Sunday, November 29, 2009

gobble gobble

last week when i picked up micah from school, he told me that the turkey says, "gobble gobble." and he had a bunch of art to bring home. i just love school art, it's the best. plus i don't have to clean up the mess. malia doesn't have as much art now that she's in elementary school. no wonder why she's always asking me if we can do arts & crafts at home.
(lia's only thanksgiving art)
thanksgiving day was hot this year. micah's cheeks turned red from being in the sun at the cemetery. then it was off to roel's auntie cecil's house for lunch. there was a 2 year old girl there that had almost the same personality as micah's. so they both were saying "mine" and having little fits. such terrible 2's.
after that, we went to my cousin anna's house. malia just kept eating dessert with her ate jaelen, and micah was fascinated with the dogs. lots of good food! i don't know why i always forget to take pictures of the food. maybe i'll remember on christmas.
on black friday, jos and i ventured out at 4am for deals at the disney store, walmart, jc penny, and old navy. it was fun. after all, santa likes to get in on bargains too!
the long thanksgiving weekend came and went so fast, but we gobbled up good food and good deals.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

the tree is up

some people say you're supposed to decorate for christmas after thanksgiving. but everywhere you go, there are christmas decorations. i like to decorate before thanksgiving so i can focus on my after thanksgiving shopping. the kids helped me decorate the tree. micah was trying to play with the ornaments like toys at first, but he quickly learned he's not supposed to pull them off the tree. almost all of our ornaments are disney. the others are m&m ornaments from m&m world in las vegas, recordable voice ornaments of the kids, a chargers ornament for daddy, and a precious moments mother ornament. the precious moments mother ornament is always at the top just under the tree topper. it's for my mom because she always made christmas so memorable. i hope to do the same for the kids. they are already filled with christmas spirit. malia wrote her letter to santa on her own this year. and micah loves looking at all the christmas decor wherever we go. on his recordable ornament this year he said, "merry christmas." and he likes to hear himself say it over and over again. i love christmas!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

cyt showcase

it was the last day of malia's theater class today. so all of the classes put on a showcase. since the kids in her class are so young, their performance was very short. very short. but it was full of cuteness. the theme of their class was mary poppins and they performed 'a spoonful of sugar'. of course i'm speaking as a mom when i say that i think malia was a natural up there. we're so proud of her!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

another field trip with micah



we don't go to the zoo much, so i thought it would be a good idea to go on this field trip with micah's school. at least i was able to get better pictures on this trip. micah really enjoyed looking at the animals.

we went to the children's zoo first. i have bad memories of going into the petting zoo because a goat started eating my jacket, but this time it was okay. micah was scared to pet the goats, he just pat one on the back really quick. also saw some insects in the children's zoo, so gross but he really liked that. then we watched a show with birds, a wolf, and a seal. then went to the reptile house. after that, we went on a trail behind there and saw tortoises and crocodiles.

then the hiking began, off to elephant odyssey. micah told me that the elephant's name was elephant. it was weird that there weren't very many elephants there when it's called elephant odyssey. we saw other animals up closer like the lions.

micah and i left the group when i knew he was getting tired. but we had to go all the way around and hike back up the hill. we stopped by the pandas on the way. they were awake and so cute, but right when we got in front of one, it went pee and poop. nice. micah wasn't interested anyway. then i was exhausted carrying micah in one arm (he wants to be carried when he's sleepy) and pushing the stroller with the other while going up the hill. now i know why we rarely go to the zoo, steep hills. it was tons of fun, just really tiring.

Monday, November 16, 2009

viva las vegas

roel's sister, lori, recently annouced that she was planning on getting married in vegas on 11/14. so it was a last minute getaway for us, but of course we couldn't miss her wedding! good thing we were well enough to go. we left on friday after everyone was done with school and work and arrived at our vegas timeshare at midnight. the drive was long with traffic, but the kids did okay and fell asleep. the funny thing is that they were wide awake when we got there and wanted to play.


on saturday morning, we met up with roel's family for breakfast at the venetian grand lux cafe. then we met up again in the afternoon for lori & jojeann's wedding at the little church of the west wedding chapel. malia was the flower girl. it was a short but sweet ceremony, very emotional. they are finally married! and we are so happy for them.



we had dinner at cravings at the mirage afterwards. it was super cold and windy outside. the only one who didn't mind it was micah.

on sunday, we had to go to m&m world before we left. the kids loved it, especially picking out their own m&m's. malia chose some pastel colored m&m's and micah just chose blue.



it was a rough ride home. lots of traffic. at one point, i felt as if we were never going to get home. we took a break in barstow. and that's where i will never forget that my sweet malia joy, without question, chose to share her kids meal that we just bought with a homeless man. i told her that God was smiling down at her.

the kids were sleeping by the time we got home. they had a good time in vegas, looking at all the fountains and the lights. micah kept asking me if he could play the machines. and all malia wanted to do was eat sweets. i would love to take them there again, i just don't want to do the long drive!


Friday, November 13, 2009

the flu with a side of asthma

it took a little over a week, but we are finally getting over whatever it was that got us. micah and i started off with ear infections plus some weird sickness. then malia and daddy started with flu symptoms. and then the 3 of them started with their asthma attacks. so whatever it was, i'm glad it's on it's way out, and thankful it wasn't worse. now we can get around to decorating for christmas.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

6 year old malia joy


malia finally got her wish and turned 6 yesterday. she's been wanting to turn 6 even before she turned 5. i sent a cupcake cake with daddy so she could celebrate at school. when she got home, she was thrilled to open her gift from micah, which was a new backpack. we had planned to go out to dinner, but because all of our allergies and the paranoia of the swine flu, we just stayed home. she made her own party hat out of construction paper and princess stickers. and then we ate the ice cream cake i made for her. she had asked for a heart shaped cake, so i made it into an ice cream cake because she loves ice cream so much. she ate the middle of the cake, which was the ice cream part, and then asked me for a scoop of ice cream. we really should have just opened a tub of ice cream and put a candle in the middle. malia says she wants to be 6 forever. silly girl.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

all souls' day

i took malia with me to visit my mom for all souls' day. it was really crowded at the cemetery and we had to park far, but she didn't mind the hike up the hill. all souls' day is really tomorrow but my sister says filipinos go the day before. okay. anyway, on the way there malia says, "mama, did you know that when people die they are put in a special box so the germs can't get inside and hurt them?" she pauses and then adds,"and they have a blanket on their legs like they're sleeping, but really they're already dead." i asked her, "how did you know that?" her response was, "i just do."

we met my dad and jos' family there and did our prayers. ironically, there was a funeral taking place. it was close enough that we could see it, but thank God it was far enough so that they didn't hear when malia loudly said, "someone died over there." oh my goodness, she just makes me laugh!

halloween finally came

this seemed like the longest halloween ever since we did so many halloween related activities. at least the kids got lots of use out of their costumes.

on friday, we went over to the advento's to celebrate ninong joey's b-day. the kids dressed up and did candy hunting in the living room, followed by cookie decorating and pumpkin painting. again, micah just wanted to eat the m&m's and not decorate a cookie. he loves m&m's, and just chocolate in general.

on halloween day, we didn't make it out to the mall festivities as planned, so we headed over to the castillo residence to trick or treat with all the kiddies there. we were finally complete as 4 jedis. well, malia was padme amidala to be specific.

so now we have tons of candy that we shouldn't be eating. good thing there are dentists that are buying back candy to send to troops overseas.

(will update with pics later)