Christmas 2010

It is that time of the year again. It's my favourite time of the year, and I'm sure many others, too. Chocho loves Christmas. And frankly, what kid wouldn't like Christmas? It's that time of the year when they get to get to write their letters to Santa asking for the gifts they want for Christmas. This week I took Chocho out Christmas shopping with me, and I warned him that the purpose of the trip was to look for gifts for OTHER people, and not for him. He said "ok". But of course, at the first sight of toys, it all began.... "can I have this?", "I want that", "it's not for me, it's for Jassie", "pleaseee?", "but I want to buy myself a present, too", "but I've been really good this year", "I'll share with Jassie, I promise", "but I don't have this one yet", and it goes on and on and on.... :) On the way home Chocho blurted in the car

"Mama, I think I know why Santa is so fat."
"Oh really? Why?"
"Because he eats too many of those cookies."
"Oh, wow, ya I never would've guessed!"
"Ya, this time we gotta give him healthy cookies."
"How about Oatmeal cookies with raisins and no sugar?"
"Ya ok."

:)

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year, too!



Crazy kids in action:

CIBC Kids Xmas party 2010

We went to my work annual Children's Christmas Party last week. Chocho loves going to this and is always looking forward to it. He was asking about it even before I told him that we were going again this year. He gets to play and enjoy all the jumping castles and the gift he gets from Santa. Jasmine did not really qualify height-wise for the jumping castle activities, so she and I spent our time in the crafting section where she made an angel, painted a little pine cone, and decorated a giftbag. Chocho joined afterwards and he made 2 giftbags for himself and for me.

When it came to meeting Santa, I was afraid if Jasmine would be afraid. There were Winnie the Pooh and other Disney characters there as well, and Jasmine did not want to meet any of them. But when she saw Sleeping Beauty (I think that's who it is), she forced Dada to line up so she can go meet her and take a picture with her. Afterwards the kids met with Santa and Mrs. Clause and they were both behaving and were willing to take a picture without crying.

Can't believe it's Christmas time already!

Halloween 2010

Halloween prep began a couple of months before Halloween started when Dada found an Iron Man pajamas at the mall! Chocho was set on wearing the pj to go trick or treating. I didn't like the idea since it was so thin, but Dada made sure Chocho wore layers and layers of clothes underneath that crazy pajamas!

Jasmine, on the other hand, didn't get a new costume. I just thought she would just wear Chocho's old one, the dinosaur. She didn't like the idea at first, resisting in putting the costume on, etc. But Dada bribed her somehow, and she agreed with one exception - that she doesn't need to wear the head. She ended up with her own toque with Mickey Mouse on it. Both kids were wearing layers of clothes underneath their costumes. I wish Halloween was in the summer for us. But they were fine and they had fun. Unlike Chocho, Jasmine was not shy at all. She says "Trick or Tweet" at every door, and actually says "thank you".

Fall 2010

We wanted to enjoy the fall colours a couple of months ago, but we were afraid the kids wouldn't enjoy the long ride to places like Algonquin, etc. So we decided to drive to a nearby park and enjoy the colours there. We ended up in Unionville at Too Good Pond to stroll around the park, look at the ducks, and play some soccer. It was a fun day for everyone.






At home, we always had to do the annual leaves raking in the backyard. It's crazy how all the leaves go bald and we end up with bags and bags of leaves to dispose. The kids, of course, enjoy the cleaning part. Chocho asked me to pile up all the leaves into a huge pile so that he can run and dive into them. Here they are enjoying the leaves while I was working hard in cleaning the yard. Both kids ended up straight in the bathtub after this, and all their jackets in the laundry.

Chocho turned 5!

Chocholas turned 5 last Sept, and in replacement of a birthday party with his friends, we promised to take him to his favourite place on earth. Yep, Centerville in the Toronto Center Island. I wasn't sure of the idea at the time since it was getting chilly and I was afraid of getting rained on. But luckily for us and for Chocho, it turned out to be a gorgeous cool and not-so-busy day at Centerville! We spent the whole entire day there and we got to go on many rides many many times. Chocho was in heaven indeed! He could not stop smiling the entire day. His face was permanently smiling and he wasn't just walking, he was jumping for joy everywhere he went. He went on his favourite roller coaster ride umpteen times! Even I was tired of watching him get on it over and over again. His other favourite ride was the froggy ride, the kiddy version of the Drop Zone / Drop Tower at Wonderland. He loves feeling the tickles in his tummy, and everytime that ride drops, he could not stop laughing histerically. There was even a mom watching her kids on the same ride as Nicholas, and she could not resist but laugh with him. "His laugh is contagious", she said. His laugh was contagious indeed. Chocho made use of his day pass well. He did not skip a single ride at all, and he went on them multiple times. Mama and Dada and Jassie were very happy to spend the day with Chocho there. It was such a perfect fun day for the whole family! Can't believe Chocholas is 5 already!! Where did the time go??

























After having way too much fun:


Chocho on day 1:

Days of our lives

These days, it feels like days go by so fast and turns into night. Especially now that it gets dark at 4.30pm!! And when I get home from work, all I want to do is collapse in bed and sleep right away. I just wish that we could win the lottery, so we wouldn't have to put up with these work nonsense! :)

But enough stories about me. The kids on the other hand, are getting more fun as they are getting older. Jasmine is talking alot more than before. And she is starting to speak in sentences, too. Most of the time only Dada, myself, and Chocho would understand, but alot of the times now she is becoming more clear. Chocho is becoming alot more grown up as well. He is way past the Thomas the Train and Elmo stage. Way past Lightning McQueen, etc. He is now into super heroes and other characters I have never heard of before. He is picking up new hobbies from his friends at school, such as collecting "silly bands". Ya, what the heck are those, eh? Well, apparently they are rubber bands but in weird shapes, such as train, musical note, flower, fish, ghost, etc. Pretty neat, I must say. He also loves to draw. His drawing is developing quite nicely. He loves to draw himself, the family, Mario and Luigi, and many other things. I hope he will continue to like drawing and the arts so he can expand on his creativity. Jasmine also enjoys the arts and crafts. She loves to draw and loves to colour. She copies everything her big brother does.

The kids are becoming more interesting as they are conversing with one another more frequently. Chocho is always teaching his little sister of things such as showing her "Ben ten" on his t-shirt. "Ben Ten?" she asks, "Ya Jas, it's Ben Ten, not Spiderman." "Not shhpidur man?" "No Jas, it's Ben Ten". "Oh" They are very cute. Jassie also likes to copy everyone. Such as when Chocho bugged her and she didn't like it, so I replied "Don't bug her, Cho". "Ya, don't bug er, Cho" says Jassie as she frowns. :)

The one highlight of my workday would be coming home. The kids would ALWAYS hear me when I unlock and open the front door. And as I enter into my home, I would instantly hear "MAMA" "MAMA", and within seconds, I see my Chocho and my Jasmine running toward me to greet me with their hugs, kisses, and stories.

Here's more pictures of Chocho and Jasmine taken by Chocho himself.

Whittamore Farm

This summer we had a playdate with Uncle Ka and Aunty Corrie. We went to Whittamore Farm out in Markham. I never knew a farm could be a fun place!

We started the day at home with playing some bubbles. Aunty Corrie and Uncle Ka brought some bubbles for the kids to play with and they were just loving the bubbles!!! They couldn't stop smiling and screaming and chasing the bubbles around.

We then went over to the farm and started the adventure with strawberry picking. Boy that was an adventure indeed! We went in July, and apparently strawberry season is in June. So needless to say, there were hardly any strawberries to pick! We had to hunt for them. It wasn't strawberry picking! It was strawberry hunting!! It was a hot day and we had to find some nice looking strawberries to pick. We didn't end up finding any big strawberries. Chocho also had some strict quality control system, whereby any strawberries we put into the basket must be BIG, and RED. If it wasn't big enough, he would reject it. If it wasn't red all around, he would reject it. But as the hours went by and still no strawberries, Chocho's rule started to ease up and he was accepting smaller ones. After baking in the sun for a couple of hours, we called it a day and went back with a basket full of 8 little red strawberries, that cost us $0.23!!!! Yes, they still charged us for the little red ones that we picked. :)

We continued the farm day in the playground area where Chocho and Jassie were able to play to their hearts content. There was a little mini zoo and some swings and slides. Chocho found a really long and high slide to come down to and he wouldn't stop climbing it. He just loves going down the slide. Uncle Ka and Dada also went down the slide and almost got themselves stuck in there!! :D

We had so much fun there that even Mama fell asleep in the car on the way home. Thank you for the fun day, Uncle Ka & Aunty Corrie!!

Click here for more pictures.

Chocho & Jassie having fun with bubbles!!!





All ready to pick strawberries!



Hard day at work, need a horsey ride!


Mr. Quality Control at work.
Must find strawberries!!!

Must find strawberries!

Farmer Jassie!

Farmer Chocho!

Dada and Jassie stuck inside!!!!

Even Uncle Ka could not contain himself!