Cut that funky haircut my girl...

Called Suki for appointment but Jeremiah was busy and only available at 2:45pm. Simon would definitely have a cow if I took that slot, so i called air salon. I've never tried this place before and decided to give a go at them. My appointment was for 1pm. I quickly put Colin to nap around 11:30pm and then coaxed Ava to nap around 12:15pm and then I left.

Got a bunch of stickers first at the dollar store (this is my bribes for Ava), and found out that they are no longer 1 dollar per item. It's 1.25 per item (highway robbery!!!!)

Quickly made my way to the salon for my makeover.. haha
My stylist name was Naoki. He was quite suprised when I took out my camera with pictures of all the styles i like that I took from my laptop screen. He was kinda smiling and then looking at the hairstyles I chose. These were our conversation:

Naoki: this is not basic haircut.
Me: DUH (hahaha kidding).. I said,"yeah, I don't like basic haircuts since I got bored easily. Which hairstyle do you think suits me?"
Naoki: (thinking deeply) do you know Victoria Beckham??
Me: Yeah
Naoki: You know her hairstyle?? maybe that style but instead of both longer on the side, we do one side longer and one side shorter
Me: (thinking: been there, done that.. but don't want to disappoint him). Oh, yeah, I know.. i had that hair 2 haircuts ago. Any other choice??
Naoki: (putting a hand under his chin and thinking deeply) hm...
Me: (feeling kinda bad because i put him on the spot) you know what, it's ok, you can do whatever you want, as long as you think it suits me.
Naoki: yeah, it's going to suit you.
Me: ok.. go ahead and cut then
Naoki: (smiling and nodding happily)

And.. ta da.. thus, my new haircut. It's not really exactly the same like last time, so I felt pretty good. What do you think of my hair??? haha

CNY's Eve dinner with family

We didn't get to eat dinner with family on CNY's eve because HL was working, so we decided to do it today instead. I cooked the steamed ground pork with egg and the soup. We also still have some leftover ginger sesame chicken from lunch. Simon cooked the rest. :)

HL brought panna cotta with raspberry sauce for dessert. It's really good.

Hairstyle.. VOTE!!

I wanted to get a haircut so I've been looking in the internet for some hairstyles.
These were what I came up with. Which one do you think would suit me??

CNY Celebration at Rompers

Ava's class celebrated Chinese New Year today. They were telling stories and having a parade. The weather was pretty wet because it was snowing. Colin and I went there around 10:30am to watch the kids. Colin tried to mingle with the big kids. He was sitting quietly during circle time and listened to the teacher telling story about the monster "Nian". He's a funny little guy. He sat beside Ava, pointed at her to me and said "jie jie". Then Ava hugged Colin and told her teacher "It's Colin". It's sweet when they're showing the sisterly and brotherly love. I gave all the kids a red pocket filled with rice cracker.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Finished watching that movie "the curious case of Benjamin Button". It's a great story. I love it. I cried at the end... balling actually..
I absolutely recommend this movie.. go watch!!!!

Synopsis taken from IMDB:
"I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918 to the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be. Directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett with Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Julia Ormond, Benjamin Button is a grand tale of a not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

Happy Chinese New Year.. Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

The morning of Chinese New Year greeted me with a big ole huge pimple on top of my lips. Ouch!!!
It hurt and looked so ugly and huge. You just can't help NOT looking at it when you look at my face. Is that mean I'll have to stay home the whole day today??? would I dare to break the pimple??? I shuddered at the thought because it hurt just touching it.. can't imagine how I'd feel if I squeeze it.. ouch ouch ouch ouch!!!!

But now I have Angelina Jolie's pouty lips.. if you minus that big old huge pimple hanging out on the edge..


Ok.. despite that big old ugly huge pimple, I do want to say "Happy Chinese New Year!! Gong Xi Fa Cai!! Gong Hei Fat Choi!! Kiong Hee Fat Cai!!" to everyone.. I sent an sms out yesterday already for my friends in the South East Asia..:) So, today I want to say these wishes everyone here in North America.. :) Hope your year will be filled with happiness, prosperity and good health.

Happy Birthday Terri..

Weather : Sunny but still cold

Ava went to swim class this morning and she again refused to do what the teacher said. I really really HAVE to take her to swimming one day next week so I can teach her what the teacher asked her to do. Ok... not really teach her.. but I will FORCE her to do what the teacher asked her to do.
I told her teacher to just grab her next time if she kept saying "no no no"

Around 3pm I heard something upstairs so I went to check... and this was what I saw.

Ava sitting at the edge of her bed, her whole hands were covered with penaten cream (for diaper rash) and she was holding a toy pig that was not pink anymore but white because it's all covered with cream. I saw traces of the cream on the carpet and her bed.

Then I saw that she has the mamee wrapper on her bed (which she asked for before we put her to nap and I specifically told Simon NOT to give her). Her bed was wet because she was playing with her water bottle. So, I was fuming. I yelled at her and wiped the cream off her at the same time. We're already late for Terri's birthday party and she gave me this. I was so so so oh, so mad!!!

Got her and Colin ready and then off we went. The party supposedly started at 2pm, but when we got there it was already 3:30pm. Luckily we're not the only ones who're late.. because I saw a couple of people going in before us.

There're quite a lot of people and Tracey was there already. Drank some wine and felt light-headed because I didn't have lunch today.. bad bad idea.. :) The dinner was great. It was green beans, and chicken with peach and curry, and rice. Colin ate a lot of rice, I ate the chicken and Ava ate green beans. It was delicious. Colin started shrieking pretty soon after dinner. I hate to eat and run and so I tried to hold off.

We managed to hold off until after the cake was brought out. Jeff also got a small muffin cake.. hahahaha.. :) There's your cake Jeff.. :) not fancy.. but very nice indeed.. :)
Alas, we had to leave because Ava started her thing again.

Drama of the night : HK series called "Sou Shen Zhuan"

Another drama of the night: Simon acted as if I spend too much time on my computer.. It seemed like he thinks the whole world revolves around him.. if he's NOT in his computer.. nobody else should too. I was supposed to follow everything he wants me to do.. well, guess what?? I don't !!!!!!!

Dimsum with the Cheungs and the Baiers

Ava's creative kids class made a mask and chinese dragon today. We picked her up earlier so we could get to Fisherman Terrace on time for our dimsum date with the Cheungs and the Baiers. Sharon organized this dimsum and I booked the reservation. I ordered some different things for Sheila and Patrick to try. Patrick actually ate the duck tongue I ordered .. I was impressed. hahahaha

After dimsum, we went to first floor because they have some sidewalk sale on those Chinese New Year's stuff. Ava was being impossible again. She was crying because she wanted us to buy her the balloon and then she wanted the wind blowing thingy (I don't know what it's called). Then, she wanted the handmade knitted hat. I was so angry at her. She just threw her tantrum right there and then expecting us to just cave in and give her what she wanted... well, guess again missy!!!! I would not tolerate that kind of behaviour and I told her we're going home, and we did.

Movie of the night : Pineapple Express (sucked!!!) and half of "the curious case of Benjamin Button (intriguing.. but I was too sleepy to finish it)

Fireman and Great Lunch

Weather: FREEZING COLD

Notably event: Firehouse Mission and Jeff's Birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!)

Ava, Colin and I went to Garry Point Park for our Firehouse Mission: Habitat for Humanity meetup. The mission is to assist the Richmond Fire Department with their journey for Habitat for Humanity in El Salvador. What we did is bringing some gently used toys or books and donating them to the FD so they can bring them to the children in the community they'll be working on in El Salvador. What a great cause!!!! We brought some books and toys that Ava and Colin were not playing with anymore and it just felt so great to do that. We took some pictures with the firetruck and the kids were pretty ok for 30 min. After that, Ava was screaming that she wanted to go home and Colin was wriggling in his stroller and asking me to feed him (which I did before we left for this event and during the event). He ate so much and he still wanted more.

Ava got a little red firetruck as a treat and she also ate a muffin (well.. half a muffin). Since she was screaming and annoying me so very much, we decided to leave. I had planned that I'd take her to Blue Canoe for lunch because I was craving the yam fries. So I asked her nicely after I strapped her back in her car if she'd like to eat fries. She said yes and I said if she promised NOT to cry, then we'd go and get some fries. She stopped crying and then said "Mommy, I no cry". Good.


Then, I maneuvered the car out of the park towards the restaurant. When we got there, I saw that Colin was sleeping already. So I carefully put him in the stroller and he didn't stir. That's good. We got in, and were seated. Right away, a guy (the manager?) brought us 2 children books for Ava and she got so excited and started browsing them. Colin's still sleeping. I quickly ordered a fish and chips for Ava and yam fries for myself. The waiter was saying that they have a great lobster salad and I just ordered it on impulse. I was glad and content to be able to go out and eat with the kids by myself. I wanted to shout "it's do-able" to Simon. Ava and I had fun eating and cuddling at the same time. When we're almost done, Colin woke up. I quickly got the check and then asked Ava to eat faster. She said "O..Kay" in her deviant voice. But the main thing was " WE DID IT".. "I DID IT". I was happy and then we went home for more naps.. Yipee!!!!

Movie of the night: Slumdog Millionaire (very nice movie.. it's an indian movie)

DT's great

Website : http://www.discoverytoysinc.com/

I'm very impressed with Discovery Toy's service. I had a customer who wanted a refund on a toy that's not working. So, I was asking my manager how to do it and then I finally got the toy back and called the customer service. They basically just asked me what was wrong with it and then issued the credit to me. I asked what should I do with the toy and they said since it's broken, they wanted me to throw it away. I'm so seriously impressed with them. They are so good.

I had been talking and emailing with one of the lulu moms that I haven't met. She ordered some toys from me and we got to talking. Her name's Beverly and she has a 16 months old son (perfect for Colin.. haha). We decided to do some playdates after the CNY's over.

Talked to Susan today.. I will try to get my butt off the chair and go out to exercise this coming Wednesday. I hope I can do it still. I feel that I've been pretty low in energy and tire so easily.

Colin's reading.. woohoo

I was supposed to take Colin to his Time for Fun class today after dropping Ava off, but he was still sleeping and he didn't wake up till 9:15am. So, I decided to skip the class. Colin then was wandering around the house and then I saw that he had the Dora book on his hands and he looked like he's reading. He looked so cute.... my cute little boy.. :)

Side note: GO OBAMA!!!!

Ava's new phrase: "I don't care anymore" (definitely have no idea where she learned this)

Updates: Bought a bunch of clothes for Ava and Colin at Gymboree b/c I have 2 gymbucks to spend. These kids really put a damper on my resolutions.. but still, I DIDN'T spend any for myself.. hahaha

No more Ballerina

I asked Ava since morning if she wanted to go to her ballet class. The answer I got was "NO, NO, NO'. I kept asking and she kept saying NO. So after she went for her nap. I called the community center and cancelled her class. So, NO MORE BALLET!!! until summer.. hahahahaha

Sea turtle in action

Took Ava by myself to her swimming class (sea turtle) leaving Colin with Simon at home. She was so excited and jumped right into the pool. I was surprised to see her that happy and carefree. I noticed that she liked to follow other people. There's another girl in her class and she followed her around. That girl liked to go off by herself and the teacher kept calling for her thus he was calling for Ava too since she followed her.

We went to Sharon's place for a little playdate before going to lunch. Ava and Annabelle were fighting over some tea cups. We decided to go lunch to stop the fighting and crying and we decided on "Ajisen Ramen".. Hahahaha

Creative Kids and Date Night

This morning Ava went to West Richmond CC for her Creative kids class. I told her she's going to go painting and she was so excited. She loves to paint or draw. We got to the class and I told her that I'd come back to pick her up (I was sitting downstair and reading my book), and she couldn't wait to get rid of me so she can start her painting.

She actually didn't paint but she did make a "boat" and a hat. I forgot to take pictures. She had so much fun and when i asked if she wanted to go back to that class again, she said "YES".

The day I was waiting for finally arrived. Simon and I were going to go dine out this year. We have reserved "William Tell Restaurant" (since West Restaurant was fully booked already.. haha). HL and J babysat for us. We put the kids to bed first before we left. I was wired. I wanted so much to finally have a date night for the longest time.. hahaha

Here's my menu:
Appetizers: French Escargot Ragout
escargots sauteed in shallots, herbs and brandy, finished in a garlic cream sauce served over puff pastry
Entree: Duo of Fraser Valley Duck
Seared Fraser Valley Wenzel duck breast and confit of boneless duck leg topped with a tarragon jus. Served with white bean and bacon cassoulet and seasonal vegetables
Dessert: Meringue Glacee au Chocolate
A favourite for over 40 years at the William Tell Restaurant. Our own vanilla ice cream between crisp meringues and topped with whip cream and warm chocolate sauce.

I also had a glass of Shiraz. Simon ordered a Filet Mignon and a Pinot Gris. Overall, our dinner was great. The restaurant's atmosphere was nice. I was just glad to be able to enjoy an adult dinner.

When we got home, both kids were up because apparently Ava pooped and slept on the floor near her door with her buttock sticking up high and HL went to change her. She cried and caused Colin to wake up and cry also. By the time we got back.. both were crying. I went ahead and tried to make Colin go back to sleep, but he was just too energized by then. I changed position with Simon, so I went and calmed Ava back to sleep while he dealt with Colin.

Crisis finally solved. Ava went back to sleep, and Colin cried himself to sleep, and they live happily ever after... The End!!!

Discovery Toys Party at Candy's

I had a discovery toys party at Candy's at 7pm. Tracey came also. I was nervous with the presentation because there're a bunch of people I didn't know. I hoped I did okay. After the party, we chatted for a little while (a long while actually.. hahahaha.. simon called and asked me to get him a burger).
I had so much fun.. I laughed so hard. I didn't want to go home coz I had so much fun.. :)
But alas, the time finally came and I had to leave..

Action-packed Tuesday Morning

Pumped up the jam!!!!
Woke up and rushed to get the kids ready. Dropped Ava off at her preschool and then went on to Steveston Community Center with Colin for Time For Fun. He was so funny, he kept looking in from the door and waited for the door to open. Ava's preschool was from 8:45 to 11:15, and Colin's time for fun was from 9:30 to 10:30. It was quite a lot of people for the class. I must remember to bring snack with me next time because poor Colin was staring at other kid's snack and tried to reach it. Bad mother!!!!
After class, I stopped by Heringer's to get a red pepper jelly and some crackers for Colin. I figured I need it because I still have to wait for Ava.
After Ava, we went home. Ate some leftover from last night and then nap time. Thank god. I felt so tired afterwards.. :) My poor old bones...

Ballerina Disastrina (corny!! I KNOW!!)

Ava was so excited to go to her ballet class. When she saw her ballet outfit, she practically ohh-ed and ahh-ed the whole time when I dressed her. She was so happy and upbeat but when got there, she suddenly turned on me. She cried and cried and cried and didn't want to go in. We had to stand outside and waited to see if she'd calm down. When she finally calmed down and I managed to get her in, she still didn't want to stand together with the other little ballerinas. Then, I offered to "skip" with her and "gallop" with her. She said yes, but when we actually had to do it, she cried again. I gave up and dragged her out to go home, but she didn't want to go home. I even resorted in saying that I'd give away her whole ballet outfit to KK (Sorry, Elisa.. I had to use KK's name.. )

Conclusion: First day failed!!!.. Try again next week.. (*sigh*)

Report: Due to her bad day, I didn't take any picture.

Bella's Birthday

We skipped swimming class because Colin was waking up so many times last night from his mild fever. He seemed to be ok though. We decided that it's ok for him to go to Bella's birthday because he seemed to be having the fever due to teething.

We arrived a little late, and the party's already going. Bella's so cute and the cake was also very cute. Becky made the cake herself, and Dylan actually decorated the cake. Good job Dylan!!! The cake was so cute. Ava kept pointing at it and said "bear bear".

Hainanese Chicken Rice Night

Simon cooked Hainanese Chicken for dinner tonight. The presentation was really good. I was surprised. The new packet of Hainanese chicken rice sauce for the rice was really good. Simon did a good job on the vegetable dish and also the hainanese chicken rice itself.. :)

Colin seemed to be a little bit under the weather. He was warm so I did some compress to hopefully reduce the mild fever.

How much "NO" is too much???

I found that I've been saying a lot of "NO" these past couple of months. Ever since Colin seemed to understand more of what I'm saying and ever since he learned how to annoy his sister. I saw a couple of times that when Colin wanted to play with Ava and her toys, she would scream at him and pushed him. The screaming I can tolerate, but definitely not the pushing, so I said to Ava, "Ava, no pushing.. you can't push didi coz he's still a baby... he just wants to play with you.. ok??" And Ava will answer, " NO.. NO DIDI!!! Go away!!" And the screaming and pushing would continue until I separate them. But on the other hand, Colin would cry because sometimes he would hit his head falling backward from the pushing and sometimes because he just wanted to take the toys. So I would again say "NO Colin.. Don't take your sister's toys. She's playing with them right now.. you take turn .. ok??" Colin's answer was," wa..wa..wa..wa............" . .. (*sigh*)

So, how much "NO" is too much??? I tried to NOT only say NO to Ava because I'm afraid that she will think I favor Colin more and she will probably try to hit or push him more (esp when I'm not looking)... but I can't help myself saying other words besides NO because it just came out so naturally.. (*another sigh*)

I remember a story my mom told me... A long time ago, there's this little boy who was so spoiled. His mom never said NO to him and had always allowed him to do whatever he wanted. His mom also never thought him right and wrong, so the little boy was always taking other people's things and never knew that it was wrong. This little boy grew up to be a thief. He started from small crimes and gradually moved up to bigger and bigger crimes. He finally got caught was going to be punished. In the prison, his mom visited him and cried when she saw him. At this time, his son said to her, "This is all your fault. Why didn't you ever told me what I did was wrong?? why didn't you teach me??? You should have told me what's right and what's wrong!!!!"..
When my mom told me this story, she also told me. Sometimes, parents are to blame when their kids did something wrong because if the parents didn't teach them from when they are young, how will they understand?? Parents job are teaching their kids everytime they see that their kids need learning. Right now, I'm teaching you how to be a good mother and if you have any doubts or questions, you know where to turn to..

Pirates in the house

Status: Went out shopping.. but only bought ground coffee for self (technically, it's for Simon and me).. Ava got loads..

weather: drizzle in the morning.. nice shopping weather in the afternoon.. haha

Ava was playing with her pillow cover again.. she put it on Colin's head and started to say "Arrr..arrrr!!! pirate!!!". Colin just stood still and held on to Dora's car while kinda smile. Then they chased each other all over kitchen..

The next victim: DADDY..

Jie jie.... jie jie....

Status: still haven't gone out shopping!! yeay!!

Ava was at preschool and I was at home with Colin. After a couple of hours, around 10:30am, Colin started to realize that Ava was missing. He looked out from the kitchen towards the stairs and started saying "jie jie... jie jie..." (means big sister). Then, when he didn't hear anything back or see Ava, he started to cry while kept saying "jie jie.. jie jie.." Meanwhile, his mommy was trying to login to her facebook (yeap, I was without facebook the whole morning and afternoon), so he finally came near me and started to hit my lap and kept saying "jie jie.. jie jie.. " I told him that Ava's at school and would be back shortly. Of course, he didn't understand me (DUH!!!), so he kept on crying and hitting. Sharon, who chatted with me on MSN, suggested that I videocam-ed him. I quickly got my camera, but once I pointed the camera at him, he was just crying, but didn't say "jie jie.. jie jie..". Nothing to show you guys but my words.. :) He's too cute!!!

Pomelo night and chatting with old friend

Simon bought a pomelo home and we're having a pomelo night. It was sweet. Simon tried to put the pomelo skin onto Colin's hat but Colin didn't want to look like a fool.. :)
Colin has been calling everything round as "ball ball" and that includes the pomelo. He just kept yelling "ball ball, ball ball" when Simon was peeling the fruit. So, "ball ball" basically means oranges, apples, pomelo, cabbage, actual balls, and everything round". He had also been calling "nai nai" (milk) for everything drinkable. "Nai nai" is milk, apple juice, water, etc...

After the kids slept, I chatted with an old friend. Haven't seen him for the longest time. We shared a webcam for the first time today.. :) Good seeing you, old friend.. :)

What is your role in your child's world??

So, apparently, recently I've found out what's mine in Ava's world. She loves little mermaid and she has been saying that she's little mermaid. One day, she suddenly assigned roles for everyone else.
Ava : Little Mermaid (of course, the leading princess)
Simon : King (what a role for her daddy)
Colin : Fish (small insignificant role for her little brother.. of course, make sense)
Me : Octopus ( yeap, ladies and gents, apparently I'm ursula, the bad, fat lady)

Aside for these roles, she has also been saying that she's called "baby giraffe" and I'm the "mama giraffe" (luckily I'm not assigned as the lion/tiger that eats baby giraffe). Sometimes, when I tickled her, she calls me "mama monster" and she's "baby monster". When she's "baby giraffe", she will walk in all four.

She also loves dancing ballet. She will hear a song and immediately start ballet-ing, while Colin's more a hiphop guy.. haha

Resolutions

So I'd been thinking about my New Year resolutions, and here's the list:

1. Less shopping (crossing my fingers and clamping my wallet and restraining myself from going out)
2. Try to eat healthy (already failed coz i ate a pack of bacon yesterday, and lunchtime today)
3. Try to go out on dates with Simon (failed miserably so far... we're going to try for this year's dine out vancouver.. wish us luck)

Status: Have not shopped for myself for 6 days now (yipee!!)

Weather: miserable rain

I've actually been doing pretty good for the beginning of this month. I haven't bought ANYTHING for myself. How could that be?? you might ask.. yeah, I've stayed home everyday for the past week or so and if we went out, it's for groceries. I've stayed away from the mall and even online stores. (pat in the back for myself).. yes, I've been GOOD!!!

Though, the drawback's I've been spending way too much time in facebook.... wayyyyy too much.. way way way too much. Been playing my packrat game again... :) And when one plays in computer, one tends to binge. so.. there goes my 2nd resolution.. :)

Papa.. DOWN!!!

Ava had swimming class this morning and before we went, Simon told her.. "Ava, let's change into the cloth for swimming". Ava said, "It's swimsuit, papa!!"..
DING!!!!!! Ava-1, Simon-0

I laughed so hard!!!!!

First Playdate of 2009

Since our trip to Port Moody had been a disaster, we decided to host a playdate on New Year instead. We asked Serene, Elisa, Sharon, Lian Eng, and Meg to come for a small teatime/playdate. It turned out nice. I got to see all my girls and the kids were playing nicely with each other. Of course the bouncy castle had to come out also. Another successful day to burn off all the kids energy. I ate so much... Lian made Stollen.. it was sooo good. We skipped dinner and Ava and Colin also ate a lot.

First day of 2009

What did we do??? we opened presents!!! yeay!!.. Ava and Colin got some xmas presents from Elisa and Serene so they were happily opening them.. Ava saw her strawberry shortcake's baseball glove and ball and she said "oh.. strawberry shortcake!!! my favorite!!!".

We then had dinner with HL and J. Another hotpot dinner.. hahahahaha