I had a long, busy day at work today.
Somehow these two goofballs knew that this was exactly what I needed 🙂
The Littlest Goofball
The Slightly Bigger Goofball
Partners in Laughter
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From the category archives:
Photos
Today was the SF Aloha Run – a really nice 5K they organize to support a Japanese community center here in SF. In addition to the 5K, they have a “keiki” run of a mile for kids 6-10 and a 100 yard dash for younger kids. We thought it’d be fun to sign the girls up.
Maile and Christine ran the mile – and they absolutely rocked it. Lauren ran the 100 yard dash and came in first place in the 2 year old heat! (She had some great coaching from her big sister).
Here’s Maile in the homestretch of the mile – check out that speed!
And here’s Lauren doing her 100 yard cash – just absolutely focused on that finish line 🙂
I think we have another thing where the girls are taking after their mommy – and we couldn’t be happier 🙂
(Dad note: technically this wasn’t Maile’s first race – back in 2013, she did a fun run out in Oakland. Remember that?)
Mommy and the girls ready to rock (Lauren was being shy, but gave us a nice view of her racing number)...
Mommy and Maile right before the start.
On the run...
A post-race Maile showing off her medal...
Coach Maile giving Lauren a post-race pep talk!
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
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Last week Maile started an after school class learning the Kongfu Fan dance. Kongfu Fan is a traditional Chinese dance that is over 2,000 years old. There are 52 movements in the dance. Here is a good video:
And here is one of the 52 moves that Maile learned today:
Strike a pose, now let's get to it...
This year, the teacher gave all the kids a fan to bring home to practice with – Maile was pretty excited to show us her fan dance moves. Here’s a taste of what’s to come…
(Click here for the video.)
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Maile’s school started a new program this year called, Jiating (Family in Chinese). Maile has her own family consisting of children in the various grades – there is a 3rd grader, a couple second grader, a couple 1st graders and a few kindergarteners. They’ll play and work together over the course of the year with the cross grade groups. Maile’s family is called the Pandas.
For their first activity, they made a rock garden – they painted rocks – right up Maile’s alley!
Maile showing off her painted rock!
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We hope all of our Jewish family and friends are having a wonderful Rosh Hashanah! We celebrated last night with some apples and honey and a delicious roast chicken meal that Christine put together. Maile led us in a recap of all we should be thankful for and Lauren, of course, followed her lead (Mommy is high on the list as she should be 🙂
Rosh Hashanah family picture (Maile 6 and Lauren 2.5)
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This afternoon while Lauren was napping, Maile and Christine embarked on an origami adventure. No longer satisfied with your standard butterfly or crane, the scoured the internet and found some pretty cool shapeshifting/transforming/more-than-meets-the-eye origami coolness.
And, of course, they would not rest until they learned how to form these creations for themselves.
Having an artistic mommy is basically the coolest thing ever for a little girl like Maile.
My favorite origami goofball!
When Lauren woke up they had moved on to make 3D creations and they all studied the tape to learn how it was done...
(Click here for the video.)
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In the first grade, Maile and her classmates are spending these first few days of school getting to know each other and themselves. Today they used a mirror to make a self portrait of themselves.
Great shot of Maile Girl working hard on her self portrait
Maile's self portrait - she wants you to know her hair is longer, but she is showing it pulled back in this picture
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The start of school for Lauren meant we had to say good bye (well, not complete good bye, but “see you every day” good bye) to Kelly, our nanny who had been watching Lauren for the past year and a half.
You don’t see many pictures on this blog of Kelly because when she was around, it largely meant, we weren’t. We couldn’t have asked for someone better to watch Lauren as she grew from a baby to a little girl. They got out and about quite a bit, read, played games – she was great about sending us pictures and sharing little stories about whatever Lauren learned and did that day. She clearly got a kick out of the sponge that Lauren has become and it was awesome seeing them together.
Lauren and Kelly - best buds!
Lauren and Kelly developed quite the bond and we are going to miss her very much. She promises to still stop by and say hello – and we’re going to hold her to that!
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Last week as part of settling in, Maile and her first grade classmates talked about their “hopes and dreams” for first grade. We received an email from one of her teachers on Thursday night with the picture below and a note saying:
“We had a great second day in our first green class. We talked about our hopes and dreams, Please see attached Maile’s hope and dream: reading books. It seemed that she is very good at drawing, she drew the reading corner of our classroom, with details: turtle and giraffe on the bookshelf.”
Maile definitely picked up some reading over the past year, but she’s not at the point where she’ll curl up in a corner and read by herself. Looking forward to reading with her to make her dream a reality!
Maile's Hope & Dream for Grade 1 - reading books!
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I remember the night before Maile’s first day of school she had one of her worst night’s sleep ever – just cried and was up all night. Lauren? Slept straight through the night until 6:30 AM (a good 30 minutes later than she normally sleeps).
There she is! Our little preschooler!
Maile and Lauren ready for day #1
Needless to say, Lauren was ready to rock preschool. And rock she did. I think going to the school over the past couple years with Maile made her pretty comfortable and the fact that she got to meet her teachers and see the classroom on Sunday also helped. All led to her feeling right at home when we arrived. She barely acknowledged us after we arrived and set to work playing with some play-doh and the teachers. Christine and I gave her a kiss good-bye and left around 9 AM – a very smooth first day.
(Of course, when I do drop off solo tomorrow – I’m sure it won’t be quite as smooth 😉
Christine picked Lauren up on – she reported having fun and playing with friends. Apparently there were some tears when she saw Maile. But it was Maile crying, not Lauren. Of course 🙂
On the steps of Presidio Knolls
Oh? You're still here? I'm playing - you can leave.
Christine snapped this when she picked her up - plenty of smiles on the way out - a good sign indeed!
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