go michelle!

our awesomely talented niece just won 3rd place title in the national dance competitions!!!! to get the title, there is an onstage interview, class critique, and solo dance routine. you go girl! (this picture is from her recital last month).

potty training progress - finally!

ryan has been wearing underwear off and on, but didn't quite get the concept of asking to go to the potty. i'm all for child led training, but i was starting to get worried thinking about the fact that he will need to be potty trained before preschool starts in september. but i'm happy to say, he's now daytime trained!

i think the thing that did it is the incident that happened one day when i took ryan and alex alone to costco. i said "if you both behave, mommy will buy you a toy!"
as soon as i parked the car and went to get ryan out, he said "mommy, i pee peed" and sure enough, his pants and carseat were all wet. he had just gone to the bathroom before we left the house, so i had a diaper (for alex) which i could have used, but i had no extra pants for him. i did quickly ponder the thought of having him go to costco in just a diaper (we really needed toilet paper), but i'm glad i took them straight back home, telling him, "i'm sorry, but i don't have any extra pants for you, so we have to go back home, and now there will be no time for toy shopping. of course the expected wailing ensued...all the way back home, and for about 30 minutes therehence. (good thing Alex is still too young to understand how he was affected by ryan's accident). but you know what? every single time since then, he knows how to say "mommy, i gotta wee wee" and we even took a successful 3 hr long car ride!
it's been a week and a half, and no accidents! now we just have to work on naps and night time sleeping, but i know we will get there soon.

whew!

say "i love your hair"

Found this poem from Patty who found it from Trudy...i love it!

I Confess

I stalked her

in the grocery store: her crown

of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip,

her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,

watching

the way she placed yogurt and avocados in her basket,

beaming peace like the North Star.

I wanted to ask, “What aisle did you find

your serenity in, do you know

how to be married for fifty years or how to live alone,

excuse me for interrupting, but you seem to possess

some knowledge that makes the earth turn and burn on its axis—“

But we don’t request such things from strangers

nowadays. So I said, “I love your hair.”

-Alison Luterman

summer job

simon taught daniel, our 14 y.o. nephew, how to mow the lawn. this is "the lesson" (doesn't it look like he's teaching him how to do the lawn mower dance?LOL

check out his first attempt...look closely at the randomness of the rows. haha! well, we're proud to say that he is MUCH better and doesn't need to be supervised anymore. don't worry, we aren't violating any child labor laws. he does this willingly, AND he gets paid!

thanks, daniel! hope you get your PSP (or whatever you're saving up for) soon!

simon's bday dinner

we went with our buddies john and jia to makoto to celebrate simon's birthday. this is jia after a few too many sakes!


the fresh wasabi was so good! i wanted to wrap it up in my bag and take it home, but i think they would have noticed...


conch soup, served inside the conch shell. this was also really yummy. the food was pretty traditional japanese cuisine (actually, i've never had traditional japanese cuisine, but it's what they said :)


look behind us in the picture. can you see how small this restaurant actually is?

ryan's first soccer camp

ryan at his first soccer camp - complete with british coaches! at first, he was really excited and ran around like crazy. his coach said he was the fastest runner. but after the first 45 minutes of each hour long class, he was pooped and sat the rest of it out... guess we have to work on endurance. the kids' favorite part of each day hands down were water breaks. haha.




this was a great experience for him, and i think we'll do it again next summer. he did learn how to stop the ball with one foot, and dribble - albeit slowly. thanks coach omar and coach dibs!

as a side note...fairfax county has some good rec programs available. ryan and alex are both taking swimming lessons and loving it.

happy birfday to simon

Hey Simon! Happy birthday! You are now 35 years young.
Here is the restaurant we are going to for your birthday dinner. Hope you like it!
Makoto: http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/makoto,792022.html

Editorial Review

Critic Rating:

2007 Fall Dining Guide
By Tom Sietsema
Washington Post Magazine
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007

Tradition -- and excellence -- reign at this intimate Japanese restaurant. At the door, patrons shed their shoes for slippers. At the table, sake is proffered in a small cedar box, the wasabi with your sushi is fresh, and the waitresses tend to their charges as if they were geisha, dabbing the tiniest drop of beer from diners' black marble place mats (and covering the briefcase you park on a free seat with a starched white napkin). To catch the best show, request a place at the wooden counter -- so close to the open kitchen that you feel the heat of the flames every time the chef adds a splash of alcohol to a pan -- and order the eight- to 10-course tasting menu. The edible pageant that follows might embrace mussels in a ginger-y broth, silken tofu dotted with salty plum, crunchy soft-shell crab served with green tea and chili powders, delicate fingers of sushi, an elegant salad of slivered apple, onion and shiso -- plus whatever mushrooms are in season, rosy beef with a light gravy of soy sauce and sake, and sparkling shaved ice flavored with grape and Grand Marnier. The details at this 16-year-old gem are exquisite. When's the last time you saw a cocktail napkin worthy of a frame?

children's voice

Hey all! I have lots of pictures to upload, but haven't gotten them organized yet. In the meantime, I thought I'd share this. My org has a bimonthly magazine and our picture (you've seen this before, I'm sure, at www.jenniferkimphotography.com) was selected as the cover! It was funny, because this magazine happened to be the one that came out at our National Conf. in late Feb and everyone got a copy in their tote bag. We're famous!

Fortunately, the parent-child visiting issue is not one our family is familiar with (hope nobody sees this and thinks we're actually involved in the child welfare system, hehe).

Here is the link if you are interested in child welfare, foster care, adoption, etc. and want to buy a copy: http://www.cwla.org/pubs/pubs/pV181.jpg

(Jen, I have 3 copies for you, just need to mail them!)

happy boys

chillin wit my homies

this was leesburg animal park last weekend with ashley and hannah.
i think alex enjoyed the pony ride the most. kimbap provided by "ashley's mommy"