High School Fun

Last week was the 'last' Spirit Week for Emily as a Senior at WHS. Every morning the Seniors gather (as early as 4:30am) to rally themselves to be the most spirited class in the school.
Monday: Army
Tuesday: Hippy
Wednesday: Nerd
Thursday: Celebrity
Friday: Unity (School colors)

Emily went all out this year! Going out with a bang!

Backpack Emily joined by Alex Map and Dora Julian

Emily even participated and danced in the Senior Skit! 

Hannah went to her first high school dance.. a Sadie's Dance... a prize given to the best themed costumes.

The Three Good Fairies

Mary & Burt; Tourists; Insurance Guy; Baseball Fanatics and the Three Fairies

Some of Hannah's freshman classmates

I wasn't very involved in high school until my Senior year, being the true introvert as I am. Emily is taking my lead but Hannah has a head start!  Both had a great time at their respective schools.

Last First Day of School

Today is Emily's LAST First Day of School.. (and I forgot to even post last year's first day of school oh well..) It's her Senior Year and she's driving herself. No more chauffeuring her but I still have one that I need to drive..

Emily's Buick Verona and even has a reserved parking space at school! Life as a Senior has perks!

Hannah started her Freshman year at FCS (yes, a different high school than her big sister!) 2-1/2 weeks ago and even as a 0 period.. start time 7:00am! Yikes!

Hannah's Freshman Year.. Emily as a Freshman also.

No worries.. she'll be eligible to practice diving next summer! YIKES again!

Hannah's Promotion

FCS doesn't have an 8th grade graduation because they have a high school. Instead they have an 8th grade promotion ceremony.

It was a beautiful ceremony honoring and celebrating the students' achievements.

It has been an incredible two years at FCS. She adjusted quite well to her new school and made some great friendships.

Dr. Tricia Meyer handing Hannah her promotion certificate.

We had many come to witness this momentous occasion for Hannah.

We made some great big heads to make sure she can find us in the audience!

The Sams (Uncle Kenny, Auntie Matthea and cousins Marissa and Timothy)

Goong Goong and Popo

Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh

The Okazaki Family (Auntie Calina, Uncle Ken and cousins Daniel, Joshua and Zachy)

Auntie Hilda and Uncle Park

The Ngs (Auntie Carolyn, Priscilla and Cory)

Danika Park

Mr. Michael and Rachel Yee

I sent a special invitation to Hannah's former teachers from KHA because they played an important part of her academic life. These four teachers also taught Hannah's KHA classmates who came with her to FCS.
From KHA: Mrs. Elaine Choy (Kindergarten & 1st Grade); Mrs. Allender (2nd grade); Mrs. Hinton (4th Grade & 5th Grade); Mrs. Hansen (6th Grade)

Jadon, Mrs. Hinton, Isaac, Mrs. Allender, Mrs. Hansen, Michelle and Mrs. Choy

Hannah thrived at FCS so instead of joining her sister at WHS for high school, she wanted to stay at FCS to continue her high school education. So we will have 2 kids at two different high schools.

Hannah also received the President's Education Gold Award - maintain an average 3.5 GPA or higher and score in the 85 percentile or greater in English or math on a nationally recognized test

Fourteen

Happy 14th Birthday to my Babie! 

Truth be told I was very happy with one child and did not plan on another. My mom said raising kids are hard so one can be enough. But one day I was watching Emily play in the family room and she looked lonely playing by herself. I couldn’t not give her a playmate so Hannah was born. A much smoother pregnancy and delivery with my awesome midwife-to-be (at the time she was training) Rhoda Smith. Hannah is nothing like her big sis so it was a new experience for us in raising her! She is extremely expressive,playful, fun loving, and accident prone. We knew she would be the one we would be taking to the doctors/hospital vs her very cautious non risk taking sister. I am so thankful God blessed us with this precious young soul in our family!  #godisgoodallthetime #beingamotherisablessing #mybabyisateenager

To celebrate her birthday she wanted to go to the 'happiest place on earth'... and it was the crowdest! (At least that's how it felt.. not sure of how Disneyland was since we only went to California Adventure). So thankful Marissa could join in her celebration even though she was so tired from rehearsing for the Nutcracker all weekend!
 

Thank you Auntie Lisa and Marissa for the cool Disney shirt!

Hannah with Michelle and Brinly (minus Trinity who met up with them later)

And on her actual birthday today, we took some of her school friends to lunch and shopping. Thankfully the Black Friday crowds diminished significantly and it was not as crowded as we expected it to be.

Warriors Live

It's been quite a while since I've posted on this blog. I've been enjoying posting on Instagram.. short or long posts with pictures about once a day. It's much easier that writing on the blog but I know that I need to keep this blog going for my girls so I will try to post the more significant posts from Instagram to here.

A memorable father-daughter outing for Hannah was to watch a live Warriors game. I am thankful that my baby has an interest that connects her with her daddy. Personally, I am not a sports fan nor at all interested in any sports activity but my girls are much more open in exploring the physical arena. They take after their father!
She was so excited since she is a HUGE Warriors fan!

She watches the games with her Daddy on TV and knows all the players.

They went to see Warriors vs Milwaukee Bucks and they won!

Surprisingly, they even saw one of Matthew's high school friends participate on one of the court half-time games! Go Huy!

Spirit

I rarely showcased my 'spirit' in high school not because I didn't want to but because I wasn't very creative nor I had the 'resources' to get what I needed.

Emily's sophomore year Spirit Week was this past week and of course we planned the Sunday before it started since she wasn't sure if she wanted to participate. So thankful for friends and neighbors who have children that are in high school to borrow clothing from. Borrowing is so much better than buying!!

Can you guess the themes below?

Clockwise from Top: Western, Animal, Fashion Disaster, Pirate

Hannah hasn't had any Spirit Days at her private school yet but for Halloween she's been planning this costume for months!

She is "Oona" from one of her favorite TV shows, Odd Squad on PBS. Apparently she is an Odd Squad scientist.

I had to order the lab coat from a medical supply website, purchase the uniform pants from Old Navy and suspenders from a Halloween store while Emily created her bowtie and belt from green fabric. Hannah made her badge, buckle and gadget (not seen) herself.

Oona with her cousin, Officer Sam

She had great fun in putting together this costume. She's already thinking about next year... sigh...

First Day of School x 2

FINALLY! School has started! Well actually school has just started for one of my girls. The other one started two weeks ago.

Hannah started at a new school. We didn't want to leave KHA but knew that God was in control. Long story-short, KHA temporarily suspended their middle school due to low enrollment so we moved her to FCS this year. Their school year starts mid-August so Hannah had to cut her summer short unfortunately. She literally had two months of summer vacation: June 15 - August 15.

She's smiling here but on the inside she was a wreck!

We were still able to go on an Ow Family trip to Seattle and Vancouver in June (a first since 2002 which was the last time all my siblings and parents traveled together) and our annual stay in Monterey at Matthew's boss' vacation home.

Hannah's summer consisted of:
- Making many DIY videos
- Vlogging our Monterey trip
- Working on summer homework: a pre-algebra review workbook assigned by me
- Reading 2 novels as summer reading homework assigned by FCS

After school on the first day of school was all smiles.

Hannah's transition to her new school even with three former KHA classmates, was tough the first week but as the weeks went by her anxiety lessened. We are thankful for the kind and understanding support of the FCS teachers and administration.

Emily started school today! A sophmore at WHS! She got an extra two weeks of sleeping in and staying in her pjs!

My sophomore is almost as tall as me.. just little under an inch.

Emily had a heavy load her first year in high school and did well so I let her relax for the summer. I thought she would have a boring summer but apparently she was quite busy..

Emily's summer consisted of:
- One week away at Hume Lake Christian Camp
- Five days of volunteering at Resonate Church's Turn It Up Summer Program; she was on the Food team and completed 23 hours of community service
- Completed the online driver's ed course and passed the written DMV test so now she has her learner's permit! YIKES!
- Bunny-sat for five days
- Created our Monterey vacation home video (Matthew says now he can retire)
- Read 37 books

Emily has all but one of her classes with Rachel (left) again!

The years go by so quickly.. ten years ago..

First Day of Kindergarten for Emily - 2006

Change is never easy. I don't like it. I don't look forward to it and I don't ever look for it. I don't get bored and antsy. Starting at a new school was hard for me as a parent who has been volunteering/working at the same school for the last 10 years. But life needs change or you get complacent. Change helps you grow and at 50 I think I'm ready to grow! LOL!

6th grade

Hannah ended her 6th grade with a bang! Her first year in middle school and first time participating in Spirit Week! She was so excited that she laid out all her outfits for the week a week in advance!

Each day is labeled.. I wonder where she gets that from!

Monday was PJ Day.

Apologize for our messy garage..

Tuesday was Character Day.. can you guess who she is?

She has a badge and holding a donut! .. It's Officer Benjamin Clawhauser from Zootopia

Wednesday was Sports Day.

Go Warriors.... next year!

Thursday was Fashion Disaster.

Apparently wearing glasses is not fashionable!

They ended with their Spring dance: Luau themed!

Oh to be young again!

The Last Mile

My last Jog-A-Thon was in March. We met our goal of $10K by raising $12,676 for classroom enhancements such as interactive magnetic white boards, in-class libraries, tech centers and charter buses for field trips.

Thank you to all of you who supported her!

Hannah raised $595 and ran 22 laps in 30 minutes. That's almost 3 miles!

My cohort Brad Monk, KHA's Athletic Director, oversaw the event by keeping the kids running the whole time!

It is bitter sweet to say good bye to KHA. The Middle School will be temporarily suspended starting  next year so Hannah will be going to a new school next year to finish out her junior high. She will start a new adventure in August. Stay tuned!

1 out of 5

Hannah's middle school went on a community service project back in January. They volunteered at the Alameda County Community Food Bank where they bagged oranges for 2 hours. They bagged 8,065 lbs of oranges which will provide about 6,700 meals to the local community.

Food bins that go out to businesses and organizations to be filled.

One out of five residents in Alameda County receive food from this organization. They serve over 116,000 people a month and depend on volunteers to distribute the food to the needy.

Hannah and her classmates bagging oranges.

For every $1 donated, the Food Bank can purchase $6 worth of food. They have that kind of buying power. Their goal is to rid hunger in the county and they do that through buying second hand or irregular produce and foods that the grocery stores don't want to purchase.

The bagging part of the warehouse.

They receive fresh produce daily so volunteers are needed daily to sort. The sorted foods goes out to organizations within 48 hours. Other foods that come in the donation bins also need to be sorted.

The warehouse is like a Costco but it never stays filled. It empties out within 2 weeks. That's how effective the Food Bank is.

The Food Bank has a huge freezer to accommodate all the fresh produce.

Outside organizations like churches, and community organizations come to the Food Bank to gather food to distribute to the needy. Most of the needy are not the homeless but regular families that live paycheck by paycheck; who need to pay their rent or electricity rather than purchase nutritious food for their families.

Our whole family went this time.

The ACCFB also provides food in mobile trucks that go to local schools to distribute food to needy families.

Emily and some of her youth group with Pastor Doug

In May, I took some of our church's high school students along with some people in my bible study along with Matthew's small group to do what we can to help our community.

Matthew with his friend, Gary

We bagged apples, corn, cabbage and carrots. The Food Bank strives to provide nutritious healthy food to their clients. The don't accept candy nor soda donations.

If you would like to donate, know that for every $1 you give, they can purchase $6 worth of food.
http://www.accfb.org/