tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62209732009-11-16T00:56:25.192-08:00Jenni, Tony & Maiya's Alternative Blog for Peace and Justice, Friends, Family & Community.Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.comBlogger514125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-40937736597852049702009-11-15T23:15:00.000-08:002009-11-16T00:56:25.212-08:00

This afternoon, Maiya & I went to a birthday party for Nobuko, Tarabu & Mike, to celebrate their combined 190th birthday party. But first, we went to the Farmer's Market to get some things for the potluck. I'm not usually very good with potlucks, often picking something up at the last minute, pitching in money, or asking Tony to make me something. But I think I have hit upon a great new recipe

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-46501501442006949082009-11-14T12:17:00.000-08:002009-11-14T12:50:55.249-08:00

For Kyle's 7th Birthday, we went to a rockclimbing place. It was Maiya's first time rockclimbing. I was amazed how agile some of the kids were... Maiya did pretty good for a first time. She didn't seem scared as much as it was strenuous climbing and going up bit by bit. She was pretty proud of herself.Learning the "ropes" or the rules of rockclimbingKyle, fast as a monkey, to the top!Maiya

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-3274690067779753262009-11-13T18:51:00.000-08:002009-11-14T17:21:00.031-08:00

Grace Lee Boggs, our dear friend and mentor from Detroit, came to LA in April 2009. At 94 years old, she spoke at a couple of events at USC, and we attended an evening with Grace for young Asian American activists set up by John Delloro. It was great to see her and spend a little time with Grace. I think it was her first trip to Los Angeles since Maiya was 1 years old.Playing elephant with

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-435472333218928262009-11-12T12:52:00.000-08:002009-11-14T12:55:45.383-08:00

Another bday party last weekend. Cute Rockett (4) & Zoe (3) blow out their bday candles. Fun to run around the house after eating Park's Finest. Maiya says that Rockett likes to kiss, but no kissing at school. NaBloPoMo#8

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-47128295440297473662009-11-07T23:45:00.000-08:002009-11-08T07:09:05.681-08:00

So this was me and Maiya's 2nd year doing the United Way HomeWalk, a 5K to raise money and awareness about homelessness in LA County. About 4,000 people participated in the walk, including Team LTSC. We got out of the house by 8:15 in the morning. It was pretty cold compared to last year, temperature maybe in the low 60s when we started.Larry, Julie & BillCarried Maiya for the first

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-62642905882382998812009-11-06T22:59:00.000-08:002009-11-06T23:33:40.226-08:00

NaBloPoMo#6: This morning in the car as I rushed to drop off Maiya before going out to Downey for a training, I was telling Maiya what gasa gasa meant (it means busy). She said I was a gasa mama. My "day off" yesterday was a gasa gasa kind of day. First, Maiya & I went to our local library to celebrate First 5 LA's National Family Literacy Month with our Angelina Preschool Family Literacy program

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-72628226630955415522009-11-05T23:45:00.000-08:002009-11-06T00:47:29.257-08:00

Ready for Trick-or-Treat with Mommy!Dinosaur on the prowl for some candyRan into Katie & Maddy a few blocks awayDinosaur's lootBe scary! Now give me a growl!Even a dinosaur has to eat some dinner before candyNaBloPoMo#5

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-6827837699452160502009-11-05T08:37:00.000-08:002009-11-05T17:19:27.770-08:00

NaBloPoMo#4: One of the big reasons we moved to this city was for the schools, so I am encouraged by the results of Tuesday's election. I am excited that the Measure to directly support the schools that I voted for passed with 75% of the vote, and the 3 School Board members I voted for were the top 3 vote-getters. I think it was an all white and male school board previously, and now there are

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-12995298311208346652009-11-03T04:46:00.000-08:002009-11-03T05:17:14.563-08:00

NaBloPoMo#3: Don't forget to vote! My first Culver City election (Tony still registered in LA I think). Learning about very local politics is pretty interesting. It wasn't hard to figure out the people I support. I thought I would miss LA more, but actually I don't. And here are some pix from Maiya's preschool Halloween. Again this year, of the girls' costumes, only 3 were non-princessy/girlish

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-59244284205997366662009-11-02T07:41:00.001-08:002009-11-02T07:46:11.225-08:00

How the heck did 45 come so quick? Man, it is hump year... halfway between 40 and 50! and there is NaBloPoMo#2!

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-12492534481211522232009-11-01T16:19:00.000-08:002009-11-06T00:49:18.930-08:00

NaBloPoMo#1: Well, maybe I "might" do NaBloPoMo09, but more likely I won't. I sure have plenty of photos to share. We took 116 photos this Halloween. So, I'll share a few of them here. If I post 4 photos a day, that would give me 30 entries over the next month.This is the first year I bought Halloween decorations. Actually I bought some last year after Halloween. And since it was our first

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-38636756813218777592009-10-28T01:17:00.000-07:002009-11-03T05:58:07.737-08:00

Regarding NaBloPoMo for 2009, I'm thinking NoBloPoMo.That's National Blog Posting Month, where you blog an entry every day in the month of November, I just don't think I can do it this year. Too much going on. I'm on FB, if you really need to hear from me. Or, here is a link so you can re-read NaBloPoMo 2007 or NaBloPoMo 2008.But, never too busy to share another Maiya photo. After almost 3

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-80379791515663213462009-10-17T15:00:00.000-07:002009-10-17T15:15:30.966-07:00

You've heard of Flat Stanley, right? Well, here's Paper Maiya. It is the backside of some paper that had been hanging in our old house with me & Maiya's outlines last year. A few months ago, we decided to draw Maiya's outline, then color it in together. I did the shirt with the "Save the Earth" shirt that Maiya was wearing and she did the rest.So far Paper Maiya has only been in our house and

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-68090131997756068372009-10-14T01:48:00.000-07:002009-10-14T01:58:04.700-07:00

Maiya in front of the "Aloha to the Neighborhood" MuralMaiya & I went to LA Vegan for lunch yesterday on my furlough day after running errands in our old hood. We parked in front of the old Aloha Market mural. When we drive by, she knows it's "daddy's mural," but she's never seen it up close. It was a community mural project "Aloha to the Neighborhood" that Tony, my partner Ayako & I

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-48939498203405422672009-10-08T00:13:00.000-07:002009-10-08T00:30:34.614-07:00

Goodbye $5 thrift store bike, Maiya has moved up to a newish bike Tony found on Craigslist this summer. Since she still primarily only wears skirts with very few exceptions, we use the you-don't-want-to-hurt-your-knee-excuses to get her to wear pants or legggings every once and awhile. Here she is with leg warmers instead of pants. New training wheels

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-87434600268040966932009-10-02T00:04:00.000-07:002009-10-02T00:38:53.548-07:00

I had blogged about the list of fun things to do at home last month when we were on vacation.Making Playdoh food and pretending to eat it. Check.Maiya's really into making things from construction paper. Tony & Maiya went to the library and brought home the coolest book by one of Maiya's two favorite authors, Leo Lionni, "Let's Make Rabbits." So we made rabbits out of construction paper and

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-46370871411316163762009-09-24T02:25:00.000-07:002009-09-24T02:34:49.468-07:00

This afternoon on our way to swim class, Maiya said, "Mama, remember Easter?" I actually didn't. But I remembered that I had some pictures from Easter that I just saw recently in our unblogged photo collection. Now that we have a new computer, I just downloaded over 2,000 photos from our little photo card, and have been categorizing them.Other fun things we're doing with Photo Booth on our new

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-60764011076214254012009-09-17T00:17:00.000-07:002009-09-17T01:20:04.998-07:00

Maiya loves origami. She has decorated her bedroom windows with paper cranes and ribbons. We've been doing a lot of origami at home lately, including 3 times during our recent stay-at-home vacation. Over the years, we have collected quite a few books and instructions on origami making. There are some complex ones with impossible photos, where you can create all kinds of animals with googly eyes

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-20419686237373078332009-09-16T23:57:00.000-07:002009-09-24T02:38:50.794-07:00

The top things on Maiya's vacation list of fun things to do at home was Playdoh, Green Playdoh and Clay. So, we made baker's clay (recipe in a previous blog post here). It was fun, we made a half batch and split it in half, making one pinkish and another blue green earth.Snow Cone with Mochi BitsAfter playing with the clay for almost 2 hours, we decided to make snow cones. I have a great hand

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-79395425651450219462009-09-14T23:45:00.000-07:002009-09-15T03:20:09.252-07:00

If I wasn't working full time and then some, I'd be an unschooling mama. Unschooling is like homeschooling, except that sometimes homeschooling implies duplicating a teacher or parent-led formal classroom, with curriculum, textbooks, workbooks, assignments, etc.The concept of unschooling--as I understand--is following your child's interests, and allowing them to play, create and learn about the

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-75664537302610479742009-09-10T23:59:00.000-07:002009-09-15T00:02:50.353-07:00

I wrote a blog entry Remembering Far East Cafe on the Little Tokyo Unblogged, sharing an old poem

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-75669478567887537442009-08-30T23:54:00.000-07:002009-08-31T14:36:01.094-07:00

We live within walking distance to a lot of different places, including this weekend's Fiesta La Ballona in Culver City, which has been going on since 1951, but we had never been to before. So, Maiya and I walked over in the heat, which according to FB friends was up to 114 around LA this weekend, but it was only in the mid-80s where we were, but still, the 20 minute walk there was hot and

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-2243716136525204632009-08-29T01:06:00.000-07:002009-08-31T01:11:28.091-07:00

Great LeapCollaboratoryThe Blue Marblea Green Piece

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-34463270664121997072009-08-27T23:00:00.000-07:002009-08-28T00:25:05.214-07:00

Got things to do, people to see.

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220973.post-64075681564429923442009-08-26T14:42:00.000-07:002009-08-27T17:24:31.437-07:00

We hosted brunch for Auntie Keiko's 71st bday a few weeks ago with my family. It was our 2nd breakfast in our house and our 2nd brunch for Keiko's bday.

Jennihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08975694936840620152noreply@blogger.com0