More waiting...

It has been three days after Hurricane Ike touched down on Saturday. People have done a lot to improve the situation. Lucky the weather is nice enough to keep recovery effort going on. The constant news on news doesn't make me feel any better - food/ice shortage, gas shortage...

Kaitlyn is so happy to be off school, but... getting bored. I took her to the park yesterday morning, we had a good time. This is one good thing from hurricane disaster - I could spend more time with her, I have no complains at all.

On our way back from playground, I found pieces of shingles laying on our front yard. I wondered where they came from. I looked up our roof, ohh great! It's ours! I guess they were blown loose during hurricane, with winds picked up today, they finally fell off. Doesn't look that bad, at least I didn't notice any leaking roof inside the house. Well, I got some work to do tomorrow, calling people to estimate and repair...

Yesteday evening, I asked Kaitlyn to play with neighborhood kids on the street while I was cooking. Things didn't work very well. She is so shy to play with them, mainly because she doesn't feel comfortable playing with kids she doesn't know. I walked her there, talked to one mom I know better from the church. (She ended up talking to her most of the time!) That neighbor had a lot of guests over from Houston and Pearland to stay over, there were at least 1o kids running around crazy with toy cars, scooters, bicycles, etc. at one point.

I don't blame her not mingle with them. Most of those kids know each other because the five moms around the corner don't work, so the kids all play together in the afternoon everyday. By the time she/we get home, they're mostly ready to get back to the houses or back home for dinner already, she doesn't have much chance playing with them. I feel bad for her. There are pros and cons for working parents, it's our choices and we believe we're making the right decision. This is truly a constant battle for working moms all the time.

As boring as she is at home all day yesterday, I dropped her off at Christian's house today. She was so excited. "Finally! Yeah finally!" That's what she said. Even kids at this young age feel the joyfulness of friendship - even though they both started making news friends at their new schools, they still miss each other a lot! Hope she would have some good friends growing up together for the rest of her life.

Well, got to go pick her up and cook for dinner.

Just got a message from her school, they will be closed for the rest of the week - ohh my gosh, we'll need to help each other on babysitting or just need to bring her to work...

surviving Ike

One day after hurricane Ike strike Houston/Galveston area, things start coming back to normal in our neighborhood; at least we got electricity and water since last night. Luckily we didn't notice any major damage to our home, and what a great feeling with A/C on in such a hot, humid nasty day!
Since we got off work Thursday afternoon, daddy checked house and yard, we felt much better after making sure trees were tight, fences were strong, stocked with enough supplies, etc. Still when we noted some neighbors boarded up windows, we were wondering if we did enough. But it was too late to buy anything anyway. All I can tell myself is I’m prepared for the worst, but pray for the best.

My main concerns were wind damage (due to empty space behind us) and power outage (based on prior experience), which happened to be the biggest problems after fact. I was so concerned when I saw forecast saying the eye center will pass just west of Katy - that means we'll the in the worst spot of this whole thing.

We decided to stay home ride out the storm, because we don't want to stuck on road with others who absolutely needed be evacuated, I hate to get on more tiresome trip while Kaitlyn just recovered from sickness, home is home. In case anything happen, we're here to fix first hand.

I really appreciate daddy's effort to prepare for the hurricane so early this time. He said this one is coming this way more than a week ago (of course not expecting an exact hit on Houston) while Ike was still in Atlantic, so he tighten up trees a week ago already, we both kept gas tank full all week.
Friday daytime was a relative easy ride for us. Instead of watching news forecasting scary outcomes that drive me crazy, we went to Target in the mooring before rainfall started. There were a lot people buying all kinds of thing you can imaging. When cell phone services still worked, many friends called in checking on us, we were so touched and thankful.

Friday night was a long night. Way before wind started picking up; power started showing signs of outage. We hurried up showered, clean up dishes, and double check flashlight, etc. We moved an extra mattress to our master bath closet in case of tornado. I asked Kaitlyn to prepare extra sets of clothes in a sealed bag in case we water gets into house or broken roof and she remembered about her snacks too:-)

Just when we're ready, electricity flashed several times and finally went out before 9pm. I believe Center Point cut our power instead of wait for power going out itself. It was peach dark in the house, the nervousness feeling started spreading in the house. Kaitlyn has a whistle, she blew the whistle every time lights went out so we could locate where she was.

See what she prepared before lay down on our bed. Beside whistle and flashlight, she built a nest for her three favorite toys. She wouldn't even let me leave it on nightstand. Unfortunately, daddy left the camera in his office, we couldn't take any pictures for the whole thing, hope the camera is still there by the time he goes back to work :-) Well, found these two pictures taken by my cell phone,haha.

While I tried to stay up with daddy listening to the radio all night, I can't hold it anymore before 11pm, thinking we will be fine at least till Ike landed around 2-3am. I still wake up constantly hearing wind blowing our windows. My leg started hurt bad during slept, I had to take Advil to be able to walk around, which put me to sleep for a while. Every time I woke checking daddy, he is at a different spot reading book and listening radio.

No need to describe how terrible the wind groaned in the courtyard, trees in backyard all bent at least 45degrees back and forth. All I prayed for was my windows and roof at the time :-)

By 6'ish Saturday morning, daddy finally laid down to rest, my mom checked on us see if we're alright. By noon, we finally were able to step outside. I see kids running around enjoy the fresh air. It was horrible without AC all night with windows closed tight. Still some neighbors’ trees went down, roof got partial ripped off, fence felt down, and those are all good as long as everyone is safe! I thank god's mercy the eye didn't pass right through us, but I know there are so many people suffer badly with all kinds of damages to their homes. Amazing what Mother Nature did to these many people within a day, within a second!

Saturday's life without power was horrible - not only because the unbreathble humid air, but the panic when I heard possible water contamination. Later on I heard from neighbor that we're on a different water treatment system. My husband talked about driving to Austin, but I didn't agree because of the condition of both of us, we could easily fell asleep while driving... We decided to go to a friend's house (a minute away) to at least cook food left in the fridge, hopefully by then power will be back.
That was the sweetest thing Kaitlyn could ask for - she immediately offered to sleepover there (because she loves to play with their two girls). She went to pack her clothes, her sleeping bag, flashlight, and toys. Ohh man, dream comes true for her - sleepover. Isn't that a little early? Will she wake in the middle of night crying? Well, specially situation, I may have to let her do that just in case.

The happiest persons out of a disaster are always the children - she doesn't know what's happening, the chaos means no school, but more freedom to play and taking adventures. I remember that from my childhood as well, ha-ha!

P.S. Power just went out again, I had to cut short. What an experience for us, hope for the best for everyone.

Guess who we ran into last night?!

We went to Lifetime yesterday evening swimming. We were all tired to cook dinner. Kaitlyn voted Danny's, we both say "no". But what other choices do we have around here at 8:30pm?

So we went to Danny's. Just when we walked into the restaurant, guess who did daddy saw?! - Christian's family! We haven't seen each other since school started. Kaitlyn and Christian goes to different elementary schools, they sure miss each other. She asked for play date several times, but I always prevaricated it.

It meant for her to meet Christian here, she insist coming here, haha! When she saw him, both of their eyes light up. We sat next to their table, but both of them were a little shy at the beginning. We invited Christian to our table, but he is shy, then Kaitlyn offered to sit on their table! My husband said in Chinese (so they don't hear), that daughter is going away already, we need to have another boy (to bring back to us a daughter), haha! Poor daddy, he is jealous already his little girl is growing up, leaving us! Imaging when she starts dating... that guy is going to have trouble with future father-in-law.

So, we end up ate dinner by ourselves, watching our daughter eating dinner with "imaginary in-laws" next table. What a funny weird feeling... Now I can feel how my parents felt about my first dating, my marriage. What a life!

Sick girl?

Two weeks into the new semester, Kaitlyn got sick. I know something wasn't right on Thursday, she said she felt cold at school, her voice sounds rough. That night, she walked to our bed in the middle of night asked for water and lost her voice already.

I was hoping it will go away the next day, so daddy took her to school, I packed medicine for her school nurse. When we picked her up Friday afternoon, she can barely talk, and started having fever at night. So this weekend, we stayed home the whole time.

Saturday morning when I washed Feizai outside, I sure feel fall breeze is here! I love that feeling, so freshen, so cool! The sun is still very bright, but not the kind of burning hot on my back. The air smells so different now, not like steaming dry/or humid anymore, I can smell the peaceful and calming of autumn! I love it! This is so strange, weather changed overnight just like that!

In the evening, we sat in backyard, enjoyed the flowers daddy just planted. At this moment, she doesn't look like sick at all:-) I was joking she pretends being sick to get our attention and get things she wants, haha...

By dinner time, she is out again, felt horrible. Hopefully she is good enough to go to school on Monday :-)

More homework

It's Kaitlyn's third day at school, she is having good time so far. She likes cafeteria food (junk food the best), at least save me time to think about what to pack lunch for her :-) She made friends in class and on school-bus already:-) That's always good to hear. She likes PE class, that she asked for pillow before dinner already. Last night, she went down before 9pm - a big bonus for us!

I finally sat down checking her backpack after dinner, wow, more folders - full of homework for me again! Kaitlyn laughed at me, "yeah, no homework for me, for mommy and daddy again!" Sure, there are more documents for us to read and sign off, and of course, to make sure we get the message to sign up for volunteer or/and contributions. Haha, is this the beginning I need to sell cookie dough or help with school projects? I'd love to, but will see how much time I have...

Based on my observations, kindergarten is much more structured than pre-school, even though her pre-school teacher is very good at organizing the class activities and parents are more involved. At pre-school, if kids don't follow rules or don't want to participate, not a big deal. If parents don't agree, feel free to say so. Now, not only Kaitlyn told me about various rules teachers taught her, I have seen guidelines posted in her classroom, and have read/sign off several documents sent from school. Real school time!

Thank goddness Olympics is over, and...

the school starts tomorrow... She's going have tough time adjusting to the new schedule!

I'm really surprised how much she enjoyed watching the games and how much she absorbed from watching them!

Not only she finds her idol - Michael Phelps, she pretends melt down or crashed every time she hears/sees Michael on TV, she puts down whenever she's doing when she hears Michael's voice, she screams for him when he speaks or performs. OMG, I can totally see how she will be a drama queen in a couple years :-)

She picks up rules for gymnastics, diving, and beach volleyball, etc. It's so interesting to see that she judged one diver had less water splash than the other before commentator talked about it. She predicted which one will be out because of underperformance and which one should have the metal. She sighed when Misty May and Kerri Walsh missed any points and cheered for any good shots.

She gazed the screen when Nastia Liukin performed. Then, of course, she requests to join gymnastics class again and again…

Now she recognizes more national flags than I do, all the way from USA to China, to Jamaica, to Nigeria, to Germany, to Britain, to Australia... At one point when we watch swimming competitions, she can tell nationality by different colors/styles of swimming suits athletes wears!

It's funny, sometimes she confused between countries and states. She asked where is Maine or California? I guess because she overheard we talked about where the US athletes come from, she thought that's equivalent to a country, haha...

Here we're watching the closing ceremony, and she got so excited with the music from tv, and started dancing crazy, wearing three deflated balloons as a bicycle helmet! I think she got that idea from the performers on tv, thanks goddess, she's not imitating those climbing the tower!

Second Day...

This is picture from day 1 - took off socks and shoes, ate snacks, sat down checking out the surprises I prepared for her (some art craft scissors).

Look at the paper on the floor - stacks of paperwork for parents to read and sign off :-)Second day went well again. This time, I followed Kaitlyn and went in cafeteria while they're waiting to go to their classroom. (picture only show the crowd for the first five minutes) Kids line up based on their grades.

It's a lot of kids - small kids with big backpack :-)

As soon as she gets to the classroom, she finds girls' locker, hangs her backpack, takes out snack... I was wondering where is she going?

This is new from day 1, she must have learned this from her teacher yesterday.

Put snacks in the cubbie. She picks up class routine real fast, I'm so happy to see that :-)I hurried out off classroom after this, because the school bell rang, some parents are still talking to the teacher, then accidents happen - two boys dropped two whole box of stamps on the floor, one boy is crying... I can see Ms. Sanchez expression - what a great way to start the day, haha...

First Day of School!

The Wednesday before school started, we went to check out her class assignment. She is in Ms. Sanchez's class with 18 kids in her class. We went to meet the teachers on Thursday night. The big day finally came! I had no problem waking her up in the morning, she jumped off bed, put on the clothes she picked for herself the night before, ate breakfast, brush/comb again... here we come, off the road to bus stop (thank good the bus stop is right at the end of our street).

Doesn't she look so happy and confident! Even Feizai came out say bye to her :-)
Of course, as nervous as we are (maybe just me and daddy), we're the first at the bus stop! It's so quiet, where is everybody? haha...

Yeah, bus is here! Kaitlyn has been so looking forward to ride the yellow school bus!

Later, a lot more kids and parents got here, it's fun - moms chatting with coffee in hands, kids checking out the new faces, laugh and excitement from all. (For some it's exciting to send kids back to school so they can enjoy some relaxed time, for others like me, exciting to see what's coming up next...) Unfortunately, I won't have much opportunities to experience this with the group:-(

Kaitlyn was the last on getting on the bus, a little hesitated...

She turned back, waved at us, then walked down th aisle finding her seat! Up to this point, I don't feel sad at all, I'm so happy to see this...

Then as the bus rolled away, all of sudden, I feel tears circling in my eyes, soreness of my noses - she is gone! Just like this?! I don't want her grow up this fast, I wish she is still my little girl like yesterday!

Me and daddy walked to school after bus left, and arrived school about the same time. Buses line up in the parking lot, so do parents.

All of sudden, I feel these buses are so special, they carry hopes, loves, joys and curiosity for both kids and parents. Her bus was at the end of the line, but they got off the first. No school staff around? I'm wondering why? She followed big kids to the cafeteria. What a surprise to see daddy and mommy again, haha... Here she enters into the cafeteria and finds her way to kindergartener section. I didn't know how this is going to work. Looks like she figures it out... On the first day, we are allowed to walk to her classroom without checking in. She finds her name tag. Alright, we're set to start the new day :-) While some kids are crying and wiping tears, Kaitlyn is busy coloring! What a calm and easy girl! Maybe she is used to seeing kids (including herself) doing this at pre-school, haha!First day went pretty well. I forgot bring camera when picking her up. It's super hot outside and school bus has no AC! On our way home, I tried to help her with backpack, she rejected and said "no, no, no no!" seriously. OK, take it easy girl, I'm just trying to help:-)

Well, she is home now, look at the homework she brought home for me on the floor - lots of forms to sign off and guidelines to read!

Everything went well so far, thank good Kaitlyn has been going to school for a while, and Ms. Anny prepared them for real school. Of course, we've been talking about the big change for a while, she is so excited. Grandmas called to check on her and offered secrete survival tips. (I'm not sure what it is:-)

Save craziness for the last!

To celebrate back to school, our community held a big water splash party yesterday. We had so much fun, with food, music, prizes, and of course swimming!

Isn't this crazy?! Like boiling dumplings... haha

Dancing with Radio Disney

Can you find me and daddy? haha...

One big step for Kaitlyn yesterday, she can swim by herself without floater!

When we go to Lifetime every week, she kinds of knows how to swim by herself but still scares taking off floater in deeper water. All of sudden today, she swim to daddy all by herself!

That saves me money :-) I was going to sign her up for swim class, in that case, she would listen to the teacher better:-) Thanks for my hard work and Michael Phelps, haha :-)Go, Kaitlyn go!It was so nice that daddy volunteer to get as many balls as he can for the little ones who can not swim, standing around us :-)

Getting ready for school!

For real this time, Kaitlyn is going to school!

Even though I do enjoy doing all the preparations for her, I don't recommand other parents doing this at all, it's cheaper but time consuming. I did it because I forgot signing up to buy school supplies from PTA.

I enjoy doing this because I like trying out different coloring pens, excited looking at paper (don't laugh at me thinking I'm crazy :-) Plus I can choose the styles.

New experience for her, and new experience for us too.

Here we're doing final check to what's missing, there are few item I can't find it anywhere. II've been to 4 different stores multiple times already:-(