Beginnings.

Puppet theatre

hooliah — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:47:58 +0000

Vanessa and Ben sent Christmas presents this week and the kids fell in love right away! They got them a puppet theatre tent with two puppets. It was really a perfect gift because the puppets were a knight and a dragon, which is exactly what the kids were for Halloween! The tent is quite large and takes up most of the living room, but we are going to leave it inside for a while because the kids practically live inside the tent!

As you can see, even Derek loves it! They even got Paula, our nanny in there for a while! The last picture is of Addie’s feet sticking out of the window – Derek wanted to cut her toenails but this is how she wanted to do it, so she could stay inside the puppet theatre!
There have been many productions in the new theatre, including a little red riding hood show that had a twist: it was a musical. Lucas thought I was too distracted to notice that he was getting a DVD out but no, I spotted you little boy! He picked the sound of music which we watched afterwards. The musical production from his sister must have put him in the mood!

Taking care of mama

hooliah — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:12:41 +0000

I have had a terrible cold since Saturday that’s left me with no energy and lots of aches and pains. My favorite remedy is a hot bath and the kids love to take care of their mama – they sit by the tub and read me stories, because as Addie says ‘stories will make you feel better.’ I think love is what is helping me feel better.

Addie at school

hooliah — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:53:04 +0000

Today was Addie and I’s turn to bring in snacks. It was adorable, I took her to the grocery store and she used a small cart and put all the snacks in her cart. Snacks at sand tots are a bit more involved than I had anticipated. You need to bring at least one snack from each of three categories: fruits/veggies, protein and carb (preferably whole wheat). So Addie chose honeydew melon and mango, cheese and whole wheat goldfish. One of the perks is she gets to wear a helper apron and gets to help me set up which she loved!
The other perk is that the snack kid also brings something from home to share during rug time. Addie never wavered on what she wanted to bring! And I was able to take a video of the whole thing – so cute!

It’s done!

hooliah — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:06:55 +0000

I’m officially a citizen! No more INS trauma!

Separated…

hooliah — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:14:09 +0000

Derek and the kids were not allowed inside the building which was a real bummer. In hindsight, I am so glad I didn’t decide to just bring the kids by myself because they would not have let them in and then I would’ve been in big trouble. The whole process was surprisingly organized and orderly. I am now seating ‘graduation-style’ aka hope you are friends with your neighbor because you are practically on their lap. Hope the picture gives you a sense of how big of a ceremony this is!

Quick lunch before the ceremony

hooliah — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:18:29 +0000

We are sitting in the car in the parking lot of the Pomona fairplex eating lunch before the citizenship ceremony. As good Americans, one and all now, we are eating gourmet food: McDonald’s! More to come on how the ceremony unfolded.

First movie!

hooliah — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:50:36 +0000

When we found out beauty and the beast was being re-released, we got loads of offers to take Addie to the movie theatre for the first time! Marika and Will drove down on Sunday and took Addie to see the movie in 2D. Addie was SO excited!! She sat the whole time and although she got scared a couple of times (the beast is very loud when he is grumpy in the theatre!), she loved it! I think it helped that she had seen the movie before so whenever she got scared, she knew what was going to happen next, so that helped!

On Monday, since it was a holiday, Gen had the day off from school so she took Mamie and Addie to see it again, but this time in 3D. I was curious to see how she would do with the glasses, but apparently she kept them on for almost the entire movie! She even got her own popcorn snack (although Gen promises she didn’t eat that huge bag by herself!).

After those two great experiences, Addie decided she liked the movie theatre and that she should go again, but maybe to see a different movie!

Kids love their daddy

hooliah — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:31:10 +0000

Birthday party

hooliah — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:34:21 +0000

We went to a birthday party this weekend for one of Addie’s classmates and the kids had a blast! It was at a park in Hermosa Beach and they had a bounce house, so you can imagine how excited Addie was to see it! The playground was great too and the kids especially enjoyed being firefighters in the big fire truck.

And boy were they both excited when they saw the sweets table!

How fast they grow up!

hooliah — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:45:50 +0000

Addie started preschool last week and she loves it!! She has been learning all about outer space and came home with questions about rocket ships and space shuttles. She has already made new friends and she loves her new teacher ‘miss teacher Aileen’!
She is still not a huge fan of pictures but here she is ready for school with her Dora backpack!

Lucas is also growing up so fast! He has been trying to ride Addie’s bike for weeks and he is one determined boy! He can’t quite reach the pedals well enough to move around but he still has a good time trying!