Marbles

Looking attentively into my eyes D says " Mommy, your eyes look like marbles, ...with me inside them." And back he goes to play with his cars.

Sleep little Kaila

"Mommy, you know what? You know when I'm at school and I don't have anyone to play with I sometimes will sit like this in the swing (rocking slowly back and forth) and sing "Dorme Kailinha do meu coração ...". I'll sing it very softly, nobody can really hear me. I like it."

Dorme Kailinha is a lullaby that my mom would sing to her when she was only days, weeks old. I continued to sing it to her into her toddler years as I put her to bed. To this day, when Kaila is having a hard time falling asleep she will ask - Mommy, can you sing Dorme Kailinha? She will drift off to sleep within minutes...

What a sweet and special gift on Mother's Day.

May 08, 2011

Bath time

Daniel has the cutest way of asking for a bath:
"Mommy, can you take me a bath?"

We've all tried to tell him that the 'correct' way to say it is Can you give me a bath? No success, he is convinced his way is the way, so we just let it be.

100 Days of School

A challenge from Kaila's teacher...write 100 things you learned in the first 100 days of school! I'm helping Kaila with her project this weekend. She is looking back at the material from the past few months and wow, I can see so much change from when she started the school year. The handwriting, the spelling, the concepts taught - quite amazing how quickly kids can learn.

A "Big" Christmas Tree

I decided this year that I'd get a small 5.5-foot Christmas tree so the kids could trim it and reach all the way to the top. They were super excited when it came home a couple couple of weeks ago. We set off to decorate it together with small ornaments, ornaments they had made, we added lights, a few red globes and we were mostly done. Over the course of two weeks we've added a few more pieces as they've made additional ornaments at school and at home.

Yesterday, I was talking to Daniel's teacher and told her that I had chosen a small tree this year. Well, she told me that Daniel said that he had a BIG Christmas tree at his house. I guess it's all a matter of perspective and relative size!

Daniel is responsible for supplying the tree with water every morning. Our tree drinks about a cup of water a day.

Happiness

There is nothing like hearing your kids laugh spontaneously and worry-free. We had a great weekend!

Dear Santa

Can you bring me a crystal ball?

Kaila and I traded secret Santa wishes. I can't tell hers, but I want a crystal ball.

Better than chocolate

I love those moments just before Kaila falls asleep when she just has to share something that pops in her head. A couple of days ago she told me:

"Mommy, I love you more than I love chocolate..."

"I love you too, sweetheart", I replied and she drifted off to sleep.

Let's Draw

Kaila has been having fun with her Nintendo DS "Let's Draw". She decided that she wanted to keep some of her drawings and used the DS as a guide, but made her drawings on paper rather than on the screen. And, of course, she always draws herself as the spunky "teenager"...

All Pink

I took this photo of my glamourous princess on the left a couple of days before receiving the postcard on the right from Melissa in Ottawa.

Too funny...

Spelling

Kaila is quite fluent in reading. Now she is working on her writing. It's fascinating to have a glimpse into how her mind works throught the learning process.

We played instant messaging this weekend. Here are some very nice messages I received from Kaila with interesting phonetic spelling.

flayurs aer byotufol.
you are byotyfol too.
theyc you mommy.
sh sh shark.
f f fesh.
w w wayel.
I now wat you are goweg too say.

Flowers are beautiful.
You are beautiful too.
Thank you, Mommy.
Shark.
Fish.
Whale.
I know what you are going to say.

Glass roof

Literally, Kaila wants a room with a glass roof so she can go to sleep watching the stars. Our architect to be, for our house to be, already has special requests to incorporate in his plans. My requirement, if the glass roof makes it, is a self-cleaning glass roof!

The initial seed for this conversation was today's school nature walk and checklist. From there, Kaila wanted to live outside and have the insects live inside. A better compromise once we thought about the cold and the rain on her books among other things was to have a room without a roof or an attic. But rain was still a problem, so the glass came into the picture.

Happy Thanksgiving

Google has the cooolest Snoopy and Woodstock doodle.

ABC featured today "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". I was glad I recorded it. As much as I like Snoopy, the ratio ads-to-program was extremely high, making it not worth watching the regular program without the >>FF control.

Banana Bread

I promised Daniel we'll do some cooking/baking this weekend. Banana bread sounds good right this minute... I like this recipe from Betty Crocker - last time, we used star shaped pans for an extra special look.

Banana Bread

Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 3 hours 25 min
Makes: 2 loaves

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

1. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
2. Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Substitution
If using self-rising flour, there is no need to add baking soda and salt.
No buttermilk on hand? Mix 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar and enough milk to make 1/2 cup. Or substitute 1/2 cup plain yogurt.

String?

Nothing like jumping on the bed listening to good music. Yes, a favorite of my kids. Last week I bought them a new tape with children's songs and they were having a blast. The tape ended and there was quiet for a little while.

"Bath time...", I call. As Kaila comes to meet me she asks, "Mommy, what's all that string for?"
"String? What string, Kaila?"
"Come see...", she says.

I get to her room and Daniel is happily pulling the ribbon off the cassette. The 'string' is pooled by his side! Luckily the tape was not torn and after a few minutes of manually rewinding the 'string' back into the cassette, we had music again.

One of the reasons I purchased the old-tech cassette tape was to show the kids how the tape deck in their little boom box worked. I guess they got that and a little more. It's fun to see Kaila FF and wait for the tape to get to the next song - rather than just pushing one button in the CD player for the immediate gratification of her next favorite song.

Hypnic jerks

Sounds bad, but that's what those "electric shocks or jerks" you get just when you're falling asleep are called. Alternatively one may also use hypnagogic massive jerks - even worse.

See wikipedia for more details...hypnic jerks.

I haven't gotten one of these in a while; at least, not that I remember. They are quite disconcerting and annoying to me, since I always take a while to fall asleep. A hypnic jerk sends me right back to the starting line.

As I put Daniel to sleep a couple of days ago he had a pretty big one. It sure startled me as I sat beside him; but Daniel didn't even budge - asleep he was, asleep he stayed. At the end of the day he is one tired boy.

Desk

My computer desk is a mess right now. Maybe if I blog it, I'll get motivated to clean up tonight!

First Day in Kindergarten

Today was Kaila's first day in kindergaten! She is very happy in her new class. She even had homework.

A fun-filled Saturday

Pool party at 8am... yes, 8am on a Saturday...OK here we go. Bagels at 10am. Art class at 11am. Shopping for ballet at 12:30pm. A stop at home for Daniel's afternoon nap at 2pm. Making a pink head-band and a dress while Daniel napped - the sewing machine came out of the closet after years collecting dust. Daniel's up at 4pm and we're on to hanging out at home - crayons, computer games, magnets, Kid K'nex blocks. Dinner with Daddy at 7:30pm - Vietnamese? No! McDonald's... and now we're going to start our going-to-bed routine - settle down, milk, brush teeth, floss, read book, lights off.

Highlights of the day

- Kaila spent the day in her new ballet leotard. She tried it on at the store and fell in love with it. She didn't even take it off for the register. The salesperson just cut the tag and rang it up. Her tap shoes were on and off her feet several times this afternoon, too.

- Daniel made several K'nex figures, or as I call them, little monsters, all by himself! As Kaila says, "zero help". He was mighty proud of his monsters, too.

- Daddy: "Kaila, did you have fun at the party this morning?"
. Kaila: "More fun than I've had ever!"
I guess the water slides were more of a hit than I thought...

Hydrangeas everywhere

I've been seeing hydrangeas everywhere these past months. They were growing wild in Kauai and the Big Island.

The August House Beautiful had several of their spreads with hydrangeas. Every spread in July-August Veranda had hydrangeas in it.

I love them. My Mom loves to have them around the house, too. A little taste of home.

Den10Studio has a beautiful hydrangea print in her etsy shop.