Our Fourth Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my Mama, Grandma, Aunt Doe and all the other wonderful moms out there. Mama and I are so grateful that G-d brought us together.

We Are Having A Wonderful Spring!

We've had a busy couple of months! Valentine's Day was just 3 weeks after my birthday celebration, and we had a great time. I received lots of valentines from my friends at school, and I'm really happy I received one from Javaun, who is my boyfriend. Well, sometimes he is. And sometimes he's not. It depends upon my mood that day. Oh, and he just happens to be the ONLY boy in my class of 15. So he is very popular.

We really enjoyed celebrating Passover this year. The "Passover Fairy" brought me some Magna Tiles, which are so fun to play with. Well, my parents would have me think it was the Passover Fairy, but I told them right away that there was no such thing and that I knew exactly where my Magna Tiles came from. THEY bought them for me. Passover Fairy. Who would even think up something so ridiculous. The picture below shows an example of what I can build with my Magna Tiles.

Of course Spring is always more fun when it includes ice cream. This is a delicious dipped cone from Dairy Queen.

Another fun thing we did recently was attend the Cone Spring Fling. It was at High Falls State Park, and I really enjoyed spending time with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course, Grandma and Pop Pop.

Cousin Carl took some time to pose with me.

Here are the beautiful falls.

And here is a picture of all of Mama's cousins and then some of her aunts and uncles. And somehow I ended up on cousin Steve's shoulders.

We have so much to look forward to in the coming months. Baba's birthday is this weekend. And then at the end of May, we'll be going back to Siesta Key for a vacation. Then after that, Mama and Baba will soon celebrate their 11th anniversary. So stay tuned for more updates!

Guess Who Turned Four?

Yes, it was me! I turned 4 in January. I was very lucky to have a party at one of my favorite places: Groovy Golf. It's a glow-in-the-dark putt putt golf place. Here I am blowing out the candles on my cake.

I also got lots of presents from my friends!

I had a great time, surrounded by my favorite friends and my family.

Here I am with my friend Lalapat.

I also enjoyed a fun party at my school, and some of my friends from school also attended my party at Groovy Golf. To be different, I had a cookie cake at school and then a traditional cake at Groovy Golf.

January was really a fun month for me. And the best present of all was that Grandma finished her treatments and was able to come to celebrate my birthday.

Also, Xin Nian Kuai Le, or Happy Chinese New Year! We welcome the year of the tiger, and I hope it's a wonderful year for everyone.

Our Holiday Season

Just one of our "Eight Crazy Nights." Explanation to come. :)

We had a wonderful holiday season this year! And it's probably time to share with everyone that our holidays will be a bit different from now on - meaning that they will now include Hanukkah and other Jewish celebrations! So if you see pictures of Santa AND a menorah, don't think you have the wrong blog.

Mommy and Daddy have both always believed that there are many paths that lead to the same outcome, and we are thankful G-d is leading us to embrace one that Mommy has felt pulled toward for about a decade now. Definitely a "mazel tov" worthy occasion! We appreciate that our family and friends love us and support us in all that we do. Mommy especially appreciates that she has a husband who is so supportive of her and always wants the best for her - even if it means major changes to our family traditions. And you have to admit that there is nothing cuter than a beautiful Chinese-American girl grinning ear to ear over a menorah. :)

And I learned so much about Hanukkah this year! It lasts 8 nights, and I learned how to light the candles properly on the menorah. We played with a dreidel set a sweet friend of Mama's bought us, read from the Torah, and listened to Hanukkah music. Each of the 8 nights consisted of reading about the story behind Hanukkah. We learned a lot about the Maccabees. We ate delicious latkes that Mama prepared. It was a wonderful learning experience for me. I cried on the 8th night, because I did not want Hanukkah to end. But, it will come again next year!

This was also my first year really LOVING my visit with Santa. Tears were nowhere to be found this year. I walked right up to him and hugged him and told him how happy I am to be visiting him. I told him exactly what I wanted.

So that is our holiday update! Guess who has a birthday coming up and will turn 4 in a few days? Look for pictures soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration this year. My brother, Xavier, was able to come visit with us even though Grandma, Pop-Pop, and Doe were not (since Grandma is not feeling well and needs to keep her immune system healthy right now). This year, we decided to dine out for the first time! Mama has cooked Thanksgiving dinner every year since she and Daddy have been married with the exception of one year, so this was a real treat for her. We went to the fabulous buffet at Chateau Elan, a nearby vineyard and winery in Braselton, Georgia. Here I am standing by the fireplace at their beautiful resort.

Xavier took this picture of Mama, Daddy and me overlooking the Versailles restaurant (where the Thanksgiving dinner buffet was held) at Chateau Elan.

And here is a nice shot of the buffet tables and the festivities below. I really liked looking up at all the glass and seeing the sky and the clouds as they moved past us.

Here I am sitting in my brother's lap. I love spending time with him.

And here I am in Daddy's lap after eating some of everything on the buffet - including caviar, foie gras, smoked salmon, and all kinds of things kids are NOT supposed to like. My parents love that I'm a culinary adventurer!

We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We look forward to the upcoming holiday season and all the festivities and fellowship that it will bring for us. Stay tuned for pictures from the various events we attend and activities we participate in. And we thank everyone for the continued prayers for Grandma. She has tolerated her second round of chemotherapy well and has only one more to go. We look forward to 2010!

We Had A SPOOKtacular October!

The month of October was a busy one for us! It was filled with both fun activities as well as those that were more mundane but necessary - as always with life. We also had some news that our family had to cope with - which we will discuss later in this post. Thankfully, all is well. This first set of pictures shows how I typically look on an average Saturday when I go with Mama and Baba to run errands. Here I am all set to go out to lunch and to the library. I always want to wear a "princess dress" at every opportunity, and I always carry a purse. Sunglasses are a necessity in the Georgia sun - even in Fall.

Here is the BIG canvas bag of books we are returning at the library. Like Mama, I love books and reading.

And here I am outside again, standing like a proper little lady. Mama and Baba do say they are proud of my behavior and that I do act like a nice little lady.


We also went to the Washington Farms Pumpkin Patch this year with the Asian Children's Mentor Program. My mentor Ji In and I had a GREAT time petting the animals and doing lots of things. Here we are trying to entice some animals to come visit with us.

These goats finally decided to come see us.

And now we are vising with a donkey. Mama called him something else, but she won't tell me what she called him. She said it's in the Bible, though. :)

I am petting a bunny rabbit now. He has really big ears.

We are on a hay ride now! The wind is really blowing!

This is a big and interesting slide!

Wheeeeeee!

And now we are playing in a bin full of corn!

This is FUN!

Now Ji In is helping me to ride a tricycle through a hay maze.

Woohoo! I'm doing it!

Grandma, Pop Pop and Doe came up, and we did some pumpkin carving! Daddy just took off the top of the pumpkin.

And now I am taking the icky insides out. Yuck!

I'm in up to my elbows!

Whoa - it's empty in there!

Now Daddy is cutting out the pattern.

And now the finished product!

Look how it glows. Spooky!

I really love my grandma!

This year, Daddy was Rorschach from The Watchmen, I was Cinderella, and Mama was a Vampire.

We outsmarted the rain this year by trick or treating INSIDE the mall!

Grandma and Doe had a great time as well. So did Pop Pop, but he's not in this picture.

Mama wasn't a "scary" vampire. She said she's a vegan vampire. :)

But with spooky red eyes.

And here's a close up of Mr. Rorschach.


This past month has been tough, as we found out that grandma has breast cancer. The good news is that she is only in Stage 2 with no lymph node involvement. The bad news is that a few rounds of chemotherapy is still warranted. We appreciate the prayers and kind thoughts of all our family and friends who are supporting us through this. And we celebrate that Grandma has a fantastic positive attitude and the love of her family to help her get through this - and especially the love of ME - her favorite granddaughter to give her hope and some humor along the way.