We Are Family!

We had 2 fun events recently.  My in-laws celebrated their 50-Year Anniversary and my family had a family reunion.  Two fun activities that brought family together.  It was so much fun and so nice to see our families!  We will get 2 family portraits from it too!  WOO-HOO!

Here are the pictures.  Enjoy my family!

Family Reunion#1:

50th Anniversary Party

Ong Ngoai was here to celebrate too!

The Kids Table

Grandma and Grandpa opening some presents.

The Girls Table

The Boys Table

Great Gradnma was there too!

Our family portrait

Family Reunion#2

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure.

It's a Small World with mom and Ashley.

Beach Day at Huntington Beach

The Goofballs!

Dinner at my aunt's house - The Younger Generations

The Older Generation

This is my family on the Picnic Day - We are the blue family!

My Dad and His Grandkids

Me and all my cousins (we were only missing one as his wife is expecting their first baby soon)! This was our official Reunion shirts designed by my cousin Thanh Thanh sitting on the left with her baby girl.

Too Much Fun!

Well, I’m back.  It just happens to be the 4th of July today.  It’s 11 am and we are all still in our pj’s – Life is good!  It has been a while since I’ve added anything and it’s because we have been busy with the end  of the school year and lots of activities after!  It’s been fun though.

Joshua finished up another year of t-ball and he did great this year.  They did coach pitch and then on the tee if they don’t hit their pitches.  We had a really good coach and a really good team!  It was another fun year of baseball and he is still loving it!

He's ready in the field!

Batter Up!

Joshua also finished his first year of kindergarten.  Unbelievable!  They say time flies when they get in school and I can TOTALLY see why.  He had a great year and loved everything about school!  Mom and Dad really like that!

End of the Year Picnic with Parents

Cheezing with some of his school buddies!

Oh yeah, he also got his picture displayed at the local art gallery.  Ong Ngoai got to be here to see it too.  He was one of 2 selected from his class!  This is him with Ong Ngoai in front of his picture.  So proud!

That's Joshua's Picture - yellow with circles.

Ashley finished her first year in pre-school.  She had a great time as well.  She is still a little spitfire!  Poor Joshua, since he is the one who gets the brunt of that little spitfire!

Ashley's last hike at the dunes - in the 90's with 100% humidity. It was HOT! HOT! HOT!

It was a hot one!

Hurry to the water! What a relief after a long hot hike! No one was stopping her!

What a relief - WATER!

A great day at pre-school!

We are all enjoying the summer and have a fun-filled summer ahead!  Happy Summer!

Beach Day with Dad

“Look Mom, I’m on 2 wheels!”

So today was a momentous occasion in Joshua’s life.  He learned to ride his bike without training wheels!  Last year we tried to take the training wheels off and he would not let us.  Said he would not ride his bike if we did.  So we didn’t and he pretty much didn’t ride his bike at all anyways…why do have to when you have a green machine, scooter and all the other riding toys that sit in our garage!

Well this year several boys in our neighborhood (one younger than him even) have learned to ride a two wheeler as well.  I think that was the motivation.  In fact yesterday, the younger boy who lives a couple doors down was tooting around the cul-de-sac and I think that spurred him on.

So today, everyone had pretty much gone to different practices and the weather was a little cooler and there were really no kids around the neighborhood.  I told Sam we should try and get his training wheels off and try to learn to ride today.  Of course Joshua put up a little fuss but he was actually willing to try.

Sam ran him around the circle several times and he was doing good while he was holding him as he was riding.  He got tired so I took over.  I ran a couple times around holding his seat (BARELY) and then I let go and he was on his way.  He was awesome!  He was able to ride around and around and never really fell.  He had a hard time starting after he stopped.  He stops pretty well because we put his seat down and he uses the hand brakes to stop.  He has the foot brake too but it’s a little harder for him.  He fell only once and scraped his thumb a little bit but that was it!

I don’t remember my first time being that easy.  I remember not being able to brake and falling a ton.  Sam and I were extremely impressed!  As everyone in the neighborhood came home he was so proud and showed everyone!  It was a great moment to watch.  We were so proud of him and he definitely was proud of himself.

We went out to eat and while we were eating, he told us he wanted to go home so he could ride his bike again!  And he was never wearing his CROC’s again because he wanted to ride his bike EVERYDAY!  We told him he had to wear his sneakers to ride.

Enjoy the photos of Joshua’s momentous day…

I'm riding my two-wheeler!

Sam helping him get started again. Starting up is the hardest part!

Ashley enjoyed riding along in Joshua's old tricycle (Joshua's old helmet too!).

"I LOVE riding my bike!"

Spring Break Staycation

Well, this is the first official school spring break we’ve had, since Joshua is now in “real” school (aka kindergarten).  I decided to take the week off from work (of course I ended up having to do an event on Friday – so almost a week).  Sam took a few days off as well.  We ended up doing more on our staycation than we do when we go somewhere for vacation.

Our activities went like this:

SUNDAY (The most interesting day of our Staycation!)

* Hotel stay near our home with a swimming pool (Unfortunately a little dirty and not what it use to be) – The kids still LOVED it and what an adventure for them…Sam and I, not so much!

* Bowling at the local bowling alley (Unfortunately, I must have caused a bowler in the bowling league several lanes over to have a seizure because I had to take flash photos of my beautiful kids as the bowled with the bumpers.  I had to have pictures for the blog right? – Once again, the kids were oblivious and had a GREAT time…Sam and I were just in awe of the power of a camera flash!

Joshua beat me...oh yeah, everyone beat my score! It must have been because my concentration was lost because of the "drama"!

Ashley even beat me bowling like this...I am not a good bowler!

MONDAY

* A day at the park with a bunch of friends from Joshua’s pre-school.  We ALL had a fun time.  There were kids they hadn’t seen in a while and they had a blast.  I enjoyed my time catching up with the moms and dads.  We had a good bunch of families with Joshua pre-school class!  It was fun!

TUESDAY

* Weather was BEAUTIFUL this day and we decided to paint our swing set.  The WHOLE family.  The kids had a blast!  They didn’t last too long but somehow had paint ALL over them!  It turned out really nice.  It was a beautiful day to be outside with the sun shining.  However, still a little chilly.  They got to play outside all day and it was nice to be outside again!

WEDNESDAY

* Chuck E. Cheese Day.  Joshua got to take one of his friends.  We had not been there since Joshua was there for his 4th birthday.  They had a blast!  Note to all, they do not change their tokens (we had some from his birthday party and they worked) also those tickets they collect when they play games do not expire (we had a ton from his birthday party too!).  Each kid got 600 tickets to shop for all the “junk”, oh I mean PRIZES!  Fun fun fun!

Joshua with his best buddy from school...who happens to also be a Joshua and has a sister named Ashley too! They have 2 other kids, but how funny when we found out that he had a buddy at school name Joshua, who also had a sister named Ashley!

Climbing around in the tubes.

Ashley riding the little roller coaster. This is child's play!

THURSDAY

* A day at the Children’s Museum near our house with those same kids and parents that came to the park with us on Monday.  It was awesome!  We will definitely have to go there again!

Ashley LOVED the water table room!

There was a ball room. The boys LOVED that!

Do it yourself face painting...and the result...see below!

Crazy kids!

Ashley checking me out after I shopped in her grocery store. The money looked so real!

Painting with one of the friends.

Her pretty picture.

Yes, it's really Joshua under there. He had to have a picture with the mascot (he's a bat).

They had a cooking class and got to make dirt, mud, snakes and sticks (aka smashed cookies, pudding, gummi worms and pretzels). Yummy for all the moms! None of them wanted to eat it after they made it.

FRIDAY

* A day of fun with Dad!

SATURDAY

* A day of fun with Mom!

SUNDAY

* A day of rest for all before school started again on Monday.

As you can we were busy and had a great staycation at home.  Sometimes those are the best vacations!

Ashley at School

March is here and this is my monthly blog…

Not many pictures taken.  We have been busy keeping up with school and work is work for Sam and I.  We were able to get in a date night this month (that’s a rare one)!  We went to this Spanish restaurant and weren’t so impressed with the food.  It was good but overpriced for what it was.  That is just our critique of course.  Nonetheless we got to get out sans the kiddos-it was nice.  Joshua is getting ready to start t-ball again and had his first practice this week.  Sounds like it should be a good season!  The only pictures we have are of Ashley at her school.  These were actually taken in February so there is still snow.  As you can see, they still hike in the snow.  We’ve had some nice days these last couple of weeks so there is hope that spring is coming…I will discount the weather report that is calling for a mix of rain and SNOW this weekend.  The kids have spring break next week so I’m taking some time off so we can just hang out and go to play dates and just have fun!  We hope to have a little nice weather but it looks doubtful.  Well at least we can all hang out together as we have a little “stay-cation” at home!  Happy Spring…I’m hopeful that is coming!

Cutting skills - she is really good with scissors! I never knew the little skills they had to master before going to school! She'll definitely be prepared for kindergarten!

Listening book station where you have to turn the page when you hear the sound "ding". I use to love those books and cassettes (in my days) - now they are cd's.

Her favorite - SNACK TIME!

Water table time - Sarah seems to be her buddy today. They were playing together a lot.

Getting ready for the hike!

A hiking we will go, a hiking we will go...

I'm not sure what this face is about?

It’s a Monthly Thing Now…

I can’t seem to blog more often than that!  I don’t have the time or the energy anymore.  It’s so crazy around here!

So January brought Sam’s birthday.  As always, there was a cake (we bought it this year and it was not as good as the Funfetti one we made last year…and it was way more expensive – GO FIGURE)!  We all sang Happy Birthday and went out to eat.  Of course there were presents too.  It was a nice family day!

Happy Birthday to Sam!

Note:  The kids chose to write Sam instead of Dad, so that’s what they wrote!

Looks like he didn't really want to share!

So we got some snow early January and look who decided to snow blow for the first time around here…you guessed it!  Sam took the opportunity to get proof with some pictures from the warm house.  He had to get ready to go to some CE classes and I had to stay home because one of the kids got sick…that’s our life story in the winter!  It was pretty fun but believe me when I say, “Not gonna be my regular chore!”  I ended up snow blowing my neighbor’s drive too!  There were several inches out there.  I can at least say now, I have used the snow blower and have proof!

It went a lot better than the time I tried to mow the lawn!

I have not been very good about taking pictures of the kids lately either.  They are growing like weeds.  Ashley had to go to school as mermaid or a pirate.  You would think with her love of Ariel the most famous Mermaid of them all, we would have something for her to dress in…NOT!  So we ended borrowing the neighbor’s pirate outfit.  She was a cute little pirate and I think the only girl pirate that day…she’s such a rebel (cause her mom’s such a slacker)!

AHHHRRRR MATEY! Yeah, she's too cute to pull that one off!

Joshua had to be in the picture too!

We’re getting ready to celebrate my in-laws golden anniversary this year and so I’ve been looking through some of my pictures for a slide show my sister-in-law is putting together.  I thought I would share some memories…

Our Wedding Day. My in-laws are celebrating 50 and we are celebrating 10 this year!

This is my Vietnamese Wedding Dress called an "Ao Dai"

My mother-in-law wore one too!

My In-Laws on their wedding day. I copied my mother-in-law's bouquet for my wedding. Calla lilies are so simple and beautiful, it was so unique too!

This is the only decent picture I could find of Joshua in the hospital. We did not have digital pictures for him. It wasn't that long ago but I guess it was!

Had a much easier time with Ashley. We had digital photos too!

So that’s all I got for now.  Some from the past and some from the present.  See you next month…hopefully!

Another year/decade is here!

WOW!!  I can’t believe we are in 2010, but here we are!  The holidays rushed by as they always do.  We had a fantastic time and I was a bit busy to do too much blogging.  So, here is my reflection on the festivities…

THE CRAFTS

Our gingerbread house...next year we will try a different one! It turned out great again!

The Finished Product...Joshua did this side of the roof.

Coloring their Nutcrackers. Ashley loves to cheese now, hard to get a "real" smile!

They always want to do a "goofy" shot too!

Let the cookie making begin! It was a mess as it always is! But sure was yummy!

Here they are (the cookies, that is)! Some things to note: had to change our pj's, part of the gingerbread house already gone and crazy smiles from the kids!

JOSHUA’S SCHOOL PARTY

Joshua's school holiday party - mom was the party coordinator (Way fun, but way more work than I thought!). They all seemed to have fun!

Of course there was a craft! Remember who the party coordinator was!

Caroling at the town hall after the party. It was very fun! Santa and Mrs. Clause even came!

ASHLEY’S NUTCRACKER PROGRAM

Marching in like a Toy Soldier. Yes, the same Christmas dress...you'll see it again, looks like the only thing she wore in December!

Twirling like a Sugarplum Fairy. She was so into it and it was absolutely adorable!

Ashley was trying to get her partner to pay attention. Poor kid was too busy smiling and watching his mom. Ashley was having no part of it and was very much the leader in this dancing couple! It was hilarious!

Pretty as a Princess!

FINALLY SNOW!

We finally had enough snow to make a snowman. We were worried we wouldn't have a white Christmas, no worries there!

Our Snow Angel

Ashley's snow angel

Joshua sledding. He loves the snow!

CHRISTMAS EVE AT GRANDMA’S

The Big Kids Table

The Little Kids Table

Opening presents...again same dress!

The host every Christmas Eve, Grandma and Grandpa Lemon - always a GREAT time!

CHRISTMAS DAY AT HOME

I guess he was good...Santa brought the Wii and Indiana Jones game! Look at the sheer happiness in that face...PRICELESS!!

Ashley asked for pink pj's from Santa. How did he know she loves donuts???

She also got a kitchen! I made her that apron in one night (I'm better than I know)!

We had a fantastic holiday and hope you all did to.  Happy New Year (sorry no pictures from the New Year…we’ve been busy playing the Wii in our pj’s)!  I love the holidays!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2010 bring you health, happiness and prosperity!

I Wanna Hippopotamus For Christmas…

So Ashley had her first of two show last week.  Her daycare always puts on a cute little Christmas show.  So low and behold, what song is it this year?  The one song I don’t know the ENTIRE words or tune to.  I only know…”I wanna hippopotamus for Christmas…”  Well, the wonderful internet (I don’t know how we lived before we had internet!) saved us!  We found the song on line and played it a million times and the whole family learned the song.  Very cute!  One of my favorites now!

So I was the doting mom and recorded it all on my camera.  Except the following day erased it off of my camera by accident!!!!  I could have KILLED myself!!!  It was so stinkin’ cute and I deleted!!!  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  I guess it is etched in my memory.  I did get still shots of her in her pretty dress.  She is a little cutie.  This Friday she performs the Nutcracker at her pre-school.  Hopefully I don’t erase that one too!!!

So happy after her performance.

So proud of my pretty girl!

I spoke too soon…

We had our first snow today.  It was a mere dusting but it covered the ground and the kids were SO excited!  A big storm is forecasted for Tuesday night into Wednesday.  We’ll see what it brings.  It just adds to the feel of Christmas!  No pictures this time…

Christmas is in the air!

Well, the weather is getting frightful, but doesn’t sound as bad as what their getting down south!  The temps are frigid but we haven’t had any of the white stuff yet.  The kids are extremely bummed!  They are calling for a blizzard on Wednesday.  We aren’t so excited but the kids sure are!

We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving as we have been doing the last few years.  The lights are up outside and I bought the ready made gingerbread house to decorate.  We are definitely looking forward to the fun school productions, parties and festivities!

We took our Christmas pictures too.  So Christmas cards will be going out soon…HOPEFULLY!  I love this time of year!

Here is our tree!

Dad cutting down the tree.

We got to see Santa there too!

The finished product...I love Christmas!

Night shot.