pier 1

I saw this at Pier 1 and would LOVE LOVE LOVE it in my master bedroom!

Nov 15: Brian's birthday!

On Nov 15th, we celebrated Brian's birthday with a free dinner from Caffe Gelato.

Next year, he gets to have his birthday at Mi Cocina.  And we're going to celebrate BOTH of our birthdays there because we love it there!

Anyways, the next night, on the 16th, Brian received his birthday Minions from Despiccable Me:

He thought they were pretty clever!  *patting myself on my back*

Bet you like my open cabinet door back there.  Awww yea...

I don't know what I'm going to do if someone doesn't buy out Hostess Twinkies!  For those of you who do not know, Despiccable Me is one of our favorite movies!

Brian is laughing in this picture because Michael is singing Happy Birthday to You with "cha cha cha" in the middle of the verses and ends with "cha cha cha ooh la la sosemthing soeitn aribus!"

His Kindergarten class sings it this way and it's HILARIOUS.  They all sing it this way for everyone, even if they are not in their class.  So it's too cute.  They did it at his bouncy house party too and our friends who weren't in his class were looking around with quite a bit of uncertainty.

Brian blows out his four candles:

Like my action shot?

And we called it another year!  :)

Nov 9 - 11: Team ABC London and His Mountainous Visit PA!

As soon as we could meet our newest little nephew, Carson, we did!  Team ABC (AK/Bill/Carson - as named by the family) came to spend a weekend with us in PA and we loved every second of it!

Michael showed Carson a little bit about Pokemon:

Carson was a VERY good sport and an eager listener:

The first night, Team ABC came and immediately used our American sized laundry facilities!  We understand exactly how they felt and were happy to be able to share our home with them!

After dinner, we played some pinochle and played with cute little Carson!

The next morning, we went to the Longwood Gardens and took a LOT of pictures.  This was my favorite and I need to do a post of just the images from Longwood:

I am going to put the blog post in the queue but won't publish it until later.  So you'll want to come back here to look!

Then on Saturday, his Mountainous made his debut into PA:

Brian was especially skeptical:

Good thing we have our blog locked down from the public now!!

Brent was great fun and we all enjoyed hanging out together to watch Texas A&M BTHO #1 ranked ALABAMA!!!!  It was AWESOME being able to watch that game with family and fellow Aggies.  We were so thankful for Bill and AK being here!

We had a great dinner afterwards because Brian insisted we have Blanquette de Veau, which meant I spent much of the Aggie game in the kitchen.

After Michael went to bed, AK and Bill were introduced to much swearing from Brent as we played Speed Scrabble, and Bill dominated us once again.  I had the table cracking up at my midnight spelling of "Fart" and "Wand" in order to rack up a whoppin' 30-40 points in extra letters.  But it was worth it to see that all I had the mental capacity to spell at that time was Fart Wand.

The next day, we just relaxed around the house, hiked in the wood, and did more laundry!  Oh yes, and we ate.  SOME MORE. :)

Thankfully, we got a great picture of the family on the deck.  Brian blinked:

Then, Brian opened his eyes, but now for some reason, all the cousins have their shirts halfway up their bellies:

And then after this, I made Carson upset somehow, and we were done!  :)

We saw Brent off in his rented minivan:

We told him how much we missed seeing Tracy, his beautiful new wife and made promises to see them in the Bay Area soon.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Team ABC and made sure they had nothing but clean clothes to bring back!  It was a very relaxing weekend and we loved being able to spend it with them!

Stay tuned for the Longwood pics.  I need to edit a few and then they are up.  :)  MANY more blog posts to come...

I have not been blogging, but it's not for lack of material!  :)
P

Michael, Age 6

This post is long overdue (2 months!), but very necessary!

Our Michael, age 6, is so funny to know!  

He started Kindergarten this year, and we feel as if he has come home a completely different child.  In a good way!  Most of the time, Michael has very nice manners.  He says "please" and "thank you" most of the time without being prompted.  We attribute that to his school!  :)  Mrs. DeColli keeps those little kids in line!  What I have been trying 5 years to stress, Mrs. DeColli could do in a month.  

He has a very fun imagination and is always making up little stories to go with his creations.  Whether it's boats and airplanes blowing up land targets or flying noises with anything he can find, I am always amused at the noises he is making during play!

Michael loves to play baseball.  It is his favorite sport!  Brian does such a good job having practice with him outside and the neighborhood kids always seem to join in on the fun.  Michael can hit the ball pretty well without using a tee so we do not use it!

Soccer this year was a bit overwhelming for Michael.  In previous years, he would get in on the herdball that normally happened, steal the ball, and dribble to the goal because he was usually the fastest.    This year, he was a bit scared of the scrum.  He would kind of run around everyone like a sheep dog, wait for the ball to escape the herd of children, dribble it, and somehow lose it.  It has been a struggle watching him try to get in there!  However after talking to his coach, she said that what Michael is doing will be fine when he's older, and there is not so much herd ball as there is actual positions and distribution across a field!  He definitely has blossoming soccer skills though - when he actually gets in there!  It will be interesting to see what he chooses next fall because he wants to run cross country for the school, and it is the same day/time as soccer.

Michael is really into this Wii Skylanders game.  It's a game that allows you to play as different characters!  You change these different characters out using figurines that you place on a portal.  It is actually pretty cool!  All the characters have different powers, which makes the game more interesting!

Michael also still loves to play with legos, with Star Wars and Harry Potter legos being his favorites.

He still loves cars.  Racing them, rolling them, whatever!  I had to put away his train set this year and couldn't believe how quickly he has grown!

We are listening to Harry Potter on CD in the car.  He is loving that!

School is great fun for him!  He loves to learn, and I am starting to see such progress in both his reading and his handwriting!

Speaking of school, Michael definitely leans towards math (no shock there).  Michael can definitely add and subtract (even with double digits plus single digits).  We are starting to do fractions at home and 2 columned addition/subtraction.  Michael is definitely multiplying lower numbers and can count by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's up quite a ways.  I don't think he has quite realized that he is actually multiplying the 3's, 4's, 5's, and 6's yet - but I am thrilled he can count by those intervals in addition to the easy ones (10's, 20's, 50's, 100's).

Reading has always been something in which Michael has had to put forth a bit more effort.  However, he has definitely progressed with his sight words and can sound things out pretty well.  He definitely needs a little help, but I think he is making great progress.

His handwriting is coming along well and has improved since his 1st day of school!

Today, I am especially proud of Michael because he started making a book.  He asked for several sheets of white paper for his book and started with his title page: "The humongous tree and the humongous grass."  He has also illustrated it!  He wrote his first page in the book today.  I can't wait to take pictures of it!!  He needed help spelling humongous, but the rest he wrote on his own.  I am so impressed with his cute little mind.

I always love and cherish Michael because he is my one and only.  I rarely take him for granted because I can't have as many children as I want.  Every day is a blessing to see, and I hope to see so many more to come.  Michael has become a bigger joy for us every single day.

And the best thing about Michael?  He TOTALLY knows how to behave in front of the camera!

I took about 20 pictures of him for his "Six Year Old" portraits and I kept about 10.  LOVE our lil' guy!

Every year, I wonder how he can top the previous year's portrait.  Every year, he does:

Then, I made him and Brian practice some reflector work under the shade of a tree:

Then, I made him practice with a reflector in open light.   I got this face:

But only after he gave me this squinty one.  We are Asian after all:

 It's too bad his eyes are closed here!

Love our "baby cat" and am so thankful for him everyday!  

Oct 30 - Saint Spoon Project

While being locked in for Superstorm Sandy, Michael and I worked on his Saint Spoon for his Patron saint work at school.

We made St. Michael!  Here is Michael admiring his spoon:

I drew out the clothing parts and he cut them out all by himself.  He glued all the little parts on and I glued the completed clothing onto the spoon!  He also drew on St. Michael's hair and face.

Here is a better view:

Michael told me he was the only one in his class who made one.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not.  Might mean I am a nerd.

Oct 29-ish Superstorm Sandy Comes to Town

I tell ya - I've been through almost as many "hurricanes" on the East coast as I have in Houston.  

Between the earthquakes, hurricanes, and microbursts, I'm not sure what I think about the climatology in this area.

Michael had a birthday party RIGHT before Hurricane Irene hit.  So all he wanted to do was unwrap all his toys.

And all I wanted him to do was to play Wii until the power went out - and THEN he could play with all his new toys.

However, that was not happening.  And considering power never actually went out - we were blessed!

Michael got a nerf gun, which he LOVED.  We hunkered down into the basement and the boys got to playing:

Brian

vs.

Michael

Which quickly morphed into:

Michael

vs.

Brian

Me?  I was happy to use my glue gun to work on this!

The electricity flickered a couple of times.  After the first time, I got dinner on the table within 3 minutes.  We ate hurriedly and the power went out for 1-2 minutes.  We thought this was it.

However, the power came back on.  I was thrilled that my 60 lbs of frozen grass fed, hormone free, Amish born beef would live to see another day.  :)

Seriously, we were very fortunate.  Lots of people in New Jersey lost power for almost a week.  The NYC subway was completely flooded.  Lots of the Jersey shore was wiped out.  Because the eye basically passed 10 miles south of us, we were spared from the brunt of the storm.

Thankful

We have lots to be thankful for!  I was just thinking this week about what I am thankful for - and it dawned on me this:

"I haven't felt like I need a break from my life lately.  Which must mean that right now, I am living a good life."

Then I knocked on wood - because good grief - you are just INVITING trouble by thinking that!

I have lots to blog about and am just behind on downloading pictures and editing.  The holidays, a 16 lb turkey, and fixins will do it to ya!  :)

But I read this today in my MOPS leadership e-mail newsletter, and I just loved it.  SO I am sharing:

“But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6

Indeed, he has been good to us! Even through the sticky and difficult, he loves us so completely and sends small joys our way, things to make us smile, if we’ll only notice. He pursues us because he loves us so; he rejoices and desperately wants a daily relationship with us. He promises we won’t be alone and holds our hands through our parenting, our marriage, our leadership.

Which made me think of some very little things I am thankful for today:

• Alton Brown's recipe for Thanksgiving Turkey - TRULY a God-send.
• Paper plates/napkins/plastic utensils to help in the post dinner cleanup.
• Whip cream that comes out of a can.
• Beautiful warm (yet still cool!) fall weather.  We could have eaten outside!  :)
• Large piles of leaves that make my son totally happy.

There are lots of big things, which make us so grateful for our life together.  Our family being the biggest of all of them.  Both nuclear and extended.  Michael has 2 sets of grandparents who are still alive and love being a part of both his life and ours.  We are so grateful for the love and generosity they showed us in our youth, which set up a road map for us in parenting Michael during these fun years.  We have brothers and sisters(and sister in laws!) who care with us about our lives and who we genuinely love to see.

It is rare in these times to have family such as ours.  And for that, we will be forever grateful.

And then...

God always likes to keep me humble.

After my happy-for-me post, I forgot to send Michael in his winter jacket for school.  Which I found out later he was the only one who did not wear a jacket.  Which then meant there was no outside recess for the class that day because he forgot his coat.

EEk.  I even read the update online about how we need to be sending kids in their winter coats now.  I just forget because 1) I was tired and 2) he only walks from the car to the school so I forget all about needing a coat for recess.

ALSO -

Need to add that about 4 weeks ago, on a MOPS Friday, I dropped Michael off at school like normal.

But for whatever reason, he didn't want to get out of the car like normal.

SO I got out and as I was rounding the back bumper of my car, a gust of wind blew by...

that resulted in my shirt blowing completely over my face...

and when I finally got it together to smooth it down, I find myself face to face with Mr. Brunner, the principal of the school.

He is dying laughing.

I am mortified beyond belief.  Not only did my shirt blow up, I was wearing skinny jeans.  This means undeniable muffin top action.

After I recover, I turn around - only to see the next car in the car line - another witness to my rather "revealing" morning.

That's what I get for trying to look cute.

The next day, Michael is getting out of the car at school and Mr. Brunner is helping him out and says, "Morning Michael, let's get you out of this car."

He looks at me and says:

"YOU - you stay in the car."

It's a good thing I'm not a stranger at that school.

Well, this may be bragging. But I just want to write it down.

As you all know - all 3 of you who read the blog still - that I'm not about bragging normally.  I try to keep it real because being a mother is real.

It's hard enough to be a mother without high standards of motherhood perfection out there.  The last thing I want to be is that!

But I want to write this down for when I am having a bad day or when Michael decides to push over an entire display at the grocery store or whenever things are not looking good.  I need to pull out this blog post for a little pick-me-up.

One thing I did not mention about Michael's parent-teacher conference is what his teacher, Mrs. DeColli, told me.

After showing me how Michael's handwriting had progressed and how he was doing well, she told me, "You are a blessing to your child.  You have helped him develop this love of learning that will blossom as he grows older in high school and college.  You will see the fruits of your efforts as he grows."

I was so humbled and happy to hear this.  As a parent, you go in day in and day out - wondering if what you are doing is "right."  And having your child's teacher tell you this, makes you feel like you did do something right.

And from Mrs. DeColli no less.  She is a NO-NONSENSE-tell-it-like-it-is teacher.  She doesn't sugar coat ANYTHING.   After Michael's playdate last Friday, I found out she told the other 2 parents:

"Well, you are always so perfect with the perfect hair/makeup/clothes - it's no wonder your son feels the need to overcompensate and be perfect as well to live up to you."

"You need to stop doing everything for your child.  She is capable and you are not setting her up to be independent if you keep helping her do things she can do for herself."

When one of the moms tried to ask me what Mrs. DeColli told me, I hurriedly switched the conversation and was thankful no one noticed.

The last thing I want to do is brag or think I know the "best" way to raise a child.  I've been questioned about my decisions, and I've been chastised about whether or not I can take good care of my own child.  It is hurtful, and I never forget.  So  I always feel like the mom who drops the ball 9 times out of 10 and makes poor decisions.

So yes - I feel the need to document this not because I feel the need to brag.  But because I just needed one moment recorded where I did not mess up.  Or at least not yet.  There's still many more years including adolescence to see what happens.  Only God can hold those years in His most capable hands where I hope the foundation of communication and decision making that we are creating now will work well.

Oh - one last thing.  Michael told me the other day:
"Mrs. DeColli told the WHOLE class that if they had a question or needed help figuring something out that they could also ask ME to help them."

I asked to see, "Well - was it just YOU or was there a team of you who understand and can help?"

"No, just me.  No one else."

And in my mind I think - don't get too big for your britches, boy.  There are only 18 kids in your class.  And we live in small town rural PA.  It's not THAT big of an accomplishment!  But out loud, I said,

"Well, that's cool!  I hope you are proud of yourself and are helping your classmates out!  Sounds like an important job!"

6th Birthday Party at Pump it Up 10/27/12

As many of you know, I will never be a candidate for Mother of the Year.

And I'm ok with that.

So when Michael told me he wanted his party at Pump It Up about 7 months before his actual party, he gave his mother plenty of time to plan it.

Or so he thought!

I figured 6-7 weeks prior to the party date would be enough time to book the place.

I was mistaken.

SO!  The earliest I could get at a reasonable hour was 10/27!  And honestly, it all worked out better because Brian was in France for the 2 weekends around his birthday - so logistically, we couldn't do it then anyways.

This is what I told Michael and I rationalize in my head to make me feel better about not booking his party in time!

Yesterday, we had Michael's party at pump it up.  We had 24 kids:

We invited Michael's whole class from school and invited older siblings of the families we are friends with.

The kids had a blast and us adults too!  I raced another mom friend through their gauntlet.  It was SUPER fun!  I love seeing which of my friends like to do crazy stuff (I know - pump it up bouncy houses - super crazy right?) - and which friends prefer to sit out and watch.

Anyways, Michael loved being the center of attention:

He picked out a Backyardigans cake!  So cute!  I LOVE Giant's cakes by the way.  I am all about outsourcing that for birthday parties - no more elbow deep in buttery/sugary icing for me anymore.  I will be spending my time on the goodie bags and party theme accessories!  That's way more fun!

Michael's theme choice went from Legos to Star Wars to Legos to Angry Birds to Star Wars to Legos.

And he finally chose the Backyardigans days before his birthday.  OH WELL!  :)    I used the bags I was going to use as Lego treat bags anyways and was inside secretly thankful I did not have to punch out 6 - 1" diameter circles for EACH bag to adhere on there to look like lego. ;)

Michael had a great time with all of his friends and the kids and adults alike were all laughing and screaming.  I loved getting to know some more of the parents from Michael's class and it was nice to all get together.  They will be together for the next 8 years anyways!

I will be posting an entry about Michael at age 6 soon - along with his 6 year old portraits.  They came out awesome.  I love photographing Michael because first of all, he is only ONE kid.  And he's a kid that understands directions and will do what you say!  Plus, he's my kid so I took about 20 pictures of him and about 12-14 are keepers.  Gotta love that!

I should be editing pictures, but I am just not!

Thursday Digging

On Thursday, we started preparing for our Friday jumping in the leaves playdate with some of michael's friends from school.

Michael felt the priority was getting the trick or treat sign put into place.  I am going to have to say he prioritizes like his Daddy.  I was busy raking the leaves for the leaf jumping playdate.

He was totally quiet for a while, which always makes me worry.  I found him like this, concentrating very diligently at his work:

He dug a 1 ft wide and 1 ft deep hole for that sign on a stake.  Hmmm....

Had a great time though looking for worms!

So I wasn't about to discourage him from the rather excessive work for a little sign!  He was having so much fun picking them up and moving them to other places.  He filled in the hole after putting the sign up.  Mommy helped hold it up for him to finish!

Then we ran off to rake many large piles of leaves! Super fun!

We had the playdate on Friday, 10/26, with friends from school and they had a great time!  What I love is that they are all such good kids.  Very respectful and well mannered, one of the reasons we send him where we do.  Everyone is expected to have good manners and be respectful and kind to others.

Anyways - we had a fantastic time and plan to do it once a month with this same group, rotating houses!  :)

Grandparents' Weekend!

WAAAAYYYY back in September (8th and 9th) - Grammy and Grandpa came to visit!

It was Milburn's Grandparents' weekend AND we had not done our annual apple picking trip yet!  So off we went:

We went on a tractor ride back to the trees - Grammy and Grandpa had fun talking to Michael:

I took pictures wherever I could and also demonstrated that it is difficult to take pictures in full noon sun:

Walking with Grandpa:

Happy to be 5.5 almost 6!

Lots of apple picking happened!

Toting his wares:

Mom and her eldest:

More Apple Pickin'

More walking with Grandpa:

Afterwards, the grandparents took Michael into the play area because it was free for them and only $10 for Michael.  Versus $30 for all 3 of us.  We just bought lots of pounds (I think almost 30) of apples!

Brian and I got a very nice quick mini date eating apple cider donuts in the sun.

Then we were off to Mi Cocina in Jennersville, but I think they had a weekend chef because it was not as good as normal.  I had another friend go that same Saturday (although we didn't run into each other) and she said the same thing - that it just wasn't as good as normal.  We've been on a Friday night and been BLOWN away.

After some resting at home, we surprised Michael and Grandpa with How to Train a Dragon LIVE at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly!  It was a great show despite Toothless possibly being broken.  Michael was adorable and seriously believed they were real.  He looked at Brian and said, "See - I told ya. They are REAL."

Grammy bought him one of the dragon plush animals, which he held the whole night and slept with for a week straight.  I tell ya - I LOVE this school age.  It is so amazing.

Sunday was church and then more rest.  After that, Grammy and Grandpa were out!

Oh - worth it to mention - we played Pinochle.  After nearly 5 years of losing or never getting marriages between Brian and I as partners - we WON!  AND we smoked them one game where we went set twice (no meld and stuck with the bid) AND I didn't bid a hand I was supposed to.  AND we STILL won.

I also got a double run.  THAT was fun.  :)

Bet you don't believe I blogged this!!  I am tired of not being caught up!
P

Editing my own images today...

Love my six year old little boy who is turning into a fun-loving and inquisitive little person.  

So thankful to be able to capture his spirit!

Target and Middle Names

Check it.

Found this sign in Target - Michael's middle name:

For the record, I wanted Minh to be his middle name - so he could have something Asian about him.

Unfortunately, Brian won out.  And I'm thinking I'll never see a sign for "Minh" at Target.
P

Pumpkins, Pumpkins and MORE Pumpkins!

Last Saturday, we planned to go to the Amish farm to pick out pumpkins because it is cheaper than Milburns.

However, we got lost and ended up at Swallow Hill Farm, who had AMAZING pumpkin prices!  

Here was our loot - all for $20.  That's IT!

Michael was particularly impressed, as was fat animal squirrel:

Sorry for the absolutely grainy picture.  Kim Kropka pointed out to me that my ISO was at 800.  OUCH on a 6 year old camera.

Michael LOVED this "cinderella" pumpkin that was only $10:

More Pumpkin Proof:

One thing I love about Brian is he is super spontaneous and loves to stop at things off the road.  We saw the sign fly by, Brian slammed on his breaks, we stopped in, and were pleasantly surprised!  The farm didn't even have the name of the farm on the sign, just what they were selling.  I don't even think pumpkins were on the sign.  We stopped because it said peppers and squash!  :)

So that was a fun adventure for us before Brian left for Paris.