Cricket Academy and Chinese

Today Kate & I headed over to our 3rd Chinese class at Cricket Academy. Kate loves going and looks forward to seeing Shen Lao Shi (her teacher) each week. We have been listening to our Chinese music CD all week, so we were ready to sing the Ni Hao song to start class. We then ate Moon Cakes, made play dough Moon Cakes and learned how to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in Chinese.

After class we headed to the grocery store and here is the conversation Kate & I had in the check out line.

K: "Mom, I need to say 'Hi' to Chinese lady!" (Pointing to attractive Asian woman directly in line ahead of us.)

M: (Slightly embarrassed by child..) "Okay, say 'Hi' Kate."

K: "MOM! I need to say 'Hi' to Chinese lady...HELP ME!" (Kate stares intently at attractive woman, commenting loudly. Woman has heard Kate's comments and noticed her staring.)

M: "Kate, you can be brave, you can say 'Hello'".

K: "Mom!! Help me!!! (Brown eyes wide and imploring.)

M: "Excuse me, Ma'am, my daughter would like to say 'Hi' to you. She's hoping you're from China." (I feel so embarrassed at this moment.)

L: "Oh, is she from China? She is so cute!" (Big smile on attractive lady's face. Thankfully, she is from China, now living in the U.S.)

K: "Ni Hao!" (Prompted by Mama...Kate says hi in Chinese.)

L: "Ohhh, Ni Hao! She speaks a little Chinese!"

K: (Beams at meeting the Chinese lady. She's so happy, her visit to the grocery store is complete!)

Trifocals

Shengri kuai le!

Happy Birthday Kate! Zhu ni sheng ri kuai le!

Yesterday was Kate's 3rd birthday and she was in rare form! When asked what she would like for a birthday cake, she replied "chocolate chips and M&M's birthday cake!" So, I made her a chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting and she decorated it herself with the chips and M&M's. She blew out her candle with gusto and just beamed when we sang to her. I felt a bit of mommy guilt for not making her a fancy decorated birthday cake, but she had a ball with decorating. She would eat 2 M&M's and put one on the cake...this went on until all the candy was gone. She never did eat any cake...just chocolate candy.

She was delighted with her gifts and wanted her picture taken with everything when she was done opening her presents. She now sports new "Hello Kitty" sunglasses and a "Hello Kitty" purse. She has her new doll "Sophie" and a new groovy doggy from Daddy.

She woke up at 6:30 a.m. this morning and immediately started talking about her birthday and her toys. She looked pretty stylish heading to the post box in her H.K. glasses.

Tomorrow is our first swimming class as a 3 year old.

Running for A Cause

Sunday was a wonderful day for us. We loaded the kids into the car and headed down to Chicago for a 5K race. Steve's company helped sponsor a race to raise funds for prostate cancer awareness and research, so we signed up to run. Not only was it fun to see many people from his company, but we also ran in support of Steve's older brother Dale. Dale was diagnosed and successfully treated for prostrate cancer and we ran with joy in our hearts.

Steve is a much faster runner than I, but he was hindered by having to push Kate & Sam through Grant Park. (His time was greatly enhanced,however, because Sam decided to WAIL for most of the run.) Steve heard numerous female runners (they must have been Moms) say "Oh, poor baby...look at the poor little guy!" It wasn't that the poor guy had anything wrong with him, "Poor Little Guy" just wanted to get out and play! Steve just kept running faster and faster to off the course. Once out of the stroller, Sam cruised all over like a little politician smiling and charming the crowds. He flashed his dimples, showed off his pearly whites and toddled all over.

Kate was her usual self bouncing all over the place like a pogo stick. She wore her "Greater Chicago Prostate Cancer Run, Walk & Roll" T-shirt with pride. She couldn't get enough of the moonwalk tent and the opportunity to jump off the park benches. Both kids were so exhausted by running around that they were asleep in the car by the time we had left the city and gotten on the interstate to head home.

The day was so enjoyable because it was a change from our daily routine. The most unexpected part of the whole day was finding out that I actually won my age division for female runners. I haven't been able to run much due to injury, so this was like the frosting on the cake!

Fall Football...

Today was a crisp, clear day. It was the kind of day that reminds us that fall is nearly upon us and that the college football season has started. The news was good for our teams today!

Wisconsin 45
The Citadel 31

Kansan State University 61
Missouri State 10


Okay, so neither one of our teams played major power houses today, but we'll take the "W's".

Little Academic

Kate loves to try on glasses (or "glassens" as she calls them). She got a hold of Daddy's glasses tonight, posed with pride and appeared ready to go to her class at Cricket Academy. Tomorrow is her second class and I asked her what we would do...she said "I say zaijian!" "Xiexie!" and play. It's fun to watch little ones learn...they are so quick and enthusiastic.

Daddy's Construction Crew

Daddy has taken a little time off this week to work on the house. This afternoon he worked on our circa 1927 door lock and did a little drywall repair. Kate & Sam wanted so badly to be part of the action that Daddy let them onto the "work site". Kate was in charge of lighting, the ladder and supervising her brother. Sam was in charge of irritating his sister.