Cracker's New Mom

Sydney decided that I was neglecting my teddy bear "Cracker" and that she'd do a better job parenting the small stuffed polar bear cub. She told me this morning on the way to daycare my numerous parenting deficiencies - e.g., I don't sleep with Cracker, I don't give him clothes, I don't tuck him in at night, I don't play with him, etc. So this evening I surrendered custody, but she asked with a concerned look on her face "What's his favorite food? Is he a lot of trouble?" To which I answered "Salmon" and "yes, he likes lots of kisses and cuddles." Syd nodded with a furrowed brow, evincing her understanding of the full weight of responsibility she'd undertaken. Happily, she came downstairs after an hour or so telling me that she had fed Cracker salmon, steak and asparagus and that he was tucked in and sleeping soundly.

Nguyen Family Talent Show

My lovely siblings came up to DC to invite me to a cookout... at my house. We had a fabulous time! As usual, we camped out in the basement and the silliness began. We had the first Nguyen Family Talent Show. All the kids were supposed to perform but the older ones were too cool (or too embarassed) to join in. Here are the photos from the show. We also had a Top Chef cookoff, but the camera crew and chefs were too busy eating to capture footage of that event.


Olivia is a top-notch hula hooper. She can even do it with her arms crossed!


Here's Sydney showing her one-of-a-kind talent of walking through a hoop.


Never-before-seen in the Olympics or the circus is Hao's gift for blob-throwing. He may win a scholarship. Look out for him in the next few years. He's going to be something else!


Our multi-talented Olivia is showing off her incredible juggling abilities. Bravo!




The awards ceremony.



Julia was incredibly attached to Bac An this weekend. She kept calling him Mommy! Unfortunately he charged us $20 each time she asked him to pick her up. We racked up quite a bill. Luckily, my brother is old and will probably forget to send us the bill.

Clandestine Operation: The Park

Eyes Only.

The girls were summoned to a secret re-con mission. They were to receive assistance from special agents Emma and Alexa. The team's mission was to find out what types of "flavors" of mulch ice cream the 5 year old boy who goes by the name "Bob" was selling. If they could catch him selling to toddlers they would immediately swoop in for the arrest. Here are photos of the team under cover... trying to blend in.

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. POSSE OUT.

My baby Sydney

Today is Monday, a school day. Sydney woke up and wandered over to me in Julia's room. She gave Julia a peck on the cheek and told me that Julia smelled nice. Then she went into the bathroom, pulled the step stool over to the sink, squeezed out some toothpaste and brushed her teeth by herself. I didn't even have to ask or nag! After she was done, she dressed herself and asked if she could go downstairs and get breakfast. She says, "Mommy, I can go down by myself. I can reach the bananas and I know how to peel it." I think to myself, "who is this child and what happened last night?"

It takes me another 5 minutes before I finish dressing Julia. When we came downstairs, we see that Sydney has turned on some breakfast music from her keyboard and she's quietly sitting at the table eating the banana. She tells me she couldn't reach the milk, and could I get her some? I drop everything and rush to get her some milk because at least she still needs me for that. She's growing up so fast and all I can do is watch.

Sunday Bike Ride

We had beautiful weather this weekend! After having a great time at Emma's birthday party, we decided to work off the calories from the cake by going on a bike ride with the girls. We buckled them in a bike trailer and they were giggling and babbling the entire ride from Vienna to Reston. At one point, we were going uphill and Hollis had to stand up to pedal through it. Sydney kept yelling, "Daddy, sit your butt down! Nobody wants to see your boodie!" A bigtime high-five to Hollis for hauling the extra 70 lbs on the trail.

About halfway through, Julia started crying. We think she was antsy from being buckled in for so long. We let the kids out and they spent about 10 minutes inspecting the bikes. Julia brought along her bike manual "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" in case we needed her to fix something. We ended the trip at a playground in Vienna. Fall is our favorite time of year.

Labor Day Cookout with EZ, CC and AP

Celebrating Labor Day with great friends was a perfect way to end the weekend. Elizabeth, Alison and Chris kept the girls entertained all evening. They slept so well that night! The wine certainly helped the evening along for the adults.




Oh my. Elizabeth and Alison are teaching Sydney some cheers from their days of "cheerleading." Hmmm... for some reason, Sydney didn't jump up and join right in.


Sydney is listening intently as coach is teaching her how to play the hot-cold game in order to find a missing object. She kept giving Chris the wrong clues. Either she didn't quite get the rules, or she's smarter than the rest of us.



Julia is playing her own game.




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Hershey

On Thursday around noon our daycare called to inform us that there was no electricity and the school would be closing. Hollis suggested that we should pack up the kids and drive up to Hershey, PA for a few days. After 2 1/2 hours of careful deliberation, weighing the pros and cons, and making a detailed packing list, we decided to throw caution to the wind and be spontaneous.

It was a fantastic time! Here are some pictures from our adventures on the Hershey Highway (Hollis' favorite term of the trip - classy).


All the lampposts on Chocolate Avenue were Hershey's Kisses!




Our family sat in a motoroized car that took us on a tour of the chocolate factory, complete with singing cows and free samples of chocolate at the end. We went twice. (And I'm not ashamed of that.)








In the next series of shots, the girls got to be a part of the chocolate factory line. They chose a bucket, put on hardhats, and spun the wheels on a machine real fast to make a TON of chocolate fall into their buckets.






In the above photo, I think Julia is assuming that I can't see her sneaking another chocolate kiss.




Then it was off to Hershey park for the amusement rides!



Both girls loved the kiddie version of the scrambler. It made me a bit nervous, but they asked to ride it three more times, so I guess they were OK.

The delicious aroma of pho!

Today Sydney woke up and asked to wear a freshly laundered sundress. While we were brushing her teeth this morning she says, "Mommy, can I smell my armpits?" I think to myself "weird," but say, "sure, why not?" So Sydney raises her right arm, takes a big whiff of her armpit and says, "Mmmm, smells like pho!" For those of you who don't know, pho is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup.

I should tell the deodorant companies about this new "fragrance."