happy 4th!

happy fourth of july!

hopefully i will find the time to do some creative stuff this weekend and blog about it!

too good to be true

"how could this be possible?" "could it be THAT easy?" "when will he lose interest?"

these were the thoughts that ran through my mind this past weekend as i started kyle on potty training. (well, my mom started it and i continued.) it all started on friday when kyle complained that his wee-wee hurt. my mom took off his diaper and let him go commando. to my mom's surprise, kyle went to the potty by himself AND he even did #2 in the potty! my mom told me he was ready to be potty trained so i decided to train him.

going into the weekend, i was very pessimistic. i thought it was just a fluke because he would show interest in using the potty, but quickly return to the diaper because of accidents. amazingly, he didn't have a single accident this weekend! i didn't have to use the 20-30 minute timer or force him to go! i simply asked him if he needed to go and sometimes he would just go by himself. he would even stop playing outside to go pee!

i am astonished, shocked and extremely proud of my baby kyle. he made potty training too easy. (knock on wood.)

trouble

now look at what i got myself into....
















homemade scrapbooks

a birthday letter

dear aaron,

today is you a special day for you. it's your 4th birthday! in the past year you have grown tremedously! although you only weigh 35 pounds, you have grown so much as a person. you can speak clearly, you've finally caved in and sing(!), you have your own fashion sense (stipe shirts and jeans are your favorite), your competitive side is coming out, and you are a smart boy. you can do basic math, you can count to 100 (with a little bit of help), you're starting to read, and you can write your name! oh, and you can pronounce your middle and last name! how many 3-4 year-olds can say "mi-ya-gi-shi-ma?"

we had a big party for you at our house yesterday. all the people you love were there! your school buddies (jack, scotty, and ethan) came to celebrate your birthday too! you all had a blast! we continued the celebration today at disneyland and got your first annual passport so that you don't have to say you're 2 any more! we then went for lunch at red robin. you ate a whole corn dog, mandarin oranges, fries, chocolate milk shake AND an ice-cream sundae! (did i tell you, you only weigh 35 pounds?! :) you also had your first taste of gum today! you did great!

i hope this year will be a year where you'll discover sports so that you can keep up with your neighbor, katie! i hope you'll learn to swim, learn to ride a bike w/o training wheels, do some karate, t-ball, and basketball this year. don't worry, no pressure! daddy has high hopes for you in kendo, but that's not until you're 7 or 8. in the meantime, enjoy age 4 because soon, you'll be off to big boy school - kindergarten! mommy will sure weep then....

i love you!

- mommy -

custom scratchers

we had aaron's 4th birthday party yesterday and boy, was it a full house! we had a lot of fun and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

we had scratchers as "door prizes." i made scratchers for kyle's birthday and i thought i'd resurrect it!

here's how to make your own scratchers:

material:

• heavy cardstock
• color printer
• word document software or other software to create the card is fine
• scratch-off stickers

steps:

1. make the scratcher card using word doc (use whatever image or layout you like); make sure the words/prize area will get covered by the scratch-off sticker
2. cut and paste the scratcher card so that it fills up an 8x11 cardstock paper
3. print
4. cut out each card
5. remove the scratch-off sticker and place it over the writing/prize area!

have fun and get creative! i'd like to hear from you if you've tried making your own!

have you seen me?

ok, you guys can all call off the missing person search. i'm back!

i've been quite busy planning family night at aaron's school, making maddie's super late announcements, and planning aaron's 4th birthday party. plus, i've already gotten my in-laws 50th anniversary party, teachers' birthday celebration and teacher appreciation week activities spinning in my head. i swear i feel like i have A.D.D.

so here's aaron's birthday invitation. i'm not 100% happy with it; i had a creative block and time was running out. i will be posting maddie's announcements as soon as her mommy sends them out (i don't want to spoil her "surprise.").

happy birthday!

happy 4th birthday, houston!

fishing you a happy valentine's day!

fishing you a happy valentine's day!

i was supposed to post this earlier this week, but i had too much to do. anyways, these were the valentine's cards i made this year for aaron's classmates. i got this idea from family fun magazine and they have tons of other great valentine's ideas on their web sight.

this fish card is so easy to make. here are the steps:

1. cut out 2 large hearts and 1 small heart from cardstock. ( i used the template from family fun. i had to shrink to the right size.)
2. glue on 8mm-10mm rollee-eyes depending on how big your fish is. (i used 8mm here, but i think i could have gone bigger.)
3. draw the mouth on the fish
4. to attach the string to the fish, use a needle and thread the string through the fish's mouth. then tie it into a knot.
5. to attach the string to the pixie stick, use a small piece of scotch tape to tape the string to the pixie stick (alternative: a pencil)
6. write a message on the back of the card.

have a great valentine's day!!!

truck load of fun for nicholas

happy 4th birthday to nicholas tanaka!

february 7, 2009

kyle's stats

kyle had his 2-year-old check-up this week. here are his stats:

weight: 27.5 pounds (44 percentile! wow)
height: 33.75 inches (33 percentile)

i'm just glad he's not in the teens or below 10% on his weight!! kyle can eat all day if we let him!!

oh, terrible 2's ARE here! =(

hello february

love is in the air???

bringing ketchup to whole new level

i forgot where i got this tip from, but thought i'd share it here. you know those little ketchup packets you get from fast-food restaurants? they're not only good for your fries, but they make great ice packs for your little one's bumps and bruises. simply place the ketchup packets in your freezer (they don't get hard like ice and the packets won't burst) and then take them out when you need them. they're the perfect size for little hands!

light-up shoes

i never thought i would ever let me kids wear light-up shoes.... here they are -- wearing spiderman light-up shoes.

a birthday letter

dear baby kyle,

this will probably be the last time i can call you "baby kyle." today is your 2nd birthday and you are growing up so fast! you have become more independent; wanting to do everything by yourself - from opening your milk bottle, to feeding yourself, turning on/off lights, and putting things away.... you even remind me now and then that you're a big boy by exclaiming, "i do myself!"

whenever you and your big brother allow mommy and daddy time to ponder what the future lies for you, we foresee you as a go-getter, a fearless person. you'll probably be a heartbreaker, but a loving person. you're probably wondering the reasons behind this predicament. with only two years of life behind you, you have shown us that

• you're not afraid to fight back for toys; you pinch and pull hair! even your older cousin, ben, is afraid of you!
• you love giving hugs and give them freely when someone is hurt.
• you are considerate by giving up your toys when asked and you like bringing blankies to your cousin and brother.
• your naturally spiked hair, your smile and dimples just melt our hearts!

i am sure the next year will be more adventurous as you will explore more with your big brother. here's mommy's hopes for you this year:

• learn to ride the tricycle
• get potty trained
• start pre-school
• sleep in a big boy bed

no pressure though! =) anyways, i hope you'll enjoy year 3 of life and mommy will definitely be there for all your boo-boos and your free hugs and kisses.

happy 2nd birthday!

love always,
mommy

a hidden talent

if you've been to my house, my dining chairs are obviously not kid-friendly. they're parson chairs covered with custom made cream slipcovers. i've scotched guard them, but i still cringe every time my kids or other kids sit on them to eat. i've been covering them up with white towels and they are a total eye sore and they irritated me whenever i look at my dining table. so i finally decided to make some sew-simple slipcovers that would return my dining table to something more presentable. i've only completed 2 and still have 4 more to go, but here are some pictures of my first slipcover.... try to find a stain on that print! ha!

kicking the habit

around 2-3 months old, aaron found his fingers to sooth himself. i didn't like the idea of having to break the finger-sucking in the future, but as a new mom at that time, i thought, "hey, if this helps him sleep through the night, why not?" so around 4 months old, aaron started sleeping through the night which i was grateful for because it was the same time i had to return to work.

three years later, i started researching on how to ween aaron off of his fingers. all the sources say thumb/finger sucking doesn't really affect their teeth until they turn 5-6. i looked into the finger guards and other methods of weening him off the fingers. the most effective method that they said was to talk to the child and reward/encourange their effort.

i've attempted to ask aaron to stop sucking his fingers and he would agree. however, by the end of the day, around bedtime, he would be drawn to them again. i gave up and figured i'd try again when he turns 4. however, to our surprised, aaron stopped sucking his fingers for almost a week now! i think it started out with a big crack on his index finger because of dryness/eczema. (we could never put lotion or medication on his fingers because we didn't want to "poison" him.) i gave him that painful expression when i looked at his finger and i asked him to stop "jue-jue'ing" (means sucking in my chinese dialect). after that, he stopped!!! i am soooo proud of him for kicking the habit!! so if you guys see aaron, please give him lots of praises! we are going to the toy store this weekend for his reward!