No Stage Fright, Here!

Bella was in her first ballet performance in early December.  To prepare, the students had a technical performance and a dress rehearsal.  Her teacher said she could wear make up on stage.  Bella was so excited to wear lipstick.

At the technical performance, the students practiced on the stage of the theater where they will be performing at.  Parents were allowed to video tape since at the actual performance no cameras or video taping were allowed.  This video is filmed from a distance since parents sat in the back.  Bella is the third girl from the left of the teacher.



On the day of the performance, the parents dropped off the students backstage.  Parents were not allowed to stay with the little ballerinas.  There were volunteers who helped the girls get dressed.  One of the moms text Mommy this picture.

The Christmas dolls with Ms. Julie before they got on stage.

During intermission, Bella changed back into her typical ballet attire and sat with her family and watched the rest of the show.  A few of Bella's relatives came to watch her perform including Auntie Suzy.

Bella took a picture on the red carpet before going home. Thanks for the flowers, Auntie Suzy!

Katelyn also had a performance, the Gingerbread Man play.  The three kindergarten classes were excited to perform.

The chicks taking the mic.


Cheese!

Surrounded By Family And Friends

Multicultural Night took place at Katelyn's school.  Students could dress up in their ethnic traditional clothing.  Katelyn wore a Chinese dress called cheongsam.  During the night, there were performances by the different cultures.  Her friend, Sora was part of the Japanese drum dance.

Bella's best friend, Maya had an Cinderella birthday celebration at a park in the city.

Bella wanted to show Daddy she can go on the monkey bars.

The girls are lucky to be surrounded by family and friends during Thanksgiving.  Auntie Shirley and Uncle Rob hosted Thanksgiving lunch.  McKenna taught the kids how to make fish tails with rainbow looms.

Auntie Alice requested a pic with all the kids and amazingly they are all looking at the camera.

And another one with the Mommies.  Katelyn and Bella wanted to be in the picture too.

Daddy and Mommy hosted Thanksgiving.   All the kids are growing up so fast!

Katelyn's favorite activity is her weekly drawing class.  She is learning a lot of different techniques like pointillism and wet on wet.  This is Mommy's favorite piece she has created so far.

Nicholas helped Katelyn with one of her school assignments.  A friend or family member was to mail a post card from their location and write a description about the destination, so the kids can learn some new facts.  Nicholas lives in Boston and is right next to Fenway Park.  He told the students it's one of the oldest parks and how many the park can seat.

Katelyn is a great big sister.  When it was raining and Bella did not have an umbrella or hood, Katelyn took off her jacket and covered Bella's head, so she would not get wet.  It's moments like these Mommy is so glad to have two girls who love each other so much!

Some updates...

In honor of the 50th day at school, Katelyn's classroom dressed in 50's wear.  Mommy ordered her a poodle skirt.  She figured Bella can use it when she is in first grade.

In the afternoon the kids learned how to jive.

Katelyn basketball league finished up a couple weeks ago.  Daddy was proud of her trying the sport.

Outside of the basketball auditorium there was a nice little park.  The girls popped their heads out of the big pots.  Katelyn said her favorite thing about basketball was having lunch with her friend, Alana afterwards.

Morgan and Greysen came over for a play date and dinner.

Uncle Gavin celebrated his 40th birthday with a yummy Japanese dinner.

Daddy built a desk inside Katelyn's room.  She enjoys doing her homework and arts and crafts on her new table.

Alana invited a few of her friends over for a play date for her birthday.  Her mom was so nice to include Bella.  The girls made slime and painted their nails.

For Halloween, both sisters wanted to dress up as Elena of Avalor.  They had a lot of fun trick-or-treating, but liked passing out candy to kids in the neighborhood as well.

Bella posed with her hand on her hip for her winter school picture.

Fall Activities

Tao Po turned 93 and had her birthday dinner at Koi Palace.  Tao Po is looking really good for her age and is still pretty strong and kind as ever.

The restaurant served delicious sweet buns in honor of Tao Pao's birthday.

After dinner, Bella was being silly and wanted to try on Po Po's glasses.

Chase turned 4 and invited the girls to a celebration at the park.  His birthday had many different activities for the kids.  Katelyn picked face painting.  Her face is sensitive, so she decided to get a flower on her arm instead.

Bella decorated a pumpkin using her favorite color, red.

The girls took an annual trip to the Livermore pumpkin patch.  This year Aiden, Ava, Mason, Sam, Khloe and Kayla joined them.

Bella's school had their imagination parade a couple weeks ago.  The story the classroom picked was The Donut Chef.  Part of the costume was handmade by the students.   Bella was coloring in her donut in this picture.

The kids were asked to wear red as part of their costume.  Bella was excited to see her parents while she walked past them.

Katelyn really wanted to watch the parade, so Daddy picked her up from school and she even walked in the parade with her little sister.

Following the parade were snacks in the classroom for the families.  Bella's best friend, Kaylee posed for a picture.

 

Katelyn joined Daisy scouts this school year.  Her first meeting she learned the scout promise and song and designed holiday cards for the troops.

Life Lately

Sorry readers for not posting any recent updates.  Mommy has been busy with work and weekend activities.  Let's get started with what's been going on.  Po Po's birthday recently passed.  Daddy was on business travel, so Po Po and Gung Gung came over to help out.  One of the days they were over happened to fall on Po Po's birthday.  Uncle Derek and Auntie Gabby came over to celebrate by going out to dinner and dessert afterwards.

Auntie Gabby read the girls bedtime stories before the girls showered.  Auntie Gabby was a teacher in her previous job and told the girls she really misses reading stories to children. 

Katelyn continues to love her art lessons.  It's her favorite activity even more than gymnastics.  Bella likes picking up her sister and seeing what she draws each week.

This lesson the kids drew a lighthouse using watercolors and pastels.  It's pretty cool to see how different each of the drawings are and how the kids interpret the lesson.

Katelyn and Daddy spent some quality time together on her day off for Columbus day.  She took Bart to San Francisco.

They walked around the pier and took a selfie.

Their next stop was the Exploratorium.  She tried different activities such as putting her head in this light bulb contraption.

She turned the wheel as fast she could on this gravity exercise.

They ended the day with ice cream.

The girls celebrated Sam's birthday.  She turned two, but almotst weighs as much as Bella.

Bella is such a ham these days.  She decided to wear Mommy's jeans on top of her pajamas.

She also put a ball in her tummy since Teacher C is pregnant.  It's never a dull moment when Bella is around.  She keeps things entertaining!