Ryu Turns 4 (Star Wars Theme) PT 1

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I want to thank our family and friends who greeted Ryu a Happy Birthday. I want to thank all our friends and family who was a part of Ryu's 4th birthday. On July 28th Ryu turned 4!! The evening before was so hectic because I was getting our place ready for the birthday party. There was a lot to do, but well worth it! We had prepared for a "Lego Themed/Star Wars" birthday. It was tons of fun and I am so glad that our friends and family were able to join us.

Unfortunately, my mom had work that day, but she managed to stop by in the morning. My grandparents also had prior engagements but they dropped off a bunch of balloons and food! Ryu was so thrilled with his balloons. He was very happy and excited to see them in his room. For the whole month he had been asking us every day if it was his birthday yet. I wanted our place to be fixed up before Ryu's birthday, but due to funds we are still in the process of putting our place together. I'm sure with time and patience our home will come together, but I'm glad that it was at least clean enough for our guests!

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We decided that it was going to be a pool party since it was so hot outside. It was perfect to have everyone enjoy the pool and have a bunch of food to go along with it. Sean and I (mainly Sean) were in the kitchen cooking up a storm (I did the night before) to get ready for the festivity. For some reason I misunderstood some of my guests and thought that they were going to be able to make it. We made so much food that we had leftovers for a good while. My grandmother even made two huge trays of spaghetti for the children. 

We are fortunate because we live at the downstairs end unit of the complex. The pool is right in front of our place and you can view the pool from our patio. There is also an area to BBQ and eat. It was so convenient for us since we did not have to walk for nor did it take us a long time to clean up. I loved the fact that the eating area was also not far from the pool. Food was accessible without any issues, well aside from the bees and flies. We left the food covered because the flies were a pain.

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I used mason jars for the candy, but quickly ran out to cover the top. The lollipop handles were too short so you could see them, but I don't think anyone cared much for it. The kids had goodie bags and I had an assortment of candy in it too. We didn't have a pinata. I guess we just felt that we had nowhere to hang it safely and not get stung by anything and we didn't want to do it indoors. Hopefully we get the opportunity to do it next year.

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Here is a picture with Ryu and the ladies, ha! He was so excited that he had friends coming over to swim that he still talks about it to this very day. He always asks me if his friends can come over and swim with him.

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It was a small, but fun party. I am already thinking of his birthday party for next year and what kind of theme we want to go with. I want to be ready for his big 5th birthday! I love him so much and he deserves the best! Thank you again to all our family and friends for the love, birthday wishes, and gifts!

Battered Curry Cakes

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Curry happens to be my favorite meal to eat. I absolutely enjoy Korean and Japanese curry the most. We have bunch of spices that we use for Channa Masala at home (which is also delectable) and decided to add those flavors into my curry cakes.

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Learning How To Write

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Ryu has made incredible improvement with his speech since he started his IEP program. Though his program is on hold for now until September (which is when school starts for him again), he continues to improve greatly in his daycare. If you have followed an old blog of mine I had written multiple posts regarding our journey with Ryu's speech disability. We were told that he may be autistic in the beginning which could be the reason why he was not talking at the time. I then took the initiative to place him in the IEP program hoping that he would improve.

Ryu has been in the IEP for one whole school year and he will be starting the program in a month. I am extremely proud of my little one because he has come so far in a year. We are now in the process of teaching him how to write. I bought some workbooks and flashcards for us to review when Ryu is with me. We have been rewarding him with stickers after each session he completes. We told him that once he fills a whole calendar month with stickers that he would be rewarded with a toy of his choice.

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I really enjoy sitting down with Ryu and teaching him how to read and write. When I was Ryu's age my grandfather taught me how to read and write by the age of 3. Sure he is 4, but everyone develops differently. I give those stay-at-home parents who chooses to home school their children two thumbs up because it gets difficult, frustrating, and it requires extreme patience. However, knowing that you are helping your child in the process of learning is a very rewarding feeling.

Simple Egg Breakfast

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This is a quick and easy recipe I put together while I was in a hurry one morning. I wanted something yummy, but I didn't want to make anything too heavy. I'm not huge on breakfast, but when I do get hungry I want something that is not going to consume my time especially in the morning. I feel like I'm always a mommy on the go and the last thing I want to do is spend most of my morning making some type of gourmet breakfast.

You can also add any type of veggies or breakfast meat in this meal. I know that bacon is a big breakfast item and I'm sure that would be a great option to add to this recipe.

The beauty of this scramble is that it's easy and you can add anything you would like. You can even change the seasonings by adding rosemary and Thyme for an Italian flare, or you can go heavy on the cumin for a more smokey and rich Mexican flavor. This is the kind of recipe you can go crazy with. Just go easy on the salt ;)

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Ryu's Room Decor

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It's been a while since I've posted anything related to home decorating. I figure I'd share with you all the before and after pictures I have.

When we first moved in we still had Ryu's old crib and was using that as a bed for him. It was pretty much converted into a day bed. I was proud of the minimal decor I had in his room that I put up. We decided to place Sean's shelf (it was actually my idea) into Ryu's room so that he had storage for his toys and clothes. We did not have much moving in. We had a few things here and there, but we lived in a smaller apartment and when we moved into this place we had so much space that we did not really know what to do with it at first (or at least I didn't). I made sure that the first room that I would take care of was Ryu's. I just wanted him to feel at home and be comfortable in having his own room. I didn't have my room to myself until my sister moved out and joined the military.

 

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Since Ryu's birthday we have made a few changes. A few pieces of furniture from Sean's grandmothers home went to us and that gave us the opportunity to add more storage to Ryu's room. I am very thankful that we have these pieces because it has helped us a bit. We received a bed and a dresser and we didn't have to buy any of those items for his room. I was considering buying Ryu a toddler bed, but instead Ryu now has a full-size bed.

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For a while Ryu had a lot of open space to play around. He was completely fine with that since he made a lot of mess scattering his toys around (not fun when you have to clean it up). We slowly showed and explained to him that if you make a mess you have to clean it up. He's been pretty good about picking up after himself before bed time.

The bed and dresser came the day before his birthday and it was the only chance Sean got to get it over. We spent that evening getting his room together before he came home. We even added a TV (an older tv I bought from a friend) and DVD player on top of the dresser for him. It's not connected to cable so that he does not get used to watching TV all the time. We also get to monitor what he's watching by buying the movies or shows that he gets to watch.

The morning Ryu came home for his party he was surprised and happy about his room. I'm glad that he was alright with us taking away the space in his room for a bigger bed. There is still some area to play, but not as much as he had before.

 

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This is what Ryu's room looks like from his door way.  He still has a lot of walk room and I've noticed that since he got his bed he does not care to play much on the floor anymore. He prefers to be on his bed.

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I still plan on adding family pictures and posters on either his shelf or on his wall, but we are still in the process of decorating. Ryu has this fascination with maps and Sean grabbed his old Globe from his dad's place. I am trying to find a huge map to place over his headboard for him. I have browsed Pinterest for ideas on how to add personal touches here and there. I am most likely going to continuously take pictures if we do any other updates to his room. I had a lot of fun decorating his room to the best of my ability and with the resources that we had. I am happy with the outcome. In the beginning I was not a hundred percent with how it all came together, but with time and money it will get better.