New Trick!

Wordless Wednesday

Top Ten

feelings a mom can have...

Having your son rush to your arms with a grin the size of the moon after school on Friday saying, "Guess what? The card I made for you is in my backpack!" No surprise. No delay. Just pure excitement over something that he made for me.

Happy Mother's Day!

April 1

2007 - A gorgeous Sunday in which we took our newborn out wearing shorts!

2011 - A chilly Friday (but nothing compared to the frigid temps earlier in the week!) in which our preschooler is spending the evening playing with the fishing pole that his school gave him for children's day (4/4). You might also notice the remote controlled helicopter sitting beside him. That's his newest favorite. More on that one another day!

Best Buddies

Keanu: Mommy, Kate's playing with my computer!
Me: That's OK. Why don't you play with her?
Keanu: Oh, OK. Kate, can I play, too?
Kate: Yayyyy!

If only this weren't the rare exception to the rule...

I Did It!

Grandma brought Keanu a great floor puzzle for his birthday. He loves it, but he also loves to have his sister help. The other day he did Lighting McQueen, she and I did Mater, and the kids did Sherrif together. Keanu finished his his part and was patiently waiting for his sister. You can see why he needed to wait so long. She had to take a break every time she got a piece in.

Look who's playing tennis!

Happy Birthday, Keanu!

Last week Keanu celebrated his 4th birthday!

He'd asked for a Diego cake, so I found a place that would make a Deigo cake if I provided a picture. No problem. That's what the internet is for, right?! So, we picked up the cake after school the day before the big day and I mentioned the fact that the kids in his class would love the Diego cake. And that's when he got crabby.

It turns out that he didn't want to take the Diego cake to school. Not only did he not want to take the Diego cake, but he didn't want to take a cake to school to share. He's going through a phase in which sharing is difficult, if not impossible. Of course another factor could have been forseeing being the center of attention while everyone sang happy birthday to him at school. That's pretty intense for a shy kid like Keanu. We figured these are fears that should be faced, so Kevin brought another cake to school and all the kids sang to him and he was super embarrassed for a few minutes. Then he was happy again.

Anyway, back to the Diego cake. Angela (Yoyo) spent the weekend with her aunt Teresa so they came over for cake, too. Keanu sure was excited about showing two of his favorite "older ladies" his beloved Deigo cake. It turned out pretty nice, didn't it? I wish I could take more credit for it beyond providing the picture!Oh yeah, and there were a couple of presents, too!

He also asked to go to Friday's like Kate did, so maybe that'll be on the agenda for this weekend.

Merry Christmas!

Finally, I'm getting around to posting about Christmas! When the kids came downstairs on Christmas morning, they saw that the tree was piled with gifts and Kate found one with her name on it even without reading! She couldn't be bothered by anything else under the tree or in her pile of gifts on the couch later. She just wanted to play with that stroller!

Keanu loved opening all of his. By noon, we were ready to go on our next adventure - the Lakeshore Hotel in Hsin Chu. Kevin had made reservations to spend the night there and we had a great time.

First of all, there's heat in the hotel rooms.

Second, there was a pool with a fabulously warm kid's pool.

Third, the kids had a great time with their new toys. This is what they looked like everywhere we went: Hope you all had a great Christmas, too!

What happened?

A self portrait:

What's for dinner?

Three things I love about this picture:

1. Broccoli tastes better if it is growing in sweet potatoes.
2. Little sisters sit better at the dinner table if they can share a chair with someone else.
3. There are no "victory/peace" fingers next to the big brother's face!
   

Engineering

The other day while driving across this bridge, Keanu asked "Mommy, what are those white things?"

"Hmmm, let's go home and find out."

So we built 2 bridges out of building bricks and paper. One had tall posts and the other one didn't. We tried to see how strong they were by putting a brick on each one and decided they were both pretty weak.
Then we made the tall one stronger by taping strips of paper between the uprights and the bridge deck. When we were tired of taping, we tested the strenght again. We found that it could now hold one brick, but when we put the second one on it, the upright crashed into the water.
We found out that those white things make the bridge stronger. We also found out that the uprights look like the number one. After we were done building bridges, we made more ones and other kinds of bridges out of just bricks, not paper.

Wordless Wednesday

AWOL

Yes, we're still here.

No, we haven't fled the country

or won the lottery.

Nothing that exciting. We've just been busy. With life.

My 4-week summer vacation started about 10 days ago and since then I've been extremely limited in my computer time. It seems as soon as I sit down at the computer, a little girl crawls up on my lap asking for "baby, baby" Yes, she thinks the only thing a computer is good for is seeing pictures of babies. Of course it is quite useful for that and we've done lots of baby-looking - newborn babies like "Baby Cour-nee" and lots of other babies, too, including several who are bigger than she is, like "or-y". I guess they're not ALL babies to her, but that's still what she says when she wants to see her internet friends.

The other big change in our life that we're still adjusting to is preschool! He's certainly ready for more stimulation and interaction with kids his age and we decided this summer would be the time for him to get adjusted to school life. This being his 4th week, he's really getting used to how

everything works and Kate is adjusting to her days without her big brother as a constant companion. It seems as if up until this week we've always had at least one kid crying as we left school in the morning - the big one wanting to leave, the little one wanting to stay. However, this week has been much better so far. Let's hope it continues.This was Keanu on his first day of school. He really was happy and excited about it, but very nervous, too. Do you like the uniform? He insisted on the PE uniform even though they're only required to wear it one day a week. He figured it was his school clothes so he should wear it, right? He was also wearing his smock in this picture, which he really dislikes wearing now. I haven't figured out why tha one is, though.

So, although I'm on summer vacation, I'm still on the clock to get Keanu to school in the morning and then pick him up before he thinks we've forgotten about him. After school, we often swim or play tennis, so that leaves a very short evening at home. And so the rat-race begins for another of our species.

Assistant teacher

Kevin's got an assistant when he teaches private lessons some days.

He's only gotten bonked in the face once so far, but he's still willing to help!

Sorry about the poor quality and shakiness of the video. That's what happens with a toddler trying to help and its dark out!

Spring Training

A tale of two Sundays

Our last trip to Minnesota reminded us how yucky Minnesota winters can be. We finally got to enjoy one wonderful afternoon in the snow on Valentine's day. Kate was quite the trooper and went down the hill with me right away. Come to think of it, I guess I didn't give her much choice, but she seemed to think it was a good idea anyway.Keanu watched us a half a dozen times before he finally agreed to try with me and soon he was keen to go down the hill all by himself. He loved it and still asks where the snow is now.

While Keanu was sliding, Kate was busy toddling along the sidewalk in her boots that were 2-sizes too big! Whenever she sees this video, she always says "ah-boom" in preparation for her fall on camera. That's actually more fun than the video!

And then we returned to Taiwan...

We froze for the first couple of days and then last Sunday was a gorgeous day that called us out to the park with friends. Keanu and Kate both LOVED the toys that Kelly and Ian brought to the park and didn't play with.

Like the scooter...

And the matching bike helmet that Keanu wore while playing basketball with their fishing net (a.k.a.LaCrosse basketball)...

Two great Sundays, but hard to believe they're only a week apart!

What happens when you jump?

What happens when a three-year-old jumps from a 3-foot wall into a 10-inch puddle of stagnant water while playing at the park?

Daddy gets soaked up to his knees after running in for the rescue and the 3yo gets to wear his little sister's pants for the rest of the afternoon!

Missing...reward

Three bikers were last seen at 4:10 this afternoon biking in Mei-Ti Riverside park on rented bicycles. Teresa Lin, 32, along with neice Angela Lin (formerly known as Yoyo Lin), age 11, and nephew Keanu Lin, not quite three years old, have been gone for almost 2 hours on what seems to be an extended bike ride. Any information on their whereabouts should be emailed to the Lin family or comments can be left here.

Update: The bikers have safely arrived back at the starting point after a long and grueling ride, especially for a toddler for his first time without his trike! They were gone for 2 full hours and rather than accepting help, this determined novice biker insisted "I'll do it myself."

After the bike trip, Keanu still had energy to run and play ball before passing out in the middle of dinner at TGIFriday's.

New Lovie

(at bedtime last night and tonight)
Keanu: I want to sleep with my basketball.
OK, I put it at the foot of the bed.
Keanu: No, I want it up here. (pointing to his pillow)

(upon waking this morning)
Keanu: Where's my basketball?