The coach had previously recommended Logan to be in an intermediate tennis lesson.  We first had to wait until Logan turned 8, then we got lazy, and we had finally signed him up.  Last week was supposed to be the first class, but it was cancelled due to the rain.  The weather was beautiful yesterday and the first lesson took place.  According to Stuart, there were only 5 kids in total and Logan was the youngest.  Logan did fine; he paid attention to the coach, and he hit and served as instructed.  The funny thing was while Logan was waiting for his turns with the coach, he often broke out into a little dance.  He seemed to have a good time there.

    On the Eve, we followed our little tradition to go for Chinese food for dinner.  I worked an earlier shift, so I came home in good time and we could all head out to a local restaurant before the crowd.  We had a good meal with appetizers, soup, entrees and noodles; then we had to walk around at a store to digest the food before we headed home.

    On New Year Day, the Kaos invited us to join them and Ted’s brother family for dinner.  The boys were excite to play with Mckayla and Marcus, and Connor also looked forward to having hotpot.  I am less and less prepared each year for Chinese New Year; this year I managed to find a Kung Fu top that still fitted Connor and he was happy to wear it.  When we arrived at the Kaos in the afternoon, we found out that Tim’s family could not come as their girl was sick.  Logan and Connor were off to play with Mckayla and Marcus while we hung in the kitchen to talk while Michelle prepared the ingredients.  When it was time to start cooking, Ted gathered the kids to sit down and watch the Night in Museum while we started cooking for them.  After an hour of eating, all of us ate a lot and almost ate up everything Michelle prepared.  We had to wait for awhile before we could consider having ice cream and chocolate nut pie for dessert.  This was definitely a good way to spend a Chinese new year day, hanging with good friends, being relaxed and stuffed with yummy food.

    The other school mom and I had to postpone the December Art Vistas to this last Friday.  On Friday, we had some difficulty initially coordinating due to the rainy day and also another class was having the same project at the same time.  Eventually it turned out ok after we set up the cafeteria and the lesson began just a little behind schedule.  The topic was to appreciate how artists expressed feelings in their paintings.  After the mom and I did the introduction, we discussed the hands on project "Moody Clowns". We talked about ways to show expressions, and we opened it up to the kids to decide if they wanted to draw a clown or any other faces of their choice. The kids went straight to work and they were all devoted to make a nice drawing. This might be the most creative and determined we have seen them yet; there were many incredible and beautiful faces drawn. Interestingly, there were only a couple of clowns, the rest of them were unique characters with amazing features and great expressions.  Logan’s face drawing was a bit unusual in my opinion, but he seemed to have a good time making his artwork too.

    Connor was excited for my birthday.  Since the beginning of January, Connor had been asking to decorate the bonus room for my birthday.  He finally had the chance to do that when I went out with the girls on Sunday night.  Sunday dinner was to celebrate Kathy’s and my birthday, and it was at Dry Creek Grill.  Kathy came and picked me up, so I could enjoy some drinks without worrying about driving home.  The group was slightly smaller than usual as Julie and Michelle were sick, but the rest of us still had a great evening with a yummy dinner and a nice chat.    When I came home, the boys were reading with Stuart, so I joined in for a little cuddle before they went to bed.

   My birthday this year aligned with Martin King Jr’s BD so the boys had the day off.  Stuart had a company holiday and I took the day off as well.  The boys took me up to the gameroom in the morning to show me the stuff they made for me and the balloons they added for the decorations.  I really loved the cards they made.  For the day, I did not have any preference where to go, and just wanted an easy day.  We started the day with a parent consult for Logan’s upcoming orthodontic treatment, then we made a Costco run to pick up a few things.  I initially wanted to go to the driving range, but it was a bit chilly.  We ended up staying home to play and I sneaked in a nice nap too.  In the afternoon we went to the mall for some shopping and to have dinner at BJ.  The warriors were playing, and it was awesome having a cocktail for me and a specialty beer for Stuart while watching the game.  The boys watched the game too, but also were busy doing their drawing.  To wrap it up, when we returned home, they showed me the cake they bought.  They sang to me and we enjoyed some cake to end the night.  I really felt quite relaxed from the day and I especially enjoyed having a 3 day weekend.  It was a nice birthday.

     Last night at bedtime Connor thought up that we should have a party on this last day of school break.  He talked to Stuart about decorating the game room with balloons, bringing up games to play during the party.  Of course as soon as Connor woke up in the morning, he remembered and reminded Stuart what they needed to do even though Stuart had to work.  With some help from Stuart in the morning, Connor set up a table in the game room and brought up many board games.  He also put out plates for the 3 of us (Logan, himself and I) for snack as Stuart would be working.  I suggested making some cookies for the party and of course Connor was thrilled with the idea.  While Connor was busy setting up for his “party”, I recruited Logan to make cookies with me.  During the afternoon, we hung out and played games as Connor wished.  For dinner, the boys suggested that we should celebrate the last day of the break with pizza, so we went out in the evening.  Now the break is really coming to an end, I am not looking forward to work every day in each week again.

    One of the gifts I received in my stocking was a workout video.  It was one that claims to give us a toned body in 30 days.  Logan reminded me that I should try it yesterday, so Stuart and I got changed to have a workout.  The boys joined us, but Connor could not hang in there too long while Logan did try to do many of the exercises.  At the end of the 20 plus minutes, both Stuart and I were exhausted.  We decided that we would challenge each other for keeping up with exercise; instead of doing this workout 30 days in a roll, we will just see try to do it 30 times in all.  When Stuart and I were resting, Logan and Connor did some Just Dance to top off their exercise for the day.