All Gone

This morning, I went to Target trying to buy hand sanitisers for Ha and Hee to bring to school, so they can clean up their hands more often. However, they were all sold out! Unbelievable! People acted so fast to protect themselves from getting the Swine Flu. I'm too slow.

Final Result of Walkathon

The final result of the walkathon is here: Ha walked/ran 25 laps during the walkathon.

Hee's singing

I'm busy at finishing the quarter-end reports, so I don't have time to write too much today. I'll just play Hee's singing video clip to entertain everyone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA9_FXteROg

在backyard看見神

Well, I didn't see God with my eyes, but through His creatures, I saw His almighty power and perfect wisdom. We were just for fun to plant some fruits and vegetables in the backyard, and we were not professional farmers, so we didn't know what would happen next. Every new thing took us by surprise, and we were able to take a peek of God's wonderful creation. Here are some of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgP8YWEyo1g

(If you don't have a backyard, you can simply put a pot with rich soil in the house in front of the window which sun can shine in, and you will see the amazing growth of the plants, too. We have some in the house. It takes less than a week for some plants to sprout from the seeds. We have some green onion and cabbage seeds and some flower seeds, too. They are from our backyard, so we have quite a few. If you want some, please let me know. I'll be glad to see your little garden getting started.)

God has different plans for each kind of different plants, and I surely believe that God has different plans for each one of us. If There is a God, and we don't know Him; If what the Bible says is true, and we don't know what it says, then, when the date comes, when we stand before God, when God asks us if we fulfill His plan for us, what should we say? "mmm.....oh, yes, I finished my projects on time;....oh, I've gone to Karaoke twice a week;....I sent my kids to different kinds of classes every afternoon;....I donated a Gold Buddha to the temple last month;......? Or, if we know there's a God, we've experienced Him, we've been a Chiristian for a long time, and we are familiar with the Bible, but we still didn't follow His plans for us? (有時候，我覺得剛信主不久的人的事奉應該更蒙神喜悅。因為在我們剛開始服事的時候，沒有經驗，不知道怎麼做，只能單單倚靠神。那樣的服事其實是最美也最有果效的。事奉久了，有經驗了，有時忘了禱告倚靠神，那其實並不算是用心靈事奉神，只是在做事罷了。到神的臺前，要交帳時，說神啊，我不是為袮做了什麼什麼，但我相信，神並不會悅納。在小事上忠心，將來神才會把大事交給我們管理。）


然而時候將到，現在就是了，那用心靈按真理敬拜父的，才是真正敬拜的人；因為父在尋找這樣敬拜他的人。神是靈，敬拜他的必須用心靈按真理敬拜他。（聖經新譯本John4:23,24)

Ha's Walkathon

Today, Ha's school held the annual fundraiser, Walkathon. Last year, I was assigned to hand water cups to the kids, and this year, I was assigned to spread the water to the kids.

This morning, the sun was hiding, and I thought that I might not need to do anything since it was cold. However, later, the sun's up, and after running/walking for few laps, kids were getting hot, and my water spread became a popular spot. I also let Hee spread the water for me, and he had fun, too.

Last year, Ha only walked 11 laps, and this year, he ran/walked 18 laps(wrong, he said that he walked during lunch time, too,so he walked more than 20 laps。）. Good progress!

Walkathon is one of the biggest event at Ha's school. There's a live DJ, drinks, icepops, fruits and raffles for kids. Also, each kid gets a walkathon T-Shirt. Hee will be able to join it next year when he's in kindergarten.

A short video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y_ZKExnyS8

Science Experiment

Last week, when I made oatmeal raisin cookies, Ha saw my baking soda and said that he learned a science experiment from Magic School Bus that adding baking soda to vinegar will get air.

I searched for the exact amount of ingredients for the experiment, and they started doing it in the backyard. Look at the balloon, it worked!

Dance Party

Last night, after dinner, Director Ha asked Hee to be the dancer at his dance party. Here are the clips:

Dance Performance - Setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwUXkI1Z9sY
Welcome the dancer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUitsKzWoMo
Dancer's entrance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j30vNnTmmg
Dancer's greeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WftM3Fbs2xE
喔，十字架: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aDWSHBcU4o
似乎在天堂: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYd6pXhEuJ8
似乎在天堂-continued: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtAJ_noph4Y
幕後花絮: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqiXewyP8U0
Last Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvaIoJYjPsc

Hee didn't dance very often at home, and this was one of very few times that I saw his dancing. 很搞笑，有乃父母之風。

The Dangerous Toy

Because our compost bin needs some brown waste, we bought a paper shredder to shred the paper and feed our compost bin.

Before, I didn't want to have a paper shredder because I was afraid that Ha and Hee might play with it and get hurt. I guessed that I worried too much. Actually these 2 kids are very cautious, and they learned the correct way to put the paper in the machine. Without the adult's supervision, they won't turn on the machine by themselves; therefore, I think that it's safe to have this dangerous toy around.

This was the clip when this dangerous toy just arrived our house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDULS6qWGc

買菜

To me, going grocery shopping by myself is an enjoyable thing because I'm able to "imagine" how good those dishes will be after I cook them. Therefore, I usually go shopping on Tuesday or Thursday morning when both of them go to school. Going with Hee is not too bad because he would sit in the shopping cart, so it's not a big problem for me. However, going shopping with both Ha and Hee was a nightmare. Ha didn't sit in the shopping cart anymore, so Hee wouldn't sit in the cart, either. They liked to touch whatever came to their eyes and made comments to whatever I touched. With both of them around, it's hard to get out of the supermarket in 2 hours.

調虎離山計：

Mom: 你們兩個一人選一個喜歡的點心。 1到2塊錢，不能太貴。
哈和嘻立刻消失在視線之外。。。。。。。

Facing so many different, delicious snack choices, it's hard to pick only one, so it took them very long to make their decision, and I bought many time for myself to shop freely. However, before I finished shopping, they came back.....with candies! I couldn't believe their bad choices, but they said that it's their喜歡的點心。Oh well, I meant cookies or other snack for their snack time. (They have a snack time every afternoon.) So, I sent them over again and told them that they needed to choose one box of cookie for both of them to enjoy. They needed to agree on the choice. Both of them had to like it.

哈和嘻立刻消失在視線之外。。。。。。。

這更難，選一個給自己都很久了，何況兩個人要一樣喜歡的？

When they came back, I almost finished my shopping.不能再要他們買東西了，只好忍受他們的non-stopped talking, 趕快買一買回家了。

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Ha and Hee's spring break has half-gone, and the first 3 days, most of the time, 3 of us stayed at home and cleaned up their rooms. Today, busy Daddy took a day off, so we could go to visit Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's about one and half hour driving distance from our house, but kids have never been there before.

Ha woke up early these days. Sometimes, 7:30; sometimes,8am. He never woke up so early on school days. I thought that I would be able to sleep a little longer during their spring break, but no luck for me! Hee still enjoyed sleeping, so we had to wake him up in order to get going before it's late to the aquarium.

The admission tickets are $29.95 for adult and $17.95 for kids. The membership is $120 for two adults and their children. As long as we go there more than once, it worths, so we get the membership online before we go.

We got there around 11 am, and after a little walking around, it was about time for kelp forest feeding. It was very excited to see a diver in the water feeding the fish, and it was fun to see so many different fishes swimming around. For video clip, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cY5hWaFCA0

After that, we went to Splash zone and touch pool and also went to watch penguin and sea otter. However, we felt hungry and needed to get something to eat. We wanted to eat in that area and come back to the aquarium after lunch, but Ha wanted to eat at McDonald's which is further away, so we decided to go to McDonald's and go to the Aquarium some other day for the rest of the exhibits. It's a good motivation for us to go back next time in order to make good use of our membership.

有一種魚叫 anchovies, and they will yawn a big yawn during the meal time. 他們嘴巴不大，但哈欠超大，看起來下巴都要掉了。（下巴掉了？哦，是說誰啊？J小姐，不是說妳啦，是說我照片中的下巴都快要掉了。）

Closet

I was cleaning up Ha's closet this afternoon. It was not big, but it's a walk-in closet.

When I moved things and boxes out of his closet, one of the corner looked empty, and Ha was excited running in and said that he wanted to read and work at that corner in the closet. It sounded crazy but familiar.

When I just came to the U.S., we lived in 中山大廈 in Oakland Chinatown, and in our room, there's a small walk-in closet. I liked to borrow books from the Asian library downstairs and read the books in the closet with the door closed. The books that I liked to read were 偵探小說, such as 福爾摩斯，亞森羅蘋, and I was so into the book in my own world in the closet.

Closet, 或許是個讓人感到安全，溫暖的地方。

Spring Break

It is Kids' spring break this week, and my goal is to help them cleaning up their messy rooms.

iPhone Application

This morning, I heard from the radio that one man earned $800000 in 5 months by writing softwares for iPhone's Apple store, so I did a little research on it. I guess that he joined Apple's developer program for mobile phone application.

I have to admit that I don't know what I'm writing about or talking about, but some of my readers may know it or may be interested in it, so I post the links (it's just two of the websites that I found. I don't know if they are good or helpful because I have no clue about this technology): http://developer.apple.com/iPhone/program/, or http://www.mobilephonedevelopment.com/ . Or, if you know any brothers or sisters being laid off and they may have the skill to do it, feel free to let them know.

Ok, if you get rich because of reading this entry and working on it, I won't ask for the commission, but at least, it will be nice if you can invite me for a dinner!

The Bathroom is occupied

Before, Ha and Hee only brushed their teeth at night before sleep, and every time I asked them to brush the teeth in the morning, they refused to. Since we were mostly in a rush in the morning, I just let it go. However, I really wanted to train them to brush the teeth and wash the face when they wake up.

I got an idea. I usually brushed my teeth as soon as I woke up, and they never noticed it. Therefore, I changed my schedule. I would cook the breakfast and make their lunch box and then just before I sat down for the breakfast, I would say " Oh, I need to brush my teeth now." When I came back from the bathroom, I would express my "口氣清新，神清氣爽”的 enjoy my breakfast. I "acted" for few days and didn't mention that they needed to brush their teeth, too. However, from about a week ago, ha started to close the bathroom door and brush his teeth and washed his face before the breakfast; and today, Hee copied it, too, and he locked the bathroom door, so Ha waited outside for his turn.

My dream came true! However, now, the new worry is that they spend too much time in the bathroom, and I'm afraid that they will be late for school!

Silkworm again & Good bye, Hermit Crab

Last week, one day, I saw the hermit crab stopped moving, so we buried him beside one of the peach trees in the backyard. Around the same time, I saw the Mulberry Tree starting having green leaves, so I went to check on our silkworm eggs, and some of them have been hatched to mini silkworms.

At beginning, it was so hard to see them by the eyes, but now, after a week, they turned into grey little worms, and I believed that not for long, they will be white, fat babies.
This year, I only saved few eggs, so I'm sure that we won't see thousands of silkworms like last year. However, when I told Stephen that silkworms were hatched, he said: “不要讓我看到，免得我看到之後要餵他們”。It looks like that he is not fully recovered from last year's “蠶災”。

Hee and T-Ball

Hee likes sports, and usually, he's pretty good at them (like Stephen, not like me). The following link will send you to a video clip that he played T-ball in our backyard few weeks ago. It was his first time that people threw the ball to him, so he's still trying to get a hand of it; however, 看那個架勢，挺不賴的哦！http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyTtEk-vETg

He goes to a fun of sports class last Fall, and he will go again starting this week since the weather is nice now. In class, the ball was on a stand, so he could hit the ball easily. We got the t-ball set from a garage sale, and it was less than a dollar. In Target, it will be at least 7 to 8 dollars.

黃愛頤

別耽心，我們還沒有打算生女兒，也不是預先給女兒取好名字。這是我老公的新名字：黃愛頤！





以下是搞笑夫妻的動人對話，請以平常心看待。若有噁心或雞皮疙瘩脫落的現象，是正常反應，不必太過耽心。





。。。。。。前面ｃｏｎｖｅｒｓａｔｉｏｎ省略


Ｓ：我要改名叫黃愛頤。


Y: （受寵若驚中）好像女生的名字，可是你如果真的改了，我會很感動喔。你如果不改，就是不夠愛我。（這下可好了！）


Ｓ：（趕快找個臺階下）可是，我如果改了，大家就不認識我了。


Ｙ：才不會，大家聽到這個感人的故事，一定一傳十，十傳百，本來不認識你的人也會趕快想來認識你。別的團契的人知道“黃愛頤”Ｓｕｎｄａｙ參加第三堂主日崇拜，也會特別到第三堂來看你，第三堂人數也會增加。


Ｓ：（再想個辦法）可是美國沒有登記中文名字，要怎麼改？


Ｙ：沒關係，那不重要。臺灣的身份證也不用去改，這些都是形式上的東西。只要朋友都知道你叫黃愛頤就可以證明你的決心了。教會通訊錄和Ｓｕｎｄａｙ　程序單要不要改？還是你還沒準備好？要不要先讓小組的弟兄姐妹知道你的新名字？


Ｓ：先讓小組的弟兄姐妹知道就好。


Ｙ：我可以ｓｅｎｄ　ｅｍａｉｌ　給他們，然後寫在我的ｂｌｏｇ上嗎？


Ｓ：可以。


Ｙ：真的嗎？


Ｓ：Ｙｅｓ．


(I asked him many times about this, but he seemed to make up his mind on having the new name).


Y: 晚上有人叫你黃愛頤，你不要假裝沒聽到。


S: hahahahaha......





Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls:


May I have the honor to present you my husband~~~~~~~



黃愛頤!

Please feel free to call him by the new name!

Jury Duty Scam

FYI, I got this from an email:
Jury Duty Scam:

DO NOT DELETE WITHOUT READING ! This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below).Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It isspreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us takethose summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out ontheir civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that younever received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for yourSocial Security number and date ofbirth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrestwarrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity wasjust stolen. The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma ,Illinois , and Colorado This (swindle) is particularly insidious becausethey use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into givinginformation by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI andthe federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their websites, warning consumers about the fraud. Check it out here:http://www.fbi. gov/page2/ june06/jury_ scams060206. htm And here: http://www.snopes. com/crime/ fraud/juryduty. asp Yep! It's true Please make sure and pass this on! Especially tell the elderly in yourfamily, they are so easily confused, and they are the ones that are theeasiest to prey on!! Thanks

Ha was making his bed

Ha is a messy person (well, now, he's much better than before. When he was younger, it's almost impossible not to step on his things when going into his room.); however, he insisted in making his bed every night. In winter, he had 4 or 5 layers of blankets, and it would take him more than 10 minutes to make the bed. Now, he only had 2 layers, so it's much faster.

My question was: Every night, when I went to check on him at 11pm, most of the time, he kicked off all the blankets. Then, why bother to make the bed so neat?

Click the link, and you will see his video clip of making his bed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHTas7Qf0Bw

Grapefruit

Our grapefruit tree bore a lot of grapefruits every year. They are big and beautiful but VERY sour.

I used about 6 grapefruits, water, and honey to make grapefruit juice. Stephen and I thought that it was yummy, but Ha and Hee were not used to that taste, and they wanted me to make lemon/honey juice instead, which I have been making every week. It was our regular drink.

Our final decision was to make these 2 kinds of juice alternatively; however, it meant that we won't be able to consume our grapefruit as fast as we thought. Anybody wants to help us consume the grapefruit? They are sour, but by adding the honey, the juice is good. Want to try it?