Aiden's 1st Day at School

My little Batman,


Today you started your first day in pre-k at a montessori school. You were so excited to start and told me you had lots of friends. We even went through what to say if your teacher asked you what your name is. "hi, my name is Aiden." 


You always had the desire to learn. You even wrote letters in the air to show me that you knew how to do it. You were ready to let go and be independent. But, guess what, Mommy is struggling. Struggling to see you grow up so quick. Last night, I spent about an hour in tears and walked into your room and just stared at you while you were sound asleep. 


I still remember the first day we met. And.....Look at you now. You're 3 1/2 years old. I hope you have a fun and exciting day at school in your new environment. Mama and Papa selected the Montessori program because we believe in the program. It's not about being competitive, but exploring, learning, and doing. It's about you, sweetheart. We're not looking for you to be at the top of your class. We're looking to see that you've tried your best while having a positive attitude! Please have fun with learning! It's a cool thing.


I drew a stick figure of our family at the bottom of your backpack and you thought I was funny. 


I miss you already. Remember, I love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I can't wait to hear your stories later. Mama, Papa, Em, and Baby Batman are so proud of you!


Love you! XOXO.


- Robin (Mama Dang)

Pool Day for Audrey's 1st Birthday

audrey had an amazing first birthday planned by her parents. our boys had a great time since they love any activities that includes water. for the first time, dilly walked out of the pool and tried jumping in. i don't know how he learned to hold his breath under water after his jump for a few seconds before he popped up. he's a natural. i must admit. i was standing from the sideline and almost had a panic attack. he had his life jacket on, but continues to do things with no fear. whereas, aiden is extremely careful. he takes precaution because he's afraid of the consequences. they're both so different, which makes them so unique.


it's awesome to see papa dang spend time with his sons, which i know he's pretty darn good at. he never ever complained once. there are so many activities that they do together. i know it will help mold them into becoming man we will be proud of. plus, the relationship they have with their family will help shape them. that's why i believe that it's important to spend quality time together as a family. you get one shot at it and if you mess up, you'll just have to work harder at reshaping it. i'll do it right from the beginning no matter how much energy it takes. i love our boys more than anything in this world. it's about acceptance and i can tell you, life gives us experience to learn and that's why it's truly worth living. i live for my boys and family.


love my boys. xoxo.

Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey | Anaheim, CA

three weeks ago, we scored really awesome seats for $12 bucks each (last minute) which gave us center bottom seatings. we were basically 10 rows up from the main stage. a deal we couldn't resist! it was a great show for any ages and the only caveat was that souvenirs were a tidbit pricey. it was a first time experience for both our boys at the circus. aiden loved it! and, i was pleasantly surprised that dilly sat through the entire show. i guess you can say that the elephants, horses, and tigers and other acts kept them entertained. overall, i was awed by some of the performances, too! we came back the following day to watch it again with my in-laws. it was double fun for our boys!


i didn't bring my heavy duty camera with me, but did manage to capture this picture on my phone of my boys with their new toy.


love my boys. xoxo.

Ridemakerz | Anaheim, CA

i was laying in bed on a saturday night going through my emails and noticed that groupon had a deal for $15 to receive $30 dollars worth at ridemakerz. i've always wanted to go to this store since we would pass it during our weekly disneyland adventure. so, i scrambled out of bed to purchase 2 groupons (one for each boy) and thought to myself, this is such a DEAL. c'mon, $30 dollars for 2 race cars was a steal! it was more of a deal to lure me into the store since it cost me more once we got there. it's ok - i had a fabulous time and here's why.


the store is great. they have a few eccentric employees! no joke. it also reminded me of "build a bear" except this place was made for boys. they are able to customize their own "ride" rather than a bear. it's what i consider boy heaven! aiden and dilly got to choose their own ride, motorize (selected their rims and wheels), mobilize (pit station to build their car), and customize w/ accessories (lights, decals, etc). the groupon basically covered "only" the body of the car. but, the entire experience made it worthwhile and brought tons of smiles to our boys face!


it was a great hands on experience that cost about $65 dollars a ride. if you have boys, i highly recommend taking them here. it's a little pricey but definitely worth it!


love my boys. xoxo.

Big Bear Lake Family Trip

we took a family trip to big bear lake in mid-july for some fun in the sun. it was a very low-key trip. the weather was great. our boys had a great time with their little cousins, uncles, and aunts. i'll blog about our trip tomorrow.

love my boys and peanut. xoxo.

Brotherly Love

Aiden has been a superb big brother to Dilly. I couldn’t ask for a better angel. He’s laying the foundation of what a big brother should be like.

The other day, Aiden wanted to eat his favorite jello. I decided to grab my Flip Video (which is quite handy) to record him eat and watch him interact with Dilly Willy. I record random things at random times. I know. I know. It must be a mom thing to document their kids live. It just cracks me when I see him mingling with Dilly. How do you explain to a three year old that little Dilly is too little to understand certain things – you can, but they’re living in their own perfect world with no worries – so, I just let it be.

Here’s the video – It’s about 5 minutes long and Aiden speaks to Dilly (which he refers to as “em” for “younger sibling”) in Vietnamese. It’s really cute – what can I say …

So, Aiden is bilingual in Vietnamese and English. He speaks Vietnamese better than English, but he’s getting there. We’ve started teaching him English a few months ago since he’s starting his pre-K Montessori school in two weeks. I know he will grow accustomed to the English language, but I didn’t want him to walk into school feeling left out. He’s an introvert and to prep him for school, I knew this was the right thing to do for him. He’s really excited, too. I’ll write a blog post about how I prep him since he was in my tummy to now for school. Why is my little man growing up so fast!

As for Dilly, he’s about 90% potty trained at 21 months. We knew he was ready when he kept taking off his diaper and roaming the house commando. I really thought he liked being naked like the rest of us. Just kidding. Actually, we all walk around our house in our undies every day. Haha! Again, I’ll save a post about potty training our little man.

I love my boys and peanut. XOXO.

Tuesday Randomness .....

i always say that i would come back to update, but ever since my morning sickness kicked in, i would escape to my bed whenever time permits. i have my energy back (hallelujah!) and now need to find the time to update like the good old times. so, it's august and 2 days from now a year ago, my life changed. it was probably one of the lowest moments ever that i never wish upon anyone. i'm a stronger person and feel more educated. it's a day i'll always remember and can recall vividly the challenges i had to embark in. some of you know. some of you don't. but all you need to know now is that i'm content. i couldn't ask for anything better. you just have to live in the moment. i'm going to leave you with a quote by Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh that I've instilled in my boys -

"promise me you'll always remember, you're braver than you believe and stronger than you seen, and smarter than you think."

i want to be the best mom and friend you can ask for. love my boys. xoxo.