Besties

Huelan met Maggie last week at D&G's BBQ and was immediately enamored with her worldliness stature as a 3.5 year old.  Also, Maggie had a Hello Kitty lunchbox filled with stickers and stamps and a shimmering hula hoop.  All week, Huelan would talk about "Maggie, my friend."

Well today, at the Hardcastle baby shower (we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby LeBron), Maggie was in attendance in all her glory.  At first, Huelan had a difficult time keeping up with Maggie, who has a year on her, but through diligence and charm, Huelan quickly won Maggie over.  Soon, they were popping bubbles, Maggie was helping Huelan bury her hands in the sandbox, and the strolled out of the party hand-in-hand.  Huelan even gave Maggie a little yellow flower.

I could only bear to watch them hold hands for a brief few seconds at a time for fear that my heart would explode from the devastating cuteness.

Playdates will ensue.

More pics here

St. Brigid Angel

In San Francisco, eighth grade graduation is kind of a big deal, with considerably more meaning than when I left eighth grade in Garden Grove.  My eighth grade class was probably 450 kids, and 90% of us would go on to the same high school, so no big whoop.  For Sophia and her classmates, totally different game. Her class was 36 students, and about 85% of them had been in the same *classroom* since kindergarden, sharing everything.  They literally grew up with each other, near siblings running down the same milestones contemporaneously, so at the end of grammar school, it's a serious parting of ways.  Students from St. Brigid this year will go on to about 9 different high schools, and only eight will go to Sacred Heart, where Sophia is headed in the fall. 

As bittersweet as that is, it's the natural progression, and we have no doubt that Sophia will make the transition with grace and good humor, as she always does.  We're very proud of you!

More pics here

End of May

Just like that, May is over and summer is kickin full effect.  Save for one or two days, the weather has been absolutely epic in the east bay, with long days of sunshine encouraging us to make full use of the yard and deck. 

May also saw a little bit of travelling- Liz went solo to a tropical wedding (Congrats Joy and Eric!), and I took a solo trip to SoCal for Jen's USC Grad.  While kind of weird, we both handled our solo trips (and more importantly solo Huelan stints) with aplomb, though there's no place like home.

With a lot of help from our friends and family, we finished the kitchen and thus feel like we are fully settled in the house.  The project list gets shorter and shorter, but still some biggies yet to tackle.  Next will be painting the family room, but trying not to think about that just yet.  For now, bask in the kitchen being complete and getting into a summer frame of mind.  It really is time for you all to visit if you haven't been by.

Some May pics here

Liz's pics from Joy's Wedding

Graduation Redux

Gosh finally got around to downloading the pics from Jen's USC graduation and taking a look at them more closely.  Reminded me what a great day that was and how incredibly proud we are of her and the young woman she has become.

Not even going to make a comment about USC.  Other than that they had multiple, multiple stations around campus on graduation day with free coffee, snacks, and full on food, which I totallly agree with.

More pics here

Sunny Sandbox Wednesday

Wednesday is the day that Huelan gets to hang out with Grandma and Pappa. She doesn't really know that they're going to be there until they show up, but when they do, it's almost more excitement than Huelan can handle.

Part if that is because they often come bearing gifts- like today when we unloaded a sandbox. You can see in the first pic, she's in the sandbox in her pajamas. In the last pic, she's still in the sandbox after I got home from work. Yes, she kind of loved it.

Daddy Daughter

Tuesday night is Liz's night to play volleyball, so that usually means thay Huelan and Ba go out on the town. His week was especially fun, as we shared a big bowl of noodles, a scoop of cherry vanilla, stopped by the firetruck, and visited the goats on the hillsdide. And were knocked out by 9:15.

Weekend Pics

We got outside a bunch this weekend, and this week looks to be even nicer.

That's Huelan trying to show Sasha her rockstar hands, Huelan borrowing Maggie's hula hoop, and the girls refusing to pose for a pic.

Ni Hao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYq8ozDgJto&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Memorial day weekend was a great way to slip casually into summer. We mananged to stay busy but have enough down time to be just the right amount of lazy. Yvonne even helped us make it educational!

Treat

This is her first lollipop. Of course she flipped out over it.

Rockstar

She'll rock these shades then try to make the Rock n Roll hand sign. But it ends up as a peace sign. Oh well that works too.

The Thing About Weekends

Is that there's just not enough of them. I am sure that this comes as news to no one. So that makes it doubly sucky when I am out of town and miss mornings with the three of us. Pur weekend mornings are especially fun right now because Huelan likes to walk into our room and chill in our bed for a while, like she did this morning a few weeks ago:

YouTube vid here


But I suppose I really should be focussing on the great time I've been having in SoCal this weekend- Mimi's graduation from USC, and some great, overdue quaility time with the fam. Of course it involved a ton of food, and we still have at least one more meal lined up...

Happy Mothers' Day!

Hopefully I'll be home by dinner!

Going to Work

On those blocks. Two handed technique...

Weekend to Weekend

Though this is how we usually live, this week it's especially true. We survived last weekend, though not without a few trials. My basic strategy is to keep Huelan as busy as possible with physical activities. So Saturday we went swimming, went to the huge play structure at Robert's Camp, visited the Vivarium, and made a quick Target run.

Then Sunday it was Tilden steam trains first thing in the morning, then the ZOo for a few hours with Uncle Anh. My plan backfired on Sunday evening though- I ran Huelan around so much that she passed out at 6pm. At about 7 I started to panic, wondering what was going to happen- was this a nap or was she down for the night? She woke up at around 9:30 (I'm scared at this point) and she wants to eat. After dinner, some hide & seek, and TV, she went down a little after 11:30. And me a little after that.

I slept like a dead person - best sleep in weeks - and woke up a new man Monday morning. Liz came back Monday night- we survived! Though now we're switching places, as I am on my way down to LA for the weekend for Mimi's USC graduation. Be back Sunday- good luck babe!

Mr. Mom

With momma out of town for a few days, Ba has to think fo some stuff to keep us busy (and wear Huelan out). Tonight we hit up Play Cafe for the first time and then one of our favorite daddy daughter date destintions Lanesplitters for some thin crust and chalkboard with uncle Anh.

Survived the second night... the welend will be the real test though!