Category: Mimi

I want to remember this

My sister Jan and I took the kids to a splash pad this afternoon.

The weather was hot but the water was cold so the kids would take breaks to sit in the sun wrapped in towels to warm up before running back into the water.

My kids love to push each other’s buttons and every day I have to mediate more little disagreements between the two of them than I can count.  It can be exasperating!

But when I catch a glimpse of the love between them I’m bowled over with gratitude that they have each other and that I have them.

Parenting Win

Thank you for your kindness! While I was in the middle of recovering it was difficult to talk about the miscarriage, but now that I’m feeling better it felt cathartic to acknowledge and discuss our loss.  Your support was incredibly lovely.  So thank you.

And now back to a mainstay of this blog: pics of the kids!  After church today Mimi and I busted out the stamps and art supplies.

Afterwards I was pretty happy that I had splurged on “extremely washable” ink.

I am so grateful for our funny little bug.

Our Halloween

Yes, I’m still here! The months since N’s accident have been a little harder on us than I thought they would and the time has gone by in a bit of a blur.  But I’ve been taking photos and hope to post them soon to get caught up.  

The kids had a great Halloween. I helped out at E’s Kindergarten party by running a photo booth and took pics of all the cute kids in their costumes. 

Summer’s End

I’m starting to fee a bit wistful because it seems like our summer is almost over.  

I’m definitely not going to me the 100 degree heat; sweater weather cannot come fast enough for me! But I still have a list of list of things I want to do this summer and I’m beginning to realize I probably won’t get to all of them. Maybe one big push of effort before school starts (and my daytime babysitter options narrow) is called for. 

How about you?  Do you have any projects you’re trying to get finished before summer ends? 

Mimi’s Hanbok

When I was pregnant with Mimi we visited Korea and my cousin gave us a hanbok (a traditional Korean dress) for the baby. If I had been on the ball about things when Mimi turned one I would have dressed her in it and taken pictures and had a little dol for her.

Mimi recently found her hanbok in her closet and now, being a lover of all things frilly, she begs to put it on whenever she gets the chance. It’s sized for a one-year-old but she can juuust squeeze into it.

My aunt is coming to visit this summer; maybe I’ll see if she can pick up another hanbok for our little blue-eyed, quarter-Korean girly-girl.

Waffle Love


On Friday Mimi and I dropped E off at preschool and then swung by N’s office to pick him up for lunch. As we headed towards the freeway we spotted the Waffle Love truck parked at the Alpine park-and-ride. Since E wasn’t with us (his food allergies make normal waffles off-limits) we decided that the opportunity was too good to pass up so I flipped an illegal u-turn and ten minutes later we had gourmet waffles in our hot little hands.

We took our bounty back to N’s office and ate in the break room there.  I got a liege waffle with Biscoff spread, cream, and strawberries.  It was delicious and very filling (and probably my entire calorie allowance for the day).

As we were walking to the elevator we ran into the CEO, a trim 40-somthing guy with premature grey hair.  N introduced us and when he we got to Mimi she looked at the CEO, pointed at him, and clearly said “Pa-pa!” which is what she called her grandpas. There was an awkward moment (he did not look thrilled) and the CEO asked Mimi if Pa-pa has grey hair like him and N interjected that Mimi calls all good-looking men Pa-pa.  And then we fled to the elevator as soon as politeness would allow. Yeesh.

Mimi’s other birthday party

On Saturday we went to N’s parents’ house to a low-key birthday dinner for Mimi. Mimi loves Minnie Mouse and my mother-in-law decorated to make things extra special. 

My mother-in-law also made a delicious vegan chocolate birthday cake. It is so nice when E with his food allergies can enjoy the same tasty dessert as everyone else.

Everyone had a nice time, especially our newly-minted two-year-old.

Mimi’s Birthday Party

Mimi turned two at the end of January but we just wrapped up the celebrating. We had a couple family get-togethers spread out over a few weeks. My sister and my cousin live nearby, as well as N’s parents, and since it would be hard to cram everyone in our smaller-sized house we met up at a local trampoline place.

I’m so grateful for this funny little bug.  She is such a joy.


2012 in review

Happy 2013! I guess it’s part of getting older, but the years are whipping by faster and faster to me now. It makes me grateful that I keep this blog; without it I would be even more puzzled than I already am as to where the time went.

This last year I turned some pens on the lathe and made my first quilt (and my second, third, and fourth).  I learned that I have no natural talent at golf but that there might be some hope for me yet at archery.

On the home front, I finished a mostly-DIY kitchen remodel (that I still need to take pictures of) and painted the kids’ bathroom.  Our big willow tree blew down (lame!) and we hired some lumberjacks to trim our other trees.

We had some fun adventures as a family this last year.  We took the kids to Disneyland, Legoland, the beach, and Arches National Park.  We also went on some memorable outings closer to home, going to the circus, the state fair, and to the top of Squaw Peak where we saw the fall leaves and and watched paragliders take off.  We also introduced E to the joys of bowling.

The kids passed some individual milestones this year.  E started preschool, started to learn to read, and turned five.  Mimi turned one, learned to walk, started chatting up a storm, and got her first haircut.

N and I went on some memorable dates: we saw the Beach Boys in concert and caught some outdoor theatre as well as some screenings at the Sundance Film Festival. We also discovered our local roller derby team and went to a fun bout in an abandoned Food4Less.

Our trip to New York was our biggest adventure together as a couple this year.  We had a few days in the city to play tourist but then Hurricane Sandy hit and we holed up in our hotel room with deli takeout and rode out the storm.  Fortunately we never lost power (or even internet access) so we spent some time catching up on episodes of Doctor Who.  Getting home was a little hairy and sadly we missed Halloween with the kids but I dressed the kids up again and recreated the cuteness. 

Looking back on the year I feel especially grateful for my family and the opportunities we’ve had to learn new things and visit interesting places.

I hope 2013 brings an increase of love and light and interesting things into your life!

For the Christmas Card

I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of the kids lately in order to get some for our Christmas card.  I ended up with some shots I liked but then I had to used Photoshop to remove ketchup from around E’s mouth (I really wished I had just thought to wipe his mouth) and snot from under Mimi’s nose.

I tend to obsess over projects like this and spent entirely too long futzing around with the photos and layout so it was a big relief when I finally sent the cards to the printer last night.  I’m excited to see how they turned out.