Memorial Day Weekend

Ok, this is my third post writing about what we did on this Memorial Day weekend.  We had an excellent three day weekend, fun and super productive.  A long weekend can be a challenge sometimes because someone gets bored (mostly Mike or Sean) and cranky.  I implemented a system this weekend to see if it works to avoid the "I-don't-know-what-to do-with myself" syndrome. 

At night, I sent Mike a schedule I created for the next day.  Below is the actual email I sent to Mike last night.

8:45 am Noah and possibly other kids leave for Noah's Therapy
9:50 am Noah Ends Therapy. If I take all kids I will take them to the park or Y afterwards.
10:30 am Mike leaves with Jan to Tukwila. Moor Furniture or Ikea. There is Futon Only as well.
12:30 pm Kids and I eat lunch at home. Mike and Jan eat lunch at Tukwila. There is a cafe at Ikea if you are already there.
2:30 pm Mike and Jan come back.
3:00 pm Mike takes training wheels off Sean's Bike and teach Sean how to ride in the driveway.
4:30 pm everyone comes home and wash hands and Kimi makes dinner.
5:30 pm dinner
6:30 pm Sean bath
7:30 pm kids sleep

I did a similar thing on Saturday night as well and things got done and we were all happy.  Amazing a little thing can do in life. 

What we accomplished weekend, we had a guy to clean up the weeds in the backyard, vacuumed upstairs and downstairs, had a two-hour-date with Mike thanks to Jan, Mike took Jan to buy bookcases and she finally bought them (yay!), had a nice girl time with my girl friends, Sean took his training wheels off, shopped at Trader Joe's and bought the necessities, did Home Depot and finally bought the veggie plants, Mike took his bike to Gerk's to get his bike chain fixed and tuned-up, Mike also was able to have a couple of hours of me time shopping at REI, and I fixed a nice Memorial Day dinner and celebrated with Jan. 
Phew, I would say that was a very good weekend. 

Oh and I almost forgot, someone moved out from Mommy's room last night.  My little Saya's crib sat empty in my room as she snoozed in Alyson's bed in Sean's room.  She did fine last night and didn't wake up until 7:00 am.  I was squirmy in my bed as I tried to settle in for the night.  It wasn't the same without the baby snoring away next to me.  I was happy to finally have a chance to sleep through the night, the first time ever since she was born three years ago.  However, Noah woke up at 4:00 am and was banging on the wall.  Also, Sean woke me up at 5:30 am as he burst into my room smiling "I didn't wake up Saya!"  We told him not to wake her up if he ever wakes up earlier than her.  I guess I may not get the rest I need unless I go to bed at 9:30 pm everyday!  It's already 10:30 pm and I guess I should stop babbling about how I am deprived of sleep...

Mommy Friends' Potluck Part II

We had a potluck party at my hilarious friend, Hanae's house today with my very funny friends.  It was our second time gathering and we all felt a little more relaxed and the conversation flew like white rapids, in a fun way of course!  I am thankful for all my friends because they are my support system here.  Living overseas for a long time, I forget how much fun it is to chat with girl friends in Japanese.  We had a lot of fun and I feel less tension on my chest!  Thanks, Hanae-chan for hosting!

Sean Says Good Bye to Traning Wheels!

On this Memorial Day, Sean rode his bike first time without the training wheels.  It took him only about 40 minutes to master the art of riding a bike like a big boy.  He was so excited and rode his bike until dinner (about two and half hours straight).  He says he is going to ride his bike to school with Dad tomorrow.  We are so proud of him for learning to ride so quickly.  He only had one big fall and he cried, but he got right up and kept on riding.  His knees are almost touching the handles and he may be ready for the next size up.  He sure is growing up fast.  It reminded me of how my Dad taught me to ride when I was about his age.  I don't remember it being fun, but he had lots of smiles on his face today.  I wonder how he is going to remember this one important day in his childhood memory.  

Big Brother, Little Sister

Sean, play with me!!  Sean was helping me make dinner and Saya wanted his attentio!

Saya, I am cooking!

The eldest and the youngest hadn't been much of playmates to each other when Aly was here.  Sean used to think of Saya as a trouble maker since she knocks down his lego creations or wouldn't buy his ideas.  Saya used to think of Sean as a scary big brother and she used to close her eyes and clinge when Sean casually approached her.  But now that the family dynamic has changed, I see them interact and play together positively.  The cutest thing they do is that they hold hands while walking back from school.  Saya sometimes squeezes Sean's hand too hard and he asks her to be more gentle.  He walks slowly so that Saya is not rushed and I am seeing more of his gentle side coming out.  He would suggest a play at home that Saya might enjoy, he would forgive her by saying "that's ok Saya, I am not mad," when she accidentally disturbs something of his.  Sean is a great kid when he is regulated and seeing Saya in brotherly eye is helping him push his impulsive, deregulated self aside.  Saya now loves to play with her big brother and follows him around.

Grandpa, Shaha and Grandma Marie's Visit

So, the weekend of the wedding, Grandpa, Shasha and Grandma Marie visited us from Idaho.  We don't get to see them too often, so it was so nice to see them.  Sean was very excited for their visit and kept asking me when they are going to arrive.  As soon as they arrived, Sean kept asking them questions and I think they probably do not want to hear the word "why" for the next six months. 

The weather that weekend was perfect in upper 70s and we spent some time on the deck while the kids played.  The time passes rather peacefully while they are here, something about their vacationy aura (?) and we really had a good time.

They watched the kids while we attended the wedding, so I am very thankful.  They did a very good job, although Noah had a giant poop in his pull up.  I think they intentionally left it there because they don't do those.

We had a nice shot of Grandma Mari with the kids.  She is 91 and looks amazing!  Thank you for visiting us Bob, Marsha and Grandma Marie!  We will see you again this summer!

Sean and Noah's Latest Achievements

2

I just watched a movie titled "Temple Grandin" and feeling encouraged.  Dr. Grandin is an autistic scholar whose autobiography revealed how her mind works.  It was the very first book I read of its kind which had taught me living with autism is not so grim after all, rather it can be very advantageous. 

Looking at my boys, I feel lucky.  I feel lucky to be part of this special journey with more feeling of appreciation, discoveries, and triumphs.  There are a lot of challenges for sure but when the boys achieve something, my heart dances and I have the biggest smile on my face.  I gained allies who often get teary when my boys learn something new.  We are very lucky indeed.  We've learned so much and continued to do so. 

Sean's recent achievements:
- He can now eat three big pieces of broccoli at dinner.  He'd eaten three slices of cucumbers, a few lettuce leaves and mushrooms also. 
- He can do big number additions and subtractions in his head.  For example, he said the age difference between Chris, his therapist, who is 26 and me is 14.  He did all in his head! 
- He is a level F reader at school now. 
- He can ride his scooter very well with long glides.
- He gets the concept of making a good choice and bad choice.  He is a logical thinker, so all I have to do is honestly tell him what is going to happen if he chooses certain actions. 

Noah's recent achievements:
- He can now use words to request something.  He mainly does it in therapies, but he would copy words to get what he wants.  iPad application had helped him a lot.
- He can identify colors. 
- He walks better holding hands and he always insists on holding my right hand.
- He pees in potty occasionally.  Potty training is in full swing!
- He can ride a trike at Lakeside.  When he gets stuck, he pushes "help" button to request help from his therapist.  He also says "Hel" for help at the same time.
- He sticks his cheeks out when I say "kiss!" 

We are very proud of them.  We will keep going and will make sure they are challenged at all time.  We know they are capable and have a bright future ahead of them.  Their smart shiny eyes tell me they are waiting to blossom. 

Justin's Jewish Wedding

Mike and I were invited to Mike's fresh-faced coworker, Justin's wedding last Saturday.  I've met his bride-to-be Kaitlyn two summers ago when we went to see Mariner's game together.  They looked adorable together back then and they were glowing together in their wedding day, the sunniest Seattle had seen this year.  We had Bob, Marsha and grandma Marie over that weekend, they'd arrived on Friday evening.  They were brave enough to offer babysitting the three children while we attended the ceremony and reception, so we prepared their dinner and drove off to the sunny hill side golf course where they had the wedding.

The venue was just breathtakingly beautiful.  The golf course is situated on the hill over looking Mercer Island and the Olympic mountains.  The bright greens of the golf course were followed by deep green of Bellevue's forest then to the hazy green of Mercer Island.  The color palette changed to blue as the distance grew and the faint contour of the Olympics against the wide cloudless sky was the sight worthy of forever burning in my memory.  I felt like I took a mini vacation and came back just by looking at the scenery.

Mike and I have never been to a Jewish wedding before.  They left a box full of small black scalp covers by the entrance and suggested Mike to wear it to respect their religion.  He quickly corrected me and said "you have to be Jewish to wear it, Kimi!"  Ok, never knew.  After admiring the scenery, we sat in the gazebo where they were to hold the ceremony.  When I saw Justin walked in with his Mom, the memories from our wedding twelve years ago vividly came back.  This day means so much for these young couple, I thought.  Looking at his nervous yet excited face made me smile and cry and I truly felt happy for Justin, Kaitlyn and their family.   It as a very special day for them.  

Kaitlyn was beautiful in her modern wedding dress.  She wore her hair down and it must be the current trend.  She didn't look too made up, natural and effortless.  Her natural beauty shined through and it fit her style.  We sat with Kaitlyn's friends at the reception and I understood that she is smart and down to earth.  I took about 250 pictures at the wedding and it was easy to do.  I enjoyed capturing happiness and it was easy to snap away.  My best photos were the pictures of their family watching them do their first dance together.  Their teary happy smiles were priceless.  Their wedding reminded me how much a marriage means not just to the couple but to the entire family.  It was a very special wedding and we left happy and renewed.  We wish Justin and Kaitlyn all the happiness and good health!  Congratulations!

Sean's Dentist Visit

I was dreading the day I had an appointment to take Sean to see his dentist. Last visit was a nightmare according to Mike. He was terrified and he had a panic attack due to being extremely anxious. I almost wanted to ask Mike to take him since I thought we might need a man power to pin him down while the dentist checks his teeth.

Maybe I stress out too much for nothing. Sean was exemplary at the dentist! He was polite, he answered silly questions the assistant asked to make him feel relaxed, and he did everything the assistant and dentist asked him to do without a fuss! He was nervous for sure, but he held up and did great!

I am proud to say he had matured tons ever since he started the kindergarten last fall. The challenges he had overcome the past year such as being in a large classroom and learning to be on task alongside his classmates made him more confident in leaving the comfort zone and overcoming his fear. The dentist visit was another reminder how much improvement he is making. Way to go Sean!

Super Moon!

Supermoon taken from my deck.  It was hard to get a good shot of it.

I don't know much about this phenomenon... but we had a supermoon about a week ago and that happens when the moon is closest to the earth. It was the brightest moon I've ever seen, I think, but who really pays attention to the moon's brightness anyway!? I am a city girl, and I am not in tune with moon and stars on regular basis...

The excerpt from Wiki:

A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the moon's disk as seen from Earth.

I told Mike that you can notice the brightness of it if you look at it in the peripheral vision. If you don't look at it directly but look at about 90 degrees away from it, it sort of looks like a bright stadium light at a ball field. So, it was a small excitement of the night, but not a significant enough to write more about it.

Friend's Birthday Party

Our little friend, Hayato-kun, celebrated his fourth birthday last weekend at a fun play center in Woodinville.  It was a beautiful sunny day and a perfect weather to celebrate!  I took Sean and Saya to the party and let Noah and Daddy have a fun day together.  I think they went to a park and spent some quality time together.  Hayato-kun looked happy and it was also good to see all my Mommy friends there.  The faclitiy had fun set up where they had different themed room for imaginary play, active play etc.. and Sean and Saya had a very good time playing with friends.  Most chidren were younger than five and Sean suddenly looked huge and grown up.  He was once four, too...  I took some nice pictures of the birthday boy and his Mom.  We went to play at a park nearby afterwards and the kids had a good time playing under the sun.  I think Sean was very tired at the end and threw some tantrums at home, but that ultimately means he had a fun day.  That part, he hadn't outgrown.  Still waiting...

Bake like Mama

I regularly bake since you can't find decent gluten and casein free baked goods at stores.  I decided to bake gluten free pumpkin cupcakes the other day and Saya marched in the kitchen to help.  Her job was to stir the dry ingredients together and line up the cupcake sleeves in the pan.  I have my wonderful Kitchen Aid that does all the mixing thanks to Mike, so the rest is quite easy.  Saya and I watched the cupcakes raise in the oven and enjoyed the vanilla scents filling the house.  Maybe I bake often so that I make sweet memories with my kids.  I will always remember their little hands and happy smiles!

Noah, the little snooper and magician

When Noah is quiet, I am in trouble.  Ever since Noah ound his curiosity, there is no real peace in our house.  He has escaped out of our house and onto the street for at least seven times and have managed to lose or break things in the house.  The recent victims are the insurance cards!  I have an evidence of Noah getting into my wallet as above.  I see the insurance cards in the picture and that was the last time I had them.  Between the time of this photo and me putting away the camera, Noah did something to them and voila, they are gone!  They are the only ones missing and I noticed them gone when I went for Saya's three year well check at the doctor's office.  I pulled out a card and gave it to the recetionist and she laughed and told me that it was her YMCA card.  Where did they go?  Noah wouldn't say, but he gives me a superior smile.  I guess I need to order new cards tomorrow...

Saya's Happy Third Birthday

My little baby girl turned three on Apri 25.  The little baby that were part of the decor in early years is now a loud and bubbly little girl with exaggerated expressions on her face.  She is constantly talking, the only time she is quiet is when she is watching her favorite TV shows or sleeping.  She can defend herself against the invading forces, aka big brothers, sister, sometimes Mom and friends.  Even Sean gets chased by her pounding fists and he isn't sure what to do with his firecracker of a little sister.  Though she has a spirit of an octagon fighter, she knows how to be sweet.  She would just pretend like a cat and just meows at you at perfect moment.  It's as if she knows exactly how to sell her little girl charm and who would not melt when a three year old pig tailed girl meows with a shy smile?! 

Her birthday this year fell on Wednesday, so we cancelled Sean's OT session with Jessica and had a cupcake with her brothers, Mom and Nana.  Nana was very excited to be part of her birthday celebration since this is the reason why she moved here.  I promised Saya I would bake her an Anpanman (her favorite Japanese cartoon character) cake, but I baked pumpkin cupcakes for her actual birthday and saved the Anpanman cake for Saturday when I had more time to bake.  At school, they made her a tulip crown that said "Happy 3rd Birthday, Saya" in Japanse and she loved it.  She wore it all day and pretty much all week as long as it held up.  With her crown on, we sang her the birthday song and she actually sang it the loudest.  She knew all the words and looked very happy that it was her moment.  We decorated our own cupcakes with icing and sprinkles.  It was very good.

On Saturday, I wanted to have a mini party for her.  I invited Yuana-chan's family, but they were not able to make it since her Mom had to work late.  That was good though in a way since the Anpanman cake was a disaster!  I pushed hiding veggies in anything idea too hard this time.  I mixed in pureed sweet peas in the batter.  The main purpose of it was to make the cake green since green is Saya's favorite color.  I didn't have the green tea powder and all I had was the peas.  Peas are sweet, so I thought it would work.  However, I underestimated the grainy texture of sweet peas.  The rice flour itself has grainy and heavy texture compared to the regular wheat flour.  On top of that, I decided to make my own buttercream frosting from scratch.  I've learned that when it says "butter" in the name, you should not use a vegan fake butter.  I made a most aweful frosting I've ever made in my short baking life on top of the most aweful textured ill colored sponge cake. 

The ony thing that turned out decent was the Anpanman thin cookie I made for decoration.  My friend, Yukie, gave me a fun recipe to make any characters you want on the cake.  It's the same recipe I used to make the Ironman decoration as well.  It's a pain streaking task and it took me a while to complete it, but Saya was very happy to see Anpanman on her cake.  Saya wasn't sure about the taste of the cake and Noah didn't eat it at all.  Sean ate at least half of it and that was very surprising to me.  Nana was polite and ate all of it and Mike and I looked at each other while poking at our slice. 

I think she had a nice third birthday.  She is very proud to be three and she is now almost fully potty trained!  She pees and poops on the potty 90% of the time and we are very proud of her.  The tinkling I hear after she seats herself on the toilet is the cutest noise.  She slowly smiles and asks for a cookie as that is her reward for doing it right. 

Funny side notes about the very early stage of Saya's life...
My friend, Hanae, teases me all the time how Daddy and I drove to Sammamish to look for a bigger house the next day the pregnancy test came back positive.  I also remember feeling a little embarassed that I came back to see Dr. Roger for another pregnancy after seeing him just five months ago in post birth check up.   I think I sort of said to him in my little OB gown "yep, I am back!" Hanae and I went to get contraception implant about the same time after the twins birth, but I got a stomach ache and left the clinic before the doctor could put it in.  I am so glad I had that stomach ache because if not for the cramp, we would not have had you, Saya!