Graduation

A major milestone - Lydia graduated from Preschool on Wednesday :). Going into the day, I don't think she had a clue what "graduation" meant. We kept trying to prep her, but being only four she still seemed pretty clueless. Regardless, she hammed it up quiet a bit. I wish I had a photo of this, but she strutted up the isle to her seat flashing what looked like a "peace" sign or a "V" for victory sign with her two fingers. All the parents were laughing and she had this big grin on her face. Turns out the "V" sign to her was - you guessed it - BUNNY EARS! She even flashed her "bunny ears" again when it came time to receive her certificate. Mrs. Cindy awarded her the "Mild Mannered Award". Mike was like, WHAT? How could Lydia be considered "mild mannered"? At home she certainly is NOT mild mannered, but she does come across as being so in the classroom. So, she sang the songs - sort of, got her certificate - while flashing the "bunny ears", and saved the best for last - cake! Oh, I have to add one more thing. In her school yearbook, put together by some of the parents, the children were all asked what they want to be when they grow up. Lydia's answer - "Big Bird". Yes, that in a nutshell is my dear sweet off-the-wall Lydia :).

Blueberries!

Our family loves three day weekends. With Mike working full-time at his secular job and being involved with ministry part-time and on the weekends, having an extra Monday for a family day together is a special treat. This Memorial Day we headed out to Underwood Family Farms to do some blueberry picking. The kids picked about 5 or 6 pounds of blueberries and had a great time feeding all the farm animals. Kari was especially taken by the goats and couldn't get enough of hand feeding them. The kids like fresh blueberries, but I still have to figure out what we're going to do with some of them - maybe blueberry jam? blueberry scones? blueberry pancakes?

BIG Surprise Bonus

Well, for those of you who are non-facebook users, I guess you haven't heard the news about the Surprise Bonus we received this month. Not the typical bonus you would expect in the form of a raise or a vacation. It's more like: give birth to two, adopt two, get one bonus baby for free :). Yep, the Chau Kids are now 5. Baby #5 is due to be born around December 30. If you're surprised, so are we. Ever since before we were married, the family plan was to give birth to two children and then to adopt two - Lord willing of course. After Kari arrived in September, we were thrilled. Our plans for our family were complete, or so we thought! Guess God has other plans for us. I'm still a little shocked, oh and very tired and a bit nauseous too. But learning to trust that God has what's best for our family - even beyond what I can see and understand.


I love this picture. My mom's face says it all. It's the moment we told her we were expecting again. She's saying "FIVE?" and my sister, she's saying "WHAT? WHAT?" in her typical Cheryl fashion. It's kind of how we all feel right now.

Shocked and yet Rejoicing.

Going Green

Well, it's official. The Chau Family is Going Green. :) At the urging of Micaiah, who has been learning about composting at school, we recently started a worm bin and a compost bin. The kids are mostly excited about the worm bin - eagerly saving their banana peels, egg shells, and other scraps for the worms. Did you know that half a pound of worms can devour 1/4 pound of food scraps in one day! Our family easily generates that much green waste, so were hoping our scraps can soon go to good use in our yard.

Heat Wave!

Well, Spring Break came and went w/o a blogspot post :). But I did have a delightful time w/ my three girls. Micaiah was traveling to AZ and NM with his beloved grandparents for the entire week. We missed him dearly and hoped he would blog (micaiahsblog.blogspot.com), but he and his "Gigi" and "Boppy" were much too busy for blogging! The house was VERY quiet w/o our dear son. The night he bounded back into the house talking non-stop we realized how quiet the house really had been.

So this week the weather decided to take a turn and skipped straight to summer. It was over 95 degrees for two days! Mimi decided it was time to wash the car and Kari was ready to help out. As a family, I think we are really ready for summer vacation.

Happy 40th Birthday Mike!

My dear husband (very fondly aka "Daddy") turned 40 this weekend. He was greatly encouraged by a surprise fishing trip with some of his closest friends and men from Pathway Bible Church - oh and Micaiah too. Then on Sunday we celebrated with a BBQ at the park. I constantly give thanks and praise to God for allowing me to have such a such a partner in life who loves God and his family so deeply.

Kari @ 18 months

We were able to enjoy Kari as an infant for about 1 month :). Ever since then she's been going full steam towards being a toddler (or an adult). I think it's the siblings. Whatever they eat, she wants to eat. Whatever they do, she wants to do. This week she turned 18 month and has been with us for 6 months. What a joy she is to us! On Tuesday morning, Lydia was supposed to be doing her chore - emptying the dishwasher. In typical Chau-kid fashion, she declared "I have to go to the bathroom". Ha. All my kids use that one. They conveniently need to go to the bathroom EVERYTIME there is a chore to do. Anyways, Kari decided Lydia was taking to long, so she took over. (This is a 1 minute video, if you want to have a look). I kind of wish she could stay a baby just a little longer, but that doesn't seem to be on her agenda.


The Final Result