angie made her first candy house at school. She gave me enough time to snap a coupel of photos before she and her brother ate the candies. By the time I got her teacher's email about saving it for next year, the house was non-existent.

Candy House before it got destroyed.

Saturday, December 13.

We had a blast roller skating. Angie dressed like a Skate Queen, and thought she could skate like one too.

Ian was a bit worried about letting go of the wall at first. But an hour later, he was pretty confident on wheels.

In the evening, we all went to a work/kareoke party. Ian caught everyone's attention when he sang Weird Al's Amamish Paradise, and Angela was tearing her heart out with "Born to Be Wild" and "Sexy Back". I got a little silly after a few shots of fine Puerton Rican Rum. Let's just keep what happen at Wade's, stay at Wade's. Unfortunately not everything stayed. We contracted some bug that night and 48 hours later we were rolling in bed and praying to the porcelain god.

Wenesday, December 17. Rocovered from a bad case of stomach flu, I dragged myself into work. With up to 13 people sick in my work group and the predicted snowy day, my office building was literally like a ghost town. The walkway to my daily latte place was dry and empty. Where was everyone?

Saw a couple of work buddies in the cafeteria. They were the 1st two persons I had conversations with Live vs. IM. We were talking about food poisoing, stomach flu, and plague. Yum!

Thursday, December 18.

We finally got the long promised snow storm. School got cancelled. During my busy working from home day, I snatched a few pictures of birds playing in the snow. They were too quick for my camera.

Dying to test out our new 4x4, my Man decided we needed to get a Christmas tree, Now, Today. He was determented to bring a tree home, he said he would carry the tree home if the "truck" was stuck. He got Eric to help so off they went. 20 minutes later, they were home with milk and this.

Saturday, December 20.

It took us a while, but we did finish trimming the tree before Christmas. Angie could not stop asking to put presents under the tree. As soon as I declared the tree was perfect, she rushed and moved all the presents under the tree. She and Ian were counting and comaring who had more. My kids are really spoiled.

And yes, it did take us 2 days to decorate the tree.

Sunday, December 21.

We got more snow. Gunther was happily playing in the snow while my other children would not bother to put on boots and jacket unless we were getting in a car. He had a long awaited haircut before GrandMs' visit next week.

We got a big dump of snow in the last 24 hours. The top photo was taken on Thursday, and the bottom was taken Sunday afternoon. See how much more snow we got.

Winter offiically starts today. I have a feeling it's going to be a good ski season.

Angie's 6 turning 16

Angie is 6 going 16. Tis her 3rd birthday that we celebrated together. How can we forget? Angie has been reminding us since Thanksgiving. Scott and I both had a crazy day at work then we took kids to their swimming lesson. By the time we got home, it was already seven. That's when the party started!

It's my birthday and all I got was this Subway sandwich.

Wow, cupcake before my bedtime. What's my mom thinking?

These boots are made for walking.

Grandma, you love me. You really love me.


How can a princess without a tiara?

I was a bellarina at my 5th birthday party. Check out my tiara and the tutu my mom made.

I was 4 and into fine jewery. See my tiara?

Give Thanks

Eric is coming home for Thanksgiving weekend. Everyone is excited. Ian and Angela are fighting who misses Eric more at dinner table. Ah, we are no Brady Bunch.

Angie is getting really good at playing piano. She not only loves playing it, she often practices without asking. She learnt "Happy Birthday" the week before Scott's birthday, and played it for him on his birthday. Scott could not be more proud of her.

Being a 1st grader is quite challenging. Angie loves her new school and friends, and boys. She is quite popular among boys in Kindergarten and 1st grade classes. We have had 3 play dates with 3 different boys. If she could, she would have play dates every day. She is definitely more outgoing than Eric and Ian combined. Besides school and piano lessons, Angie loves swimming and tries to keep up with Chinese. Although she speaks less Chinese than she was 3, she is learning the phonics and characters. Yet, she wants to take ballet, karate, gymanastics, and being a Camp Fire girl. I am sorry I have to say no to them becuase I simply do not have the time or energy to keep up with her.

The other day, Angie told me she saw a movie about a girl going to the Witch's Castle. After she finished telling me, I realized it was Wizard of Oz. So, this is the "Wizard of Oz" according to Angela:

This girl, she has shiny red shoes, she is going to the Witch’s Castle. But the Witch is a man hiding behind a curtain. On her way to the Witch’s Castle, she made some friends, a scarecrow, a lion, and a robot. And they are poor.

O, and she had a dog but I forgot his name. He was so cute. I wish I could have my own dog.

When they get to the castle, the man give all her friends a gift but she doesn't have a gift. The girl was sad, so the man told her she could go home. But she could go home without his help.

And there are some more, but I don't remember.

Ian's teacher invited him to join the parent-teacher conference. I am so proud of him explaining his ideas clearly and confidently. He is such a sweet boy never wanted to get his friends in trouble. He is reading two grades above his level, and he is really into the Warriors series now. Other than reading, gaming, and swimming lesons, he is really good at art. He crated so many good piecies that I am running out of wall space for them. I started display them at work. O, they are my stress relief.

An artist and a musician, they are my retirement plans.

I am grateful our kids are healthy, kind, and brave. I can't believe how lucky I am.

Second Day in Paradise

*August 10, 2008*

11:38 AM: After chasing waves most of the morning, we decided to put on our hiking shoes and head toward Diamond Head Crater. It’s all uphill from here, baby!
11:40 AM: Along the way, we saw this Redhead Bird.

11:51 AM: We stopped and enjoyed the view. The girl was unhappy because we stopped her from climbing on the rails.

11:59 AM: There were dark tunnels.

12:02 PM: There were stairs.
12:03 PM: And more stairs.

12:06 PM: Crawl through a bunker. 12:07 PM: We "barely" made it! At least some of us still had our clothes on. 12:08 PM: The view was worth of all the sweat, tears, and blood. Yes, blood. My kids whined so much that made my ears bleeded. (Picture taken by Ian. ) 12:09 PM: Angela celebrated it by climbing the wall.

12:26 PM: And we take the same way down. 12:58 PM: Angela celebrated the decline by climbing a tree. Eric decided to put on a shirt since there were no desirable girls to impress.
1:45 PM: We continued on HWY 72 and stopped by beaches along the way. Finally we arrived at the famous Hanauma Bay Beach Park that EVERYONE told me about. We saw people snorkeling.
2:04 PM: After enjoyed the sea view , we decided it’s about time to feed the kids. I got stuck behind this while waiting in line. 2:14 PM: Bento Hawaiian style: Teriyaki chicken, SPAM, and fried fish. Yum!
3:25 PM: Kids decided there was enough sightseeing so we headed back to our hotel and change. On the way back to the hotel, kids showed off what they learned from the Summer camp.

They really loved the water and spent another 2 hours boogie boarding. After washing off the sand, they both crashed before we were ready for our long anticipated Sushi dinner. We had to wake them up and dragged them to the restaurant. They were so tired that they cried while waiting for our food to arrive. Fortunately, Sashimi does not take much time to cook.

The First 24 Hours of My Vacation

*I had trouble accessing Internet while in Hawaii. I finally am able to publish when I got home. This happened Aug. 9.

8:53 AM: iPod’s on, headphone’s in. Yeah, we are ready to board the plane.

9: 55 AM: Captain said we can turn on our electronics now.

12:03 PM (or 3:03 PM Pacific Time): Are we there yet?

12:27 PM: Yeah, we landed safely. Check out the matching shirts!

1:23 PM: Where is the rental car? We want to be at the beach!

3:25 PM: What do you do after offloading your stuff in the hotel? Going to ABC Stores and getting more.
3:37 PM: Finally on the beach getting our feet wet. This is premier Wakiki sand.
5:15 PM: Feeling like in paradise watching beautiful sunset on the beach!

5:23 PM: Until this guy showed up.
6:30 PM: It has been 8 hours since ate the airplane food. We are looking for good local eats. The busiest place in town is CCF.

7:13 PM: We have our first meal in International Market. Check out our after dinner entertainment. different artist performs daily. We will come back and check out other performs later.
8:03 PM: Guess where we found Eric after he had Shaved Ice.
6:21 AM, Aug. 10: We woke up to a slightly dampened street. Reminds us home.
7:38 AM: We went to somewhere familiar for breakfast. Where I found there is no such thing as "Free Internet" on the island.
8:29 AM: Figuring out what to do in the next 8 days. Thanks to Steve for the Road Atlas. It’s getting used a lot!