2/10 Ed Arrives And We Go to Tahoe

Unlike most schools, Maile's school had the Thursday and Friday before Presidents' Day off. So, we decided to go to Tahoe during those days and come back Friday evening before the masses showed up for ski week. During our last Tahoe trip, we had checked out the Hyatt Residence Club fractional ownership. The salesguy we talked to called Hansel afterward and invited us to stay there at a deep discount as a "try before you buy." If we ended up buying, what we paid would be credited toward our purchase. We made plans to go with Leilani and Hannah while Al stayed home with Zachary.

My brother was flying in the night of 2/10. I asked him if he wanted to join us. Wasn't sure how keen on the idea he would be since he would be jetlagged, but he said okay. So Hansel, Leilani, Maile, Hannah, and Beck headed up Wednesday afternoon. Ed, Mathis, and I went up Thursday morning after making a stop at the Chinese Consulate for Ed to get a visa.

Hansel et al had stayed in a 2-bedroom Wed night. When we arrived, we checked us into the 3-bedroom we reserved. The girls spent the day with their ski instructor . . . Leilani. Leilani would go down first making slow Ss down the hill and then the girls would follow behind.

We got Mexican to go that night from the village and got sucked into watching an America's Best Dance Crew marathon on MTV. The kids liked it, too.

The next day Leilani took the girls back up the mountain. The rest of us went up the Hyatt gondola, which goes to the Ritz, to check out Leilani and the girls.

We then walked around the Ritz and then all had lunch at the Alpine Club in the Village. Later Ed, Hansel, and Beck took a dip in the spa and pool then got in some pool before we headed home.

Check out the snow in the background.

2/7 Kate's Lunar New Year Party

On Sunday, 2/7, I took Maile to a classmate's Lunar New Year Party. They had Chinese and New Year snacks, like clementines, egg custard, almond cookies. Another classmate's mom brought a red envelope art and craft project. The highlight of the party was the kids had a parade up and down the block that included a homemade dragon. Kate's mom was on the committee that worked on our school's Lunar New Year festivities, so she found knew how to make the dragon's head. It looked great. She even solved the potential issue of the kids seeing while holding the dragon by putting handle bars and hoops along the dragon.

Random February Photos

Here are some random photos from February.

For the first photo, I had put a wardrobe box lying on its side under Beck's lofted bed, like a fort within a fort. The only light in the box was from the flashlight in Beck's hand.

In the second photo, Hansel and I had gone into Maile's room to wake up the kids after a "sleepover" between Maile and Beck. We found Beck against the far wall with his back to the wall and his arms spread out, like he was covering something, and Maile was on the other wall with her arm covering something. They had found a pencil and had drawn all over two walls above Maile's bed. That was the first and last time they did that. This photo is of them cleaning the walls.

So, Beck had been wanting rain boots ever since I bought Maile some. I hadn't bought Beck boots because he had some regular boots, and I figured he didn't need them. But then we decided we should get him rain boots, so Hansel searched all over the web for some Thomas boots. He finally found some in Beck's size. Here is Beck posing with his boots. He didn't want to wear them for a few weeks. But after he finally did, he wanted to wear them all the time.

In the below photo, Mathis is putting a sock in Maile's boot. He spent quite a while that day putting random things in Maile's boot. During this past rain season, Maile would put her foot in her pink rain boots only to find some toy or trinket Mathis put in there.

Warning: You might not want to see the next photo.
I spent almost an entire day trying to persuade Maile to pull out her tooth or let me pull it out. Keep in mind she had already lost two teeth. This tooth was barely hanging on, and it was bothering her a lot. I even showed her a video I found online of a woman pulling out her daughter's tooth. The daughter was calm through the whole thing, barely flinched. Finally, before bed time she it me pull it out. I took a piece of toilet paper, wrapped it around the tooth, and pulled down. It came right out. Maile flinched but didn't really cry.

Today (3/20) her other front tooth looks like this, but she won't let us pull it out. Her anxiety is totally psyching her out.

Sleep Training Revisited

Even though I don't have a photograph to accompany this post, I wanted to document it before I forget.

Right before Mathis turned 6 months old we sleep-trained him (http://hanselandlisa.blogspot.com/2009/08/sleep-training.html). It lasted about a month until we moved to Palo Alto. I didn't let him cry it out much after we moved because all the bedrooms are close together, and I didn't want Mathis waking the other kids. So even though he would start out in his own bed, he eventually would end up in ours.

After Mathis turned 1, I was afraid we reached the point of no return. So I decided to make another effort at sleep training starting the weekend after Tahoe. It took a week of a lot of crying, but now he pretty much sleeps through the night. He still cries here and there in the middle of the night, but he usually (knock on wood) falls back to sleep. Wrote too soon, he's crying as I am typing this.

2/1 PoPo Visits

My mom (aka PoPo, Chinese for maternal grandmother) visited from 2/1 - 2/20. For a few weeks we were spoiled with some great home-cooked Chinese food, and additional help with the kids. Hansel and I even went out on Valentine's Day just the two of us.

PoPo taking Mathis around for a ride. He liked it at first, but by the time I pulled the camera out he lost interest.

My mom is trying to show Maile how to do a knitting kit Maile got for Christmas. It was complicated even for me, so we'll probably need to wait til next year.

1/23 & 1/24 First Tahoe Trip of the Season

On Saturday, Leilani and Hansel took the girls to register them for an all-day class (9:30-3:30). While the girls were at their class, Hansel and Lola (Grandma) Rose took Beck and Zachary out sledding. The nice neighbor next door cleared a path for his grandson and any kids on the block to use. I came out in time to get some shots of Zachary's first and last solo run of the day.

Hansel giving Zachary a little push.

Beck going solo

During lunch, Hansel ran back to the ski school registration area to find something. While he was there, he saw Hannah but no Maile. He asked Hannah where Maile was. She said she didn't know. Hansel talked to the ski school people and found out that the girls were in different groups and that Maile was at mid-mountain while Hannah was still down at the base. The manager said they only take the whole group up if everyone in the group is ready. He said the girls ended up in different groups because there was no notation that they were supposed to be together and Maile and Hannah didn't say anything. Excuse me, they're kindergartners.

After lunch, we went to go see Hannah since the ski lesson area was right out back behind the restaurant. She was doing great, definitely ready to go up to mid mountain. Al talked to the supervisor, and they were able to find someone to take her up there.

After their lessons, the girls got a little sledding in. Maile, as you can see, loved it.

Mathis is watching Maile, Beck, and Hannah on the monitor.

Sunday morning, Al whipped up a yummy breakfast of waffles and fruit. After breakfast, we got some more sledding in before we all headed home.

Al giving Zachary a tow.

1/22 First Tahoe Trip of the Season

Maile's school had the Friday after MLK day off, so we made plans to go to Tahoe with the Yaus. We headed up Thursday afternoon after picking up the kids from school. It was raining down here and snowing up there, so it took us 6 hours. The Yaus ended up driving up Friday morning because Leilani's mom flew in Thursday night (she had booked her flight before we planned the trip).

We stayed at a private home in the Northstar resort area, which had access to the free Village shuttle. The house was a good size and had a huge vaulted ceiling. It also had a pool-table room with a half bath behind the garage. Maile, Beck, and Hannah slept there. The kids, including Zachary, loved playing in there; it was like their clubhouse.

Some photos taken in and around the house Friday morning.

Friday the weather was nice, and the Yaus only made one quick stop. So, Al and Hannah made it in time for the free Parent-and-Me class at 1:30, which is normally for 3 and 4-yr olds. They were the only people in the class, so Hannah basically got a free private lesson. Score! Maile was already in her afternoon class when they got in.

Hannah with her instructor

Maile, Al, and Hannah on the "magic carpet"

Maile and Hannah doing the "pizza" stance

When they all got back from skiing, Hansel pulled out our camera and said something about getting a good photo of Maile during her ski lesson. Below is what he showed me. Can you guess who that is with the girls? And no, it is not a ski instructor.

Anyway, our new "friend" talked to Hansel first after noticing Hansel running up and down the hill along side Maile. He said something to Hansel about getting quite the workout. Cute and funny? Oh, how "dreamy." Hansel, who doesn't like to bother anyone, actually asked to take a picture. He said the wives would love it. Props to Hansel!

The kids are gathered around an iPhone. No screen is too small for kids when it comes to watching cartoons.

 

Random January Photos

These photos were actually taken on 12/31, but our camera's date is off by one day, so they ended up in our January folder.

These photos were taken on 1/11 when all the kids were playing in Mathis' crib.

Maile on 1/12 is posing with the first house she made with her Lego Creator set, which has three house designs in one box. She wanted to bring the house to Beck's school to show his teachers.

1/15 Happy 1st Birthday, Mathis!

We had a small, last-minute birthday brunch for Mathis on 1/16 (the day after his birthday). Hansel didn't really want to do anything, but how uncool would that be for us to have parties for Maile and Beck and not Mathis.

The below photo is from the night of his actual birthday.

Below Griffin is showing his mom how he picked up something with what we call "the grabber."

Mathis is enjoying one of the mini muffins I made for his birthday brunch the day before.

1/3 Ravioli Yum!

Back in December at dinner at Hobee's, Mathis ate a lot of ravioli. So, after we got back from DC, I bought some frozen ravioli that I could whip out when I needed for Mathis. Here are some photos of him enjoying his ravioli.