Santa Clause is coming to town...

The kids were at the local library, with the Santa Clause.  

It was the first time for Meimei to realize the existence of Santa Clause, so she was a little overwhelmed. 

Gege was a little nervous too.   When I was wandering why he was so, he asked me secretly, "Is he the real Santa Clause?" Lol.

It's great to still believe the real Santa Clause. :-)

Parenting | Reflection on a schoolwork article

This article (or sentences) is among Eric's school work that was taken home yesterday in the green folder:-

"I am like my mom because we both read.  I am different from my dad because he is good at chess, but I am not."

This article made me pause and ponder. Eric and I usually do a lot of reading together, but I'm still pleasantly surprised to see him put it in writing in this way.  

Hubby loves playing chess.  He has always been spending most of his leisure time on playing chess since very young.  Because Eric is a school boy now, we always hope Eric also likes to play chess as a hobby.  Sometimes Eric and daddy play chess together, and most of the time Eric loses.

From this article, I sense that Eric likes to play chess, but he is kinda lack of confidence compared to daddy's skill.  On reflection, I realize that nobody likes to be pushed to play chess.  What we as parents do is to respect Eric's feeling.  Also I'll remind hubby to encourage him more, nobody likes to lose all the time.  After all, interest is the best teacher.

Treasure Island Beach

Last Saturday, we went to Treasure Island beach at Laguna beach.  The scene is very breathtaking, like picture postcard.  Water is blue and crystal clear. The beach isn't so crowed, even on Saturday.  The most fun part is we flied a kite.  The first ever kite that the kids have ever flied. They loved it so much.

Simple life | love within a bigger perspective

The kids and I sat at the table for dinner while hubby was busily preparing the drinks for us.

He poured the juice into four glasses, took two of them, walked towards the table, and he put the fist glass in front of me.  The second was for Eric, and the third and fourth for Daisy and himself.

He did all these in a natural and smooth way, and always in the sames sequence, although I only noticed it recently.  Sometimes the kids shouted loudly for drink upon hubby walking toward the table, but he still pass the first drink in front of me.

This is one of the smallest details of our daily life.  From it, I appreciate hubby's care and thought for our family.  He puts me on higher priority, he shows respect on me, and he is using all these little details to set examples for our kids.  Being unconsciously influenced, the kids will learn to respect parents, and later on, they'll also show respect to their life partners.

Upon introspection, I seldom pay attention to such details.  In fact, whenever I pass drinks at meal, I pass to the kids first.  The kids weigh too much on my mind and I always put kids on the highest priority, sometimes I even neglect my husband's feelings without knowing.  Hubby loves the kids too, but he loves within a bigger perspective and with a bigger heart, which I shall learn from him.

34/52

The kids were at a local Jamba Juice store.  

Eric and daddy were practicing chess on cellphone.

Daisy was excitedly pointing a picture on the wall and shouted, "they are swimming." (The pictures shows kids playing in water.)

I am joining Jodi's 52 project.

Simple life | Chew slowly

(This photo was from internet)

My husband likes to eat all kinds of nuts.  When he eats, he chews slowly.  He explains that nuts are too hard to digest.   It is essential to chew slowly and smash it evenly before swollow.  This way helps stomach  absorb the nutrition. 

I totally agree with him.  However, with a quick temper, I'm always  in a state of rushing for time and hardly have enough patience to eat slowly.  Usually i can easily beat my husband at 3:1, which means i can finish 3 peanuts while he barely swallow the first one.

On the recent trip to Las Vegas, we ate peanuts as snacks on the road.  This time my husband was driving and i had no excuse of rushing, so i follow suit my husband's way and chew the peanuts slowly.  To my pleasant surprise, i had a whole new experience of this chewing practice, besides what my husband has explained above regarding the benefit of nutrition absorption.

Put a peanut in the mouth, gently touch it with your tough and taste its rich flavor, crunch it with your teeth and hear the crouchy sound, use you tough to feel the whole peanut turning into small pieces and then into fine particles; swallow it slowly and make sure all the particles going down in the right direction. 

With this practice, i was focusing on the moment of present and totally be mindful of the eating process. The process calmed me down and empty my noisy brain.  A peaceful mind rested in my body.  I felt relaxing while automatically pulling myself together. It's a new wonderful experience.

32/52

Eric and Daisy were enjoying ball spinning on fingers with the help of the clown at the Circus Circus.

I am joining Jodi's 52 project.