Instructagram project - repurposing a soda bottle!

The owners of cropchocolate.com are working to get a new website up and running, so they are running periodic contests to encourage people to submit step-by-step projects. The latest challenge was to repurpose something around the house, so I decided to repurpose an empty soda bottle and make some plastic beads... which I then used to make into a unique bookmark.

Here's a close-up of the plastic beads - I think they look pretty cool!

Here is the bookmark in use - it's flat grosgrain ribbon, so it's not bulky within the book. Want to learn how to make this? Check it out at Instructagram!

History & children... when is a good time to mention war?

Chances are, if you have elementary school-age children, you're familiar with the AR book system. Each school designs their own "system" of developing book levels and requirements necessary to receive certification for those levels. Mika's reading Classic Reader books, which means she has to read three books (for each level) that are at least a 6.0 reading level and worth at least 7 points. To give you a point of comparison, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets is a 6.7 book level worth 14 points (you can view AR books here).

Since we are avid readers, we push our girls to read a lot. However, with a young reader, it's very difficult to find age-appropriate books. She's been reading a lot of "old" books (right now, she's reading My Friend Flicka, written in 1941) but she's not willing to read longer books like Anne of Green Gables, despite my best efforts (well, the font is pretty small and apparently, that's a big deterrent). It's getting harder and harder to find her books to read, that will capture her interest.

At the library's used bookstore a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a copy of Farewell to Manzanar (6.7 reading level, 7 points), an autobiography of a woman who entered the Japanese American internment camps at the age of 7. This is a very well-known book and despite taking several Asian American classes at Berkeley, I never got around to reading it. Since a school teacher friend of mine and I often discuss the Freedom Writer's Diary (and corresponding books like Zlata's Diary and other relating to the Holocaust), I thought this might be a good introduction to civil rights issues for Mika. I chatted with the bookstore's volunteer, a retired high school teacher, about when he thought a good time to introduce the impact of war to children was - and he recommended that I read the book Night (by Elie Wiesel) - a survivor's account of the Holocaust (I read it and it was an excellent read - and unbelievably heart-wrenching). As a high school teacher, he definitely thought middle school was a safe time but my father always spoke about the Japanese-Americans being relocated from the time I was little - the latest he could possibly have introduced the topic was when I was in 4th grade (back when the concept of "the model minority" flourished).

I just finished Farewell to Manzanar this morning and I think Mika should be able to read and grasp the concepts - to a certain point. As one of the few Asians growing up in my midwestern city, I knew from a very young age (3?) that I looked different and hence, people would treat me differently (though racial slurs flung at me, have significantly decreased since I left my midwestern hometown at age 18). My girls, however, don't seem to see people in colors, which I find very interesting. They laughingly told me that some of their friends had told them they "look Chinese" - they thought it was totally funny and... untrue! When I told them that they were half-Japanese and half-Taiwanese/Chinese, they were actually speechless for a few seconds.

And suddenly, I knew my kids were going to have a cultural identify crisis later in life. My best friend in college (a third-generation Chinese-American) once told me that she didn't realize she was Asian until she was 13, since she grew up in a predominantly Caucasian area. Based on my own experiences, I found that impossible to believe - until now. Oh, well... I'm glad that they're enjoying a childhood relatively free of racial discrimination, at least!

So, I wonder what kind of thoughts and realizations Mika will come away with, after reading this book.... but at the same time, some of the important issues still remain. Look at the effects of September 11th - lest you think American society is able to look beyond skin color, you might want to read this blog post of a housewife that was arrested on September 11, 2011... and the dismaying thought that 50 other similar incidents occurred throughout the country...

Busy as a bunch of bees... :)

My oh my... where does the time go? The girls have been heavily immersed in school, with homework and reading... and it's also time for soccer games to start!

For Mika's team, I agreed to make the team banner again. Since their uniform is mostly white with a little bit of blue and black, they decided to call themselves the "Polar Bears". It was challenging to come up with an interesting banner, but here it is... (I am most proud of the soccer ball, which was stitched together piece-by-piece and stuffed, so it *pops* off the banner!)...

As Marika's coach, I was really nervous about our first game, but the girls all played really hard! They ended up winning 2-0 in a very exciting game. Marika surprised us by continuing to be aggressive and attacking the other team's forwards as they came down the field. She even had a couple of long dribbles up the field! She is actually a better player than Mika, simply because she is aggressive and unafraid. Mika doesn't mind running around on the field (without direction), but once she gets the ball, she immediately freaks out and tries to kick it to somebody else. A ball hog, she is NOT! At least she's a very sweet soccer player... ;)

Despite Daddy Dude having to work all Labor Day weekend, we were able to steal out for the LA County Fair. For the first weekend, the entrance fee is only $1 per person (between 10 am - 1 pm). As a family, it could cost us up to $58 if we came on a regular weekend! We didn't make it there on time (traffic and it took so long to get into the parking lot) but we totally lucked out because - for whatever reason - they extended the $1 admission window until 2 pm. Whew! We saved a ton of money right there! The girls had a great time going on rides (only $1/ride after 4 pm!) and eating nachos. I like the Ferris Wheel ride the best, since the view is great! The special exhibit this year, by the way, was the "Shark Encounter". It wasn't a particularly impressive exhibit, but it WILL be the only time the girls are ever in a shark cage... I hope!

I don't really like to eat fairground food, because it is so greasy and fatty, so I was really excited to see the Calbi food truck there. Why this one? Daddy Dude likes to watch the Food Network and there is a program (or something) that discusses good food trucks. Well, apparently Calbi is pretty popular in southern California - but there are only 4 food trucks that frequent Orange County and Los Angeles County. None for us! So, this was our chance to see what all the hooplah was about! And yes, they were very tasty chicken tacos (with daikon leaves!)! Those $6.50 of two tacos lasted all of about 2 minutes, spread out between 4 people (a snack, if you will!)...

Next year, I'm making a bee-line for that Calbi food truck!

Other than that, the girls and I have been doing little outings during our free time. There are still raspberries to be picked at Riley's Farm, so we went during Labor Day weekend, as well. I just love being up at the farm... raised in the Midwest, being around all that greenery just makes my soul feel so peaceful and happy... :)

And the raspberries are delicious! At least this time, we weren't bitten repeatedly by nasty flies!

We also discovered that they had a zinnia patch - and we could pick the flowers for $0.25/stem! Woohoo! We should have brought some scissors, though...

But I was in hog heaven anyway, because there were several tiger swallowtail butterflies fluttering around. They were quite calm, so I was able to take several good shots - you can even see their proboscis extended to sip the nectar. I mean, c'mon - how cool is that?!

And then we zipped back down the hill to go to another Lowe's clinic. Here are the girls' latest artistic efforts...

And last but not least, this is the family reading a few days ago... isn't it weird? Not a single hard-copy book in sight! Don't worry, it's still a rare occasion, because children's books are pretty pricey and since the girls outgrow the younger ones so quickly, we just don't buy many at all.

Tidbits and Jet Man...

It's been awhile since any printable Joann coupons have been out, but here's one for 50% off... expires 10/2...

Here's a printable Office Depot coupon for $10 off $25 or more (I never did get that electric stapler...!)...

Another Toys R Us $5 off $25 purchase coupon (expires 10/3)...

Bo Bunny has some freebies on their website...

Barnes and Noble is having a fall clearance sale online. If you know someone who is a big Angelina Ballerina fan (as our girls are), you may want to scoop up some of those books for $1.99! We are stockpiling some for Christmas. Not sure which books you need? You can check out the author's (Katharine Holabird) website here (there are also some cute free printables available here). Also, B&N has a selection of children's books that are buy one, get one for 50% off.

And last but not least... we were chatting with a friend at breakfast yesterday (Daddy Dude is on vacation this week!) and he brought up "Jet Man". Yes, it's a guy who has "bat wings" that unfurl after he jumps out of a plane - and then he flies around with a jet pack. You can check it out on youtube here.

This is serious business!

AYSO is serious! I'm still wondering if this will be our one and only season. I like both of the girls' coaches... I think they are good with the kids and both girls seem to be having fun. Here's Miss Marika receiving instruction from her coach. Look how attentive she appears!

She seems to be more aggressive at practice than at the game. Well, it's only been one game. Maybe she won't look so shell-shocked at the second one... it must be confusing to them. We tell our girls to play nice and share and all of a sudden, we're yelling, "GET THE BALL! GO GET THE BALL!" and telling them to take the ball from some other innocent little kid.

Miss Mika is really athletic and seems to have a little more potential. Here she is, battling for the ball against four other people. Her nearest teammate is well behind #3. Mika has speed and I've told her to use it, but she lacks that hunger for the ball. Her ball control is pretty good, though, for somebody who's only had a few practices and one game!

I'm playing in soccer 3 days a week now and the girls go to most of my games. On Monday's game (7x7), I asked them if they watched the game. "Yes, we did, Mommy." Did they learn anything? "No..." but they sure do have fun playing with other little kids and swinging on things!

This morning, I went to meet a lady I always see at the library used bookstore on Tuesday mornings. Here are all the kid books I got (they qualify for AR quizzes)...

And here are the "adult" books I got. I don't know why I've heard of "David Sedaris" but the lady said he wrote funny books. I'm always looking for humorous short essays, so I picked them up. The book on the right - The Guernsey Literary Society and Potato Peel Pie Society - was one I'd been waiting to purchase (at half.com) for quite some time. It was highly recommended by my OB/GYN (who also recommended The Help - GREAT book!).

Oops, not pictured is a Chinese cookbook for little kids - I thought the girls might enjoy some joint cooking adventures. As you can see above, I also picked up one of those restaurant recipe books - we try to save money by eating out as little as possible, so it'll come in handy. =)

And how much did all this cost me? Only $14.25! She charged me the library used book rate. I would have paid that much alone (if no more) for the Nancy Drew books alone (I picked up 16 hardback copies). She said she has 3 more rooms to clean out, so I'll be back to visit her again, I'm sure.

Am I being paranoid?

It has been a full week without any playground incidences, but I'm still keeping a close eye on the situation. The latest development is that I suspect the girl may be trying to "steal" a friend of Marika's but hey, people can't be stolen if they're really your friend, right?

I saw Marika try to join her classmate on the playground (it is her favorite friend in her class and has been, since the beginning of the school year), but she had gone to walk around with "that girl" (this classmate had told me, minutes earlier, that she had been invited to "that girl's" house - Marika assured me that this did NOT go on in front of her, so I was relieved). I shook my head no at her, indicating that she should stay away from them. Marika looked sad about this, saying she wanted to be with her classmate. I explained to her later, that "three is a crowd". Even later, though, as Marika decided to leave and was trying to say good-bye to her classmate, the classmate either didn't see her or ignored her (I prefer to think it was the former). Marika tried a couple of times without success (she does speak pretty softly) so I called to her and told her to come and leave, so she wouldn't feel any worse.

What do you think? The paranoid mother in me wonders if "that girl" is still trying to get back at Marika by trying to befriend Marika's classmate. Honestly, though, Marika doesn't look like her feelings are hurt and she certainly hasn't said anything of the sort to me, but...

So I feel bad for Marika, I instructed to keep her distance from "the girl" - who (it appears) may be trying to steal her friends. I know this will all blow over soon but it bothers me that anybody would (appear to) want to persist in hurting my daughter's feelings. *sigh* I know that the kids are all still trying to figure out their social positions and who their friends are. Things will settle down soon (or so I keep telling myself).

For anybody else whose week is starting badly, cheer up! For today only (9/14), Victoria' Secret is offering free shipping! Check out their home page (promo code: FREESHIPPING) and go shopping - swim suits are on clearance!

And finally... Mondays are sorting days at the library's used bookstore, so Tuesday mornings are the best times to scout out "new" books. For the past few weeks, I've seen another Asian lady there (her kids are a year or two older than Mika) and when she found out I was now looking for Nancy Drew books, she invited me to come over and peruse her stacks of books she was wanting to get rid of - and that she'd sell them to me at the library rate (which is dirt cheap) so that she could buy more books! Woohoo! So, I'm going over to her house this Friday. =)

Mika is reading like a firestorm and Marika began taking her own AR quizzes last week. In fact, Marika only has to pass one more quiz before she gets her FIRST reading certificate. Yay! It's so nice to see both girls excelling in school... that all of our pushing and peristence seems to be helping them develop their own steady work habits in school (at least, I'd like to hope so!). Mika even got sent to the principal's office last Friday to be recognized for being a good student in the classroom. Isn't that funny? Being sent THERE to be commended? My, how times have changed!

While Marika was in preschool, I used to think that her handwriting was just atrocious. However, after seeing her classmates in school, I've decided that it's actually quite nice. It really does amaze me that some children her age don't know their letters or numbers yet and that quite a few have great difficulty in writing a lowercase "e" or "y". It really makes you wonder about their parents and whether or not the kids were ever even allowed to watch "Sesame Street".

And It's That Time of Year Again...

Woohoo! It's raspberry picking time! The email finally came from the farm last week, so Daddy Dude graciously drove us up the mountain to pick some berries. I was grateful that everyone filled up their own basket (everyone has to buy one, to enter the raspberry area) - unlike last year!

Here's the obligatory family photo! You'll note the burned area to the left - one year ago, a good deal of Oak Glen burned to a crisp. The area seems to be slowly recovering.

And here's what happens to bad children... =P

It's also this time of year (it seems) that we find these morning visitors by our front door. Scrappers are very familiar with the term "Doodlebug" but did you ever know what they looked like? Doodlebugs are another name for larval antlions (their walking pathways leave trails that look like "doodling")... and this is the adult form here. For those of you looking for more info, you can check it out at Wikipedia. I have a particular fondness for this insect because it was one of the elusive species when I was collecting up in northern California - but they are rather plentiful in southern California.

The girls finally finished the reading program sponsored by the local library. It was a very intensive program, lasting 7 weeks, designed to encourage children to explore their library and get to know what sorts of resources are available. One of the most recent tasks was to find an origami book and make one item. The girls loved the book we got and spent much of the morning trying to make things. Origami instructions can be an interesting challenge, especially when you're a little kid and still getting used to spatial dynamics... I admired their perseverance!

Perhaps the best thing to come out of the reading program (besides the obvious free kid meal prizes - LOVE those, since it means I won't have to cook for another meal!) was learning that the library has a good supply of audio books. I was surprised at how attentive the girls were - although we HAD to listen to them in the car, since we don't have any working cassette players in the house. It must have been years since I used one - I had totally forgotten that each cassette had two sides and the girls started to panic when it took a good awhile for the second side to start playing! We also have to worry about the cassettes melting in the car...

So far they've listened to Ramona Quimby Age 8, Ramona and Her Father, Beezus and Ramona, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Next in line are a collection of stories by Roald Dahl, but they may be leary - they watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory yesterday (the Gene Wilder version, love that one!) and Marika did not like it. I think she was scared! Imagine if I'd shown her the newer version!

And speaking of books... I wanted to recommend a few that I've read over the summer. I really enjoyed The Mermaid Chair (by Susan Monk Kidd), The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder (Rebecca Wells), and Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt).

I decided to pick up Angela's Ashes after reading about the author's obituary last year - I'd heard of the movie, but never seen it. The book is a magnificent gem - he has an interesting writing style (which takes a little while to get used to), but then all you hear is his voice (with an Irish accent, of course), throughout the rest of the book. He had an amazing, colorful childhood and it makes you really appreciate all the things we have now. There are two other books following this one: 'Tis (which picks up immediately where Angela's Ashes leaves off) and Teacher Man, which is about his teaching career. I finished 'Tis yesterday and loved it. Really, the man was an extraordinary storyteller - especially since Angela's Ashes wasn't even published until 1996, when he was already in his 60's!

Next on my reading list: The Red Queen (Philippa Gregory) and Where Men Win Glory: the Odyssey of Pat Tillman (Jon Krakauer). Remember, I'm always looking for reading recommendations for please feel free to send them along! =)

Some enabling for (frugal) book lovers

For those of you who love reading but lack bookshelf space, consider the ebook. If you're on the fence, check out barnesandnoble.com - right now, they are offering free ebooks (12 this week, supposedly more each Friday), all of the classic variety. It's easy to download their BN eReader (free) and if you travel with your laptop, it's a handy dandy way to bring a bunch of books without the bulk!

If you're the type to like hard copies of book and enjoy browsing through the store, check here (expires 7/25/10) and here (expires tomorrow,7/18/10) for some printable coupons. At the very least, it's a great place to chill your heels in this hot summer weather!

Speaking of books... if you have a youngster, you can pick up a B&N reading program flyer from the store (grades 1-5, I believe). Kids have to read 8 books. Mika handed in her completed sheet today and chose Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. She's been on a reading tear, thanks to the intense reading program at the local library - she's actually reading books on her own now, instead of being poked and prodded. =)

Scrapper al may be super impressed to know that I have now collected 7 out of the 9 Little House on the Prairie books - especially since I've probably only paid $3.82 so far. Only two left to go... On the Shores of Silver Lake and The First Four Years. I'm also trying to collect the complete Anne of Green Gables series now - and already have 6 of 9. Mika should be ready to read these within the next year or two - I can't wait for her to enjoy them!

Here's another bookstore recommendation: Betterworldbooks. I haven't ordered directly from their website, but they are my favorite seller at half.com - their customer service is phenomenal (they truly stand behind their products)! They offer free shipping and right now, there's a bargain bin area, where books are 5 for $15.

Another busy birthday week...

Last week, we celebrated Mika's birthday. It was a super busy day, since she had had softball practice in the evening. Afterwards, we went out to dinner and then came home to enjoy her birthday cupcakes. Of course she had to blow out a candle...

Afterwards, we were delighted to learn that Uncle Ken and his family had called to wish the girls a happy birthday and Mirei sang to them. We had a video chat a few minutes later and had a great time visiting with their family. Those girls are so cute! It's so fun to see everybody "in person" on a more frequent basis via Skype.

The birthday week was topped off with a visit to Toys R Us. Marika got a crown and balloon, too, even though she has been unable to find HER Toys R Us birthday card and gift card. *tsk tsk* They got to pick something out (we now have 2 more bunnies and 2 lambs in our house) and of course, Daddy Dude got to pick something out for himself, too... =)

Besides Mika's birthday, it's been another week for more milestones. Marika will be registering for kindergarten next week (*gasp* where does the time go?!) so she had to have her pre-registration physical. She looks like such a good patient, doesn't she? I love this picture with her taking the hearing test...

And last but not least... Mika is improving steadily as a reader and seems to be enjoying it more. She finished the Super Reader level (AR system), which includes the first series of chapter books. Now, she's finally reading "good" books (in my humble opinion). The first book she tackled - for the next level - was "Socks" (by Beverly Cleary) (why doesn't Blogger let me underline anything?!). It took her 3 days (we were kind of busy this week) but she passed the book quiz with flying colors. And she loved the book! We're going to see how she likes reading her first "Ramona" book this week (it's a bit above her level, though)... or maybe it will be "B is for Betsy"... does anybody else remembering reading those books?

And here's a little bit of trivia - did you know Beverly Cleary is a Cal alumni? GO BEARS!!!

If you have any reading recommendations for Mika - for her reading level - please share them!

A leisurely evening...

The girls were treated to Mickey D's for dinner but afterwards, Mika had to do some homework. It was a lovely evening, so we sat outside and Mika read Pinkalicious to me. That little fuzzy blob on the right side is Daisy, our guinea pig.

Later, I had fun experimenting with the macro lens while photographing Daisy. I was surprised at how well they turned out, considering she isn't all that small! Marika absolutely adores her and loves to hold her.

And of course, the girls rose their scooter and tricycles. Apparently, we have a tricycle built for two!