ikea:

We went to an Ikea on Monday to shop and partake of the free breakfast.  We bought some good stuff for the kids.  I like their plastic bowls, plates, cups, and utensils--they're relatively inexpensive and are the perfect size for our kids.  We bought a chair and a flower lamp for Naomi, and a little wooden train set and a star lamp for Lucas.  He played with that train for hours.  The kids wanted these cute little rugs, only $3.99 each.  Naomi picked out a pink/red heart rug and Lucas a blue/green car rug, of course.  We also got  a round table and chairs for the garage.  It'll be easier for the neighbors and other kids to play when they come over. 

Naomi really wanted to go into their childcare for big kids, Smaland, but it was full for a long time.  She finally got in, with a 45-minute time limit, and loved it.  Lucas, on the other hand, fell asleep (unusual for him outside the house), and I had to carry him around for that entire time, which was no fun for my arms and back.

Below is a video of Lucas telling me to go away ("Get out!") when I was telling him it was time to go.  It's tough to discipline kids in public.  Anyway, I turned off the camera, grabbed him, and he threw the wooden pieces of the toy at me.  I had to pick him up and hold him quite firmly against his will, while he tried to bite me.  Manny and Naomi could hear him screaming from quite a distance.  Lately, he's been saying "Mine!" a lot as well.  Overall, he's not so bad (I only have Naomi to compare him to)--bring on the terrible twos!

Free breakfast.

The kids enjoyed this slide.

memorial day:

We remember those who bravely gave their lives for our liberty.  May we honor the bravery of those who have fallen by appreciating the great freedoms we have.  

church picnic / chris visit:

We went to the church's Memorial Day picnic today.  The rain is gone, and we had nice, hot weather!  At church, someone prayed for the soldiers and wisdom for our government, and it took me a while to realize it was because it was Memorial Day weekend.  It was a reminder to teach the kids what Memorial Day really is about, beyond just deciding between a hot dog and a burger. 

Chris came by in the afternoon to play with Naomi.  He and Manny went to see Iron Man, and then we grabbed a bite to eat.  We watched some dance videos from Chris' classes, and then it was more playtime with Lucas and Naomi. 

Getting ready for church.

Red, white, and blue celebration with the traditional barbecue and potluck.  The barbecue, salads, and desserts were stellar.

Naomi making new friends, as usual.

Lucas going through the tunnel after Naomi.

The kids sliding down together.

Love.

soba salad recipe:

I think I found a winner, thanks to Joan.  Generally I buy rice vinegars and sesame oils that are pure and products of Japan.  They taste better and go a long way.  It's the same salad I served below, before I found out C doesn't usually eat cold foods due to her health.  I should've stuck with the lo mein.  :P

Soba Salad

(I used 4 bundles of soba noodles, but you can adjust accordingly)

Dressing:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. sesame oil (I used 1/8 cup because I use very dark and pure sesame oil, usually Kadoya)
1/4 c. sugar (substitute 8 packets Splenda if desired)

Salad:
Mixed green salad or baby spinach
Veggies - bell peppers to make it colorful; cucumbers; carrots; anything else you like

Layer the greens, then the soba noodles then the veggies. Pour the dressing and mix together.

chillin' with c:

We spent Saturday with our friend C.  I made some grilled sesame ginger chicken, brown rice, and soba salad for lunch (finally got a great recipe from another friend).  C brought some 86% Ghiradelli cacao (intense dark).  It was very satisfying.  Lucas and Naomi competed for C's attention, although Lucas would push it more and win out.  The kids are always super happy when people come over, but Lucas was extremely giddy and gave her plenty of hugs.  We all went to Chili's for dinner to top off a nice day. 

playdate:

We were invited to a playdate today with several friends, a lot of the same kids from Naomi's birthday party.  The weather was very cooperative.  It's a challenge to balance catching up with other moms, watching all the kids running in different directions, supervising their play, and feeding them lunch.  Per usual, the younger ones start melting down around naptime.  Lucas gets tired, but then he usually also decides he wants to play right as we're about to leave.  He did get to go down the slide several times and take his usual long walk.  Naomi's becoming very responsible and attentive to her friends, so I was relieved.  Still, it's hard to shake my initial thought when I hear crying--"Did Naomi do something?" 

 Naomi, N, and C starting a garden in the sand.

Someday Lucas is going to ask me why I have all these pictures that look like he's pooping in the woods.  Hadn't figured out the force flash on the new camera yet.

Naomi and M, a fearless little one.

Lucas and J in the toddler playhouse.  Blurry again.  Adjusting to the new camera.

gary coleman passed away:

This was my favorite show when I was little, even though we didn't have a TV for most of the seasons (and I learned a lot from the show, like the episode about child predators).  It's terrible what the child stars had to face after the show's cancellation (except Janet/Charlene, I guess). It is good that Todd Bridges found Jesus, who turned his life around. I feel sad for Coleman. He had a John Locke kind of life.

school visit / kite day:

We went to visit Naomi's independent study enrichment class today.  She'll be in kindergarten this fall!  They combined all the students for a special kite-making day.  Naomi loved it.  When she first walked in, an old friend ran up to her and they hugged.  One of the two teachers teared up.  The only other Asian girl in class also took a liking to her.  The teacher had to tell her at one point to let Naomi be.  When we went to her gymnastics class afterward, Naomi got another big reunion hug and a card from another friend.  Never short on friends, I guess.  She's a natural at icebreaking.

One sad thing was that a boy said he couldn't figure out what to draw, so he wrote "Retard is me" on his kite.  I told him I really liked his kite, that it was very nice, except that part.  I felt like I should have said more but didn't know what.  I used to be just like him, too. 

While Naomi learned about kites and listened to a story, Lucas and I took a nature walk.  We watched birds and looked at plants mostly.  I returned to help Naomi with her kite, but she only wanted help from the older students.  The forecast was for rain the whole day, but we were blessed with sunshine right as the students finished making their kites!  The kids all successfully flew their kites and had a blast, until three of the kites, including Naomi's, got tangled up.  Naomi was very satisfied with the time she had, though.  She's making a thank-you card right now for me for taking her to class.  Very sweet.

Naomi building her kite.  (That's J sporting a mohawk behind her--I like mohawks)  She drew flowers and a rainbow on her kite, of course.

The kids paid attention, and the instructor was very engaging.

 

Up, up, and away!  Naomi is in the center right.

I never flew a kite as a kid, and I love having all these opportunities to do it now!

Naomi and her kite cookie.  That's all she ate before throwing it out, because she said the frosting was too sweet.  Whew!

Lucas and that squat pose again.  :P

A duck thank-you card from Naomi.  Fenz=Friends

A picture of our family on the card.  It has rain and sun making a rainbow, and we're all carrying umbrellas.  I like how Manny and I have glasses.  The sun has an Asian cartoon happy face.  She likes drawing those.

The teachers sent us a photo and said all the grown-ups loved Naomi's cute little giggle.  :)

naomi on tv:

Naomi danced with the Wiggles on TV!  Well, her image did anyway.  Naomi selected a photo, did the zooming and cropping, chose the song (Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes) and clicked Submit.  They played it on PBS Sprout, a cable preschool channel, on the the Wiggles' morning show.  I can't post it here because our location's mentioned in it, but if you'd like to see it, you can email me for the video.

meet-up:

We hung out with an old friend/coworker and her four-month-old today at the mall (a midpoint between our cities).  We've been trying to get together for years, it seems, but we kept having babies, getting injured or sick, etc.  The kids did well.  Life is so different now for us as moms, especially as she has two under two, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.  It'd be nice to get a little more sleep and time to ourselves, though.  There were so many sales I wanted to browse, but I'll just wait till I can get out by myself someday!

24--the final hour:

We're fans of '24' as well, although I've only watched maybe 2.5 seasons in total.  It's mostly due to time constraint, but also because Manny can easily fill me in.  I'm also too squeamish for the violence.  I braved it for these final two hours (well, I turned away a lot and had Manny give me the play-by-play).  I tend to trust others for that. In college, I looked away for a lot of Braveheart, and my roommate said, "Okay, you can look now."  She spoke too soon, and I had the pleasure of seeing a head fly across the screen, and I screamed and gagged.  lol 

The finale was alright, if they make a movie to take it a little further; otherwise, it's a bit sad that he didn't get to see Kim, his granddaughter, or even Tony again.  Good suspense and pacing.  The clock counts down to zero, as Jack escapes in typical Jack Bauer fashion.

In the end, Jack acknowledges the important women in his life--Chloe, his daughter, and to some degree, Renee.  Jack reminds the president, a woman this season (good actress), that peace must come from a place of mutual trust and respect, and not a piece of paper.  It reminds me of all those peace treaties in the middle east--they're bound to be broken.  Even though it's always been the same formula or more of the same, it's quite entertaining to me, and I can step in and out at any time. 

Thanks for a good run, and all the interesting commentary on politics and human nature, not to mention the entertaining and sometimes hilarious improbabilities carried out by Mr. Bauer.

lost finale--the end:

Ok, so I see that it was a love/hate ending for a lot of fans, as expected.  I would probably give it an 8 for story, 9 for execution.  [Edit:  The news is reporting the finale as saying the islanders were always dead and it was all purgatory--wow, no.  They should rewatch the part where Christian explains it all point blank.]

Was the build-up pointless?  I don't think so.  All of it--the Others, Dharma, Jacob/MiB, their lives on the island--it was important.  In the eyes of our castaways, the most meaningful part of their lives were the relationships they had with each other on the island.  In the audience's eyes, we can presume that they succeeded in keeping evil/MiB from escaping and protecting the light/electromagnetic source and thus saving the world (side note:  it was confirmed in the preview show the MiB and Smokey were one).  The Others, Dharma, Vikings, whomever--these were the groups that FakeMom and MiB said always came, fought, corrupted, etc.  They wanted to figure out and perhaps harness that light/water source for their own purposes, always wanting more.  Our Losties rose above that, so Jacob was right about them after all.  It wasn't all for nothing, but there were aspects of it they never answered, and I understand it's left some people unsatisfied.

Alt-Reality.  The alternate universe is apparently how they dealt with their decisions and perhaps their regrets before they could move on.  For Jack, David and his former marriage to Juliet were perhaps how he dealt with his own father/son issues and Juliet's death.  For Sawyer, he is a good cop instead of a con artist.  And so on and so forth.  For Locke, though, even though he could walk again in this afterlife, it turns out his life really was that tragic.  I guess it was suitable for MiB to be in his form; he was also a tragic character, even if evil to the end.  The most straightforward part of the episode was probably Christian's explanation--they all died at different times, and wanted to find each other before they moved on.

Minor characters.  Frank is alive, and flies most of the survivors out of there.  Richard begins to age, and now wants to live.  Would've been nice to say something about Isabella, but I guess he had his closure with her already.  Ben got to be special as Hurley's #2, as he wanted to be Jacob's #2 originally.  And he was redeemed in the end.  Eloise doesn't want to move on and lose Daniel, who's not leaving yet.  Ben now doesn't want to move on either.  Perhaps Daniel and Alex haven't died yet in the real universe and they're waiting?  Frank never showed up in the alt-reality.  I think he was never that tied to anyone or anything.

Fight scene.  Jack's flying punch.  lol, but good one.  I imagined more Smokey in the fight scene, but I guess they wouldn't have been able to overcome him.  More teamwork, too, rather than a shot to the back.  A few more punches for our friend Ben over here!   Hurley is the new Jackob.

Some answers.  It wasn't the bomb that "worked," but Juliet was just crossing into the alternate reality as she was dying (thus why she said the dutch and coffee lines before she died as well).  The cave is actually a structure built by some ancient people.  Desmond's purpose.  Who stayed and who left or tried to leave.  No replacement for MiB.

Ending.  I had waterworks over here, and I wasn't expecting that.  The kids were a little distracting, we had to get them to bed, etc., so Manny and I watched the very last part separately.  I think it was good, because I don't think he cares for death endings (we'll have to discuss it later), and I like movies like this.  Maybe because I've watched Asian movies for so long.  And that last part with Vincent!  I'm a total dog person, so that was just...wow.  He didn't die alone.  I was never into the love triangle stuff or any love subplot, but I think they did a good job with the storytelling.  They ended it the right way, I think.  It came full circle.  I haven't seen the alternate endings yet [edit: oh, nvmd--Kev said they were just for fun].  Plus there are 20 extra minutes or so that will be on the DVD.

Now for some of disappointments.  1)  Michael and Walt.  If Ben who murdered way more people in cold blood could be invited to move on, why not Michael?  Poor Michael, stuck on the island whispering for eternity, and yet he had shown remorse/regret/a turned heart twice already.  No indication of Walt being special or a moment from him.  I think they gave his role to Desmond, but there could have been something more as Walt was the one with active powers.
2)  Miles.  I'm glad he just kept running away and was presumably safe, but would've been nice if he could've revealed more in the end.  Like how was it possible for Sayid (and maybe even Claire--I still think she died in the explosion) to come back to life?  Didn't need to be explained in the finale, but comic relief was not enough reason to keep his character.
3)  Hurley can make new rules.  So, I guess people can get off the island.  Why have any?  I guess he made it so he could die, too?
4...10)  I don't mind that they didn't answer everything, but I think they should have given us a couple more explanations, even if deadpan or straightforward, earlier on in the season.  There were only two answers I wanted.  The first was the interest in the children and particularly Walt (ok, foreshadowing the candidates list and Desmond's role, but...sigh), the second was why women couldn't have kids (yeah, okay, the radiation from the incident or Jacob's doing, your pick--but then why Tawaret, goddess of fertility, and bringing Juliet in, etc?).  I get that it doesn't matter in the big picture for the castaways, but if you're going to answer some, you might as well answer the questions you spent so much time building up.  I accept they won't go way back to the Egyptians or whoever built the statue, temples, and structures, but they easily could have addressed that more back with the Dogen stuff.  Even more science with Zoe.  I know they're saying it wasn't about the mythology or scientific explanations, but a lot of it was.

Still, it was a solid ending for me.  I'll probably never be so invested in a TV show again.  Oh, and 24's series finale is here.  :(

What did you all everybody think?

chinese/taiwanese food...friend's passing:

We spent a day at home with our friend A today.  Very cool guy.  I just kept thinking, "Why haven't we hung out more?"  I made braised fish, lu tsai (something like chicken adobo without the bay leaves and vinegar), and vegetable chow mein. I've been nostalgic lately, thinking of how I now make dishes like my mom used to (but not as well).  A is from Taiwan like me, so that was fun to talk about.  He brought some Haagen Dazs peach sorbet and a chocolate chip cake. Sooo good.  After 1 1/2 hours of waiting, Naomi finally got to play her Little Big Planet video game with him, which lasted almost another 3 hours!  Lucas was a little jealous, wanting to play cars with him and have him read one of his favorite books (Speedy Little Race Cars).

The zoom on my camera is all wonky now, so it was fortunate we got this shot at all.

Food that reminds me of my mom.

In the middle of it, I found out a friend from high school died in an accident.  We weren't that close, but he was a pretty nice guy.  I'm still shaken about it, especially that I heard about the accident in the news and had no idea it was him.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.

pac-man's 30th:

We have a friend, A, over right now and Naomi's playing Little Big Planet with him. At her age, I remember playing Squash (Pong but on a Radio Shack console). It was two lines and a square dot and we had to use our imagination. :) To celebrate Pac-Man's 30th, Google has turned its logo into a playable game. I played it a little. Great memories!

kids on being black and white:

Sad video, but a reminder about teaching our children.

lucas, 22 months:

In two more months, Lucas will be two, and I won't be doing the monthly updates anymore.  On the one hand, time is flying by.  On the other hand, he seems like he hasn't changed much over the last year.

They say by two a child has to say at least 15 words, so I have to count them with Lucas.  He does say a couple two-word phrases now, like "one more," "set, Go!" and "get out."  :(  He also says, "A, B, D" when he wants me to write letters.  He says "probo" for his probiotics, "blue" for blueberries (favorite fruit), "awa" for water (which is pretty much how agua is pronounced), "Nay-na" for Naomi, "pop" for popsicles, "tsee-tsee" for stinky (gas), and just makes the noises for specific vehicles and animals instead of saying the words.  He still does sign language and blows kisses, too.  So, let's see if I can find at least 15 words he uses frequently and appropriately without having to repeat after me:  more, bowl, please, cheers, awa, ball, pop, move, off, on, hi, bye-bye, no, go, thanks, apple, (ba)nana, olive, cheese, shoes, and mmm.  I guess so.  lol  Most of the time I just hear, "vroom vroom" and "choo choo."  Occasionally, he sings "la la la" as well.

He shows a lot of comprehension, though.  He follows instructions pretty well.  He'll push the button before closing the laptop, clean up his toys, get something for me, sit down when he's eating, not take any food into the restroom, etc.  But when his nature takes over, it's harder to get him to stop, like when he's being rough with Naomi or throwing things back where I can't reach them.  With a firm "no" he'll usually stop and fall to the floor and bury his face in the ground quietly.

When Naomi cries, he'll pet or hug her now.  He'll also sit with her and pretend to drink tea or eat instead of throwing the toys at her, so that's pretty great.  He likes to copy Naomi a lot, but most of his personality and interests are completely his own.  I saw firsthand that the love of cars and trains, wrestling, throwing, hammering, etc., can start way back when they're babies, without any external influence.  It's pretty interesting.

Manny introduced him to YouTube (nooo!), and every now and then he'll ask me for a train or car video.  He seems to really be into races, crashes, and stunts most of the time, and I just don't know if I should accommodate that, so I just do it occasionally.

He likes routine and is not great with new environments.  He's so different from Naomi in that way--even at his age, she was always wanting something different, and I could barely keep up.  Even now, she goes back and forth between her regular bed and her toddler bed, changes up the blankets, changes sleeping positions, stuffed animals, almost everything.  He's a creature of habit and familiarity, but he does smile at strangers and likes to play with Naomi's friends.

lucas sick:

We were supposed to go to Happy Hollow with a few other moms/kids today, but Lucas threw up at 1 and 3 a.m., then Naomi had a nightmare at 4 a.m., so probably not a good idea.  I only had 3 hours of sleep, and we have someone coming over tomorrow, so I have a lot of cooking and cleaning to do.  I hope Lucas doesn't have a stomach bug, too.  He did eat quite a lot before bed.  I'm really sorry to disappoint Naomi.  She went to bed early and everything.  She took the news okay when I told her; she just told me to let the other mommy know.  :)

cubbies graduation:

Naomi graduated from Awana Cubbies last night.  She was pretty sleepy, but she did alright.  She and her friends did get reprimanded at the start about giggling during the ceremony, but they were okay after that.  She told me later her (girl)friend had whispered, "I love you" in her ear.  :)

Naomi yawned a little, and then when it was her turn to go up, she started doing toe touches.  The other kids followed suit.  It was like she was trying to start a wave or something.  It's funnier now watching the video, though at the time, I just wanted her to be still like a statue and get all her accolades.  It's hard to fight the Asian mom in me.  :)

Naomi in the back singing the Cubbies song.

She was doing toe touches and started a wave.

Manny and Lucas.

Naomi's completed vest.  She starts the K-2 group, Sparks, in the fall.

lost post--what they died for:

*spoiler warning as always*

This was the last episode before the finale.  Just five more days until it's all over.  It was a good set-up episode, but a little boring for me, too. 

So, the reason Jacob brought these particular candidates to the island is because they were all flawed and alone.  Um, that means a lot more people could be candidates, right?  I sort of wish he'd added to it, like he also knew they in particular would make the right choice when called.  Or tell us why Hurley has the power to talk to the deceased and got cursed with the candidates' numbers.  And now he's burned and gone before I could hear the rest!  Jack steps up as the new Jacob, not surprisingly. I was almost hoping Hurley would step up, too, and Jacob would choose.  We also see it's the water that has the "powers."  In one of the videos in my entry below this one, they mention that originally the script called for FakeMom to dip the cup in the water when she did her incantation.  So...the wine was secondary or had the water in it? 

I might have missed it, but did Jacob tell them how to defeat Smokey?  Or does Jack now magically know?

Ben brings up how he thought he could summon Smokey (I still laugh about that drain), but now realizes Smokey was summoning him.  I hope that means he isn't going to let Smokey summon him anymore.  But I think now that he wasn't redeemed; he just wanted Ilana not to shoot him.  Widmore says Jacob came to him, and that's how he found the island and why he brought Desmond.  So he was Team Jacob.  Penny's a big bargaining chip, but it's weird that Widmore presumed at this point Smokey could win and get off the island.

Precious screentime in the final season--why spend so much of it on new characters like Ilana and Zoe only to kill them in such awful ways? We could have had more screentime for the answers, the characters we know/care more about, even more time on the cameo appearances, or even more laughs from Miles.  Not that I'll miss Zoe's character too much, but it was a pointless, gruesome end.

Ben killing Widmore, not that big of a surprise as they brought up Alex right before it.  But what about his redemption?  Or is he just manipulating Smocke because he's the only one that can?  Miles runs and gets away, again.  And our poor Richard got smoke-handled (but I don't think he's dead).

Sayid told Jack Desmond was in the well, but somebody appears to have let him out with a rope.  Smocke doesn't care, because he now knows Desmond's ability and thinks he will somehow get him to destroy the island.  I wonder how Desmond will be persuaded, because Smocke said once he gets off the island, he's going right for Penny (or he was just being manipulative to get Ben to kill someone again). 

Flashsideways:  Still not my favorite, but much more tolerable with Desmond moving everyone and everything along.  Beat up Ben, check.  Get Sayid and Kate out of jail, check.  Get Hurley to bring the cash and the car, check.  Have a little black dress for Kate to wear, check.  Desmond says Ana Lucia isn't ready--that's kind of odd.  He knows which people on the manifesto to go after.  And thank you, Sawyer, for not letting Kate flirt her way out of jail.  What is Desmond going to do with Sawyer?  He's the last one, right? 

Ana Lucia's back, but she's accepting bribes.  Boo.  Rousseau's back, but Ben's giving her the googly eyes (or is it a pondering look--hey if I marry you, Alex could be my daughter!).  After seeing his vision, he seems to be a bit different again (the line from his conversation with Alex--I thought you were the nicest guy.  No you must have mixed up with someone else ). Back to Ana Lucia, Hurley seems to know her.  It's apparent that everyone sees more than just a short flash.

A few more familiar lines are said between Jack and Locke in the alt-u.  And Jack is going to fix Locke after all.  We don't know yet what Locke saw in his vision, or why Jack's neck wound is getting worse.  [Edit:  And Ben saw the marina off the island, as opposed to something on the island.]  Where's Claire?

Discuss.  [Edit:  Here's a good point someone brought up--Smocke says to Ben, "I'll give you the island!" and then says, "I'll have Desmond destroy it!"  Um...]

jacob and mib skit/discussion/game:

There is some language and recaps of violence, so not for kiddos.

Totally Lost:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 - or some random part, no part 5 listed
Part 6

Connect Four Million:

stomach bug:

I've come down with what appears to be a nasty stomach bug/flu.  Hopefully I didn't give it to anyone.  The kids are sort of running wild, which would be okay except Lucas managed to find a marker and also tore up a lot of Naomi's artwork.  Naomi's been very understanding, but I know the kids are bored.  Lucas has been pulling my arm and hair all day to get me off the couch, but I can barely move.  The hard part is when Lucas pulls Naomi's hair or tries to destroy something.  I can't really be on top of him. Naomi's now locked herself in her room, poor thing. I'm still cooking easy stuff and changing diapers, but I can't do much cleaning except disinfecting the toilet after I throw up (I'm not pregnant).  I'm pushing to be better by tomorrow night, because Naomi has her Awana Cubbies graduation ceremony.  I'm not constantly running to the restroom anymore, so I figure I'll be able to watch LOST (because that's so important--haha). 

last day of ballet:

Naomi persevered and finished her ballet class with a bang.  I was surprised to see her concentration and discipline this time around, after I talked to her about putting forth her best effort and having a good attitude.  She was getting increasingly uninterested in the class, but she did well today.  Maybe the teacher took notice of the improvement, because she let Naomi be in the front of the line to the end-of-class party and pass out her treats first.

Her performance of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is on my video camera, so I won't be posting it here, but it was very cute.  I commend Lucas for sitting there week after week for half an hour at 3pm, having to delay his nap by 2 hours or more.  I don't think I'll be doing that anymore.

Princess cookie wands.  I didn't bring treats during any holidays or even her birthday, so this time I made sure Naomi had something to pass out to her classmates.  She really enjoyed that.

Warm-ups--Naomi is on the right with the braids.

The teacher gave out otter pops, which makes Naomi think of Grandma's house.  :)

wknd with friends:

Saturday we had lunch with E.  In person, he looks just like the actor that plays Spock/Sylar.  He was telling us how after community group, he drove quite a ways and watched Iron Man with a few other folks, then made it back about 2 a.m.  I felt really old.  Haha.  We had some Japanese food then went to have some ice cream at Coldstone.  Sunday night J&J invited us over for dinner.  We all ate well and had a blast.  Not that I'm coveting, but I sometimes wish I could be more like J (the wife).  J (the husband) became Lucas' new best friend. 

 Lucas still thinks he's supposed to sit or squat down when I say cheese.

Yummy spaghetti and broccoli at J&J's.

 

 The girls snack on fruit.

sweet ride:

Naomi's riding a bike now (with training wheels). She's so happy she can finally ride with the neighbors.

All the girls on their scooters, and Lucas tries to join in by crashing into everyone with the ride-on.

 And going for a ride on Papi.

moms brunch--the blessing:

A gift from the brunch--a plant to take care of to remind us of nurturing our blessings as we watch them grow.

I went to a Mother's Day brunch at a church this morning while the kids were in childcare there. Naomi loved it. Lucas, not so much. I was invited by the speaker, who has a daughter in Naomi's gymnastics class. I bumped into an old friend. I bump into her everywhere--from Monterey to Legoland at random times of the year. It's destiny. lol

The food and fellowship were excellent, and the talk was about committing to being a blessing to our children by following Christ's example. We are to know them, listen to them, show them affection, guide them, pray for them, and sacrifice for them. I don't have time to type it all here, but one of the points in the talk was similar to what Manny even said to me last night--yes, as moms we make sacrifices, but we have to make the right sacrifices. And I think the right sacrifices come from the right attitude, which comes from the right perspective, which comes from the right view of God. What good is all that we do without the right motivation?

This was a timely message for me. The past couple days have been nuts, with illness and accidents and a lot scheduled and re-scheduled (and some other things going on with my parents and brother), but God has made my walk and my life richer through it, so I'm coming out of it with even greater joy (and I'm not just saying that--I never just say that). I'm thankful for God's grace. We are weak, but He is strong.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;  and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

lost post--across the sea:

I can see why this episode left many fans disappointed, but I had no expectations and personally thought it was pretty interesting (but like Ab Aeterno should have aired earlier in the series).  The fake mom/OG protector starts off saying, "Every question I answer will only lead to more questions," and that was a warning about this episode and the show in general.  I do think they'll explain a little more by the end, though.  They're adding 30 minutes to the finale (or is that just for ads?).

They make us ask more questions, but maybe the point of the show is that human nature is not black and white--Jacob is not all good, Ben is not all evil, none of them are totally in charge, etc.  Everyone has their issues, stories, etc. and we can't judge that based on one action or period in time.  There's always more to it.  But, yeah, if we don't get the closure by the end, there are going to be some serious anonymous internet riots.

Spoiler warning per usual.

We now know who Adam and Eve were/are, but too bad they weren't characters in which we had invested over the years.  And it's Fake Mother/Son (Oedipus) versus a couple in love to the end, like Bernard & Rose.  Also, we see the stones that A&E had with them came from the Senet game Jacob found (which, btw, is Egyptian).  They sure made a big production of the A&E reveal.  Haha.

It's confirmed that Jacob and his brother are, well, brothers.  They're not some gods playing chess with humans since the dawn of time, but stolen twins with fake-mommy issues.

The light is what they're protecting, but what is it?  A hole in the fabric of space and time?  Control over life and death?  Fake-mom said "life, death, rebirth."  I thought it was a bit too yellow/gold.

Jacob's brother remains unnamed.  He can see the ghost of his mom but Jacob cannot.  He starts building the donkey wheel to control the light, but we don't see its completion (if it's even the same wheel?!--why do you do this to me, LOST?).  I like that they brought up the magnetism in an archaic way.  Wells instead of Dharma stations.  Smart men (Vikings?!) instead of scientists.

So, in went Jacob's brother and out came the smoke monster and his body.  Was it an unleashing of evil, or was it what the mom had said--that if you go in, you suffer a fate worse than death?  I think it's the latter, because Fake-Locke told Kate (or Claire?) that he once had a body and his mother was crazy, and that he wanted to leave, but then again, he could have just obtained Jacob's brother's memories.

How did the mom kill the whole camp and cover the well so quickly?  Was she also a Smokey? [Edit:  People were stabbed, so maybe not.]  Could she now be killed at last (you could tell she wasn't aging) because she passed the cup to Jacob, so to speak?  Same with Jacob passing the cup to Richard?  Richard's not the next Jacob, though, so...huh?  Oh yeah, no Latin spell was spoken in that case, just touching of the shoulder.  Or probably the wine is just to make someone stop aging.

We don't get to hear all the rules, but it's sort of implied that the Protector decides the rules?  I would have liked it if they explained more the consequences of not following the rules.  Jacob's brother tells him that one day he can make up his own game and his own rules (like he did with the senet game), so it's probably safe to assume that Jacob did just that.  He will allow MiB/Smokey to leave if he can win his game.  [Edit:  Oh, didn't Mom say she made it so they wouldn't be able to kill each other or something like that?  How did Jacob kill his brother?  Or was it because Mom died and the rules had to start anew?]

In terms of views, we hear MiB's dialogue from last season again through the mom.  She also seems to favor him over Jacob.  Jacob also has jealousy issues and is a bit melodramatic, very different from the calmness he now has.

The tapestry is back.  The ancient dagger appears to be back [and someone pointed out that Fake-Mom was killed with a stab through the heart without being able to say a word first--the way people were told to kill Smocke].  But overall the Egyptian stuff is still wide open--who made the statue?  Why can't Smokey get past the ash?  Hieroglyphics?  Dying pregnant women?  Only 3.5 hours left (with ads)...

mother's day:

From Naomi--it says "i <3 MY MOMMY."  She wrote it on her own. 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  Yesterday it was hot and sunny, and today it was cold and rainy, but I didn't feel gloomy at all.  Naomi said, "You don't need Mother's Day, because it's Mother's Day to me everyday!"  She made me some cards with flowers and hearts, and a cute heart frame in her Sunday School class.  She said she learned about sharing and helping others.  After an encouraging church service, we went out to lunch (just us this time!) and shopped at Trader Joe's.  My in-laws sent me a giftcard for Coldstone (yay!) and we got some cookie ice cream sandwiches.  Lucas saw them and said, "ooooooooh."  He just had a couple bites.  Yep, I love food.  And my family and friends.  And most of all, Jesus Christ.  Happy Mother's Day to all!

Lucas really happy about his celery.

Naomi's favorite topping--olives.

Scrumptious dessert.

date night:

Manny took me out for Persian food for our Mother's Day date night.  The church where Naomi has Awana offered its services for babysitting.  I had mansaf (perfectly cooked lamb, rice, and aged yogurt) and Manny had the "king of kebabs" dish.  For dessert we had the baklava crumble.  One of my favorite foods with my favorite guy.  :)  Then we went to Target to shop in peace.  

The kids got to have pizza, carrots, pretzels, and cookies.  When we went to pick them up, they didn't want to go.  Lucas seemed really proud of himself, and headed down the hallway to Naomi's Cubbies room, ready to join!  We said, "Oh, not yet, Lucas" and he turned around and laughed.  He's too cute.  Sometimes I can't get over just how much I'm truly blessed.

The sun doesn't set now till past 8 pm.

Yeah, I haven't slept much lately, but I am full of energy from the excitement of being out!

Dessert!

birthday party:

We went to C's 3rd birthday party on Saturday.  It had a princess theme, and most of the girls dressed up.  I think there were about 50 adults and kids at the party, and they managed it so well.  They had tons of food (bulgogi beef ribs, jap chae noodles, Korean chicken wings, fruit, rice, and a soba salad).  Naomi ate four ribs herself.  I think she burned off all the calories, spending about 4 hours in the castle bounce house.  They had a balloon maker/face painter as well.  We had a great time.

Lucas wanted to crash a bike into parked cars.  I distracted him with cake while they removed it.  He also struck a little girl who was behind him to go down the slide, and got in trouble.  Then he gave himself a time out next to the slide and asked permission before going back on.  He really liked the lawn mower, and pointed for the lawn mower man to bring it right here (point point point).  lol  Naomi made new friends, as usual, and these two boys liked her so much that their mom introduced herself to me, so we'll probably be having a playdate.  Yep, Naomi is probably the real reason I have any social calendar.  Haha.  Someone at the party thought I was 40 years old (I'm 34).  Yeah, it's a been a rough few weeks, but that was kind of sad.

Naomi and the birthday girl in her Cinderella dress.

Lucas gets a balloon light saber.

Naomi blowing bubbles, and Lucas up to no good with the bike.

Naomi and J reconnecting with their flower and Spiderman balloons.

Trying to get a photo with the kids.  That's Lucas' head at the bottom.

Yummy chocolate cake with chocolate cream filling.

Lucas likes his new finger puppets.