Got playgrounds and ice-cream?

This weekend we went to a couple of different parks (one in Castro Valley and one in the Hayward Hills) and daddy had to watch us again because mommy had another baby shower (daddy is getting to be a pro at this). No pics this time, but mommy did take some pics and videos on our way home from Knudson's ice creamery in Castro Valley (YUM!). Mommy and daddy let us eat blueberry cheesecake and milk chocolate ice-cream. I think we both take after mommy for her love of ice-cream :)

The waitress at Knudson was kind enough to give the girls balloons! They love balloons so much. Meanwhile I'm on edge hoping they don't pop it (yes, mommy has a fear of non-mylar balloons).

Dance Dance Dance

The girls are very active and love climbing on and off the couch to keep mommy company.

Here they trash the downstairs bathroom like rock stars!

Sophie tries to open the freezer.

My little dancer!

My other little dancer!

Daddy tapes Sophie dancing to American Idol.

Daddy and us

This past weekend the girls stayed home for a few hours with daddy while mommy went to a baby shower. This is Derek's recording of their time spent with him.

Sophie now climbs our couch on her own. Here the girls play with their plane toy.

Sophie finding ways to dismantle the toy.

Cute little feet!

Hannah lets everyone kiss the flower (just like Gymbo). Here she demonstrates how it's done.

Sophie peeks through the blinds to see if anything exciting is going on outside.

Daddy let's the twins at it with the toy box.

Sophie climbs up the couch in the background while Hannah seems to have the expression of, "another picture daddy?"

My silly silly Sophie!

What wasn't recorded was they both sing the Alphabet song, they can roll a ball back and forth between them, and they imitate daddy saying, "Sit, stay, down" to Emi (with the full hand signals too!).

Sharing is caring

I've been trying to teach "share" to Miss Sophie because she likes to take whatever Hannah has away from her. I didn't think Soph got the concept, but last night I was eating some dessert that Uncle Jay had bought for us and my little munchkin comes up to me and says, "Mommy share!!!". Der and I laughed and I had to share, because it was just too cute to pass up.

Uncle Jay comes for a visit

Uncle Jay (Derek's brother) came to visit us this past couple of days. We had fun playing and spending time with him.

Watching tv with Uncle Jay and mommy.

Here the girls and Emi pose with Uncle Jay.

Close up.

Uncle Jay pushing Sophie in the choo-choo train.

Sophie was a load of laughs to watch. She hammed it up by putting the toy canister on her head, dancing with Hannah, and having everyone kiss the stuffed kitties that Uncle Jay got for the girls.

Mommy gives Hannah a bath.

Choco-cat and Hello Kitty gifts from Uncle Jay.

The girls enjoyed playing with the wrapper as well. Sophie had fun putting the outfits she got from Uncle Jay in and out of the bag.

The silly things we did, the twins line up by the gate.

The girls are continuing to pick up words at a fast pace and mimicking as well. I am amazed at how much they know and how much information they can process. They also both want to eat whatever mommy is eating (except for veggies, somehow they don't want to eat it no matter how much I eat it in front of them) and want to drink whatever mommy is drinking. They will drink out of mommy's cup or water bottle. Every night before bed the girls will sign and point to the bookshelf to be read a book. I'm so glad that they enjoy reading books!

Unfortunately I think Sophie picked up a swear word (the S word) and I'm not sure where or who taught her this or if it's just mumble, but I am not happy about it. On the commute home today she kept saying it over and over (it actually started the night before) meanwhile I'm trying to correct her in the car by saying, "You mean shoot right?" and Uncle Eric said, "shitake, shitake" hahahahah!

There has been a bit of switch-a-roo too, Hannah has become less clingy to mommy and now Sophie is clingy to mommy.

Good-bye Uncle Jay hope you had fun and we hope you visit us again! Thank you for the gifts!!!

Playdate at the Children's Discovery Museum

Today we had a playdate out in San Jose at the Children's Discovery Museum. The girls had fun with their buddies Lauren, Ethan, Eamon, and MacKenzie. The girls played so much that they missed their slated lunch time and Sophie definitely did not want to leave.

After CDM we ended up going to Sneha for lunch (out in Sunnyvale) where the girls had their first taste of Indian food. They really liked the nan, fried chicken, and mango ice-cream (of course). Soph and Hann Hann made friends with a family sitting next to us (they had a daughter that was close to the twin's age) and as we left the restaurant they told everyone (the staff and the other families around us at other tables) good-bye :) They were spreading the "aloha" because everyone reciprocated hahahaha!

What a fun day indeed!

MacKenzie in the background, Lauren and Sophie, Hannah with her back toward the camera. The mini water play area.

Sophie getting out of wet clothes into dry clothes.

Hannah all nice and dry drinking some juice to re-charge for the next play area.

Mommy and Sophie playing with the puppets in the cases.

Hannah building with some big blocks.

The girls, Lauren, and Ethan climb the dragon structure.

Ethan, the girls, and some new friends have tea time or shall I say dim sum time.

Wheeeeee!!! Fun getting soaking wet.

Tea time in action.

Thank you to everyone that joined us today! Let's do it more often :)

Can you say Sonic?

Have you ever watched a movie called, "Vacation" with Chevy Chase? Or maybe "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"? We made a sort of trip over to a fast food joint called Sonic out in Woodland (yes, out in the boonies thus the reference to those movies). Der and I are silly, but we keep seeing those darn commercials on tv and like being in Hawaii and having to go to those places to see what it is all about....we did. Der had the grape cream slush, I had the peanut butter shake, and the girls had plain old vanilla soft serve. It was really yummy and Der even said the hamburger was pretty good too. This place is cheap as heck and all the food (lots of ice-cream desserts, hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken finger foods, etc) is really, really bad for you. Would we go again? I'm not sure...but it was a fun adventure.

The Sakai's in front of the cabin. Ready for the trip home.

Daddy and the girls pose while mommy is being a total weirdo taking a pic. There are a bunch of parking stalls that all have ordering windows. You order and like the old days a person will deliver the food to your parked car. How fun!

Sophie is busy watching Kung Fu Panda while she waits for her vanilla soft serve in a cup. You can see the other menu order stalls in the background.

MMMmmmmm...nothing like a shake for the road!

The after effects of sugar.

Our First Trip to the Snow

This weekend we went to South Lake Tahoe with our friends Mark, Berry, their son Eamon, Anna, Benson, and their son Ethan, and Richard (Anna's brother). We rented a cabin and had a blast. Unfortunately the girls weren't too happy about the change of climate and the road trip was a bit challenging (Thank God for DVD players and the use of mommy's kid songs repertoire). Sophie had a rough time with what we thought might be some serious teething issues or maybe it's just the cold weather we just don't know. Hannah was in great spirits, BUT hated the snow. Sophie eventually came around to playing in the snow and had a great time making snowballs with daddy and routing them over to mommy.

The girls initial reaction to being out in the snow.

Sophie started to get used to the cold white stuff. Although her mittens were too big.

Sophie and daddy.

Eamon and Mark sledding.

Everyone playing in the snow.

Meanwhile Hannah still not liking the snow.

Sophie and daddy play with the icicles out on the porch.

Sophie making a snowball while mommy is acting silly.

Daddy comforts Hannah.

Hannah in action going down in the sled.
We all had a chance to try out the sled.

Thank you Auntie Liz and Uncle Eric for the cute snow outfits!

Squeaky New Shoes

I remember as a child I drove everyone crazy after a friend or family member gave me squeaky shoes as a child. They were my favorite shoes and I wore them everywhere I went . My mom went cuckoo from the noise, but she let me wear them because she always knew where I was in a store (I was a hyperactive child). I still remember the shoes in my mind they're as clear as day, red with white and a little girl with a red hood with big eyes (you know those Japanese cartoon characters).

Anywho, Auntie Joy gave the girls cute little piggy squeaky shoes for girls' day. I find the noise funny because it just reminds me of those days, but Emi thinks they're her squeaky toys and chases the girls around.

Thanks Auntie Joy for giving the girls the shoes and for letting me remember those happy days I spent with my mom as a toddler. Thank you Julius for the great artwork wrapper too!

Hannah runs around as daddy talks to Auntie Joy on the phone.

Sophie sticks her feet in some wooden blocks and shapes.

Soph Soph!

Trying to get both girls in a pic.

Hannah decides to lean in while Sophie sits back.

Hannah shoes off her cute shoes that Auntie Joy gave.

Squeaky in action.

Sophie smiles.

Happy Girl's Day!

One day late, I meant to post this last night.

Updates are:

Hannah is finally sitting forward (she hit 20 lbs) and is able to watch DVDs with Sophie in the minivan. I'm not sure she's as excited as we are about her sitting forward.

Both girls are able to point out items such as shovel, sun, flowers, birds, dogs, cats, bucket, etc in our picture book. Sign them as well as say the words. They're starting to rapidly expand their vocabulary (I'm sure I've missed some words in there). Our daycare caregiver Eileen has mentioned that they're teaching the girls alphabets and counting numbers in both English and Chinese. The girls know several words in Chinese all of which I do not know, so don't ask me which ones :P

Sophie is able to communicate a little better than Hannah and can tell me when she poo-poo'ed, when she's done/pau eating or drinking, if she wants to eat or drink, point to toys and ask for them, call people by their names, etc. Hannah on the other hand picks up sign language quickly and words, but does not use them immediately. Out of nowhere she'll sign fish to me and say fish and I'll be thinking, "Well I'll be damn she did learn it!". Hannah's favorite word at the momment is "Daah Deeee", you can imagine that Derek is thrilled.

For a while the girls could point out their body parts, but during bath they surprised me by pointing out more than I thought they would ever knew. They know eyes, ears, nose, head, cheeks, bellybutton, hands, fingers, toes, and feet.

The only other update is that their new favorite toys are a big ball they like to throw and kick around (I'm afraid of becoming a soccer mom!!!), mega blocks and wooden blocks/shapes, and last but certainly not least they love drawing (must be from daddy).

Rainy Weekend

Hannah throwing kisses to mommy as she says goodnight.

What a smile!

Goodnight sweet Hannah!

Sophie hangs out with mommy in bed.

I like sitting on a big bed.

Yummy, Nilla wafers in bed :P