A Date With Daddy

Since the baby is arriving soon, B and I want to make sure that we have a few dates with the kids one-on-one. We've been looking for things to do with them for the past few weeks. I asked Elina to make a wish list and she wrote down that she wanted to go to the Kiddie Park, ice skating, and tea. Hopefully we can get all this done before #3 shows up. For Eli, we know that he just loves Gymboree so we'll take him to plenty of open gym times.

For Elina's first date, B took Elina to lunch and then ice skating. We asked Elina to choose her favorite restaurant and, of course, she chose Luby's! (Ever since we ate there a few times while we were in Brownsville, she considers it her favorite restaurant. Unfortunately, B isn't a huge fan of the place. Oh well.) So they went to Luby's and Elina had her favorite meal of mac 'n cheese, broccoli, and jello. Yummy!



Afterwards, B and Elina went ice skating. They had a blast skating together! Elina loved every minute of it! In this first video, Elina's saying how she loves ice skating and how she can make "snowballs" with the ice. Then she's saying something else, but we have no idea what she said (and B doesn't remember). Plus, it's hard to hear because the music is loud and there are lots of people skating. But I had to include it because she's talking like such a big girl...with her hands and facial expressions. Cute.



I like this next video because she's trying so hard to look cool and cute. She's getting to be such a big girl!



And then they ended the date with some hot cocoa. What a great date!

Dollar Day at the Carnival

Last Friday was the last Dollar Day for the carnival at the rodeo. I had been wanting to go back to the carnival if the weather was decent. It was cloudy and cool that day, but there was no rain in the forecast so I decided to meet LW and her kids out there. I could only go if another adult was willing to go with me because Eli and I couldn't ride most of the rides. Luckily, LW agreed to go with me so that her daughter, G, could ride some stuff with Elina.

The thing is, the last time we went to the carnival with B, the ride operators were more lenient about letting Eli get on the rides. This time they were really strict. 98% of the rides said that the child has to be a minimum of 36" tall, even to ride with an adult! Eli is nowhere near 36". So Eli basically couldn't ride anything. I had to beg one guy to let Eli at least ride this little ladybug ride. And Eli also got to ride another ride because I got on with him. On the ladybug ride, Elina had her arm around Eli the whole entire time. It was a good thing she did because Eli started to slip on his seat and become more and more horizontal as the ride kept going around and around.



The rest of the time was just torture for Eli. He would watch as Elina got on and off rides and he would say, "My turn. My turn." So instead I got Eli some popcorn to munch on while his big sis had lots of fun. Poor guy. Next year we'll have better luck.

This was Elina's first time riding carnival rides with a friend her age...and boy, did she have fun! I think that's what makes it more fun for the kids. She and G had such a great time on all the rides. This motorcycle one was their favorite because it actually did a "pop a wheelie" and it totally caught them off-guard. They were cracking up and laughing hysterically.




Then this race car ride was a close second for the girls. The cars go along this oval-shaped track, so on the curves, it whips the cars around quickly. The girls were caught off-guard, but loved it. So each time they were on the straight parts going slowly, they would say, "No, no, no!" And then when the car would whip around, they would scream dramatically. It was so funny! Look at their faces in this photo below. Priceless!!






Elina got so caught up in the excitement that she forgot her own fear. She saw this dragon roller coaster and G said she wanted to ride it, so Elina agreed. Elina got in with G and said, "This is gonna be so exciting!!" But once the ride started, Elina started to get scared. She started shrinking down in her seat. By the third time around, she looked like she was going to cry. So after the fourth time around, the operator stopped the ride. Poor Elina. She said, "I never want to ride that ride again." Ha! Look at how sad her face is in the picture below.

Then there were other rides that Elina wanted to ride, but she just wasn't tall enough. The height requirement for those rides were 42" to ride without an adult. Poor Elina just wasn't tall enough, even though G was tall enough. I told Elina that she'd be able to ride everything next year. So now she's excited to go back to the rodeo next year!

Fiesta Farm Field Trip

Last week Elina's class took a field trip to a petting zoo called Fiesta Farms. We went last year with our little preschool, but this year was pretty awesome because we were the only school group that particular day. So the kids got to feed all the animals and they got to have a pony ride (on top of the hayride)! It was pretty exciting!
Even Eli got in on the action. He was pretty funny on the field trip because he was willing to feed the smaller animals and not so willing to feed the bigger ones. He fed the bunnies really well, but he wouldn't go anywhere near the cows. Then when it was time to feed the pigs, he actually held the crackers out and said, "Piggy, piggy!" And when the pigs started coming to him, he freaked out and just dropped the crackers on their faces. He panicked!


Then he held the hay out for the horse to eat...but when the horse started coming toward him, he would just walk away with the hay still in his hands! It was so (unintentionally) mean!


So I tried to tell him he had to give the horses the hay...so he ended up just dropping it on the floor for them--for later. Oh well.


Elina actually fed all the animals. She was especially fond of this white baby goat. She fed him the most. I asked her why that one was her favorite and she said it was because it was the prettiest one. Of course. Elina was so excited to ride a pony! She wasn't scared at all and she really enjoyed it.


The funny thing is that everyone in Elina's class knows Eli by his name. Whenever we visit the classroom, all the kids try to play with him. They'll say, "Eli, do you want to go to the science center?" or something like that. And he just goes along with them and plays with these older kids. He loves it. Now, no one knows MY name at all! They just call me "Elina's mommy." Funny, right? So at the end of the field trip, they let the kids play with bubbles and Eli had a blast running around with the big kids popping bubbles. Our little guy is growing up!

Our Own Chinese New Year

This year Chinese New Year was a little different for us because my parents weren't here to celebrate with us. They were actually in Taiwan for Chinese New Year, so we were on our own.

Chinese New Year was actually last weekend, so we had KT and her family over for our Chinese dinner. I made 2 of my mom's dishes--chicken with potatoes and carrots in a brown sauce and eggs with tomatoes. Then I made some egg drop soup and steamed up some of the dumplings my dad and Elina had made before. KT brought her lettuce wraps and a yummy raspberry cheesecake dessert. I had been so busy cooking that I forgot about looking festive...none of us were dressed in red or anything Asian. Luckily, KT had more sense than I did and L came dressed in a Korean robe and L's little sister, E, came dressed in a red Chinese dress. They were very fancy. I was just bummed I forgot to get a group picture! Oh well. It was a fun night with great food and wonderful friends.

I also volunteered to talk to Elina's class about Chinese New Year. I told them about the lunar calendar and about Chinese traditions for the new year. I also read them Karen Katz's book My First Chinese New Year. Then I brought out a little Chinese lion puppet that we have and I gave each kid some fake money. I told each child to feed the lion money so that they could have good luck for the new year. They all thought it was the coolest thing. Then I had a tray with Chinese candies for them to try...you know, with the peanut stuff, sesame seed stuff, etc. Another mom brought in sesame balls and only one girl in the entire class liked it....sad to say, it wasn't my daughter. Hahaha. In the end, I taught them how to say Happy Chinese New Year in Mandarin and I handed each kid a red envelope with chocolate coins inside. I told them to eat the coins when they got home and then to put the red envelope under their pillows for good luck. I had a great time sharing about Chinese New Year with the kids and they seemed to have fun. Amazingly, Elina's class is such a good class of listeners. They were so attentive and cooperative.

Then this past weekend, the Institute of Texan Cultures had their Asian Festival. This is the 2nd year we've attended and it's lots of fun. Last year we went with my parents and it was a crowded, but fun event--remember how we were eating food with our own makeshift skewer-chopsticks? Well, this year we took J with us and went right when the festival started in the morning, so the crowds weren't terrible at all. So we managed to eat lunch without waiting in line AND we managed to use real utensils to eat! We also enjoyed some bubble drinks and Hawaiian shaved ice. Lots of yummy stuff! We watched the lion dance and some other Chinese dances (plate dance, ribbon dance, etc.). Elina had fun watching the lion dance and even got to feed the lion a dollar for good luck. Eli wasn't as impressed. I think he just thought the music was too loud and the lions were too big. We also watched some Tahitian dancers. I am always so impressed with the way those ladies can move their hips. Wow!


After some lunch, the kids rode the little choo-choo train twice and then we headed home.





Of course we had to buy something, so we bought this inflatable tiger that squeaks when you squeeze it. The stand that was selling it was making a killing because SO many kids had that thing! Elina and Eli are still playing with it everyday. They ride it like a horse or just chase each other around with it. Seriously, the best $4 we've spent recently.

That night, we celebrated a little more by having dinner at PF Chang's. I know, I know...but seriously, I'm really loving this restaurant more and more. Every time we go, the kids love the food (so they sit during the entire meal--BONUS!) and so do the adults. I even splurged and ordered the duck, which was delicious!! We're not ashamed to say that we're Asian and love PF Chang's.

So that was out Chinese New Year. Not quite as eventful (or yummy) as when my parents are around, but for the most part we made it work. We hope everyone has a wonderful (and lucky) year of the tiger!

What Can Take Place Within 1 Minute

Yesterday we decided to visit an arts and crafts place for open art time with LW and her 2 daughters. We walked through the doors and Eli immediately went over to a rectangular table to check out the paints and paintbrushes. At this point, the nice lady there is welcoming us and beginning to show us the forms we have to fill out. As she's talking, Elina starts running over to Eli at the table because she wanted to see what he was up to. Mind you, there is nothing on the floor at all. There are no obstacles in the way...there is nothing to get your feet caught up in. Then, suddenly, Elina trips close to the table...it all seemed to happen in slow-motion for me. As she falls, she bangs the table...but from my vantage point, it looked like she kinda caught herself with her hand on the table. I was totally wrong! She caught the entire blow to her head, right above her forehead. (I just want to make a note that at this point we have literally been inside the arts place for 1 minute!! How could all this happen so quickly??)

Next thing I know she's screaming and I run over. There's blood just dripping down her face and it starts getting on her hands and on my hands. There's just blood everywhere. It was quite the scene...as most head injuries are since the head is so vascular. I use paper towels to apply pressure and I'm about to cry myself.

Fortunately, I lucked out with 2 things. First, I was lucky to have my friend with me. LW said she'd watch Eli with her kids at the arts place while I took Elina to an urgent care clinic. (As you can see from the picture on the right, Eli had a blast painting and drawing while we were gone.) Second, this all took place close to where B works. I really don't have the stomach for my kids' injuries. I am too emotionally involved...I always want to cry myself. So how can I tell them everything will be ok when I don't think everything will be ok?? I am not good at pinning down my kids' arms while they are crying and screaming when the doctor has to do something to them. I am not good at looking right at my kids' injuries--up close. I let B take care of this kind of stuff because he has the stomach for it and isn't constantly fighting back tears during these emergencies.
So I took Elina to a clinic and immediately called B. I asked him to come to the clinic to be with Elina so that I could go back to the arts place to pick up Eli. Elina ended up getting 3 stitches right above her hairline. They gave her blue stitches so that they would be more visible in her black hair. I wasn't there to watch them putting the stitches in, but B said that he had to pin her arms down because she kept trying to swat the doctor's hands away. He said there was lots of crying, too, so I'm glad I wasn't there. I know I sound like a rotten mom when I say that, but I really am not helpful in these situations--seriously.

I thought Elina would be out of it today and I almost kept her home from her school field trip. But she's actually back to her normal self already. I guess kids are pretty resilient. Too bad I'm not so resilient. I keep replaying the fall in my head. I just wonder what I could've done differently to have prevented her from falling. Maybe I shouldn't have let her run off to go to Eli. Maybe I should've explicitly told her, "No running," right before we got into the place. Maybe...maybe. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, right? Who knows. Either way, I'm just glad that in the big scheme of things, this is pretty minor and Elina will be ok. I think I lost a year or two off of my life because of what happened. I came home and I was exhausted...more exhausted than I have been in awhile. I was even dozing off while we watched a TV show and had to turn in early. I think I'm the one who will be out of it for a day or two.

Valentine's Fun

I really love Valentine's Day. Last year I declared it our official crafty holiday and this year it was the same. J and Elina made a pink Valentine's foam house for our dining table and then L and Elina painted heart-shaped magnets I made out of Plaster of Paris. Elina, J, and I also made cute Valentine's Day cards for her friends and classmates. We made little flowers with lollipops in the middle as her cards (an idea from Family Fun magazine). It was actually more work than I had imagined. Elina helped cut out the hearts (for petals) and leaves, but after awhile she complained that her hand was getting tired. So J had to finish all the cutting. I made the holes in everything to make the flowers and Elina handwrote the to/from on each flower that we made. She did an awesome job because we had to make about 16 or so. They turned out really cute so it was worth it.
We also had our playgroup Valentine's Day party earlier in the week. We really missed having KL and E around this year, but we made do with what we could. The kids painted Valentine's Day suncatchers and played Valentine's Bingo...and of course we had our usual yummy treats. I made my rainbow jello hearts again (a surprise since it was time-consuming last year!) and raspberry cheesecake brownies. We also had yummy salsa, heart-shaped sandwiches, pigs in a blanket in heart-shapes, and of course...LW's delicious heart-shaped cake. Last year LW made an ice-cream cake (she used to work at Baskin Robbins), but this year it was a white cake with her amazing raspberry white-chocolate filling...we didn't mind one bit! Overall, a delicious, fun time for all of us!
This year I finally got the kids little tin mailboxes and had them decorate them at the end of January. Then every morning, beginning on February 1, I put a clue into the mailboxes that led to a treat or a treasure. For the first 10 days, it's nothing too extravagant. It might be some heart-shaped chocolate or candy I have laying around or coloring pages. Regardless though, every morning Elina would check if her mailbox flag was up or down. She was so excited about it. Some nights I wouldn't feel well enough to write a clue and hide something, so she told J that if the flag was down "that means that Mommy didn't feel well last night." So those were the days when I wrote a clue later in the day. Elina was also a very good big sister. She would read Eli his clues and then lead him to where his treat/prize was. Eli wasn't as into the whole thing, but he enjoyed the treats at the end.
Then for the last few days before Valentine's Day the prizes got a little bigger. One day they each got new Valentine's books, then Pez dispensers, and then for Valentine's Day, the grand prize was a View Master for them to share. For the grand prize, the scavenger hunt was a lot longer. There were 6 clues all together and I guess I made some of them too hard because we really had to help Elina along at times. But in the end they thought the View Master was the coolest thing ever. (It definitely looks cooler than it used to.)

On Valentine's Day, we started our morning with heart-shaped pancakes and heart-shaped eggs. Elina ate both her chocolate chip pancakes and her eggs. This is a lot of food for Elina! Maybe I should make everything in the shape of a heart, if it'll get her to eat more! For lunch we ordered the heart-shaped pizza from Papa John's because Elina thought it sounded like the coolest thing ever. She said, "I wonder how they make it into a heart shape? I know! They make the pizza round first and then they take food scissors and cut the pizza into the shape of a heart. Then they sprinkle candy on it!" I just thought it was funny that she differentiates between "food scissors" and regular scissors. (And she added the candy on the pizza because she wanted to be silly.) We had the pizza with pink smoothies and heart-shaped rainbow jello (like last year). Eli seriously ate 6 of those jello hearts by himself.


We had to do our Valentine's Day pink/red meal earlier in the day this year because we attended one of Elina's classmates' birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese in the evening. So, yes, we ate pizza at 2 meals for Valentine's Day. Sounds sick, but I didn't really mind much.

We also made our traditional Valentine's Day crowns/headbands to wear. The kids had fun decorating them and they looked really cute, but B said that Uncle J would definitely disapprove of Eli wearing his around the house. But don't they look cute?

Yee-Haw! Part II

I forgot to mention that because of the rodeo being in town, Elina's school celebrated Western Week last week. Everyone was encouraged to dress up as cowboys/cowgirls for the day. We still don't own a cowgirl outfit (the reason we borrowed L's for Elina's Halloween costume), so we had to borrow from Elina's friend, G. We also had to borrow L's cute pink boots again, but this time I had already bought a pink cowgirl hat for Elina. At least something was Elina's right?

To make things more fun at school, the younger kids were invited to watch the 1st graders put on a square dance. Elina was so excited about watching them dance. That day I carpooled the girls to school and L stayed over at our house afterwards, so I asked them about the square dance they watched. The girls said that the older kids were great and had even taught them some simple square dance moves. So they showed me what they had learned and it was so cute!

Yee-Haw!

The rodeo is in town again and we decided to go last weekend. Usually, I take the kids on Dollar Days, when admission, rides, and popcorn are all $1, but this year the weather hasn't been cooperating. It's been rainy and cold a lot and last Saturday was one of our first sunny, nice days, so we decided to jump on it. But it definitely came at a price. Everything was more expensive, but we knew that going into it. Plus, Elina's at an age where the carnival part of the rodeo is more fun for her. She wanted to ride SO many rides, but we had to put a limit on it because the rides are actually really expensive. She HAD to ride the big ferris wheel with J, and that ride alone was $5 per person. PER PERSON! But that's the price you pay if you want to go on a day that isn't cold and rainy, I guess.
Surprisingly, it was J's first time to the rodeo fairgrounds with us. I've gone for the past 2 years and I love it. There are just a lot of fun kiddie things to do...bouncy houses, petting zoos, pig races, carnival rides. My fave thing has to be the pig races. These little pigs run around a track to win Oreo cookies at the end of the race. There are 4 or 5 heats and it's just the cutest thing.


Now that Elina is older, she also spent time in the bouncy houses. Normally she doesn't go into those things if there are a lot of people in them, but this year she HAD to go in. I was really impressed with how brave she was. There was this one with a ladder to climb up and it was hard for her get up there. She took forever, but she didn't give up. What was more impressive was that the older kids in the bouncy house with her, just patiently waited behind her. They never tried to push her aside or tried to get past her. It was nice to see kids behaving like that.

Every year the Army has a booth at the fairgrounds where they have a push-up challenge for people. Of course, B participated last year and he HAD to participate this year. B went up to ask what the record was to see if he wanted to participate. He came back to tell me that the record was 105 and decided he wanted to wait in line to hit the record. (Typical B.) We left B there and later when we met up again, he had an Army t-shirt in one hand and an Army wristband in the other. He informed us that he broke the record by doing 106 push-ups! See, that's typical B too because he wanted to do JUST enough to break the record. But either way, 106 push-ups is impressive to us!

On the way out of the rodeo, we let the kids ride on carnival rides. Elina did the merry-go-round (she always has to ride a merry-go-round wherever we go), this bear ride that resembled the Disney tea cup ride, and the big ferris wheel. Eli rode this animal train ride, which he was so excited about. The bear ride that Elina and B rode was SO funny to watch. They are literally sitting inside the bear's tummy. It's just weird. But they took some funny pictures posing as scary bears.

We spent half the day at the rodeo fairgrounds and had a great time. The weather was beautiful and the kids had fun. We love the rodeo! (Check out my family of animals below...Eli the cow, Elina the pig, and B the pig.)

Gymnastics

Last week Elina started gymnastics. She was pretty excited to go and she ended up doing a great job! It was nice to watch Elina use some muscles she never uses. She had to hold her body up with her arms on the vault and she had to try to climb the rope a little. She even kinda did a handstand on the wall by walking her feet up the wall.

Her favorite activity was swinging on the rope. She looked scared, but claimed she really loved it. (She's swinging on the rope in this next video. Sorry my laughing is so loud in it though. I could just tell how scared she was!)

Elina's least favorite thing was climbing up the ladder because Coach S makes the kids climb up, turn around while up on the ladder, and lift up their legs with their legs straight. She didn't think that was fun at all.

I think this gymnastics class will be really good for Elina. It forces her to try new things and to try things that make her uncomfortable. Elina also loves Coach S because she's so encouraging and fun. Hopefully, Elina can learn a few gymnastics moves and have some fun at the same time!

Special School Days

There were lots of exciting things going on at Elina's school during the last week of January.

First there was PJ Day, where all the kids got to wear their favorite pajamas to school. Of course Elina HAD to pick a nightgown. It was a pink, velvety number (that's actually a hand-me-down from my neighbor and friend). She loves this old thing because it's pink and has lace. It was funny how excited Elina was to wear her PJs to school. She thought it was going to be funny to see the teachers in PJs, too. For PJ Day, the kids got to eat popcorn mixed with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips and watch a little movie. This is pure excitement for little kids! After school (on PJ Day), Elina stayed over at L's house until 3pm. So she was thrilled! She ate lunch there, made peanut butter dough, and then played for awhile. On most Tuesdays, KT and I swap extended days with the girls. One of us will keep the girls until 2pm or so for lunch and an activity so the other mom can have a long day without the older one. Needless to say, Elina LOVES Tuesdays.
That same week was Grandparents/Special Friend Day. Grandparents or a special friend could visit the class, do an activity, and then eat a nice meal in the Big Room (cafeteria). My parents proudly went to Elina's class and they even took pictures (which I had to constantly remind them to do). It was a special day that Elina will always remember. Lately, she's been drawing lots of pictures of Ah-Gong and Ah-Ma with her.

Rolling Away

During our previously mentioned Family Fun Day, B took the day off and we took the kids to the Wildlife Ranch and then we took them roller skating. It was the first time roller skating for both Elina and Eli so we chose to go on a Pixie Skate day, which meant that only skaters between the ages of 2 and 9 were allowed. It also meant that adults (like me) could walk around the rink in shoes to help out the kids. This helped B out a lot because he could only handle one kid on skates at a time. He's a super-dad, but on skates it's a little tougher. Here are the kids and B on their way out to the rink--


Elina seemed to get the hang of it by the end, but she didn't have much fun in the beginning. She fell a lot more than when she went ice skating, so she wanted to give up. But I had her stand outside the rink with me and watch all the other little kids who were falling down and picking themselves right back up. After she saw how many people were falling and still skating, she was inspired to go back out. She still claims that ice skating is way more fun, so the next time she only wants to go ice skating. Oh well. We tried. (Check out her facial expression in the middle picture in the collage below--she's having fun!)I didn't get to take too many videos or take too many pics because we each had to have one kid, but here is one video or Elina when she first went out onto the rink. B says that in retrospect, this is one of the worst ways to teach kids how to skate because they purely rely on you to catch them. After B did it this way for a bit, he switched to just having Elina skating beside him and holding one of his hands.

This skating rink was pretty fun, even though Elina didn't like it as much as we had thought she would. They did lots of the old-school things like the Hokey-Pokey and the limbo. Elina thought it was pretty funny that she got to do the Hokey-Pokey on skates.