It's SUMMER!

The last time summer meant so much to me was back in June of 2008. I don't know how everyone else can work year round, but at the beginning of May, I was impatiently crossing out each day, waiting for May 29 to come. Currently, I can proudly say that I conquered my first year of going back to work full-time. Of course, teaching really never stops because summer is basically just a time to plan for the Fall. That's exactly what I had already started doing as of yesterday. I can't help it, my brain just won't stop thinking. Maybe I'm just an overly organized planner. Shrug.

Summer = this clean, empty room

I'm already going Pinterest crazy thinking of how I can decorate this room my way for next year. 

Since we're not going to be in school over the summer (and Mommy definitely knows how it feels to be shafted every year in school for your birthday), I let Lucas celebrate his birthday one month early!

He's really much happier than he looks

Ms. Izzy and Lu

Fish Face was counting down the days till summer with me!

 Summer presents (yes, they're spoiled)

Of course, when life seems to be going too smoothly, something "bad" is bound to happen. Thursday night, the night before the last day of school, Char vomits all over herself in her room. Daddy (cleaning puke will make me puke) cleans it up and we decide to let Char sleep in our bed cause we wanted to air out her room. I take a look at her before I shower and realized that she'd puked all over herself on our bed and fell asleep in our puke! That's when we had to change her top, wash her puke-infested hair, change our bedding (it was long overdue for a wash anyway), and get her in bed again. Luckily, that wasn't so bad. In the middle of the night, she got out of bed and told Daddy she wanted milk. Five minutes later, she puked out her milk. She had a bit of water later and couldn't hold her water in. Eventually, we learned to give her small sips at a time and breaks in between and she managed to hold her water in. Today she didn't vomit at all, but was extra clingy and fussy throughout the day. She's currently sleeping with a high fever, hopefully she can sleep it off. And that, my friends, is the start of summer 2015!

 Put her hair up like that in case she pukes again

 She was feeling well enough to request cheese pizza for dinner

Ended the day playing Noah's Ark at Target

Happy summer! I'm hoping for minimal (or no) sicknesses so we can enjoy the beaches, parks, Happy Hollow, shopping, mini family vacays, and whatever else before we go back to another year of school at the end of August.

Memorial Day Weekend

This is it! The moment I've been waiting for for the past month has finally arrived! ... THE LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! As a teacher, the final weeks counting down to the final day is exhausting. As a parent, you start losing steam as well. As a teacher AND parent, well... it's just double the exhaustion. This three-day weekend definitely helped.

Before the weekend began, we took a trip to Apple to partake in Asian heritage something. Free food and activities? Can't pass on that!

 Non ladylike lady on the ride there

 Lucas ruining a calligraphy brush

Since it was the weekend, the kids got to sleep with us in bed. This summer, we're going to have both kids sleep in the same room again. This time around should (crosses fingers) go more smoothly than over a year ago. As you can see, I have a lot of things to take care of over the summer.

 There was a lot of rolling and kicking around

 Babysat some cousins

 Very forced Sunday photo

 Snuck out for a quickie beer sampling

 Aren't they the cutest?

I've been meaning to plan a family day trip to Gizdich Ranch. Since we've started a mini garden at home and Lucas gets a kick out of picking ripe fruits, I thought it'd be nice to take the kids here. The drive was a bit hectic (and boy am I glad I didn't drive), but everyone had lots of fun. The whole family, excluding myself, did not read the sign that said "no grazing, just sampling". I think everyone was full off the strawberries they picked. We might have to take another trip here again.

 Daddy helping Char

 Mini workers working hard

 Proud boy and his pickin's

 Family selfie at the ranch

 The Apple dumpling a la mode was to die for!!!

 Silly kiddos

 Char was very excited to go grocery shopping with me

 Our backyard tomato "farm"

Helping Mommy "water" the plants

Well, four more days of school/work and I am off being a SAHM for 2.5 months. I'm very excited about no alarm clocks, slow mornings, cleaning up and organizing the house, planning family getaways, going to parks, and everything else I never had time to do during the school year. HELLO SUMMER!!!

Weekend Shinnanigans

Another free Saturday calls for another trip to Happy Hollow.

This girl wasn't happy she didn't get to sit on the meerkat

Perfected the cheeseball smile

"Guys, say cheese to Mommy" (and this is what happens)

All this is a glimpse of our summer future. I predict HH at least once a week. My mind is definitely on summer mode since all I'm thinking about is things to do over the summer and what mini family trips we can squeeze in before school starts again in August. 

Lately, Char's been initiating wrestling matches with Lucas (and actually pinning him down with a headlock). When the kids are good, they're good... but there's always those moments when Char purposely takes something from Lucas's hands, puts it behind her back, smirks, and runs off, leaving Lucas in tears. Yes, sometimes I'm a bit confused as to who the older sibling is...

 Peacefully playing with magnets... till Char decides to run off with some, leaving Lucas in tears

 Playing peacefully with puzzles... till Char decides to be mean and mess up Lucas's puzzles, leaving Lucas in tears

(Note: pictures of Lucas in tears were not snapped to preserve his manhood)

 Tea Lyfe - my new favorite boba spot

 Sunday OOTD (might frame this picture)

 Go Dubs! Peace out Rockets!

Mother's Day Weekend

Teacher's Appreciation Week AND Mother's Day weekend fell together on the same week! This might've happened before in the past, but this is the very first time I've experienced being both a teacher and mother simultaneously. And yes, I do think this is pretty awesome. I stuffed myself with chocolate and other fatty delights this entire week at work and continued to stuff myself this weekend. Good thing I'm married... with kids, so there's really no one to impress. Hah. Let me just say, I am very happy with my Target gift cards, Curry jersey (and come on Warriors, get it together!!!!), and being showered for being a mother.

Thing #1

 Thing #2

See the family resemblance?

Imitating their wonderful role model

We can also look normal (but that's not that fun)

They drive me insane sometimes, but I sure love my Thing 1 and Thing 2! I think one of the best decisions I made nearly a week ago was deciding to not work during the summer and pull the kids out of school so we can spend summer together. I turned off my alarm Monday morning and decided that summer is for having fun and spending quality time with my rascals. I also have a number of side "projects" to take care of and wanted to devote my summer to doing all this as well. So, I told the principal that I decided to not work this summer and was going to pull both kids out of summer school so we can enjoy family time. It's only fair, right? They've been at school for nearly 8 hours each day for nine months this past year! Plus, Thing 1 made it pretty clear that he wanted to have fun over the summer and not go to school. For an almost 4 year old, Thing 1 is pretty persuasive young man. Although I still have three weeks of school left (two academic weeks), my mind is already on outings to the beach, checking out the coolest parks in the South Bay, mini trips, Happy Hollow (not my idea), and whatever fun we can think up. Sorry, but this mother/teacher has been hit with summeritis! 

In the words of Lucas, "we did a lot of things this weekend!". You're right, son, we did.

 Friday family movie night in Mommy & Daddy's bed

 Working on making Mother's Day cards

 Checking out a new park

... with an awesome slide!

 Having ChikFilA with some friends

 Eating with cousins

 ... and celebrating Mother's Day with family!

Then ending the night with a wrestling match

All that was just Saturday. I'm tired just thinking about all the places we've traveled to in one day. One of these weekends, we'll have a quiet weekend at home. So far, it's happened maybe once or twice this year. After church, we went to Billy's Boston Chowder House in downtown Los Gatos and had dessert at Icing on the Cake. Yum and yum!

 Celebrating our family Mother's Day

 My loves

 He loves me too!

When I was doing my hair this morning, Lucas walked by and said my hair was cute. Later on, he said he liked me shirt. I told him I liked his clothes too (probably because I buy all his clothes). I don't know where he learned all this from, but I like it!

I had to count (starting to lose track), but this is my third Mother's Day. My FB feed has sorta been flooded with these "Mother's Day isn't for everyone" articles. Although I don't like to be a Debbie Downer, I can relate to one part of it - not being able to celebrate Mother's Day with your mother because she's not here. It's very unfortunate that I never had a chance to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom since becoming a Mom. Every time I look at my rascals and see how much they've grown, how articulate they've become, and how their personalities are so different, I'm saddened that my Mom is not here to witness this with me. Although she has never admitted it, we all know that my brother was her favorite. Now I kind of see why, there is something special about a mother/son relationship - I am totally smitten with Lucas and to me, he's perfect. But at the same time, I love the girl time and snuggles I have with Char (she's perfect in her own way, too). Anyway, it just sucks. As time goes by, I don't think about it as much and have just accepted it as a way of life now.

It's Sunday night. I have two more Mondays of waking up at 6:30 and then I'm donezo! I can't wait till summer's here!

Two More Mondays

The countdown begins! When my alarm clock went off this morning, I was very happy to know that I only had to get through 2 more early Monday mornings before summer comes!

This Tuesday, we had a boys' night and girls' night. The boys went to a (free) SJ Giants game and spent a lot of money grubbin'. 

Lucky guy got a baseball to take home too

He started practicing his swing at home and has gotten much better

Getting spoiled by Dad

While the boys had their little outing, I just took Char to eat some good sushi. After, we just went home and she got to play around in the backyard. I know, a bit lame, but I was tired!

After what seemed like forever, I finally remembered to bring the kids to a Home Depot event. All the parents were helping their kids paint their picket photo frames nicely. I decided to not do it and let them paint it their own unique way. I'm currently deciding whether I should let them put their mismatched photo frames inside the house. Well, at least they're proud of their work!

Working hard

Stylish lady also working hard

Don't they look so cute in their HD aprons?

Enjoying the awesome ride while I look for more plants

We went to a Hello Kitty/Melody party. Hours playing in the sun definitely leads to family nap time when we go home.

Look at that huge Hello Kitty!

Bubbles galore

We all did this when we went home

My mini me - cleaning up before church

Sunday OOTD

On the way to church, we had an interesting conversation in the car.

D: Do you want another brother or sister?

L: Sister. But we can't, how do we fit another car seat in the car?

M: Oh, good point. Can we get rid of Lucas?

L: No!

M: Can we get rid of your sister?

L: No... wait, yes!

Our two fish are tiny compared to these koi fishes

Read some books while Char was zonked out in the car

 End of the weekend look

May the 4th be with you!