Happy Halloween

Monday, November 02, 2009

After the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival Izzy was all about painting pumpkins. So we bought a few small ones for her to paint with Grandma Sunny. And then I carved a few for Ed and I (mainly to roast - for recipes see below).







The kids daycare throws a Halloween part for the kids and parents. Ed went on our behalf as I was stuck in commuter's h_ll. Izzy dressed up as a fairy. Her costume was still a little too big. Ethan was a monkey. It was too hot at daycare to wear the costume for more than five minutes.




Ed recaps the day and describes the funniest thing and I'm so happy he captured it on film. Apparently, Izzy was asking other kids for their lollipops. One of the boys, Keanan, let her suck on his lollipop. Uh...maybe this is how our kids come home with colds.








Halloween night we went trick-or-treating down the street off of Beachwood Drive. It was great. It is the place to trick-or-treat. The houses were decked out. There were three haunted houses on the street and several wine stations for the parents. One of the neighbors setup a caricature station. It was pretty cool. The rumor is Bill Pullman lives at the end of the street and throws a mean haunted house. At the end of the street we did go through a well-done haunted house, but I can't confirm it was Bill Pullman's. I did find a LA Times article with him that does link him to our neighborhood.





I found a few recipes for pumpkin seeds. What I've read is to get crunchy seeds it's all about drying the seeds. First I started by boiling the seeds in salt water to infuse the seeds for a consistent salty taste. Then I followed Martha Stewart's directions for slow roasting to dry out the seeds before seasoning. I roasted at 250 degrees for a little more than an hour. After turning off the oven, I left them in their overnight. The next day I followed Martha's Sweet and Spicy recipe (but added about 1/4 tsp of cayenne for a little more kick). There are so many different variations to make, but I love the sweet and spicy. They came up very crunchy, but I didn't have anything to compare it to. So next year I'll experiment to see if boiling or not makes a difference and if drying the seeds slowly at a low temperature makes for a crunchier seed.

Ethan's Mop

Ed is insistent that we don't cut Ethan's hair. It's getting long, curly and out of control. When he gets hot, the hair gets even curlier! The curls are adorable, but the long mop on his head is not so cute. I will cut it this weekend with or without Ed's consent because I just can't stand it any longer. And I believe Ethan will thank me one day.





Even Ethan looks pissed off about his hair.




Like father like son.

Calabasas Pumpkin Festival

We took the kids to the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival. It was awesome. Definitely worth traveling out the 30 miles for this free event! They had bouncy houses and slides that were free for the kids. The only downside to the entire trip was the 100 degree weather!!! It was blistering hot, but thankfully we had a nice breeze.

My favorite part was the corn on the cob. We each had one. And they even gave Isabella one for free since she was enjoying ours so much. As we were eating our corn on the cob, Rainn Wilson stood in line for the infamous corn. No pictures of us eating the corn. Too good to break the mood with pics.

Franklin Canyon Park

I grew up in Orange County near the Ralph B Clark Park, formerly Los Coyotes Park. It's a huge park with several playgrounds, grassy areas and ponds with ducks. I fond memories of feeding the ducks and wanted my kids to experience the same thing. I looked up nearby parks with lakes/ponds and found one not too far away.

Franklin Canyon Park is at the north end of Beverly Hills. What a surprising spot. It's nothing like the other parks in LA. It promotes the back-to-nature feel. There's plenty of parking. There aren't any playgrounds. It's more of grassy areas, hiking trails and ponds. The entire area surrounds a beautiful reservoir. And I found my ducks. We brought some stale bread with us not knowing we were not allowed to feed the ducks. Oops. They seemed used to the feeding so I assume others must have done the same, even with the signs everywhere.







Ethan starting "roaring" a while ago, but hanging out the ducks I noticed he sounds more like them than a lion.

Isabella's Birthday - Part 2

Isabella is very much into tea parties and playing pretend so it only made sense to throw her a dress up tea party. I found a company online that hosts tea parties in your own home. They take care of everything: invitations, catering, decorations, setup, hosting and clean up. It was perfect. Chic Partea serves the Orange County/Los Angeles area. Check them out. They are reasonably priced for all that they provide. I highly recommend it. It was hassle-free for me.

The Invitation


The Setup

We decided to use the game room which is on the bottom floor of the house, which is down three flights of stairs. With all the up and down to let in the guest, I was getting tired and winded. I had purchased a box of rose pedals so I wrote a note on the door and created a path of rose pedals down to the game room. It worked out perfect and I was in good shape to greet our guests.








Dressing Up






Tea Time









The funniest thing happened during the Happy Birthday song. Isabella's BFF, Sacha, sat next to Isabella during tea time. When the cake was brought out we all sang happy birthday. Just before the birthday girl can blow out her candles, Sacha blows them out. We all kind of laughed. Isabella turns to Sacha and says, "Sacha! It's not your cake!" Then all the kids started telling Sacha it wasn't his cake to blow out the candles. It was hilarious. I captured the entire birthday song, but turned it off for the reaction. Too bad.

Funny, I didn't really notice the game playing in the background since the sound was off until half way through the party. I guess the dad's were happy about that (and the beer).

The Guests



Wand Making




Gifts for Guests
Guests received little goodie bags of bubbles, play doh, stickers. The girls also go a heart-shaped makeup palette. And all guests received framed pictures of the dressed up guests.



It was a fun birthday. I don't think we'll go all the way out as we did this year, but I'm so glad we did it once.

Pictures courtesy of Marlene, Rebecca's mom.

Izzy's Birthday - Part 1

Sunday, October 04, 2009

We had a combo family birthday celebration for all the kids at Merah's house. Merah made yummy BBQ and we had way too much food on the table. Isabella got to open her presents and help with Ethan's presents. She immediately claimed all presents as her own, in fact, Ethan's presents are still in her room. Thankfully Ethan is such a gentle and easy-going fella that he doesn't seem to mind it yet.

Thanks for all the goodies family.





Ann, what are you doing to my child? He looks freaked out, but was had so much fun.




The following week we threw Isabella a royal tea dress up party. It was so much fun. I'm waiting for some pictures from the other moms, but I'll post it soon.

Three and One Year Stats

Izzy has turned another year older and Ethan turned one. I combined their doctor's visit and made Ed come with me this time. They both had shots and were troopers. Izzy actually likes going to the doctor's and playing with the playhouse in the waiting room. So here are their latest stats:

Isabella at 3 years
Weight: 30 lbs, 44th percentile
Height: 38 inches, 74th percentile
The percentiles have been pretty much consistent since birth.

Ethan at 13 months
Weight: 22 lbs, 38th percentile
Height: 29 inches, 20th percentile
Believe it or now his weight and height have been slowing down. I've noticed him slimming down a bit with all the crawling around. Hmm...wonder when he'll start walking? No rush.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Thursday, September 03, 2009

So, I'm a little behind on my posts. Let's go back to the end of August. We took a trip back east and took the kids on a plane for the first time. On the way out we took a red-eye and took a morning flight on the way back. OMG, I will only take red-eyes with the kids from now on. They didn't sleep long on the flight at night; however, they were quiet and tame. On the morning flight back...we were "that" family. The Virgin America flight attendants were so nice to come over to entertain and distract Isabella. BTW, boarding Virgin America was like entering a club. It's such a different flight experience with the dark vibe and purple lights. All the seats were white leather, though they only reclined one inch, we each had private TVs with free satellite feed, another saving grace with small kids.




The trip started out in Stamford, Connecticut where we stayed with Ed's parents, Leo and Eva (and we can't forget the little hot dog eating Dachshund, Charlie). It was hot and HUMID in CT. Yuck. But the green trees were breathtaking. You don't see a lot of those in LA.










Then we headed for what was supposed to be a two-hour trip to Northborough, MA. After a little fussiness between the two kids, they finally fell fast asleep. It ended up taking five hours to get to Susan and Michael's house.




The first thing we had to do was jump in the pool...that is everyone but the moms.





Asher's a great swimmer.




A little Michael and Izzy love.




It looks like Isabella's a giant, but she's actually sitting on Asher a little (though I think she stands about four inches taller than Asher).


After swimming the kids got dry. There were two red chairs that were about 5 feet apart. The kids gradually brought them closer and closer together so they were right next to each other. The kids were so stinkin' cute together.






Isabella and Asher had a great time together. Asher is three weeks older than Isabella. So, it was perfect seeing the two cousins play together. They got along well for the most part with a few sharing battles here and there.

The main reason for the trip was to see the newest member of the family, Eviana (Evie). She's a little cutie. Some how my sister Susan must have stronger genes as both kids actually look Asian. Though Evie looks more like Michael's side of the family. She's so sweet and chubby. She's a lot more like Ethan...watch out Susan.




Ethan was a good little boy just crawling around the house and getting close to the dog. The poor dog, Raven. Isabella is suddenly scared of all dogs and poor old Raven got kicked out of her own home to the hot, humid outdoors.



We made it out to the park to let out a little energy, but mostly we stayed at the house. It's a bit much to get out of the house with two preschoolers, a crawler and an infant. We had to take two cars just to get out of the house for the park!





We did manage to get out for an afternoon at Davis' Farmland. It was great fun for us all. We fed all goats, lamas, bulls and sheep. At lunch we found a perfect spot near the water park. Isabella had to get in right away before eating. We wish we had a place like this back home.

And then they had lunch. I love this picture of Asher and Izzy. I look at Izzy and think how grown up she looks and then I look at the expression on Asher's face and it cracks me up. Asher is the little man of many expressions. He may just grow up to be an actor or something...




We headed back to Connecticut and then back to California. The trip back was just awful. We left on a morning flight. Neither of the kids slept. Izzy had a meltdown. And when we finally arrived in LA, it was only noon. We still had a full day of the kids! We were exhausted and needed a vacation from our "vacation."

Message to Christine

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

It cooled down for about two days so I put Isabella in a cute outfit auntie Christine bought. And as I was dressing her I told her who gave her the nice outfit and asked her what she would say to Christine. So she said, "tank you, Christine". It was so cute. So I made her say it again in front of the camera. Unfortunately anytime I take out the camera she instantly wants to watch what is on the camera. So it took a few tries, but here it is.

Rewind

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Where did August go? We've been keeping busy this month. August kicks off the family birthday chain. It goes something like this:

August 2 - Ed
August 17 - Ethan
August 28 - Asher
August 31 - Susan
September 2 - Jack
September 12 - Isabella
October 1 - Ann
October 8 - Michael

And somewhere in there are our and Ed's parent's wedding anniversaries. But, I suppose now the birthday chain will start in July with the newest member of the family, Eviana. Hmm...I guess January-March are popular months to conceive.


Ed's Birthday at Disneyland
We celebrated Ed's birthday by taking the kids to Disneyland for the first time. The good news, Ed was free. The bad news, his birthday was the first day of the new pricing increase. It costs $72!!! How insane! It was a bit crowded and hotter than we'd like, but all-in-all it was a good day. Some of the rides were a bit too scary for Isabella. She's going through a phase of being scared of the dark. Her favorite were Dumbo, It's a Small World and seeing all the characters dance and sing at the parade.






I had to take a picture of my people from Korea. I didn't have my camera out to take a photo of Ed's people.


Isabella patiently waiting for the parade to start. It was so hot her hair rubber band melted!







Hollywood Children's Festival of Arts
We went to the Hollywood Children's Festival of Arts on the lot of Paramount Studios. We barely made it to the end of the festival. I guess that's what happens when you have a little one who still is on a nap schedule. It was a lot of fun. We missed some of the cultural performances, but we did make it to the Russian performance. They had a few Jewish songs and dances and asked the kids to come up. Isabella was shy at first, but then asked to join the kids in the Hava Nagila dance. Since then, she breaks out into song.

Isabella stood in line to take a picture with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.


But when we got up there, she freaked out! I guess she's still not into larger-than-life characters.

Ethan's 1st Birthday
Happy birthday to my baby boy! We meant to host a low-key family lunch for Ethan's birthday, but August turns out to be a busy month for everyone. With so many birthdays, we'll be doing a joint birthday luncheon. Instead we celebrated Ethan's 1st birthday at daycare. I made some vanilla cupcakes from my Magnolia bakery recipe. It was fantastic! So moist and delicious. Although I used cake flour for the whole thing so my measurements came out something like this:

3 1/4 cups cake flour
3 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar (I like to use baker's sugar; it's super fine and great for baking)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

I also tried making Italian meringue buttercream for the first time and it was devine! I found the buttercream recipe accidentally on YouTube, watch it here or get the recipe here, from Sue McMahon of Women's Weekly magazine. I didn't attempt doing the beautiful decorating like she does mainly because I wanted something simple for Ethan, but of course, it was also because it looked darn difficult and tedious. Maybe for another special occasion. The cupcakes came out pretty cute. Though I have to admit, I did run out of steam. And in case you were wondering, I put lions on the cupcake for Ethan's astrological sign. He and daddy are both leos.











After school we took the kids to the park for a little swing time.