Happy 2007!! We had a fun 2016 and this is a recap of the past 12 months.

January

• Super Bowl 50 took over SF even though it was held 50 miles away.
• Jesse traveled to Grenoble, France for work.
• I went back to work after a 7-month maternity leave.
• Unfortunately, it was also a month that started a string of illnesses in our house.
• Chinese New Year was spent at Yank Sing with the Bangs and Sokol-Juns again.
• January was also a sad month for us because we had to say goodbye to Jason, Jia, and twins. They were moving to Southern California.

February

• February continued with each of us taking turns getting sick. I missed a lot of work.
• We also took KK out for a special outing to see Frozen on Ice and then ice cream at Fenton’s.
• On Valentine’s Day, I had to prepare my first batch of classroom valentines. We opted for pencils and DumDums.

March

• March was a fun month. We were all well again and it snowed enough to take the kids to Tahoe for the first time.
• We also spent many weekends at the SF zoo, Oakland zoo, or aquarium.

April

• Of course, April was all about KK’s birthday. She turned 4 this year and had multiple celebrations.
• We took a flight down to Cerritos to have a celebration with Jes’ family at the beginning of the month.
• Jes traveled to Grenoble, France again for a week. My mom came up to help again. Thanks, Mom.
• Then the night before her birthday, we took her out to a Giants game. She had such a good time.
• On the day of her birthday, her teachers made a crown for her and we brought cupcakes to the class at the end o the day. We continued that celebration across the street with Happy Hour oysters for the birthday girl.
• Later that weekend, my family flew up and we threw a big party with her buddies in our Clubroom. It was an Octonauts party!

May

• In May, I had my own Mother’s Day celebration with Ranee and Ishya. We spent the morning/lunchtime boozin’, brunchin’, and getting our nails done. Good times.
• Teresa had her second baby, Hudson, and I was fortunate enough to meet him on his first day of life.
• Jesse traveled to Paris, France for a week and I was on my own. My mom was in Thailand this month for my cousin’s wedding.
• Huy was also in town this month and we met up for Dim Sum.
• May was also the start (and end) of cherry season and we took the kids out to Brentwood to pick their own fruit.
• This was also the month that we started the house hunt in Alameda. We bid on a house for the first time.

June

• In early June, we flew down to Cerritos to celebrate Toni and Thomas’ first birthday.
• Father’s Day was celebrated at Hillstone.
• We had some warm days and went over to Ranee and Jamie’s house to swim in their pool.
• The Beach Volleyball Tournament also came to SF so we got to watch all the action up close.

July

• July was Peanut’s month. We celebrated his 1st birthday in Cerritos. Unfortunately, he wanted nothing to do with his birthday cake – three different times!!
• It was also KK’s last month as an Alligator and had to say goodbye to her teachers Denise and Sharla.
• We had some more warm days and had Rowan and Isla come over for a day at our pool.
• This was also the month that the whole Pokemon Go craze began. We too got sucked in and spent lots of time walking the streets of SF looking for Pikachu.

August

• August was a big transition month. KK had to start not only a new class but a whole new school. Luckily she had a couple friends from her old class also starting at the same time, which helped her feel more at ease.
• Jesse traveled to Singapore and my mom came up to help for the week.
• We also went to quite a few baseball games. I went solo one day with Stephanie and Chris (from work) and then we all went as a family another day and met up with Ranee and family.
• This month was also a big transition for me as a mom. I stopped breastfeeding and pumping, threw away the parts, and gave away my pump. It was a bittersweet couple of days.

September

• We started September in Mexico. We took a long weekend trip to Los Cabos and stayed at the Sheraton Resort. It was deserted and we had a fun time swimming in a different pool each day.
• We celebrated Jes’ 41st birthday at Hillstone. It seems to be his go-to place for every celebration.
• The weather was nice enough for a hike so we went to Muir Woods one morning. It was perfect for Peanut to try out his new walking legs.
• I took the day off for my birthday and Jes took me to Chez Panisse for lunch. We then came home for pizza and ice cream with the kids. It was perfect.

October

• October started out with one more birthday celebration for me. I invited all the girls from work to Spark SF for s’mores and food truck eats.
• The kids got their first haircuts at Jes’ Supercuts across the street.
• We also traveled to Cerritos to celebrate Alice’s 3rd birthday. We all went to Mickey’s Halloween Party that weekend.

November

• November was when the weather started to get chillier.
• Once again, we went to Light-up Night but our numbers dwindled down to two families. The Osbornes were brave enough to come out to the city and we watched the fireworks together.
• For Thanksgiving, Jason and Jia drove up and we spent the long weekend together. Jes cooked turkey and all the usual fixings for the whole family. It was nice to have them around again.

December

• Once again, December was a fun and exciting month.
• We went to Hawaii at the beginning of the month and had a blast. The Tsaos were also there, which made it even more fun at the pool and beach.
• We also gave house hunting one last try and didn’t get the house we wanted. It’ll be back to the drawing board in the new year but we still have some time before Kindergarten starts.
• At the end of the month, we drove down to Cerritos and spent a week there with family.
• Christmas Eve was at Disneyland and Christmas was at Jason and Jia’s house.
• We also took the kids to Knott’s Berry Farm for the first time.
• New Year’s Eve was spent at home in our pajamas watching TV.

It was a fun but sometimes stressful year with the house-hunting, Jesse traveling more, and two growing kids. Peanut finally learned how to sleep through the night and KK has really settled into her Pre-K classroom. As a family, we continue to travel together, eat together, and often struggle together. But in the end, we are still our little family of four and ready to take on 2017.