Warm Spring Day in Bellevue

Saya posing for the camera, but could not relax because there were some bugs flying around.

Saya worried about bugs.

Who is this cute girl?

Saya talking to Yuana.

Interestin pose, Yuana!

Cute Elli chan.

Jen and I were shivering the night before when we went out for the girls night out in Capitol Hill, but today was a warm gorgeous day.   The park was calling, so we took the kids to the nearby park in the afternoon.  Aly's best friend, Yuana, her Mom and baby sister joined us and we had a good time playing.  Saya was being particularly cute at the park.  We went to see the ducks at the pond and some of them came out chasing each other.  They were two male birds and a female, so they were trying to win the female and mate.  Saya started chasing them so I explained to her that she should not chase them because they are trying to make baby ducks.  She understood and was watching them do their deed.  A man playing Frisbee with friends shushed them, however, and the ducks flew away.  Little Saya marched forward and angrily yelled at the man, "Mr. that is bad!!" waving her index finger.  I don't think the man heard it, but it was very funny!  The girls were all wearing cute dresses and they all looked cute running around under the sun.  Sean and Noah had fun, too, and Mike and I could have gotten cross-eyed trying to keep track of them.  They looked pretty tired at the end of the day!

Sean Eats Broccoli

This was rather shocking.  Sean ate a small piece of broccoli at dinner.  I steamed them for Saya and decided to put one on Sean's plate.  He is a very picky eater and I suspect he has neophobia in food.  He is afraid of trying new food, especially those that are green.  I tried to give him numerous times and each time he got upset, even putting one on the plate was a catastrophe.  Expecting another fit, I put one on his plate and fled the scene.  No yelling was heard.  He said "oh, broccoli!" casually like he didn't mind it sitting next to his sausages.  "If you eat the broccoli, you get a great job award for sure," I said.  He has been getting an award each time he does something good and we know he put a lot of effort in the action.  He had gotten several awards for taking the antibiotics when he was sick, for example.  He was terrified of that pink goo.  That sort of opened his mind up for putting something he's never thought of putting in his mouth.  Not expecting he would actually eat it, I glanced over and sure enough he was holding the vegetable.  Could it be really happening?  The next thing really made me proud!  He took a bite and chewed it and swallowed it!  Really, Sean Campbell??  He made faces, but he didn't seem to mind that much.  I suggested dipping it in the soup he was eating and he ate the reminder without a hitch.  I was so happy to see him finally eat a vegetable!   He was so proud of himself, he even ate an egg york after broccoli, which he had never eaten.  Go, Sean!  He received two awards that evening!

Saya misses Aly~

Having no sister to play with has been a little tough on Saya (and consequently, me).  She is often seen sitting on the cold kitchen floor beside me playing while I work in the kitchen.  She follows me around the house, winces, demands attention, and quite frankly, it's hard to get anything done in the house!  On the bright side, it has given me a chance to spend more time with the littlest one in the family.  Of course, the potty training is going to be in the full swing from next week!  Hopefully, no more diapers after May!! 

Easter Fun

Easter - we are not church goers, but I like Easter because the colors are pretty and the girls get to wear fancy dresses.  This year, Saya wore a pastel green puffy dress with pink cashmere cardigan.  She thought she looked fabulous and she could not stop twirling.  "Saya, dance!" she exclaimed and spun, looking at her dress puff up.  Sean also was looking forward to Easter, because he likes to egg hunt.  Mike hid the eggs and three toys in the front yard while I distracted the children.  Sean was trying to make the sense out of the whole Easter bunny business and how could I have explained to him why a bunny would hide eggs for the children to find??  How would a bunny carry eggs?  Why would he want to hide them instead of give them to you?  When would he hide them?  Why, Mommy?? Why???  It is just a big mystery, son...  What is a mystery???  There was no end to the conversation...

Once the children were unleashed, Sean dashed towards the left side of the yard and immediately started finding some eggs.  We prepared 16 eggs and Mike had placed them everywhere, in the raised bed garden, on the top of bushes, by the fern etc...  Saya followed Sean and managed to pick up some eggs.  Noah on the other hand had just one thing in his mind, get the heck out of there and be set free.  When we prevented him to venture out of our yard, he got very upset.  He was put back in the house after a short while.  Maybe next year, Noah!

I took a cute video of Sean and Saya working together to find eggs.  It was sweet of Sean to help Saya find some eggs, too.  In the end, Sean found 11 eggs, Saya 4 eggs and Noah 1.  They each got a funny singing bear toy I found with Jen at Fred Meyer the night before.  Nana came over later for a family Easter dinner and we feasted on lamb chops with balsamic vinegar reduction, green beans and mushroom casserole, deviled eggs, Nana's special potato salad, and green salad.  I am starting to believe that I am pretty decent at cooking up special occasion meals.  Being a food lover has its merits! 

We had a pretty relaxing and fun Easter this year.  Hope everyone had a good one as well.

Cherry Blossoms at UW

The timing of the blooming was just right.  The cherry blossom trees at UW was at full bloom in the second weekend of April.  We need something cheerful and pretty to lighten up our mood and the pink dreamy flowers on huge trees did just that.  I remembered it being cold last year, but this year was warmer with slightly cool breeze.  There were a lot of people, but we managed to take some cute pics of the kids.  Saya insisted on wearing her rainbow tutu and looked just as whimsical as fairies.  With pink petals flying everywhere and beautiful afternoon sunshine, she stole the show!    Sean was so happy and was running around skillfully avoiding other spectators.  Noah, too, was allowed to wander around this time and enjoyed exploring the landscape and interesting shaped objects on the walls of the buildings.  We wished Aly were there with us, but we were sure she was enjoying the similar site in Japan.  Maybe she can tell us what it was like in Japan next year! 

Saying good bye is not easy

This post is painful to write.
Mike and I had a dilemma.  Ideally, we should have talked to Sean about Aly's departure to Japan as often as possible to ease his mind into the big change.  However, that risked scaring Alyson since I knew that he would have gotten upset everytime.  So, we did tell him about Aly's departure but we mentioned less about that as the day got closer. 

The morning Aly and grandma left, there were sadness and tears.  Sean was a complete mess saying "Alyson, you can't go to Japan!!" and could not contain himself.  He was crying and screaming, and all we could do was just watch him express his emotions.  He could not be comforted until he accepted the fact.  That did happen eventually, but it was very difficult to watch the process. 

My Mom hugged me and said "I will take a very good care of her, so please do not worry".  I cried and replied "I understand that 100% in my brain, but my heart still worries."  I looked at Aly and she was looking down the whole time playing with the zipper of her hoodie.  She didn't shed a tear, but I could tell that she was trying her best to be composed.  I saw that look before, when she went to the emergency room with a gush in her forehead.  I was very impressed with her.  This girl is strong, I thought.  She said good bye to us with clear voice and left with grandma on a cab to the airport.  I had to take Noah to therapy and Mike had to work. 

I am thinking about her as I write and I do miss her terribly.  At Noah's therapy, I showed up with bright red eyes and nose, and scared the receptionist and therapist.  I explained to them that my daughter left for Japan and of course, I bawled again.  Whose idea was this?  Well, don't ask...  The house is a quarter quieter than before and chores a little easier.  But nothing beats having all four my children with me.  A piece of me missing but I anticipate an amazing experience awaits Aly in Japan.  So, I hope.  I miss you Alyson, my beautiful daughter.  I cannot wait until I hug you!

Turning 40

I wrote this post the day after my birthday!

Hi, it's me Kimi and her 40 year-old self.  April 1, yesterday, was my 40th birthday.  It sounds like it should be a big milestone, but it really didn't feel like any special than turning 39.  I think it had more significance to my Mom to whom her daughter sounds all so officially grown up with strands of grays in her hair.  She has somewhat joined her side of the group, and as a mother it must be a big deal. 

I had a pretty good birthday with my family.  Mike made me a breakfast and brought it to my bedside, which I had to excuse myself to go pee first before being served.  He served me two full sized toast, one whole Italian turkey sausage and two eggs.  That was a huge Mike-sized-breakfast and I could not eat them all. 

Mike and I took Noah and Saya to run some errands while my Mom fried up the yummy chicken nuggets, my favorite.  Sean and Alyson were happily playing together by the sunny window, and I paused and watched them play because they looked so beautiful.  I had a cloud hanging on my head the entire day.  I wanted to be happy, but I had a weight on my chest that could not be shaken off.  Alyson was to leave for Japan with my Mom the next day.  Mike was having a hard time as well, but he tried his best to be cheerful for the family and me.

Jan came over for birthday lunch which started at 1 pm.  She brought smooth Merlot by St. Michelle, which we enjoyed a lot, and sashimi and my Mom's chicken nuggets were so yummy.  We sat together and laughed like a happy TV family.  Mike ordered a huge birthday cake from Regents Bakery and they sang a happy birthday song for me.  Saya tried to blow off the candles, but her little slobbery blows weren't enough.  The cake was yummy and everyone was completely full by the time we took the last bite. 

Amy came over to see Alyson since she will be gone for a while.  We chatted and she agreed with me to go clothes shopping with me since she has good tastes in clothes.  I am set to cut my hair on May 3 and hoping for a decent make over to come out of it.  My clothes are blah since I hardly have time to think about anything beyond getting from A to B without being more than five minutes late or classic what and when to cook dinner.  

All in all, I had a good birthday.  I wonder if Aly's departure is not the solo culprit of my un-birthday-like attitude.  Maybe I am not just so thrilled about turning 40.  I am not going to be a young woman anymore.  It's only a slope downwards until I hit the base.  No wonder I am not jumping up and down!?   Being a Mom of four children, my focus has been raising them for the past six years.  I am hoping to focus a little bit more on my own happiness going forward and that should take care of this sour newbie to the 40 club!

Grandma's Visit

Sean and grandma at Spiritridge Multi Cultural Night - watching the performances.

Japanese kids performed Soran Bushi (old fisherman's dance) and gave updates of recovery efforts in Japan after the tsunami and earthquake disaster.



Sean and his fellow school mates singing school song.  Surprised Sean knew the lyrics in sign language, too.

Grandma in the house means, a suitcase full of new treasures.

Aly's last day at Learning Park - with Ms. Manami.

With Yuana and Elli at Crossroad.  This was the last palydate with them before Aly left for Japan.

They rode on all mechanical ride on toys there are in the mall.

Boy, where do I begin?  I haven't been so motivated to log on to blog lately and it shows in the number of posts in recent days...  We had some exciting things happen, but it's been a little tough lately.  I will write the good and the bad in the next few posts.

Today, I wanted to write about my Mom's visit.  She arrived on March 26th and stayed until April 2nd.  The children naturally gathered around her suitcase since they know grandma brought fun things from Japan.  The children were very excited to see her and so were Mike and I.  It meant the dishes gets done and laundry folded like a magic trick.  She was dragged into helping out Sean's school event the next day she arrived and she swiftly helped with setting up chairs and teaching children origami.  There is nothing my Mom can't do (well she is not into technology stuff) and I have a feeling she will always be a step or two ahead of me in everything (except technology things). 

I had a mixed feeling about her visit this time.  I told Mike that I am excited to see her but I had a cloudy feeling stuck in my chest and could not shake it off.  Her visit meant Aly's departure to Japan.  I felt extremely nervous about her leaving and was not able to enjoy all the things I normally enjoy when my Mom is here.  She was a great help as usual and we appreciated her love and care.  We just love Aly so much and we knew we are going to miss her terribly (and we are). 

Down with cold

Alyson came down with a bad cold and missed a few days of school.  She had high fever and all she could do was lay down on the couch.  I would give her a fever reducer, but the fever didn't come down.  After four days of trying to mend at home, I took her in to the doctors.  She had a mild ear infection, so the doctor prescribed her an antibiotics.  That did wonders!  She was feeling much better from the next day and recovered by the time she was ready to leave for Japan. 

In the meanwhile, I got sick with severe sore throat and mild fever.  It was painful to eat or drink anything and it was getting worse everyday.  I finally turned myself in to the doctor's and he gave me the same antibiotics Aly took.  I felt much better from the next day and thought I should have visited the doctor earlier.  Just as when I was recovering, Sean got sick.  He very rarely gets sick these days, but he had a moderate fever and lots of coughs.  He had a very painful ear infection and he got an antibiotic as well.  We had a very hard time convincing him to take the medicine.  He is the type of kid that even won't drink different type of juices than what he is used to.  It took me 40 minutes the first night after promising he will get an award for taking the medicine.  Subsequent night took a little less, but it was exhausting nevertheless...

This March was the sickliest month ever in our household.  No more sickness until winter, I hope!

Noodles!

I cooked up ramen noodles for the girls one rainy day in March and the girls looked so cute eating it, I took several pictures of them.  Saya in particular was so cute like a baby kitten.  She graduated from the high chair and now sits on one of the big chairs at the end.  Her little face just above the table, she was chatting silly and slurping up the noodle.  She is at the cutest yet and I am truly going to miss it when she no longer looks like a toddler.