Salute to Childrens television , Sesame Street

I know I have gone around the world,when my 20 year old girls's bands are playing,
and all of the time I thought that lmnop was one letter

Judy and Easter Parade

My Dad loved songwriters, He had always thought that singers sing and song writers write,for the singer.

Easter Parade is another example of great song and lyric writing with two of the best around.
Judy was a pro singer and dancer, she only sang what was written for her. The opening scene with Fred Astaire playing drum crazy is amazing. Not considered a singer, he interprets music , by Berlin, at it's best. Easter Parade Finale is the antithesis of MGM musical.This has subtitles for my global friends,

Mimi or Sunset Boulevard?

Mimi has been really ill over the past few days.
She sat in bed and played solitaire on my iphone and took this picture of Zelda,
The headband is soaked in cold ice water.

The return of Natalie

As I told you before, with the return of jie Jie comes the return of Natalie.
We love to see all of Paulina's friends.

Natalie turned 20 and treated herself to a tattoo.
I saw spyrograph. The tatoo has many meanings mathematical and spiritual.
Terry saw spyrograph.
We are lame.

The return of Jiejie

Saturday evening Paulina arrived home by train.
Mimi's illness did not curb her enthusiasm.
I bundled her up, nightie and all,and we went to pick her up at the station.

Sunday, for Mimi, was spent hanging with the girls,
Jie Jie had her high school chums over for dinner and Mimi soaked up all of the attention and adoration her little body could withstand.

All is well with the world, even with a 103 degree fever.

The House of Sickness and the Return of the Jiej

It is official, the Sipes family lives in the House of Sickness.
The House of Sickness is a title we earned from my dear brother in law Steve.
Steve used to say that we were doomed to constant flu like virus because we lived on ancient Indian burial ground, or because the previous owner of the house died in the yard while tending his garden.

While my husband,believes it is due to silent black mold seeping into our pores from the inside of our walls.
I believe they have been watching too much reality TV.


My dear husband works as a pharmacist. I feel that every newly formed virus comes home with him.

Around Valentine's day he and Mimi got very sick with a virus and it is rearing it's ugly head again.
Poor Mimi, has been battling a high fever and heavy congestion for 2 days and it gets pretty sad when the kid takes her own temperature and asks to wear a face mask to protect her sister.

My darling mother has yet to come down with it, but today I am swabbing the decks,sanitizing the house and preparing for Jiej.
JieJie will be home for the week for spring break.

Mimi is so excited about Paulina's return. She is ready with a face mask and a newly cut daffodil.

Mimi's Rockin Dance party

Mimi will be six this year and the idea of a class birthday party came to her about 8 months ago.

First she decided to go to Build a Bear workshop, then she wanted a spa day beauty party
I was thinking about a traditional backyard party with party games and hot dogs.

I have had many themed parties in the past and although they do keep you on a clear path for planning, they can make me, be and go, a little crazy.

After the daddy daughter dance, she decided she wanted a dance party and started talking about a party she had gone to that featured Hannah Montana.

I decided a compromise was in order., . Mimi created a guest list that included boys,so I didn't want to alienate them.I thought if I incorporated groovy musician type(School of Rock, not to much Hannah and Zac Efron) with dancing and hot dogs we could come together.

The rock and roll dance party was born, complete with temporary tattoos, guitar making ,disco ball and kiddy cocktails(just kidding), and yes hot dogs. Paulina's dad, proud owner of http://greatlakeshotdogs.com is providing the food and Jie Jie, Bill, daddy and I will be providing the entertainment.
Musical chairs with KISS playing perhaps?
Neighbors beware.

Salute to Childrens television Shirley Temple

When I was little, every Sunday morning, our local tv station would show a classic Shirley Temple movie.
I loved Shirley. I raised Jie Jie with Shirley Temple movies and Mimi watches them as well.

The classic is when Shirley Temple stars as a little girl who is orphaned when her mother is run over by a car. Of course, her father had already been killed in a plane crash, so she decides to live a happy life in an airport with a bunch of airline pilots.
Her wish is almost ruined by a wealthy family who wants to keep her for their grandfathers money.... this was also one of my mothers favorites. Bright Eyes does have the most famous of Shirley scenes on the good ship lollipop.
Shirley does end up in the best possible situation. She does, although, withstand some trials and tribulations.

Salute to children's shows -the little rascals

My mom lives with us and we have many hours to converse on how growing up back in her day was better than now.
Children entertained themselves without television, walked 200 miles to school, all was good.I am so happy that my girls have my mom's memories and folklore to draw on as they grow up.
I think the little rascals embodies all of these tales of the independent, well adjusted child that my mother speaks of. This is so politically incorrect, and not even close to the episodes entirety yet nothing beats the fast motion, kids with fireworks and poor misunderstood uncle George.
Mimi and JieJie laugh and laugh at this classic episode
The remix compliments of you tube.

Thank you Uncle Joe

We have a lovely friend named Joe, he is very dear to our family.
Uncle Joe went to school with my dad and they have been lifelong friends.

Uncle Joe is also the king of computers and technology. We hardly have a week that goes by without receiving some treasure. A compilation cd of impossible to find music or maybe a photo collage of my dad in his teens.
We received these gifts in the mail this week. Joe had these coffee mugs done for us, with the photo of Mimi during Chinese New Year. He fused this incredible photo of Mimi with a great lion statue from the front of a restaurant in Ann Arbor.

We have 2 of these mugs that we use every day. Thank you, Uncle Joe.

The adventures of kinder bear part 2

More of Mimi's work

The adventures of kinder bear

We finished day 2 of our time with kinder bear. I was making dinner, sand I gave Mimi the camera and told her to take shots of Kinder bear for his journal.
I love Mimi's photos.

tennis anyone?

Mimi plays tennis every Tuesday morning after school. She plays tennis with her friends Annabel(of course), Robbie, and Caroline.
They are so much fun to watch and I fear for the coach every week.They really hit that ball straight at her head.
Yesterday, Mimi bashed her right in the noggin, it was painful to watch.

The coach is this great young woman who has a no nonsense way about her and gets those kids to do a ton of activity.

Here are some shots of them on the court and then of course cleaning up the fivemillion balls that they have hit in the hour.
Terry came to watch Mimi in action and shot photos.

Kinderbear

Mimi has had the supreme excitement of receiving the estimating jar and the kinder bear in less than 3 days time.

The estimating jar is a clear plastic jar with items in it.The children pass around the jar and try to guess the amount. The child who guesses the closest wins the contents of the jar and the chance to fill it with something else.

Mimi won the contents and then we were responsible for filling it with something new.

I thought and thought of things healthy, individual, clean , easy to count.
I guess with all of the thinking, I should have been doing and I ended filling it with foil covered chocolate Easter eggs. Now I know where my children get there procrastination from.

I am sure the mother of the winning child is thrilled with the three pounds of chocolate their child won.

Yesterday, Mimi was given the Kinder bear. A very loved bear (I think Paddington), in a bag with a journal for us to write and fill with pictures of our adventure with kinder bear.

So far kinder bear has gone to the book store , tennis lessons, carpooling and robin searching. Mimi is thrilled.

Spring is here

Mimi and I went to the park after school and boy was it lovely. Mimi hates being confined to shoes when she is playing so I am glad that the weather warranted use her climbing feet.
Today we went back to the boots.

Baby Zelda

My chubby dog Zelda keeps our house very lively. Yesterday, she took an opportunity to escape from the house and run a muck through Huntington Woods. Zelda runs like the devil and has catlike reflexes (if you will excuse the expression).
Terry has no patience for it and just shakes his head and calls her assorted names.
Mimi and I do our usual chasing and unsuccessful bribing.

A very nice man who was trying to finish his run, stopped and stayed for moral and physical support for almost an hour.

I simply kept apologizing and running about like a crazy lady.

We finally got her trapped in Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan's yard and Mimi inched up behind her and grabbed her as if she were a greased pig.
This photo was taken soon after. Zelda looks as if she is posing for a royal portrait.
Who would guess that just moments before she was wreaking havoc through the town.

The hippies

Mimi came home yesterday from a fun filled day with the Beans.
Her summation was that Missy and Manuela are hippies.
The reason? They wear clothes from Survivor and hold signs. She is also thinking that they are gathering coins for Haiti.

More Year of the Tiger

We went through a giant pile of bubble wrap.
We also took the kids outside with the lion costume and lit fireworks. The weather was lovely and the kids were getting over some serious cabin fever.

Mimi also sported her first curls that day. A woman always wants what she can't have. I absolutely adore her gorgeous Asian locks but she wants curls, so I did a bit of curling on her.

This morning she wanted curls for school, I explained that curls are not for everyday, that her hair is so beautiful with out the fuss.

She came home from school and announced she is ready to go back to straight hair, what a relief.

The Year of the Tiger

This past Saturday was our official Chinese New Year Party with Mimi's sisters and families.
The day was quite eventful, the girls are older now and the families have gotten bigger so we were a bit crunched together but we did projects, ate food and of course jumped on bubble wrap.
It is amazing to see how much the girls have changed.

Salute to Childrens television Yo Gabba Gabba

Mimi has loved this show and it is so much like my crazy favorites from the seventies(lidsville, hr pufnstuf).
I love it as well.

This episode features one of my fave chefs Anthony Bourdain in a very brilliant role as a doctor.
It seems to be the cool thing to be on Yo gabba gabba.

Chinese New Year Burton Elementary style

Last Friday, Jiejie and I hosted a Chinese New Year party for Mimi's classmates.
The morning started with everyone getting a name tag with a Chinese name from the zodiac. Due to the fact that their are twelve animals and 25 students we just made half big animals and half small animals.

We then had story time. Then we adjourned to tables where we made dragon masks and paper lanterns.
Mimi's teacher was a bit sketchy about the kids doing the lion dance so we modified it a bit and they all had turns being in the lion head.

We gave them all prerigged chopsticks and they ate oranges and opened fortune cookies.
All in all it was a success. Jiej and I were pretty tired when all was said and done.
Jiej was the master, she got all of those kids, cut glued stapled and organized. I was so proud.

Chinese New Year Ann Hua Style

Mimi has made it very clear that she hates Chinese School.
We go to school every Sunday, the class is from 3:00 until 5:00, which means she is gone from 2:00 until6:00 on Sundays.

She hates it, the homework, the class, the whole idea of the school infuriates her.
My goal, is for us to see other people that are Chinese. For us to learn the beauty of the lanquage and the culture.

This weekend was Chinese New Year Spring Festival Gala.
We were to sing a small song and tell the story of the Chinese zodiac.
Mimi was less than enthusiastic.
Mimi prevailed and found a new pride that I think will get me through this school year.
Mimi found her Chinese place.

Spring is here

The day is getting a bit longer. Mom and I can hear the spring birds and Mimi and I have seen sprouts.
Mimi and Terry plant bulbs every year and these poor little guys are trying to survive.
We have been watching these little sprouts for weeks and through all of this snow they still rear their heads.
Mimi knows she is about to be six, at the best time of the year... Spring.
(She wants a loose tooth).

We shopped at Costco today, Mimi got a Tiana bathing suit with cover up.
We visited the flowers with the bathing suit, Jie Jie's black boots and the Little Red cape... Spring is here.

Loch Mimi

With all of the great snow we have had , Mimi and Terry spent some major time building different mythological characters.

Terry took it upon himself to recreate the T Rex or Loch Sipesy. Mimi went for the old school traditional snowman, only with an afro... that pictures don't capture.

The U.S.A. was playing Canada in Hockey, so Terry and Mimi came in for the overtime.

Sometime late in the night, someone chopped the head off of Loch Sipesy and displaced the nose of Mimi's snowman to his lower region.
What the heck?