Peter's 4th Birthday party

As his birthday was coming up, we started to ask what kind of birthday cake he wanted. Fear started to set in me as he was coming up with an answer. He had a pretty awesome train cake for his 3rd birthday, which took me a whole day to make.
Last year's cake:
I could only imagine what he'd come up with this year! With a little help from me, we decided we'd have an safari animal cake. I imagined a green sheet cake with animal figurines lining a stream or something. Then, Peter threw in something he really wanted on his cake: a waterfall! Always up for the challenge on birthday cakes, safari animal cake with a waterfall is what he wanted...I would do my best to make it happen!



I think it was a success!

On November 30th, we held Peter's 4th birthday party at Scanlon Gymnasium for some indoor play, cake and snacks. If history has its way of repeating itself, it snowed again on the day of his birthday party. As oppose to last year's ice storm, it was only a light snow so that most of his preschool classmates and our neighbors made it to his party!

It was a great time for everyone, especially Peter who seemed to be having the time of his life!

After an hour of playtime, we moved into the party room where we had snacks (including animal crackers, of course) and the cake. We decorated the room with balloons tied to the party bags and drawings of safari animals. You can't see the drawings well but I took a sample picture of one at home.

Lastly, we sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

and had some cake, which everyone wanted piece of the waterfall and which left most people's mouths looking like this:
After cake, Peter opened his presents which was the chaotic moment of the party. Excitement and wrapping paper was everywhere! We didn't have the extra set of hands to capture any pictures, but as Peter opened up his presents, most of the other kids started to shred the wrapping paper into a million little pieces! I guess tearing the paper was all they could do to satisfy their desire for presents too! :) It was good fun and they did help clean up rather quickly in the end.

Mommy with her 4-year old boy...how fast times flies!!!

December 26, 2004

Peter's Preschool Christmas program

Peter's preschool put on a short Christmas program called "Santa's Reindeers" featuring the 3-year old preschool classes. They sang a few traditional Christmas songs and new ones they learned in school, including one of Peter's favorites "Thank you Lord". He's been singing that song at home for weeks!

Afterwards, they had cookies and punch in their classroom. It was a fun time in preparation for Christmas, especially since it was snowing outside!

Here is Peter with his teachers, Nick and Connie.

Natalie and Peter enjoying some of those cookies and punch:

Peter was really excited to be singing in the program.

And finally, Peter really gets into his favorite song...watch out drama department!

Peter is in the antlers behind the girl in the red dress. :)

"Gators in the swamp say 'Thank you Lord' chomp chomp chomp.

/.../

Thank you Lord for making me!"

November 2008: week 4 - Thanksgiving

Otherwise, weeks 2 and 3 were a huge blur to me in November. I just survived having Sam gone for his trips and then worked on recovery once he got back.

Week 4 started off with Elaine turning 5 months old!

Happy 5 months birthday, Elaine!

Elaine also hit a couple of milestones lately. She started to respond to her name on Thanksgiving day! She also has mastered the art of rolling back to belly to back again. She actually learned to roll onto her belly a month or so ago (that's when the longer naps started). She just figured out how to get back onto her back. It's a little painful to watch, but here is one of her earliest moments:




By the end of Thanksgiving weekend, she made the switch to formula milk. Yes, I was just a month shy of the 6-month goal, but felt like I needed it to happen. Elaine took the switch very well. In fact, she started to sleep longer through the night on formula, which was SO NICE!!!!

Aside from having the stomach bug going through our house Thanksgiving week (that was a lot of fun and laundry), this is how we spent our 2008 Thanksgiving:

Natalie did become quite the drummer!

Having not fully recovered from Sam's long trips to Hong Kong and Minneapolis, we decided to get Thanksgiving food from the Bread Garden. It was quite yummy and nice not to slave in the kitchen. I did cook the less stressful garlic/lemon chicken and potatoes meal (sort of looked like a turkey) the next day. I guess I had a little guilt about not cooking some sort of bird for Thanksgiving!

The busy month of November 2008 - Week One

The month of November started off to be a busy one. Sam left on November 5th for his teaching trip to Hong Kong. He would come home on the 17th for one night then leave on the 18th for a workshop (conference) in Minneapolis through the 21st. So, I tried to prepare myself for about 2 & 1/2 weeks on my own with the 3 kids. However, I didn't quite get mentally nor physically prepared by the time Sam left that Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, Novemeber 6th: I had just finished a simple dinner of noodles with the kids when the doorbell rang. I opened up to find my dad, mom and brother standing at my front door! They'd come for a short yet surprise visit! What perfect timing!!!

An added surprise came Friday night when my Aunt Livia from Bakersfield, CA came for one night! She was in Bloominton, IL for a State Farm function and had an extra free night before flying back to California out of O'Hare. Driving alone in the unknown was a big deal for her, so I really appreciated her bravery and efforts to come out to see us! I helped ease her nerves by describing highway driving through Iowa similar to country driving. Mind you, she is from California where highway traffic is of a different world!

It also turned out to be the first weekend of snow in Iowa. It wasn't much but for my family from Georgia, it was a nice rare sight, especially for my brother who misses snow so much! We stayed warm at home for the most part, which was nice to just spend family time together. Peter, Natalie, and Elaine enjoyed the extra company. As always with my family, there was a lot of action in the kitchen and we had some delicious meals that could only come from "Home." Best of all, we had great memories that could only from from FAMILY:

Like Peter giving Gung Gung a kiss goodnight...

Elaine getting face time with Cau Cau Anthony...

Natalie giving Po Po a goodnight kiss...

Gung Gung meeting his 5th grandchild Elaine...

Great Aunt Livia reading to Peter...

Our family group picture...

All smiles and fun with their uncle...

and finally nap time with Po Po.

Sadly, everyone had left by Sunday afternoon, all was "quiet" again, and I had to prepare for week two alone at home with the kids.

Blog interrupted...

Sorry to those who've wondered where I've been and why there's been nothing new on my blog. It's been a crazy and busy month of November, from which I don't think I'll ever fully recover from. Once I get my blog updated of all the events, you'll soon understand the absence of new reading/viewing material in the peapod.

Our silly silly girl Natalie

We love our little Natalie. She's a complex little two-year old. She has her quiet moments when she keeps to herself and her wild moments when she expresses her silly side. I was able to catch of her wild moments while getting ready for bed, before she got her night gown on.

Side note: I did NOT prompt her to do ANY of this!

Natalie starts singing "I got a silly [hat]" then realizes that's not what she's got, continues with "I'm in my birth[day suit]" then, again, realizes that's not right, and finally gets her groove back to sing "I'm in my diaper suit!"

Then, as always, she wants to see the video of herself! Do I smell actress/director?!?

Does teleportation work this way?

It's pretty amazing and confusing how international travels and time zones work out. For Sam, it's almost like he experienced teleportation.
He left Hong Kong on November 17th at 11:42am and then arrived in Chicago on November 17th at 1148am. Only took 6 minutes, not bad. I guess his baggage might have slowed the process. :)