Happy (belated) Moon Festival!

One of my students brought me a homemade mooncake from his mom. Yup, a homemade one. I have NEVER seen something like this ever. I thought you can only buy mooncakes from a store. I told my student that I would like to meet his mom parent-teacher night, not because he is a bad student, but simply because she is my new idol.

Here is a cross-section of the red bean filling:

I have to say it is very well done. The presentation is great and it tastes awesome too. Just like store-bought ones. The skin is so thin and even, amazing.

Working mom

Going back to work has been painful, partly because I really, really missed Ali, but the main reason is work itself. Teaching is not bad, but everything else is just not that great.

After I went back to work, I started to show more appreciation for working parents. Man, it is so very difficult to balance work, life and baby. (Gosh, and I only have one, how do people handle 2 or more kids??? Seriously?) Basically, I start my day at 7 am, feed Ali breakfast, get her ready and we leave for daycare by 8. I drop Ali and her dad off at daycare. Daddy bring her inside and I go to work. School finishes at 3:07 and I try to wrap everything up and rush out of school by 3:45, so I can pick Ali up by 4. By the time we get home, I give her some milk and let her nap for an hour or so. I usually try to take a break at that time and then off to prepare dinner. After Ali goes to bed at around 8:30, hubby and I will try to finish whatever household chores we have to do and then I am off to work again. Yup, I don't get a chance to finish my work at school and usually I work until 11:30 and then I head to bed. I am so looking forward to the Thanksgiving long weekend!

Ali doesn't like to nap at school. For the longest time, we thought the other kids in her class woke her up. But it's actually the opposite. Hubby went to pick her up early one day and everybody is sleeping, except her. She was drawing on the desk and banging on the table with her other hand. Yup, my kid is the trouble-maker. Why wouldn't you sleep, my tofu princess?? Why??? She naps like mad on the weekends tho. I guess she is like a camel in a way, except she tries to stock up on zzzzz, so that she doesn't have to sleep and can maximize playtime at daycare?! What a weird little girl.

I feel really bad for not taking pictures these past three weeks. Here is a picture the teacher took at school:

One of her first artwork:

Labour Day Long Weekend

I can't believe 14 months flew by...in a lightning speed!! At first I thought it is going to be long and boring and I would be so looking back to going to work again, but man, was I ever wrong! Hubby and I tried really hard to squeeze in a few more play dates before my sweet maternity leave comes to an end.

Ali's grandma really wanted to go to Steveston to buy salmon.

This is what the line up looks like:

Ali didn't really have the patience to wait, so I decided to take a walk with her. And funny enough, I bumped into my coworker, who was also accompanying her parents for the salmon sale. (Teachers really got nothing better to do in the summer, I guess!)

Ali's goo-ma is getting married this coming weekend and Aunt Marie suggested to move great-grand's birthday up a bit. We had a lot of fun chatting with the family and seeing the kids. Andrew and Caleb had great fun blowing the candles with great-grand!

Our good friend, Jackie and Dave, just had a baby girl. It's always a joy to see the birth of a child!! Welcome Maddie, welcome little one!

Anders is so in love with little Madeline!! We forgot how tiny newborns are! Just too cute!!!

While daddy was holding Maddie, Aunt Jackie played with Ali and kept her entertained by sharing Maddie's toys with her.

Ali is also very intrigued with their dog, Jake! He is such a good dog, very gentle to the two little ones. Ali was a little scared at first, but warmed up to Jake quickly and wanted to pet him.

It's no fun without food!! Our friends invited us over for a potluck dinner and boy, the dinner was AWESOME!!! There was so much food, SO MUCH FOOD!! Items include pulled pork sandwich (homemade pulled pork, can you imagine?), homemade corn muffins, biscuits, fried chicken, spam fried noodles (absolutely YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!), stew, butter chicken, etc. Hubby and I were busy stuffing ourselves and forgot to take pictures. Oops!!

Kaley and Ali crawled around after dinner:

Two happy dads and their cute daughters!

It was a fun-filled weekend. I am so gonna missed these happy times - carefree, no marking!! *sigh*

The Koos

Ali and I wanted to visit Aunt Maria's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Koo, for a long time now. They have been so loving and generous to us!!! They got Ali a huge gift when she was born and they bought her a cute dress for her first birthday too!!! I thought it would be nice for Ali to say thank you in person.

The Koos were so accommodating! As we all know, Ali loves to play with toys and upon our arrival, they took out toys to entertain her right away! Sorry for making such a mess at your place, Mr. & Mrs. Koo!!

Mr: "Hi Ali!"

A: "Hi!"

Ali is all giddy playing with Mr. Koo:

A: "Look, its a bird!"

Mrs: "Huh???"

A: "I need to get up!!! Up!!"

Mrs: "What do you want, Ali?"

A: "Over there, over there!!!!!!!"

Mrs: "You want this red purse?"

A: "Yes, I want that one too!"

Picture with Aunt Maria and Mrs. Koo after Ali successfully tricked Mrs. Koo in getting the red purse for her.

Thank you for having us over, Mr. & Mrs. Koo!! Ali and I had a great time!!! Thank you so much for the gifts too!! You guys really shouldn't have!!