When she was in NY earlier this month, K-bao got to see her ol' buddy MJ and her family. MJ and her younger sister AJ were born within weeks of K-bao and C-bao, respectively, so despite living across coasts the two sets of siblings have always hit it off in the few times they've been able to get together.
Below K-bao ropes her friend into a game of Down By the Banks of the Hanky Panky while having dinner at a tasty BBQ restaurant in K-town.
On Sunday, MJ's family was gracious enough to invite us over to worship with them at their local church in New Jersey, and then had us over to their house for a fabulous Sunday brunch.
"I always make mischief when my belly is full of good food"
A few weeks back K-bao had her friends DL, NL and EL(whom she has been buddies with since birth) over to her place.
Of course, chaos quickly ensued as the kids jumped over the furniture, cut construction paper into millions of tiny pieces, and traded Halloween candy.
Group hug!
Group fobby pose!
The great Candy Expo
K-bao and C-bao are lucky to have fellow Christian brothers and sisters to grow up with, even if due to a little bit of distance they see each other far less regularly than we all would like them to.
Over Christmas K-bao visited K-Great-Grandmum and other family in southern California. One evening K-bao even had the opportunity to bring in some fruit to K-Great-Grandmum and offer her a few pieces. K-Pop was on hand to snap a few priceless pics.
K-bao has been playing piano now for a few months, and had her first recital recently. The K-folks hope that learning the instrument and going through the process of practicing and progressing will not only teach the little one some musicality, but also the value of discipline and hard work.
Admittedly, neither K-Pop nor K-Mum were shining examples of these virtues in their own checkered histories of learning the piano, but perhaps things will turn around with this younger generation.
Here she is lining up with the other fellow piano players ahead of the performance.
Aunt Chris and Uncle Calvin were kind enough to attend, along with the rest of the family.
Here she is with a friend from school who also happens to be taking lessons with the same teacher.
Below is the clip of her full recital - all 55 seconds of it. K-bao played two songs, Are You Sleeping? and Yankee Doodle, which she practiced assiduously in the couple of weeks leading up to the performance. And aside from making some funny faces after each song, she did quite well.
Post recital group picture with her certificate of accomplishment!
A few weeks back, K-bao's school held their annual Winterfest, a school tradition that brings parents, students and friends of the school together to celebrate the community. Events include pet rescue information sessions such as Wags & Whiskers, book fairs where parents can purchase various books for classrooms and teachers, and of course the famous Gingerbread Workshop.
In the Gingerbread Workshop, children decorate their own candied houses using the provided fresh gingerbread base, frosting, jelly beans, chocolate, twizzlers and other assorted sweets.
"Notice the three jelly beans I have in my mouth"
Sister C-bao somehow snuck her way into the workshop and convinced K-Pop and K-Mum to let her decorate her own house, which of course was a real triumph for the the little one.
Comparing the sugar volume of the various houses
Inevitably each year, just about as much candy is consumed as is used in decorating, and participants typically leave the workshop in a haze of sugary sweetness.
The big question for the K-folks, of course, is what in the world we are going to do with our 2 sugary gingerbread houses!
