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This journal is about raising identical twins.One Hundred and Seventeenth Month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Unicode encoding. Some web browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer 5) can display the text without any user intervention if the fonts are available. Some web browsers (e.g. Netscape) will display the Chinese text only if you switch Character Set under the View menu to Big5 traditional Chinese.
Friday, Apr 6, 2007 (9y+8m)
The twins are nine and two third year old today. They went to school as usual.
Saturday, Apr 7, 2007 (9y+8m+1d)
We went to the cemetery in the morning to pay visit to great grandpa's grave. We had dim sum for lunch. We then stayed in grandma Ling's place until after dinner.
Sunday, Apr 8, 2007 (9y+8m+2d)
Daddy stayed home. Mommy and the twins went to bicycling with Terence family.
Monday, Apr 9, 2007 (9y+8m+3d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Tuesday, Apr 10, 2007 (9y+8m+4d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Wednesday, Apr 11, 2007 (9y+8m+5d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 (9y+8m+6d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had piano class in the afternoon.
Friday, April 13, 2007 (9y+8m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual. They were very excited for Friday because they could play with their DS. Also it was also the start of their spring break.
Saturday, Apr 14, 2007 (9y+8m+8d)
We went to lunch with grandma Chui. Christopher's family joined us too. We went home in the afternoon to wait for Cornell's family's arrival. Four years old Cornell played on the Wii. We made a Mii for him. He played on his friend's Wii before. So we didn't have to show him how. Mommy, Betsy and the twins went to Christopher's home first. Daddy, Cornell and his dad stayed behind to wait for Howard. When Howard arrived, we all went to Christopher's home for a party. They recently added a sunroom to their house. They held a sunroom warming party. The party was also to entertain Ritz, their family friend from Hong Kong.
They invited many families to the party. After dinner, the kids went into the rooms to play their DS. There were at least 4 to 5 DSs in the party. And the kids were networking them in their games.
Some adults started a game of Mahjong. Some adults sang Karaoke. The party ended after midnight.
Cornell's family stayed overnight with us because it was too late for them to return to Sacramento.
Sunday, Apr 15, 2007 (9y+8m+9d)
Cornell woke up at 7am in the morning and he went to the twins' room to check on them. But the twins continued to sleep. Cornell played on the Wii with his mom. But his mom said his attention was on the toy cars instead. Mommy came downstairs to make some breakfast for the early risers.
The rest of the house got up after 10am. After we got ready, we went out to lunch together. Jonathan and Benjamin's family, Christopher's family, Terence's family and Ronald and Evon also joined us.
After lunch, mommy followed Ronald, Evon and Ritz to shopping in San Francisco. Daddy and the twins returned home so they could practice piano. In the evening, we went out to dinner with Christopher's family and Evon, Ronald and Ritz.
Monday, April 16, 2007 (9y+8m+10d)
The twins had no school for the rest of the week. Daddy was not as lucky and had to go to work. Twins and mommy went to lunch with Christopher and Benjamin's family. They went shopping after lunch. They went to play tennis in the late afternoon. Uncle Ronnie was scheduled to arrive this morning but didn't because his fight was overbooked and he was off loaded. The twins were rather disappointed because uncle Ronnie was bringing them a R4 for their DS.
After dinner, we were watching a wuxia drama series called Condor Hero on the Chinese channel. The twins called it Dragon girl because that was the name of the main characters in Chinese. It was the twins' favorite show for now. All of a sudden, Jasmine turned to Joanne and said it was time to practice piano. Joanne didn't want to go because the show was almost finished with 10 more minutes to go. Daddy said it was okay to finish the show first. Jasmine asked mommy and mommy said the same thing. She was not happy and ran off to the dining room. When mommy checked on her, Jasmine was sobbing silently. When she saw mommy, she burst in tear and cried loudly. She said it was unfair because she always had to practice piano the moment mommy asked her to and she never got to see the Dragon Girl show in completion like Joanne could do. Mommy and daddy explained to her that this week was special because they were in spring break. They could stay up late for the piano practice unlike other school days. It was an exception this week and not a special privilege we gave to Joanne. We told Jasmine that it was not nice to be jealous of this kind of things. And she needed to understand the special situation because it was the spring break. Mommy ordered her to stop crying because she got no legitimate reason to. After a few minutes, Jasmine stopped crying and apologized for her display of jealousy. She got a hug from us and the issue was resolved.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 (9y+8m+11d)
The twins continued to enjoy their spring break. They followed mommy to run her errands. They went to Ben & Jerry for their free ice cream because today was the chain stores' annual free cone day.
Uncle Ronnie arrived in the afternoon. The twins were excited and keep asking if uncle Ronnie brought them the R4. Uncle Ronnie stayed with grandma Chui. Daddy picked up the R4 on the way home. The twins were busy trying out the new hardware after dinner.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 (9y+8m+12d)
The twins worked on the homework and practiced piano. Terence came to our home in the afternoon. The twins helped Terence set up a P4 for his DS.
Thursday, April 19, 2007 (9y+8m+13d)
The twins had their piano lesson in the morning. After the lesson, mommy and the twins went to lunch with grandma Chui and uncle Ronnie.
Friday, April 20, 2007 (9y+8m+14d)
Annette C. came to visit in the afternoon, she and her brother Alex played on the Wii. Later in the evening, Jasmine W. came to visit and stayed for dinner. Daddy went to dinner at grandma's. After dinner, daddy went with uncle Ronnie to let him practice for his driving test.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 (9y+8m+15d)
Mommy went to play tennis with Terence's family. They joined a country club recently and they invited us to play there. Daddy didn't join them. Daddy went to lunch with grandma Chui and uncle Ronnie. After we went grocery shopping with grandma, we dropped her off at home. Daddy helped uncle Ronnie in his driving practice again.
In the afternoon, mommy and the twins went to Serenity's 2-year-old birthday party. They invited couple other families including Christopher's. The guests played the Wii between meals. Daddy joined them after 6pm. Joanne said Benjamin refused to play with Christopher towards the end of the party after they had an argument.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 (9y+8m+16d)
Daddy helped uncle Ronnie practice for his driving test. The twins and mommy stayed in bed until noon. The twins worked on their homework and practiced piano.
Daddy came home at around 4pm. Daddy took a nap on the sofa. Mommy took the opportunity to go out for coffee with other moms. The twins had already finished their work. They played on their DS for the rest of the afternoon.
We had the left over from yesterday for dinner. The twins requested daddy to make steamed eggs for dessert. The twins helped on the preparation. Jasmine said she remembered the cooking time was 30 minutes. The dessert turned out overcooked. We later looked up the recipe daddy written down. We should have steam the dessert for 10 minutes in low heat and then let it cool slowly with the lid on.
Monday, April 23, 2007 (9y+8m+17d)
The twins returned to school after the spring break. Mommy said they couldn't stop chatting and laughing on the way to school. Apparently they were very happy to return to school.
Uncle Ronnie went to the DMV for his driving test. Though he made many mistakes, he didn't exceed the limit and passed the test. He would receive his driver license soon and it was a big relief for him after failing two times.
When daddy came home from work, we went out to dinner with grandma Chui and aunt Elaine. Uncle Ronnie treated us the dinner as a celebration for passing the test. After dinner, uncle Ronnie worked on his tax return on our computer. We watched some TV before daddy dropping him off at grandma's.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 (9y+8m+18d)
The twins went to school as usual.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 (9y+8m+19d)
The twins went to school as usual. They complete their homework and piano practice early. They got to play on the Internet after dinner. They went to dinner with Jessica's family to celebrate Jessica's birthday.
Thursday, April 26, 2007 (9y+8m+20d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to piano lesson in the afternoon. Mommy sat in the lesson to give some pressure to the twins. The teacher complained last week that the twins were kind of spaced out when playing piano. So mommy gave them a warning. If they failed to focus on their piano practice as before, their Nintendo DS would get a time out. Since the twins were not allowed to play game on school days, a time out over the weekend would mean a 11 days ban on the game. They knew how serious the consequence was and they also knew mommy meant business. Mommy never gave empty threats, so they took mommy's warning very seriously. The twins did well in their piano lesson to avoid punishment.
Mommy and twins went to a dinner party to celebrate Jasmine W's mom's birthday. Before they went to bed, they called uncle Ronnie to say goodbye because he would return to Hong Kong the next morning.
Friday, April 27, 2007 (9y+8m+21d)
The twins went to school as usual. After school, they picked up Claire and her daddy and they left for the mountains. Christopher's family traveled on another car. They met in our favorite restaurant in Sacramento for dinner. They took their time and took off again around 7pm to avoid the rush hour. They called daddy at work to report progress.
When Jasmine was on the phone with daddy, she yelled Ouch! Daddy asked why. She said she was playing "punchie bugs" with Joanne. Whenever they spot a Volkswagen Beetle on the highway, the first who spot it would punch the others in the arm. They changed the rule after a while. Now even the one who didn't spot the beetle first could punch back. Daddy commented that the game has become an excuse to fight. Without the original rule, it was no longer a game. They were old enough to settle that among themselves. We would not interfere in this kind of matter.
They arrived at The Village at Squaw at around 8:30pm. They dunked in the Jacuzzi before going to bed. The twins called daddy at home at 11:30pm before they went to bed.
This journal is back on line today. Update was halted since Jan 22 after a hardware failure.
Saturday, April 28, 2007 (9y+8m+22d)
Daddy returned to the office to work overtime. The rest of the family enjoyed their ski trip at Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe. It was amazing that this year's ski season lasted so long. No one expected the ski area would stay open until the end of April. There was no snowfall in the beginning of the season. And the snow came too little and too late. According to the news, the California snow pack reached record low in 20 years at only 29% of normal level. Hopefully we would not have water shortage this summer when the snow packs melt.
We have purposely avoided ski trip this season because of poor snow conditions. The twins have already outgrown their ski jackets and snow boots. We just didn't think we should buy a new set and be out grown after one or two trips. The twins are just growing too quickly each year. Mommy was resourceful enough to borrow what she needed for this trip. This last ski trip for the season was actually the first trip also.
They skied at the High Camp of Squaw Valley. The weather was quite hot. The snow was slushy. The twins complained that their ski pants and the helmets made them very hot. They actually skied without their jackets on. The area near high camp was so flat that mommy was bored. Skiing on flat ground was very tiring because they could not utilized gravity.
Mommy led the twins to go down the mountain to the lodge 2000 ft below. Christopher's family stayed at High Camp. Claire and her dad and Christopher's dad came down with the twins. Joanne was doing very well and led the way. Jasmine skied slowly and mommy stayed with her. Christopher's dad chased after Joanne. He said that Joanne skied very well and she was in control despite her speed. Claire and her dad were the slowest. The twins and mommy stopped at a waterfall and took some pictures. When Claire caught up with them, Claire joined the twins to play with the snow for a while before continuing. After they reached the bottom, they had lunch in a restaurant.
After lunch, they took the gondola back to the mountaintop again. Mommy asked the twins to go another round. Jasmine didn't want to go. Mommy said "I skied with you in the last run and you should ski with me in this one." Claire and her dad stayed on the mountaintop because they could not catch up. Mommy and the twins skied down the mountain one more time.
They all came back to the village after the ski area closed at 3pm. They went to dunk in the Jacuzzi again. Mommy prepared dinner for the kids and they played with their DS after dinner. The adults went downstairs to have dinner in a restaurant while the kids locked themselves in the condo. The kids were given a cell phone so that could stay in contact. Christopher was upset when his dad didn't pick up the phone. He asked the twins to call mommy's phone so that he could complain to his dad.
Christopher had a known record of insecurity. Once he refused to go with his mom when she needed to take his sister to a class in the afternoon. She gave him a choice, he could stay home alone to wait for his father who would be home within 5 minutes or he had to come along. He chose to stay home alone. Right after his mom has left home, he called 911 to tell the police he was scared. His dad arrived home within minutes before the police arrived. He was lucky because the social services might have taken custody of him for being left home alone.
Five kids played together without incidents until the adults returned. They went to bed early because everyone was tired from the skiing during the day. Jasmine said her feet were okay but both Joanne and Claire got a blister from the ski boots.
Sunday, April 29, 2007 (9y+8m+23d)
Daddy returned to the office to work overtime. The rest of the family came down the mountains after they checked out from the Village resort. The condo unit they stayed in was actually individually owned. The management company leased the condo out like hotel rooms when the owners were not using the units. They found out that the 3 bedroom units were selling at $1.5 to $1.8 million now. They all enjoyed this million-dollar unit for the past two days.
They stopped by Sacramento for lunch. They finished lunch at around 2pm. They took a nap on the way. After they woke up, they asked for their Nintendo DS. Claire's dad stalled them and asked them to submit an application. They needed to write down five points on why they deserved to get the DS. They took a long time to finish the application. Then Claire's dad interviewed them and debated each of their points. They had great time arguing for their rights to play. They laughed hysterically everything one of them made a funny remark. They went back and forth and they didn't finish the approval process before they arrived home. The twins said that they had more fun doing the application than playing the DS games.
They were home at around 4pm. Mommy took a nap after the long drive down the mountains. The twins practiced piano to catch up for the past two days.
Daddy came home from work for dinner. We went out to have ramen. Then we came home to have fruits. Daddy went back to the office to work overtime at night. The twins and mommy went to bed early.
Monday, April 30, 2007 (9y+8m+24d)
The twins returned to school as usual. All Californian public schools are conducting the STAR tests this week. The kids have no homework for three days while the tests are in progress. Mommy still wanted them to practice piano though. Their piano teacher is on a performance tour for the next 3 weeks. She had given 3 weeks worth of homework and music for the twins to work on during the break.
Ritz was returning to Hong Kong tonight on a 1:30am flight. Christopher's mom and mommy took her to the airport after 9pm. They hang out with her at the airport's coffee shop until 11:30pm. Mommy came home before midnight.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007 (9y+8m+25d)
It is International Labor Day today. All the international locations of daddy's company were shutdown. Unfortunately, daddy still needed to go to work because we celebrate a different Labor Day in the US. The twins needed to go to school also for the same reason.
They continued to have the second day of the STAR test. They did the second half of the language arts test. Jasmine said it was very easy. She said the mathematic test tomorrow might be more difficult. When they came home, they took a nap because they had no homework during this test week.
Joanne weighed 64.5 lb. Jasmine weighed 66.5 lb.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 (9y+8m+26d)
The twins went to school as usual. They did the first half of the STAR math test. Both twins said the test was easy.
In the afternoon, Benjamin came to our house. They played in the backyard and picked oranges from the tree. They consumed the fruit on the spot.
Thursday, May 3, 2007 (9y+8m+27d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had the second half of their math STAR test. Due to the test week in school, they didn't have any homework. They didn't have their piano lesson because the teacher was still on her performance tour.
Friday, May 4, 2007 (9y+8m+28d)
The twins went to school as usual. Ashley came over after school, so that her mom could stay at school to finish her work. Mommy said the twins behaved like they were just released from prison. They played their DS games like there was no tomorrow.
Saturday, May 5, 2007 (9y+8m+29d)
We went out to lunch. The twins asked who we were having lunch with. When we told them we were on our own, they were surprised. Then we went to the new AMC 16 Theater near by. We watched Spiderman 3. We asked if Claire wanted to come. She and her dad joined us. The movie was 260 minutes long. But the kids loved it. Joanne watched the whole movie with her palms over her ears. Her ears have been very sensitive and she never likes any loud noise. The twins were covering their eyes during the kissing scenes.
They came to our house after the movie. They brought along a Super Paper Mario game for the Wii. It was a single player game. Jasmine got to play while Claire showed her some tips. Joanne practiced piano and didn't get to play it. We were about to go out for Chinese food. One of twins said they preferred Malaysian.
When we were dining, Claire's dad picked up a piece of food and sent it to Joanne's plate. Joanne screamed "Your germs!" Her dad was startled. He then explained to Joanne that he was using a serving fork, not the same one he was eating with. Joanne lacked the table manner, but she knew how to protect her hygiene.
They came back to our house after dinner. The kids played Paper Mario for a while. Then they switched to play the Wii Sports before more players could participate. They stayed and played until 11:30pm
Sunday, May 6, 2007 (9y+9m)
The twins are 9 and 3-quarter year old.
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started on April 27, 2007