Finally, it's 10/31

Sooooooooo busy for the past few days (weeks) because 10/31 is the deadline for 3 things: My license renewal (needs to finish 80 hours of Contination Education online plus passing the all exams for those CEs online); State and federal payroll taxes and state sales tax returns are due; One of my clients' city license needs to be renewed. Finally, I got everything out this morning! Feeling good!脖子前2天有點扭到，今天差不多快好了。

In the afternoon, Hee and I went to Ha's school. They had a little parade, some crafts and a game. After the game, they had yummy snack (and Hee ate some, too.)

Tonight, we are going to attend the harvest night in the church, and then, I can have a good night sleep and say good-bye to 10/31.

Hee's First Preschool Picture

Today was Hee's school photo day. At first, he was not happy to go to school because in the past 2 days, he was sick and was able to stay home, so even though I knew that he's able to go to school today (yesterday, he was perfectly ok at home playing with R), he still tried to cough loudly to hope that I could change my mind.

I told him that he's perfectly ok, so he should go to school; moreover, if he wanted to have a school photo like Ha's, he needed to go to school today. Since he didn't have any choice, he went to school without crying or arguing.

Tonight, Stephen saw him smiling on the bed, so he asked Hee if he smiled like that when the school photo was taken. Hee said that he didn't remember how he smiled. He said that the photographer made funny faces, did silly trick, but he didn't laugh; at last, "the photographer tickled me! And I laughed!" Hee said. It's not easy to be a photographer!

My opinion has been posted

My letter to Mercury News has been posted:

http://www.mercurynews.com/letters/ci_10838827?nclick_check=1

2 Boys and 1 Girl

These 2 days, our friend P was busy, so her daughter R came to our house from 9 to 6.

Yesterday, Hee had a fever, so he slept for almost the whole day. R is a great helper, and she helped me to hang the clothes, put boxes into the recycle bin, and swept the leaves with Ha ( oops, 被大家發現我使用童工了！）

Today, Hee felt much better, so he and R fixed the tricycles in my garage, and they made the cards for moms (well, I haven't got the card yet???)

Having 3 kids at home is not too much different from having 2 because they can play by themselves. Ha and Hee are good brothers, and they can take care of R pretty much. So, should we have the 3rd one? Of course, NO! If we want to have a girl in our house, we can occasionally borrow R from P&J. She's nice and polite and helpful, and it's great to have her around.

For more photos, please watch the slide show on the side bar later.

Halloween issue followed up -- emails between teacher and mom

This morning, Ha's teacher sent me an email during the recess time ( I believed):

Joshua told us today that he does not celebrate Halloween. Some children were curious about that, but they were satisfied when I told him that not all families celebrate the same days.
I wanted to let you know that Friday afternoon will be very focused on Halloween with a parade and a party. if you want to pick him up at lunch time you could certainly do that. Otherwise perhaps we could chat so that I know if you want him to participate in the parade etc.

I wrote back:

Thanks for asking. He told me that he will wear his regular clothes for parade, and I think that it will be fine for him to join the Halloween class party unless he chooses not to. He wore the costume when he was in kindergarten, but last night, when we were preparing for the sharing, he told me that he doesn't want to celebrate the Halloween because God doesn't like the ghost or evil spirit things. His brother and I will be there with him for the parade and the class party, and we are sure that he will have fun on Friday with other kids.

And she replied:

Thanks for the response. That sounds good.

So, this will be the way that we handle this Halloween issue. Ha's teacher is very caring, and she loves to communicate with parents regarding to big or small things which she thought that parents should know, so we have the peace of mind when we send Ha to school with her.

I'm Soooooooo Proud of Haha

This week, in Ha's class, the sharing topic is "Draw a picture of what you are going to be for Halloween", and there's an option:" For those who do not celebrate Halloween, please draw a very nice picture of things that remind you of fall".

Last year, we bought a bear costume from Craigslist for Ha, so this year, I told him that he can wear that one as well. I also mentioned to him before that Christian do not celebrate Halloween because it's related to ghost or the evil things that God doesn't like, so we don't go to treat or trick but go to the Harvest Night in the church instead. I don't want him to feel leftout at school, so I let him wear the costume to school last year.

However, when I asked him to draw the bear for tomorrow's sharing, he told me that he wanted to draw a leaf because he doesn't celebrate Halloween, so he's going to draw something that reminds him of fall. Then, I asked him if he will wear the regular clothes to school on Friday, and he said yes. I told him that he may look strange when other kids wear their costume and he doesn't. He said that it's ok because when he was in kindergarten, there were some kids not wearing the costume, either.

I was so surprised and yet, so proud of his "guts". Being a Christian for so many years, I don't think that I have the same courage as Ha to live differently from others in order to please God. He made a lot of Yes on 8 signs and wanted to put in our front yard, but I was afraid that those people who support No on 8 will do bad things to us, so I asked Ha not to put them there. I only dared to put the signs on the street where is further away from our house. 如果基督徒都像Ha一樣，福音可能早就到地極了。

Watch It!!!!!!!

Please watch this video and pass it to your friends to watch.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/simulcast.aspx

A Letter to Mercury News

I really can't stand it anymore when we put out the yard signs "yes on 8" on the street, and they were damaged or stolen so many times in the past week, so I wrote a letter to Mercury News, and here it goes:

I believe that few of our neighbors must be strongly against Prop.8 because our yard signs of "Yes on Prop.8 " have been damaged or stolen many times in the past week. We put 2 signs out last Sunday, but they were pulled out many times by someone, and eventually, they disappeared. Then, we put another one out on Thursday, but it's totally gone on Friday as well. I have one question: "If people who support "No on Prop.8" claim that everyone should have the equal right,and if they believe that "no on 8" is going to "end the hate", why can't we have the right to voice our opinions, and how could they damage and steal our property?"

It can only has 125 or less words, and I wrote 123 words. It will be 125 if adding my first, middle and last name.

Yesterday, someone put out 2 more yard signs of "yes on 8", and they were pulled out again today, and I helped them to put them back on. We got 2 signs from the church as well, and when the other 2 signs disappear, we will put out ours, too. There are only one week away from the election day, and May God bless the American, bless the Californian. There's very little that we can do right now, but at least, we did our share.

Better than Top Quality Cocoons

This summer, we had around 1000 silkworms and all of them formed cocoons; however, only 200+ moths emerged from the cocoons (others might die inside the cocoons.) I contacted a silk company and they agreed to purchase the cocoons which the moths had naturally emerged from, and they said that they would pay $0.15 for top quality cocoons and $.075 for lower quality ones. Today, I got the check from the silk company, and guessed what? They paid us $0.20 each (better than top quality cocoons), and even though we only had 200+ cocoons, they paid for 300. So, we got $60 extra income today!

The silk company owner also wrote a card to us: "Thank you for the beautiful cocoons. They are very strong & clean, and clearly, you love your silkworms!"

It's such an encouraging note. Stephen did spend a lot of time feeding the silkworms; I did spend a lot of time cleaning and seperating the cocoons; Ha did love the silkworms and play with them; and Hee did his best to overcome his fear of the silkworms....boxes of the silkworms were besides our dining table, and Hee needed to have the courage to sit on the dining table and eat his meal. Good job, everyone!

A Long Day

Saturday, 10/25 was a long day for us.

Usually, I bake cupcakes on Saturdays as breakfast, and this week, I baked 14 apple&banana cupcakes. After we finished the breakfast, we went to McClellan Ranch Park where is now an 18-acre natural preserve park. It had an annual wildlife education day on Saturday, and I thought that my kids would be interested in it, so we went. Ha and Hee made birdfeeders, planted some small plants, and they touched many live animals. They loved the little chicken the best, and they fed them some food. They played with the animals for a long time, and I walked around to ask the experts some questions about compost, flowers, and how to get the honey from the beehives. I liked to touch the snake. Some girls tied the snake around their nacks, and I really wanted to try it, too, but I thought that I was too old to do this kind of children stuff, so I didn't do it.

We went home for lunch, and kids watched the TV for an hour, and then we set off again to Ha's school for Pumpkin Festival. Ha told me that his teacher's husband needed to attend a class, so she will be at school around 3pm, so he wanted to be at school at 3pm, too. He loved to see his teacher, so I guessed that he's not a trouble student at school because usually, trouble students want to hide away from the teachers as far as possible.

Ha and Hee played a lot of games, had fun and got some prizes. We also saw Ha's carved pumpkin in the library. Then, there's a not-so-funny magic show, so we went home before the show ended.

When we got home, it's around 5pm. I helped Ha to put his prizes in his room, and then, when I went to the kitchen, I saw that Stephen was measuring the rice. It was not a usual thing that he would do, and moreover, he measured cups and cups of rice, so I asked him who would be coming. He said that his brother's family would be here, but they are not big huge people, and I didn't think that they were able to eat so much. Ok, I know, it's a "surprise party"! The question was that we had been out the whole day, what were they going to eat when they came? Stephen went to the market to buy some food, and I cooked 2 easy dishes and cut some fruit. Ha and Hee didn't know that my birthday is coming, so when they found out, Hee went to clean up his room, and Ha started to decorate our house with ribbons, and he took out the candles. He asked for the cake, but we didn't have one, so he decorated the cupcakes that was leftover from the breakfast. At school's pumpkin festival, he could choose a prize because he caught a rubber duck. He chose a big ring for me. Later, when he found that it would be my birthday party, he took the ring back and wrapped it with a wrapping paper and asked me to take it out from the wrapping paper and wear it because it's my birthday gift. Even though Ha usually doesn't talk much or show much emotion, but indeed, he's a romantic guy. The prize box was full of stickers and toys, but he chose a ring for Mama, which was very nice and warm. ( I thought that the he liked the ring and wanted to get it for himself, but it's too big for him, so he gave it to me; however, this morning, when I asked him why he chose the ring, he said that he chose it on purpose. He knew that it was for girl, so he chose it for me. So sweet!) Hee usually is a sweet boy, but he didn't show any special action last night. He had too much fun with his friends.

By the way, my husband was very sweet, too because he invited our friends and family here without letting me know it. He must have been nervous because we were out for the whole day, and he hardly had time to cook or buy food. Even though the surprise party was really a surprise when I found it out, but there's still a big surprise for me and for him: When we started eating, he found that he forgot to press the buttom on the rice cooker, and the rice which made me found out about the party was UNCOOKED!!!!!!!Hahahaha.....

After dinner, when I thought that we were going to share the cupcakes, Stephen took out a beautiful. He hid it in our bedroom, and that was a surprise for me. I had a happy birthday party because I was able to spend time with my lovely friends and family.

This Saturday was a very very long day!

(I'll upload more photos to slide show on the side bar)

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