happy holiday

a tribute to the holiday greetings amid the pandemic (very amateur cell phone photo with unicorn onesies in our backyard)

Happy Holidays

What a year! Truly, what a year!

Covid has dominated our lives this year (along with the presidential election). We have been on "quarantine" since March. It has been inconvenient but we have adapted to the new normal - working from home, distance learning, online grocery shopping, home-cooking, Zoom, disinfecting "everything", road trips to the local attractions and the list goes on. 

We each have selected what we deem that have helped us survive this abnormal time - booze, rolling pin, spray (alcohol) and book as a tribute to this year's holiday greeting. We all have taken on new skills, hobbies or habits amid the pandemic and perhaps discovered a few new things about ourselves and one another. It has been forever since we saw our friends aboard. Yet, we feel much closer than ever since we are literally "in the same boat" and our daily routines cannot be more similar. 

We are grateful. Grateful that we are safe and healthy. Grateful our families and friends are well. Grateful that we have work and school that keep us busy and productive. Grateful that we can still wake up in the morning and find little things in our lives that spark joy. 

2020 is going down as a memorable year that one wants to forget but we are hopeful. Hopeful that we will get to see you and hang out with you next year. Hopefully that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday with a bright and hopeful 2021. 

Love, 

Sharon, Fernando, Erik and Anya

I am grateful for...

 A is able to elaborate the gratitude much better than I can...

facts and opinions

(dated November 3, 2020)

A has to do this Facts & Opinion videos on FlipGrid (the tool that most schools have been using for online learning for presentation). Apparently this is built in the 2nd grade curriculum to teach kids how to identify the difference between facts and opinions. Such a simple exercise yet it is the foundation of critical thinking. I could not stop wondering if we all exercise the 2nd-grade facts and opinions exercise perhaps we would have so much less gullible people believing in fake news such that climate change is a hoax and covid is conspiracy?

If I ran for president

(dated October 30, 2020) 

This is the topic for the whole past months and finally the date is near. Personally, I'd vote for this guy if he ran for president. And yes, no homework! 😂😂😂

Badass Ninja

 

One of the activities we decided to sign A up during the pandemic is TKD. Think it would do her some good in term of learning discipline, respect and focus. Today is her first belt test (or dance test) as she’s been referring poomsae as “dance”. So the little badass Ninja has completed the “white dance” and moving on to the “purple dance”. “Aiya!”

Weechef, Digitalization, Dilemma?

He's beat me to it! 

Being an enthusiastic wee chef, Ninja made a few “how to” videos of his favourite dishes over the summer. He asked me numerous times if he could start a YouTube channel and publish these videos. I told him that it was such a great idea but he might want to give the videos some “beautification” before publishing and perhaps have at least 5-10 videos before making them public as no one would subscribe to a channel with just 1 video. I didn’t know that he was secretly working on those videos until I walked over to his room today and overheard, “Yes! It worked. I published it!” 

So he had just published his first food YouTube video. I felt somewhat unsettled. I have been “purposely” (try to manipulate his decision) postponing the “publishing” by telling him that he should probably have more videos before making it public to make his channel more attractive. Mainly coming from being a mom, because I feel unease about him going “public”. He is only 9. It is too early to have him open up to the world? Or I am just overreacting or overprotecting. 

I knew that this was going to come sooner or later. But I didn’t’ expect it that soon. So it is already here. Sooner than I expected. Thanks to Covid, I would say. Instead of globalization, the world certainly has sped up towards digitalization, including my kids. 

It’s probably time for me to watch Social Dilemma (this Netflix documentary-drama exploring the dangerous human impact of social networking). On the flip side, I ain’t facing “dilemma” no more because he's already beat me to it. 

Who created God?

We’ve been contemplating when to start the religious education for the kids in the past year or so. This (between 7 and 9) is usually the time when a kid starts preparing for the first communion. But we have been dreading because it is a 2-year commitment (every Sunday) and we are just not sure that we could commit to that. Now that we are "quarantine" at home due to Covid, the Family Catechesis is available (as an alternative to the in person preparation), we decided to take on the task and play “teacher”. 

So A had her first “private lesson” with Dada today. She is “discovering” God. 

A: When will I discover God, Dada?

F: Soon. 

A: Can we do lesson 2 now? (She was so interested and wanted to start the second lesson)?

F: Be patient, Anya. We’ll do the 2nd lesson next week. We will discover God together. 

A: But who created God?

F: Hmm. That’s a good question. I think it has always been there. Perhaps it is a question you could ask the church. 

So here it is. A wrote a letter to Papa Francis. 

Do you like school?

We haven't gone to any restaurant for months now. But we miss our tiny pizzeria so much that we don't mind going out of our way to pick up some pizza romana.  Fatto a Mano ("made by hand" in Italian) is run by Marco, this super talkative, friendly and skinny chap from Rome who makes pizza and pasta with passion. He knows our names by heart. It doesn't seem that Covid has affected him much since most of his business is made to go. He greets Fer with usual warmth and heavy Italian accent and starts talking to Ninja. 

Marco: hey, do you like school, Erik?

Ninja: No. Not so much. 

Marco: You know why you don't like school? 

Ninja: No. Why?

Marco: It's because you don’t know why you go to school for. You know what? I was like you when I was little. I didn’t know why I had to go to school so I didn't like school. When you know why you go to school for, you will start liking school. 

 

What a piece of wisdom. We all learn a thing or two at times in the most unexpected place. 

 

last day of "school"

It's been 3 months since the stay-at-home order took place, meaning that we had just survived a 3-month homeschool. 

We've done so much during the quarantine, anything one could think of with Zoom - yoga, sewing, gymnastics, ballet, coding, scout meeting, soccer training even CAH with friends. We've tried all the creative ways to keep ourselves and the kids entertained - backyard glamping, pool time (new 18'x9' splash pool), weekly bike patrol visiting friends (with social distance), Roblox playdates and of course A LOT of home cooking. Ninja even kicked up a notch the other day and made soft pretzel from scratch (all by himself with a recipe he found online). You never know what you are capable of doing until you are put in the situation. And you discover new things of the person you thought you knew inside out, also a few new things about yourself. 

Despite all the fun the kids have missed from school, there is silver lining with the Covid. They get to sleep longer, eat slower, take their time doing things (no more hustle-bustle) and most importantly, they learn to be patient, be bored and be each other's option B (because option A is simply not available or possible). A little lesson of not taking things for granted such as eating out. They (we) will certainly enjoy restaurants much more when this is all over. I vividly remembered how excited we all were when we ordered the take-out for the first time a few weeks ago. 

Time seems to stand still yet flies by in the midst of the pandemic. The kids have quietly grown somehow, a little taller, stronger and more resilient. 

art for sale?

#FortNite #Rippley #VendettaSkin #IcekKing

Ninja: Done, mom! I drew three! Worked so hard! For sale, 25 cents each! (jokingly)
Me: I only have a dollar. Can I give you a dollar for all? 
Ninja: 🤔Let me go draw another one!
(10 minutes later)
Ninja: Ta-da! The DJ!

#DJyonger

Me: (perplexed) what did I do to have such a noble kid?

drawing anyone?

I found this great Youtube channel called Arts for Kids Hub. It shows kids how to draw specific objects. From baby Yoda to Olaf to Mashmellow. It's extremely fun and easy to follow. 

E and A have a blast doing it! They picked their own character to draw today! 🎨

Fire Dragon by E

LORAX by A

And I got to be creative with my iMovie projects! 🎬😜

#keepcreating #Artinthetimeofcovid19

keeping up with kids in the time of Covid-19

Kids have been out of school for more than 2 weeks now. LA is still on the lockdown ("Safer at Home" order). The hardest part of all this, apart from social distancing, disinfecting everything delivered to us, organizing food delivery, keeping track with school work is to keep the kids entertained and not have them tell me every 5 minutes that "I am bored". So here's one trick for today, playing drawing charades!

As a bonus, I learned something new today, iMovie and Youtube. In order to make this video decent, I learned a few simple tricks on iMovie and managed to create my own Youtube channel too. So stay tuned! In a time like this, desperation breeds creativity! 

birthday wishes

Every year I got birthdays back to back. Ninja and A’s birthdays are exactly 2 weeks apart and papi’s birthday is 12 days before Ninja’s. Organizing 3 birthday parties in a course of 4 weeks is definitely challenging but fun. And the best part? By the first week of February, I am done with all the birthday organization!

Ninja got his big 9 go-kart party this year. Yet the person who had the most fun was Papi (in my opinion). And Ninja’s birthday wish? "Everyone has a good life and gets what he/she wants. And I become the best soccer player in the world."








A got her big 7 gym party at her favorite gym. And her birthday wish? A tiny house (she definitely watches too much of “Tiny House Nation” on Netflix)

And Papi got his small chilled backyard party with good friends. And his birthday wish? Let’s just say that it’s R-rated and not for kids. 😉😉😉

Mamba on Youth Sport

I haven't followed NBA for 10+ years. I lived through the Jordan era but never quite made it to Kobe before becoming an aficionado of fútbol and La Liga. But the name Kobe Bryant rang a bell. I knew that he was extremely famous, he played for Lakers (my current home city) and he was the biggest star (if not one of the biggest stars) after Jordan.

His passing has been all over the news and people paid tributes to this super athlete, father, teammate, and friend. Curious about who he really was (apart from what made him famous) and how important he meant to this community apart from the hoop world, I went on reading and watching interviews about Kobe. This one video particularly echoed with how I feel and believe in (youth sports), as a soccer mom. It coincides with the philosophy of kids playing team sports. Then I learned about his books (the Wizenards) and the kids podcast (the Punies), in which teaching kids important life lessons through sports (but it's not just about sports) because he viewed sports as the ultimate metaphor for life. Wow! I was in awe. He was truly great person and he genuinely wanted to pass down these great values to the next generation. And he was onto something lasting and amazing for a second act but gone too soon.
#mambaspirit #metaphorforlife