April 29th, 2008 What age is Grace today?

February 12th, 2010 Goodbye & Good Luck(y)

At the tail end of last year, I “joked” about giving up Lucky to a good home by posting on my Facebook and searching online Craigslist for potential Small, White Dog seekers. I know that sounds incredibly cruel but I was at my wit’s end and let’s just leave it at that. So, whenever someone compliments on Lucky’s cute looks (despite his annoying and non-stop barking), David or I will ask, “Do you want him?!?!” … Well, that day arrived.

We have a landscaper that comes to clean up our property twice a year (yes, that’s correct, we are cheap). Along with her crew of 5 workers, her husband being one of them, came over to work on Tuesday. I opened the door and Lucky CHARGED after them!! Again, the usual barking & growling from Lucky, then David asks, “Do you want him?” She turns to her husband and say, “Yes!” Both David and I were shocked as it is our ongoing joke, but they were very serious. They have a small dog and thought a companion for her would be great. By the way, that dog’s name is also “Lucky”!!

At the end of the job, she again asked if we were serious and wanted our Lucky. I told her that if she changed her mind to please bring him back to me immediately. We packed up all this belongings and sent him off with his new owners. While walking to their car, I cried … no surprise there, but happy at the same time because I knew that he was going to be happier with another dog and a dog-loving family.

I write this today because only yesterday did Grace notice that Lucky was not around. She’ll ask, “Where’s Lucky?” Then answer her own question, “Oh, he’s sleeping with Helen.” Another incident was when she dropped some cottage cheese on the floor, “Where’s Lucky?” The new owners are having a great time with Lucky #2 in their home. They’ve never had a lap dog so they are loving the attention from this dog. When I told her that Lucky sings “Happy Birthday” they had a good laugh!

Now David is trying to be on his BEST behavior, in the event I try to give him up on Craiglist or to the landscapers!

February 5th, 2010 Family Portrait

Now that Helen has been with our family for over a week, Grace wakes up daily and asks for Helen, going to her room to wake her up and making sure she has breakfast as a family. In one of her many drawings I found on her desk, I noticed a quick sketch done by Helen of several members of the family. Pointing to it, I asked Grace, “Where is Helen?” She gasps and immediately heads over to her art desk and says, “I draw her!” I’m sure you can guess which one Grace drew!

The extra little girl next to Alexandra’s image is Lucia or it could be Maggie. She hasn’t decided yet.

February 5th, 2010 Random Comments & Actions from Grace

Random Comment #1 – Grace and I were heading over to A-Yi’s house (daycare) and the sun happen to pop its head. She pulled out her sunglasses and says, “Look, Mama, the sun came out!” I reply, “Yes, Grace, the sun is out, do you like the sun?” Grace says, “Yes, it tickles me!” and proceeds to giggle with glee!

Random Comment #2 – On a separate morning, as Grace and I were driving away, David came out and made some gestures about the recycling bin. I rolled down my window and stuck out my tongue and yelled out “Blah!!” Grace then asks me, “Why did you say ‘blah’ to Daddy?” And I said, “Because I love Daddy.” Grace immediately replied with, “I love Helen!”

Random Comment #3 – Jennifer Maher (family, co-worker & neighborhood friend) invited me out for a drink at our neighborhood restaurant. I could have walked over there, but as you know, I’m from L.A. so I drove. When I returned, Grace asked where I was and so I told her I went out with Jennifer, Michael’s mom (her son). Well, that set her off because at every waking moment, she wants to be with Michael! “I want to see Michael! I want to play with Michael! I want to go to Michael’s house!” Immediately waking up, “Are we going to see Michael?” Therefore, I have to pull her out of daycare early in order to play with Michael this afternoon. Michael, Michael, Michael!

Random Action – “Twirl Test” … Grace LOVES to wear her dresses and she tries her best to wear one to school every day, but as you know, her daycare prefers that she doesn’t (she’s a rough kid). So I let her try on dresses in the morning (usually 2-3 different ones) and she puts them on, twist & turns to see how much they twirl, if not satisfied, then she moves to another dress. This goes on every day … no exaggeration!

February 2nd, 2010 At Home Sick

Grace and David returned from Iowa and she came home very sick with the flu. Both David & Grace made it in time for my birthday so I was really happy to have them home safe and sound. Because Grace usually has an ear infection associated with the common cold, we kept her home. Helen entertained her by doing some arts and crafts in my Craft Room and here’s a photo of their fun afternoon! She doesn’t appear THAT sick to you, does she?!?!

January 26th, 2010 Personal Chef, House/Dog/Grace Sitter = Helen!

My friend, Helen, is someone I used to babysit 20 years ago!!! Can you believe that?!?! Helen and her sister Sarah, came out to visit Seattle last September and I guess it left a very good impression on her … so much so that when Helen wanted a change in scenery, she called/emailed me up and asked to stay with us for a couple of months! On our flight home from California, we met up with Helen at the Sea-Tac airport and is now a resident of Seattle!! Helen is this amazing chef that SF is going to miss because she is REALLY that good!!! We have all these plans for her … eh-hem, we would like her to cater some of our fancy dinner parties for David’s Forum mates and our friends here in Laurelhurst. In addition to this, she is training Lucky, (she renamed “Flunky” because he has to be retrained), the occasional babysitting for Grace and just being part of the family. The last couple of days that we have been home to “test” out her cooking, have been AMAZING!!! I hope you will get a chance to meet her and dine with us here at the Blue House.

Scones pictured below:

January 23rd, 2010 Little Ballerinas

My good friend Shelley and her family live down in Morgan Hill which is about 40 minutes from Palo Alto. So while David worked on the house, Grace and I took a drive down to see her and her family. Shelley just had her 2nd child, Brady, and I wanted to meet him. Now Shelley and I were pregnant at the same time 3 years ago and we thought the two girls should meet up again now that they are a bit older and are at the age to play together. Before our arrival, we prepared small gifts for both Tatum and Brady. Grace handed her gift to Tatum at the front door and immediately upon opening her gifts, they both stripped down and wore their little Ballet leotards and wore them the entire time playing together! It was really a beautiful sight to see … the two little ballerinas running around all over the house!!! Needless to say, little Brady never got his nap in that afternoon!!!

January 19th, 2010 Our Orange House Visit

Every month, for a week, we like to visit Palo Alto, CA to make small improvements to our little Love Shack. Grace has her daycare (Piccolo), David visits both his offices and has his one-on-one meetings with his CEO’s and I get to work out of the Design office. Every month, I keep thinking I’m going to get to see some of my old friends while there, but work keeps me incredibly busy. If I can squeeze in one or two friends, it’s an added bonus to our trip down to CA.

This month, however, California has been experiencing some severe rainstorms and we left Sunny Seattle to Pouring Palo Alto! We had an instant lakefront property with all the rain we received while there and we bought our first pair of Wellingtons (boots) down in California, of all places!!! On our first night, Grace immediately wanted to go back to The Blue House (Seattle home) and has been letting us know each time she is uncomfortable with the wet and damp house.

On a bright note, David installed a kitchen sink and cabinets, dressers in the bedroom and fixed the leaky sink in the bathroom. So we now have most of the essentials to a comfy home. All we need now is a kitchen table!!! The washer/dryer works wonderfully so we have been using that on a daily basis … especially with Grace’s potty training!

January 19th, 2010 Dancing Kang Sisters

Dancing Kang Sisters from Jan Neil on Vimeo.

My sister and I spent majority of our “American” holidays with my dad’s army buddy, Mike Neil and his family in San Diego, CA. This past summer, while we were vacationing down in Coronado, CA, we took a cab over to visit Mike and Jan Neil. The Neils have watched both my sister and I grow up since 1974!!! This video she made of us dancing captured the fun, carefree days of my youth. The video is a bit grainy, but you are still able to make out who is who here. We are about 10 and 7 years old.

Now you know which side of the family Gracie gets her “groove” from!!

January 16th, 2010 Saturday Morning Dance & Play

It’s Saturday morning, and we are just recuperating from a very long work week. Grace picked out her favorite dress to wear this morning and she’s been playing with her blocks and her Legos on the floor and I wanted to capture this moment on camera. Then I put on some songs and asked her to perform in front of the camera. Here are her two favorite songs at the moment; they aren’t the best songs for kids, but this is what she wants to listen to most of the time.

Here’s Grace’s Dance Video series through YouTube:

January 7th, 2010 Mum’s Painting of Grace & Alexandra

My amazing mother in law is an outstanding artist. She painted Grace over the summer and just recently completed it by adding some finishing touches. Isn’t it lovely? We have another beautiful painting of Alexandra that is in a frame on our wall, which I have attached here as well. Grace will love seeing her image in her favorite summer dress and her dolls in the background! Don’t you just want to pinch her cheeks and her yummy arm?!?! Actually, all the artwork in our house was done by her!! Thank you, Mum!!