Mommy,I'm ready

For number 3!!!

Feeling Better

I'm feeling much better now

Got sick

Past couple of days have been rough, especially on Jenny. It started with Katie, then went to Jenny, then now Carter.

Hopefully everyone will feel much better soon - I think a day of opening lots of presents will go a long way in that category.

Merry Christmas!

HO-HO-HO

We had our annual street party last night and yep - you guessed it, Santa made a stop and brought a group of 20 some kids into full attention. Now, that's power! This year, Katie was brave enough to sit on Santa's lap(a proud daddy moment)


Then...there was Carter, being ....well...Carter

World's Greatest Big Sister Part 2

One of the most fun things I have the privilege of watching is the interaction between Katie and Carter. Katie is so nurturing towards him and most of the time, he is very sweet to her. I think these moments help them develop lifelong skills that can not be taught in school.

Recently, Katie has gotten very interested in reading and working very hard at it. Carter is happy to oblige

Cars

This of course was Carter's favorite part of the night.

Start Your Engines

Here we are minutes before the show

At The Store

Took this picture with Carter at Michaels using the iPhone...pretty neat!

Posted on Natuba

Yu Family Tradition

This year, we were all able to go pick a Christmas tree as a family. Katie was much more brave(she kept her focus despite the chainsaws) but Carter was having so much fun darting in and out of the trees

This year, mommy found us a very nice looking tree

An Early Christmas

OK, so long time no blog. Its been an uneventful past couple of weeks, mainly uneventful because I've been so busy at work that I probably have not noticed all the things the kiddos are doing. Carter has not really been saying a lot of new words, but he understands just about everything we say. He's also been very interested in reading lately which is a departure from his typical behavior as seen below

This morning mommy, oops, I mean Mrs. Clause dropped a little present for me in the shape of a new iphone 3G

All I can say, is THANKS BABE!

First In Flight

Friday, I took the kids to RDU's Observation Deck - both Katie and Carter had an awesome time. Katie enjoyed playing on the small and simple play structure



Carter was mesmerized by the landing and take offs of the airplanes. He was on constant alert for incoming and outgoing airplanes.

See how serious looking he was:



The trip was really for Carter - anytime he hears an airplane he stops what he's doing and looks skyward. I spent the whole week at home and to be honest, I enjoyed every moment of it - just being able to be with the kids and watch them interact and grow. It also reminded me of how blessed I am to have so much in my life

A Good Listener

We were making a birthday card for her classmate's birthday party, but at one point we goofed on the end of the name, so I just told Katie "Don't worry, write the A on top of the C" thinking that she would try to overlay the letters

Well - here was the result


She turned and looked at me - "See Daddy, the A on top of the C, like a crown!!"

Snack Radar

I was trying to quietly sneak in a little snack from the pantry when I heard "moa...moa" followed by "unh...unh...unh" and then pitter patter of little feet across the kitcher floor

Carter, had somehow heard me open the pantry and unclip the bag inside the pantry from all the way in the family room and while there was music blaring in the background.

Got to admit, the little man loves his snacks!

No Yelling Daddy

My princess...

Katie:Daddy, why did you yell at me?
Me:Because you weren't listening.
Katie:I don't like it when you yell
Me:Why?
Katie:Because it hurts my heart

She has a way with me, doesn't she?

Family Collage

We went to Lisa Wynn at Real Life Image Photography (she had taken pictures of Katie when she was one) and this is the collage she put together for us.

Living Vicariously

Daddy likes Star Wars...

Mommy's never seen the movies before, but this is how she shows her love

Protective Jie-Jie

Katie ran up to me when I got to Red Dragon to pick them up after work...she showed me a scratch on her wrist...

Katie: I was trying to protect Carter from falling and hit his head outside, and I didn't even cry.

What a wonderful Jie-Jie. You better be good to her, Carter.

Toys, who needs toys?

One of my recent and likely continuing projects was to help Jenny decorate the house. We've lived here for almost 3 years and there are still some bare spots (OK, the floor is covered with toys) on the walls.

Fortunately, our two kids know exactly what to with these curtains that I just put up


We also recently took a trip ITB(Inside the Beltline) for a birthday party. I had a ton of fun using the camera

Halloween 2008 - Princesses and Super Heros

This year, Katie finally understood the fun of Halloween. Carter - well, he just goes with the flow as usual


The Man of Steel, saving the world one car at a time


Jasmine and Belle taking a ride on their wagon...err carriage


And the scariest part of the night, Belle's blue mouth, courtesy of some enchanted candy

Greatest Baba

I had to attend a Continue Education dinner last night and left the kids with Daddy. Daddy did great. The kids were fed/bathed/in bed by the time I got home at 9pm...well, except Carter refused the bottle and was waiting up for the real thing.

We played a couple's game at the beach this weekend with the fellowship group where a question was asked and the husband and wife would answer separately and see if they would get the same answer. One of the questions was when was the last time your husband cleaned the bathroom. Our answer...RECENTLY! The interesting thing was there were 7 couples, only 2 couples (including us) got all the answers correctly...and they were the only two husbands that cleaned the bathroom.

Daddy has certainly picked up his share of the housework since the kiddies were born. Thank you, Baba!

A Weekend Away

This past weekend, we took a trip to Virginia Beach with the Young Family Fellowship from our church. Needless to say, Mapquest sent us on a quest, but through teamwork and ingenuity (we had an Atlas from 2003 and at one point, used the compass on our trip computer) we made it to the beach house.

We had a great time just relaxing and chilling out - the kids on the other hand, went hog wild - which is perfectly OK by me. It meant that they had a good time too, which was the whole purpose of this mini-vacation. What I love so much about retreats is how it reveals the true family dynamics outside the framework of a church activity.



14 kids...all accounted for


The beach house was great. It wasn't ocean front, but all we had to do was walk across the road to get to the beach

We finally had a chance to take some good beach pictures(using our new 18-200 VR lens)
Here's Maddie and Katie

And Carter (probably looking for an airplane)

And then our Family Portrait


Unfortunately, we did have to go home - everyone was sad but we did leave our mark

NC State Fair 2008

We had a blast at the State Fair this year. Katie was braver and tried many new rides. Carter's eyes were caught with the big adult rides as soon as we walked into the fair. Here are a few pictures we took from the fair...

A-bu came with us to help watch Carter so Katie can have more fun...

Katie trying the bungy jump for kids...

and the kiddie roller coaster...

While Carter looked on from the side wishing he could join his Jie-Jie...but he's not tall enough...

Carter did manage to get on some kiddie rides...but I know he was eyeing the big rides the whole time...

Face Lift

I have to admit our Blog needed a face lift. And it definitely looks cool now - all the handy work of my wonderful wife (maybe she has some secret web design talent).

In the words of Darth Vader "Impressive...most impressive"

Speaking of Star Wars, here is our Jedi Youngling

Follow the Leader, Leader, Leader

Ming and I had our first conference this year with Katie's teacher, Ms. Gini, yesterday. Katie goes to a Montessori school so her class is a mixture of 3, 4, and 5 year olds and this is her second year in the class. Since the beginning of this school year, Katie has mentioned a few girls' names from school...most of them are only 3 years old. Gini mentioned that Katie likes to do work that she feels comfortable with (as expected by us)...coloring, putting up the dishes/towels, metal inset. Katie has always been a careful and cautious child. Unlike Carter, who's always covered with scars/bruises, Katie rarely has an accident. So Gini thought that if Katie would do work/hang out more with the 4 year olds in her class she would get inspired by them and try new things in class. So we came home and tried to encourage Katie to hang out more with girls her age and this is her response..."But they don't follow me around." I guess we better take Gini's suggestion and set up some playdates for her with the 4 year olds so she would quit bossing the 3 year olds around.

Disney World Here We Come

Everytime Katie sees the Cinderella castle on TV she always says she wants to go there. We've been wanting to take her to Disney for a while now. But since the past two years have been occupied with pregnancy and caring for an infant the trip has been put off. She is so into the Disney princesses now I really don't want to miss this magical stage without taking her to Disney. So, we finally booked the trip last week with AAA and we are going to DISNEY in April 2009 during Katie's spring break. We are going with Michael, Angie, and Maddie so it will be extra fun. We are all staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so we can wake up and see the wild animals outside. I think I'm as excited as Katie!

The mind of a 4 year old

Katie had to go to the doctor's office today. It seems like our particular office causes Katie to have an extra dash of creativity...

Nurse walks in the room
Katie: Mommy, is that the doctor?
Mommy: No, that was the nurse
Katie: Mommy, you are a nurse.
Mommy: Remember, Mommy is a pharmacist.
Katie: But you nurse Carter.

Where has the time gone?

It just seemed like yesterday when we brought Carter home. Katie took to being a jie-jie with such ease that it still amazes me and secretly very very proud. Life couldn't be any better

I can be a sensitive guy too!

Everyone says I'm such a boy...but I have a softer side sometimes

Back in the day

Sometimes the destination overshadows the journey. It's easy to measure our worthiness with milestones and goals, but it's the person that we've become that is the greatest reward of all.

Having said that - what did we ever do before we had kids?

Lessons from a master negotiator

Leave it to our daughter to negotiate this before bedtime:

Katie:I want to night-night with a boy
Daddy:OK (pointing to Carter). He's a boy. You can night-night with him
Katie:(Smiling)I want to night-night with a boy that is bigger
Katie:...and with glasses

How can you say no to that?

Our New Web Home

Welcome to our new Web Home. It seems like everyday is a new adventure for us, even though we consider ourselves homebodies, our kids keep us on our toes

Mommy has been diligently preparing the kiddo's fall wardrobe

Here's Carter who does not seem to mind playing dress up

From The Yu Family

Katie,however, continues to love her pajamas

From The Yu Family