Grace has had an eventful few weeks. She has definitely been testing out boundaries and it has made parenting a lot more... what's a good word? Interesting? Difficult? Exhausting?Embarrassing? Anyway, let's focus on something positive! Last week, we decided that she was old enough to start being held responsible for her chores. Lots of people have differing views about allowances- some children are expected to help out around the house and don't get paid for it, and some do chores to earn their allowance. We have decided to do a mix of both. There are specific chores that we want Grace to do without us having to continually ask. She will earn an allowance for those. We also want her to understand that as a member of our household, she needs to help out regardless of whether she gets paid or not. Well, for these past 2 weeks, she has earned her allowance! Tonight, Grandma came over for dinner so Grace was able to show off her chore chart and show Grandma where her money goes.
Not much is new with Jeremy... We think he's fighting yet another ear infection! Our doctor said last time that if he gets another one this season, we'll need to discuss our options (possibly tubes). Jeremy has turned into "daddy's boy!" Everything lately has revolved around Jason. Jeremy will get jealous if Grace or I go anywhere near Jason (eg. hug him). He throws huge tantrums, especially when he gets hungry... We still haven't figured out what to do with that. He's learning how to use a fork and is so proud when he gets a piece of food with the fork and it makes its way to his mouth. We actually placed him in time-out for the first time this past week because he threw a remote control at Grace's head and laughed. Jason had to keep putting him back on the "time-out stool" but he finally got the message. He stayed on the stool and cried after the 7th time. Despite his roughness, he is still the cutest kid- really active but so sweet and adorable.
Our kids... boy do they keep us busy! :) 
Today is Lunar New Year... Most people refer to it as Chinese New Year, but the Chinese are not the only ones to celebrate the lunar new year. Vietnamese people have their own traditions as well, and if you were to visit Vietnam around this time, you'd be experiencing a huge celebration called, "Tet." Anyway, since I am not a part of the Vietnamese community here in Fresno, this day went by like any other. I do want to instill in Grace and Jeremy that part of their identity is Vietnamese, so we recognized the significance of today by going to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner with our close friends, Adam, Jill, and Micah. We even gave the kids "li xi" (red envelopes with money inside), a tradition I grew up with. Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
Jeremy is really upset he didn't get more in his li xi envelope... No, just kidding. He was upset that we made him stop eating to take a picture.
Here is Jeremy in a better mood- now that he has his food!
Grace loves lemon grass pork chop with rice!
Grace took it upon herself to experiment with her scissors on something other than paper today. It's hard not to laugh because we have some friends whose daughter also did this years ago. My first instinct tonight was to call them as soon as this happened to figure out how they dealt with it.
This post is late... We haven't had phone or internet access in over a week, or I might have actually posted this earlier. We rung in the New Year with some of our close friends- Jill & Adam, Aaron & Christa, and Allen & Kristen. We had such a fun time- Christa made a spicy peanut fondue, Kristen made two pizzas for dinner, Jason and I made a chocolate fondue for dessert, and Jill and Adam made New Year's Cookies (it's tradition for us now- I can't imagine ringing in the new year without those!). After putting Grace and Jeremy to bed, we played some games. It's amazing that with all of our talking and noise, the kids slept just fine. About 10 minutes before midnight, we turned on the t.v. to watch "the ball drop." Here's to 2009!
