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We went shopping with the kids on Sunday at the Rolling Hills shopping mall near our neighborhood. Actually, we just couldn't put the kids to sleep, so we hoped a road trip would help them to fall asleep in the car. But, they didn't. The sky was clear and the sun was out, and so many people were out either shopping or sitting outside eating ice-cream in the out-door mall. The kids were busy looking at people around them. Our moms went with us, so at least we got to actually shop for a bit, not just walking. Of course, we had to stop by Gap kids, and Jim found the cutest shoes on sale. This time, the headphone wearing, bag toting sales person got the sales price correct. We picked the red/blue color ones because it was the cheapest and they can both wear them.

Posted by Winnie 9:21 PM

I uploaded more pictures to ofoto.
Posted by Winnie 9:52 PM

Jim got this for the kids last night at babiesRus when he went to pick up formulas . He said he couldn't resist, and he just had to get something for the kids. It seems like he always end up buying toys or clothes for them everytime he goes to babiesRus. They've using the saucer a lot, but they couldn't really walk with it. Arie really seems to like it a lot, and she can actually walk with it but backwards. On the other hand, Max still prefers people walking or holding him. ; )
Posted by Winnie 10:27 PM

It was time again for their checkup and RSV shot. The kids were a little cranky when they got there, probably because they were both hungry and sleepy. Well, here are their current measurements, as you can see Max still has a big head and Arie has a big belly:

1. Max
Weight - 16 lbs 6 oz
Height - 27 in
Head - 17.5 in

2. Arie
Weight - 18 lbs 4 oz
Height - 27 in
Head - 16.5 in
Posted by Winnie 9:29 PM

On Saturday, we took a long walk to the pier with the kids and grandma Dorcia. It was such a beautiful day and very warm too. They pretty much slept the whole trip, except for Arie. She was fussing a little in the beginning, but she soon fell asleep after Jim put her in the babybjorn (baby-carrier). On Sunday, we met up with uncle Joe, aunt Ashley, and Ricky and Kimmy for dim sum in Monterey Park at 888 Chinese Restaurant. We have never been to 888 before, and that place was crowded. Actually, 888 is just an English name for that Chinese restaurant, and it is named differently in Chinese. I guess they couldn't find a better English name for the restaurant, plus number 8 sounds like the Chinese word for prosperity. So, three 8s - a lot of prosperity then. The food was excellent, definitely better than North Sea if you know Chinese restaurants around here. We dressed the kids up with their new clothes, and we put shoes on them for the first time. For some reasons, I think they look much older with shoes on. Anyway, the weekend went by fast like all weekends, except we got to sleep a little longer in the morning because grandma Dorcia helped and took care of Max for us. Thanks, grandma!!
Posted by Winnie 8:49 PM

I have just added a couple of new links under the Links section on the left. The new pages are not quite finished, but hey...let's face it...with me working on them...they probably will never be completely finished anyway. The first link is for our new Movie Page. I just finished making a quick movie of the kids set to music. I hope you all like it. There are three links on this page and they are all to the same movie, just different file types and quality levels. Now the bad part, at least if you access the internet from a dial-up connection. The smallest file is 714KB, which isn't to bad, but the quality is not that great. Also, the links aren't working as I expected them too. Clicking on the link may not launch the movie from some reason (probably due to my lack of experience). However...I have a solution...in engineering we call this a "Work Around", and what it means is that I may never really fix this problem so you may have to get used to it...Sorry. The "Work Around" is to right click on the movie link and save the target file. Once the file is downloaded to your computer. You can then launch it from there. It's a lot of work, but I think it's worth it...the movie is pretty good (of course I made so I am a little prejudice, but only a little). The second new link is for the Pictures of the Month page. Winnie and I will try to gather 9 of our favorite pictures from the previous month and put them here. You may have already seen this page from a previous posting, but now it is official. Well that's it for the new features. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong with my movie links, please drop me a line. Winnie, her Mom, my Mom, Myself and the kids went for dim sum yesterday in Alhambra. It was really fun, but I'll let Winnie tell that story...Have a great day everyone!
Posted by Max 8:51 AM

A lot has happened since I last updated the blog. Not so much for the kids, but for our country. A war has begun in Iraq, and it is the only thing that everyone has been talking about these days. Nowadays, the technology is so advanced; we can see and receive information about the war instantly. We are watching it as it happens, but there is nothing I can do to stop it. This will be something, I am sure we will be telling our kids about this one day. I hope the war will end soon, and no innocent people will be hurt, but this is very unlikely. My thoughts are with all of the families in Iraq, and with the Americans trying to do their job.

My mom got back from Vegas yesterday, and she had a great time there. Max and Arie were so excited when they saw Grandma home. Grandma Dorcia has been taking care of the kids, and she cooked for us too. The chicken pot pie was so good, that Martha even asked for a recipe. This weekend, we will be having dim sum with my uncle Joe and aunt Ashley. I am looking forward to seeing my cousin John.

Posted by Winnie 8:41 PM

Grandma Dorcia arrived last night to visit us and the kids. She has planned to help us to take care of the kids when my mom is in Hong Kong. Now that my mom cancelled her trip, Dorcia might not stay as long as she had planned initially. My mom decided to take a quick trip with auntie Jenny to Las Vegas this week, and she just left this morning. She probably won't be back till Thursday night. She is also thinking about making a trip to Toronto to visit my aunt Alice and her family there. It might be too cold for her though. Alan and Tina volunteered to take care of Arie last night, and they slept with her. It was so nice of them.
Posted by Winnie 12:42 PM

My mom has decided to cancel her trip back to Hong Kong on this Tuesday because of a mystery outbreak that killed 9 travelers who just recently traveled to Asia including Hong Kong. The World Health Organization has been aware of the outbreak for about three weeks but issued its global alert this weekend because of concern that the illness would spread to North America and Europe. My mom has planned to go with Auntie Jenny, but now they both decided to stay after they talked to relatives and friends from Hong Kong. United airline allows them to change their itinerary without penalty, but they have not yet planned when to go back. My mom was quite disappointed and she has been waiting for this trip for a long time. But, I will definitely feel better and safer for her to postpone the trip.
Posted by Winnie 10:24 PM

Alan and Tina came late Friday night, and they brought the rain with them (it rained all day yesterday). We haven't seen them for over 2 months, and it's great to finally see them again. They came just in time for Jim and I to go get a haircut, and we need it badly. They stayed home with the kids with my mom, so Jim and I could go out in the afternoon yesterday. Max cried immediately when Alan or Tina touched him, but he let them hold him after an hour with him. Arie let them hold her, and she even gave uncle Alan a big smile when she first saw him. They will be leaving on Wednesday, and this time they will be able to meet Dorcia before they head back to Arizona.
Posted by Winnie 9:37 AM

They are no longer able to fit into their infant car seats. We actually stopped using them when they turned about 6 months old. We got the infant car seats from our family as baby gifts, and they are great. I think we probably use them less than 20 times, so they still look like new. We might try to sell them through ebay or something. If any of you out there who is interested, please let us know. ; ) I never knew how much car seats were and how many variety of car seats available until we started stopping for their next car seats. Jim and I have been researching and looking for car seats for a month. The cheaper ones look like they will break easily, and the expensive ones are just too expensive. The car seats priced range from $100 - $250 (top of the line). Really, they aren't any good ones priced around $150 that don't have "Eddie Bauer" on them (We don't like Eddie Bauer baby line). Since, we are getting 2 car seats, it just seems so costly to pay $500 for 2 nice car seats. So, we tested the following 2 car seats for over 2 weeks.
EvenfloBritax
The kids look so comfortable in Britax comparing to the Evenflo and Britax is a very well made and solid car seat. Though the price is more, but the Britax is designed to fit a child up to 65 lbs while other car seats usually fit up to 45 lbs. At first, I was quite reluctant to pay that much for a single car seat, but the Britax is indeed a much better quality product.
Posted by Winnie 9:39 PM

We have taken many pictures of Max and Arie in it - the round thing where they sit in it with a bunch of toys around it(See here). Mom got us one when they were 3 months old, and my boss just gave us his son's old one. We use them all the time now, and that's the only way we could actually eat or go to the bathroom or leave them alone for a little while. It is the best thing and most useful thing we have gotten so far. We use the swing sometimes too to feed them, but they don't like to sit there too long. With the saucer, they would play and chew all the toys, especially the rubbery flower. It is always the first thing they both pick to play with. Now that they can control their legs more, they bounce in it. Arie even tries to walk in the saucer, and it is hilarious.
Posted by Winnie 9:39 PM

Jim is right, we have been busy. He was able to get the picture page up, but we are still working on it. Anyway, the kids are feeling better and eating better. They had a mild cold with runny nose for the last two weeks, so it made sucking a little difficult for them. Now, they seem to be able to breath through their little noses. Arie's bottom front two teeth are finally visible, but they are only half way out. She looks so cute when she smiles now, well I am biased. I tried to take pictures of her teeth, but it's more difficult than I think. No work tomorrow, so at least we can get extra 30 mins sleep in the morning. Now that Martha doesn't work on Saturday, we don't get to sleep as long anymore. We miss our Saturday morning break.
Posted by Winnie 10:03 PM

Well, sorry for the lack of content this week. As I am sure you can guess, Winnie and I have been really busy for some reason. I guess it has something to do with our jobs...you know that thing that actually pays for all of the formula, diaper, nannies and clothes. The list goes on and on and on, no wait I was looking at my credit card statement. I really wish we owned a stake in Babies 'R Us because I think we have earned it :) Anyway getting back to what this blog is really about...money...no sorry the kids. Actually both of those topics tie into what I am going to talk about. Winnie and I had a grand idea last weekend to go to Old Navy. We ended up spending over a hundred dollars on baby clothes. It wasn't our plan. We just thought we would check out what they had and maybe buy a couple of things...then we went a little crazy. I am proud to say though that all of the clothes purchased were on clearance (cool now...obviously the wrong thing to say when they are teenagers). I even had to fight with one of the headphone wearing, bag toting workers on the price of a shirt. This was the highlight of my day...a little sad huh :) They said it was $9.99, I said it was $6.99...guess who won? Of course the prince of price watching, the king of coupons, the sultan of savings...um...that would be me. When the cash register guy held up the shirt and got on his little walkie talkie and said, "What's the price on...". Max and I kicked it into high gear. We tried to spot the person he was attempting to contact. I think Max saw her first because he let out a giggle and pointed (well maybe I am embellishing, but only a little) then I saw her. As she held the microphone to her mouth she said, "...those shirts are $9.99...". From out of no where I was in her face (of course in a nice way). I said, "No no no those shirts are $6.99". She was probably wondering who I was. Again I stated the price to her and headed back to the rack before she could get there. There were like 20 of those shirts on the $6.99 sales rack. Then she said (in an effort to save face I assume), "The are on the wrong rack". She just made a big mistake. Now I was ready to play. No one screws the Castor twins out of three bucks. I first used logic..."Come on, there are like 20 of those shirts on that rack, you mean all of them are mispriced?" She didn't say anything and started moving all of the shirts to the $9.99 rack. Then I showed frustration, "That is really confusing, how could all of those shirts be in the wrong place." I saw I was getting no where with her. So I sped back to the front of the store (this all happened in like 40 seconds...I am just drawing it out for suspense). My last tactic was indifference. I said to the cash register guy, "She said it was $9.99, but you know, there were like 20 of those shirts on the $6.99 rack...but you know, whatever...if that's the way you do things here then..." To make a long story longer...We paid $6.99...Max was really ecstatic...either that or he was sleeping I didn't really notice, but anyway it was a happy ending. When you only get out of the house for about 2 hours a week, you try to enjoy the small victories...sometimes that's all we get ; )
Posted by Max 8:17 AM

Check them out.
Posted by Winnie 5:15 PM

It was my friend Fony's birthday yesterday, so she wanted to celebrate it at Harbor Seafood restaurant in Monterey Park. Since, Max still has a stuffy nose, Jim has already decided not to stay home with the kids. At first, I wasn't quite sure if I could make it to the dinner since my mom wouldn't usually be home till 9pm on Saturday. I even thought about bringing one baby with me, because I would feel bad to go out and let Jim takes care of the kids by himself. Unexpectedly, my mom decided to cut her shopping schedule short and came home early last night, and she came back home with Paul and Jenny. Paul and Jenny insisted on helping us to take care of our kids, so Jim and I could have a night out without the kids. We felt bad to take them up on their offer, but at the same time we were so excited to have the opportunity to go out. The last time we went out was in January, so you know how we longed for this opportunity. Not that we are tired of the kids or anything, but it's just nice to go out without having to worry about the kids. Anyway, the dinner was great and we had a great time.
Posted by Winnie 10:41 PM

Link New Pictures Page
Posted by Max 10:58 AM