Oh, I wish...

I was an Oscar Mayer weinermobile driver!

Yes, the Oscar Mayer WeinerMobile visited our local grocery store. I'm not sure if anyone else ever dreamed about it, but I did (as a child) to actually see this hot dog shaped vehicle.

I'm certain that I was way more excited about it than any in my family, but hey, it's the kid still in me! One of my many childhood dreams came true!

I just hope our kids' memories of this was memorable in a good way (not that Mommy got really excited over this giant hot dog).

Merry Christmas!

Dear Santa,

What will you ask for from Santa?
Elaine: "A present"
- what kind of present? -
"Green one."

Natalie: "Toy puppy that is hard that you can draw on."
The girl knows what she wants!

Peter: "A real humpback whale, cookie set, and a ball"
- where will you keep the whale? -

Natalie chimes in "In our pool!"

Natalie's Christmas program

Natalie was so excited for her Christmas program day! We've been hearing new songs being sung at home by her and were excited to finally hear them on stage!

A funky sister posing in front of the Christmas tree in the morning!

Natalie did pretty well on stage. Not the loudest, but certainly not too shy!

Natalie the Christmas tree with her new friend, Meghan

The program ended with this message from the preschoolers:

Natalie with her best buddy, Thomas,

and with her teachers, Miss Connie...

and Miss Sarah!

Peter's Advent prayer service

Early in December, Regina had an Advent prayer service that was lead by the kindergarten class. Peter got a speaking part!

"Advent is a time to get our minds and hearts ready for the coming of Jesus..."

He practiced the line for days and delivered it quite well!
It was a very proud-parents moment!

Happy 6th Birthday, Peter!

Our little man turned 6!
We had a small birthday party at home with some of his friends from school. It was - no surprise - a Mario theme party!

His cake this year were the more simple cupcakes.
The birthday boy chose the (green) 1-Up cupcake over the (red) Power Up ones - makes sense if you're going from 5 to 6 years old! :)

We had some Yoshi Egg races. Elaine was Natalie's personal coach in this game.

Finding Mario party stuff proved to be near impossible, so I made most of the decorations (thanks to my color printer) and the pinata (thanks to yellow streamers, my ribbon collection and USPS box).
It was a HUGE hit with the kids!

It was great group of kids who all had a great time!

Our neighbor gave him an electronic piggy bank that he loves...he must be saving up for his 7th birthday party! :)

Funny interpretation

Peter: "The storm was so loud that I bet the boss of Regina heard it!"
Mommy: "Who's the boss of Regina?"
Peter: "Superintendent Miller."
Mommy: (totally shocked by his answer..was expecting the principal's name)

Natalie: "Wow! Is he a super hero?"

Thanksgiving 2010 in Iowa!

For Thanksgiving weekend, the Lau/Matsunaga family loaded up in Anthony's Sequoia "bus" and made the 14-hr road trip to visit us in Iowa. It was a very quick 3-4 days, but between all of our cameras, we managed to snap over 1,100 pictures.

After long deliberation, I narrowed down to 14 pictures to help summarize a fun holiday weekend with my family.

This time, the turkey was all on me! How nerve-racking, but my mom was right there to give me advice. Luckily, it turned out brown, juicy, and yummy. Thanks, Mommy!

Our Thanksgiving table

Skype is so nice, especially when you can talk and see family all the way in Vietnam on Thanksgiving day!

Fun times were a plenty, such as passing down the knowledge of how to make chocolate milk in a sippie cup. Elaine appreciated Ai-Yi for this lesson and took it to heart!

Our sibling self shot, in birth order...of course.

I guess Alex will have his wishbone wish come true. Sorry, Alysa! Better luck next year!

Let the Christmas crafting...BEGIN!

This is our Thanksgiving table after dinner. Yes, snacking on chips and looking at Black Friday ads. It's a serious addiction, but we can't seem to pass up the good deals!

Being one of the first 100 in line at Old Navy after midnight paid off...free Xbox game!

...which Peter and Cau Cau loved playing!

Yes, we even braved the crowds at Target for the few treasures we wanted. Funny how sleep deprivation will make you still feel successful after waiting in line for over an hour to check out. The chicken biscuit helped too!

Some glamour times with Pau-Pau, long lashes and lots of lip gloss!

Lots of bear hugs from Cau-Cau!

Through the turkey, Christmas prep, midnight sales, Thanksgiving was all about being thankful.

I was VERY thankful for being with my family!
It's all about FAMILY!

What are they teaching in preschool?

This is something Natalie learned yesterday at preschool:


"Thumbs up, knees apart, knees together, bottom up, tongue out, eyes shut and turn around" and the rest is way beyond me!

Sleepover party

The kids had their first friend sleepover! We had almost-2 yr old William, 2 yr old Elaine, 4 yr olds Natalie and Thomas, 5 yr old Peter, and 6 yr old Patrick. It was hardly any work on us two adults since the kids all play VERY well together.

Three peas in a pod

Our snuggle pit:

Our first Geocaching adventure

Can't believe I forgot to share this experience...
our 1st Geochaching adventure!

On the Saturday before Halloween, we found out there was a "hidden treasure" in the nearby Hickory Hill Park. It was called "Don't Fence Me In" and caught our family's attention and interest. So we set off on an adventure to go find it! The enthusiasm level was pretty high as we walked down our street.

It was a different level less than 1/4 mile later.

We made it to the park and we stopped to check our coordinates with Daddy's handy dandy iPhone. The kids were happy to have a shaded spot to rest.

The trail to the "X" spot took us through beautiful fall scenery and this old walking bridge.

Elaine was so proud (as was Mommy) that she walked across the planks on the bridge. If I hadn't mentioned before, walking on bridges through which she can see the bottom scares Elaine stiff. She took it slow and held onto the side and made it all on her own.
(Funny that she was willing to hang her body over the edge just 5 minutes earlier, but we all have our specific fears!)

"Wait for me guys!"

While Daddy and Peter double check our trail, Natalie finds her own "geocache" - a giant pea pod from a tree.

We're getting closer!

The name of the Geocache was spot on and gave Peter enough to know to look around this old fencing. Bingo, Peter found it!

Unfortunately, it was log and we didn't bring (Mommy forgot) a pen.
(When cousin Albert came, the kids took him back to this very same geocache. Luckily, Albert - as always - had pen in his pocket that day and Peter and Natalie got to sign their names)

Peter took great care in putting it back exactly where he found it. I think he really got the concept of the whole geocaching.

The kids were excited that we could see Regina from the spot.

Then it was time for the "long" trek back home. On the way, nature called for Natalie. If you're a female reading this, you know how difficult this is in the woods. This being Natalie's first time, I didn't want to make a big deal; however, at the same time, I wanted her to have dry pants for the rest of the hike. While the rest of the gang went ahead (for privacy and lookouts), we found a little bridge and...well, Natalie found it funny to add to nature.

Her victory run...so Natalie! :)

No telling who Natalie's calling on her giant i"pod" phone...maybe her friend Thomas or a taxi cab service!

Back to Elaine's proud bridge spot (different from Natalie's bridge).

Elaine ended up on Sam's shoulders. By the time we made it back to our street, she wanted to get down and walk, but it was late and we needed to get home.
She was not happy to stay up high...she's obviously not one to hide her feelings.

Until our next geocaching, that's our adventure!