2020 Holiday Greetings : Kid Style

Emilia:
2020 has been a very exciting year. I'm... dealing with 2020 and Covid-19 by drawing, Zooming with my friends ( although for some reason, I always seem to get kicked out of Zooms by ZOOM itself, ) and trying out some new hobbies and recipes. Hobbywise, I have a lot more interest in climbing and cooking. My climbing has gotten way better, and I can now climb v 0-1s. As for cooking, I've made a lot more new recipes, such as bite - sized apple tarts, which are simple and yummy. Also, I am about to turn 11, and in honour of that, I get to bake my own cake! I'm really excited! But overall, this year was a really fun year for me!

Liam:
aahh. 2020 the year of covid. It's been a rough year. although to me its just a normal year of schoolwork, reading, drawing, creating, and...sleeping until 8:00. (well... at least I try to sleep until 8:00.) hopefully the vaccine will come out soon, but for now, good bye 2020 and hello 2021!

Valentine Cuties

These are cuties.. "Valentine Cuties" that the kids and I worked together in creating cute, healthy treats for them to give to their friends at school.

I almost caved to buying a pack of pre-made Valentines cards. I mean, after all, it is quick and easy. These Valentine Cuties took two evenings to put together. The kiddies helped with cutting out hearts, writing and signing a "cutie" note, gluing pieces together, counting and lining up the cutie characters, and helping hold the cellophane while I tied the knot.

While I won't say spending two evenings was fun, I will say the results are very satisfying. The kids and I had crafty art time together. We had teamwork, in putting together the pieces. We created from simple things from home. We made gifts! It felt good not to be passing out candy, and I hope it helped make the act of giving a more personal experience for the kids. Each Valentine Cutie was unique in its own way... foot position, heart message, and of course, smiley face!

15 Miler Training Run

Here on out, we rotate taking turns on doing our long distance training run. While he's out for his 15 miler hill/distance/elevation training run, the kiddos and I hang out somewhere and chill. Found a nice shady faux-grassy spot for the kiddos to color and run around.

Running is not fun. It's physically hard work and mentally challenging to have your mind dictate over a tired, dehydrated body. But, no one can dispute the high that comes towards the end of a run, hitting the target goal whatever that may be. These last few minutes, especially seeing the kiddos cheering, are the best!



And then consuming massive amounts of food and water that tastes like the best meal you've ever eaten!! We are so proud of Ryan even though it's not race day yet.

Little Artists

Weather was great, hot in the sun, nice and warm in the shade. Perfect for doing some outdoor art work.

These two love to draw and color, especially Emilia, all the time. In fact, the teacher once asked if we let her color at home, thinking we deprive her of coloring because at school, she goes straight for the coloring tools and colors pages and pages of work.. I guess enough for the teacher to notice. heheh.

We make sure the kids have respect for their "coloring tool", that is, no throwing them around or coloring anything other than the surface area they are working with, and always cleaning up and putting crayons/markers/color pencils away. No sticking pencils up their noses or eating crayons or marking themselves.. which they have at some point and time done in the past and faced the consequences of having the coloring tools taken away from them. So.. not deprived, but definitely taught responsibility for them coloring tools.. among other things.

Love it! Kids are happy with painting. Mama is happy that its so easy and mess-free since they have developed pretty good habits. Oh, and they are painting some shipping boxes we have lying around.

Kiddos also did some sidewalk chalking, though Liam's interest waned after a while. He is still interested in the many squirrels that dart about in the grove, despite being bitten. I'm pretty sure he spotted a chubby lil' squirrel out past the viewpoint of this photo.

Emilia kept going strong, coloring everything around her arms-reach radius. Here she is evaluating her drawing.. deciding what color? or what to do? I dunno, but I like seeing the focus she has.

.. that is until I distract her with a "Smile for the camera!". No smile. Sorry for interrupting kiddo! =)

Love Notes

Emilia created a love note for us with her own spelling of all our names. =)

Shiny Happy People

The lil' girl has not been confined to a caged bed (aka crib) for a long while now... which means, the earlier she wakes up, the more unattended free range she has around the house! I have become somewhat resigned to the fact that there are mornings when things are not the way they should be. One of her favorite morning activities, other than snuggling (aka kicking/punching) with us, is "playing" on my desk.. swivel around on the office chair, tap on all the keys of the keyboard, etc. Ryan finally password protected my computer after finding she had changed short-keys and random settings that are still to this day, irrevocable. So far the worse and most memorable incidents have been:

1) Finding an open and empty container of travel sunblock lying around.. and then discovering too late, where all that sunblock went...on my toothbrush!
2) Sitting down at my desk to find a mass of papers all stuck and glued together with a half-empty bottle of glue dripping nearby.

Needless to say, I do get irate by these "surprises", but one evening as I was examining the damage from that morning, just as my temper was starting to flare up when I observed ink stains on my keyboard, I came across one of my mail letters with vandalism inked all over....

Nothing beats coming home from a long day of work and obligations, to have a reality check of what really matters... my lil' girl drew five smiling happy circles holding hands... <3 (An added plus --> the ink stains on the keyboard came out easily.. whew!)