More Dou Dou Long fun!

Archie had his second stage performance last week with the Blacksburg Chinese School. They once again sang "Dou Dou Long," which is the theme song from a Japanese cartoon that has been translated into Chinese. Archie's the shortest one in the red shirt.

This move with a partner was really tricky for a three-year-old, but he did a good job. His partner is almost five!!!

They had lots of fun hanging out backstage with the other performers. The Chinese American society put on the performance at the Graduate Center of Virginia Tech. They did a Kung Fu Panda theme and did an excellent job staying with the movie.

Here's one of Archie's teachers. The other is the president of the Chinese American Association so she was kind of hard to catch backstage.

One of the best things about being backstage was that Memaw and Papa came to see them.

Archie also got to pose with this cool lion head.

The older girls from the Chinese school did a fan dance. It was really tricky, but they did a good job.
A shot from Kung Fu Panda:

There was also a cool lantern dance performed by college students:

And this cool dance...Aren't the costumes pretty? Chinese are really into elaborate costumes for shows.

This was one of my favorite parts. It's a traditional lion dance. Two people are in each costume. I was glad they let the kids sit in the front row during the performance so they could see the other acts.

There was also a really cool Chinese yo-yo performance, but I didn't get any pics of it. I can't wait for next year!

Archie's First Performance: WAY TO GO!!!

Archie made his performance debut with the Blacksburg Chinese School at the International Street Fair today. (Due to weather the fair was moved indoors.) They sang the theme song from a Japanese cartoon (translated into Mandarin). He is the youngest by a year-and-a-half. Isn't he cute? They started practicing last November. He'll perform again at the Chinabration festival next week!

What didn't happen at this baseball game?

Last weekend we enjoyed the good weather with a picnic at the duck pond and an evening at the Virginia Tech Baseball Game. What didn't happen at the game? Any watching of baseball whatsoever. I really wanted to watch the game, but I had to keep all my attention on my kids and the neighbor who were running everywhere in the outfield and all over the stands. It was still fun!

We tried to get a pic with everyone in Hokie gear. Maybe we'll have better luck at the spring game?

Picnic at the duckpond:

On our way:
Looking for the action:

Too cute to sit still:

Grace's preferred way of entertaining herself. There are about 1 million of these steps in the outfield seating area, and Grace wanted to climb all of them. Someone commented, "I don't know if you'll sleep good tonight or if she will." My reply, "I hope both of us do, and we did."

Lovin' Spring!

Spring has sprung, and I'm loving it! I can't stay outdoors enough. I think we were only inside for about 2 minutes all day Saturday.

I took the kids to the park today, and Grace is quite a little daredevil. She is unaware anything is too big for her.



They love the picnic table I bought them during my Saturday yard sale treasure hunting. We've already had several picnics.

Archie is getting quite good at riding his bike.

We're growing a garden (indoors for now but we hope to transplant soon). Don't you love this ensemble Archie put together? Snow boots?

Friday Fotos

Cat sat, sat, sat: Guess Who's Reading?

Archie's reading! I, of course, am really proud of him!

It started with the alphabet a long time ago. Then, we progressed to phonics games. I started these just after he turned two but gave up shortly thereafter because he wasn't quite ready (of course :)

We re-doubled our efforts as part of my New Year's Resolution to start doing school with Archie.

We made him his very own story book out of construction paper, and he has been learning one sight word a day.

Here's a sample page he can read:

Meanwhile, we were playing phonics games with alphabet blocks, magnetic letters, stickers, etc.

While he was making good progress, this was a ton of work for mom (and not necessarily the most strategic plan) so I bought him the 1998 Hooked on Phonics off Ebay. I love Ebay. Today I did the first two lessons with him. This is the first story (in video). It consisted completely of "at" words. The second story "Dan Ran" was a little more difficult because it combined "at" words with "an" words. He was really proud of himself when he finished.

I think we're good on reading for the day. Next subject this afternoon...Math!

Grace Picture Hodgepodge

There's really no rhyme or reason to this post. I just wanted to share some of my favorite recent Grace pics. Thanks, Aunt Kay, for this cute dress! (Mommy was thrilled for a warm enough day last weekend to take outdoor pictures without a jacket!)

I thought Grace was ridiculously cute the other day when I carried her in from the car asleep. Usually, the movement wakes her up, but she was really out that day. She's pretty funny here surrounded by (clean) laundry.

Grace likes to sit in the corner of her crib, surrounded by her stuffed critters, and read a book to herself until she decides she's sleepy enough to sleep. She is a perfect sleeper so it's fine with me. Usually she just flops over when she's ready, but this afternoon she fell asleep sitting straight up! (I went in later and she had flopped over :)

Grace loves her boots and purse. She feels special wearing them. Never thought an 18 month old would be so particular about her shoes...Can't you see the bliss on her face?