Reading to my kids

My parents never read to me when I was little. In fact, I remember my parents bringing me to a library for the first time when I was in Grade 2 because a friend of my mom's told her that it was a good idea to get me to read. We got to the library and I was expected to choose a book. I had no idea where to begin, i didnt even know which section of the library to go to. Fast forward a few decades and as a mom, I'm now reading to my children (almost) everyday and bringing them to the library regularly. I'm trying to inspire a love of reading in their life because I really believe that reading is so helpful in one's future success from vocabulary, comprehension to imagination and creativity. There's a saying in Chinese, literally, it is "there's a golden house in every book".

My son loves his reading time every night. It has become a special time that we spend together before he goes to bed.

My daughter doesn't like to go to bed but she gets really excited when I say "let's go 'tai shu shu'" which means "let's go read a book" in Chinese. She will pick up her favorite book and run to the couch in her bedroom so we can read together. It's so cute.

I hope I'll be able to continue to inspire a love of reading in their lives so they can each find their own 'golden house'.

No more manicures for my 4.5 yo son

The other day, I come home and my husband tells me that our son cut his own fingernails. I was happy that he can now do it by himself which is a good sign that he is growing up but at the same time, I have gotten to really enjoy sitting with him on my lap, cuddling really close, holding his little hands, and cutting his little nails. It made me think of all the other things that he will eventually grow out of like running to the door everytime I come home from work to greet me, wanting me to read him a bedtime story, wanting me to stay in bed with him for "just a little bit" but then I end up sleeping with him the whole night. One thing I won't miss though, is having to help him wipe his bum.

Ainsley word cloud

Photo Book

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Cavities

Keith got his first two fillings last week.  Never even got to have his picture in the "No Cavities Club".

Steak with deep fried leeks and balsamic honey reduction

started running again

Over the past year, I've been trying hard to lose that last 5lbs of baby weight.  Unfortunately, after our 1-week vacation at an all-inclusive resort in February, I actually gained 5 lbs.  This motivated me to start working out again.  I started doing a few days of My Fitness Coach on my Wii.  It's still the best workout game.  I was so sore the first couple of days I could barely walk up and down the stairs.  Then I started running with a friend who wants to do her first 5k.  She's a beginner runner and I'm a relapsed runner so we are a perfect match.  My goal is to do something longer than a 5k but I don't want to commit to anything just yet.  I downloaded Personal Running Trainer which is a pretty good app for the iPhone.  Each run comes with a voice prompt to help you keep track of your run/walks and it also allows you to still listen to music.  The 5k program starts with 30 minutes of 1 min runs and 2 min walks and progresses all the way to a 30 minute run over 8 weeks.  Since I only plan to do 10 min run/1 min walks, I am going to take my time to build my endurance back up to a 10r/1w.  We even discovered a free indoor running track close by so we don't have any excuse not to run when it's cold outside.  The track is above an ice rink so it's freezing when we first start out but once we get running, it's the perfect temperature.  I'm hoping I can keep this up and lose some weight along the way.