Christmas Card Pictures

So I had every intention of hiring a photographer to take some real family portraits of us this year. But after looking at the prices, I wasn't too interested in spending hundreds of dollars, especially since Hana and I are not that good at posed photos anyway. We still needed a Christmas card picture. If you know me well, then you know that I love sending out Christmas cards and am kind of obsessive about sending them out before anyone else. I am obnoxiously organized and like to be ahead of things on stuff like this!

I decided to try out the self-timer function on our new SLR camera. We got all dressed up and headed outside to get this done before the sun went down. We took about 150 pictures total (10 pics were take!) and the picture we ended up choosing was the 3rd picture taken. I love the picture we ended up with and I love that it cost us nothing! Here are some of the pictures that definitely were not considered:

Golden Gate Park Hike

Last Saturday Kevin had the great idea of taking the girls for a hike in Golden Gate Park. It was a lovely, brisk fall day and we had a great time. The park is so close to our home but we rarely go. We need to come here more often!

Halloween

My October picture folder has over 300 pictures (excluding Alaina's birthday)! It's been a fun month. A couple of days before Halloween, I hosted a party for Alaina's playgroup. Us moms love lining the kids up and taking pictures. This has gotten pretty difficult now that the babies are mobile! We decided we'd have a better chance of getting all the kids in the picture if the moms held their babies and we used an automatic timer. Success! I love how green our grass is and how blue the sky is.
Hana's friend Jenna joined us for trick-or-treating.

I thought I would only take Alaina to a few houses but she really enjoyed herself and kept up with the big girls. I adore the picture below. It was taken at the last house we went to and she is so determined to get to that front door!
And the candy. I let Hana eat almost as much as she wants on Halloween. The next few days, I might give her a piece a day and then I pretend that candy no longer exists and hope she forgets about it. It's working so far!

Another Two Party Saturday

October has been quite a busy month of events but luckily we all enjoy a good party. This was our second Saturday of the month that we has two parties to attend. The first one was the Pacifica Mothers Club annual Halloween party. Here is Alaina with a couple of her LoveBug playgroup friends, Addison and Jack. My bee and my cat. Halloween night always seems to be so cold and my main priority in picking out costumes is how much warmth they will provide. I love animal costumes and figure this might be the last year I can get Hana to wear one. I am sure she'll want to be a Disney princess or fairy next year (but hopefully not!)
Afterwards, we changed and headed over to Chrissy Field for a friend's going away party. It was a perfect San Francisco day. I wish Hana was included in this picture but she was off playing.
We didn't think we'd stay long but the we all had so much fun that we stayed for 5 hours. Nothing better than friends, BBQ, games and a beautiful background!
Hana even got to dip her toes in the bay for a bit.

Alaina's First Birthday

Since Alaina's birthday landed on a Saturday, we just had to throw her a big party. I opted for a brunch to make the menu easy for me and have the party end right before naptime. Alaina had 3 outfit changes, including a traditional Korean dress that my mother saved from when I was little. I finally gave in and let Kevin buy a bouncehouse for the girls. We had so much fun celebrating with family and dear friends!

Countdown to One!

Hard to believe that Alaina will be 1 in a few short days! I will confess that it hasn't been the easiest year.
Hana was such an easy baby, mostly due to her amazing sleeping habits, but Alaina was a bit more difficult. She cried more, slept less, is more stubborn but I love this little girl so much and will admit to babying her more than I did to Hana.

I've heard that the transition from 2 children to 3 children is easier than going from 1 to 2 but am not sure if we are going to test that theory!!

A summary of Alaina's milestones:

Solid foods - 4 months

Sitting/rolling over - 5 months

Chicken pox - 6 months

Crawling - 7 months

First word (mama!) - 9 months

Whole milk - 9 months

Sleeping through the night - 9 months

First tooth - 9.5 months

First step - 10 months

First #2 in the potty - 10 months

Officially walking - 10.5 months

(The picture in this post shows when we discovered at 11 months that Alaina is not allergic to nuts. Not surprisingly, she hijacked Hana's snack bag of nuts, spilled them all over the couch and gave them a try.)

Park Photos

Last week we had a day with gorgeous weather. The weather was so nice that I took the girls to the park in lieu of Hana's weekly 'preschool' class. Playing outside is always better than playing indoors! I dressed the girls in matching outfits, which I don't really do that often and brought my new camera in hopes of getting a few cute shots. Lucky for me, we had the park to ourselves. Hana was not happy about that though and looked expectantly at every car that drove by to see if there were any kids coming. Snack time!

Now that Alaina can walk, the park is more fun for the girls but more tiring for me. It wouldn't be so bad if Alaina wasn't always trying to eat the wood chips.

Aw, my almost-toddler.

I am noticing that Hana seems to like Alaina more than Alaina likes Hana :)!

In the Kitchen

I LOVE spending time in the kitchen. I am not a gourmet cook but I think I do a great job of making healthy & yummy meals for the family. Like anything else, it takes a lot of practice and I've come a long way since my newlywed days! For me, it isn't really the eating part that I enjoy but it's more about coming together at the table and being together as a family. These days, preparing the meal and washing dishes afterward far exceeds the amount of time that we actually spend eating together but dinnertime will always be my favorite time of the day. My mother didn't necessarily teach me how to cook but I watched her make delicious meals for us everyday growing up and wanted to do the same for my own family. A lot of the women I know that don't cook or hate to do it have told me that their mothers don't cook either. I hope that my girls will watch me in the kitchen, help out and one day, value dinnertime as much as we do in our home. As much as Alaina can get in the way while I am cooking, I love having her around. And Hana is getting old enough to help me with simple tasks and I love seeing how proud she is to help.

Mother's Club BBQ

This past Saturday, our town's Mothers Club (that I am now the proud president of!!!) hosted its annual summer BBQ. Our summers are filled with fog and but our 'summer' weather (which happens in Sept/Oct) kicked in and it was a beautiful day. Here's Alaina and her friends in their cute summer outfits. Alaina's hat & dress once belonged to Hana but she is filling them out much quicker than Hana did :)
I don't know why but we let Hana get her hair sprayed red and let her get a Spongebob temp tattoo. Of course when she got home and saw how she looked, she wanted both washed off immediately.

Alaina had a great time playing on the grass. The cutest moment of the day was when Alaina was splashing around a bin of water and noticed that Hana was next to her. She got so excited and kept smiling & patting Hana on the back. She adores her big sis!

Potty Time

I am a big fan of early potty use. Since I have time on my hands these days, I have started putting Alaina on the potty. I am starting with the two times a day that I know she has to go (after waking up in the morning and after naptime). There is nothing as exciting as a succesful potty sitting. My mother encouraged me to do this with Hana when she was 12 months and she was fully out of diapers (even nighttime) at 20 months. So I am hoping Alaina is as successful. In the meantime, I am saving the environment & our wallets by using less diapers!I think it's so adorable seeing Alaina sit on the potty! This picture is one of my new favorites. Hana has now realized that she can use a regular toilet all on her own and has graciously told Alaina that the potty is now hers.

Who Does She Look Like?!!

Ever since Alaina was a newborn, we've always been asked who she looks like. Hana has many of Kevin's features and with her dark hair, she definitely resembles me as well. Clearly, Alaina looks different from Hana and has a different build as well. While she may have some of Kevin's coloring, she doesn't look like him either. Yes, at times we are amused at how 'different' Alaina looks but by now, the question of "Who does she look like?" is getting old! That question usually comes when people look at me and then look at her. I don't think we look THAT different but I guess we do because everyone always comments! Yes, I have darker features and Alaina is light haired and blue eyed but I can guarantee you that this girl belongs to me! I am not sure how many of the babies we know reeeally look like their parents but somehow, we seem to be the ones constantly asked my unfavorite question. The funny part is that she actually resembles my side of the family. The people that know my dad all agree that out of everyone, she looks like him the most. His mother (my grandmother) was German and to us, Alaina completely resembles the German side of her cultural background.

And when people ask, I like to point out that she is 1/4 Korean because that really adds to their shock factor :)! I can only say "Yeah, she looks nothing like me, how weird" oh so many times ;)

Walking?!

These pictures were taken when Alaina was 9 months old and was just starting to stand on her own. We were so proud of her! With 2 kids, it's really hard not to compare their development. Hana was crawling at 5 months but didn't walk until 12 months because she didn't know how to sit or break her fall! Alaina started crawling at 7 months but seems to be much more balanced than Hana was at the same age. Alaina turned 10 months old on Monday and on Tuesday she took her first step. What?! We are so proud of her and are learning that she thinks she is as old as Hana! I remember that my fave age with Hana was when she entered 'toddlerhood' and I can't believe that Alaina is getting so close.
I just can't believe how quickly Alaina is growing and I am sooo thankful that I have been home to witness all these changes. I am so proud of my girlies and love their strong personalities!

Golf Outing

It had been insanely foggy at our house all week and we wanted to find some sun. We only had to go a few miles south to find it. For our weekend outing, we went to the driving range at the Crystal Springs Golf Course. Kevin is thrilled any time he gets to do anything related to golf. He was too excited to teach Hana how to hit some golf balls. Luckily, she was able to borrow some appropriately sized clubs from a girl we met at the range.
I wish I knew how to play golf myself since Kevin enjoys it so much but I haven't had time to learn. I used to go to the driving range with him for a while but then I got pregnant with Hana and haven't been back since. This was my first time hitting a golf ball in over 3 years - my form was definitely off!

I couldn't let Alaina miss out on all the fun so I let her crawl on the putting green, probably at the annoyance of other patrons. Oh well!

Playdates

So this week was my first week home since my job was 'eliminated' at work. I miss my job and co-workers but am not at all complaining about the chance to spend more time home with my babies! Who knows, this may last a week or forever but I want to make the most of this time. On Friday, we visited my friends Pam & Fisher and their 5 month old twins Knox and Robbie. I told Hana that we were seeing two babies and that two babies are called twins. She loves little babies and was so sweet with them. Here she is holding Robbie after a feeding. I already miss having a baby this young!
Now that I am not working, I was so excited about attending Alaina's playgroup again. Alaina's playgroup consists of parents and babies in our town & the babies were born between July and December 2008. The hostess for this Thursday's playgroup backed out at the last minute and I volunteered to host at our house. William is pictured above and he is only 6 days older than Alaina. They are big eaters and Alaina ate grapes for the first time, somehow without choking!
Here's most of the kids in a row (they did it by themselves).
Brynn, Alaina, Max, William, Georgia.

And then someone asked for the babies to be lined up. Super cute picture but you should have heard all the crazy noises we made to get them to sit and cooperate :)!

Sam, Brynn, Max, Georgia, Alaina, William

4th of July

One of our favorite things about 4th of July is (legal) fireworks! Because we were going out of town for the weekend, we bought fireworks ahead of time and lit them early. Hana loved them so much that we ended up making a few trips to buy more. Hana's favorite was called Purple Rain. We must've lit 20 of these that week. And of course, could not resist singing Prince's "Purple Rain" everytime we lit one, ha!

After last year's incredible foggy 4th of July, we wanted to ensure that we had a sunny 4th this year. We spent the weekend with our friends in San Ramon.

We got our sunshine and some time at the pool.

Our friends have a great yard for relaxing and we spent most of the weekend out on the patio.

I had to stay behind while the others went to the firework show because it was past Alaina's bedtime. so Hana put on her own little show for me.

And no 4th is complete without watermelon!

It was a perfect little getaway and we really appreciated Mike & Marie's hospitality.