Random Brain Dump

We were driving home from L.A. yesterday when Katelyn & her mommy had this little memorable exchange…

Katelyn: “Mommy?”
Suzanne: “Yes baby?”
K: “I love you forever!”
S melts: “Oh… I love you too, sweetie”
K: “I don’t know how to love you any more!”
S: “ohhh Katelyn, I hope so…”
K: “…and I don’t think I can say anything sweeter, Mommy!”

We kept it pretty simple this past Mother’s Day. The girls dressed up and posed for some pictures with their mother before heading to a BBQ with our relatives.

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend, we took the kids & their cousin to a local park for a “bear picnic.” They each grabbed their favorite teddy bears and we spent the afternoon eating, flying kite, taking pictures, biking, reading and playing. I can’t remember the last time I got to nap in a breezy afternoon in the park like that…

I was watching TV the other evening and began falling asleep on the couch. Footsteps woke me up and I discovered Katelyn unfolding a blanket and trying to put a blanket on me. She gently put the blanket over me and made sure my toes were covered. Then she quietly left for her bedroom.

I still haven’t talked to my precious girl about it yet…

Today is a big day for our family. It’s our Katelyn’s birthday– she turns 6. Naturally, she’s very excited. Last night, we took her to a book store to choose a book as a gift for her classroom. And this past weekend she happily went with us getting stuffs ready for her party. We encouraged Katelyn to invite anybody she wants but she indicated that she doesn’t want a big party. So we’re keeping her party small, thank goodness!

Katelyn is doing well in kindergarten; she loves singing, dancing, reading, writing, drawing and coloring. She can do simple addition and subtraction. She’s on the shy side but made two close friends in her class, always telling me things about what she & Alicia or Chaelee do in school. She’s starting to help out with simple chores– she likes rinsing dishes (let’s see how long that’ll last). She’s really into Hello Kitty this year. She likes taking pictures and asked for her own camera, so I got her a pink Kodak digital camera (Valentine’s day makes it easier to buy things pink). Can hardly wait to see her reaction when she opens the present this evening. Looking forward to share with her the hobby of photography. Who knows, we may have a young shutterbug in the making.

Overheard Katelyn to her sister this past weekend that both cracked me up and gave me a jolting reminder:

“I have a purse. I’m a woman now!”

Katelyn is a good girl, I think we’ll keep her… 🙂

Any comments of birthday wishes will be appreciated. I’ll make sure Katelyn gets a chance to read them– I’m sure she will get a kick out of them.

I took off a few hours yesterday to attend Allison’s Halloween celebration at her school. She was adorable in her Minnie Mouse costume– yet another hand-down item from her sister. Allison caught me sneaking in her class during story time; she excitedly waved to me and happily blew kisses at me. I motioned her to pay attention to her teacher, but it was obvious her concentration is now broken. Next, she lead the class in the parade which was actually sad for me since it means she’s the smallest child in the class.

Today, Suzanne took off work to attend Katelyn’s party & parade. Katelyn spent the afternoon after school visiting her friend Chalee. I picked Katelyn up and whisked the girls to their swimming class. Next, I went to a local Thai restaurant to pick up dinner. After bathing the girls and dinner, got the girls into their costumes and we headed out trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with their cousin Malia.

Boy, I’m tired…

Two weeks ago, Katelyn takes her first step in her education: she began her first day of kindergarten at Eaton Elementary. The first day of school is monumental in any child’s life. I was excited for her…

I took the morning off work and got her prepared for the first day of school. She was very excited. I figured taking the kids to the school playground often this summer helped with getting Katelyn familiar with the place. Still, I sensed a bit of nervousness in Katelyn when she began lining up for her class. She probably realized that the school is much bigger than her preschool, with lots more kids. But she was happily lined up with the other kids, smiled and blew kisses to her father when her teacher Ms Celini lead the kids into the classroom.

I was happy and very proud of Katelyn that day. I hope she does well, makes friends, and have a fun-loaded 1st year!

…I snapped a few shots for keepsake.

Katelyn: “Knock, Knock”
Rex: “Who’s there?”
K: “Nobody!”
R: “Nobody who?”
K: silence…
R: “Nobody who?”
K: silence again…
R: gets it finally & laughs hysterically

Allison was listening and now she wants to participates…

Allison: “Knock, Knock”
Suzanne: “Who’s there?”
A: “Penguin!”
S: “Penguin who?”
A: silence…
S: “Penguin who?”
A: silence again…
S: didn’t get it but had to pretend the joke makes sense and belt out a hearty laugh…

I was watching the news on TV last night as Katelyn jumped into my lap. The program discusses the coming presidential election. Earlier at dinner, we had a conversion about death which is always a nice topic to bring up at chow time… 🙂

Here’s a little exchange I had with Katelyn, about dead presidents…

K:“Daddy, which presidents are dead?”
R: “You mean you want me to name some presidents that you know who are already dead?”
K: “Yeah!”
R: “Well, a lot of the old presidents are dead. Like George Washington, Lincoln…”
K: “You mean Abraham Lincoln? He’s dead?”
R: “Yes, you didn’t know that? He lived a long time ago and he’s dead just like Thomas Jefferson . Do you know him?”
K: “No I don’t.”
R: “A lot of old presidents are dead like John F. Kennedy…”
K interrupts: “Daddy, how come all presidents are boys and there are no girl presidents?”
R: “Good observation and a very good question, Katelyn. I guess no woman tried to be president in the old days. But that doesn’t mean there will never be a woman president. In fact, there’s this lady and her name is Hillary and she is trying to be the president right now. Did you know that?”
K: “No…”
R: “I’ll point her out to you the next time we see her on TV. Anybody can become a president, even you. Do you want to the president?”
K pauses then said: “Nahhh… I’ll become zoo keeper instead!”

Allison woke up from the afternoon nap yesterday in a foul mood. As Katelyn & I approached her, she threw a tantrum and kicked us. With patience tested by her all day, I promptly ordered her to her room. Of course she balled as she ran into her room.

Katelyn: Daddy, she’s just cranky after her nap
Daddy: Yes, but Daddy doesn’t like her acting out like that
Katelyn: But she’s always cranky from her naps. That’s normal. She’s scared now when you time her out.
Daddy after a pause, relents: Alright, let’s go get her!

As we went to get Allison from her room, Daddy smiled and felt particularly proud that big sister stood up to her old man for her lil’ sis!