Wants vs Needs and Making the Best of Everything

Been busy since my last post, and it's clear I am again falling prey to my tendency to take forever to post because I am trying to catch everythign up at once.

Here are some pictures and notes of everything we have been up to:

Last Saturday, Lola went to try a mindful kung fu class.  It was fun but the boys in the class were so immature and, in her words, "there was no board breaking."  Touche my dear.

We tried out a Mandarin tutor on Saturday morning for Lola (to work on her Chinese homework) and the boys (to read Chinese books with them) but that isn't going to work out. The lady was nice but I got the distinct sense that she didn't want to work with us.  Maybe I stressed her out with my action packed Saturday?  Anyway.

While Lola attended the mermaid event at Waterworld with Siti I stayed with the boys for their Mandarin session and enjoyed lunch with them as well.

Siti and Lola told me later it was sooo hard to get a spot and had to get there promptly at 10 AM.  No matter, it seems she still had a great time and Siti told me Lola really, really didn't want to leave. She loved jumping into the water.  Girl went from hating water to loving being submerged.

But leave Lola had to and did because we went to a great birthday party at the AMC with a really amazing magician who pulled a live rabbit out of a box, multiple red balls out of thin air, and most impressively, a real ring out of a fresh whole kiwi.  Lola was so brave and volunteered to be the assistant.  She took it very seriously and was a pro. So calm and serious but also excited!

After that Lola was more than ready to go home and relax and play on her own and read some books.

 I then went with the boys to Baumhaus for a makeup music lesson where I got to spend some time with them playing dancing and singing, and then playing in the playroom afterward.  It was so nice to be able to hang out with them and focus on them, which I so rarely get to do.

On Sunday Lola went to her morning art class.  

After dropping her off I took the boys to the beach first, where we met up with our friends who also have an older daughter and twin boys, also about two years apart.  It's always hard to go from one kid to two but going from one to three...  we are in a special world (combat zone) of our own.  

As you may be able to tell, I am trying to find pockets of time where I can focus on the boys more directly without their sister around.  As Al and Teo get older I am painfully aware of how much less time I have had with them, made even more so by the fact that they are twins. I also really want to make sure I spend quality one on one time with Al and Teo, separately.  I am very cognizant of the fact that they each deserve my full attention.  It is so hard.

While at the beach we met *another* set of twin boys, whoa!  The couple had three kids, but their combo was older twins followed by a third kid... all boys. 

I succeeded in bringing Teo into the water with me, and then Al also, without loud or insistent crying, which I counted as a huge win. We also spent some time building sand castles and playing. Lola then arrived and also came swimming.  The water was very clear and clean that day.

Water is extremely hard because I am only really able to play with each kid one at a time to be safe, although if I have Lola and Teo both with floaties on and if the ocean isn't rough, I can now manage them both simultaneously. 

The kids (all six of them!) then headed into Maggie and Rose for lunch, following which the boys headed home for naps, Lola and I headed home after we did more playing, and we all agreed it was very enjoyable.

Later that afternoon, we headed to Sun Yat Sen where the kids had a playdate with some really good friends to bike, scooter, picnic and play together.  It started raining just as we headed out.  Our friends were acting like they would melt if they got rained upon, but we managed to convince them that it would be fine. I got completely soaked walking in the rain with Al (I was finally able to give him some one on one attention) but it was so refreshing to see the unrestrained joy on all of the kids' faces as they ran through the rain and grass and jumped in puddles in bare feet. 

Children, amirite?  It was a great reminder that what we think we need in this life are often only what we want, and that those who "want the best of everything" will always struggle to be as content in their live as those who are able to "make the best of everything."