jenbert

[jenbert]

Thoughts from 2024 [al]

Since the last post, we have moved from Sherwood and into our Foster City home. So much has changed since then. I had a hard time letting go of our Sherwood home, but Foster City has been great. Amazing weather, better schools, a more suburb feel, and the kids are happy. We do miss having a single family home with a yard, but the home has served us well.

The kids have grown a lot. We'll start with Elijah. Elijah is in 6th grade now, and he is basically a teenager. When we first moved, he kept in touch with his Ponderosa friends -- Brendan, Christian, Domenick, Justin. We signed him up for sports teams with those guys (bball with Justin, football with the others) so that he could maintain those friendships. After about a year, he doesn't contact them as much anymore, as he has made more friends here in Foster City. The kids first went to Audubon Elementary. Elijah had Mr. Doan as a teacher, who turned out to be really good for him. Mr. Doan was stern and didn't take any crap. Elijah, being a new student, seemed to want to be make himself known, so sometimes that came out as speaking out of turn to make a wisecrack. Mr. Doan was good about keeping E focused. Since then, Elijah has become somewhat of a popular guy at school...possibly from his athleticism, his friendliness, and his "rizz" haha. His best friends became Ben, Nate, and Carmello. He also started playing with Peninsula Gold in the Spring 2023. That has been neat to see him grow in his basketball skills and become a great hustle and defensive player. He has become tight with this Gold team too, joining the Winter Select team traveling to Seattle, Phoenix, and LA to play. He's now on the 6th Grade Deuce Elite team. In the last two years, E has grown out his hair, had his voice deepen, went through a huge growth spurt (almost 5'3" now), developed a love for shoes and wanting to always buy closthes. He also constantly plays with his hair. He has become a charming guy who people seem to gravitate towards.

Jalen has also grown a lot since last time we blogged. He has also grown a lot heightwise, he went through a phase of long emo hair. Jalen probably took a little bit longer time developing close friendships in 3rd grade. His best friend at school is Jonah, who he plays fortnite or Roblox with online. Jalen has had great luck with his teachers. His 3rd grade teacher was Mrs. Cheever, who was in her last year of teaching. She would have the kids do practical things like learn how to garden and cook things that they grew. She also taught the kids cursive. We would love hearing about Jalen's days coming home from school. He's now in 4th grade and has Mrs. Guevara, who is another cheerful teacher who loves Jalen. Jalen has grown into a whiz in school. He learns things very quickly, and he thinks like an engineer, often picking things apart in his head. He is very inquisitive about the way things work. In 3rd grade, he was very proud of being the youngest kid in the "final round" session of the Spelling Bee (the only 3rd grader). He has been doing great at Math too. Jalen has also been doing sports. In Fall 2023, he played soccer for the first time since he was 4 or 5. His team came out of the regular season as #1 ranked team, and he even made the Winter Select team! He still has a lot to learn, but he was always very feisty and aggressive in the games. He's also been doing a lot of basketball, which is how he has been keeping in touch with his buddy Mason. Recently he has been on a lot of teams with players that don't have much experience, so we had him try out for Peninsula Gold. He's starting his first season next week! Jalen is a little more reserved than Elijah, and he is very particular about things, just like me! He is basically my mini-me.

Jen has been doing great at Facebook/Meta. We have our separate offices (hers on the 3rd floor, mine on the 1st), and we work at home together sometimes. She's currently very into K-dramas (she's watching one right now), she loves Blackpink (we went to the Vegas concert together in Summer 2023). She is currently doing a Kaiser weight loss program, and I'm very proud and impressed by how she's doing with the program! She continues to plan all of our trips and puts in tons of hours researching, buying things for the trips, and creating itineraries. She definitely keeps our family activities interesting.

I've been definitely feeling like I'm getting older. My body keeps coming up with random things to start hurting after I start back up with exercise. I had started playing basketball with a group of dads through Timmy, but that group kind of fizzled out. I've been working at Noah still...recently has been rough, and I have had thoughts of quitting because it's so much hard work. I kind of want more stability and to just work at a place that has processes on how to do things, whereas at Noah, we're constantly trying to figure out how to do stuff. I want to prioritize time with the family nowadays. Plus, the compensation at a larger company is probably better...just not as much upside with equity.

Other highlights since our last post...

Disney Cruise in summer 2022! We almost didn't make it due to our flight getting canceled....

The Kims recently moved to Millbrae, which is nice since they're much closer.

We went to Korea and Taiwan this past winter. We went on a grand tour of Taiwan, going around the island. We went with Dave's family and Ah-Ma.

We went to Toronto with my fam to celebrate Yeh Yeh and Ma Ma's 50th anniversary

[jenbert]

We are getting ready to move out of Sherwood, and I (Al) have been having a really hard time letting go of the house. Another struggle of mine is the financial situation, thinking that we are timing the move perfectly bad with the Russia/Ukraine war, and with interest rates increasing. Basically boiling down to fear of not being in the optimal money situation. After talking to many people, especially Steve, he said that maybe it’s not the perfect situation, but we will be okay…we can make it work. I believed it but it still was painful emotionally.

a few nights ago, I was praying as the kids went to bed, and they asked for prayers. Jalen said “I pray that I can be a millionaire!” I went in teaching mode and said that money isn’t everything, and God can bless us with money if he chooses, but God can also bless us if he doesn’t give us tons of money too. Either way He will bless us. I realized that what I was saying was very applicable to my situation, and I thanked God for that teaching moment.

one day later, Jalen was reading his Land of Stories book and made a comment about how many words are in the book. That’s when it clicked. I asked him “wait. Jalen. Last night when you asked to be a millionaire, did you mean for reading???” He paused for a moment and then nodded yes.

LOLOL he just meant that he wanted to be a millionaire reader (read 1M words)!!! Nothing to do with money. Good still used it to reach me though hahaha

[jenbert]

Jalen quote:

“There’s two things happening now. The coronavirus. And the black people thing”

[jenbert]

Jalen on Star Tours

Jalen likes to say “it tickles my tummy” when something makes his stomach drop, like going down a hill.

Today in Disneyland, after the Star Tours ride, he said “it didn’t tickle my tummy, but it went really fast”

[jenbert]

We asked the kids what they want to be when they grow up.

Jalen: “a basketball player”

Elijah: “I wanna be a dad”

[jenbert]

Jen: “there are five people in our family” (including jack jack)

Jalen: “no, there’s six. Because there’s God.”

[jenbert]

#crazydog #blacklab #doggieexercise https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7byYigIUK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7enrwx00aw26

[jenbert]

What is this sorcery?? #doggiefacetime https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7bao9gTUo/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1293y6sh3d7vk

[jenbert]

Happy Halloween! 🎃 Mom tried to get me to wear this cuz she got it on sale at Target. I was not a fan. 🐶😒 https://www.instagram.com/p/BpobvCDgYf7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=8ir0hphf0mtk

[jenbert]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jack-Jack Wong (@jackjack.lab)

#blacklabrador #latergram https://www.instagram.com/p/BpdczVgA-Ns/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2a5hrqfk675v

[jenbert]

What if everything in the whole wide world was made out of slime?

Then everything would be sticky, right?

Jalen

[jenbert]

Family Joke Time

Elijah (not an original): why did the boy throw the butter out the window? Because he wanted to see butterfly!

Jalen (after hearing the butterfly joke): why did the boy throw the car out the window? Because he wanted to see car fly! … Why did the boy throw the eye out the window? Because he wanted to see the eye fly! (and proceeds to ask the same joke with any other object he can think of)

Elijah (original): Why did the ginger hug the bread? Because he wanted to be a gingerbread man!

Al (original): Where’s the hat? Over “hair”

Al (original): Why did the bike fall down? Because it was two-tired.

[jenbert]

“Daddy, mommy’s sunburn on her back looks like a backpack.”

- Jalen, 4 years old

[jenbert]

Yesterday I opened up a blank Word document to let Elijah type. He typed "Elijah and Daddy pictures", then asked why pictures didn't show up

[jenbert]

Jalen is big because he wears underwear

Today after riding bikes at the Presidio for Brady's party, Jalen was saying that he was sad that he didn't get to ride a pedal bike. Elijah says "Jalen you're too little". Jalen says in response "No! But I wear underwear!"

[jenbert]

Milestones!

Saturday 8/13/16: Jalen is officially out of the crib and sleeping on the bottom bunk. We got a tent for the top bunk and Elijah loves it!

Monday 8/15/16? Elijah remembered his first dream. He said he “thinked in his sleep” about a party and Ms Lauren was there.

Thursday 8/18/16: Last night was the first night that we had Elijah sleep in underwear (we have been avoiding sleep training him) and he didn’t have any accidents!! Yayy! Hoping it sticks!

[jenbert]

Milestones!

Saturday 8/13/16: Jalen is officially out of the crib and sleeping on the bottom bunk. We got a tent for the top bunk and Elijah loves it!

Monday 8/15/16? Elijah remembered his first dream. He said he “thinked in his sleep” about a party and Ms Lauren was there.

Thursday 8/18/16: Last night was the first night that we had Elijah sleep in underwear and he didn’t have any accidents!! Yayy!