First Mother's Day

I know Mother's Day is way passed but since it is my first celebrated mother's day (yes, dave forgot I am also a mother last year), it's still worth posting. :)
Here is the dinner that Dave's prepared: Ribeye steaks, steam mussels with garlic prosciutto sauce, asparagus, watermelon and red bean ice cream.
we were thinking XX probably can't eat steak ( she only has 4.5 teeth), so we prepared soup and rice for her. Apparently, we were under estimated her belly and her teeth, she ate 1/3 of my 12 oz ribeye plus her own food and 1 slice of watermelon.
Again, thanks Dave!!! Me and Charlotte both enjoy this mother's day dinner very much.




XX kept saying " wowwwww........." when she saw the food.

Super Busted!

Busted!
Last Sunday before church, we put Charlotte in her crib, thinking that she would recharge in time for church. When it was about time to go, we went to go wake her up...but then she was busted.
Instead of taking a nap, she was reading the whole time! She had grabbed a couple of her favorite books from the dresser next to her crib. (She's got long arms!) And of course she was super cranky at church.

Super Busted!
Yesterday, I come home from school. Alexis greets me at the door and says, put down your stuff. Look what she did:


So when XX finished her nap, she wanted to have a little fun on her own. She grabbed the two boxes of Kleenex from the dresser and pulled out the tissues one by one.



The tissues didn't go back into the boxes so we just stuffed them into our cabinet. So if you're over at our house, just help yourself.

Charlotte - The Waterbaby

Last Saturday, we took Charlotte to her first swimming lesson. We were so excited, thinking XX would love it. She has loved swimming and taking baths since she was born. But after a long winter, things have changed. Now, we need to help her remember those good old swimming days....
I totally blamed the instructor. XX was doing great and having so much fun until we sang 'Ring Around the Rosie.' At the all fall down part, the instructor told us to dunk XX in the water. After that, XX whined for 25 mins. (The whole lesson was 30 mins).


She was so anxious to get into the pool


She was so happy at first


About to sing songs


She was so scared after Dave dunked her, she refused to do anything else


She finally felt better after going down the waterslide

Cherry Blossom Festival + XX First Easter Hunt

We finally made it to the Cherry Blossom Festival this year. Sakura is somthing I've wanted to see since I was little, probably because of the influence of the Japanese Culture (mainly cartoons and soaps). I wanted to go to the Festival even before we moved to Maryland, and for some reason we missed it last year. I was so disappointed (complained to Dave for months about that).
So this time, we went and what's more is we went with Colby (Colby and Dave served in HK/Macau together) and his wife Ginny while they were in town for the weekend.

We also took XX to the Primary Easter Hunt last Saturday. I took out the Hello Kitty Easter basket that I bought from the Easter Clearance last year. Doesn't she look cute with HK?!

XX didn't do too bad for her first Egg Hunt either (of course with our help), she got 16!!!

If you want to see more pics, here you go:

Cherry Blossom Festival + Easter Egg Hunt

Calling for help

So after a day of playing, walking around the neighborhood, and strolling in the mall, it was time for XX to call it a night.

On the car ride home she was already telling us about her crib while complaining that we were going so slow.

When we got home it was time to change into pj's. XX had enough. While I gave her my phone as a distraction, she used it to call for help. Next thing I notice, the phone says:

Connecting
Emergency Call

So I grab the phone and hang up. Fewer than 10 seconds later, I get a call from the phone number 000000.

"Montgomery County Police, is there an emergency?"

"No. There isn't. My baby was playing with the phone. Sorry."

We had just finished our taxes last night (thanks again Alexis!) - we owe the county $426. I guess it's not so bad if we actually got in trouble and XX needed to phone for help.

Spring Break Pics Below:

Springbreak '09

Spring Break

There's no place like home.

I've lived in California, Washington, Hawaii, Hong Kong, and Maryland (by time, longest to shortest). Although all of our things are in Rockville MD right now, I still feel more at home in Woodinville WA. It could just be that the east coast takes time to get used to, or that I'm back in the house that I grew up in, or that streets are so familiar that I don't need to even take GPS along.

Seattle is truly a beautiful place. Today it seemed as though Spring was just coming out from hibernation. There was a little bit of sun and a little bit of grey, but no rain or cold. Grandma took XX out for a walk to get the mail and XX didn't want to come back inside. After a nice nap, they went back out for another walk, up the hill to see the horses. Meanwhile, Alexis and I went down to Pike Place Market to get some crab. We went a little late so the market was emptying out. The last few stalls open were the cut flower stands. Alexis pointed out some flowers and stopped to smell them. I dug my nose into them too. The smell was so nice -it reminded me of when I used to work in a flower shop. On the way back home we crossed the bridge over Lake Washington. The sky here was especially blue, more so than I have ever seen in Maryland. There was plenty of snow on the mountains in the distance. I just took a deep breath and felt at home again.

But one part of home is hurting though. Our friend's restaurant is struggling. When Lynn opened Lynn's Bistro 8 years ago, I helped move in some old hotel tables that later became the ones used in the dining area. At their 1 year celebration, I poured drinks for many of her regulars. When I stopped in from college, I'd find time to steam clean her carpets. During a crisis moment, Paul and I reprinted all of her menus (in the car with an inverter powering a laptop and a printer!) just in time for dinner. Although I was never hired by Lynn, I wanted to help her succeed because besides being an amazing chef, she is an especially kind person. The food she makes doesn't just fill people up. She helps to make occasions special through her food. Our friends still talk about her food and chocolate mousse cake that were served at our wedding reception. She loves what she does, and only takes off a week or two each year for vacation. After a long night cooking, she'll cook again for her staff, and once she even stayed around to play and giggle with XX.

But business is down by about half and the restaurant might not last much longer. It's sad to witness the economy bullying someone you know. Home wouldn't feel the same if "Lynn's" weren't around.

I'm going to go tomorrow and here's what I'm getting:
Famous French onion soup
Spinach salad
Ribeye
Chocolate mousse cake

Stop by if you are in the Seattle area. Dave sent you.

Packing and Unpacking

If you checked my status on Facebook or have kept in contact with me recently, you would probably already know that we moved again. Yes, again!!!!! We found a raccoon in our attic and we would have stayed if our landlord hadn't been such a jerk and refused to do anything for the longest time. The raccoon not only damaged our heating ducts, it also left all the poo poo and shee shee which probably contained rabies and other parasites everywhere in our attic. When Dave informed our landlord about the situation, and requested him to fix it as soon as possible, he started accusing us being picky, and went on to say that the poo poo and shee shee was nothing. To make a long story short, we filed a complaint with our county about the contaminated condition of the house. Our landlord finally took us seriously and let us break the lease early (this part is another long story...don’t want to get into it).

So here we are, packing and unpacking. We appreciate and are so grateful for all the people who helped us move again. We are trying to stay in this new place as long as we can, hopefully as least until Dave graduates. Thank you again!!!!



They are working so hard





Big helper with Small Sticky hands








"Where should this one go ?"


" Mama, all the cheeseburgers have paid off. Can I have a McDouble now? mum mum mum....."