Happy Birthday Annika

My sweet Annika is nine years old today.   We celebrated quietly with our family today, building the excitement during the day until after school.  Annika asked to take jelly beans to her classmates today, carefully pouring cups of flavored beans during reading time.  It was a nice snack.

I had junior high conferences for Morgan today.  We finally decided to open gifts first and then make dinner.  After conferences, I would return home for cake and singing.

Annika was very excited to open her gifts, hoping most for a Razor scooter, similar (BUT NOT THE SAME PINK ONE MOM) as her sister received the week before.  So, in Chung fashion, we attempted to conceal the gift by changing the size of the box.  We went one step further and removed the scooter from the box and replaced it with calcium supplements.  The look of disappointment was priceless.  The scooter was eventually found in the pantry and the smile returned to Annika's face.  The sling shot is to take camping and was something Annika wanted.  She also received several books, a book light and a air brush marker set.  Happy Girl.

We enjoyed a small Chips-Ahoy birthday cake.  The frosting was a little thick and ended up more of a play item than edible treat.  A little silliness ensued and Annika and Erik both sported cake frosting faces.  It's all fun right before bath time!

Tooth Fairy Demands

Found under Annika's pillow:

"Dear Toothfairy,
Tomorrow is my birthday, I hope I get something special than just money. Love Annika.

P.S. I don't want any Playmobile, either.
P.S.S. I pulled my own tooth out
P.S.S.S Can I have a picture of you? I have been curious.
P.S.S.S.S Please respond in the circled area on this letter."

Sweet Geography

The note that came home in Annika's backpack on Monday caught me in a WOW moment.  The 4th grade class is deep into their Arizona geography lessons as part of the core curriculum.  When Morgan was a 4th grader, her class made ABC books about Arizona geography and history.  Morgan was very proud of her book, which was laminated and bound.

Annika's class takes geography with a grain of salt  sugar.  On Friday of this week, they will be decorating Arizona sugar cookies in various color frostings to represent the three distant topographies of the state - desert, plateau and high country.  But not just any sugar cookie.  Each child needs to bring in a sugar cookie shaped like Arizona that is nearly 8 inches wide by 11 inches tall.  That's one big cookie!  They will be using caramel to mold the layers of the grand canyon and red hots for the State Capital.  I like the irony of red hot - considering it will be 116 degrees tomorrow in Phoenix.  I'm.so.serious.about.that.  Gasp!

After school I had help creating the dough for Lofthouse style sugar cookies and let it cool in the refrigerator for a few hours.  Annika's friend Ashley kept bopping in and out of the house with Annika and helped with the measuring.  Ashley's class cookie assignment is next Friday.  We found out the entire Santan fourth grade class is doing this particular project.

After dinner we carefully cut out the template, and with a little spray, placed it on the rolled out dough to create our cookie.  Nine minutes later, we had one sweet state of Arizona.

End of the Season for the Blue Bombers

It was another great season for the Blue Bomber soccer team.  Annika and her friends made great strides this year as they moved up the ranks and age brackets.  No longer are they five girls all gravitating in a tight circle around the ball.  This year, offense and defense worked together to create a great power team.  Way to go.  The last game of the season was rained out at half-time.  More aptly - we were outed from the cold!  How could our first game be played in 110 plus weather and our last game barely get in the high 40's with a downpour.  The girls played so well, given the conditions.

Now it's post-season and Annika has teamed up with the power-team, the Orange Crush, to play in the tournament next week.  It certainly is an exciting time for the eight year old!

P.S. - A little photo trivia.  The bottom team photo was taken at 6:35 AM  on picture day.  The Blue Bombers were the first team chosen for pictures out of EVERYBODY in the soccer club - that's hundreds and hundreds of kids.  It was certainly an early morning for these smiling kiddos!

Kartchner Caverns

Annika will need to be a guest blogger and describe her field trip day at Kartchner Caverns.  Woody was one of the parents selected to chaperone.  This made Annika very excited to be able to spend the day with her dad and ride on a very nice coach style bus for the three hour trip to the caves.  The cave is so delicate that volunteers watch your every move to make sure even your clothes do not brush up against a wall!

"The Birthday Girl"

Yes, she had a great day.

First, the school told parents that they do not want cupcakes or any other sweets brought for birthdays this year.  They don't want to be spoilers, just more health conscious.  I get it and I agree.  We've never brought cupcakes because you have to buy them, Morgan can't eat them, and the others won't.  So it doesn't make sense.   The principal mentioned that the cupcake craze was exponential at the school with some parents bringing 30 gourmet 5 inch cupcakes.  Can you say sugar high????

So this year, I told Annika that we'd have to get creative.  For Ingrid's birthday last week, I snuck away from work and brought sliced apples and pretzels from Fresh and Easy.  I slipped into the classroom, set up 30 cups and filled them with apples and pretzels while Ingrid (the birthday girl) handed out napkins.  All the while, a math lesson was going on.  I quickly handed them out.  They paused to sing happy birthday and say kind words to Ingrid and then I left. 10 minutes.  Easy peasy.

Annika mentioned that Mrs. K's beloved beta fish had died over the summer at her house.  She's had it for three years.  I sent an email to Mrs. K to ask if we could buy the class a new fish and food in lieu of a birthday snack.  Fabulous idea was the response.  So the family went Monday night to pick out a beta fish and food.  Score - it's cheaper than cupcakes or candy, anyway.  Annika got to facilitate the class vote for naming the fish.  She was not called Annika all day, she was called "The Birthday Girl".  Annika loved it.

Meet BLUE THUNDER, class fish.

"The Birthday Girl" requested dinner at Red Robin.  We were happy to comply with the request rather than turn on the stove or oven.  We got an early start - 5 PM and had a fabulous meal with the four kids.  So happy when everyone is well behaved.  "The Birthday Girl" received a free ice cream sundae and was all smiles sharing with Ingrid.  Erik and Morgan chose to share an all fruit smoothie.  We came home, sang and opened presents.  Then baths, reading and bed.  Goodnight, "The Birthday Girl".

Annika's Lego Birthday Party

Today was Annika's birthday party.  The one that I have been working on for about four months.  I vowed not to let it get overwhelming and do most of the tasks early.  Somehow, I still ended up with precious little sleep the last two nights trying to get everything done that I had envisioned.  Well, it didn't all get done.  Did the kids know?  No.  They were busy having fun.  So I guessed I come out on top in the fun category.  For now, here are some of the pictures from the fun day.

After I have a few days to decompress, I will add a source list for some of the great ideas I found.  First, I want to say a special thank you to Matt Bratcher who loaned us all of the cool Star Wars Legos that were used as part of the displays.  There was lots of oohs and aahs, from the kids AND parents, both enjoying the details of Matt's Lego creations.

Battleship

Annika's game winning strategy:

A Not Appreciated Talent

My daughter is Spiderman in disguise as a little girl.  No really.  I'm serious.  Handstands, jumping from the counter after getting a cup out of the cupboard - not to the floor - but to the center island, and now this.

Erik was chasing Annika in the house.  Just as we were uttering the proverbial parent sentence, "no running in the house., we look in the hall to see our seven year old climb the doorway in three seconds.  It was amazing.  That's why the camera was shaking as I grabbed it with one hand off the hallway buffet and quick snapped this picture.

And now I am about to go on record as saying what I have been thinking - "Annika, I hope you have a child just like you."!!!  (And yes, I'm aware that Annika is sometimes a reincarnated Michelle, but that's a different generation).

BTW, we have nine foot ceilings.

Annika's 4th Annual Valentine's Day Party

This morning was Annika's party with three guests (we had some cancellations) over for Valentine's Day fun.  To be perfectly honest, it was my least prepared event in as many years.  Normally, I have lists, perfectly counted supplies, and cookies baked and stored.  The late night preparations are primarily reserved for cleaning and extended decorations.
This year, not only did I leave it all til the last minute, I was only slightly aware of the needed supplies.  We've had sleepless nights with waking children, early meetings, after school needs and general busyness that crept up on us.  I took the kids at 5 PM yesterday to get lunch supplies and cookie frosting.  That gave Woody one hour of sleep.  We'd been trading small naps anywhere we could fit them.  Since we worked all night to prepare, all episodes of forty winks are appreciated.

Somehow, it all came together by 10:30 AM.  The kids were greeted with Valentine's crossword puzzles while I readied the first craft.  After that we made door hangers while I prepared lunch.  The computer was set up with a nice mix of kid-pop music.  I have to admit though, I missed one lyric and realized right during the party that it was a bit explicit for kids.  It was a quick rush to the computer to get it off and switched to Justin Bieber.  Note to self: listen to all of Morgan's music!

Decorating cookies has become the main attraction at Chung family parties.  With individual base colors, plenty of decorating sugars and nonpareils, and Wilton colored frosting to pipe on the cookies, we were all set for fun.  This time, I decided NOT to make my mother's white cookie recipe that I've used for over twenty years.  I used a Lofthouse (TM) soft cookie recipe.  You've seen these cookies at the grocery stores - soft, thick sugar cookies, always round, with bright colored fluffy frosting on top.  This recipe was a perfect match to the store bought cookies.  From 1 AM to 3 AM, I made three dozen heart cookies to decorate.
Woody took lots of pictures and made CD's for the kids to take home at the end of the party.  In our sleep deprived state, we forgot to take a group picture this year!  Sad!!

I have to admit, I kinda smiled when I saw the clock read 12:30 and family members arrived to pick up their kids.  All hands on deck, we cleaned the party and loaded the dishwasher, swept the floor, and cleared the party supplies away by 1:30 PM!!!  Time for mandatory naps!

P.S. Our next planned party will be a big affair, I've already started planning and organizing.  See, learned my lesson quick!

A Bowl of Cereal Seems Innocent Enough...

Yeah.  Not even close!

This is one of those blog entries where I fulfill my commitment to telling our family story like it is - take the good with the bad.

This morning started out like any other Monday morning.  The alarm went off, we began waking children.  I started a shower, the kids picked out their clothes.  I dry off, they start breakfast with Dad.  Dad begins to make school lunches, I check to make sure the kids get their teeth brushed.

Somewhere in the mix above, Woody stepped into the garage and I was still dressing.  I heard a yell and then Morgan ran towards me in the hallway.

A few minutes earlier, Morgan taunted Annika by telling her if she left her bowl of frosted mini shredded wheats to go to the bathroom, when she got back, her cereal would look like this [  ].  [Morgan shows Annika a frosted natural mini wheat from Mom's Best cereals with the frosting bit off, leaving the shredded wheat.

Annika didn't like the teasing, but rather than choosing a clever retort, or better (!), just ignoring her...she responded with an OVER THE TOP reaction that I never would have guessed.  Annika didn't even wait for mouth to finish chewing before responding.  She just spit a mouthful of shredded wheat at Morgan's face and hair.

That's why Morgan came running towards me in the hall - milk dripping off her face and her hair full of shredded wheat bits.  It was a quick call to make - that cereal wasn't coming out without a shower.  Now, if you know Morgan very well like we do, she doesn't like wavering from her morning routine. Neither do we.  So somewhere with twenty minutes before we leave the house, we have to get Morgan cleaned up and find a new shirt.

As parents, we fixed the immediate problem and solved the underlying discontent with some scolding and punishment.  We'll get over it.  And now that the kids are in bed and more than twelve hours have passed since our discordant morning, we're quietly laughing at it all.

SOOO...  Have a good laugh at our expense this morning.  And watch for flying shredded wheat!

 P.S. To Annika and Morgan:  When you read this as you get older, think of it from our point of view...

The Tooth Fairy is Coming

What drama!  Annika lost her top tooth today.  I don't mean drama in a bad way, or teary way.  That's not Annika's style.  I'm referring to this seven-year-old's excitement level.  It started more than a month ago when her top two teeth started to wiggle.  "Will they be out before Christmas?"  "Maybe I'll get hit in the face with the soccer ball during a game.  That'd be great."  "Want to see me wiggle it with my tongue?"

Over New Years she had become incessant over getting the tooth out.  I'd describe it more like ad nauseum.  She paced by the door waiting for Harabagee (a dentist) to come back and check it to see if it wiggled any more.  Harabagee told her to have patience.  That's so cute it's comical.

Now yesterday the bigger drama started - she saw some blood around the tooth.  Yeah Blood!!!  (That's Annika's idea, anyway).  She asked me to push it - just a little.

Today, it was more of the same.  Then she saw it turn 90 degrees and liked how it looked.  A crooked tooth is cool in her mind.  I'll have to remember that when the word "orthodontist" is hinted in the dental chair.

And so, with one little turn from Mom, the tooth came out.  Annika was beyond herself with delight.  Loves the smile.  Loves the tooth in her hand.  "A great day, Mom."

Note to Tooth Fairy:  this is one exemplary tooth-losing student.

And the Season Ends

Today was Annika's last soccer game of the season.  It was a season of ups and downs as far as wins.  It was also a season of ups and downs in terms of game time temperatures.  Annika played in 113 degree weather and in 38 degree weather.  That's quite a swing.  This is Annika's first season.  She went from not knowing anything about the game to be a very formidable player - another swing.

We admit, we're happy about the return of the family schedule - no more twice a week practices.

Congratulations Annika.  We're excited for next year.

Happy Birthday Annika!

Happy, Happy Birthday to the great Annika E. Chung!  You are a fantastic girl who loves throwing the curve ball ever often.  We love your smile and your wit and charm.  We love you!  Have a super day and a great VIP week.

Annika's 3rd Annual Valentine's Party

We're all tuckered out from Annika's party today.  The day started early with last minute details and cleaning.  It's correct to state the night ended late, too.  I finished the cookies at 2:15 AM and then did the dishes.  In a yummy, but not well thought out decision, we baked yellow crocker fish for dinner last night.  With rice and kimchi, we had a stinky house.  All of the windows were opened until about 1 AM.  Fish problem resolved, baking commenced.

Annika's guests included her neighborhood friends,  Kelly and Riley, her classmate, Grace, and family friend, Megan.  The girls decorated cookies, made candy necklaces, danced the shuffle, ate lunch and made ladybug Valentine's bookmarks.

Woody is cooking more Korean food for dinner - my Valentine's present.  Don't look for any flowers, chocolate or cards - it's not our style.

I Saw the Tooth Fairy!

"I saw the tooth fairy!" exclaimed Annika, bopping in our room at 0500 Hours this morning. We hesitated before responding, wondering what the next sentence will be from our six year old. She took a breath and said, excitedly,

"She's white, with fluttery wings, and about this high (holding her thumb and index finger about 2 inches apart). And she brought me a new dollar bill in a bag"

Annika's first tooth was lost eating a turkey and cheese sandwich with her dad after the Bingo night at school. She was careful not to swallow and said she would stay up all night waiting for the fairy. She fell asleep within five minutes after placing her tooth under her pillow.

Annika poses with her tooth on Friday night after Bingo.