Leisure

 The kids have been asking to play at the park where dance is held for the longest time, but we have never had the time to go.  Just last week, we were coming straight from swim class and ending dance class at 5:15, which means heading back home, showering the girls, and eating dinner.  Now that swim class is over until the summer, the girls finally got to leisurely play at Marine Park.  Snow joined us and kindly picked me up a much needed pick-me-up, a Starbucks chai latte.

  Finally back on the tire swing

 

 Sophie and Lydia's class had an audience

  

 Smiles for the parents

 

 My little mad ballerina

 

 

Signs of improvement

Farmer's Market favorites

Sophie and I have been going to Farmer's Market (FM) every Wednesday for the last few weeks after walking Lydia to school and before we dash off to Sprouts.  Santa Monica's FM is one of the best and we are fortunate to live only 6 blocks away.  The produce is so fresh, but very expensive, but you really do get what you pay for.  We always get green tomatoes to pan fry for breakfast and sugar snap peas for snack.  Lately we have been adding more to our favorites list, like cherries, carrots, and herbs.  Today our green tomatoes' farmer, Wong Farms, informed us that this was the last of the crop, so I stocked up on the green tomatoes.  We'll miss them, but may have to start buying other yummy produce, like $1.75 arms-length daikons.

 

 My sweet pea holding sweet peas

 

Next week's purchase

Mother's Day

Feeling blessed!

 

Tea for Two

Today was a jam-packed day, starting off with an 8 AM Mommy and me yoga session.  Then back home to prep for the evening's potluck...lemongrass beef, almond jello, etc.  After a simple lunch of whatever I could get rid of from the fridge, Lydia and I went to the library for its annual Mother/Daughter tea party.  Sophie went last year, but they were strict about the Kindergarten minimum grade this year, so she had some daddy time instead. 

The tea party was adorable, as always, with cucumber sandwiches, cream-filled strawberries, cookies, and of course, tea!  After eating and decorating wands, a fairy tale storyteller told four interesting stories about princesses and dragons.  The girls all got to partake in the stories and had a lovely time.

Lydia and I walked home, only to find our place empty as Trung took Sophie to Starbucks for half off frappes.  I texted them to head on back as I grilled up the beef and got everything together for the potluck.  Then off to Snow's house for excellent Asian cuisine and even better company.  Yet another fun, exhausting day in the life of the Ly family.

 Morning yoga..Snow used Sophie as extra weight

 Mother/Daughter Tea Party

 The set-up

 Lydia and I, Sophie was too young to attend this year

 

 Decorating cookies (and eating the icing straight up)

 Lydia (the youngest sister in this skit) pretending to cry

UCLA Commons

An organization called the UCLA Commons hosted a free event every day this week in honor of Mother's Day.  Childcare was provided and there were plenty of goodies to be had.  Monday they offered a self defense class which was very informative.  Tuesday a bunch of local mommy bloggers came to speak.  Wednesday, which I couldn't attend, Whole Foods offered kid-friendly recipes and treats.  Thursday the girls painted coffee mugs, and Friday, they offered childcare for two hours while Mommy got some time to herself.  Loved it!

Mom blog summit

Ceramics

Burning off some energy

Back to back

Wednesday is our super busy day when the girls have back to back swim and dance classes.  Fortunately, today was the last of swim class until the summer, so no more rushing even though we were never late to dance.  Lydia passed her Minnow A test with flying colors, swimming past the flag indicators with ease.   Sophie will still be in Guppy only because she needs to grow since the Minnow class meets at a slightly deeper part of the pool.

 

 

Sophie probably needs to work on paying more attention in class as well.

 

 Synchronized sisters

 A quick blow dry before dance class

Let's dance!

Celebrate good times

We had a very busy, but fun weekend celebrating with lots of eating.  Saturday morning we had dim sum with the Wong family; we met their newest addition Lincoln and enjoyed our last meal together before they move to Seattle.  After picking up some honey boba at Half & Half and returning something at the outlet, we headed home for a couple hours of down time.  Then Trung and I went on a double date with Ken & Snow to watch The Avengers...great movie!

Sunday we had the girls' soccer practice, a Cinco de Mayo celebration, a Mother's Day event, and a First Communion dinner.  Did I mention that it was a busy day?

With the Wong boys

Cinco de Mayo celebration at Virginia Park

Lydia went on the giant slide three times; Sophie didn't dare go

 She preferred the low-key swings

I taught the girls how I used to swing with a friend when a swing wasn't available

  

Mother's Day celebration at St. John's hospital...

 

 complete with a magic show.  We felt like party crashers since the girls weren't born at the hospital, but the invitation did say "friends" and Snow's kids were born there and they are our friends.  :P

 

Kim's First Communion celebratory dinner

We gave her a Precious Moments jewelry box.

In the Family

This morning MOPS had their annual spa day where we got massages and lunched on sandwiches.  Then I spent the afternoon catching up on my reading...Hunger Games, the first book I've read in years.  Around 4:30, I dropped the girls off at Snow's place with her mother so that we could go to the grand opening of a spa.  We enjoyed complimentary snacks, massages, facials, and manicures.  Since neither of us had had dinner, we went to Enterprise Seafood for some major seafood overload...oysters, mussels, tuna, etc.  Then Snow dropped me off at the Laemmle to watch my old family friend's movie, In the Family, which he wrote, directed, and starred.  It's the craziest feeling sitting next to the person and watching him on the big screen too.  It was a great movie and I'm so proud of him!

 At MOPS with a snoozing Raya

 Pampering time...that's Snow on the massage chair

 Actor Trevor St. John from In the Family

My old family friends, Patrick and Audrey Wang.  We go way back, like 25 years!

Rolling in the deep

Today in swim class, Sophie's guppy class went to the "fitness pool" aka the deep pool.  This is always a big ordeal because all the kids put on life jackets and get out of the splash pool to walk over to the other side of the swim center  They practiced basic skills while there, like floating on your back, and then the kids starting "swimming".  The fitness pool is a bit cooler than the splash pool, so Sophie was shivering her socks off, but she swam!

Walking over to the fitness pool; Sophie is the last kid on the left

Notice her whimpering at the end...what a tough cookie!

"I'm freezing" face

Lydia's end-of-class performance minus her little sis who got in trouble for yapping.  Like mother, like daughter. *shrug*

Visiting Liz

My friend Elizabeth recently moved to Pasadena, so Snow and I decided to make the monthly free family nights at Kidspace Museum a regular thing so that we could see her and Acadia too.  We arrived right at 4 PM and since it was misty out, the museum closed all outdoor activities.  I thought the next two hours would drag, but it went by quite quickly.  The kids were constantly occupied with things to do and the bad weather encouraged other families to stay home, so it wasn't super crowded this time.  Three new families joined us this trip too, so we had plenty of help rounding up the kids.

 There's a flood coming

Artists in the making