Who's your good friend? 誰是你的好朋友?

Last week at Chinese school we talked about good friends. I had the class come to the front and I asked if they have any good friends and what their friends names are. Most of the kids answered my questions, and talked about their friends. Khai was tired, so he sat on the chair in the back alone. I asked the class again who has a good friend, Khai raised his hand and I asked who's his good friend, and he pointed at me. The moms in that class all said "oh......", my eyes were watery and I said thank you then hurried and moved on to the next subject before my tears came. He was so sweet and made me so proud of having him as my son. It was my highlight that evening.

上禮拜五在中文學校主題是"好朋友". 我請小朋友到前面來並問他們有沒有好朋友, 叫什麼名字, 都跟好朋友玩什麼? 有些小朋友就乖乖的回答我的問題. 煒勳那時很累所以他自己坐在後面的座位上, 我再問一次還有沒有人有好朋友. 煒勳舉起了他的手, 我問他的好朋友是誰, 他什麼都沒說就指著我..頓時全班的媽媽們都說"喔....." 我眼眶一熱趕緊趁淚水流下來前跟他說聲謝謝並轉移話題. 那時候我覺得好溫暖好貼心, 覺得有個貼心孩子的我真是幸福. 整個晚上都覺得很快樂. 做媽媽的只要小朋友做任何小小一件好事都會很感動, 是不是越老就越容易動情呢?

1st wet snow in winter 08 今年第一場雪

Snow man and woman. 2 個雪人

Kids' snow castle. 小朋友的雪堡.

Snowman-Xander 傑升雪人

Snowman Khai 煒勳雪人

This weekend had been cold and we got about 4 inches of snow (kind of early to have snow for MI this year) . The snow was wet and good for building snowman. Kids and I all bundled up and went out to play snow. We used whatever craft we had in the garage and porch to built these 2 snow man and woman. We had a really good time of building the snowmen and playing snow outside.

這個週末下了很多雪, 是今年冬天的第一場. 尤於這次的雪較溼很適合做雪人, 我們等到哥哥下課後回到家就迫不及待的全副武裝準備到外面去玩雪. 先堆起雪人再叫小朋友躲到雪人後面來拍張雪人照再完成我們的雪人. 在冰箱裡找到2 個柳丁就當雪人的大眼而袋子就當帽子囉, ...吔, 萬聖節還有剩下的南瓜就拿來當另一個雪人的頭好了..嗯, 看了看我們的雪人還真可愛..

小朋友們在旁邊很興奮的堆雪堡要跟我玩打雪球, 可是已經太晚了我的腳都快結冰了就約他們下次再玩. 小朋友們在外面玩的很高興, 晚上早早的就去睡覺了. 有沒有人要來我們家玩雪呀?

Happy Thanksgiving 2008 感恩節

Stuffing.

This year I presented a turkey project for my class before the Thanksgiving, kids loved it very much and had so much fun. A parent, whose husband just came to the State to study, asked me how to cook turkey. Sean and I thought it would be fun to invite them over for Thanksgiving since they don't know how to cook turkey nor celebriated the holiday before. We were surprised this family accepted our invitation because it was an hour drive for them.

Sean and I went over our menus and made sure that we have every ingredients that we needed. We started our annuel turkey recipe that required to put the turkey in the brine over night. After a good night sleep, we woke up happily and started cooking while kids watching the Macy's parade.

Turkey on a plate, good job Sean. 肖恩把切好的火雞漂亮的放在盤子上.

Our guests arrived at 12:30 pm and were very excited about the feast. They even took pictures of pretending they were cooking all the meals. They were so cute. Everyone was starving so we said a prayer and started the feast. Sean and I served turkey, stuffing, mashed potato and gravy, baked sweet potato and our guests brought salad. Everything tasted so yummy (especially the turkey, so tender and moist) and we were so full. We were pretty sure that our guests love our meal because they filled their plates at least twice.

Cute pictures. 朋友的立可拍相機拍的相片

This family had a very cool / cute camera that the pictures will come out immediately with cute design papers. She took our family pictures and kids' group pictures and gave us as a gift. It was very fun to have them over.

Kids and us were so tired after eating the turkey, we all had a really nice nap. It's fun to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends.

我想要在感恩節前在中文學校在一個勞作, 請教了煒勳的幼稚園老師有沒有什麼簡單的勞作, 她建議我做火雞, 就只要買馬鈴薯,羽毛, 牙籤跟糖果就好了. 小朋友們果然都做的很開心. 有一個媽媽他們全家8 月份時剛從台灣搬到密西根州, 老公在唸研究所, 問我怎麼煮火雞. 我給了她食譜, 可是後來想想應該邀請他們全家來我們家吃火雞應該他們根本就不知道怎麼煮火雞又沒過過感恩節.. 肖恩建議我邀請他們, 而他們也很興奮的答應了我們的邀請, 雖然他們要開一個小時來我們家.

感恩節的前一天我們就開始確定有所有需要的材料並開始用各種香料及雞湯替火雞泡澡, 這樣火雞肉烤起來才會多汁又嫩. 我也先把南瓜泒做好, 這樣隔天才不會太忙.

感恩節當天我們睡懶覺, 八點多才起床, 我們開始準備做火雞大餐並開電視讓小朋友看遊行. 到了12點半, 我們的客人準時到達. 他們已經很迫不及待的想要吃火雞大餐了. 還剩下幾樣菜沒有做好, 他們看到了就說要幫忙並開始照相假裝所有的食物都是他們煮的以滿足自己的幻想. 今年我們煮了火雞, 烤蕃薯, 馬鈴薯泥及醬汁還有沙拉, 所有的東西都好好吃尤其是火雞又嫩又多汁. 我們的客人也很喜歡, 我怎麼知道呢? 因為他們至少吃了2盤.

飯後客人就拿出了她的立可拍相機..一按相機, 相片就馬上跑出來可是最可愛的是它的相紙每張都不一樣, 都很可愛...說是日本製的..她幫我們拍了好幾張以留做紀念. 客人走了後我們的肚子好飽也累垮了(小朋友們是玩的太瘋了), 睡了一個好甜的午覺. 嗯, 感恩節還是要有朋友來比較好玩.

Grandparents Feast 2008 阿公阿嬤特別日

Silly boys. 2 個小儍瓜

I love doing projects with my family.

跟爸媽一起做勞作最好玩了.

I'm going to start, o.k.? 我要開始吃囉.










Yummy...好好吃哦.






Khai's school holds a Grandparents Feast a few days before Thanksgiving. At the feast grandsparents will do 3 craft projects with their grandchild, then have a light lunch. School also holds a bake sale on the side of the lunch room to earn extra money. Parents are encouraged to bring goodies for the bake sale. Since both sets of kids' grandparents live so far away, Sean and I usually are the special guests that day. Sean decided to take Wednesday off for the feast.

This is our 4th year in the row to attend the feast, Sean and I already have a plan. Drop off our goodies and Khai in the morning, head to stores to buy some Christmas presents, come back to school 15 minutes early to look at the goodies.
We finished our lunch very quick (because we ate quickly, not because we were there the first) and decided to help vacume the classroom, after people were done with their lunch then we helped cleaning the lunch room. We had a really nice feast and picked up a bucket of buck eye candy + fudge at the bake sale for our treats.

傑升跟煒勳的學前班學校在感恩節的前幾天都會舉辦一個"阿公阿嬤/外公外婆特別日". 在這天小朋友會跟他/她的阿公阿嬤外公外婆們做3個勞作然後去吃一個簡單的午餐. 學校也會要求家長們捐獻一些小點心來賣, 這樣可以幫學校募款. 由於小朋友兩邊的阿公阿嬤都住的很遠, 所以每年都是肖恩跟我做代表去參加這個特別日. 今年肖恩決定今天(禮拜三)不上班, 要偷懶一天. 明天是感恩節而公司禮拜五不上班, 所以他可以有5天連續假日.

這已經是我們連續第四年參加阿公阿嬤特別日, 所以我們很清楚流程甚至準備好了計劃表: 早上先帶煒勳去上課及交給學校我們做的餅乾, 然後剩空檔時間趕快去幾家店買些聖誕節禮物. 15分鐘提早到達學校才可以看看販賣的點心裡有什麼好吃的東西. 接著趕快去做最少人在那的那個勞作....我們跟煒勳都很快地就把勞作做好了, 其他的阿公阿嬤們因為很珍惜跟小孫子相處的時間都慢慢細心的完成他們的勞作. 他們也比較老所以都慢慢來..結果我們家是第一個去吃午餐的.

吃完了午餐發現大部份的人都還在吃飯, 就先去幫老師吸教室的地然後再回來把椅子放好..挑了幾樣小點心回家吃並準備清理家裡以迎接明天的火雞大餐.

Halloween 08

I'm ready to get more candies. 準備去要糖菓囉.

Hay Ride. 哥哥班上可以坐在稻草堆的車上.

My handsome boys.

Trick-or-Treat. Anybody home? 有人在家嗎? 我們來要糖菓囉.

This year we were planning on dressing Xander as an Indiana Jones, so Pei-I went to second hand stores and tried to find an old brown leather jacket. No luck, changed plan, I hurried and went to the store and found Xander a cowboy outfit. Khai wanted to be a fire fighter, so he got to wear Xander's costume from last year.

Khai was the busiest person on the Halloween at our family this year. He had a trick-or-treat party at his preschool, then we had to hurry and go to Xander's school for Xander's party, later on we had the official trick-or-treating at our neighborhood.

khai's classmates had many cute costumes, such as astronaut with a monster big helmet, handmade scarecrow outfit, hand-draw skelton outfit...They circled around the building and got some goodies from people in the church, had their snacks then headed for the games. Khai's teacher set up many stations with games and prizes next to it. Kids were having fun playing games and collecting goodies.

Khai and Pei-I headed to their car immediately after the party (finished around 12:00 pm), grabbed a sandwitch and drove 30 minutes to Xander's party because the trunk-or-treat started at 1:00pm. It felt like Khai and I were modern Cinderellas, needing to hurry and go somewhere else right after the party. We made it to Xander's school in time, kids were getting changed into their costumes and ready to go out. This year school had lots of cars parked on the parking lot to hand out candies. Kids were doing so good asking for candies and remembering their manners. Their buckets were so full that I had to help them carry. We played more games in the classroom and ready to go home for a nap.

This year we had a really nice warm weather for Halloween and it's Friday night, so we anticapte lots of kids will show up for trick-or-treating. We headed out at 6:00 pm and started with our neighbors first. This 2 old couples who live 2 houses next to us, always gave big candies to the kids that they know and we always make sure that we stopped by their house first. kids were having lots of fun asking for candies. We brought our backpack and emptyed kids' buckets when they got too heavy, this way they can walk farther. Sean and Pei-I were having so much fun trick-or-treating with Xander and Khai every year, they knew that not much longer kids will want to go out with their friends instead of hanging around with their parents.

When we got really close to our house, Pei-I hurried went home and turned on lights waiting for people to come. Sean would check all the candies that kids got tonight and dump the candies that we don't like into our candy tray. We had some leftover candies from the trunk-or-treat at church + the candies that we didn't like from tonight and wasn't sure if we need to open the second big bag of candies. Strangly, not many people showed up. it was only 7:40 pm and it's Friday night + nice weather, we only got about 40 people that night. Didn't even need to open second big bag, I guess I'll return it to the store then.

We had lots of fun at Halloween and can't wait for next time.

今年本來打算在萬聖節讓傑升當印地安娜瓊斯, 所以要去2手店找舊的黃色皮外套..找不到, 那算了, 趕快去店裡買衣服吧...傑升挑了一件牛仔裝, 很可愛還有牛仔帽. 煒勳說他要當消防員, 所以他就接哥哥去年的衣服穿.

今年萬聖節煒勳是最忙的人, 他要連趕2 場派對再加上晚上還要出去要糖菓. 當天在學校裡煒勳的學校有辦派對. 小朋友先一個一個到前面跟大家講他/她是裝扮成什麼, 大家來個大合照再在學校繞一週, 教會裡的人會發給他們小東西. 吃完了點心後再去旁邊玩遊戲. 老師分了10幾個區, 每區都有一個遊戲及禮品. 小朋友們玩的很高興.

我們2個人等到遊戲玩完後就馬上衝出學校準備開到哥哥的學校續第二攤. 哥哥班上1點就到出去要糖菓了, 幸好我們趕上了. 今年學校有很多家長把車子開到草坪上來樂捐糖菓(叫做 trunk-or-treat), 這樣小朋友在很短的距離內就可以要到很多糖菓. 大家很有秩序的排隊要糖菓而天氣也很晴朗. 繞了一圈下來, 兄弟倆的盒子都沈甸甸的, 好有成就感.. 好吧, 下課了趕快回家去補個眠, 晚上好玩的才要登場呢....

傍晚吃完飯, 6 點就準時出門. 我們隔壁有一對老夫婦, 他們會特別準備較大的糖菓給他們認識的小孩, 所以我們每年都會先去他們家要糖. 爸爸跟媽媽也揹了背包及帶水, 如果小朋友的盒子變的太重了就可以將糖菓倒進我們的背包, 這樣他們就可以走比較遠一點而不用提很重的盒子. 小朋友長大了所以今年可以走遠一點, 記得3 年前他們只走了一點點就喊累...

在快接近到我們家時, 我都會先跑回家去開燈, 這樣人家才知道你在家而來要糖菓. 上個禮拜在教會也有給糖菓還剩一些, 就先用這些吧...肖恩到家後都會先檢查糖菓, 看有沒有被打開過或是看起來很可疑的糖菓, 他把不喜歡的糖菓放進給別人的盒子裡....想說今天天氣這麼好又是禮拜五, 應該會有很多人來要糖吧....很奇怪哦, 大約只有40幾個人來要糖, 我連第二包新的糖菓都沒有拆呢...我在想也許是因為我們回到家時已經7點40分了, 所以大部分的人都已經路過我們家了...也好啦, 那就把第二包糖菓拿去退吧....

好玩的萬聖節, 弟弟一直在問什麼時候才又會有萬聖節...

My next door neighbors who are very nice to us. 隔壁的鄰居, 對我們很好.


I can't get it into the loop. 我一直投不進吔.

10-20-08 Xander's birthday 傑升的生日

Can I have one more? 我可以再吃一個嗎

My friends love my cake. 我同學都很喜歡我的蛋糕吔.

Isn't this cake look so cute? 很有萬聖節氣氛的蛋糕

The finished products. 做好的蛋糕.

Xander's birthday is really close to Halloween and we always find cute Halloween cup cake ideas from Better Home magazine every year. This year Xander picked the bat cup cakes -- becasuse the rest of them are too hard and take too much time to make them. Both kids were having fun decorating the cakes for about 10 minutes and ran away to play something else. Sean came to make sure if that's o.k. that they didn't help me with the cakes and I responed it was much faster if they don't help me.

Khai and I went to Xander's school in the afternoon and helped passing out the cup cakes to his classmates. The class sang him happy birthday song and everyone gave him a birthday hug and wish. It was so sweet.

We decided to stay home and celebrate his birthday since it's school night. Xander chose macaroni cheese for dinner, easy enought that I can make it at home. Xander loved his presents, especially the DS games and the helicopter from grand parents. Khai was being very nice watcing his big brother opening all presents and didn't whine why he didn't get any.

Happy Birthday Xander.

傑升的生日離萬聖節很近. 每年當月的雜誌都會有一些做蛋糕的點子給萬聖節用, 所以我們常常可以做不同的蛋糕給傑升拿到學校分同學吃. 今年傑升選了蝙蝠, 因為其它的太難了, 媽媽不會也沒有時間做. 小朋友們很高興的幫忙做蛋糕, 可是小孩子的專注力還是有限, 過了一會兒他們就跑上樓找爸爸玩了. 爸爸問我說還需不需要小朋友們幫忙做蛋糕, 我小聲的跟爸爸講: "其實沒有他們的幫忙我反而比較快", 不想講太大聲以傷他們的自尊心.

隔天我和煒勳拿蛋糕到哥哥的學校去請同學吃, 在他們班上大家會圍一個圓圈, 先唱生日快樂歌, 然後每個人給壽星一個抱抱及祝福. 傑升有點害羞的讓大家輪流抱抱, 最後美麗的老師也抱了他一下. 然後傑升問他同學們要那種蛋糕他再分給大家, 煒勳坐在哥哥的桌子旁很高興的吃著蛋糕.

因為隔天還要上課, 所以我們沒有出去外面慶祝, 傑升選擇要吃起司麵, 還好這個我會做. 晚上早早的吃完了晚餐, 傑升很高興的拆他的禮物. 他很喜歡玩樂高積木, 所以煒勳及爺爺奶奶送他積木遊戲. 爸爸媽媽送他電子遊樂器的遊戲. 他玩的很高興, 而最難得的是煒勳整晚很乖的看哥哥拆禮物, 一點都沒有嫉妒他自己都沒有禮物. 嗯, 下次煒勳生日時也要對他特別好.

Harvest pumpkins 採收南瓜

Khai is a very strong helper. 我一次可以拉3顆南瓜.

總共有14顆南瓜吔

Dry corn from our garden. 這些乾乾的玉米是我們種的.

The weather forcast predictes that there will be frost in the next few days, so I thought I'll harvest the pumpkins since their veins already brown and dead anyways. Cut the stem and put them on Khai's baby wagon, drag all of them to the front porch. Wow, we had 14 big and small pumpkins. We started with 8 seeds, thin 4 of them, just water them daily and didn't do much and see how many we got out of them. We really enjoy our pumpkin patch this year because their veins are everywhere and so long. Didn't want to hurt the pumpkins, so we don't mow these areas. Being lazy persons, we decided to expand our garden and plant more pumpkins--you probably already firgure out the real reason why we expand the garden. ^_*

We also planted some corns and only ate two big and sweet corns. That was it, we forgot to harvest them and now they are too old to eat. We'll save them until them turn brown, and we can use that as our Halloween decoration.

氣象預告估計這幾天會結霜. 我怕我們的南瓜會被凍壞又想它們的莖及葉子都已經變黃變枯了, 應該是可以採收了吧. 好, 叫煒勳跟我一起去採收南瓜. 割了蒂把南瓜放在小推車裡, 煒勳幫我把它們推到前門去. 我們數了數, 哇, 總共有14顆南瓜呢. 本來只種了8顆種子, 其中拔到了4顆要不然會彼此競爭而長不大..也就只有澆澆水, 拔些草而已, 竟然可以長這麼多. 種南瓜最大的好處就是它的莖很會長也有很多葉子, 所以有莖的地方我們割草時都會繞過..這樣子就讓我想到那我們明年就要把花園再擴大再種南瓜, 讓它的莖到處長這樣就不用割草了..聰明吧.

今年也種了玉米, 有吃到2顆又大又甜的玉米, 可是後來忘記採收等到要採時都已經太老了. 想說就先留著, 等到它們變黃變乾時還可以採下來當萬聖節的裝飾.

10/10/08 Khai's field trip 煒勳的戶外教學

Hurry mom, I only have 5 seconds standing here. 媽媽快點啦,只有5秒鐘可以站這裡吶.
Explain how fire truck works 消防員解說設備.
Boy, this pants is so big..好大的褲子哦.
Firefighter's full gear 消防員的全副武裝.

This week is Khai's turn to go to fire station for his field trip. Fire fighter Larry explained what fire fighters do and how they use their station and fire truck. He opens most of the cabinets and shows us what tools inside and when to use them. Kids get to go inside the station and see where fire fighters eat, sleep, shower, and exercise. They keep their station very clean, they even wash their fire trucks every day. Kids also get to go inside the fire truck and have a seat on the chair--for 5 seconds. At the end they need a volunteer to put on fire fighter's full gear. I rais my hand immediately because I would like to know how heavy they are to put on the whole gears.

After adding pants, boots, jackets, helmet, and finally air tank, it's getting heavy. Fire fighter Larry even asked me to crow on the floor and shake kids' hands. This way kids would know that fire fighters are there to save them. I manage myself to get up w/o any help. The whole gears are so heavy and no wonder fire fighters need to be in their best shape. It was very fun to visit fire station, for kids and myself.

今天換煒勳要去消防局做戶外教學. 消防局離學校只有1分鐘車程.到了消防局,消防員為小朋友們解釋防火安全,發生火災/災變時要在那裡和家人碰面,及介紹消防車的各種設備. 我們後來進去觀看消防員們吃飯,睡覺,洗澡及運動的地方. 整個消防局好乾淨哦, 因為他們沒去救災時就待在局裡清理裡面. 他們甚至每天都洗消防車呢. 我懷疑他們的家裡是不是也都很乾淨--職業病. 後來消防員徵求一個志願者穿上全副消防衣, 我馬上伸手因為我很想體驗穿消防制服. 慢慢的穿上褲子,外套, 手套,面具及氧氣桶,哇,好重吔.要當一個消防員體能一定要在最好的狀態, 要不然你根本就走不了幾步就累了. 小朋友最後可以在消防車上坐一下並照張相, 要快哦, 只有5秒鐘的時間.

10/3/08 Xander's field trip. 傑升的戶外教學

觀看果園如何挑選蘋果.
Hmmm..Yummy fresh donuts and cider.好香的甜甜圈跟新鮮蘋果汁.
Xander picked a good apple from the tree. 傑升也採了一顆大蘋果.
Fresh apple right from the tree. 煒勳從蘋果樹上現採的新鮮蘋果


This is Xander's first field trip in the first grade. The class is going to visit the orchard. We arrived the orchard and sat on the wagon to see the whole orchard. The lady explained how apple trees grow and invited us to pick an apple from the tree. It was fun to pick a fresh juicy apple right from the tree. It smells very sweet. We then went inside to see how they sort the apples and make apple cider. The pretty looking one can sell for very good price, the ugly ones and small ones will be used for making cider. Everyone had a chance to taste the fresh made donuts and cider. So yummy. It was a fun day. 2 friends of mine and myself just bought 8 bushels of apples and we made a bunch of apple sauce, few apple ciders and lots of apple butter. I'llshow you the pictures later.

今天是傑升一年級的第一次戶外教學. 我們到了果園後坐上推車,聽解說園介紹整個蘋果園.下車後解說園跟小朋友們介紹蘋果是怎麼來的並邀請我們去採一顆蘋果. 剛從樹上摘下的蘋果好香好甜哦.煒勳等不及了馬上就開始大啃大吃. 接著我們進去工廠看他們怎麼分蘋果.外表漂亮光滑的就可以賣較好的價錢,有黑點的或是太小的就賣便宜點或是做蘋果汁. 我們到戶外時, 他們端出了現做的甜甜圈及蘋果汁. 很好吃呢. 我前幾天才跟2位朋友買了好幾大袋的蘋果, 做了許多蘋果泥跟幾罐蘋果汁.做蘋果汁擠剩的果肉還可拿來做果醬.改天再拍照給大家看.

9/15 Jury duty

Few weeks ago I received a jury duty summon, this is the first time that I got called for jury duty. Don't know how long would that take, I arranged friends to watch Xander and Khai after schools. I was hoping that this duty would only last few days.

After checked in, the clerk told us that this is a capital murder trial, not a good case to be called and it may last a while. In addition, there were 105 people today waiting to be picked in the jury box.

After an hour waiting, we finally got called into the court. It was very exciting because I got to experience the scene that I saw on TV all the time (jury sit in the box and a judge in the front + lawyers from both sides) but I was also very worried that the computer would pick my name. I've gone through many excuses in my head and none of them sounds very good. The clerk started calling names and the judge asked them questions followed by the lawyers from both sides. They kept excusing some juries and calling new people, and some of the excuses from the jury including: "I have short attention", "I have no pay check", "I've read this case from newspaper", "I have medical condition", "I know about guns"....Every time when they excused one person, the whole group knew they might be the next one to be called. It was 12:10 pm and the judge decided to let us have lunch break and come back at 1:30 pm.

We went back to the court room and heard more names got called. More people got excused again, the whole group even got sent back to the waiting room because the judge and lawyers have to discuss something. Finally after 6 hours of picking, the 14 jury were finalized and we got to leave the court room. It's time to check out and collect our money. The clerk told us that she never seen it take that long to pick jurys ever. I received $36.50 that day, what a cheap labor I am. I'm still on call for the rest of the week and luckly that was it for me. No more jury duty for the rest of the week..Yeah.

Updated: 2 weeks later I read from the newspaper that the jury cannot make a decision so the case will be back to the court in January again.

身為美國公民的義務之一就是要當陪審圑員. 法院的電腦會隨機抽取樣本然後寄通知提醒你什麼時候要去法院當陪審員.當我一接到通知單,一則以喜一則以憂..喜的是可以親身體會在電視上看到的情節,憂的是不曉得要弄多久, 小孩子下課後要找別人看會很麻煩.

辦事員跟我們說今天這件案子是謀殺案,不是個好案子而且可能會弄很久.過了一個多小時終於傳我們到法院裡去, 好興奮哦..一直祈禱電腦不要挑我的名字, 我左右2個男士都被叫到前面去了吔, 我不會那麼幸運吧...2邊的律師可以輪流問這14位陪審員.為了挑有利於己方的陪審員, 2邊律師可以毫無理由的叫任何一個陪審員離開. 電腦會再挑下一個人到前面去坐著.法官會問陪審員們一些問題及讓他們說出審判此案有何因難之處...陪審員們好多都有理由像是:"我注意力很短", "我公司不付我薪水","我要常常上廁所", "我在報上看過這則新聞且瞭解的很清楚" 有的沒有的..被告律師每有一個新陪審員被叫, 他都一定會向前詢問問題,所以整個過程弄的好久

法院說先解散,大家去吃飯, 1點半過後再來集合. 好吧, 那我就回車上吃三明治, 睡個午覺再回來吧..同樣的步驟:挑陪審員, 問問題, 說他/她不能當的理由...過了半個鐘頭之後終於選出了14位陪審員..哦,好險.回去待侯室準備領錢.今天在這待了一天,法院會付你一天的薪水加上從家裡來回的車馬費:$36.50.真是廉價勞工.辦事員告訴我們整個禮拜每天晚上都要打電話看隔天要不要去報到,幸好就這樣子不用再回去報到了..真是新的體驗.

題外話:前幾天剛看到報紙,2個禮拜之後陪審圑過了好幾天還是不能做出一致的決定,所以檢方還會再上訴.

First time teaching at Chinese School 9/12/08

The Chinese school in Khai's class was missing a teacher. I've been with pre-school for 2 years while Xander and Khai were in the class plus I sub Khai's class 3 times last year, so I basically know how teacher presented her class. Furthermore, I know I can borrow all the teaching materials and toys from previous teacher, a Chinese school teacher therefore produced in our family.

I had to make sure that I got all the materials ready before 1st day of school. Kids and I had fun visiting dollar stores and picking up fun toys. I told Khai that he had to be very good in class because he is my little class helper from now on; Xander was jealous and said he wanted to be my class helper as well although he goes to different class than Khai.

I dressed in a nice shirt and picked up Wendy sandwitch to eat on the way to school; somehow a big drop of ketchup and mayo sauce dropped on my shirt. I went to school and hurried to wipe them off, too late, a big wet spot stayed there. Luckyly it was at the bottom of the shirt that I can tuck my shirt in the jeans and hide it with my teacher badge.

The class went pretty smooth and I got to meet new students with their parents. It was Chinese Full Moon Festival that night so we went out to see the moon and had some snacks. I think I did o.k. for the first night, but I was extremally hot. I don't know if it's the hot weather or I was too nervous. I heard another new teacher said she feel pretty hot as well. Must be both reasons.

話說今年中文學校,煒勳的那班還少中文老師,學校要家長們出來幫忙. 我想說我已經跟了傑升跟煒勳上了2年的課,很熟悉老師的上課方式再加上我可以跟老師借講義及上課用的道具,就大膽的跟學校遞了我的履歷表.經過了一小時的電話面談, 我很幸運的當上了中文學校的學前班老師.說實話可能是因為沒有其他家長想要出來教吧.

我告訴煒勳他現在開始要好好好表現,因為他是我的小班長. 傑升一聽到就很嫉妒的說他也要當我班上的小班長,可是哥哥你是上別班的吶. 好吧,那要正式上課之前先去買好玩的玩具,下課後可以發給小朋友. 2個小朋友這邊這個好,那邊那個好,還一直問回家可不可以馬上玩. 哥哥跟弟弟幫我把禮物包好準備開學送給小朋友們.

終於是上學的第一天了. 媽媽我穿著乾淨的衣服開車帶小朋友去上課. 路途中買了漢堡來吃, 啊,一大片的蕃茄醬加美乃滋掉到我衣服上了. 到了學校趕快去廁所用溼紙巾擦一擦, 呀, 擦不掉啦..還好, 溼的地方還蠻下面的,可以塞進褲子裡再加上個老師的掛牌就看不到了.

第一次正式當老師好緊張哦.我的臉好熱,說話也說的很快. 第一班的小朋友是3~4歲. 班上有一半的學生在家不講中文或父母是外國人/ABC, 看他們一臉漠然的看著我, 只好自己放慢速度慢慢教. 一轉眼, 第一班就這樣上完了.第二班是給4~5歲的小朋友,他們比較大一點比較快進入情況. 先簡短的自我介紹就跟他們講嫦娥奔月的故事及帶他們到外面去賞月..第一個禮拜就這樣混過去了.

Pei-I's birthday 9/5

Yummy sushi 看起來不錯哦, 好多魚蛋.
My birthday tempura cheese cake 我的生日蛋糕
After the soda, 喝汽水後
Before the soda,喝汽水前
After the soda, 喝汽水後
Before the soda,喝汽水前
Take a picture before we ate them all..趁還沒吃前先照張相.


So today is my birthday and I get to choose a restaurant that I want to eat out. After thinking about it all day, I decided to go to Korean restaurant for korean BBQ where the waitress will serve you many yummy side dishes. We ordered the meats that we cooked on our table. Sean is the chef tonight. The meats were marinated in a special sauce and they all taste so good and tender. Xander and Khai love this place, Xander even require to come back here on his birthday.

My waitress serve us a tempura cheesecake, it's so yummy. The outside skin is deep fried but the cheese cake inside was so soft. MMM....What a special birthday dinner.

話說今天是我的生日,所以一整天就在想晚上到底要去吃什麼好,是要吃日本料理呢還是韓國菜? 肖恩3月生日時才去吃過日本料理,有點想念韓國菜的許多配菜,好吧,那就去吃韓國菜吧.

我們上次有來這家吃過,所以這次帶小朋友一起來吃.在上主菜之前,服務生會先給你十幾盤的小菜,有泡菜,海帶,蘿蔔乾及其他好好吃的小配菜.我們點了自己在桌上烤的韓國烤肉,店家的肉弄的很好吃,烤起來很軟,味道很好.小朋友都很好奇的看著我們烤肉.爸爸今晚是主廚..媽媽我呢就專心的吃飯.

服務生知道今晚是我的生日後要送我一個免費的點心, 是炸的起士蛋糕. 看起來不怎麼樣, 可是吃起來外表很酥,裏面的起士蛋糕很好吃呢.大家就這樣你一口我一口的很快就吃完了.傑升甚至還說他生日時也要來這家餐廳吃飯.

我們隔壁桌來了2位大陸人,一男一女,他們也跟我們一樣是點在桌上烤肉的.只見他們拚命的吃小菜及飯,小菜吃完了還請服務生再多給他們幾盤,總共要了2次哦..看他們烤肉及另一份晚餐也快吃完了.哇, 真會吃.

1st day of school 2008

9/2/08


Xander's first day of school --1st grade.
今天是傑升上一年級的第一天.

Good brothers..Khai:" When can I go to Xander's school?"

煒勳: " 我甚麼時候可以去上哥哥的學校?"

New classroom, new friends. 新教室, 新老師.

My school has a new sign this year. 學校今年做了新的招牌.

Playing puzzles. 我在玩拚圖.

Mummy will you stay with me? 媽媽妳留下來陪我, 好不好?

Kids have been pretty excited about the starting of schools. This year Xander will be in the first grand and Khai will be in the pre-K class. This morning is the first morning in the past 3 months that Xander wakes up before 6:40 am and in a cheerful mood. He can't wait to see his friends and to meet his new teacher.

We all take Xander to school and wait outside in the line to chat with friends. Finally time to enter his new classroom. We help Xander find his desk and where his locker is. Khai wants to stay in the classroom with Xander but we tell him that he gets to come to Xander's school next year. I go home with Khai and have a very quiet day with only one child at home. I love the school starts.

9/3/08 Khai's first day in the pre-K

Today is Khai's big day to go to Pre-K. He is very excited that it's his turn to go to school. He is kind of nervous to stay in the class and wants me to stay with him. I assure him that I'll pick him up in few hours. When I pick him up few hours later, he is having fun playing with his friends. Lucky me get to go to store all by myself and enjoy quiet 3 hours.

星期二傑升要升一年級了. 他一大早6點40分就起床了, 這可是過去3個月來他第一次起這麼早而且這麼興奮呢..吃完了早餐我們大家帶他去學校, 大家都在外面排隊準備進去上課. 大家陸續的進入教室, 幫傑升找好他的座位及他的櫃子. 他已經就續準備開始畫老師放在桌上的圖卡了..我跟煒勳說我們要回家了可是煒勳想要留在教室裡, 我跟他說明天他就可以去上課了...

回到家裡享受了很安靜的一天, 因為只有煒勳在家, 沒有哥哥陪他玩所以煒勳也很乖. 真高興學校開學了.

星期三換煒勳去上課, 我們也是一大早就出發所以煒勳有時間可以玩玩具. 他很緊張一直叫我留下來陪他. 我跟他說我會留一下下可是等一下我就會來接他. 我們玩了一下拚圖老師說要準備上課囉. 他跟著我到門口一直依依不拾, 老師看到了過來抱他過去並問他有沒有看奧運, 喜歡那一項運動? 這樣馬上就得到煒勳的注意力.

趁著小孩在上課我趕快去買菜..真安靜. 3 個月以來第一次自己出來買菜..悠閒的逛著市場並看看有那些衣服在出清....看看時間差不多了趕快去接煒勳...他在外面和小朋友們玩的很高興. 問他還要不要再來上課, 他說好. 現在學校開學了每天都要當司機接送他們了. 晚上早點睡吧.

Making dumplings 包水餃

Xander's dumplings

Pei-I's dumplings

The future chef.

Xander has been asking me to make dumplings for a while. I thought I'll make them before school starts. Mix all the ingredients and Xander is pretty excited to help me. He followed my instructions and started making yummy dumplings. Khai also tried to make some, but he got frustrated that he couldn't make one, so he went on playing toys. Tonight's dinner is boiled dumplings and fried dumplings. Yummy.

傑升已經問了好幾次可不可以包水餃, 想說趁開學前趕快做一做吧...好, 去超市把材料買一買, 混在一起. 開工囉. 傑升很興奮的在旁邊看我包, 他迫不及待的想要露一手..試了幾回他就可以把皮壓的很緊了吔..真是厲害...當天的晚餐就是煮水餃及煎餃了..嗯, 好吃.

Harvest tomato in the garden 收採蕃茄

Isn't it fat?

I'm a good helper, see how many tomatoes that I picked?

Khai: "I want to help too.."

This spring we planted 4 tomato plants and they started producing a lot in the August. We pretty much collect at least 1 pint of cherry tomatoes every day. We enjoy them a lot. A few days ago we went to garden and found out there were so many black stuff on the garden, take a closer look and I found a big fat tomato caterpillar. Look at somewhere else, we found more caterpillars. I was being nice and thought they will become butterfly later, so I told kids to remove them to somewhere else.

Talking to Sean about my discovering on the phone, he told me to kill those caterpillars immediately; otherwise they would eat most of our tomatoes. Besides, these caterpillars will become moth not beautiful butterfilies. I couldn't find a big rock to smash them, so I told Khai to find a bucket from the sand box and add some water. We found 12 caterpillars that evening and put them all in the bucket. Feel bad to kill them all. Haven't seen any later on. Guess they went somewhere else to save their lives. That's right, don't mess around with Pei-I's garden.

今天春天我們家花園種了4 株蕃茄, 到了八月份開始生了好多蕃茄. 每天都有好多蕃茄要採, 今天的蕃茄特別甜. 前幾天和小朋友又去採蕃茄, 咦, 地上怎麼有好多黑黑的東西呀? 往上一看, 天呀, 一隻又胖又肥的毛毛蟲, 再往旁邊一看, 啊, 又有一隻, 再看, 大叫, 又有一隻....心裡想, 不要殺死這些蟲子因為它們日後會變成美麗的蝴蝶吔. 好吧, 叫小朋友幫我把它們抓到旁邊的樹下去放生..數了數, 共找到至少12隻胖蟲...跟老公講電話時他說要趕快把那些蟲殺死, 要不然他們會吃掉大部份的蕃茄. 他又跟我說這些蟲是害蟲, 不要良心不安.....

在附近熊熊找不到大石頭壓死它們, 只好叫弟弟去拿桶子來裝些水..狠心的把這些蟲子們都丟進水裡...還好後來的幾天都沒有發現那些蟲子了..也許它們變聰明, 跑到別人家去養生了.