Sage prays for the people of Syria every night in her personal prayers, and she has done so consistently and diligently every day since she heard about the Syrian conflict. I am amazed that she still remembers as the world is forgetting. I told her she is so kind to remember the people of Syria in her prayer, and she gave me a deep smile. And that smile on her delicate features in the dim night light made her looked just like an angel. So I said, "Why are you such an angel?" She took a second to think and responded: "'Cause you were such an angel when  you were little." I have to admit I was a little blown away by her answer.
I said: "Why are you so kind?" The reply: "Cause you were so kind when you were little." I asked, " Why are you so nice?" She smiled: "Cause you were so nice when you were little." Finally, "Why are you so sweet?" Came the reply: " Cause you were so sweet when you were little."

I gave her a big kiss, and told her: "You are my sunshine!" She loves that, her eyes always twinkle when I say that to her.

The other day, I had to pick her up early from school to go to an appointment. Sage loves it when I check her out early because it means more time for playing. But I could tell something was different this time as I watched her walking towards me from her classroom; her shoulders were slumped, and there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm. After we were sitting in the doctor's office, I asked her why she didn't seem happy. She told me with very sad looking eyes that she hadn't gotten a turn in the lion dance yet.

"Oh yeah! The Chinese New Year's party!!" I had forgotten she had a party that day, and immediately realized how much that meant to her. With Sage, everything is a party, and to actually have a party in the classroom would just make her world complete.
"Yes." She continued: "and we were taking turns to be in the lion's dance.. and it wasn't my turn yet. And I didn't get to color the Chinese character that means luck either, I am suppose to color it and cut it and hang it on the tree. I don't like getting checked out early anymore..."

I felt truly sad for her. I can see Sage enjoys all of that fun stuff. I wished I had switched the doctor's appt so she could participate in the lion's dance. I told her how sorry I was that she wasn't able to participate. Then I did what any mother would have done, wrapped her up in a big hug. We stayed like that for a while.

Then, this little girl who I call my sunshine leaned close to my face and said softly: "It's ok, mama, I love being with you so much more."

Well, that brought tears to my eyes. It's not every day in the life of a mother that you get to hear such sweet tender words...

Fast forward to yesterday. We ran some errands together. I had parked the car by median where a few pink cherry blossom trees were in full bloom. After the errand, we walked to our car and were about to get in, when Sage exclaimed, "Oh blossoms!!!... Let me enjoy them for a while." She skipped and hopped to the median, looked at the trees, fiddled with the flowers that had fallen to the grass, and picked some to give to me. She enjoyed the blossoms. And I enjoyed her.

And again this morning, Andrew tried to wake Sage up for school. And he ended up tickling her, and Sage LOVES being tickled. She asks to be tickled just for fun all the time. After she had sufficiently woken up, I suspect by the tickling, I heard Andrew's footstep leaving her room, and Sage sang after him: "Thanks for the tickles!!!"

How can anyone not love that girl. She totally lives in the moment. So random. So unpredictable. So Fun!

I hate pizzas, but I miss CS pizza in Rockville, MD.

This place was opened by two young men with a love for Napoletana pizza, and they concocted the most exquisite tomato sauce to compliment the dough. My favorite way to top the pizza is with Sopresatta and Brussels sprouts.

I watch as the waiter holds up the tray of pizza, looking for the owner. Watching him, hoping he is walking in my direction, I salivate. Then as the plate of pizza is placed on the table in front of me, I know if my heart could, it would smile. I am served with the perfect pizza with golden brown bubbles dotted around the crust; it's a truly beautiful sight. I sit very still to take in the beauty of the pizza, marveling at the vibrant green color of each petal of Brussels sprouts lying atop, and admiring the appearance of this absolutely perfect pie that I ordered--I smirk at my own genius.

I worry that this time my taste buds will find flaws with the pizza, but I fall in love with it again and again. It is predictably good. As the first bite of the pizza hits my mouth, I breath deeply in complete happiness, I can feel my shoulders relaxed and instead of wolfing it down, I discipline my mind to remember the taste, the depth and layers of flavor. It leaves me with no wants. I inhale; the fragrance from the sweet tomato sauce seeps in deeper, and the papillae on my tongue dance.


Here is how you find them:
1596 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852
(240)833-8090

I am writing this blog post because I see that I have not updated my blog for 4 months, and I feel if I don't write something, I never will again.

So hope this counts.

...PS: We've finally feeling settled in CA, the kids have stopped asking to move back to MD. Everyone seems to be happy here, except the kids are freaking out because in Maryland, you start taking a second language in 7th grade, and here, you don't until 9th grade. So Aspen who is in 7th grade this year cannot take a second language whereas her friends in MD will be taking either Spanish or French. Jade benefited from having taken Spanish in MD, so she is the only Freshman taking Sophomore-Junior-Senior Spanish.

However, Jade is also freaking out because her Spanish class here is "SO EASY" because she already knows most everything the kids here are learning. Both Aspen and Jade have been complaining about how easy every class is and that they are not learning anything new in school.  Andrew plans on applying for a program in MD next year, so the kids worry that if they move back, they will surely be academically behind. If we do move back to Maryland, there surely will be a problem with Aspen being a year beyond in her second language class. And Jade not learned enough in Spanish class here to catch up with her peers in Maryland.   I didn't know how much gap there could be in public education from state to state. We have been told Maryland schools are top notch, and now I am realizing how much my kids have learned while in Maryland.

On the other hand, I took Kirin out of traditional school, and enrolled him in a charter. He is in 4th grade, but is taking 6th grade Math and Reading, and they are still very easy for him. He takes 5th grade Science and Social. I still feel uneasy about having him advance two grade levels, but he seems to be much happier with the materials.

This house that we moved into has really nasty carpet. The landlord cleaned it before we moved in, two days after we move in, all the spots came back up. It's pretty gross looking. I miss the house we have in MD with the hardwood floor and stinking brand new carpet we put in for our tenant with a dog!! (Shaking my head)

I surely love living in California. The farmers markets are wonderful, everyone is so physically active, lots of bikers on the road. The sunshine makes me happy. I love living in the West Coast.

I took Jade to General Young Women's broadcast and left Andrew home fending for himself with the rest of the kids.

I served up a plate of sauteed snow peas, baby bella mushrooms, hot steamed rice, and some nice looking chicken with beautiful dark brown color on both sides.