Cooties

We hate the cooties!!

(She really was sick that day. She just always has to smile for the camera!)

Every winter our family gets the cooties. It usually takes us down one by one, so someone is always sick for about 4 weeks. We usually miss lots of school and lots of play dates and it just really, really sucks!

Toe Socks and Leg Warmers

This is how she goes to school almost everyday! She loves not matching (And the attention she gets from it!). She has a set of 3 toe socks from http://www.littlemissmatched.com/ and I have to sneak them off of her to wash them!

She also has many sets of Babylegs, leg warmers from http://www.babylegs.com/ that she wears when her toe socks are dirty.

Such a silly girl!

Hoshi's Adventures

So...Hoshi spent 3 weeks with us and during that time he had a play date with Kibi Kibi who is the other magical dragon from Japan that is spending the year with the kids from her class (Kibi Kibi was staying with Kaylin's friend Molly).

They played the Wii....
And ate pumpkin bread!

Apparently Hoshi likes the occasional latte?!? (This is actually my Starbuck's ornament, but it was just the right size for Hoshi.)


One morning, Kaylin woke up and Hoshi wasn't there. She came running downstairs and found him looking out the window at the new snow that had fallen over night. She said this proved that he was magical.

She wrote in Hoshi's journal about her special time with him and then after having him for over 3 weeks it was time to bring him back to school so that he could have a new adventure with another friend from her class.

We'll miss you Hoshi!

Never bite your sister!

She's smiling for this picture, but minutes before hand was another story....

I was upstairs in my room getting ready to take the girls to school and work my day in the co-op, when I heard a blood curling scream followed by feet shuffling across my wood floors like crazy. I ran down the stairs and half way down, my oldest daughter met me, saying "...she shouldn't have bit my arm...I didn't mean..., she's bleeding everywhere...". I followed the sobs to the downstairs bathroom where Kaylin was holding a mound of white tissue with red stains all over it.

I asked my oldest, Haley, again what happened and it turns out that she was in the bathroom, when Kaylin decided she wanted to go in to do her hair. Haley wouldn't let her in, so...apparently Kaylin decided to "playfully" bite her arm. When she did this, Haley pulled her arm away while at the same time, pulling out Kaylin's top front tooth!

Now, there was blood everywhere and she was hysterical, so when I finally got her to listen to me and calm down for a moment, I asked her if I could see her tooth (It was still in her mouth, sitting on her gums!). I explained that it was almost out, and she just needs to gently pull it off and she did it! We then had to stop the bleeding by biting on some tissue for a minute.
Once we pulled the tissue away, and the bleeding had stopped, she looked in the mirror and said "Hey, my tooth finally came out!" (this tooth was her first wiggly one, and has been loose for about 5 months!). She continued to smile and play with the huge gap in her mouth the rest of the morning.

In the car, on the way to school, it was pretty quiet. And then out of nowhere Kaylin says "You know Mom, I guess there is a reason you should never bite your sister.".

Lesson learned!

HopChe's together again!

We had our best friends kiddos over to spend the night on New Year's Day. The kids had a blast, playing games and watching movies. Here they are getting settled down to watch "Horton Hears a Who".My favorite part of the sleepover (I'm pretty sure it was theirs too!) was when these two had some glam time! They could not stop giggling. I love that Emma chose "Lynwwood Blue"!They even had matching jammies!

Christmas Part III at the In-Laws

We had a very non-traditional Christmas at the in-laws this year. I only wish I had taken more pictures. Especially of the dinner table...we had Hot Pot. If you don't know what that is, it's when you have raw meat and veggies out on the table and cook it in a boiling pot of soup or broth. It was super yummy but if you know me at all, you know that I have major issues with raw meat and the bacteria that comes with it.

Haley and Kaylin each got new cameras from their Goo Goo's (Aunties). Emma got lots of new "fabulous clothes" and Payton got a membership to the Children's Museum for our family. Very cool...Thanks Goo Goo's! After a lot of yummy hot food, we were all super full, so we lounged on the couches for awhile. That is simply what we do when we are at my in-laws it is very nice. Here is Grandma R, Dan (Goo Goo Xuan's guy) and Brian (Goo Goo Linh's Guy) chilling before we opened gifts.

Goo Goo Xuan has had this mac wireless keyboard on her Xmas list for a couple of years. She was surprised when she opened it from us.We got Ye-Ye another TV mount for his LCD TVs. For the record we have now purchased 3 of these for him. The first one we got for Father's Day last June, and he announced that he didn't need anything like that so we took it back. Next thing we know he asked for one for his birthday, and then Xmas. Goo Goo Linh and Brian tried to have a quiet moment on her new memory foam pillow.It didn't take long for my kiddos to see an opportunity to join in.
That is usually how it goes. Three Goo Goo's and their guys, non of them with any kids and my girls look at them and think F-U-N. They love all the attention they get from them.

My girls are so lucky to have such a fun and loving family!

Christmas Part II

Soon after the girls finished opening their gifts from Mom and Dad, Grandma, and Autie R, and the L4 showed up so we exchanged gifts with them.

They opened a gift that was to all of them called Hyper Dash. This is such a fun game even little Pay Pay can play it with us. Thanks L4
Auntie R helped the youngest kiddos open their gifts. Livi didn't understand that she was giving these gifts to Emma and Payton and we would soon give her a gift from us. Poor thing.
I love these Jammies from Gymboree. When I saw them I had to get them for my nephew, Luc. He wore them to our house for a sleepover a few days later. I think he likes them too!

Auntie R, gave a combined gift to all my girls....A 12ft, fully enclosed, trampoline!!! They went crazy when the found out!!!In fact, Emma "passed out"!! Silly girl!
We all chipped in and bought Grandma R an Ipod Nano . We weren't really sure how she would react to it. But we knew if she gave it a chance, she would love it. Turns out she was really excited and plugged it in that very night to check it out! And yes... she does love it!
Here is my handsome man with his new shades that my Mom got him for Christmas. I just adore him and his smile.

We made all the kiddos hold still for a picture with Grandma R.

Then we headed to Dao's parents (aka; Ma-Ma and Ye-Ye) house for Christmas Part III. The final installment (I promise).