Ninja Fever

I failed to mention that last night, we tallied up Vincent's stars on his reward chart, and found that he had earned enough for us to buy him a Lego Ninjago set - one that he's had his eye on for a couple of weeks now. He knew that if he earned 30 stars, he could pick out a Lego toy. For a while, he didn't know what he wanted to pick, but with much studying of his Lego catalog, he figured it out. It took him a good 3-4 weeks to earn up enough points. And, actually, he was almost there last weekend, but was so poorly behaved that I added an extra 5 points to the figure, so he had to have 35. I didn't want to take away his points, but I needed him to know that this was serious. His behavior is supposed to improve with this reward chart, and it barely did. We have 4 tasks/behaviors he can do to earn stars. Okay, a couple of things are getting better, but he still needs to be reminded a lot of stuff. Are we silly?

Anyway, he picked out the Ninjago Blacksmith set.

When we told him that he had actually earned 38 points, he was thrilled. He couldn't believe it. And, we told him we were going to go to Target right then and there to get it for him. Unfortunately, by the time we got home, it was bedtime, so he wasn't able to put his set together. It didn't matter to him, though. He didn't make a fuss. I guess he did learn something!

This morning, though, wanna guess what he went right to when he woke up? Yup. Again, not enough time to put the set together. No biggie. Still no fussing. He knew that he was going to have a playdate at our house after school, so we was excited to be able to play with Max later.

So, this afternoon, when Max came over, the boys played with the little Lego ninja and bone guys while I put together the blacksmith set. I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. While Max was here, the mailman showed up and delivered two small packages.

After we dropped off Max at home and picked up Tyler, Vincent had fallen asleep in the car, and in order to keep him from being upset when we woke at home, I told the kids about the packages. We got inside, and they were so excited to open them. They were Halloween care packages from PopPop and Nana. And, for Vincent, more Ninjago! A little set, but this one had Cole, the black ninja, which he doesn't already have. (Tyler received a new Thomas train)

It is ninja fever in this house!!



Dylan & Mid-Autumn Celebration

This morning, David and I took the kids down to Top Pot Doughnuts for breakfast. First, we let them watch some T.V. so that we could get a little extra sleep. It's nice to be at this point in our parenting where we can turn on the tube and get back in bed. It's not like we do it all the time. Maybe once a week. I did actually get up a little before David and sat with them. They were watching Garfield. Man, that cat's still so funny, after all these years.

We didn't tell them right away that we were getting donuts. I was getting the kids ready and Vincent said, "But, I still need to eat breakfast." Well, well, well, my little friend...

We decided to take them to the location downtown, thinking it wouldn't be as crowded. Wrong. It was packed, with a huge line! I was pretty amazed at how well the kids waited, though.

After donuts, we headed out to Fall City for a memorial for our friends' dog, Dylan, who passed away last week. It was the first time any of us (and there were several) had been to such a thing. It was really nicely done, and much more naturey and cozy feeling than that of a human. Our friends were unsure of how we all felt about it, but I'd say we were all moved. It was really such a sweet thing that they did for Dylan, as he was truly a part of their family. We explained to Vincent what had happened to Dylan, and Vincent understood, and said, "That makes me really sad."

When the viewing was over, we hadn't planned on going to this mid-autumn celebration potluck at another family's house, but felt that maybe the kids could use a little playtime. So, we called in a order of dim sum items from Tea Garden, picked them up, and headed to Madrona.

The reason we were doing this little celebration was because we, as Chinese, honor the harvest moon at the start of fall. All the families in our group of Chinese American families were busy around that time, but still wanted to have a gathering. So, today was the day.

It was great. Delicious homemade Chinese food, except for what we brought. Just think, "Joy Luck Club," without ma-jong. Most of the girls clicked together, which was sort of funny. Vincent played with his favorite gal, Serenna, until she had to leave, then he played with another boy, Leo. At one point, he, Leo and Tyler were all playing some kind of instrument, and had an jam session.



My Busy Busy Day

That's exactly what it was. David had to pull an all-nighter for work, getting into bed around 4:30am. He worked from home, at least. He had to do more work in the morning, so the plan was for me to take both kids to Chinese school this morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get to bed at the early time I intended. I was trying to do an update on my iPhone for OS 5, and kept running into road blocks. I finally gave up, but wasted at least an hour at the effort. So, I was sluggish, and needed coffee. I thought, "Oh, I'll just run over to Fuel and get a couple of lattes for David and I, then take the kids to school." That set us back a half hour, so we were super late to class. Oops. Sorry, Vincent.

While at the school, I needed to chat with a few other moms about some stuff. Tyler was not having it. He was pretty patient at first, but eventually was tugging me away. I took him to the nearby mall to get some Halloween supplies for Vincent's various classes. Tyler was such a good sport about it. Party City has so much for, well, anyone to be overwhelmed with, but especially the little ones. There's a whole section of cheap toys and candies in bins. Tyler was amazing. He didn't ask for anything and just waited for me to get what I needed or ask for his opinion. I finally let him pick out something small. He got a pack of Thomas balloons and a $.25 pack of gummy bears (you can imagine how small this pack was). They blew up on balloon for him, and he was thrilled. He even saved one last gummy for Vincent.

After school, we came home for lunch. I took a cat nap, and then headed out to work.

Work was busy. Chef had prepared us for a busy night, but it didn't turn out quite as busy as anticipated. There were a couple of no-shows for reservations, but it was still non-stop. I didn't need to help out on the line, but I had a bunch of prep items to do. It was good. I felt like a task master. Here's what I worked on/made today (not in order):

-roasting and stuffing little peppers with a sauteed corn mix

-porter/ginger cake batter

-almond croquant

-pasta dough

-portioned pasta and braised lamb

-peeled and sliced baby carrots

-peeled roasted beets

-pureed soup

-toasted almonds

-peeled tomatoes

-sliced cauliflower

-shucked and hulled 11 ears of corn

Along with all this, I helped the line cooks get stuff, here and there, chopped some chives a couple of times, transferred stuff into storage containers, cleaned and mopped the floors, and scooped some ice cream. I'm not complaining, at all. I was busy, but it felt good to be so productive. And, for the most part, I don't need a ton of direction, which makes me feel useful. Oh, and those chives! Evan, our lead line cook, took one look at the ones I cut, and proclaimed, "These are the best looking chives I've ever seen!" Moments later, he offered me a piece of seared foie gras that was too small to be served, but not too small to be eaten by yours truly. And, at the end of the night, you bet I had myself a shift drink. Rose, please.

Here's a picture of my sidekick, Saul, making pork rillettes. I tasted them. YUM.



Hey Good Lookin'

David looked so handsome this morning on our way out, I had to snap a couple of pictures of him.

We dropped him off at work on our way to the gym. Vincent hasn't been there in a while, so on our way, he said to me, "Mommy, I haven't been to Pro club in so long, I'm really excited to go." Cute.

Afterwards, we went to lunch at Tutta Bella with Andrea and Eva. While there, they give the kids these things called Wikkistix. The kids quite enjoy playing with them. Tyler likes me to make his into balloons, and before we left for home, I made these for him...

Tonight, Audrey watched the kids for us, and we went to dinner at Lark. YUM!! Okay, I know I'm a little biases, but seriously, still so good. Everytime I go there, I feel this way.

David has to work late from home tonight. He set himself up in the basement while the kids and I watched "Kiki's Delivery Service" - well, most of it. They went to bed super easily, even though I didn't let them finish the movie. Weird what a difference a half hour can make sometimes.





Can Barely Remember

Funny, how by the end of the day, I can barely remember what all happened.

Vincent went to preschool. I know that. Tyler and I went to Pro club. I know that, too.

Oh, this was our morning...

David enjoying his coffee with a homemade banana blueberry muffin.

 Vincent's excited to do a ninja battle.

 Tyler has to momentarily stop playing at train table, but worried that Vincent would take his toys away.

Not to worry. Vincent had other things on his mind.

Oh yeah! David worked from home today. Tyler and I came back from the gym for lunch and I cooked us up some delicious pasta with chicken, garlic and parsley. We also had a beet salad. David was impressed with our lunch. Yup, I cook up a fabulous lunch for us daily. Ha! He just lucked out today.

It's nice having him home so that I could get Tyler down for a nap at a decent time, without having to drag him out with me to pick up Vincent. And, I didn't have to take him with me to Vincent's karate class, either.

With the cooler weather and earlier sundown, we are finding that it's hard to entertain the kids in the couple of hours before bedtime. Vincent's at a funny stage where, well, he's sort of crazy. I don't want to say that he's violent, because he's not. He's just seems to be into violence, sort of. These battles he wants to do, All. The. Time. They're a bit exhausting. Okay, I don't do them, but them make a bit nervous, and they tire David out. We need to come up with more creative post-dinner activities. But, what? Any suggestions?

Fun Dessert

The other day, after Audrey made a gingerbread haunted house with the boys, they've been asking about when they can eat it. It's so cute, I haven't wanted them to touch it, and now it's probably not so tasty.

In light of this, I decided to make them miniature houses out of graham crackers and let them decorate them with candy and eat them the same day! Lucky for me, Audrey had saved the leftover royal icing from last week, so I didn't have to make a new batch.

This afternoon, while Tyler napped and Vincent was still at school, I glued together pieces of graham crackers. Let me tell you, Audrey has now earned herself the title of "Best Nanny In The World" because I can't believe that she made royal icing with the kids, then pieced together a much larger version of what I was making, and had the kids decorate it, all in one short evening, and with the kids hanging around her. I couldn't piece together my pieces very well without any children. I think I lacked patience for the walls of my house to dry before adding the roofs. They kept falling apart.

Alas, I did it, and the kids were so excited to see the naked houses and even more excited to know that they would get to decorate and eat them.

Can you guess, based on colors, which house belonged to which kid?

Did you guess correctly?

They both wanted to eat the crackers, too, and made a decent effort at it.

Now The Car's Sick!!

No not really, but we did have to take it into the shop today to have the shocks checked and to get new tires. I'm really excited about the tires, and hope this will help with our hill problem. Our little Mazda has a hard time moving forward after it has stopped on a hill. There are many of those here, and it especially has trouble on rainy days. Not safe. Now, maybe David will figure out how to put chains on them for a future snow day.

With the car in the shop, Tyler and I were pretty much confined to home. I mean, we certainly could take the bus somewhere, or walk. We did walk to the community center and back. Tyler was doing fine entertaining himself at home most of the morning, while I piddled around in the kitchen. After a while, though, he seemed bored and ready for a change of scenary.

On our walk over to the park, we saw a small excavator clearing some vines. Tyler wanted to stop and watch. You can barely see it, but it's in the background of this picture.

Without the car, I couldn't pick Vincent up from school. He got a ride home from a friend's mom. So nice. His friend was actually scheduled for a playdate with another friend at their house. The three boys walked to their house, played a little, had a snack, and then Laura gave Vincent a ride home. I was really proud of him for not making a fuss about having to go home earlier than Max, and not actually being a part of that playdate. Even when I told him about it yesterday, he didn't complain about why he wasn't having the playdate, too. Maybe that concept doesn't come to their mind until later.

Oh, Tyler and I made a banana cake and banana blueberry muffins, too. We had lots of very ripe banan as in the house. I need to figure out what I want to frost the cake with. Of course, it'll be healthier to eat it like banana bread, but frosting is fun.