costumes and cupcakes

they don't celebrate halloween here in poland. but my friend julie and i couldn't resist the idea of having some kind of a dress-up party. so julie being a semi-professional baker, we decided to throw costumes and cupcakes party for some of makayla's girlfriends. it was so fun and kids did amazingly well with decorating the cupcakes! i personally enjoyed it so much myself, i must make it a tradition :)

julie's sample cupcakes - so cute - myfavorite was the mummy. though the green alien and the pumpkin was the most popular with the kids.julie giving instructions on how to make each of the cupcakes

makayla is very satisfied with her werewolf! can you believe she made it??

ethan too is happy with his spider. he was the only boy at the party - we figured keeping it all girls would keep the chaos level down. . . . we were right.

we played some games as well - everyone went home happy with many candies and prizes

group shot - impossible to get a decent shot of everyone at this age. . . .

look who performed!

many probably remember ethan's performance from last year's winternational. he refused to participate and just stood there. . . . this time, he promised that he would perform if i sat in the front row. as soon as i arrived, i knew he was going to do it, he just looked more confident and sure of himself :) he did great and all the teachers were amazed at his transformation into a big boy!

Recipe for "Mexican Wedding Cake" (this is how we do it)

This is an easy eleven step recipe that you can follow at home.

1. you go hunt for a walnut tree that's not owned by anyone, preferably right off a busy street so everyone can admire a random Asian family picking walnuts in the middle of Krakow. you then pick as many walnuts as possible because one of your family member believes that living off the land is the best thing ever.

2. you re-use your bag that had your breakfast pastry to collect your loot, because that's how environmentally conscious you are. or you are just simply ghetto fabulous.

3. you realize that you don't own a nut cracker so you use your hammer to smash open all your walnuts.

4. you believe in multi-tasking so you feed your neighbor's cat while you are at it.

5. you are ambitious and goal oriented so you put a ridiculous amount of work ahead of you to create a sense of urgency.

6. you admire the fruit of your labor as you take a breather and look pretty.

7. you sift flour as a family because God forbid you get left out.

8. you take a VERY crumbly dough and make them into balls.

9. you make a mental note to never do this crumbly cookie with your children ever again. bad bad choice.

10. enjoy your cookie after a shower.

11. voila! duration: 4 hours. ingredients: flour, off the street walnuts, powder sugar and mutterings under your breath. it was all worth it.

fire hazard and the police

the week ethan stayed home due to his chicken pox was quite eventful. it involved house being almost burnt down as well as visit from the police.


it all started out rather innocently. ethan wanted to take a nap, i went up with him, and fell asleep. one hour later - as soon as i woke up, i remembered that i had put corn on the stove for ethan's snack. ahhhhhhh - thankfully we were not covered in smoke so i rushed downstairs to discover crispy black corn. i couldn't believe that i did that and was so so grateful that it didn't turn into anything more serious. i think in another 30 minutes, the corn would have caught on fire. phew. thank the Lord.

ethan modeling the burnt corn and wok

as if that wasn't disorienting enough, we later had a visit from the local police the same day. they looked a bit dismayed that i didn't speak Polish, but after my several attempts to call a friend to translate failed, they told me in their broken english - "you put gas, no pay."

well, i haven't been driving since my driver's license expired in the summer so the only person who could have done it was my darling husband. i called him immediately and asked if he pumped gas 4 days ago and forgot to pay. his reply- "oh, yea~ i guess i could have done that." here in poland, you pump gas and then pay the cashier inside the building afterwards. i asked the police "we go pay now? ok?" police replied, "no, not ok. crime." ah-huh. ofcourse, though it was an honest mistake, it is considered shoplifiting. ok, then.

one hour later, with joe, joe's co-worker and police official translator arrival, the police informed us that if it's under 100$ it's usually just a fine, but since it's above that amount (that darn SUV!!), it is now a criminal case. great. the police advised joe to hire a lawyer and come to the station tomorrow to give a testimony. ok.

oh, one more thing before they left, they needed to search the house to make sure that we didn't steal anything else. how they would figure out if i have stolen the box of kit kats or bought them is beyond me. the police officers were perfectly nice and seemed almost apologetic that they had to do that, but regardless, it's a routine they must do. the kicker is that i asked them to take off their shoes to go upstairs in the kids room and they replied, "it's not possible." i'm sorry but at that point, i started to chuckle a bit because i've heard that phrase way too many times since i've been in this country.

"could you slice the beef thinner?" "that's not possible."

"could i have my chicken with rice instead of fries?" "that's impossible".

you get the drift. so i replied, "oh, ok, it's impossible for you to take your shoes off." the tranlator then tells me that while they are on duty, they are not allowed to "undress" just in case they get attacked - they have to be ready to fight. i understand, because we're asian so we can kick butt. i would be worried too, if i met me in the dark alley. all kidding aside, they were just trying to do their job, what can i say? anyhow, joe went to the station next day with a lawyer and they concluded that they "think" joe didn't have criminal intent so we're just awaiting verdict as to what happens next.

after i told this story to a friend of mine, she told me that she did that once and just received a letter 6 months later. when she returned to the station to pay, the manager told her that it happens TWICE a day. they really need to come up with a better system. seriously.

makayla in her 1st grade classroom

chicken pox weekend

It started out with few spots on his face. We ofcourse thought they were bug bites. We put some cortisone and that was the end of that. Next morning, Ethan woke up covered in spots and I was so distressed that we might have some kind of bugs or something! The idea of chicken pox didn't even cross my mind at first b/c being good American parents we are, both our kids are immunized against it. Well, it turns out that American kids are the only kids on this planet who are vaccinated against it and Europe is filled with children who have chicken pox. Also, there's 22% chance that immunization won't protect your children. Ethan fell in the 22% and Makayla in the 78%.

So my poor baby had to spend the whole weekend at home - and ofcourse, he had to pick a weekend full of fun for him to be homebound. . . . What a weekend for Makayla - full attention from mommy and friends without anyone to steal her thunder. It started with her usual swimming lessons on Sat morning, then walk in the park to discover there's a circus in town. Bought tickets to the circus, off to her tennis lesson and to the circus with mommy and some friends. (this Polish circus lasted 2 1/2 hours and it cost us $15 for the both of us - can't beat that!) Then Sunday was a big joint birthday party for her and her friend Cora at the pool. Boy, whoever thought that having 15 kids in a public pool was a good idea for a party (me and my friend Elysa, obviously) wasn't listening to the inner voice whispering "crazy... you're crazy..." Anyhow, despite the initial chaos, it was a great party overall - Makayla told me that she wants to do that again for next year! After the party, we stopped by our friend's house who was hosting a church picnic and joined in all the fun there. All this for Makayla and mommy while Ethan was sitting at home with daddy, watching endless episodes of Scooby-Doo. Ethan was good sport and didn't complain once, he just wanted a piece of cake and some cookies. . . .

look - a circus!

inside the tent - small but they had everything you think of in a circus - clowns, acrobats, dishspinning, elephants, horses, dogs, and camels?

makayla enjoying her HUGE cotton candy (which was basically shared by 4 other kids - it was that big. . . .)

makayla and her mermaid cake - hair color to match the birthday girls - love it!

. . . . and there's my poor baby. . . .

unbelievable. . .

really? i haven't blogged for exactly 6 months? unbelievable. well, here i am, trying to get back on the wagon. i guess after 2 years in Krakow, our family has fully adjusted to the change here and life continues - so my blog about adventures in Krakow will now be about our non-adventures in Krakow. i'll be posting mostly pictures and stories about the kids since it seems to be only family members who drops in once in a while to see updated pictures of the kids. those family members, namely my mom, has not caught up with facebook, obviously.

anyhow, since the last post, we have traveled around the world. korea-china-amsterdam-paris-prague-ireland. phew. kids did super well in all our travels and they especially enjoyed their asia trip. we have to plan another one soon!

makayla is now 6 - entered 1st grade and ethan is 4!!! their exchanges have been endlessly entertaining. here are some sample dialogues.

Mak embracing the mickey spirit

Mak: You know, what the most important part of the body is?
Mom: What?
Mak: It's the brain.
E: Yeah, because it stinks.
Mak: No! Because it THinks - TH, TH, Thinks.
E: Yeah, because it stinks.
Mak: . . . . .

ethan was a bit camera shy during our disney trip for some reason

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
E: Ummmm... a monkey!
Mom: o...k....
E: And a doctor.
Mom: I think you can be a doctor but not a monkey.
E: Why? Makayla is going to be a teacher.
Mom: Well, you're a person.
E: Monkey is an animal.
Mom: Yeah, so it's hard for a person to be an animal. (it's hard? should I have said impossible?)
E: Ok. Then i want to be a dragon.
Mom: A dragon?
E: Yeah, but i don't want fire in my mouth. . . then i'll eat a monkey!!! kkkkkkk. That's silly! We don't eat monkeys. . . . . only fish, right mommy?
Mom: I guess so.

makayla loved posing with disney characters

Mak: (after looking at the messy playroom): Ethan, do you want to help the earth and live, then pick up the toys.
E: I want to live.
Mak: then pick up the toys.
E: (as he picks up some toys off the floor) Am I living now?
Mak: If you pick up the toys, you will live.

shuttle ride to disney!

making wontons with grandpa in holland

how do you sing "happy birthday" in chinese?

Makayla had a birthday party for one of her classmates - Alex, this past weekend. Joe happened to be there when they were getting ready for the cake.

Antonia (one of Mak's classmate): "we can sing happy birthday in English, Polish, Chinese, French...."
Joe: "Really? Chinese???? How?"

Then the kids in unison, as if they practiced - started to sing Happy Birthday in Chinese. . . .

or so they thought.

To Joe's great amazement and amusement, they were not at all singing in Chinese.

This is what they were singing:

"Chin chin nay nay quai nai~ Chin chin nay nay quai nai ~"

Joe just started to crack up and Alex's dad was like "are they singing in Chinese?" and Joe answered, "I don't know what language they are signing in." but Joe knew that this was the song Makayla made up in her jibberish period.

It was just amazing to see 12 kids sing this jibberish song in unison. It's too embarrassing at this point to tell the children that what they are singing is in fact not only NOT chinese but NOT a language at all!

Since I missed the whole thing, I asked Makayla when she came back from the party.

Me: "I heard that you guys sang in Chinese - how did all the kids know to sing it?"
Mak: (confidently) "Because Antonia and I taught them!"
Me: (not having the heart to tell her that it's not Chinese) "Rrrrrriiiiigggghhhhtttt. Okay...okay..."

Oh, the kicker was that Ethan chimed in with already memorized and well-practiced "chin-chin-nay-nay-quai-nai". oh brother.

skiing

We finally got a chance to go skiing couple of times over kid's week break in February. We had a visit from Joe's sister and her boyfriend so off we went to a ski resort in Zakopane.

This is Makayla's swimming teacher - she also teaches and runs ski camp during the winter - she's a super athlete! She is so good with kids and patient with them. No one can pay me enough money to teach bunch of kids to ski - nor adults!! It takes special skills to be a teacher. I respect them :)

Ethan didn't ski but was dragged around in his little sled. He insisted on wearing a helmet and goggles - though there was no danger around him at all. He didn't even want to take them off in the lodge. It's always so puzzling what kids get fixated on.

This was the second lesson Makayla had. I took her to a local slope to just get a lesson. I thought she would go about 2 hours. Monica did one lesson and was waving for me to come. I thought they were done but she said that Makayla wants to keep going so they will take a break and do another session. I was amazed at her endurance and desire to keep going. All I remember from my childhood skiing days is me wailing over the fact that I had to carry my own skis from the parking lot to the lodge. So she had another session and by end of the day, Makayla was able to come down from the little hill - top to bottom on her own! It was a great day!

Makayla and Ethan playing air hockey at the lodge.

Drakken Siu

I'm not sure if it's every boy - but my boy sure seems be drawn to "bad" guys in whatever he sees. He has only seen the cover of Star Wars DVD's and immediately, he likes Darth Vader the most.

One morning, I wake Ethan up to go to school and say"It's time to get up, Ethan Siu." and he goes "I'm not Ethan Siu! I'm Drakken Siu." Those who are not well versed in all things Disney, he is the villain from Kim Possible. And mind you, he's not even a cool villain. He's kind of absent minded and gets bossed around by his supposed employee/side-kick, She-go. In fact, She-go is a much better villain when it comes to actual execution of trying to conquer the world. The picture below portrays the typical dynamics between the two. . . .

this is Monkey Fist, another villain he is partial to. Ethan likes to quote from him. When we were eating snacks one day, out of nowhere, he pumped his fist and declared "You WILL bow down to my POWER!!!" I was like "?????" and he said it again with a serious face "YOU WILL bown down to MY POWER!!!" ooooo-kay. then he just chuckles to himself. . . . My question is: should I be concerned or research ways to channel his "hungry for power" desires for good, and not evil?

how can this sweet face be plotting evil? though he is holding a fire-breathing dragon. . . . if not a weapon. . . or a karate chop. . . .

London trip

We had another quick trip to London. I had alot on my agenda though Joe was the one going for a business trip. First off, I had to get a haircut at a Japanese salon, which turned out well :) All my friends here thought it was so funny that I had to go all the way to London to get a cut but I'm sure my fellow owners of thick, straight, voluminous Asian hair can attest to the importance of an Asian stylist!
next stop is ofcourse to get some sushi. it was sooooooo good. melt in your mouth - and joe got to try shabu shabu for the first time. it made me think about my dad who used to LOVE shabu shabu - the perfect health food - meat and veggies boiled.

we stayed at the sheraton near sloan street where all the fancy stores were. and look at this. this is a dry cleaner - all the dress shirts were marked and lined up like some fancy shirt store. it really looked like a boutique. i should have found out how much shirt cleaning was.

we went to the V & A museum which is now my favoritest museum!!! before this visit, it used to be the Uffizi gallery in Florence. it was such a fun experience at the V & A! Even Joe really liked it and he was poo pooing it initially because it's more of applied art muesum rather than fine arts. but the way everything was displayed and layed out, it was the most interesting and innovative museum i've been too. I highly recommend it if you are in London. In fact, all the museums in London have been super enjoyable.

they have this Asian exhibition, and we thought this was really funny. it's a "life-sized automaton" - the crank handle operates the mechanisms to make the man's arm flair and make groaning sounds. Is it suppose to be a toy? i personally wouldn't buy it for my kids.

the main hall of the V&A.

we had a meal at the harrod's food court which was the fanciest food court i've ever been to. we had to have fish and chips being in England :)

then my first trip to see Les Mis - Joe's fourth.

Kids were sick when we left so I had to call home like 3x a day. They were okay and just wanted to make sure that we were brining back some goodies for them! What a great trip it was, can't wait to go back - maybe next time with the kids :P

year end countdown 2008

10. Holland trip - Ethan's hair gets caught on fire. When we were visiting back in January, the kids were waiting for me while I shopped. When I came back, I immediately smelled something burning. When asked, Joe's sister was like "ummmm. . . . ethan's hair got caught on fire. . . ." ethan was reaching out to grab something and his hair touched the kerosene lamp that was on the table. this picture is of the aftermath.



9. Ethan sleeps through most meals - seriously, I would say he missed about almost all lunch outings on the weekends. He would fall asleep as we near the restaurant and sleeps through the meal - then he would wake up and we'd give him the left over or buy him a bagel. It's nice and quiet meals though.


8. Siu's in nature - Ethan getting dragged as we go into the woods to go berry hunting. It's crazy how one with the nature we are becoming being in Poland. I'm a big fan of manicured landscaping, none of that here, thank you very much. just wild and crazy.


7. Learning Chinese - My lessons are going well!!! I'm so much more motivated and actually study during the week! My teacher and I had a funny conversation about the need of Chinese people to have Chinese food. She herself has been in Poland for 7 years to get her PhD. She was telling me that many Chinese men have come to study here but couldn't last more than 5 months because they couldn't eat Chinese food everyday. Puahhahahah. It reminded me of the time when Joe and I went on the Chinese tour of Italy and they would bus us to Chinese restaurants instead of Italian - we ofcoursed escaped to get local fare.


6. Having visitors - this year, we had visits from Joe's parents and Joe's sister :) It was great to show them the town and enjoy their company.
5. Home Leave - crazy but enjoyable. non-stop shopping (for such essentials like ziploc and cold-eeze - not shopping like bags and shoes. . . . unfortunately) and visiting friends :) here, a picutre of ethan making turtle shell sculpture in Cape May and Makayla's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.



4. Barcelona Trip - LOVE LOVE LOVE Barcelona. Good friends, good food, good art, friendly people - can't get any better than that.




3. Mallorca Trip - this was a year of all things Spain. I loved every minute of it. Here, every house in this town (Valldemossa) had a plaque of St. Catherine who is Mallorca's patron saint. Joe and I went around town to hunt for different kinds of plaques and gave up after finding out that there were too many varieties. (we have about 10 pictures of me/joe posing with different ones - silly, i know - but that's what we do.)



2. Mak swims! Mak performs! - monumental year of growth for Makayla - oh yeah, she is aslo starting to read and does math but that seems to matter more to Joe than me. Different priorities for different parents.


1. Ethan enters school!! - I was tempted to post a video clip of Ethan kicking and screaming while we forced him into the school bus. But I'd rather leave you with this happy picture a minute before the bus arrived.

PICTURE OF THE YEAR

Makayla chillaxing as she surfs the net sucking on candy. We fear the years to come.