Not The Most Ideal Keepsake

November ended on a high note: Jude learned to ride a two-wheel bike. A little embarrassed to admit I was shocked he got it on his first attempt. He's five years old and although I don't really know if that's late or early or smack dab in the middle, his disinterest made us think for a while that he might end up being the only person ever to pick his first date up on a bike with training wheels.

But I don't want to think about first dates. The only woman in Jude's life right now is me.  He even wrote me a beautiful letter the other day:

"I LUV MOM"

He sounded it out by himself and wrote it down one evening and I was so touched. But then he penned his thoughts again the next day and this is what happened:

"I DON'T LIKe MOM WiN MOM DUZIN LeT Jude PLAe Mie DS"

Not one to beat around the bush, my Jude. So cute how he wrote out his name and used the silent "e" to make the long vowel sounds. We generally limit the DS-playing for various reasons like, oh, turning your brain into mush. It's as simple as that for me. For Jude, however, it is a little more complicated, a bit like removing his will to live. This case was particularly difficult because Eli got to play his DS but Jude couldn't because he wasn't behaving. I know, I'm awful. It's so not fun being the bad guy. My heart sank when I started reading what he wrote. The only comfort I took when he showed me this note was that he made sure to preface it with, "I still love you mommy. I'm just learning how to write."

Still a lot of cuteness going on despite wiping out in a parking lot:

Also quite scrumptious but deceptive, because one would not be able to tell by this picture that my little winter bunny has the ability to poop diapers that would redefine one's entire definition of offensive:

 

If Only Every Weekend Could Be Four Days

About a month ago, I was introduced to a gal visiting our church who "had to meet Eli's mother". I had never met her before, but it turns out she's seen all of Eli's video clips on my facebook. How funny that Eli has a fan. I'm his mother, so of course I find almost everything he does to be adorable, no matter how strange. The other night as I was getting him ready for bed, he said very matter of factly, "Mommy, when I go to bed, my butt always itches." I chuckled and wasn't sure if he wanted me to take some sort of action, like it was a symptom of something. But isn't that just a symptom of being a guy?    

I don't know if it's because she's our "baby" or because we're so out-of-our-mind busy that she's pretty much raising herself, but Audrey surprises us daily with what she can comprehend, say, or do. These days when we walk down the stairs and she sees her brothers, she'll nonchalantly greet them with, "Hi guys!" (sounds like "Hi, duys!") Probably not very interesting to the average person, but this is my baby.... my littlest peanut... the one I just weaned earlier this year and who could only say "mommy" and "daddy" a few months ago. So it shocks me that she understands and "gets" things. She's already singing the alphabet and counting to ten. Before I know it, she'll be reading the Twilight series and screaming uncontrollably at the sight of Robert Pattinson. The nightmare of it all.   

One weekend while Kwang was away on business I decided to have a "movie night" with the kids. A co-worker passed along a coupon for the movie "Up" so we went out and bought it. It was such a touching and heartwarming movie. But ten minutes into the film right after the journey of the old man's life and the scene where his wife passes, Jude turned to me and said, "Mommy, I thought you said this was a fun movie...?" Nevertheless, the evening was a hit and the boys asked for another movie night the following night. And the next. And the one after that.   

 

This is probably the longest I've gone without posting anything and even as I sit here writing this, there is a list of a pachillion things to do running through my head. I want to say this is one of the most difficult phases of our little family's history. Between Kwang's current work schedule, my work schedule, the boys' school schedules, and our family's general schedule, I feel like I'm barely hanging on each day. But on this Thanksgiving weekend, I would be foolish not to be thankful for so many things-- my husband, my children, my family back in Chicago, our health, our home, our jobs. Happy Thanksgiving!

Cute pics? G'autumn!

I can finally feel the difference between summer and autumn here in L.A. Love this weather. Cool, crisp, nice-enough-to-snuggle-a-bit-under-the-covers weather. And to take advantage of the beautiful temperatures, we took the kids to a pumpkin patch this past weekend. It was a nice time for everyone. At first, we were disappointed that there was no petting zoo. The kids could only see the animals from outside the pens. But as they sat there admiring them, Jude noticed the goats and the hogs walking around in their own feces and in that instant was very upset that humans were born with noses. So, not so much a disappointment after all.

Miss Sassy Pants

I had an especially depressing week at work, so the time with the family was particularly refreshing. Being out in the open, away from the busyness of life, was just what I needed. We all had a lot of fun making our way through a corn maze, the kids had fun running through a haystack maze, and we picked a pumpkin to bring home at the end... which we had fun carving the next day.

Not bad for our first attempt:

 

And a few weeks ago (September 27), Jude lost his first tooth:

So cute, right? I just don't understand why he won't listen to me and stop growing up.

 

The Beginning of Letting Go

It was a big week for our family as Jude began kindergarten last Thursday. Jude. Began kindergarten. And suddenly I feel like a huge chunk of my heart has been ripped from my chest and left to fend for itself in the big, cold, cruel elementary school world. I'm not sure why I was so emotional considering the fact that Jude has already gone through three years of preschool. But there I was, at the new parent meeting on his first day, trying to hold back my tears and not being very successful. Jude, on the other hand, was super excited to begin his first year at his new school. And when I left him sitting in his classroom with all his other classmates, I felt like a mother bear leaving her cub amongst a pack of wolves:

It's been five days and you might say I'm still adjusting. This morning, as I dropped Jude off at the playground where the kids play before the school bell rings, I kissed him once, maybe twice, perhaps three times, or ten. Then pointing to the big playground I asked, "Do you want to go play out there? You don't want to go, do you." and I was all ready to take him back home and inform Kwang that I'd decided kindergarten was overrated and unnecessary when Jude responded, "I want to go play." So I let him off to play. And writing this just now made me realize that I have given Jude an out literally every morning. But every morning, Jude has gone off, looked back at me several times and waved bye as if to reassure me he's okay. And every morning, I've been reminded that my baby is growing up and at times wants and needs to discover the world on his own.

I obviously need to get this out of my system before Jude realizes his mom could not be more embarrassing and asks me to drop him off at the end of the street the school is on.

 

I'm So In Love With Three-Day Weekends

I should really be cleaning or organizing right now to make the most of the long weekend, but I don't feel much like being productive. I call it my non-labor-labor-day-weekend attitude. So I've decided to be semi-productive and post a long overdue video clip for my family. There is so much adorableness happening that my family is missing out on. I've been having problems uploading videos so I finally had time to try a roundabout way to get this one up:

That puts into perspective what our little Audrey has become in our home. I certainly didn't teach it to her and when Kwang asked her these questions for fun one day, he just had to show me. He adores her personality like no other and wonders how we got so lucky.

A lot of times, it does seem like we have three boys. Audrey pals around with the boys, loves playing with their cars and Star Wars toys, and even believes everyone urinates standing up:

But there's a softness and daintiness to her that we love. She warmly greets every stuffed animal she sees as if it is her long lost friend. When one of her brothers gets in trouble, she immediately goes to console him and cheer him up. She'll run up and affectionately hug one of us out of nowhere. And, she is also secretly a fan of Taylor Swift's teenybopper love songs. Okay, maybe that's her mother, but whatever.

Eli started his second year of preschool this past Wednesday! He did exceptionally well his first week and even shared with Kwang what he's learned so far: Polar bears live on ice, elephants live in jungles, monkeys live in trees, etc.

And Jude cannot wait to start Kindergarten this week. Enjoying his last days of summer break:

Cricket Cricket

Out of all the people I knew or subscribed to on xanga, only one is still writing on xanga. Not only that, but I myself have become so busy that I will send my family links to my facebook photo albums. So how can I keep up this log and entice my family to visit my lonely xanga page? By posting pictures that I haven't posted yet on facebook... like this adorable one:

My mother-in-law told me Audrey busted her lip by wiping out on the floor. The floor of wide open space with nothing on it to trip over. None of my kids seem to have inherited my nice eyelid folds or organizational skills. Instead, they have been genetically blessed with my obnoxiously protruding ears and CLUMSINESS. It's been a difficult month for our little girl. Pink eye, fat lip, black eye, the list goes on. And last weekend, all three kids and Kwang were sick w/a virus that attacked w/a short fever, chills, and swollen glands. I somehow escaped this illness and celebrated by partying the weekend away cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming the house. It was wicky-wicky wack.

Eli & Audrey were the first to get sick but I soon suspected Jude was coming down with the illness when he fell asleep in the middle of the day while watching TV. But he gave a valiant effort to hold on nonetheless:

So my office pooled money together for the Mega Millions jackpot which was at somewhere around $300 million. I had never played the lottery, but I pitched in my money only out of fear that the office would get the winning ticket and I would be the only one left in the building after everyone quit. We didn't win, of course, so there goes my logical solution to managing two upcoming school schedules with my busy work schedule. Oy, stress!

 

Not wanting to leave...

Summer Days Driftin' Away

Quite a bit has happened since I last wrote. I'm sad the summer is quickly fading and my favorite month of the year is over. I love JULY! It is when everyone relaxes a bit more and has fun. It is also my birthday month and I still love it even though this past July I turned THIRTY-SEVEN. My sister called me on my birthday and as we sat there chit-chatting, she goes, "I'm THIRTY-NINE. And you're THIRTY-SEVEN. That sounds SO WEIRD. My sister is THIRTY-SEVEN." I don't know why that cracked me up. I couldn't stop laughing. It kind of hit us that we're so much older than we feel. I told her I like to think of people such as Jennifer Aniston who look crazy good for their age so I can say "I'm younger than her." Not sure why that makes me feel better. It probably shouldn't since she looks so much better than I do. I've noticed that now, my body won't hide things as well as it used to. Wretched body! It does horrible things like expose my inveterate lack of sleep so that instead of having the usual 2 bags under my eyes, I swear I see 4. Lovely, I know. I am a vision of beauty.

We also took a short summer trip to Vegas, because Kwang received another free stay at the Palazzo. It'd been a year since we last visited, but as soon as we entered the resort from the parking garage and Eli saw the blinking lights of the machines and heard the ding-dings of the casino, he yelled out of nowhere, "I looooove Las Vegas!"

Finally, this past Sunday marked our 7 year wedding anniversary. We didn't do much on our actual anniversary but I still feel that, like Eli, Kwang loves me "all the way up to the Transformer planet."

 

 

Why?

Such an innocent question. Cute, even. Except when you hear it every other minute of the day and not for any other reason but to challenge you. That is currently the phase we're in with Jude (which also means Eli). And I gotta tell you, it is about as much fun as scratching an open wound.

But it couldn't ruin what was probably one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. We went to the L.A. Zoo on Friday and had a nice time with Danny's family. It was Audrey's first trip to see the animals:

And Saturday began with a relaxing breakfast at Noah's Bagels followed by some time spent at a local park hosting a community 4th of July fest. That evening, we enjoyed a great fireworks show given by the city of El Segundo. Eli said "That was my favorite!" while Jude said "That was cool." Audrey? Well... I didn't realize until about 10 minutes into the show that she was so scared, she kept shutting her eyes as tightly as she could patiently waiting for it to end. My poor baby girl! She didn't even cry, she just sat there completely still... opening and then quickly shutting her eyes every few seconds. It was the most adorable thing.

And then there's my 3 year old's version of adorable. After tucking the boys in for the night, this was what I overheard when leaving their room:

Eli: [farts]
Jude: [laughs]
Eli: "Farting is good for your skin."

Pomp and Circumstance

Jude "graduated" preschool. It's been three short years since the first day we dropped our baby off at the steps of Manhattan Beach Preschool:

And suddenly, I've realized that we have less than fifteen years left with him before (Lord willing) he goes off to college and we will not see him everyday. To Kwang this seems like a long time. It does to me, too, but it is also a day I know will come much too quickly. And last week as I sat there watching Jude in his paper cap receiving his butterfly decorated diploma, my heart sank a bit.     Maybe more than a bit:

While I've come to learn some of Jude's weaknesses, I've also begun to understand some of his strengths over the past few years of "school". Despite being extremely shy, he is often willing to step into new environments without complaint. And even though many feel it's unfortunate that he is more likely to be bullied than to bully, he's learned to speak up when someone is being unkind and has on occasion helped those who were less able to help themselves. I'm thankful for him in many ways because he's made each step of parenthood thus far easier for me to handle. I would be dreading kindergarten if it wasn't for the fact that he is happy about going. I'm not sure what I would do if we had Eli first. Yes Eli, the one who does not do well with change, the one who screams and cries every time I have to cut his fingernails. Jude is our oldest and has already grown so much, but I try to remember that he's still only five years old. So I'll hold him when he wants to be held even though he's not so little anymore. Although I look forward to seeing the people our children become, I often want to stop time so they don't have to grow up.

Finally, a small Father's Day gift for my dad, deliciously fresh after a bath:

(Notice I finally found a hairpin that is the perfect size for Audrey!)

 

Holimonday = What Jude Called the Holiday Last Monday

To warmly greet us back from our eastcoast/midwest trip last month, Los Angeles threw us a welcome home earthquake as well as a significant aftershock a few days later. This was the first one Jude & Eli were old enough to be aware of. As planned, as soon as we felt the first BOOM Kwang grabbed the two boys while I ran up to Audrey's room and snatched her from the crib. It only lasted about 15 seconds so by the time we made it under the kitchen table, it was over. Of course, I was frozen for about a good five minutes after that. So even though I was sitting under the table right next to Eli, he kept crying, "I want daddy..." You can probably guess by his level of insecurity that I'm not such a good actor. Afterwards, Jude asked a number of questions like, "Why does it shake?" and "Why does God make it shake?" Taking after his mommy, Eli didn't want to sleep alone because "it's gonna be too earthquake."

May was our family birthday month! Kwang turned 34, Jude turned 5, and Eli turned 3:

  

Eli & Jude with their cousin Justin:

Both boys also had their yearly well-checks. Both are a bit taller than average for their ages and both, surprisingly, are on the thin side for their height. Yes, I actually heard the doctor say that Eli "is a slim guy." I had to have him repeat that for confirmation, but it turns out I am right after all-- it's all in his cheeks. Despite my attempts to distract him while getting his shot, Eli wailed as soon as the nurse administered it. Jude, on the other hand, sat and watched the nurse prick and shoot a bubble under his skin for his TB test and then he sat and watched the lab technician stick him and draw two vials of his blood-- all without wincing or shedding a tear. Night and day, my boys are. Night and day.

Although they have their fair share of daily fights, Eli is at the age where he loves to be just like his big brother. Instead of sitting across from Jude at meals, he wants to sit next to him. If I ask him what flavor of something he wants, he asks which one Jude wants... because that is what he wants. If Jude says something interesting, Eli repeats it. Eli loves to be like Jude. It's annoying to Jude but adorable to me, because I know that this will one day pass. More than playing with them these days, I enjoy sitting and watching my boys play together. And when I see them playing and laughing together for hours at a time, there is nothing that can put me in a bad mood.

Rather than calling her our little princess, we think Audrey is a bottle of sunshine in our home. I wouldn't say she's our princess because, well, she doesn't really look like one. On any given day, she resembles a mad scientist HER HAIR IS THAT BAD. What makes her adorable to us is her warm smile and fun loving personality. I love smothering my little snugglebug with kisses. Or maybe I should call her my little piglet. Of all our kids Audrey has the bottomless tummy for food. She will stop dead in her tracks if you mention food. Kwang has a weakness for unhealthy, fried, or salty foods. I have a weakness for almost anything sweet. And together, we gave birth to an eating monster.