Aidan runs away with Brooke’s purse.

Brooke: “No Caucau! Purses are for girls. Laptops are for boys!”

Aidan immediately drops the purse.

This is clearly a reflection of what they see at home…Dad’s always on his laptop and only Mommy has a purse. :)

Kids are so quick to pick up on things.

This morning, Brooke told me she does not want her toy laptop on the couch. I asked her why?

Brooke: “It freaks me out”

BACKSTORY: She has this toy hamster, the beloved Zhu Zhu Pet, that she likes to point at my toes and let loose. I was cooking and did not pay attention and it seriously feels like a real rodent was nibbling my toes! I scared “OMG! That freaked me out.”

And this morning, we get Brooke’s version. :)

Kids are amazing. They are truly sponges. Here they are working the routine from the flash mob Dad learned a couple weeks ago for a proposal for our friend JonJon. We caught them singing and doing this a couple of days ago during their play time. LOL. Love these guys.

Our good friends the Pearsons have always taken the most amazing holiday photos. Junie has been telling me for a while that I need to try their guy. In the past, we tried to take them ourselves and use family and friends who have taken photography classes and the results have been wonderful. But this year, the kids are older and I felt bad soliciting family and friends so I bit the bullet and booked Oliver.

Oliver is super affordable, super chill and SO good with kids. We shot the photos at Irvine Regional. I see Brooke’s face as Oliver approaches us and thinks, “Here we go.” I asked her, “Brooke, can you say hi to Mr. Oliver? He’s going to take pictures of us today.” Nothing. Just that Brooke stare. Then the magic happened. He said hello to her and did an impression of Donald Duck. Oh how quickly we changed! She smiled instantly to which Bao and I exclaimed, “That’s it?! That’s way too easy. It hasn’t even been a minute!”

The photoshoot was very relaxed. We were just hanging out while Oliver took pictures of us. After about an hour and a half, we were done. Mike and I left thinking, that wasn’t a lot of photos. We realized after he sent us the proofs that he’s just a very good and non-intrusive photographer because we had about 200 good shots! I am in love with our photos this year and will be using Oliver for as long as he’s willing to shoot my family.

One of Brooke’s favorite things are jump houses. Mid-summer, this type A mom decided to book their birthday party. (My justification – there are only so many Saturdays in a year, alright?!) So a good friend of mine recommended Partyopolis in Lake Forest, California…and this place ROCKED! We had around 23 kids and their parents show up. They let everybody jump here. The parents were having more fun than the kids! Haha.

Happy birthday to my perfect children…I could not be happier or more proud to be your mom. I can’t believe you’ve been in my life for 3 years already…and at the same time, I can’t remember how I felt any happiness before you both…

For their third birthday, we’ve promised since the CHOC Walk that we will take them to Disneyland. Tina, Bao, Linh, Mike and I all took the day off and all ended up getting passes (Linh & Bao already had them).

Brooke was so star-struck when she saw Mickey Mouse. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and I was so happy for her. She was hugging him, kissing him. We even got a picture of him dipping her with more kisses. Aidan, not so interested. He was not fooled by the costume. He knows there’s something fishy going on there. Haha.

The kids also rode their first roller coaster and were so brave. We thought for sure they would be freaked out. When the ride ended, both kids said, “MORE! More PLEASE!” So we did it again! Haha.

We watched the Aladdin show last and I was surprised by how engaged my children were. Aidan laughed and clapped along with the audience. When Aladdin and Jasmine kissed, he said “OoOOoo” with the crowd. He’s so funny.

We stayed until 8pm (to be honest, I was tired at 1pm). Brooke was so afraid to go home, she skipped her nap. Poor girl didn’t trust us enough to fall asleep in the stroller. She was worried if she closed her eyes, she’ll wake up in her bed at home. Hahaha.

So…when I found out I was having twins, one thought I had was, “One day, they will team up against me.” This thought was usually accompanied with an image of two teenagers – one drunk and the other picking them up from who knows where. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen now…when they’re almost 3 years old..

It happened last week. I made dinner for them. Part of their dinner was half a banana each. Aidan ate his banana first and asked for more. I wanted him to eat the main part of his dinner so I said, “No, Aidan, eat your food first. No more banana.” Then I watched as Brooke broke her half into two pieces, handed one to Aidan and said, “Here Caucau. I share with you, okay?” He says, “Thank you, Meimei!” followed by “You’re welcome” from Brooke. I just sat there. Dumbfounded. I can’t say “Don’t share with your brother!” That kind of love should be rewarded…but I just told Aidan he can’t have anymore banana…what is a mother to do now?

I just sat there. Defeated…proud, but defeated nevertheless.
SCORE: Toddler twins – 1 Mommy – 0

Down, down, down
The dark, dark street they came!
Quiet as mice
Stealthy as shadows

Up, up, up
The dark, dark house they climbed!
Stealthy as shadows
Quiet as mice

Only the moon was watching when they arrived
Only the moon was watching when they left
Only the moon…and one little boy.

Tom was a nice little boy.
Tom was a brave little boy.
Tom was a boy about to have an adventure!

Aidan and Brooke’s 3rd birthday is coming up. Invitations are already in the mail but last week when I asked them who they wanted to invite to their party, the conversation went like this:

Me: “Who do you want to come to your party?”
Aidan: “Hinry (Henry), Joshua, Kai”
Me: “How about you, Brooke, do you have friends you want to come?”
Brooke: “Um…mommy and daddy.”