January 21st is a special day in our family. It is the day that Tai, who was due on the 10th, finally made his appearance. We had a little party for him with some of our friends, but this video was taken on his actual birthday and features only our immediate family. He knew it was all about him, and loved every minute! I'll post a link soon to some of the pictures from the party as well.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tai turns 2
Since I uploaded the birthday video, I thought I'd post a link to the pictures from Tai's party. Most of you are on facebook, so you've probably seen them, but just in case:
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=257510&id=557418530&saved
Since Tai's birthday is in the middle of winter, we are hesitant to have a big party at our house. After all, our house can only tolerate a crowd of people when we have the yard available to spread into. Otherwise, it gets a little crowded. After much deliberating, we decided to have the party at SICSA, which is the local animal shelter. Who would have thought they offer parties, right? But they do, and the majority of the cost is tax deductible since they are a non-profit organization! Plus, the kids LOVED the dogs and cats. It was pretty much amazing. Even better, Tai got to share his birthday party with his good friend Stephen, who is born just a couple of weeks before him. The two of them are so cute together!
We are not sure what we will do next year. As previously mentioned, the party was wonderful, but I found myself missing the atmosphere of our parties at home. The idea of the kids being entertained every second while the adults just stand around is hard for me to get used to. My kind of kids' birthday party involves the adults hanging out eating and drinking while the kids run around and entertain themselves. Is this wrong? I understand kids Maia's age having kids parties, because they are usually dropped off and then entertained by the parents, but for Tai's age when there is no dropping off possible, I think I prefer an atmosphere where the adults can have fun too! A family celebration, if you will! Of course, this is me talking in March. Come see me in January when I have to think about cleaning the house and preparing for all the guests. I'll probably be singing a different tune then!
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=257510&id=557418530&saved
Since Tai's birthday is in the middle of winter, we are hesitant to have a big party at our house. After all, our house can only tolerate a crowd of people when we have the yard available to spread into. Otherwise, it gets a little crowded. After much deliberating, we decided to have the party at SICSA, which is the local animal shelter. Who would have thought they offer parties, right? But they do, and the majority of the cost is tax deductible since they are a non-profit organization! Plus, the kids LOVED the dogs and cats. It was pretty much amazing. Even better, Tai got to share his birthday party with his good friend Stephen, who is born just a couple of weeks before him. The two of them are so cute together!
We are not sure what we will do next year. As previously mentioned, the party was wonderful, but I found myself missing the atmosphere of our parties at home. The idea of the kids being entertained every second while the adults just stand around is hard for me to get used to. My kind of kids' birthday party involves the adults hanging out eating and drinking while the kids run around and entertain themselves. Is this wrong? I understand kids Maia's age having kids parties, because they are usually dropped off and then entertained by the parents, but for Tai's age when there is no dropping off possible, I think I prefer an atmosphere where the adults can have fun too! A family celebration, if you will! Of course, this is me talking in March. Come see me in January when I have to think about cleaning the house and preparing for all the guests. I'll probably be singing a different tune then!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Melt
On the food network, there is a show called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We enjoy watching the show and dreaming about eating the food. It is only fitting that while we were in Cleveland for the wedding, we went to Melt Bar and Grilled, which had been featured on the show. They specialize in...you guessed it... grilled cheese sandwiches. It was pretty much amazing. Yoshi was the one who insisted we try this at 10:30 on a Sunday morning. The rest of us were interested in a Bob Evans experience. So I publicly proclaim, yes Yoshi, you were right. It was great! Though I don't think we could eat here more than a couple of times a year without gaining tons of weight.
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| Maia and Tai split a traditional grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Yes, that is only ONE order. |
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| Tai was not daunted by the size of his sandwich and dug right in. |
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| I enjoyed a spinach-pie inspired grilled cheese with feta. Yes, I ate the whole thing. |
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| Yoshi had a Tokyo inspired Tuna sandwich. Having good table manners, he disassembled his sandwich so he could squeeze it into his mouth. |
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Wedding!
In February, Maia got to live every little girl's dream. She was a flower girl! My nephew Michael was married, and Maia had the honor of being one of the flower girls. It was very adorable. The wedding took place in Cleveland, my home town. It was a lot of work driving back and forth for the shower and making sure we had everything for the wedding, but it was so worth it! I'm thrilled that my nephew is now married to a terrific woman, and our family has grown. Enjoy the pictures!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Our Baby is Getting Big
I'm a little worried Tai will outgrow Maia in the near future. I've already mistaken his clothes for hers on a couple of occasions. See the problem?
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Back to Reality
December was a lovely month of few commitments, and our family enjoyed sleeping in every day during Christmas break. Although I love vacations and traveling, I have to admit that nothing is as restoring to my psyche as some relaxing time at home. I got a lot of that this year, and am eagerly anticipating our next break.
For now, it is back to the grind. I'm taking my second class for my master's and this time it's Methods and Materials for TESOL. Last quarter, my class was a research writing class, and although I grumbled, in the end I feel like I learned quite a bit. The course I'm taking this time is more like an education class, and I'm already feeling a bit of dread. Education classes tend to have a lot of busy work. And group projects. Yes, 40% of my grade is based on a project that I have to work on with a partner. I also have to tutor an ESL student for a minimum of 8 hours and observe two ESL classes and write up observations. Can you feel my excitement? I'm sure once I get into it, I'll love it, but right now, it just feels like busy work. Is that terrible of me to say? After all, I have tutored students after school quite often, even helping one young man earn the missing English credit he needed to graduate. The timing of this feels off to me. Finding a babysitter is going to be tough!
Maybe one reason I feel this way is because I'll be back in a school situation, but it won't be my class. I sure did love teaching, and although I am happy with my decision to stay home, I largely cope with that decision by not thinking of what I am missing. Now I'm being thrust back into classroom situations and I am feeling some resistance. The good news is that I hope to work (at least part time) sometime soon. Maia will be in school full days next year, and Tai, I'm happy to report, loves exploring new places and situations, so he will do fine in a school or day care setting for part of the day.
Right now my plan is to finish up this class, plus one more during the Spring quarter. That will give me enough credits to renew my teaching license, which is important in case I suddenly find myself in the position where I need to work or my dream job comes along! After that, I will take the summer off and apply for a graduate assistantship for the 2011-2012 academic year. If I am approved, I will have to teach one class each quarter, plus take two courses toward my degree. By the end of that year, I would be done with school and have my master's in TESOL. My only reservation is that I will need a babysitter for Tai, but as I mentioned previously, he thrives in social situations, so I think it would work out just fine.
That's my little dose of reality right now. For the moment, I'm just hoping I get a good partner for my project!
For now, it is back to the grind. I'm taking my second class for my master's and this time it's Methods and Materials for TESOL. Last quarter, my class was a research writing class, and although I grumbled, in the end I feel like I learned quite a bit. The course I'm taking this time is more like an education class, and I'm already feeling a bit of dread. Education classes tend to have a lot of busy work. And group projects. Yes, 40% of my grade is based on a project that I have to work on with a partner. I also have to tutor an ESL student for a minimum of 8 hours and observe two ESL classes and write up observations. Can you feel my excitement? I'm sure once I get into it, I'll love it, but right now, it just feels like busy work. Is that terrible of me to say? After all, I have tutored students after school quite often, even helping one young man earn the missing English credit he needed to graduate. The timing of this feels off to me. Finding a babysitter is going to be tough!
Maybe one reason I feel this way is because I'll be back in a school situation, but it won't be my class. I sure did love teaching, and although I am happy with my decision to stay home, I largely cope with that decision by not thinking of what I am missing. Now I'm being thrust back into classroom situations and I am feeling some resistance. The good news is that I hope to work (at least part time) sometime soon. Maia will be in school full days next year, and Tai, I'm happy to report, loves exploring new places and situations, so he will do fine in a school or day care setting for part of the day.
Right now my plan is to finish up this class, plus one more during the Spring quarter. That will give me enough credits to renew my teaching license, which is important in case I suddenly find myself in the position where I need to work or my dream job comes along! After that, I will take the summer off and apply for a graduate assistantship for the 2011-2012 academic year. If I am approved, I will have to teach one class each quarter, plus take two courses toward my degree. By the end of that year, I would be done with school and have my master's in TESOL. My only reservation is that I will need a babysitter for Tai, but as I mentioned previously, he thrives in social situations, so I think it would work out just fine.
That's my little dose of reality right now. For the moment, I'm just hoping I get a good partner for my project!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
New Year's Eve
We went to the zoo for New Year's eve this year. They had a special celebration for the kids with a ball that dropped at 9:00, fireworks, and other fun things. The best part of the evening was the unseasonably warm temperatures. As you can see, the kids are only wearing their clothes with no jackets! It was a lot of fun and the unexpected good weather made it even better.
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