Volunteering Benefits

Yesterday while volunteering in Lydia's class, I took a snapshot of her class picture.  I no longer purchase school pictures because we usually take annual family pictures and I purchase the yearbook instead.

Lydia's second grade class

Lydia was delighted to have her and her friend Mia's name as the example problem

Today Sophie's class celebrated 100 days of school.  I volunteered for a couple hours and got to know her classmates a little better since in-class volunteering for her class only began this semester.

Sophie's kindergarten class

Sophie and Luna counting her 100 grains of brown rice.

Library and School time

Learning about Chinese New Year at the library

Making horses to represent the year of the horse

After scootering back home, the kids popped into the shower as I made a simple dinner.  Sophie and I scarfed down our food and headed back to school for pajama night, while Trung stayed home with Lydia.  Three teachers read books for the kids and then everyone had cookies afterwards.  The kids seemed to enjoy it, but the 6 PM start time really isn't the greatest being right at dinnertime.

Mrs. Scholder reading a book at pajama night

Representin'

I have always known that Sophie can be a ham, but it wasn't until last season that I noticed that Sophie was being picture picked more often than usual.  That's when I realized that I wasn't the only one who thought that she was "cute", so I decided that I would get her an agent.  (Plus, she can be a diva sometimes and it would nice to get paid to have to deal with it).  After weeks of getting back into the swing of things after the holidays, I finally mailed three and e-mailed one submission to various talent agencies that represented my friends' kids or that were recommended by actor friends.  I heard back almost immediately from the e-mailed submission and scheduled an interview with them for the following week.  Two days later, I received an e-mail with an attached contract from a smaller, privately-owned talent agency.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic about the opportunities that Sophie had to get into the entertainment industry.  

Finally, the day of the interview, I dressed Sophie in one of her nicer dresses and we headed to West LA to meet the agent.  After being asked some questions (most of which she answered "I don't know), Sophie recited a memorized line, read a few lines to show off her reading skills, and even sang "Do you want to build a snowman" from the movie "Frozen".  I personally thought the interview went alright, but apparently the agent saw some potential and basically said that she would represent Sophie if I decided to go with their agency.  SCORE!  :)

After the interview and still at the agency's office building

Tonight for my night out, I meant my friend Lara at a new restaurant called Taberna Arros y Vi, which Trung had seen before and has always wanted to go.  We took advantage of Happy Hour and the Dine LA menu and were completely stuffed by the end of the meal.  

My sweet, yet succulent appetizer

Lara's bread pudding and my flan

Jess' Birthday Lunch

I've been asking Jessica for weeks about taking her out to lunch for her birthday, but she has been sick with the flu.  Finally, today, Jessica, Ryan, Weiru, and I got to celebrate at a nice restaurant called Water Grill.  Too bad we all stuffed ourselves with the fresh bread at the beginning, but we all still managed to finish our meals.

Jess, Ryan, me, and Ru

I had the tuna nicoise salad

I had the cutest view

A Wendy Weekend

My old friend Wendy flew up to LA from Austin on Thursday and I (and sometimes the family) spent the last four days hanging out with her and eating the best Asian cuisine that LA has to offer.  She had some special requests like Taiwanese dumplings at Din Tai Fung, shabu shabu, and AYCE Korean BBQ, which she hit and then some.  We had a great time catching up and shopping our hearts out.

Wendy asked for cake, so I took her to Sweet Lady Jane

January 2014

2003?  (over a decade of friendship)

Lydia's first basketball game

Lydia has been taking basketball after school twice a week for the last couple of weeks.  Her team had their first basketball game today and it was quite entertaining.  The Roosevelt Wolves lost by almost 20 points, but the other team had played a game the week before and were more experienced.

Receiving instruction from one of the best players on the team

 Team huddle

We have a lot to work on still, but not bad for Lydia's first game ever!

Slime!

The Montana branch library was hosting a "do it yourself" program to make slime.  I thought the kids might like making "a mess", but started doubting myself since Lydia complained that she would like it all the way to the library.  She quickly changed her mind as we made the goo and we all, especially me, had a fun time.

Who knew a box of cornstarch and a cup of water could bring an hour of fun

"Frozen" in Disney

The people I sold the minivan to on Monday were rushing me when I was clearing out everything from the car, probably because they wanted to avoid the traffic back home to Orange County.  In the hustle, I forgot to take Trung's sunglasses out of the side compartment above the window.  It's his back-up pair, but he seemed to really want it back.  The new owners have a business just three blocks away from our favorite restaurant in Garden Grove, so we decided to go to Disneyland on Sunday and swing by afterwards to pick up the sunglasses.  I told my friend Lisa that we would be going and her family was able to join us for a "magical" afternoon.

I don't really know if the girls wanted to see "Elsa" and "Anna" that badly, but I know that they loved the movie and wanted to be them for Halloween, so I waited in line while Trung took them on several rides.  The Olaf atop the house was cute and entertained me during the long wait. 

 Olaf and I having a staring contest...I won.  :P

Sisters talking to sisters

I waited an hour and a half in line for this shot.  I'd like to think it was worth it.

I made Trung take a family picture because, man, I waited a long time!

Lulu, Max, and Lydia chilling and waiting for mom Lisa to get to a certain part of the Peter Pan line where it was easy for us to cut in.  All the adults took turns waiting in line while the remaining adults took the kids on rides pretty much continuously.  It's how we roll.

Lisa's husband Scott waited 45 minutes in line at Space Mountain just to take Sophie and hang out while the rest of us went on the ride.  He isn't a big fan and neither is Sophie, so I'm sure the companionship was nice.  What a nice guy for waiting all that time!

Violeta's party

Lydia's classmate, Violeta, had a birthday party at the bowling alley today.  It seems to be a popular venue these days since winter weather is always uncertain.  The kids spent most of the time in the arcade, so only one full game was played in the two hours allocated, but no one seemed to mind.  Violeta's mom Julie is more health conscious, so lunch included turkey sandwiches, a veggie platter, and Caesar salad, in addition to the pizza and tater tots, so that was nice.

This was a reenactment because I missed the real "candle blow-out", so it's funny how everyone was so into blowing out a non-existent fire.

All the little guests

Basketball woes

Lydia decided that she wanted to take a break from swim this winter session and take basketball instead.  Even though she is probably better at swimming, I thought it would be a good idea to try another sport, especially since it has finally gotten a little colder.  Tuesday was her first day of class, but when she realized that her friend Sydney hadn't gotten into the class yet and that the coach was a big black guy, she got scared and wouldn't go to class.  Lydia has many black friends, but I guess something about the coach frightened her.  Throughout the class, I tried to get her to participate, but she would burst into tears.  So, after class ended, I took her to talk to the coach, mainly so that she could see that he was very nice, but also to see if she was still interested in taking the class because she would have to withdraw by the next day to get a full refund.  He really was super nice and did some drills with her, which helped to boost her confidence level.  I even joined in and at that moment realized that Lydia probably didn't know that I was on the basketball team in junior high.  Yes, even mommy knows how to play basketball.

I don't know what exactly changed Lydia's mind, she'd say I "forced" her to go, but today she went to basketball class without shedding a tear and I think she even enjoyed herself.  And the good news...she has a classmate in the class that wasn't at school on Tuesday and Sydney got in because someone dropped out.  So glad that that person wasn't Lydia.  :)     

Profitable Accident

I bought the Elsa costume from Disney's Frozen for Lydia for Christmas in the wrong size because her size was sold out, hoping to exchange it in store for the correct size. Lo and beyond, it sells out in stores and online, and replenishments don't come in until the end of this month. I was about to return the costume, but decided to check the going price on ebay first. Good thing I did, I just sold it to some rich guy in Hong Kong for $350 and I bought it on Cyber Monday for $40!  The costumes really is beautiful and probably one of the best ones I've ever seen.  Selling on Ebay can really be profitable if you have a knack for it.  Unfortunately, I don't and happened to stumble upon this, but now I am all over it.

 The front

The back

Celebrating Catherine

Tonight, I walked over to Rosti's to celebrate my friend Catherine's birthday.  This was the first year for me to join as we have not known it each other for very long, but I heard she has a celebration every year at the same place because you can bring your own wine.  Needless to say, we had plenty to go around and then some.

Mary, Catherine's sister, and her delicious homemade cupcakes

Can't believe Catherine is 47, she looks great!

Catherine and her friends

"I know I look great!"  :P

Thanks for the memories

We have purchased our last three cars from my brothers because Trung doesn't believe in buying new cars and because we like to keep things in the family.  :)  We first bought Mike's Maxima in 2003/2004ish when he went to work in Dubai, then Jimmy's Sienna in July 2008 just a few months after Sophie was born, and then Jimmy's G35 in Nov 2009 when he upgraded to a convertible.  Jimmy's kids are just about five years older than our kids and each stage of his life matched up with the type of car he drove, so he would hand down his cars at just the right time that we needed them.

With the latest purchase of Jimmy's MDX last week, we had to decide which vehicle we were going to give up.  After much discussion, we settled on the minivan because though it is spacious and has served us very well these last five and a half years, it has 160,000 miles on it and major parts are slowly beginning to break down.  I posted it on Craigslist this afternoon and within three hours, the title was signed over and it was being driven away by its new owners.  Considering that the AC was broken and I didn't get a car wash and oil change as I had planned, I was quite satisfied with the "just below asking price" price.  Many fond memories were made in this car, whether it be nursing Sophie in the back seat or driving home play dates after school.  I hope the next family will enjoy it just as much as we did.      

Farewell, my dependable mini-van!

Eat, snow-tube, eat, sleep

We woke up bring and early, had a small breakfast, and headed out to enjoy our day.

Lunch at Din Tai Fung with Cora's cousin Jean and her family.

 Going up Mt. Baldy, which had mainly man made snow, but as you can see, there was some real snow too.

Cora and Jocelyn having a good time!

 Everyone taking their turns down the "slide", of course, I'm screaming all the way down

 Teamwork

 Sliding down is a blast, but bringing the tube back up is the pits.

 Sophie has it easy, whoever she rides always brings up the tube.  I even caught her sitting in the tube as Trung was pulling it up!  That one, what are we going to do with her.

 Group photo

 Jocelyn and Lydia totally look related in this shot.

 Me and mini-me

 Snow much fun!

 Short time down, long way up

 She's not as innocent as she looks

 The kids made Olaf from "Frozen"

Filling our empty tummies with delicious seafood.

Reaching for the stars

I spent the entire day yesterday sorting Jocelyn's old clothes for Lydia, doing laundry, and going grocery shopping while Jimmy's family went to Safari Park in San Diego.  Everyone went to sleep early and woke up late, so we were all well rested by the time we got to the Santa Monica Pier around noon.  After a quick bite at Pier Burger, we hit Pacific Park and managed to get several rides in before it was time for trapeze school.  Jimmy's family have been to LA every year since we've moved and have visited the usual tourist attractions, Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc.  So, this time I suggested some new activities like biking on the beach path to Venice, taking a trapeze class at the Pier, or snow tubing on Mt. Baldy.  Cora, Jocelyn, Jason, and I learned how to swing through the air and it was quite thrilling.  I haven't had this much fun in ages!  It totally reminded me of my childhood days when I used to swing of off on the bars on the jungle gym and land on my feet.

Sophie and Lydia's favorite ride, the Sea Dragon, though Sophie didn't ride it this first time.

Ahhhhh!  Priceless!

The chilly Ferris Wheel

The cotton candy was bigger than Sophie; good thing she shared with five other kids.

Classmates Lydia, Joanna, and Katie

Sophie seemed to be having a good time against Allison's bosom.

Photo booth!

So proud of my nephew who completed his catch successfully.

My niece and I on the platform waiting for our turns

The scariest moment is when you first jump off the platform.

What I look like when reaching for the catcher

Tuck/spin dismount

Focus, Grace, focus

I'm quitting my day job, if only I could stand on my own two feet 

Cora's turn to make the catch

Smiling mainly from relief from not having to wear those super tight safety belts anymore.

Our reward...chocolate strawberry cake, chocolate walnut tart, and Oreo cheesecake from Sweet Lady Jane.