Princess Playtime

Eating a cookie ice cream!

Happy Princess!

Serious Princess!

Silly Princess!

The curley.

Two princesses fighting.

Little princess!

The girls are in full blown princess stage at the moment.  Our neighbor, Meagan, gave us a bunch of princess dress up costumes her daughter outgrew and the girls are always wearing something from the "princess pretend play box".   Like this morning after breakfast, Saya disappeared to the playroom down stairs and when she came up to the living room, she was wearing a princess tussle and pink flower tutu.  It's almost as if it's a daily routine for them. 

Their demeanor is nothing like princesses, though.   They fight like cage fighters and scream like monkeys at the zoo.  They ride bikes around outside in the pink fluff and I am sure wouldn't mind sleeping in it.  Watching them lay down together and cuddle in the sunlight in their puffy dresses is the cutest thing ever!  They are like puppies who cannot help but be cute.  I wish I could keep them about the size they are now!  They are growing up so fast...

Akimatsuri - Japan Fall Festival

Today was a fun day.  In the mid morning, I took Sean and Alyson to Akimatsuri held at Bellevue College.  Mike stayed with Saya and Noah at home since his foot hurt.  They participated in a lot of fun activities relating to Japanese culture and they genuinely enjoyed all of them.  That made me smile big because at least they were able to experience what I did as a child in Japan.  They did kingyotsuri (catching game of gold fish with paper scooper), yoyo tsuri (a game of picking up colorful water balloons with paper string), wanage (ring toss) and oshuji (Japanese calligraphy).  They watched performances like okoto (Japanese string instrument), soran bushi (fisherman's dance) and wadaiko (drums), too.  Aly and Sean could not believe their eyes when they saw Anpanman and Dokin-chan from their favorite Japanese show also.  They were walking around entertaining children.  We walked a lot, so they were very tired by the end . 

By the way, all the children wore jinbei, a light summer clothing, all day today.  They loved it!  It was hot today and it kept them cool.  I was surprised Sean wanted to wear it, too.  I was going to put it on Noah, but he wanted to wear it.  It was a tad small since the size was 3T, but he wanted to join the fun by wearing something different.  They looked extra adorable!

Oh, and I did take Saya there after dropping the older ones off at home.  I thought she might enjoy it since Sean and Aly liked it so much.  She was more interested in picking up rocks and fallen leaves.  She did spot Dokin-chan and she was shy at first.  However, with a little warm-up time, she decided Dokin-chan would be her new Mommy.  She followed her everywhere there after, determined to be in every picture others snapped of their children.  When Dokin-chan squat down, little Saya squat down right next to her.  She threw fits when others try go shake her hands.  I had to distract her with apple juice to separate her from her new love.  She is a funny girl.  The girl in Dokin-chan's costume thought it was hilarious.

Visit to Lewiston and First Week of Kindergarten

A little nervous to smile!

Ready for school!

The walk to school.

Ready to go inside the school.

Sean lining up to get into his class.

Sean at his seat coloring the birthday cake card.  Not much interaction between children.  I guess they were all nervous.

So my big boy is officially a kindergartner. He was excited and nervous at the same time. We went to visit grandpa and Shasha on the labor day weekend right before the school started. That was an excitement on its own. We wanted to spend one last time with family before we go back to the school mode again.

We left on Saturday early afternoon after having lunch and arrived to Lewiston before 7 pm. We took the regular potty break at Othello, but something I wasn't too happy about happened right before. I got a speeding ticket!! I am usually good, not a dumb speeder. I don't call myself a speed limit lover, but I know when to slow down. But I guess it just happens sometimes. This is my second speeding ticket ever in my 21 years of driving history (both time after having kids), so I won't be too hard on myself.

We had a good time in Lewiston. We took the kids to the river and they happily played in the water. Saya wasn't a water girl, but she loved playing with the shovels and mud. Noah had the best time of all. He was giggling and all about smiles and wanted to venture into the deeper spot. He was wearing floaters, but I wouldn't let him go too deep. Kids were constantly running around in grandpa's house and backyard. They didn't sleep so much, either, so by the time we got home, they were beyond tired. In fact, it took them a few days to recover from the fatigue (I am thinking so did grandpa and Shasha!) Thank you Bob and Marsha for letting us come to visit you in such a short notice!

But the children were ready to go to school on Monday. Sean woke up around 6:30 am and was a different kid. He was asking a lot of questions about school and he was more serious. Since his school starts at 9:00 am, it's too late for Mike to drop him off at school. That means I have to take other three with me to Sean's school everyday. So, we got all other children ready and off we went, two of them in the stroller and other two walked. We took some pictures in front of the house before we left. He was happy and nervous at the same time. I could see a lot of things were on his mind as he headed up to his brand new school.

More and more parents and their children flocked as we got closer to school. It's only about 6 minutes walk to school from our house. I've never realized before that there are so many children in the walking proximity school. Where were they hiding all this time? I must say though, we were the only parents walking with four children.

When Sean wen into the main hall and met his new teacher, Mrs. Fotheringham, he told her "I have a cat and her name is Grace."  The teacher said "oh, that's nice!"  It was really cute.  By then he had the down to business voice and face on.  I went into his classroom and watched him find his name tag and cubby.  He found his chair, at the front as I requested, and sat there looking around the room and his new classmates.  He watched other children and started coloring his birthday cake card the teacher gave him.  I told him I love him and wished him the best.  He said "ok" in a serious tone and I left him then.  I almost got teary looking at my little boy being so big and brave.  The little baby I had, he is five now.  He has learned so much compared to where he was two years ago.  That kid is going to be alright!

Good-bye Summer Vacation~!

The kids love the water table. 

Alyson fell and bumped her chin on the train table while Amy was watching.  She was ok.

She is officially then most scarred kid in the house.

Saya wins the snottiest kid in the house.

Well, this summer was something. I've never fully understood what the veteran parents were griping about, but now I know. Summer, the sunshine, warm weather and fun t-shirts and cute sun dresses are nice, but the summer break is darn too long!! Knowing how I might forget this feeling in the future, as I did in child labor, I wanted to make a note of it here that it was hard. The children were bored and that led them to misbehave, which resulted in yelling by all members of the family.

We did have some fun, but those moments are hazed in distance and I will have to revisit them in photos to remember.   Note to myself: enroll kids in more summer programs!  They are expensive but how much is my brain worth?  Thank goodness the school started this week, which I will write about in the next post.  I wish I sound more fruity, but my goodness, it reminded me of the summer when the twins were young infants and Sean had nothing to do all summer. 

Now, we are all trying to settle ourselves in the new routine.   I am trying to find a formula that works for us.  So far what I've learned this summer was, less driving less stress.  If don't have to go anywhere, just stay put in the house.  Don't overbook myself trying to keep the kids happy.  They are happy with anything, usually, as long as I spend time with them. 

So, hello school year!  I am glad you came.

Nana and Uncle Aaron's Visit

Tina and uncle Aaron pushing kids on swings.  Uncle Aaron wins perfect 10 for his siwng pushability and form.

Nana modeling us the brandnew cat bag the kids gave her for her birthday.

Pretty Aly at the picnic.

Saya wouldn't smile on demand, but she is cute anyway.

We all love picnics!

Daddy and Saya's sweet moment.

Kids look glorious under the golden sunshine and bright greens.

At dinner on Sat.  Uncle Aaron with Zoolander eyes.

We ate and ate and ate...

Nana with the cock candle and Chocolate cake!  She had a very good birthday celebration this year!

Nana and uncle Aaron and Tina visited us on the weekend of Aug 27. Nana arrived on Thursday and stayed until Sunday. The kids really enjoy visits by close relatives. Sean in particular was saying "yay! Nana is coming, I am so excited!" and told therapists and anyone who would listen how happy he was. That is a huge improvement from last year's "go away, I don't like you!" phase.

We had a really good time with the family. We ate well and spent Saturday at the wine country in Woodinville. Mike, kids and I had a picnic on the lawn of Redhook brewery and took some awesome pictures as on the title shot above! It was a beautiful day, not too hot with bright blue sky. The grown ups except me stayed in Woodinville and enjoyed wine tasting after lunch.

We went out to Seattle's International District on Sat evening and feasted on home style Japanese food. I am glad Tina likes Sushi, too. She is going to be trained as a chef in Portland, so I am very excited for her to show me what she learned in the northwest cuisine course she is planning to attend this fall. We celebrated Nana's birthday at the restaurant with super sweet chocolate cake and a cock candle (I grabbed what I had at my house).

Nana left on Sunday morning, but Tina and Aaron stayed until Monday morning. They obtained two tickets to Jeff Bridges Band concert in Woodinville on Sunday evening. I've never heard him play and have not watched the movie. I must check it out since everyone is talking how good it was.

It was neat to see how the children enjoyed being with Nana and their favorite uncle. Tina is really good with children and she won the kids' hearts. We are happy they live only 3 hours away now and will be able to spend holidays together. Hopefully, Nana will join us and become a pacific northwesterner soon!
Thanks for coming guys!  We had a really nice time and looking forward to seeing you guys next time!