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

Social Study 101 - Family Tree

Counting down the days to TW, as we are spending the entire Thanksgiving week visiting our Asian family. Kids are extremely excited since they have learned and read quite a bit of it in the past year. It’s not their first time visiting TW but it’s going to be their first “memorable” time (I’ll say) as they are now older. Knowing that we are going to see SO many extended families (grandparents, great grand aunts, uncles, uncles, aunts, first cousins, second cousins...), I feel that I owe them a social study 101 lesson. What can be better than starting with a family tree! So let’s get the Cheng (my maternal) side started!