Mommy and Papi were taking us out for a surprise, so I thought that we were going to the Forum again because the last time we went to the Forum was to watch Marvel Universe Live. For that surprise, my mommy told my sisters and I to wear Spider-Man clothes. This time she did the same thing, but told us to wear Hello Kitty clothes.

I thought we were going to watch a Hello Kitty live show, but it was a party with lots of little shows. The party took place where the people were performing the Marvel Universe Live show. There were fashion mannequins, and the outfits they were wearing were cute!

The show said, “ALWAYS PARTY!” The music was really loud and Hello Kitty’s clothes were cute! It was fun watching the show with the live Sanrio characters.

My sisters and I wrote letters for Hello Kitty and I wonder if Hello Kitty got the letter. We got a Hello Kitty pin for writing the letters. My family and I went to Badtz-Maru’s Mortorcycle Garage and next to the garage was Badtz-Maru’s tattoo place! My family and I got tattoos. My Papi got a tattoo of all the characters, my mommy got a My Melody tattoo that said, “Lovely as a rose,” and True got a Twin Stars tattoo. I got a Chococat tattoo, Soul got a Hello Kitty tattoo, and Glow got the same tattoo as mommy.

When my sisters and I took a picture with Keroppi, I was pretending to be upside down like Keroppi! I liked taking pictures there because there were lots of fun scenes.

When we left, people gave us treats! When we got home, we looked at our treats. We got a Hello Kitty poster, bag, badge, and flashlight keychain. True and I got a program guide, some coloring pages, and origami paper, and other things. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!

***After the show, Brave asked if she could write a report like her Marvel Universe Live one, so I happily obliged. She wrote all of the above, and I just corrected a few grammatical errors here and there.***

This post is in partnership with Sanrio. Hello Kitty’s Supercute Friendship Festival takes place at The Forum from June 12-14 (get tickets here). Check here for other tour dates to see if the show may be coming to a city near you. I’m always so thankful opportunities such as this (my girls are especially thankful for the perks), and also for the time you take to support me and this space.

I’m super late in sharing these images taken of some of our favorite fruits in Singapore. That trip jumpstarted something in Ben, it made him obsessed with rare and exotic fruits. His obsession has only gotten worse since he’s part of the California Rare Fruit Grower’s Association, and a viewing of The Fruit Hunters just continued to magnify his craze. Since our visit to Singapore last June, he’s been researching and filling our yard with some of the fruits we first tried in there. We can’t grow all the ones we loved because of our climate (to include a lack of humidity needed for some), but for the ones we can grow, he’s working on it!

Visiting the wet market was probably his favorite thing to do there. When I was teaching workshops, he loved walking around the markets. He would come back with bags full of fruit for us to try. Now that I think about it, when we honeymooned in Fiji, he loved walking around the markets there too!

Top photo (clockwise, from top left): Wax Jambu (we’re growing it!), but not growing the rest (Rambutan, Lychee, and Mangosteen – oh, but how we WISH we could grow Mangosteen!)

Next four photos: (1) Passionfruit (on left – we’re growing it!); Custard Apple (on right); (2 & 3) Dragon Fruit (not growing it, but it’s very drought resistant); (4) clockwise, from top – Passionfruit, Dragon Fruit, and Custard Apple

One afternoon, True and Brave were happily playing under the Citrus Trellis, when along came a large, ferocious Velociraptor! They saw the creature and ran off to find a place to hide in their garden.

They tried to find refuge in the Kalette Jungle, but the Velociraptor followed them and was lurking nearby. Suddenly, they heard the squawking of a Dimorphodon overhead, and not too far away was the loud growling of a Indominus Rex. True and Brave were deathly afraid because it seemed their once peaceful garden was now overrun by angry dinosaurs.

Out of nowhere, a group of dinosaur hunters drove right into the garden and called out to True and Brave to jump into their vehicle. Panicked, and with no other options, they did as they were told, and the hunters drove away as fast as they could into the Forest of Herbs. Unfortunately, Indominus Rex had caught up to them and was charging at them through all the mint, parsley, and basil.

As they were trying to get away, they saw a Pachycephalosaurus hiding near the lemon thyme, and Stegoceratops heading towards the swiss chard. They were completely surrounded, so the only way to get away was to separate and try to find a safe haven on foot.

True and Brave, remembered the hidden cave near the Kalette Jungle, so they headed back in that direction. They found a safe spot to breathe for a moment, so Brave started concocting a plan to get the dinosaurs out.

It was just then that they heard loud chewing, and they were afraid that one of the dinosaur hunters just became dino lunch. They cautiously peeked out and saw the Velociraptor was happily munching on the swiss chard. It was then when they noticed that the rest of the dinosaurs were busily chewing on various herbs, fruits, and vegetables that was in their garden. It turns out, the dinosaurs weren’t after them, they weren’t I-wanna-eat-you-angry, they were just hangry dinosaurs! Things can get confusing sometimes when one gets the hangries, and True and Brave totally understood that. Slowly, they approached Velociraptor and Indominus Rex, and gave them both high-fives as a sign of friendliness. The two dinosaurs returned the gesture.

Since all the dinosaurs just wanted fruits and vegetables, True and Brave happily gave them a tour of the garden and directed them to what was ripe and ready to eat! With all the peace restored back to the garden, the dinosaur hunters took notes of what the dinos liked, bid True and Brave farewell, and headed back to their headquarters. With a sigh of relief, True and Brave were very happy to not be lunch for the day, and have new friends instead!

The end.

This post is brought to you by Target. Target teamed up with Jurassic World to bring dino drama to life with the new Jurassic World MovieMaker App. We have given it a whirl, and the girls have fun inserting moving dinosaurs into a picture of themselves; it looks pretty realistic. I hope you enjoyed our silly story, and thank you for your continues support of this space and the brands we partner with.

Dinner time is probably my favorite part of the day. I love when the whole family is sitting together just chatting about went on earlier in the day, the girls are making jokes, and a lot of good conversations happen at the table. Of course, there’s plenty of tattle-tailing going on too… the girls are usually telling Ben about who did this or that to them, or if I was a crazy or grace-filled mommy during the day (usually, it’s crazy). With that, the dinner table is also a place of forgiveness. There are a lot of “I’m sorry, do you forgive me?” asked, and a lot of, “Yes, I forgive you.” in response back. After dinner, not only are our tummies satisfied, usually our hearts leave the table in a better place too.

The Hello Kitty Bow

Supplies:
15″ x 6″ piece of red fabric
Poly-fil
Hand-sewing needle
Coordinating thread
Scissors
Sewing machine
Thin headband

Seam allowance: 1/4″

Directions:
1. Cut out two rectangular shaped pieces of fabric (about 6 1/4″ x 3 3/4″ each) with rounded corners. With the right sides together, sew around the edges, leaving a 2″ opening for turning. Clip the curves and turn right side out.

2. Stuff with poly-fil to the desired thickness and slip stitch the opening closed.

3. Cut out a thin 5″ strip of red fabric, tightly wrap it around the center of the bow, then knot. Snip any excess fabric. Cut out two circles from the red fabric (about 2 1/4″ diameter). With the two right sides of the circles together, sew around the edges, leaving a small opening for turning. Clip the curves and turn right side out. Stuff with poly-fil to desired thickness, then slip stitch the opening closed.

4. Hand sew the round piece onto the center of the bow. Insert a thin headband into where the fabric strip is wrapped in center, and place the bow off center towards the right.

We are heading to the Hello Kitty’s Supercute Friendship Festival at The Forum this week. The girls are thrilled to get decked out in their Hello Kitty bows and their Misha Lulu Hello Kitty dresses. If this was around when I was a kid, my parents would have been in big trouble because I loved Sanrio! I made them spend way too much money there. I remember those stamp cards you would get for every dollar spent, and I had like 10 cards full! It’s pretty insane. We cashed out for some big prizes, and one of my favorites was a giant Sanrio tin pail with all the characters. In fact, I still have that giant pail today and my girls use it to house all their dress up clothes.

I know the girls will flip out over the live Hello Kitty stage shows, interactive exhibits, animation, fashion spots, and craft stations. I remember seeing pictures from last year’s event and how whimsical it all looked. I am thankful that this year we have an opportunity to experience that whimsy ourselves!

This post is in partnership with Sanrio. Tickets to the festival may be purchased here. I’m thankful for this opportunity (my girls are especially excited!), and also for the time you take to support me and this space.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I got rid of my blonde ombre, and since my sister wanted to ease me back into the dark-haired club, she did an ashy-brown. Soul said, “Mommy, you don’t look like you anymore. I like the yellow hair.”

Strawberry Caprese with Pistachio Pesto looks like the perfect thing to snack on once that summer heat sets in.

I think this space is gorgeous!

I love the embroidery on this dress.

This 1930’s toddler dress is absolutely sweet.

We have some summer plans, but nothing major going on unlike last summer when we went to Singapore and Williamsburg. We have lots of garden things we are working on, so that’s where we are putting our pennies towards right now.

Thankful for how God uses my daughters to teach me grace and the gospel. Grace and gospel is the most important thing I can ever teach them, but it seems that the teaching and learning is a two way street between children and parents.

I have lots of things on my current prayer list, and there are some things God has said no to, but there are other things that are being answered. It’s always in His time, isn’t it?!