The 2 Little Rascals 兩隻人見人愛的搗蛋鬼

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2009-02-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

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Chick 'n Monkey

Bright Horizons

2007-10-16T20:54:00.001-07:00

Ashlyn & Alex are going to start school on next Monday. The facility invited us to meet with the teachers and the staff today, we decided to take Ashlyn & Alex along with us.

The meeting was set for this afternoon, 3-ish. 30mins to meet with Alex's teacher, and 30mins to meet with Ashlyn's. The purpose of the meeting was to go over some forms, things that we want the teachers to know about, and to answer any questions we had in mind.

At the beginning, both kids were quiet, demanded to sit on our laps. 10mins later, Alex wanted to sit alone and started to drink water. Before you know it, he started to talk, alot, non-stop. Ashlyn still observing the place and people. Soon after Alex was sitting alone, Ashlyn asked to have her own chair to sit in, and demanded for pen and paper to scribble.

They invited us to check out Ashlyn's classroom. What a great idea. Not only we got to meet the teachers, watch they kids interact, the most important was that I got to see how Ashlyn react to the new place and people. I'm not too worry about Alex getting involve with other people, Ashlyn concerns me the most.

To my surprise, when she saw something interested her, she let go of my hand and explored. As we were leaving, she demanded to play at the playground and didn't want to go. It seemed like a good start for her and Alex. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed, and hoping it's not gonna be too difficult on Monday.

: )

Facebook Search Updates

2007-10-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

Oh, it’s not her. The person I contacted thought she might be the potential long lost friend I was trying to locate, replied. It’s not her. So, my search continues.

~

Facebook

2007-10-08T11:23:00.001-07:00

I have received a few invitations from friends to join Facebook awhile ago, but I didn't feel that I have a need to. For whatever reason, I finally signed up just an hour ago, and surfed a bit. I was amazed how great this network is. Hack, I have a website, started blogging, signed up bloglines, why not Facebook?

First of all, it pulls the contacts from your email, and if your contacts already are Facebook members and upload pictures in the profiles, you will be able to see it. I was in shock to see some of the profile pictures of my friends/email contacts. For those I haven't seen them for years, most of them haven't changed a bit, a few of them..., let's just say I had to look very closely, and starred for minutes, and view pictures in their photo albums, to come to the conclusion "that's the person!", not just random pictures of strangers they used.

I just had a few great conversation with a friend and his dad in HKG, whom are very close friend of my family. And there's a possibility that I might have found a friend from HKG whom we attended the same school and I lost touch with years ago. Couldn't really tell cux the profile picture was too small. I just sent her a message and waiting for her reply.

Ashlyn's Latest Favorite Song

2007-10-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Drawings

2007-09-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, whenever Ashlyn & Alex sit down, they ask for pens and paper. Here are their recent masterpieces.

Ashlyn's Self Portrait

Ashlyn wrote the E, L, and A, but she didn't write ALEX

Use your imagination, not sure what she was trying to draw

Alex's first drawing

These are happy faces, according to him.

~ * ~

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

2007-09-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

中秋快樂

The Kids

2007-09-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

We had dinner at the in-laws' on Saturday. Brother & sister in-law came with their daughters too.

We finally able to take a decent picture of all of the 4 kids. Although not looking at the camera/directions the same time, but at least they were willing to sit down quietly, calmly for the picture.

From left: Allyna (2.5 years old), Jolie (8 months old), Ashlyn (3 years and 3 months old) & Alex (2 years and 2 months old).

Bargain Shopper

2007-09-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

I took Ashlyn, along with my aunt to Costco on Sunday. As we walked in, we saw these cute little cardigan, perfect for Ashlyn to wear at home. We let her hold on to it as we shop. We got home, Ashlyn got off the car, and she said:

"係唔係減價呀? 好平呀?"
"Is it on sale? Very good price?"

One bargain shopper in the making!!

What Do You See??

2007-09-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

My brother, Jeff, and sister in law, Penny, are expecting their first child in Spring 2008. Penny just had the amniocentesis (抽羊水) done 2 days ago and the results was GOOD!

This morning, Jeff and I IM'ed a little. Obviously, my first question was "you got the result back?" Here is our conversation:

Miss CHU 朱小姐: got the results?

Penny 叉燒: yes.... everything is OK.

Miss CHU 朱小姐: boy or girl?

** one minute later, no response **

Miss CHU 朱小姐: BOY OR GIRL AH?????

** 5 seconds later, request to accept/transfer file **

Miss CHU 朱小姐: image too small la

Miss CHU 朱小姐: baby sneezing??

Penny 叉燒: hahahaha

Miss CHU 朱小姐: cannot tell wor

so, here is the image Jeff sent me.

Conversation continues:

Miss CHU 朱小姐: is this really your baby??

Penny 叉燒: look closer la...

Miss CHU 朱小姐: looks like the baby is driving, and slaming on the brake

Miss CHU 朱小姐: aiya, the image is very very very tiny

Penny 叉燒: shifting gears.....

Miss CHU 朱小姐: AAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Miss CHU 朱小姐: so, it's not image of your bb la

Penny 叉燒: no la

Miss CHU 朱小姐: but very cute

Get it? Any winners??

It's Official !

2007-09-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

It's official, I think. It's been 3 weeks in a row that Ashlyn went diaperless, even nap time and sleep time at night. Zero accidents (touch on wood).

She calls out everytime she needs to use the bathroom. I think it's pretty safe to say it's official that Ashlyn IS now potty trained. So proud of her! ; )

There goes savings on diaper money! HA HA!

ARE YOU READY ??

2007-09-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, we got good news from the Cisco Family Connection, where they offer daycare/pre-school/pre-K programs. They now have openings for both Ashlyn and Alex, and they can start as early as Oct. 22. Although it's only a 3-day week, it should be a good start for them. If we give up the spaces, we will be on the bottom of the waiting list. No, No, No, that's not gonna happen!!

Baba picked up all the necessary paperwork this morning, and we must turn in the applications and fee no later than tomorrow evening to make it official.

There are so many questions running in my mind since we received the email last night. Would they get used to it? Would they cry on the first day? How am I gonna video tape both of them on the first day of school? What time should we start? Is 9am too early? Can they start 9:30am?

Oh well, they are going to start going to school some time anyways, why not start now?

Now I can tell people "YES, my kids are going to school now!"

V. I. P.

2007-09-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

COACH has the V.I.P./Preferred customers sale event going on right now (by invitation only), and I'm lucky that I have some V.I.P. friends. My dear friend, Elaine, she's so generous that she sent me her invitaion. 25% off all Fall merchandise.

I went and shopped for coworkers in Taiwan, and I was told the price in Taiwan is twice of USA's. So, I picked up couple of items for my coworkers, then I found this. Probably new this season, never seen it before, the COACH Beauty item. I knew they introduced the perfume earlier this year, now, they have lipstick (3 shades) and a shimmer powder compact.

I bought the lip stick color ROSE, a more neutral color, retail $18, and the shimmer powder compact for my cousin as her birthday gift, retail $38.

You see, there's even the COACH logo on the lipstick itself.

Halloween is Haunting !

2007-09-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Soon after Labor Day, stores already started to put Halloween items on shelves. Last year, I went every where to scout for the perfect Halloween costume for Alex. The requirements: keep the kid warm, easy on and off, under $20.

I stumbled upon Old Navy store and found this perfect costume for Alex. Not only it met all of the requirements and it was the C-U-T-E-S-T around town. O, did I mention it worked well with Ashlyn's too. Last year, Ashlyn was JoJo the Circus Clown, so, Alex was her best friend, Golith the Lion.

The belly and the butt of the lion costume was filled with synthetic cotton, and when Alex walked, the belly and the butt swinging left and right.

This year, Ashlyn is determined to be a Princess, so I can put all my energy to scout for Alex's costume. I had couple ideas in mind. Pirate, Turtle, Gold fish. I ended up getting the Pirate from Old Navy. It's been almost a week since I purchased the costume, I have been trying to lure Alex to try on the costume, but he refuses. I will keep trying. Here is the picture from Old Navy website.

Here are the other costume I had in mind. Turtle from The Children's Place, and the Gold Fish from Babystyle.

What else is there?

2007-09-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

As we were walking back to the hotel from Time Squre, we saw this from far away, and needless to say, we must stop by and check it out (it's already 11pm):

This is just one of the many clips they play on the screen. I guess if I had video taped every one of them, it would take a good 15-20 mins. Go see it for yourself.

We were suprised to see a Disney store on the 5th Ave. Just out of curiosity, we had to check it. WOW was the only i can come up with. It's a 3-story store. The ground level had all the princess stuffs, the Micky stuff and souvenir items. The first day, yes, the first day, we went back again and again. On the first day/time we were there, we must have spent a good hour to hour and half there just to check out everything. They have every character you have ever seen on the cartoon network, movies, and story books. You know how High School Musical is so hot now. When we were there, 4 of the staff came out with the High School cheerleading outfit and singing songs and dancing the moves from teh High School Muscial. There were kids around the age of 7 to 10 singing and dacning with them, and they knew all the moves and didn't miss a beat!!

*more to come*

Time Squre New York

2007-09-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

We watched the crystal ball dropped at Time Square every New Year's Eve right above the big-O screen. Johnson and I finally were there in person. No, not New Year's Eve. We were there just about a month ago for a wedding. The screen didn't amaze me, cux it looked smaller than I thought it would be.

What amazed me was the 3-level Toys R Us at Time Square. I was not impressed by their toy selections and variety, what caught my attention and interests was this:

You can see this ferry wheels from the street. $6 per person.

What caught Johsnon's attention?? He insisted to take a picture with him.

Then we went upstair the next day, and saw this:

Next to the Jurassic Park corner was the Lego section:

Labor Day

2007-09-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sept 3 was Labor day, it was a 3-day weekend that I have been waiting for. Thinking I could lay back and relax and just chill at home with the kids, but guess what we did. What we did was totally fit the holiday - LABOR.

Long Over Due Entry #1

2007-08-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

O, this is loooonnnnggg over due. I know, I've been slacking a bit lately.

Should've posted this entry looonnnggg ago, our trip to UK & Paris. Well, in a short 1 week stay in London and Paris, we've been to majority of the "must see" tourist spots, and lots of walking and shopping.

Well, these are just A FEW of the pictures, but, you get the idea.

Alex did it again!

2007-08-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hurray!! Yes, Alex did it again. This is the second time now.

This morning, as usual, Alex had his morning poo. This time a little different, he didn't poo in his diaper. He paused, squaded, and that's the signal we knew he needed to go poo poo. We kept asking his if he wanted to go, he refused, and denied. As soon as Baba came out from shower, he told Baba that he wanted go poo. Alex did it soon after Baba set up the toilet with the little potty seat.

We are so proud of you!!

Silly, Silly, Silly

2007-08-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

.....

Wrinkle Free Shirts

2007-08-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

..
Baba found some great deals on Amazon, Men's dress shirts under $10 and free shipping.

Baba: Mama, these dress shirts are under $10, and they have Kenneth Cole's too! I want to get some un-wrinkle dress shirts.
Mama: it's wrinkle free, not un-wrinkle!
Alex: wrinkle!
Mama: no, wrinkle free ah!
Alex: one-two-three ??!!
Mama: no, wrinkle free ah!
Alex: ONE-TWO-THREE AH!

~

When you have time to kill ...

2007-08-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

My cousin Jacqueline is a school teacher, and now, just like the school kids, she is taking her sweet summer vacation. So, along with Ashlyn & Alex, all 3 of them just had a little too much time to kill yesterday, and guess what they did? see below picture.

It was done via http://www.simpsonizeme.com/ , pretty silly, hun?

ALEX is 2 !!

2007-08-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, ALEX!!

Alex turned 2 yesterday. Internet at home was down for the last couple of days. Should have posted this entry from work.

~

Potty Training - Take 2

2007-07-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Remember last summer, Ashlyn was potty trained. She went diaperless at home basically the entire summer & fall. As soon as the weather got a little colder, for some odd reason, she wanted to wear diapers again.

The training for poo poo was a success. It's been a year she hasn't poo'ed on diaper. She lets us know when she needs to go poo poo. YIPPIE!!

We have started pee pee training all over again. It seems to me she knows what to do. We just let her go diaperless at home now, but we still put diapers on her when we go out, especially taking a long road trips.

Saturday night, we were out dinner in San Francisco. Ashlyn demanded to take the diaper off cux she wasn't comfortable. She was diaperless and all the sudden, she said "mama, I need to go pee pee." Off we ran to the washroom and YES, she did it.

Don't want to say anymore, cux afraid I would jinx it. We'll see how it goes.

Alex's 1st Haircut

2007-07-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

WWhhEEwww!!! It was done!! Alex got his first haircut ever! Last Friday, yes, Friday the 13th, took Alex to get his first haircut, he was fuzzy a bit, but overall, he was quite alright. See if for yourself.

Before

After

Yes, we are keeping his baby hair.

~

July 4 (with Video)

2007-07-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Carmen & Jorence invited us to their home for a July 4 BBQ get together yesterday. Ashlyn & Alex as usual, being cool as they were at a new place and seeing not so familiar faces. Things turned 180 degree as they discovered the odd looking chair -- The iGallop.

~

Boy vs. Girl's View

2007-07-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

Baba: Alex, 叫舅父比咩野車車?

Alex: Cooper!

Ashlyn: 咩野豬扒呀 ?

? ? ! !

睇咩野 ??

2007-07-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn 有 d 扭計, 我話帶佢去睇珠寶首飾鑽石 bling bling.

佢喊住口咁講 : “好呀. 鑽石咩野黎架? woo woo woo~~”

p.s.: 非常好! 應該問清楚 D o既!

20-month-old vs. 36-month-old

2007-07-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

唔同年齡對事物 o既態度都唔同.

同樣一句說話, 有唔同 o既反應.

姨婆同爸爸同樣講 : "唔聽話就打屎忽!"

Ashlyn 同 Alex 有咁樣 o既回應.

Ashlyn: 屎忽有屎 wor!

Alex: 細力 D wor!

Speechless...!

~

Princess Ashlyn

2007-07-03T11:23:00.001-07:00

Princess Ashlyn turned 3 last week, since she's in the Princess/Ballerina phase, her birthday celebration had much princesses.

A night at the Chuck-E-Cheese was a blast!

Thanks to all the Yee Por, Kau Kung, Yee Yee, & Kau Foo.

Video: Slam Dunk

2007-07-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Curious Alex

2007-06-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Alex is at the questioning stage since weeks ago. Everytime he gets into the car, as soon as he's straped in, he asks "where are we going?" "are we going home?" He asks "where are we going now?" almost every 2 minutes. I think we should expect "Are we there yet?" soon.

~

Video: Ashlyn's Helper

2007-06-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Video: Take them off

2007-06-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

Where did you go?

2007-06-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

We're back on Sunday night. Ashlyn came to the airport with my cousins to pick us up. For some reasons, she acted shy and embarrassed when we talked to her. By the time we got home, 11 something, Alex was already sound asleep.

Monday morning, as soon as Alex woke up, I asked him where did Mama go, and here is the conversation:

Mama: Alex, Mama 去左邊呀? Alex, where did Mama go?
Alex: 英國 England (in a very confirmed, definite tone)
Mama: ??!!
Mama: Alex, Mama 去左邊呀? Alex, where did Mama go?
Alex: 你係唔係去左英國呀? Did you go to England?
Mama: ??!! 你點知呀? How did you know?

~

Someone Turns 3 Today !!

2007-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Ashlyn !
XOXO

~

I'm Back !!

2007-06-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Just arrived at home from the airport. Will update with pix from London & Paris soon. For now, need to catch some ZZZzzzZZZzzzzzzzZzZZZ

Video - The Next American Idol

2007-06-12T11:09:00.001-07:00

Little Panda Class

2007-06-05T15:48:00.001-07:00

Took the kids to their first summer recreation class yesterday -- The Little Panda Class, a playgroup done in Chinese. There're about 15 kids all together.

At the beginning of the class, Ashlyn and Alex were not too interested, and they looked confused. I think it's because of the language. Everybody else knew the songs very well, and it's very obvious that we're the new comers. As the class progress, and teacher Jill took out more props, Ashlyn and Alex got involved a bit, especially when some wooden sticks (like drum sticks) and musical instruments were distributed to the kids.

We were given a CD and a lyric book, so last night, we were teaching Ashlyn & Alex to say words in Chinese. Not sure if they totally understood the meaning, or if they were just imitating the pronunciation, they sounded pretty good.

I was solo with the kids yesterday. I will try to take video and pictures next time.

~~

"A" for Ashlyn

2007-06-05T13:45:00.001-07:00

Last night, Ashlyn picked up a crayon and started scribble on a piece of paper. I was curious, and wasn't sure what she was drawing, so I asked:

me: Ashlyn, what are you drawing?

Ashlyn: "A"

me: Show me (as I grabbed a clean piece of paper)

Ashlyn: Na!

WOW, I almost cried. My 35 month old girl just wrote the alphabet "A"!! I quickly put the 2 pieces of paper away, and scanned, and put them in a safe place. Oh, almost forgot, I also put the date on the back of the paper. He He!

Don't pay attention to the piggie head and "S", those were not written/drawn by Ashlyn.

十二星座的第一名

2007-06-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

Found this from a Yahoo Blogger. Interesting.

白羊座：衝動第一名，做事後悔第一，火氣大第一，大膽第一，敢愛敢恨第一名。
金牛座：穩重第一名，節檢第一名，貪財第一名，可靠第一名，吃苦耐勞第一名。
雙子座：八卦第一名，聰慧第一名，Crazy第一名，幽默第一名，多話第一名。
巨蟹座：體貼第一名，愛吃第一名，愛家第一名，孝順第一名，多愁善感第一名。
獅子座：自信第一名，愛現第一名，要面子第一名，品味第一名，風度第一名。
處女座：細心第一名，挑剃第一名，愛乾淨第一，小題大做第一，吃醋第一名。
天秤座：愛美第一名，猶豫第一名，懶惰第一名，善辯第一名，公正第一名。
天蝎座：痴情第一名，扮酷第一名，魅力第一名，冷冰冰第一名，理智第一名。
射手座：貪玩第一名，糊塗第一名，可愛第一，勇于嘗試第一，心無城府第一名。
摩羯座：嚴肅第一名，鎮定第一名，忍耐第一名，認真第一名，保守第一名。
水瓶座：好奇第一名，好學第一名，創意第一名，另類第一名，創造力第一名。
雙魚座：心軟第一名，敏感第一名，多疑第一，愛作夢第一，胡思亂想第一名。

Video - Doodle-li-do

2007-06-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

Video - Street dance

2007-06-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Tag: How did the name come about? Alex Haylen

2007-06-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the 2nd part of the TAG (the final part). This one will be shorter.

This time, we gonna start with his Chinese name, cux it will be very simple and short. One Sunday morning when I was still carrying Ashlyn (after we have decided on Ashlyn's Chinese name), when I woke up, a boy's Chinese name popped up in my head, out of no where--Hay Leun--曦麟. I immediately told Johnson about it and presented to the in laws. The question was which character we should use? For some reason, the one with most most strokes stuck in my mind. The meaning of this character is large male deer. Needless to say, everyone's reaction was "WOW, so many strokes, your son will hate you, more so than Ashlyn! Don't even think about sending him to Chinese school."

We didn't settle on the Chinese name yet. Remember, my rule for Chinese name and middle name? So I searched online, found Halen, and FYI, it is an unisex name. Good, sounded close enough, but I modified the spelling a little by adding "y" to make it HAYLEN, to ensure people won't pronouce the name as HELEN. Now, we settled on the Chinese name and middle name for our son.

With the first name selection, we had a difficult time. I thought, Ashlyn's initial is AHH, maybe the 2nd baby should have initial OHH and EHH, and it just happened 2 of my favorite names begin with O and E were Oscar and Ethan. Banned by Johnson, he didn't like either of them. Back to square 1. He liked Alex all along, he tried to convience me. I told him if we couldn't pick one that both of us agree on, we would use Alex. Silly me, he could've said no to any names until I give up and give in and agree on Alex. I couldn't come up with another name period, so I tried to convience myself by saying the full name over and over again to myself. Surprising, not bad. I liked it.

Tag: How did the name come about? Ashlyn Haley

2007-05-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

OK, Viv, this is for you. I think I have been delaying this long enough, and now it's time to answer your TAG.

Ashlyn. How did it come about? We started to brainstorm for names as soon as we found out it's a girl, thinking, must be easy, girls name, piece of cake. There are many pretty girl names alright, but Baba and I couldn't compromise. My all time favorite was Audrey, but it will not work for a Chinese family with elderly who don't really speak English. Pronunciation will turn into "All Jue", which is close to Cantonese pronunciation of peeing. No, N-O W-A-Y !

Friends had been asking "have a name yet?" through out my pregnancy. Baba and I finally narrowed down to 2, his favorite (Ashley) and my favorite (Jocelyn). It was like a light bulk just popped on top of my head when my friend Joan said "why don't you combine the 2?" Joceley? Acelyn? Joley? ASHLYN it is! Johnson wasn't sure about this idea when I first suggested to him. The more I say it, the better I felt about it, and I finally convinced Johnson to name our girl ASHLYN.

We will go to the middle name later. Now, let's talk about the Chinese name. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, we asked Father In Law (FIL) for name idea. I knew that his family uses a particular character in their name for each generation, and that was set by their ancestors. So, I asked FIL what's that character and ask him to name the first born grandchild in the family. Days, weeks, months passed, nothing. We saw them every week, but we casually brought up the subject every other week to remind him about the name idea. I asked my dad for idea, he told me it should leave it up to my FIL, so OK, continue waiting. We will come back to it later.

As for her middle name, Haley, one of my favorite too. Elaine and I were instant messaging each other, I was telling her I really like Haley as middle name, but also want the middle name to sound like the Chinese name. You know, how we used our Chinese name and turned it into English pronunciation and used it as our middle names. No, I don't want that. I wanted an American name as her middle name. So, back to the instant message. As I was saying, I like the name Haley, so Elaine said "Why don't you just use Haley and turn it into Chinese?" I thought about it, good idea. Discussed it with Johnson as soon as I got home from work. He basically OK'd the idea and of course we needed to run it by the in laws. Luckily, FIL OK'd our name selection, and the next step was to choose the characters.

Haley, the Chinese name we've choose pronounced Hay Yee, close enough, I think. I wanted to use the character with positive meaning. For the first character "Hay", there were 2 of them in mind. 1. Hope and 2. Sunlight. I prefer #2 cux not many people used that one, and why? probably because it's a character with many strokes. Then I paused, no, can't use that one cux Johnson probably don't know how to write that. So I suggested Hope 希 for the first character. For 2nd character "Yee", I had my mind set on the one means Happy, Cheerful 怡. At dinner table, we presented the Chinese name to the family, Sister in law said "don't use this Hay, cux it looks like a scissor on top cutting the fabrics below. Why don't you use the Sunlight Hay?" I told her the concern I had, but after all, everyone agreed we should use the sunlight Hay 曦.

So, there you have it, Ashlyn Haley 曦怡

曦 = sunlight
怡 = happy, cheerful, joyful, harmony

A side note, as soon as I announced the Chinese name to friends and families, the first reaction was "WOW, this Hay? Good thing she doesn't study in Asia. If she is, and need to write her name, or penalized by teachers to write her name many times, she will hate you for it"

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Tag: How did the name come about?

~Ta Ta ~

He's Here!

2007-05-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

A dear friend of mine, Elaine, just gave birth to a healthy baby boy late last night.

Congratulations!!

Memorial Day Weekend

2007-05-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

It was a long weekend, a 3-day weekend, but it seemed too short. Thought we could chill at home and relax, but no, activities lined up.

The highlights for the kids must be their 1st experience to the aquarium. We went to the Aquarium of the Bay at the Pier 39 in San Francisco. The weather was surpringly nice. Sunny and clear sky, just a little bit too much wind. Well, I guess it comes with the package since we're at the pier by the sea. My coworker strongly recommended the Monterey Aquarium, but due to other activities/committments, we decided to go to the one in SF instead. To me, I was a bit disappointed, but for the kids, they were thrilled.

When we entered the aquarium, before we went downstair to the "tunnels", there're several tanks of fish. Ashlyn and Alex were so excited, going from one tank to another. If I didn't urge them to proceed, we could probably spend another 30 minutes there.

As soon as we walked out the elevator, there's the first tunnel, where it similate the ocean closer to the shore. Every visitor was excited and everybody was just standing at the front end of the tunnel. Woo's and Ahh's. It took us a good 5 - 10 minutes to go through the first tunnel, not that there're much to watch, it's just stopping and waiting and trying to get the stroller to pass through.

The second tunnel similate the deeper ocean. There're sharks and rays. Needless to say, the rascals were estitic. Alex kept on tabbing the glasses, thinking he could touch the fish. Ashlyn just running up and down the tunnel and amazed by the fish all over and around her.

We finished the 2nd tunnel and started from tunnel #1 again cux Ashlyn wanted to see the fish again. She wanted to see the 3rd time, possible the 4th, or more, but I told her we would go look at something else.

So, we went back upstairs to the "Touch of the Bay" where you can touch the rays, baby sharks and star fish. Ashlyn was scare to touch, but Alex was so excited and rolled up his sleeves just like his daddy and ready for it. At the end, Alex touched the trepang/sea cucumber (海參), and yelled out "I touched it!"

Then we went to watch the seals by the pier. They smell and noisy, but the kids loved to watch them.

As we were leaving the dock, Alex was so tired and he fell asleep instantly as we put him in the stroller. Poor kid, he was so tired that he didn't even want to have his formula. As for Ashlyn, she was still too excited and hoping we were going to take her to another aquarium.

Video: Let Me See

2007-05-26T02:40:00.001-07:00

Video: Ballerina Got Mail

2007-05-26T02:39:00.001-07:00

Video: 海鮮 Seafood

2007-05-26T02:12:00.000-07:00

Out of no where, Alex asked, "魚蝦蟹呢?" (where is the fish prawn crab?)

p.s.: the Fish Pran Crab is a Chinese gambling game which you bat on the results of the dice. On the dice, instead of dots, it has fish, prawn, crab, chicken, pear shaped bottle (wulu), and coin.

Ashlyn's Tutu

2007-05-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

If you remember, I mentioned that Ashlyn has been asking for a pink puffy dress so that she can dress up as a ballerina and/or princess. So, I prepared this pink tutu for her for the photo shoot. It was her first time seeing the tutu and she refused to wear it for the photo shoot. Needless to say, I was bumped.

On Saturday, we had nothing to do, just chill at home. After her afternoon nap, I asked her why didn't she wear the tutu for the photo shoot yesterday. I bribed her and tried every trick I could think of, she still didn't want to wear it. Finally, I suggested to try it on in my uncle's bathroom in the master bedroom, where there's huge mirrors. Ashlyn agreed, and as soon as she saw herself in the mirror, she didn't want to take it off, and went straight to show it off to everyone in the house.

Sunday was a nice day, clear sky, warm with a little breeze. So on Sunday afternoon, Ashlyn asked for the tutu again. I wouldn't miss the chance to take pictures for her, so I suggested to go to the front yard/driveway to take some pictures. She was running around on the side walk, the front lawn, and posing, gallopping, she was just totally enjoying herself in the tutu.

AAAHHHhhhhh~~~~ ! Every girl loves a pink tutu !!

How Could I ??

2007-05-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

How could I forget about Baby Loves Disco?? The South Bay Baby Loves Disco was held last Saturday, and just totally slipped my mind.

Elaine introduced us to this event last year, and it has become a phenomenon nationwide. It was on the news, and magazines. We took Ashlyn & Alex to the one in San Francisco in January. I liked it very much, and I enjoyed it very much, even though Alex was very clingy. Both Ashlyn and Alex were a little shocked when we got there, dark and noisy. Neither of them willing to go to the dance floor. They played the 70's and 80's disco music like Girls just wanna have fun, YMCA, and I will survive, those popular disco songs. They provided snacks, drinks, and some toys for the kids who needed a break from dancing. The SF location, Ruby Skye, has 2 stories. It was a great place, cux for moms and younger kids/infants who wanted some "not so loud" time, they can go upstairs and chill.

I should really make plans for the next Baby Love Disco in the South Bay. Boogie Down, babies!!

Bling Bling

2007-05-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, Alex asked to call my sister in law, Penny, in Hong Kong. As he was talking on the cellphone (with the speaker on), I asked Penny if she had checked out some jewelries that we planned to purchase as gift for my cousin, Joey, who will be getting married next month. Mom had this conversation with Alex in the middle of the phone call.

Grandma: Alex 買閃Ling Ling 好唔好? (Alex, buy bling bling, OK?)
Alex : 無錢錢 wor (Don't have any money!)

I was laughing so hard that I almost wet my pants!

$10 PLANE TICKETS?

2007-05-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Most people knew I have an upcoming trip to New York in August, and I have been looking for cheap airfare. I found the ultra-ultra-cheap airfare, but they don't fly to New York now, maybe later? I don't know.
Saw this new title on MSN : New low-cost airline enters market . Without hesitation, I started to read the article. Very interesting. Next thing you know, I'm surfing their website already.

The purpose of this blog is not to introduce you to this new airlines -- SKYBUS. What I want to point out is their slogan on their website. Look to the right hand side of the website, you will see this:

Don't you love it? It's cute, isn't it??

Picture People Fiasco

2007-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Took the rascals to Picture People for portraits on Friday, they were excited. Both of them kept on asking when we would go take pictures. On the way to the mall, my aunt kept reminding Ashlyn to smile at the camera.

The worse happened. When it was our turn, both of them were reluctant to be in the spot lights. AIYA~, my worse nightmare. Ashlyn was OK, she would stay "on stage" but no smile, just being COOL! Alex was a little difficult. He refused to go "on stage", had to cling on to me. The stewpid photographer kept saying "your son looks dis-stressed". Hack yeah, I know he looked dis-stressed, no need to emphasize. He was just holding his camera and waited. I was like, you totally wasting our time. It's digital camera, just shot and warm them up, dorn it!! He took so long without any action even the studio manager had to try to make my rascals smile and react to the camera. I couldn't help it anymore, so I asked if he had any toys, or props. He brought out some blocks, and sure enough that got their attention. They still didn't look at the camera much, I think both of them just being cool. They have the tendency to avoid the camera when they're asked to, they do that at home too. Aiya, they are growing up and have a mind of their own, and I can't pose them any more!!

After the session, as we were viewing the proofs, the photographer kept saying "my style is very modern, this is very much my interpretation of your kids, this is not picture people at all. Your kids are very free spirited." Thank you, that's a pilot way of saying "your kids don't follow instructions!" When he said that, the people at the computer next to us looked over, and I was like "free spirit my butt!!" This is my interpretation of "free spirit" -- Just look at the pictures, how many of them had the rascals looking right into the camera? They always looked away from it, that's free spirit? He wasn't able to catch 1, I just need ONE, ONE image of them close to each other and looking the same way, at least some what looking out if not totally starring at the camera, so that I can update my wallet show and tell piece. NONE, he couldn't catch NONE, ZERO, ZILCH. AAAARRRRGGGHHHH~~~!!!!

Despite my disappointment with that "ONE" image I was hoping for, the pictures actually surprising satisfied, some what. He was able to catch Alex's obsession with the blocks, but I couldn't find a good picture of Ashlyn alone. I particularly like the one with Ashlyn and Alex looking at the blocks together. Look here ----> This one!

OK, I guess I like his "modern style", how he adjusted the colors so that pictures look more "sur-real", that I like very much, but I don't like his personality. Maybe he's still young (age wise), it seems to me that he is not that good with kids. What really up sad me was that when I asked him if there's any props for Alex to ride on, he just told me they didn't have those any more. They used to have the train, classic car, rocking horses, and don't know if you remember or not, well, here is the picture to remind you, they used to have the airplane which we used in our last photo session. I felt like he was frustrated and refused to supply any props. Why? cux when I was reviewing the proofs, out of no where, my aunt found the airplane and Alex was happily riding it all over the studio. I could lived with it if he told me some other photographers were using it, but he just told me they didn't have it anymore without even looking for it or asking around? He was totally lying to my face.

The selection process wasn't difficult at all. He tried to explained to me the package deal, what to look for in a picture. He said, don't pick an image based on whether they are looking at the camera or not. I was thinking, of course, you didn't take any of those, how am I supposed to pick ANY of those. Then he went on and on and on and on and....on. Within 5 mins, I picked out all the images I wanted to purchase. He said "WOW, you are quick, there're so many customers they couldn't decide, took them forever" I just gave him a lame excuse, I said "Oh, yeah, I have done this many time, I know exactly what I want and I set a budget, so it's easy." From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to tell him "you didn't take many great images for me to choose, that's a no brainer!"

Anyways, that's our most recently experience with Pic Ppl. Overall, I do like this guy's "style" so to speak. You can view more images from this photo shoot HERE. Enjoy!

OH NO!

2007-05-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

GOT TAGGED!!
Tag: How Did the Name Came About?
It's an easy one, but... which one? the big rascal or the small rascal?

Who? Where?

2007-05-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn: Mama 肚肚有 Ashlyn
Mama: Alex 呢?
Ashlyn: Mama 肚肚有Alex
Mama: 衣家無啦! 你地出晒呢啦!
Ashlyn: 外婆肚肚有Mama!
Mama: ??!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! Speechless!

This is a conversation from a 34 month old toddler?? I'm just so looking forward to "where did I come from?"

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today, my cousin Jacqueline came home and suggested to make cakes for Mother's Day. Obviously, my 2 little rascals got to participate. They made 3 cakes. I was able to catch the decorating part 'cux I was taking my sweet nap, and it seemed like Ashlyn was more interested in the cake making / decorating than Alex, cux I wasn't able to catch a picture with Alex decorating any of the 3 cakes.

I'm Sorry!

2007-05-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

The other day, Ashlyn hit my cousin Johnathan. Here is the conversation between my aunt and Ashlyn.

Great Auntie Mary: 講sorry啦! (Say sorry)
Ashlyn: 我唔得閒呀! (I'm busy)
Great Auntie Mary: 講sorry啦! (say sorry)
Ashlyn: 我 R hung 呀! (I'm scratching)
Great Auntie Mary: 講啦! (say it)
Ashlyn: 我飲水呀! (I'm drinking)
Great Auntie Mary: 快D講啦! (say it now)
Ashlyn: 我瞓覺呀! (I'm going to sleep)
Great Auntie Mary: 我同你擦辣椒醬咖! (I'm gonna put Chili sauce on your fingers)
Ashlyn: S-O-R-R-Y !!

Peek-A-Poo!

2007-05-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Alex is 21 Month Young La (couple days ago!)

2007-05-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Alex talks alot, I can't stress enough that my boy talks alot. Not baby talk, everything he says actually makes sense just like an adult, or an older kid. He can carry a conversation and acutally understands what we are saying.

Most of the time he is very affectionate with Ashlyn, and of course, he has his temper. He throws things when he is upsad, or sometimes he hits whoever standing in front of him. He fights Ashlyn over tiny little things. Whatever Ashlyn has in her hands, Alex has to fight over it. When Ashlyn wouldn't let go, he hit her. Ashlyn being the big sister, she just swallows the pain and continues to safe guard her properties. Usually by this time, Alex is crying already. Why? cux an adult already stop him hitting Ashlyn and he's not happy about it.

We haven't really seriously started potty train Alex, but he would tell us either he already poo'ed, or he wanted to poo and lead us to the bathroom.

We give Alex a nickname, 大腳八, BIG FEET. Alex has big and wide feet and very meaty. We went shoe shopping couple weeks ago, and his feet measured a size 7.5 XW. What is XW? Extra wide. We compare his feet against Ashlyn's, they are almost the same size (Ashlyn wears a size 9).

Finger Pointing Tees

2007-05-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Caption WHO?

2007-05-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

Alex : 唔要呢件!! (I don't want this!)

Ashlyn: 呢件 Captain Ho 喎!! (This is Captain Ho!)

Mama 心想: 鐵勾船長幾時變左何船長定係何部長呀? (Mama thinking: since when Caption Hook became Caption HO?)

何部長: 先生, 幾位呀? 飲 meh 茶呀?

DAISO

2007-05-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

After the baby shower, my cousin dropped us off at my inlaws' house. On the way to their place, I couldn't resisted and had to ask my cousin to take me to DAISO. I knew about this shop but never had a chance to go there. So we, no, just ME, RAIDED the store for 30mins. 99% of the items are just $1.5 each, I was totally in HEAVEN!! I couldn't resist, picking up all sorts of things, showing Ashlyn, asking her if she liked it. Obviously Ashlyn would just put anything I gave her into the cart behind her. We probably spent a good 25mins in the stationary section, stormed through the houseware section, and left. Spent $30 for 19 items, and here they are.

Shampoo Hats x2

Water bottle cap with straws x2

Clear folders x3

Writing pads x5

Comb x1

Mouse pad x1

Forehead cooling pads x2

Birthday Candles x2

Rice spoon x1 (not in picture)

And now, Ashlyn models the Shapoo hat. No more water in my ears and eyes!

Elaine's Baby Shower - Tea Party

2007-05-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we had a baby shower for Elaine at The Secret Garden Tea House in SFO. It's my first time there and the first impression wasn't bad at all. It is a cozy place but I think they have another area for larger/private parties, and we were in the main tea room.

It was a baby shower with a theme -- floral, suggested by SP, and everyone had to wear something floral, even the little ones.

I'm not going to write a full review of the experience at the tea house. Food was decent, tea was great, quite some variety. I had the Raspberry Chocolate Truffle and tasted great, a balance blend of raspberry and chocolate, light but tasty.

There's a little dress up corner. All the ladies had so much fun there as Ashlyn was peeking at them and looking very confused. They have variety of hats, boas, and even tutus for the little girls. When I tried to put one on for Ashlyn, she refused, insisted on wearing her own dress. On the other, Sydney was very happy to wear the tutu and didn't want to take it off.

As for Ashlyn, she was shy at the beginning but towards the end of it, she asked me to take to the dress up corner and played with the hats, and of course, the pink tiara.

Both Elaine and myself are very happy about how the favors turned out. We found the mini tea set online, and purchased some mini cookies from a baker I used before. Elaine found this very cute container, and VOILA!

They had a little too much tea.

I guess they made up.

Oops! Exposed??!!

I will leave it up to Elaine to post more pictures in her blog.

It's Friday! 輕鬆D啦!

2007-05-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

巴斯光年殺左條龍之後變左咩？
殺龍巴斯

咩植物識溜冰？
花，因為花式( 識) 溜冰

皇后似咩？
似廣場，因為皇后像廣場

去中國唱咩？
"唱 " 人民幣

有一塊火腿同一條腸仔放左落同一隻鑊度，點解佢地唔傾計？
因為佢地未熟

點解唔可以係船上講笑話？
因為個海聽到會笑，咁就會引起海嘯

食乜野昆蟲會瘦？
蟻，因為食蟻瘦

用身體上邊樣野可以修飾雙手？
答案係毛髮（毛髮可修飾的一對手）

1+1 幾時會 =3 ？
錯個陣

樹邊部份最得閒？
葉！因為「葉得閒」

A：我地依家係邊 ?
B ：北京
A ：我地唔係去東京嫁咩?
B ：指南針壞左掛 .......

明仔：爸爸，點解會有兩個朗拿度？
爸爸：一個係朗拿度，一個係 C. 朗拿度
明仔：咦，三國時代都有兩個馬昭喎
爸爸：邊度有呀？
明仔：一個係馬昭 , 一個係司馬昭 ...

點解 d 雀跌左落海 3次唔死，一跌第 4次就即刻死？
因為「有隻雀仔 (1)跌落水、(2)跌落水、 (3)跌落水，有隻雀仔(4)跌落水，被
水沖去」

福爾摩斯同華生去露營，帳篷搭好後，他們就入去訓覺，到了半夜，福爾摩斯突然把華生搖醒，並且指著滿天星星對華生講：「華生，你望著滿天星星有咩感想？」
華生看後就說：「睇到滿天星星，令我覺得人類真是渺小 ...我地應該好好珍惜我地的生命 ... 造福社會 .... 為世界盡一份心力 !!!咁福爾摩斯，你呢？」
福爾摩斯瞪著滿天星星，佢話：「我地個帳幕被人笠左呀.... 」

禮拜天放假，蚯蚓兒子閒著沒事，就把自己切成兩段，對打羽毛球去；
蚯蚓媽媽看到，就把自己切成四段自個兒打麻將去。
無聊爸爸受到兒子與老婆的啟發刺激，卻把自己剁碎在砧板上奄奄一息了 ...
蚯蚓媽媽聞訊趕來，驚訝又傷心地說：「老公，你這是幹嘛呀！」
蚯蚓爸爸虛弱地說：「我 .......想 ... 想 .... 踢場足球」

有兩個年糕黏在一起, 有一天他們終於分開了 , 他們高興地說：「 Give me five!」
結果又黏起來了 .........

從前有一個王國有個公主，雙手無論放咩野上去都會溶化，咁個國王就下左一道聖旨，如果有人可以俾到公主一樣野係唔溶既就可以娶公主。
A 國王子俾左粒鑽石公主，但一放係公主手上就溶左，
B 國王子俾左粒黃金公主，但同樣地一放係公主手上就溶左。
有一個年青人，放左一樣野係公主手上，竟然冇溶到，結果佢就娶左公主。
究竟個樣野係咩呢？

係 M & M（ m&m 只溶係口唔溶係手）

華盛頓砍低左佢老豆既樹，點解佢老豆冇鬧佢，仲讚佢乖，話佢誠實？
因為華盛頓果時仲拎住個斧頭

America( 美國 ) 這個字的由來：哥倫布有! 一次出海，佢ｄ水手見到一片新大陸，就大嗌：「呀！咩黎咖？」
所以個片大陸就叫做 a-me-ri-ca

長頸鹿條頸咁長係因為佢要食樹上既草，越食越高，條頸越伸越長。
咁猩猩個鼻哥窿點解會咁大？
因為佢 D手指好粗

有個人係辦公室成日放響屁，同事忍唔住話：「你可唔可以唔出聲？」
然後就見佢坐係度搖黎搖去打冷震，同事就問：「做乜呀你？」
佢話： ...................... 「我較左做震機」

Hot April Day

2007-05-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

AIYA! It was so hot last Saturday, it must have been like 90F. My allergy was acting up from the minute I woke up on Saturday. Tried very hard not to take medicine, ended up at Safeway and picked up a pack of Claritin since Ashlyn wanted to go shopping. We had a little mother-daughter bonding time at the Starbucks inside Safeway, we shared a cup of Grande Green Tea Frappuccino. YUM YUM!

Ashlyn took a nap when we got home. You probably didn't believe me when I told you it's around 90F on Saturday. Just look at Ashlyn and the sweats on her forehead and face. It's as big as an M&M. He he, yeah, she still sucks her thumb!

Ashlyn is now 34 Months Old

2007-04-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Instant Noodles

2007-04-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Baba and I had instant noodles for lunch on Saturday. Ashlyn decided to join us, so I gave her some noodles and some orange juice in a Hello Kitty cup.

Mama: Ashlyn, 食麵啦 !
Ashlyn: 等我餵你啦 !
Mama: 比 D Hello Kitty 食啦 !
Ashlyn: Hello Kitty 無口口喎 !

English Translation
Mama: Ashlyn, eat the noodles
Ashlyn: Let me feed you
Mama: give some to Hello Kitty
Ashlyn: Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth

Potty Train Product

2007-04-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

My co-worker friend Vivien just sent me a link to a potty train product by Peter Potty. It's a flushable Toddler Urinal.

Here is our conversation:
Link to Product Page
Vivien: gee, isn't this a bit excessive
Vickie: OMG! i want that for alex 2nd birthday
Vivien: LOL!
Vickie: OH NO, gotta post this in my blog, just too funny
Vivien: i'm wondering how do u wash it. oh wait..i see the little drawer..hahaha

Here are the selling points listed on the product page:
• Your little boy will feel all grown-up (and ready to potty train) with this pint-size urinal
• The upright design and height is easy for boys to use
• Encourages good habits and helps eliminate potty-training messes
• Has reduced potty training time by 6–15 mos.

Follow up: Dinner with Ninja Turtle

2007-04-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

It looks to me that the link to Karen Cheng's blog in previous entry didn't work. Maybe I did something stupid with the codes.

Here is what she wrote, taken directly from her entry:

After his birthday party, my 4 year old was over the moon with all his new superhero toys. There was probably too much pretend fighting in the household for my liking.

So yesterday I went to my toy library and borrowed the LARGEST and PINKEST DOLL HOUSE I could find. Which led my son to create some rather interesting scenarios.

This one was my favourite. Apparently Spiderman wanted spaghetti for dinner, but he got angry, because you know, the turtle was slow.

Dinner with Ninja Turtle

2007-04-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

I came across this blog from Australia one day, and I found her again tonight. Read her blog entery dated April 21, 2007, titled "Hey dude, want some pizza?" It's quite cute! Here is the link.

My Trophies

2007-04-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

I went shopping last night cux we've got parties to go to, so needed to pick up party gifts and stuff. Yeah Yeah Yeah, that's my excuse, whatever.

I saw these tees and immediately knew that I HAVE TO HAVE THEM. They were screaming at me "TAKE ME HOME! TAKE ME HOME!" NO, I wasn't on drugs or anything, I was sober. Plus, they were on sale 50% off. Just scroll down to see the picture and you'll know why I like them so much.

I can't wait 'til I put them on Ashlyn & Alex. These are just TOOOOOO PERRRRRRRFECT for the 2 little rascals.

Video - Wink Wink! ; )

2007-04-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Stike a Pose

2007-04-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Bought couple pairs of pants for Ashlyn from Disney store cux they were on sale, and they have Princess on them. As soon as I walked in the house, Ashlyn spotted the bag cux there're Princess on the bag. The next thing you know, she pulled out whatever inside, and demand to put on the pink ones, AND STRIKE A POSE!

Then, Alex joined the runway and demanded to put on the new shoes and take pictures of the new shoes. Needless to say, Ashlyn gotta be in the pictures too, with her new shoes!

As I was tryint to take picture in full length, Ashlyn yelled out, "don't take picture of our faces, take pictures of our shoes!!"

Video - Feed Me Please

2007-04-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Video - Up & Down

2007-04-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Video - Dancing with the Rascals

2007-04-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Collage

2007-04-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

I was messing around with a new photo editing software, seemed to be fun. Look at the collage I just made.

Find the Common Items

2007-04-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

p.s.: facial hair doesn't count!!

Look At Them

2007-04-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Look at these Uncles and Auntie. I wonder if they'd fight over toys with Ashlyn & Alex.

p.s.: they are playing individual games, not playing against each other.

Funny Blog Entry

2007-04-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

I was killing time surfing the web and found this blog entry. It's about a lady in Hong Kong who's pregnant and blogged about her daily life during her pregnancy.

Below is her blog entry:
尋晚真係訓得ma ma地.....皆因亞b踼得好勵害
無論我側訓好....平訓好.....亞b隻腳都係 "燈"到好行咁定住個肚......個肚完全feel到同摸到係好脹實o既
我同我老公講咁樣咁樣......佢竟然對住我個肚講....." 喂.....拖地.....縮腳呀 "
O.....Daddy你未免會唔會funny左d呀?

Entry taken from Yahoo Blog 車厘子的樂與怒

Translation in general idea:
She didn't sleep well last night because the baby was kicking her all night, no matter in which position she was slepping, on the side or on the back. She could feel that her belly was very tight. She told her husband about it, then her husband was talking to her belly, "Hey, sweeping floor, put your feet up!"

"喂.....拖地.....縮腳呀" (Hey, sweeping floor, put your feet up) is very local way of speaking in Hong Kong. That's funny!

XOXO

Golden Piggies

2007-04-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

I just had a moment to think, and realized that I really know many people having Golden Piggies this Lunar Calendar year. 1, 2, 3, 4... roughly counting, there're at least 6 of them, 3 boys, 1 girl, 2 unknowns.

Remember when I was little, my aunts kept saying "oh, you should have a piggie baby" cux there's nobody in the family/extended family was born in the year of boar. We have every single one from the 12 animals but piggie. They started counting the years, estimating when I should get married and stuff. Well, I missed the opportunity to have a piggie baby. So what happened? MERGER! I married to someone who was borned in the year of Boar to complete the collection. HA HA!

XOXO

What's Your Name?

2007-04-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn has mastered her Chinese name 曦怡 a long time ago, maybe it's because we rarely called her by her English name. Chinese name is so much easier for the folks at home. We taught her to say "Ashlyn" occasionally, but not insisting she has to say it. When we call her by Ashlyn, she responds. That's good, at least she knows that's her name.

Starting from this week, for some reason, she kept telling everyone her name is Ah-She-Lyn. She kept saying in Chinese "I am Ah-she-lyn and he is Alex" 我係 Ah-she-lyn, 細老係Alex 呀.

I guess this is good enough for now. I'm so glad we didn't name her Audrey, it's a pretty name, but I am sure "some" people will be pronunciation challenged. It will definitely turn into "All-Jue" and y'all Cantonese out there know exactly what I'm talking about.

Video - My Blankie

2007-04-09T23:54:00.003-07:00

Video - Come Find Me

2007-04-09T23:39:00.000-07:00

The Next Top Hair Model

2007-04-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to do this with Ashlyn's hair for a long time, and I finally did it last night. Look at her smile, how stiff. Can't you tell I "made" her to pose? XOXO

Making Cookies Video

2007-04-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

Video - Easter Egg Hunt

2007-04-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Egg Hunting

2007-04-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

What a busy day today!

We went to Koi Palace in Daly City (South San Francisco) for Dim Sum. We knew it's gonna be crowded, so we called in before we go, hoping we didn't have to wait as long. I guess Koi Palace is one of the better Dim Sum place in the area, so it's known for the long wait, 1 to 1.5 hour easy. This is what we were told by the hostess. If we called in before we go, and if we arrived on time, waiting time should be 20-25 mins tops. If we called in and went early and hoping we could get the table earlier, sorry, that's not how it works. What they do, they would give you a regular check in number, then return to get a call-in number at a specific time, then they would compare which number would get you the table faster. Anyways, we were done around 2pm, and it's still packed at the waiting area.

We got home, as Ashlyn & Alex were playing with my cousins, I prepared the eggs and candies for the Easter Egg Hunt. I was gonna take them to the community parks, but then I found out the egg hunt organized by the community center was held on Saturday. Oh well, so we had our mini egg hunt at home in the front yard. There're little special something for Ashlyn & Alex, which were the Wizard of Oz toys. I put the toys in the front yard for them to hunt too. Well, actually, it's kind of obvious and not much "hunting" needed.

In the evening, my cousin Jacqueline came home and suggested to make cookies with Ashlyn. Oh No, they didn't make the cookies from scratch, she got the ready-made dough. We couldn't find any easter cookie cutters, so we used the X'mas one. To my surprise, Ashlyn finished her cookie.

XOXO

Happy Easter 2007

2007-04-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

What so Funny?

2007-04-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

We were playing mahjong at Grandma's house on Friday night, and by the time we were done, Alex was already asleep. Didn't want to wake him up cux it was kind of chilly outside, so we left him with my aunt for the night.

Saturday morning we went over to Grandma's house, I asked him why did he spend a night at Great Grandma's house, here is the conversation:

Mama: Alex, why did you sleep at Great Grandma's house last night?
Alex: Ha ha!
Mama: Alex, why did you sleep with Dai Yee Por last night?
Alex: Ha ha!
Mama: Alex, why didn't you sleep with Baba & Mama last night?
Alex: Ha ha ha!

His "Ha ha's" and his facial expression were in a very deceitful虚假, cunningly狡猾, but we had a good laugh.

XOXO

Cruly Pig Tail

2007-04-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

I gave Ashlyn a late bath last night after she came home from Valley Fair. Yeah, she went shopping (without me). My Mom and my aunts decided to take the kids, Ashlyn, Alex, Kathy and Kelly (my cousins) to Valley Fair See's candies to get some Easter candies, cux the one at the McCarthy Ranch was closed for the evening.

I went home for lunch today, and found that Ashlyn still had her little pig tail from last night, so I undo it and Voila! Look at the picture - a cruly piggy tail.

XOXO

Backpack Backpack

2007-04-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ever since Ashlyn & Alex started watching Dora the Explorer, both of them were fascinated by the backpack. Not only they can hum the backpack song, they know a little bit of the lyrics too.

Auntie Vivien bought Ashlyn a talking backpack from Dora the Explorer collection. Uncle Jeff bought Ashlyn a Hello Kitty backpack, and Grandma Mable bought a Dora backpack too. Needless to say, Ashlyn must share her backpacks collection with Alex.

Both of them love to wear the backpacks, even they are empty, and keep telling everybody " 番學啦!" (going to school). I just hope they would keep their enthusiasm about school when they are ready for it.

XOXO

HhhAaaa CHIU!

2007-04-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hhhaaaa CHIU!!

Ashlyn finally learned how to blow her nose. We have been teaching her and asking
her to blow her nose since last winter, she just refused to do so. Even Alex knows how to blow his nose since last winter. Ashlyn was wwwwaaaayyyy behind on this one. She now knows how to do it but she still refuses to do it sometimes. Well, at least she knows how to now.

XOXO

Summer Activities Updates

2007-04-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We got all classes for Ashlyn & Alex. So did my aunt who went an hour later. Why did people go get in line so early then?

XOXO

That's My Rice Video

2007-04-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Back Dated Posts II

2007-04-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

講 mut 呀?
Alex: ah bu (外婆上海話) 呢? 係唔係病病呀?
Alex: ah bu 病病無返工
Alex: 爸爸返工 Jarn 錢錢
Alex: 無人聽哦
Alex: 我要食紅蘿蔔, Carrot.
Alex: 呢件太熱 la, 除左去 la!
Ashlyn: 細老病, 睇醫生, 要吸氣, woo woo woo o架 (imitating the noise makes from the aspirator), 要食藥 o架. 我食藥唔喊 o架, 細老喊 o架! 細老唔乖, 姐姐仔乖
Ashlyn: Quiet, 好嘈呀!
***********************************************************************************************
I was talking to my friend on my cellphone one night. In the middle of it, Alex took over the phone:
Alex: 我係細老呀! 我病呀, 要食藥.
~pause
Alex: 無呀
~pause
Alex: 無呀
~pause
Alex: 無呀
~pause
Alex: 係呀, Bye Bye

I continued the conversation with my friend, then, Ashlyn just grabbed the phone from me.
Ashlyn: 我係 Hay-Yee 呀
~pause
Ashlyn: 細老食藥喊
~pause
Ashlyn: 唔係家姐呀, 係姐姐仔呀! Bye Bye!
XOXO

Wednesday April 4, 2007 - 03:52pm (PDT)

Give up & Give in
OK, I give up, and give in. I am not going to search for the lowest price for the complete set of the McDonald's Happy Meal Wizard of Oz dolls anymore. I just made the purchase 10 mins ago, on Ebay of course. Bought the complete set for Ashlyn, and the Tinman, Lion, and the Scarcrow for Alex. Yeah, I know, those are included in the set too, but you have to understand, having multiple kids mean fighting over anything all the time, and I'm just trying to be fair.

I was complaining to my coworker friend Viv that it's so difficult to buy clothes for Alex, cux there's not much selection and everything just looks the same, blue, cars, trucks, dogs, and camo. On the other hand, so easy to buy clothes for Ashlyn. People might think it's favoritism over Ashlyn, but NO, there's just aren't enough cute clothes for boys. I'm on the forever mission to search for cute and affortable clothes for Alex.
XOXO
Wednesday April 4, 2007 - 11:43am (PDT)

HAPPY MEALS

Ashlyn recently got 2 Wizard of Oz dolls from Happy Meals (Dorothy, and Wicked Witch of the West). There're total of 8 characters in the collection.

1. Dorthy
2. Glinda -The Good Witch
3. Wicked Witch of The West
4. Cowardly Lion
5. Wicked Witch of the East
6. Tin Man
7. Daisy Munchkin
8. Scarecrow

I didn't realize those dolls were from McDonald's Happy Meals until my aunt told me to go buy Happy Meals so that Ashlyn can collect all 8 characters. The last time I remember people were crazy about McDonald's promotion was back in late 1990's in Hong Kong. McDonald's had Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel plush dolls. Those were good size dolls like 6 - 7 inches tall. Oh no, not with Happy Meals. It was a purchase with any meals at McDonald's. People were standing in lines for hours and it was summer time, often buying several meals in order to collect a pair, both Kitty and Daniel.

Another one was also in Hong Kong, I believe it was late 1990's too. It's the Snoopy World Series, a 3 - 3.5 inches tall plastic/rubber Snoopy dressed in costumes from different countries all over the World. Each week, McDonald's released couple of Snoopy figures in different customes, and I don't even remember how many were there. Then there was the Snoopy Sport Series.

It's so funny that I have never heard people in the States would go to McDonald's and stand in line for hours for promotional toys.

OK, so much travelling back to memory lane. As for Ashlyn, she showed me McDonald's website (I didn't even know McD has a website, Geez! where have I been?) and showed me the dolls. We were going through every single characters and I taugh her their names. Ashlyn was telling me she has the one in blue dress (Dorothy), the one in black looks ugly (the Wicked witch of the West), the one in yellow is pretty (Daisy), the lion looks like Alex (Cowardly Lion, cux Alex had lion costume for Halloween last year), and she thinks Glinda -The Good Witch is pretty and wants to get that, because she has pink dress! Figures!! Then, I realized one character is missing, not offered. It's Dorothy's dog. I couldn't remember his name, so I searched on the web, and found it. Ever since then, Ashlyn has been saying "Dorothy's dog is called Toto!"

I really want to complete Ashlyn's collection, but I don't want McD food. So, where did I turn to? EBAY! "Whatever it is... You can get it on EBay!" That's right, and sure enough they have them on EBay. Most sellers selling the complete set factory sealed for around $25 plus shipping, total around $30. That's not bad, $3.75 per character, just about the same price as 1 Happy Meals. I don't want the food and I don't want my kids to have too much McD food anyways (can't avoid, just try to keep it to the minimum). I guess it's not a bad idea to buy online afterall. I'm bidding a set ending in 2 hours. Wish me luck!
XOXO
******************************************************************************************************************************
Updates: Someone just purchased the set with Buy It Now. Need to look for and bid on other listings.

Monday April 2, 2007 - 05:09pm (PDT)

Ashlyn is Growing

Ashlyn is growing pretty fast. She was 36 inches tall (2 ft) at her last check up, i think it was last December, and her hair was growing longer (but not more). Many of her pants were too short, they turned into capris pants now. We have been dressing her with 3T pants since December. I guess I shouldn't complaint, afterall, we want her to be taller than her parents, that's Johnson and myself. We just have to find new home(s) for her outgrown clothes.

She has been posing for the camera alot. My aunt constantly documenting Ashlyn's new outfits on video and camera. Whenever my aunt told Ashlyn to take pictures, she would stand behind the door, that's her "Picture Spot".

Girls will always be girls, no matter how tomboy they look when they are little. Ashlyn was fasinated by high heels when she was very young. Then it was glitterly shoes with sequines, then it was shoes with heels that make "dic doc dic doc" sound when walking, then it was sunglasses. The latest obsessions are ballerina dress/skirt and lip balm.

My coworker gave me her daughter's Cinderella costume. Ashlyn was very excited and demanded to put it on immediately, then she was looking for her "dic doc dic doc" shoes (she has a pair of shoes with silver sequines and makes dic doc dic doc sound when she walks). She modeled for a little while, then we asked her to take it off cux it was too long for her. Her demanded my aunt to hem it up for her, like NOW! Then she put it back on after the instant alteration, she modeled a little more, she wasn't as happy anymore. Why? She said, "Mama, this is blue, not pink!"

BK has a new commerical when couple of ballerinas with dollar bills sewed on their tutu's. Everytime Ashlyn saw that commerical, she said "Mama, Ashlyn doesn't have that skirt." Aaahhhhhh... My new mission, a pink ballerina skirt/dress/tutu. That gives me an idea, more professional pictures. I guess Ashlyn will not refuse to take pictures in tutu.

As for lip balm, she was going through my makeup bag in my purse one day. She discovered a pink little thing out of all those items in my makeup bag, which included a mirror, 2 lipglosses, and 1 lip crayon. All she noticed was the pink object. So I showed her what it was and how to use it. What a wrong decision I have made. From then on, she kept asking for my lip balm. I have posted a video clip of Ashlyn putting on lip balm. Seems like she is a pro.

XOXO
Monday April 2, 2007 - 01:49pm (PDT)

Breath In , Breath Out

Alex was coughing again, which led to weesing. Running and stuffy nose started Wednesday. On Thursday night started coughing, and Friday night started weesing. Friday night through Saturday morning, he woke up every 30mins and cried and wined for good 5 to 10 mins, then back to sleep, demanded to be carried, and refused to eat since 9pm. Mom and I were going to take turn. She got the 1st half, like 11pm-3am, I was supposed to take over from 3am. Around 2ish, he demand to come to my room, so I took over, and brought all my blanket and pillows over to my mom's room, so that Johnson can sleep and take over in the morning.

By 4-ish, mom suggested to take Alex to ER cux she was worried about the weesing. I told her no need, we can go see Dr. Yau at 8:30, but we could go early since he's usually in the office around 8. I prefer to stay home and wait, rather than waiting in the waiting room in ER. Do the math, 4-ish leave home and going to neariest hospital, arrived around 4:30. Finished registration and initial check up by nurses, that probably would take good 30-45 mins. Average waiting time in ER at least an hour, and by the time we got called into exam room, 6:15-6:30. More waiting in the exam room, probably another 30mins. If we're lucky, Alex will be examed by a doctor around 7am. Not worth the waiting.

So, we left home around 7:45 for Dr. Yau's office, arrived at 8. We saw his car parked in the parking lot already, so for sure he's in the office. Door locked, so we called and let him know we're at the door. As soon as Dr. Yau saw Alex, he could see him weesing from a distance.

Looking through Alex's medical records, it's his second time weesing, and the last time was just 4 months ago. Dr. Yau said Alex's respitory systems is very sensitive, that's why everytime he had a cold, caughing would trigger weesing. Just like last time, Dr. Yau took out the machine which turned liquid medicine to vapor so that Alex could inhale to loosen up his pipes, to ease up the weesing. For the first 5 mins, Alex was crying, but Dr. Yau said that's ok, this way, he could breath in more medicine. That's true, cux he would have to take a bigger breath in. Then Alex relaxed a little, then doosing off. First round finished in 10-15 mins. Checked by Dr. Yau, he suggested to give him another round in 5 mins. So we waited, Alex was active again, talking to the nurse, looking at pictures of kids, and picking up sugar free lollipops.

Alex wasn't as fuzzy when the 2nd round started. In a minute or 2, Alex was doosing off again. His eye lids were getting heavier and heavier, finally fell asleep. The nurse came in to check on him and told Dr. Yau that Alex fell asleep in the middle of treatment. I'm sure Alex was very tired since he didn't get a good night sleep, well, who did? and I'm sure the medicine worked too, otherwise, Alex would still be fuzzy and bothered by the shortness of breath/weesing. We left doctor's office around 9. As soon as we settled in the car, gave Alex a bottle, he finished most of it in a few minutes. His appetite was back, that's a relief.

Dr. Yau was kind enough to lend us the machine. We continue to give Alex the medication every 6 hours. We gave him one last round just before putting him to bed, but he was too tired to fight and fell asleep in the middle of it (see picture).

XOXO
Monday April 2, 2007 - 11:46am (PDT)

Bye Bye WHO?

I think Alex is a very well mannered toddler. He'd say Bye Bye to anybody.
We went to May Flower at the Great Mall for dim sum last weekend. People who has been there knew there's a little kids area near to the restuarant. When we finished dim sum, Alex said Bye Bye Great Mall, yeah, he said Great Mall, but he was looking and waving at the play area. I guess his Great Mall = play area.

Today, after seeing Dr. Kanel, we went to Saigon Village Restuarant on Lawrance Expressway. Huge fish were painted on the wall. Everytime we go there, both Ashlyn & Alex would be pointing to the wall and say "Yu Yu" 魚魚 (fish in Cantonese). Today, to our surprise, Alex said "Loan Ha" 龍蝦 (lobster in Cantonese) and pointing at the fish tanks/lobsters tanks. I wonder who taugh him that. When we were leaving, he was waving at the tanks and said "Bye Bye Loan Ha" Bye Bye 龍蝦, See You!

Here are some vocab Alex's been saying. I'm sure there're lots more, I just can't keep track.
酸味味 (tastes sour)
維他奶 (Vitasoy)
M&M
雪Big (Sprite)
麵麵 (noodles)
包包 (bread)
聽日見 (see you tomorrow)

Ashlyn is talking alot too, and talks back.
Great Auntie Mary: 你煩 ah (in Shanghaiese) = You are annoying
Ashlyn : 你煩 ah (in Shanghaiese repeated by Ashlyn)

Ashlyn on the phone: Wei, 邊個 ah? 我病 ah!
XOXO
Thursday March 29, 2007 - 04:16pm (PDT)

Tigger Thumb - Follow up
We went to Dr. Kanel today, 2nd Orthopedic, specializing in kids. Wait for like 20mins or so, brought into the exam room, waited another 5 mins. Dr. Kanel came in, felt Alex's thumb, drew a picture to explain to us what's going on with his thumb, then tell us to go back after Alex's 2nd birthday to see if his thumb got better and will decide if surgery is necessary. That's probably another 5 mins of combination of examing, drawing and talking, and we were out of there.

Just like Dr. Wong, Dr. Kanel explained the surgery procedure and recovering time. He told us there's a kid had the surgery in the morning, released from hospital in the afternoon and off he went to the playground, jumpy and happy as if nothing happened.
Will following up again in the Fall.
XOXO

Thursday March 29, 2007 - 03:43pm (PDT)

Say What?
Alex: 細老同媽媽瞓
*****
Alex: Yo yo yo yeh boat (Row row row your boat)
*****
Alex: 爸爸 lay 埋訓覺覺豬
*****
Alex: 姐姐仔, pleasssseeeee…
*****
Alex: 細老被被, mine!
*****
Ashlyn: Quiet!
*****
Ashlyn: 細老, 呢個姐姐仔既
*****Ashlyn: 我要食朱古力雪糕
Alex: 我要食雪糕
*****
Alex: 細老嘔呀
*****
Ashlyn: 我要坐細老位
Alex: 呢個細老位
*****
Tuesday March 27, 2007 - 12:00am (PDT)

What's wrong with Alex's right thumb?

It was like 2 weeks ago when my mom found that Alex's right thumb was kind of stuck in the 90 degree position, and we were not able to relax it. We worried that he got hurt, or bone fracture when he played and didn't realize it. It didn't bother him at all, no pain or anything. We took him to the Pediatrician Dr. Yau anyways, to have him check it out. Dr. Yau felt his bone with his fingers, no fractures, that's a relief. He asked Alex to push the button on top of his pen, and Alex was able to use force to push it down without pain. Dr. Yau suspected that Alex had Trigger Thumb, but he asked us to observe for couple more days to see if there's any pain complaint or swell up.For the next couple of day, Alex's thumb was fine. It's the matter of fact, his thumb was relaxed just like a normal thumb right after we got home from Dr. Yau's office. His thumb was locked on and off in the 90 degree position, so we went back to Dr. Yau's in couple of days. He wrote us a referral to Orthopedic Surgeon. We finally decided to take Alex to the Orthopedic, Dr. Wong, a week later as we found this thumb locking happened more frequently. Sure enough, Dr. Wong told us it's Trigger Thumb, and require a minor surgery to fix it. He said the surgery will take no longer than 30mins, Alex's thumb will be able to more right after the surgery, and will be fully recovered in 6 weeks. Sounded simple, but of course, we're going to get 2nd opinion. So, we found this Dr. Kanel, a Pediatrics Orthopedic, and will be seeing him this Thursday. In the mean time, we serach online for more information about Trigger Thumb and the surgery.Here is what we found from www.orthoseek.com:

What is it?
Trigger thumb is a condition where the thumb is locked in the flexed position at the Interphalangeal Joint (IP joint). Sometimes, the thumb can be forcibly extended with a palpable or audible click. Sometimes, it is locked in acute flexion and cannot be extended. The condition may be familial (runs in the family) and is bilateral in 50% of cases.
Trigger thumb is due to thickening and constriction of the fibrous flexor sheath the surrounds the Flexor pollicis tendon at the base of the thumb. The constriction does not allow for free movement of the tendon within the sheath. This causes the thumb to be stuck in the flexed position.
What does the doctor do about it?
The condition may present at birth, or during infancy. Treatment is often conservative. Parents are taught to stretch the thumb and gently extend the thumb, even in the thumb that is locked in flexion. Over a period of 18 to 24 months, the triggering may resolve spontaneously. In cases where the thumb is locked in acute flexion and does not allow any extension, surgical release of the fibrous flexor sheath is indicated by age 2 to prevent permanent contracture.

Chinese version taken from www.vghks.gov.tw
定義
所謂的板機指指的是手指屈肌肌腱在指頭基部形成結節，使得手指在彎曲而想伸直時會卡在滑車(pulley)，以致指節無法完全伸直；或者在伸直時會有阻力，形成類似扣板機的情形，稱之為板機指。
　
板機指是先天或後天的？
許多小朋友在出生即有，因此被認為是先天形成的；但也有許多患者是後來才發生的，因此被稱為是後天的。先天的板機指，可能與壓胎現象有關。而後天的板機指，可能與局部的發炎反應、反覆刺激或創傷有關。
　
好發於拇指？
雖然每一個手指都有可能發生，但是姆指的板機指是發生率最高的，尤其是兒童的扳機指，幾乎青一色都發生於拇指。
　
治療
復健、按摩、牽拉運動：絕大多數的兒童扳機指，只要沒有完全卡住，都可經由按摩及牽拉運動恢復正常。
局部注射：大人的板機指以局部注射(local steroid injection)有相對較好的結果，但在小朋友的板機指大致不適合打針，效果也不好。
手術：手術的目的，是把卡住結節的滑車切開。由於手術簡單(平均手術時間只要10分鐘)，效果顯著，適合於完全卡住或持續疼痛，其他治療方法無效的病患使用。

Monday March 26, 2007 - 11:20pm (PDT)

Early Bird Saturday

People who know me know that I would do anything for shopping, even sacrify hours of beauty sleep. I would get up at 6am and go shopping the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas, dispite the fact I left the same mall at mid-night when they close. Or get up even early and drive an hour to shop at Outlet mall. That was all history since I was pregnant with Ashlyn.
I was told everything would change once you had babies and your kids are your first priority. I knew it was true when Ashlyn was born, and now, I couldn't agree more.

Summer recreation classes offered by the community center began registration for residence on 3/24, Saturday, 8 am to 12noon. I got up around 7am, left home and got there, parked, and got in line around 7:25. It's not far away from home, kind of just around the corner. Got there and there's already a line of people, about 100 of them, with picnic chairs, blankets, and coffee in hands. I wondered what time they were there. It's like lining up at Best Buy at the wee hours on the day after Thanksgiving, or lining up at Target, Circuit City, and Best Buy on Sundays for Wii. This is insane!!

I was #127. As I was waiting in line, more people came. They began the registration 15mins early. By the time I got to the door around 7:50am, turned around and looked, there's probably another 100 people behind me.

The registration process didn't take long. What they did was simply take your registration form, checked your IDs and take your money from your wallet. Applications will not be processed until later, and will be processed in the order based on the number you received.

What's the damage? Ka-Ching$$$$ ! $172 for 2 classes for each of my kid, total $344, that's like a month of my car payment! O, almost forgot, there's a $20 material fee for each participant for one of the classes.

Here are what I have signed up for Ashlyn and Alex. There're limited classes for their age. Class #1: Little Panda. The class introduces children to Mandarin through folksongs, nursery rhymes, creative movement and instrumental play. Class #2: Tumbling Tikes. Basically it's English version of Little Panda, or like Gymboree classes.

I'm sure Ashlyn would like to take ballet class, but she has to be 3 by the time the first class begins. Oh well, next summer then. And for next next summer, when Ashlyn turns 4, will sign her up for Ballroom dance class. Get her ready for her "first dance"!

Classes for Alex? don't know yet, maybe Hip Hop dancing for him.

So, I got home around 8:10am, just as I got cozy and trying to catch up with my beauty sleep, Mr. Alex was awake! NO WAY!! I have done my part, it's Johnson's turn. Wake me up for lunch!
Next time, I'm gonna go early, get in line and get ticket #1, go home for a nap, and return before noon to turn in my application. Just wish I knew better. Oh Rookie!
XOXO

Monday March 26, 2007 - 05:02pm (PDT)

What did Ashlyn Just said?

Me: "細老, 食粥 la !"
Alex: "No Way!"
Ashlyn: "細老唔食粥, 係唔係去廁所打?"
Me:" ha? "
*****************************************************************
Ashlyn: "係唔係 Hay Yee 打麻雀 ah?"
******************************************************************
Ashlyn, what's this?
Ashlyn: "紅中, 白板, 發財, 雀雀, 北, 波波"
Alex, what's this?
Alex: " "紅中, 白板, 發財, 雀雀, 東, 波波"
note: 打麻雀, 學中文
*****************************************************************
Thursday March 22, 2007 - 11:55am (PDT)

Say What?

One morning, Alex woke up, yawning and stretching. All the sudden he said : "mama, sai loe larn sei sei 懶蛇蛇 (lazy snake snake)" meaning = Mom, little brother (referring to himself) doesn't want to get out of bed.
XOXO
Wednesday March 21, 2007 - 11:16am (PDT)

$2 monitor updates

Greetings from Amazon.com
This is what I got this morning in my email:
Greetings from Amazon.com,We're sorry, but the following order from PC Universe has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience.
That's for the $2 LCD monitors. Oh well, worths a try.
Monday March 12, 2007 - 09:24am (PDT)

What? Are you sure?
I thought it was Johnson's wishful thinking, or he was not reading the product listing correctly. He told me this morning, well, Sunday morning rather, Amazon was selling a NEC 19" LCD monitor for $2 plus shipping.

So, on Sunday morning, around 12 noon, as usual just like any other weekends, Johnson, Alex and I went over to my grandma's place to meet up with Auntie Mary and Ashlyn to go out for lunch. Since Ashlyn refused to have her milk this morning, my aunt suggested to give her some baby food potato with corn. Yeah, Ashlyn is still having baby food occassionally when she didn't want to have milk, so, it's like snack for her. As I was getting ready to go make Ashlyn some snack, Johnson started to browse his favorite website Slickdeals and said "Vickie, 19" LCD for 2 bucks!!" here is the conversation.

Johnson: Vickie, 19" LCD mon for 2 bucks each
Vickie: what? are you sure?
Johnson: yeah, that's what it says here on Slickdeal

Before he could finished his sentance, he clicked the link and both of us were in disbelieve.
Vickie: try to buy it. how many can you buy?
Johnson: 3
Vickie: ok, buy 3 then 3

seconds later

Vickie: did it go through?
Johnson: yeah, with shipping for 3 monitors is about $78
Vickie: that's only $20 something each!! Let me buy some (note: I said SOME, not 1)

So, as soon as Johnson completed his transaction, I took over the computer.
Vickie: Johnson, look, it says the quantity requested not available!
Johnson: gone that fast?? Oh, IE crashed. Open another browser. Hate IE, try Firefox
Vickie: OK, 3 again.

waiting as it was loading...

Vickie: OK, went through. I must call Jessica now.
Vickie: Miss Wong, Amazon, $2 19" LCD monitor, will give you the link
Jessica: what? OK!

that's exactly how short our conversation was, right to the point.
called her back

Vickie: you checked the link? if it says qty. not available, start a new browser and try again. that's what happened to me.
Jessica: OK, have you checked your email? did they send you order confirmation?
Vickie: let me see.... Yahoo mail not working wor
Jessica: OK, I guess it's Yahoo issue, I tried to log in all morning without success. I got 3 too. Geez, Mr. Wong is not answering the phone. Too bad!
Vickie: aiyo, just reserve 1 for him la
Jessica: just hope they are not going to cancel our orders once they found out it's a listing mistake
Vickie: oh well, if they shipped and charged us $78, that's great! if they canceled our orders, nothing to loose.
Jessica: that true

As I was putting in my order, Johnson went downstair and told Uncle Chi the deal. It was funny that Johnson didn't ask Uncle Chi if he wanted to place order, nor Uncle Chi mentioned he was interested. Until I went downstairs and mentioned again, well, actually, Uncle Chi told me he already knew before I had a chance to finish half of my sentance. So I asked him if he's interested. He said "of course, place an order for me, as many as possible" So off I went upstairs and told Auntie Mary, she said "buy 3 then". In 30 minutes, 4 of us placed 4 orders for total of 12 units of 19" LCD monitors at $20 something each.

Soon after I had the conversation with Miss Wong, Johnson called his coworker to tell him the great deal/steal.

So, we checked the forum again in the afternoon, people were discussing what if they charge us full price, what if they cancelled our orders...etc. Lots of "what if's". The only thing we all can do now is to hold our breath, wait and see what happens next. Some dude called the vendor to reconfirm the price, needless to say, that alarmed the vendor. How did I know he called? He posted himself that he called to verify the price. Other people who ordered the monitors jumped on him and saying how stupid he was to call and let the vendor know they made a price mistake. Oh well, we'll see.
Happy Shopping!
Monday March 12, 2007 - 01:05am (PDT)

What Alex is saying?

Here are some conversation with Alex or something he said out of the blue. Remember, Alex is only 19-month-old.

Great Auntie Judy calling Alex: "Sai Loe? (in a tone like 'where are you?) meaning = little brother in Cantonese (that's how we call Alex at home) Alex: "What?!" in English
**************************************************************************
Alex: "How are you my friend?" in English
**************************************************************************
Alex: "Mama, Ten mm doe wor!" meaning = mom, I cannot hear (he was complaining the volumn of the DVD in my car was too low )
**************************************************************************
Alex: "Sic Farn la!" meaning = dinner time
**************************************************************************
Alex: "Jau la" meaning = let's go
**************************************************************************
Alex: "Mama, hui bin ah? hui upping?" meaning = mom, where are we going? shopping? (he couldn't pronouce 'sh' and the 'op' sound, it's like up-ping)
***************************************************************************
Alex: "hui uk-on-no sic shu til" meaning = go McDonald's and eat fries (he couldn't pronouce McDonald's, the closest he got was uk-on-no)
***************************************************************************
Alex: "Mama, Tei ha!" meaning = mom, look!
***************************************************************************
Alex: "Mama, sim sim leng leng" meaning = mom, blink blink pretty (as he was playing with my diamond pendent)
***************************************************************************
Alex: "I got it!!" in English
***************************************************************************
Alex: "NO WAY!" in English (standard answer for any questions you asked him and anything you asked him to do)
***************************************************************************
Alex: "Baba, wei wei yeah yeah" meaning = Dad, call grandpa as soon as the phone was connected
Alex: "wei, yeah yeah, sai loe ah!" meaning=hello, grandpa, it's Sai Loe (Alex)
Grandpa Tony: "sic jor mum mum may ah?" meaning=have you eatten yet?
Alex: "sic jor la" meaning=already ate
Grandpa Tony: "bao may ah?" meaning = are you full?
Alex: "bao la" meaning = i'm full
Grandma Anna joined in: "sai loe, jone e sic d mut ah?" meaning = Alex, what do you like to eat? Alex: "uk-on-no shu til" meaning = McDonald's fries
Grandpa Tony: "Ashlyn neh?" meaning = where is Ashlyn?
Alex: "jeh jeh jai gau gau jue" meaning = sister is sleeping
Grandpa Tony: "Ashlyn gau gau jue ah?" meaning = Ashlyn is sleeping?
Alex: "hai ah, Bye bye!" meaning = yes, bye bye.
**************************************************************************
I'm sure this is not the end of it. There's gotta be more, but I cannot remember right now. Geez, I should have marked down every single one when it happens.
Cheers! http://www.vjtietheknot.com/
Monday March 12, 2007 - 12:35am (PDT)

HAPPY YEAR OF THE BOAR!

First of all, we would like to wish you all a healthy and prosperous year of the Boar/Piggie (Oink Oink!).

I was telling my friend this little incident and she said I should blog about this, so here it is.
2 weeks ago, Uncle Wilson visiting from HKG, and my Cousin Joey and her Fiance Tim visiting from Vancouver Canada for the weekend, so we had dinner with them at Auntie Grace's house. During dinner, Alex picked up some books from a basket on the kitchen floor, and Auntie Grace yelled out "NO" in a very loud voice. Alex was stunned immediately, helpless, confused, and didn't know what to do.

Last night, we had dinner at Auntie Grace's house again after we picked up my brother Jeff and sister in law Penny from the airport, they're visiting from HKG for the Chinese New Year Holidays. Alex picked up a book from the same basket again, and left it on the floor. This time, Auntie Grace was at the dinner table. I saw that and asked him to put the book where it belongs. Ashlyn told Alex the same thing, basically repeating exactly what I had just said.
Ashlyn: "Alex, put it away, Goo Por lau ah!(Great Aunt will scold you in Cantonese) Fi D La (Hurry up)!" Ashlyn then took a peak at Great Auntie Grace to check and see if she was looking. Then she hurried up and put the book away for Alex.

What a LOVINGLY sister Ashlyn is. Great sister-brotherly L-O-V-E!! XOXO
Friday February 16, 2007 - 02:01pm (PST)

Disneyland, Here we come!

Where to begin?? Well, let’s start from Halloween then.

This year, Ashlyn dressed up as JoJo the Circus Clown, and Alex dressed up as Jojo’s pet Galioth. I might have already mentioned in the last update, Alex was scared of the costume and refused to even look at it. Surprisingly, my aunt was able to put the costume on without any problem. AMAZING! It seemed to me both Ashlyn and Alex had fun dressing up at my cousins’ school parade. They even posed for pictures. At night, we started trick-or-treating from 7pm and went home around 9:30. A non-stop 2.5 hours going door to door, it was exhausting. Why? Because both of them refused to walk. Alex was better, he was willing to take the stroller. I think each of them got 3 buckets full of candies, we had to unload several times. As for the candies, they were all confiscated.

Both Ashlyn and Alex have grown so much and it was unbelievable. Ashlyn is now 2 years and 5 months old, and Alex is almost 16 months old.

Ashlyn, being the big sister, presents the big sister’s attitude, in another words, very bossy. She kept on telling Alex what to do and where to go, like sit here, come here, no no this, no no that. It’s quite funny to see she bosses Alex around and Alex just followed her commends. Needless to say, they fight for toys. Uncle Jeff visited for a few days and brought them toys from his business trip to the east coast, it was a little race car with remote control. It was for Alex, but Ashlyn just snatched it away from him. Whenever Ashlyn did something like this, Alex had a very innocent and confused look, like “what’s going on” on his face. He would look at us, look at the toy, look at Ashlyn and look at us again. He just looked so funny and cute.

Alex has starting to talk shortly after his 1st birthday. At first, no Baba, no Mama. Now, he talks so much. I counted briefly, he knows at least 60 vocabularies. He picks up key words from our conversation quickly, and his pronunciation was so precise that really surprised you. We must admit, Alex speaks better than Ashlyn.

As for Ashlyn, she talks even more. She understands everything we say and can carry on conversations with us.

For Thanksgiving holidays, we went to Disneyland in Los Angeles. It’s Ashlyn and Alex’s first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth, and they got their first ear hats. The first ride they went on was The Small World. Alex was scared of the little characters and Ashlyn seemed to be OK.
While we were waiting for the rest of the group, Santa Goofy appeared. So, we took Ashlyn & Alex to take pictures with Santa Goofy. Ashlyn kept shaking her head and refused to go near the area when she saw Goofy from far away. Alex didn’t really realize what was going on, I kept telling him it’s doggie. As we got near Goofy, Alex was shocked to see Goofy and started to scream and cry and turn his face and pushing away from me. We managed to take a few pictures before Alex went crazy.

Then we went to Mickey’s house to meet Mickey. As expected, Ashlyn & Alex were scared of Mickey. Both of them pushing and kicking and tried to stay away from Mickey and the pictures were funny.

As for Johnson and myself, Johnson took care Alex for majority of the trip, cux I pulled my back muscle. I lost my voice since Friday afternoon. Huumm… could be from the screaming at the Disney Parade, seeing Mickey and Minnie, or from all those exciting rides. NO, NO, NO!! The only ride I went on was The Small World, how excited could that be?? I just got too tired, and as of today, 5 days already, my voice still not recovered. *Sigh*

For pictures from our Disneyland trip, please click on below link:
Our cyber Home

XOXO
Wednesday November 29, 2006 - 02:52pm (PST)

Back Dated Posts I

2007-04-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN PORTRAITS 2006

B O O !
We took Ashlyn & Alex to the studio for Halloween photo shoot last Saturday. I began to prep them by showing them the costumes days before the big day. Well, as you can see, my tactic didn't work. *SIGH*
Ashlyn was excited about the JoJo costume the moment Auntie Welyn handed it over (Thanks Eileen for loaning it to Ashlyn! ), well, except the hat and red hair part. We got her to try it on and everything, but she refused to change into the costume for pictures at the last minute. We just hope she would change her mind when she sees all other kids wearing costumes to trick-or-treat. *Fingers & toes crossed*
As for Alex, well, I thought, Ashlyn has Jojo costume, how about Galioth for Alex, JoJo best friend and pet. So, I was on the mission to find the cutest lion costume. Found one at Old Navy, great for infant, it's a 2-piece fleece, zip up jacket and pull on pants. The jacket is puffy, like the belly of the lion. Have claws and hair and ears on the hood. So, PERFECT! Right? WRONG!!! So WRONG!!!! Alex was scare of the claws when we tried it on him. He refused to wear it, and even look at it. My plan for the Halloween day is to cut off all the claws, turn the hood inside out when we put it on him, and hope he doesn't notice it.
Wish me luck!
For more pictures from the photo shoot, please visit us at our cyber home .
Until next time. Ta~ Ta~
Wednesday October 18, 2006 - 02:17pm (PDT)

Ashlyn & Alex Updates 6-30-2006

Ashlyn just turned 2 on Tuesday 6/27. It’s been a busy year for all of us. Yes, Ashlyn too, because she helped entertaining her little brother Alex.

We celebrated her birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese, and everyone, well, the kids, had a blast, even Alex. See pictures here.

Ashlyn has been quite talkative for the past 3 months. She started to “cooking congee”, meaning talking on the phone for a long period of time a lot. Who she talked to? Basically, everybody, that including her imaginary friend. She wasn’t talking non-sense, everything she said meant something, the only problem was, we didn’t understand half of the conversation. She also sings and dances. She can sing Happy Birthday, with emphasis on HAPPY and TO YOU, never missed a beat. She can also sing Twinkle Twinkle little star, If you happy and you know it clap your hands with gestures. She can hum couple other songs with the last word of each sentence singing out loud.

Ashlyn obviously has mastered calling Ba Ba, Ma Ma and Yee Yee (Auntie in Cantonese). She can also say Yee Por (Great Aunt), and Kia, well, not exactly the brand of the car, it’s the name of Auntie Jacqueline’s boyfriend. She had learned so many vocabularies in the past few months, such as UP, “Ha Bin” meaning downstairs in Cantonese, Yu Yu (fish), Yau (there is), Mo (no more), Guy Guy (going out), and many more. We are so proud of her.

Ashlyn has also master one more thing, blowing out the candles. She has been practicing since beginning of June, from her Lunar calendar birthday. We had a group celebration with 2 of her Yee Por and Auntie Stephanie, and then we had another little celebration for Ashlyn on the exact date of her Lunar birthday. She had requested to relit the candles... well, maybe a dozen times, and of course, sang the birthday song a dozen times, so that she can blow out the candles and the lyric of the song down again and again. On her 6/27 birthday, we relit the candles 3 times, and she asked Uncle Edmond herself to relit the candle, by pointing at him. We had to stop reliting the candles, otherwise, we would've been staying at Chuck-E-Cheese just blowing out candles and singing birthday songs until they close. I think people around us thought we're crazy to sing the song 3 time already.

Ashlyn is developing her personality now. Who says like mother like daughter? Whoever said that, is a genius. Ashlyn loves to dress up and always asks us to take her out, always wants to go Guy Guy. She loves pretty clothes. One time I brought home a shopping bag, as soon as she saw it, she was pointing at the bag. She pulled out everything and kept on saying "WOW", and put the new clothes on herself and catwalk around. Girls always be girls. *SIGH*

O, one very important thing. Her hair grew longer and a little thicker!! Ha Ha!!

As for Alex, he will be turning 11 months old in couple of days. Like sister like brother, Alex loves to talk on the phone too. Out of the blue one day at dinner table, he put our cellphone next to his ear and started to yell “WEI WEI”, everybody was amazed, even the waiter was stunned! (check out our website where I posted his phone conversation video.

Alex loves singing and dancing too. Whenever he hears a tune, he bounces his little body, claps his hands and sings along. He claps his hands at the appropriate moment whenever we sing If you happy and you know it clap your hands (clap clap). He will be laughing and giggling and being proud of himself.

Alex is very talkative as I have mentioned. He started to babble the moment he opens his eyes in the morning, all through the day until he is sound asleep. Yup, sound asleep, he keeps on babbling even he's falling asleep, just like Ashlyn when she was his age, it's kind of like the last complaint of the day. Can't blame him, he is just being himself, he was born in the year of Rooster. So far, as we understand, Alex has learned to say 3 works with gestures. HI, BYE and Dell. No, not DELL the computer brand, it's the sound of it in Cantonese meaning throwing away, and he actually throwing away things in his hands when he was saying the word. Geez! no Ba Ba, no Ma Ma, but we got DELL. What's up with that??

Alex isn’t walking yet, but we think he will be soon. He has been pacing along inside his crib, along the sofa, and he seems to be enjoying the walk when we let him walk with our help.

Sibling rivalry. I don’t think anybody would believe me if I told you “No, there isn’t any”. Well, Ashlyn is a caring sister, but sometimes, she could be tough on Alex, and vice versa. I have proof, check out the new video clip I posted couple days ago. . Neither of them is letting go the “toy” easy. The only thing I can say now is, having more and longer hair has no advantage or whatsoever.

Until next time. Take care! come see us at : Our Cyber Home (lots of pictures)
Friday June 30, 2006 - 03:01pm (PDT)

The 2 Little Rascals 兩隻人見人愛的搗蛋鬼

New Home

Bright Horizons

Facebook Search Updates

Facebook

Ashlyn's Latest Favorite Song

Drawings

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

The Kids

Bargain Shopper

What Do You See??

It's Official !

ARE YOU READY ??

V. I. P.

Halloween is Haunting !

What else is there?

Time Squre New York

Labor Day

Long Over Due Entry #1

Alex did it again!

Silly, Silly, Silly

Wrinkle Free Shirts

When you have time to kill ...

ALEX is 2 !!

Potty Training - Take 2

Alex's 1st Haircut

July 4 (with Video)

Boy vs. Girl's View

睇 咩 野 ??

20-month-old vs. 36-month-old

Princess Ashlyn

Video: Slam Dunk

Curious Alex

Video: Ashlyn's Helper

Video: Take them off

Where did you go?

Someone Turns 3 Today !!

I'm Back !!

Video - The Next American Idol

Little Panda Class

"A" for Ashlyn

十二星座的第一名

Video - Doodle-li-do

Video - Street dance

Tag: How did the name come about? Alex Haylen

Tag: How did the name come about? Ashlyn Haley

He's Here!

Memorial Day Weekend

Video: Let Me See

Video: Ballerina Got Mail

Video: 海鮮 Seafood

Ashlyn's Tutu

How Could I ??

Bling Bling

$10 PLANE TICKETS?

Picture People Fiasco

OH NO!

Who? Where?

Happy Mother's Day

I'm Sorry!

Peek-A-Poo!

Alex is 21 Month Young La (couple days ago!)

Finger Pointing Tees

Caption WHO?

DAISO

Elaine's Baby Shower - Tea Party

It's Friday! 輕鬆D啦!

Hot April Day

Ashlyn is now 34 Months Old

Instant Noodles

Potty Train Product

Follow up: Dinner with Ninja Turtle

Dinner with Ninja Turtle

My Trophies

Video - Wink Wink! ; )

Stike a Pose

Video - Feed Me Please

Video - Up & Down

Video - Dancing with the Rascals

Collage

睇咩野 ??