The Adornment Show is tonight!!

i'm running around today with butterflies in my stomach, but it's all good. i'm looking forward to seeing many of you at the show tonight. i'll try to take some photos, but i'm guessing if anyone takes them, it'll be Phil. ok, off to put Cordelia down for a nap - hopefully it'll be a good one so she won't be cranky and fussy tonight. :)

Halloween

did you all have a lovely weekend? or should i ask, did you all have a crazy weekend? our halloween weekend wasn't too exciting until yesterday. the girls woke up, all excited about going trick-or-treating. Claire would have run out in the early morning to fill up her candy bucket. i know parents complain about kids being on sugar-high, but my kids were on anticipation-high all day. it was a relief to let them out of the house. the part i enjoy most about halloween is seeing all the neighbours out with their families. time to catch up, see some neighbours we haven't seen in a while. now to figure out how to throw out some of the candy without the girls noticing...

Phil said to me this morning that we may get rain and snow this week. i'm hoping he's wrong, but then again, anything is possible since we've had such a warm fall. i'm not sure i'm ready to hunker down yet. but those days of staying in, baking cookies, decorating the tree, those days aren't too far off.

happy monday, friends!

The Adornment Show

hello, everyone, i hope you had a good week and are looking forward to the Halloween weekend like we are. :) and on that happy note, i want to invite you to The Adornment Show. if you are in town, please do join us - i think it's going to be lots of fun!! in case you are wondering, i'm listed as S.L. Kim on the invite. i will post photos of a few of my paintings that i will be showing.

The Adornment Show
November 12th, 2010
at Winnebago Studios
from 5-9pm
2036 Winnebago Street
Madison, WI 53704

The last warm days

before the days turned cold, we tried to enjoy the beautiful fall weather by going on picnics. these pictures were taken by Lake Kegonsa. the girls loved it so much they've been asking to return. i think we'll have to wait until spring. it's suddenly gotten cold, it finally feels like winter is on its way.

One order of zen moment, please!

do you ever wish you could order those moments of peace whenever you wanted one? like a cup of coffee, or tea (my preference). there's a teahouse in Madison that i love - Macha teahouse. i would go there every day if i could. they serve you delicious tea on a wooden tray and give you a timer to show you when you should take the tea leaves out of your pot. i would love to sip my tea while reading a book, or writing a letter. alas, my life is not quite all mine to do as i wish all the time. i have to catch my zen whenever i can, whenever it chooses to fly my way.

and it was during one of those unexpected zen moments when i took these photos by Lake Mendota. Skye and Claire were busy playing on the playground, Phil was holding Cordelia, and i had a rare moment to wander over to the water.

i think i have won over the lice - yay!!! this means the rest of the week is going to be great! hope you're having a great week!

Signs of fall

these are from a walk i took around our neighbourhood. while we are enjoying a fantastic, warm week, the trees show the tell-tale signs of fall. could i hope that perhaps halloween this year will be warm enough for my little fairy to go without her winter jacket? we shall see...

more pics to come! :) happy friday, everyone!

Ngugi wa Thiong'o is coming to Madison!!

who is he, you ask? he is the Kenyan author who taught me so much about the Mau Mau and the parts of Kenya that you don't see in stories like "Out of Africa". while i am a devoted fan of Isak Dinesen, i equally admire the works of Ngugi wa Thiong'o. if you are a local and want to join me, let me know. he is coming here for the Wisconsin Book Festival which will take place early October. book lovers, come on out!

Long absence

lately, i've been feeling like i'm caught in fast forward mode, but my body and mind just aren't able to keep up. life is moving along at its usual pace - i'm just moving too slowly. i do wish i could jump off of life, sit down with a cup of tea and watch it go by. like i used to do when i was writing my novel. but i'm really wishing for the impossible - i mean, how do you do that with three kids, and esp when one of them is just 5 months old? i keep reminding myself that by next year, i will have some moments to call my own. my sleep-deprived mind hasn't had the will to be creative, thus, the silence. and while i haven't been writing here, i've been thinking about my purpose for this blog. i had always seen this space as a way to keep in touch with those of you scattered far from me, a place for me to share thoughts and ideas that are important to me. perhaps this purpose seems rather uncertain to me right now because i'm so tired. :)
 so, instead of trying to figure things out, i'll share this image with you.

The new Madison Children's Museum

we have been waiting for a long time for the new Madison Children's Museum to open and it did finally last weekend. yesterday was a rather cold and grey kind of day, so the girls and i decided we should make a visit. the first thing that hit me as we walked in the front door was the level of noise. overwhelming!! the place was packed, packed, packed!! when we used to visit the old museum, it was like visiting a ghost town. everyone was there to check out the new space. and a fabulous place it is too. so worth the visit. but if you're prone to claustrophobia when around hyperactive children, i would wait until the newness of the museum has worn off. there are 4 levels to the museum, with much more space devoted to older children, so Skye was thrilled. the best part for me was the rooftop garden. you can take the elevator up to the top of the building and see the Capitol and parts of Madison. they have a chicken coop with live chickens, a sand pit, and a sweet pond with wooden boats for the children to play with. however, i was rather disturbed by a large group of children who spent their time throwing rocks at the poor fish in the pond, determined to "get the fish"...i'm sure the creators of the new museums didn't envision that activity. 

once i got over the noise and overcrowding, i managed to get my camera out and take some shots.

here are the girls taping on the large glass windows on the second floor. i'm sure they were wishing they could do this at home too. :)

this was a portion of the second floor - chaotic but fun!

they had quotes painted on the walls throughout the museum - my eyes focused on them frequently, to rise above the din. ;)

my girls (including Cordelia, whose back of the head you can see here) was fascinated by this view of the water "tornado" that was exhibited near the entrance of the museum. here they are looking down a tube from the 2nd floor.

fabulous climbing structure!

down in the level for the under 5s:

even Cordelia got out to play in the baby room!

so happy to see bean sprouts there!

Claire enjoying her mango frozen yogurt

Time to buy a van?

so far, we've managed to be a family of one car and i have dearly loved our VW jetta tdi - i wouldn't trade it in for anything. and i've never imagined myself as one of those mums driving a big van. if there was ever a car i've dreamed of driving, it would have to be one of those jeep wranglers - you know the kind where the roof comes off and you look oh so rugged and cool. :) but, the coming of this third baby is finally making me face reality. there is no way we can fit three carseats in the backrow and of course carpooling is out of the question!

so, last week, we test drove vans. the VW people let us take one home for the day - wasn't that so nice of them? and after having it for a day, i'm afraid i've become a convert. it was SO nice not to be bending over to strap kids in (esp since my belly is the size of a giant globe now), SO nice to have doors open automatically, SO nice to have so much space inside!! i had no idea how cramped our little jetta felt until we drove the van. and the kids? they LOVE the van. they wanted to keep the van and couldn't understand why we had to return it. we also tested a Honda Odyssey over the weekend and i know it's the most popular van out there, but i love the way VW drives. and we are so hoping they'll come out with a tdi van. so, while we still don't own a van yet, it's definitely in the not too distant future (like, in the next couple of weeks?).

this is the VW Routan - it barely fits in our driveway!!

Too old for nights out?

this was the question on my mind over the weekend as i went out 2 nights in a row with girlfriends to catch a couple of movies at the Wisconsin Film Festival. i had a GREAT time, don't get me wrong. but it felt a little surreal...i mean, it's been almost 6 yrs since i went out on a Friday night after sunset! for one thing, i'd forgotten most people come out after it gets dark. i kept looking around, thinking, wow, look at all these people out at night! are we really in a recession? our usual thing is to eat dinner at 5:30pm and from then on, it's all about getting ready for bed!

but it was great to have some good adult conversation and to watch 2 really good movies. one was a documentary about these women who train to become burlesque dancers: A Wink and a Smile. really provocative in subject matter, but quite funny too. then i watched a korean movie called Secret Sunshine. this was really intense emotionally, esp watching it as a mother. the child in the movie gets kidnapped and that's like any parents' worst fears. it also provoked a lot of questions about Christianity because the main character in the movie converts to Christianity when she is at the end of her rope. i won't spoil it for those of you who are interested in watching it by divulging too much info.

Snow, snow, and more snow (this was an entry title last yr too!!)

yes, there is so much snow everywhere already and no prospect of any of it melting any time soon! here are some shots of our activities in the snow. i'm sure they'll all start to look the same soon!! :)

i took the girls sledding for the first time over the weekend


today, after snowing all night and most of the day, the girls and i went outside to shovel. Skye, rather than helping me, decided to build a slope for the sled. :)


frozen Claire...


Skye goes sledding on her slope


"Mum, look at my snow coach."

Winter activities

with the arrival of the cold, we enter into all the indoor activities. i have to say, there is quite a lot to do here that's either free or relatively affordable. we like to go to the Rotunda on saturdays. it's free and the kids really enjoy the shows. i still like to take the kids outside alot, but it's good to have options! :) there are plenty of indoor gyms that open up too. i think i'm still getting used to this idea of hunkering down, this idea of mostly indoor play. i'm scrambling now to come up with a list of indoor activities to keep the girls busy on days when we have nowhere to go. you are welcome to throw ideas my way!

No School Days

whenever we have a no school day, i realize just how hurried we are every morning. today, Skye almost missed the bus, but fortunately, our neighbours can see our sunroom from the bus stop and asks the driver to wait a few minutes as Phil and Skye dash down the street. tomorrow is a no school day and Skye went to bed saying how happy she was she didn't have to wake up early to catch the bus. i feel the same way! i'm looking forward to spending time with both girls. i can spend time with Skye while Claire naps and we can do fun things like going to a bakery close by to have treats once Claire wakes from her nap. :)

Election jitters

no matter what the polls show, i'm still a little nervous about today's outcome. this election has been quite exciting. i tried to vote early, but couldn't because the wait was so long and it would have been impossible to wait so long with Claire in tow. so i went to vote today and was pleasantly surprised to not wait at all. i went in the middle of the day, so that helped too. but i think most of Madison voted early. i don't remember the last elections being this way. when was the last time Americans were so eager to vote?? it's exciting to say the least. Phil wishes he could attend some of the election parties - the one in Grant Park, Chicago sounds like the place to be! but me, i'll be happy to roll into bed tonight knowing that Obama won!

Skye had to vote at school today too. her school apparently always votes for the school mascot on election day. they had to "join the arrow" to make their vote, just like the big people! :) Skye jumped off the bus, excited that the mascot she voted for won! i hope i feel the same way at the end of today!

Fall colours

the colours are changing quickly and casting a warm glow all around us. it certainly would be worth your time to visit us here in Madison in the fall! :)




what a cutie!

Open house at Skye's school

last night, after dinner, we went to Skye's school for open house. we knew it was open house for the whole school (K-2), but i had no idea what craziness open house was until we got there. there were SO many excited, hyper kids, running around, dragging bewildered parents and siblings all over the school. once, they made an announcement: "there is a little girl, who looks about 2 years old, called Abby, looking for her parents. please come to the office if you are her parents."

it was great for Skye to be able to show us where she spends most of her day now. she was so excited to show us all the different rooms too - the music room, the art room, the specials room and the gym. as well as her classroom. it was encouraging for Phil and me to see her feeling so at home and so happy with school. she was never this excited about preschool, but with kindergarten, Skye seems to have a sense of ownership about the place which she never had at preschool.

seeing all the excitement, Phil is now convinced public schools are the way to go. it's so great to run into our neighbours and people we see at the pool. there's just a feeling of community which we really appreciate.

one of my neighbours and i had a lengthy discussion about schools a couple of weeks ago. she has a daughter that is in 2nd Grade who is reading at the level of 5th Grade. she was voicing concern about whether her daughter was going to learn anything in 2nd Grade, whether she was going to be encouraged to progress, or will she be required to remain at the level of her peers. that's a tough one. i think about that often too because Skye is reading and writing already. actually, since she started kindergarten, her reading and writing have improved drastically. so, at this point, i'm not too concerned. and if the teacher is good, surely she will encourage progress for all her students, no matter what level they are at. my neighbour seems to find public schools, esp in Madison, a little too bent on democratization - meaning, they want to equalize all the children, keep them all at the same level. we have no magnet schools, no schools to pool the "smart and advanced" kids.

but last night, seeing how excited all the kids were about their school, i had to say to myself, this must be good.

Lemonade Stand

yesterday, Skye had her first lemonade stand. it was lots of fun! we made fresh squeezed lemonade and set up a table right in front of our house. we had told all our neighbours ahead of time, so they all came out and we had a kind of mini block party. Skye loved it! she has been really eager about making some money because she's seen other kids using their own money to buy snacks at the pool concession stand and buying "stuff" at stores. we need to start giving her an allowance soon, but she hasn't asked for an allowance yet, so we're sort of waiting until she actually asks! Skye made a total of $9! she was just thrilled to have so much cash in her little wallet at the end of her sale! :) it's really sweet--she's spent her first $2 on little knick-knacks that she likes and i'm trying to encourage her not to spend all her money too soon! she wants to have another lemonade stand soon, but i'm pooped from squeezing all those lemons!

Family biking

we've been biking together as a family now over the weekends and it's been lots of fun. this past weekend, we biked to Lake Monona and biked along a trail that runs around the lake. we've been wanting to do this for so long and now we can! and here is how:

Sunny Days...

we are taking full advantage of the warm days! the pool has become a daily destination. not only is there the water to entertain, but lots of friends to play with. my only wish is that Skye will actually be swimming by the end of the summer...not sure if that's going to happen. my ever cautious first child has the hardest time dunking her head in the water and lifting her feet off the floor. Claire actually seems more at ease with the water than Skye - maybe because of her water birth?? we'll see how both girls progress over the summer!