Princess Party

Today, the girls and I attended their little friend's princess themed birthday party at the mall.  The girls were super excited to become princesses and play with their friends at the party.  I am quite impressed that almost all of business catering to children now days offer birthday parties.  Judo birthday at a Judo club, a princess party at a hair salon?  I should offer a birthday party at our house of chaos.  No goody bags, but can take one of our kids home maybe.  Joke aside, the little birthday girl had a seriously cute white princess dress and she looked like a real princess.  How cue!   The girls didn't wear a princess costume, but wore a new t-shirt and tutu set.  They looked more like a ballerina than princessses, but they also love to be ballerina, so it worked out perfectly. 

The gals at the salon did the girls' hair and nails.  They were all wide eyed and had a get down to business face.  The little boys at the party became Mohawk haired cats and they were equally cute to their princess peers.  Us parents had coffee and talked about kids and life in Seattle.  I met some nice people and would definitely keep in touch and arrange some play dates in the future.

I will not post the pictures of other children as I don't know them very well.  The girls and I had so much fun and looking forward to playing with them again soon!

My Boys

Mike has been taking Sean along for his morning jog lately.  Sean dressed in runner's outfit is nothing but mini Mike and he is looking more like a sporty big boy and smells his part.  They woke up early this morning and ran together from home to Larson Lake and back, the total distance of 5 miles!  Mike said a bunch of runners were quite impressed with Sean bobbing along his tall Daddy.  We might have a future long distance track star in the house.  I am marveled at seeing Sean's desire to be like his Daddy.  I thought that sort of thing happened only to other people.  How cool is it to see your child wanting to be like you!  I am proud of Mike for being an excellent role model to his children.  Fitness and taking care of your own health is a skill that needs to be taught by parents.  I am glad Mike is already teaching our children about importance of exercising.  I should follow his lead, too, but lately totally unmotivated (gained weight who knows how much...)

The littler boy, Noah, has been doing very well lately also.  We definitely enjoy talking to him more as he is starting to respond to our questions.  He clearly says "I want xxxx," when he wants something.  It's so neat that he can now tell us what he wants.  His brother and sisters started to talk to him consequently and it brings tears to my eyes to see them interacting.  Sean can be very sweet to Noah.  He asks him if he wants something in a slow and gentle voice getting down to his eye level.  When Noah answers him, he reports to me "Mommy, Noah said no!" 

It's exciting to all of us that Noah is blooming.  We are not out of the woods yet, but his future is getting brighter.

Two handsome little guys in the house, I am indeed a very lucky Mom!

Sean's Royal Week

I cannot believe it is May already and we are talking about the end of school year.  Sean's first grade class has a "Royal Week" for each student, which a prince or princess will spend a week sharing  their interest and introducing their family to the class.  Sean's week was just last week and we had a busy time preparing for the special week. 

Monday was "All About Me" day and Sean made a poster with the pictures of his family (including Grace) and his favorite things in the world.  He put several pictures of the buildings he likes; Burj Khalifa, Tokyo Sky Tree, Space Needle, Colombia Center and Willis Tower and explained to the class what they are.  This kid is a very consistent type of person.  When he likes something, he really likes it and it doesn't change.  I heard he did a great job presenting the poster.

Tuesday was "Sharing Day".  He pondered for a while what he wanted to take and decided to take his Iron Man Car which he got from Santa last Christmas.  He showed me all the compartments it has and I am pretty sure that is what he talked about to his friends.  His initial plan was to take the Burj Khalifa lego structure, but we decided he might lose some pieces and that would be devastating.

Wednesday was "Talk Show Day" and he became the guest of a talk show about him.  Ms. Lowy said he ran into the class from the hall way, pretending he was entering a studio set.  How fun!  He also took his favorite snacks, rice crackers, gluten free cookies, garlic green peas, and pretzels.  I am not sure how many of his friends braved eating dried green peas, but it's all about trying new things and stepping out the comfort zone!

Thursday was "Parent's Day" and I went to his class to talk about Japan.  I made three simple posters to go with what I talked about, one being a big Japanese map with some basic information about Japan, a poster with some pictures of food and people in Japan, and an illustrated Japanese language conversation board.  Making them was a lot of fun and I did it with certain artisan swiftness.  I knew exactly what kind of posters I wanted to make immediately and got in the zone.  It was weird.  It must mean, I am meant to be a poster maker.  No, in all seriousness, I think I am meant to be a teacher.  Sometimes, real love is not what you stick with.  Anyway, I had a lot of fun talking to the kids and the children listened with wide eyes to my mini Japanese lesson.  I taught them some greetings in Japanese and we practiced together at the end.  A little boy who sat next to me at the cafeteria after the lesson told me how much he enjoyed my presentation.  That made my day.  Sean was smiling the whole time and he seemed really happy that I was there with him.

On Friday, his friends made a book about what they liked about Sean.  Many of them wrote they like him because he is nice and he is a good artist.  I am happy his classmates think he is a good friend to them and know what he is good at.  Two years ago, I was worried about how he might fair in a regular classroom without the special education support, but look at him now!  I am so proud of him for getting this far.

We are all glad his royal week went well.  I got to see how he is at school and in the lunch room and he looked bigger than when he is at home!  He knew the rules and respected them.  Thank goodness for the wonderful school he is a part of.  I will be happy to volunteer and give lessons about Japan to other classes as well, I thought. 

Saya's Bounciful Birthday Party

I am not a fan of having a big birthday party for kids as it is a lot of work and it is quite expensive.  However, having been to several parties of our friends and how fun they had, I've decided to just dive in and hold Saya's birthday party at a big bouncy house nearby. 

Saya requested a birthday cake with Saphie, her favorite animal character from her Japanese show.  Knowing how long it takes to create the character shaped cookie, I planned ahead and worked on it the day before.  I chose an image from the coloring book grandma sent us recently and traced it on a cookie sheet carefully.  Then I prepared the dough with right coloring and spent the next two hours until the wee hours of the night drawing and filling in the perfectly mixed colors to make Saphie.  I was pleased with how it turned out.

I baked the sponge cake the next day using the recipe my friend gave me, however the cake didn't rise.  Oh-oh, I was in trouble!  I ran to the store and bought the yellow cake mix since I was running out of time.   This is the morning of the party, so you can just imagine the rush I felt being under the pressure.  It felt like I was on a TV show trying to beat the clock baking and decorating the cake.
The end product was not as perfect as I pictured, but it was good enough.  I was glad that I was able to finish it on time. 

We had about 18 children and they all had fun jumping around.  They got to play in the bouncy house for an hour and fifteen minutes and many of the little guests seemed tired towards the end.  They were sweaty and red cheeked, a good sign it will be an easy night for their parents to put them to sleep.  The day was beautiful outside in 70s, so I was glad I served ice cream with the cake. 

When the attendant at the facility peeled off the plastic wrap covering the cake, the icing on the front came off with it.  I hadn't taken a good picture of it before the decoration got ruined.  Saya didn't even notice the messy spot and looked very pleased with her Saphie cake.  I wonder if she thinks I can make anything she wants to make.  It's good to be a kid of a eager to please border collie type of Mom. 

We invited Parker as well, so Sean was all set.  He enjoyed playing with his best buddy.  Noah had a lot of fun as well as he loves to jump.  He was good and escaped only once.  The party was a success and now my other children want to have a party there as well.  Oh well...  I guess you are a kid for a small portion of your life time. 

She received many gifts from her friends and what a lucky little girl she is!  She is happy to share them with  her sister and brother and they have been playing with the new toys ever since.  Thank you so much for coming to Saya's party!  She had a lot of fun with all her friends!