M&M

39.5

2012-03-08T07:25:00.012-08:00

that's how much they weigh, 39.5 pounds each, at their annual physical yesterday. we are still waiting for malia to break 40. we are so close! micah caught up to her so quickly.

m&m are always good at the doctor's office. they loved getting weighed, having their blood pressure taken, doing the hearing test, and doing the vision test.

and before they even saw the doctor, micah had to get his iron checked. (memories of his 1st year appointment with the iron check went through my mind. his screams filled the entire office.) so i asked him if he wanted to sit on my lap and reminded him to be as brave as he could. meanwhile, the girl was freaking out, almost in tears, and she wasn't even going to get poked! she even asked to leave the room. but micah barely flinched when the nurse pricked his finger. so proud of him.

then it was time to see dr garcia. malia talked his ears off. when he was checking micah, and asking him questions, malia would answer and micah would just nod his head in agreement. he told micah that he's a good size right now but to watch what and how much he eats because he has the body type that could get big. and he doesn't want micah to have any problems in the future. and he told malia to eat as much as she wanted, but good foods of course with occasional treats. too funny.

the nurse came back with shots in hand. malia quickly got off the exam table and ran behind me to hide. micah said,"don't be scared ate'." when i told malia that only micah was getting shots, she did a big sigh of relief but still hid behind me. micah got a TB test and 3 other shots. and it was only after the 3rd shot that he said,"that one hurt." but he never cried. my tough guy.

we went to target after and malia asked, "so do we get to buy something because we were so good at the doctor's?" she cracks me up.

let's play legos

2012-03-06T20:11:00.006-08:00

legos are such a good investment. great toy, endless possibilities. exercises your mind, promotes creativity. well, for them at least. i didn't really have a lot of legos growing up. so if you put a bunch of lego pieces in front of me, i don't really do much with it if there's not a book of step-by-step instructions on how to build something specific.

micah can play legos for hours. he builds different cars, guns, houses, etc. then he has specific sets like ninjago and a garbage truck.

we played legos tonight. i took a lot of the figures and switched their hats, helmets, and hair. cracked myself up. he just looked up at what i was doing and then got back to his building. i even got a, "seriously mom?" from malia. but she snickered at my little creations. then i did stuff like darth vader fighting over the trash with boba fett, but then he took boba fett. so i ended up with darth vader and optimus prime fighting over trash. micah only smirked at it.

micah made a car that flies for boba fett. he said boba fett was going to the beach to surf on his surfboard. and he brought his lunchbox with him.

maybe i'll start getting some of the new girly sets for malia, so she doesn't have to play with the boy ones all the time.

happy birthday dr seuss

2012-03-04T14:51:00.004-08:00

micah celebrated dr seuss' birthday on friday with a pizza party. they had been reading dr seuss books all week. malia ate hot lunch at school. they served green eggs (scrambled style) and ham. maybe i'll get her some striped socks or leg warmers for next year since they don't dress up at school like micah does.

(not clear because it's a picture of a picture)

this morning we went to watch the lorax. we had been anxious to see it. it was such a good movie, good for all ages. dr seuss was a genius.

my favorite part of the movie was the singing fish. malia liked when they got to plant the truffula tree. micah said he liked the whole thing.

president's day weekend

2012-02-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

the highlight of our 3-day weekend was watching 'the secret world of arrietty.' roel was a little upset because he wanted to watch star wars in 3d. maybe next time. but we enjoyed the movie. micah got a little bored at some parts, but this time he didn't look for the exit like he normally does. so i think he's getting more used to watching movies in the theater. lia loved it. she's a movie buff.

it's raining

2012-02-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

we finally had a rainy school day this winter. the kids were excited to wear their rain boots and rain jackets. had to pick up lia today since roel went home early with a migraine. (this kind of weather does that to him.)

somehow malia's boots remind me of the toy soldiers in the disneyland christmas parade.

stung by a bee

2012-02-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

i don't know anything about bee stings other than that people can have allergic reactions to them. i don't know how they feel, what they look like, what i'm supposed to do about it, etc. i also don't do well in emergency situations. so pray that you aren't alone with me in case something bad happens.

well, the bee came while we were picking up a pizza to bring to grandma's house. malia wanted her window down and was her usual energetic self. roel was getting out of the car with micah to get the pizza.

all of a sudden, she's crying and leaning on me and holding her arm out. at first i couldn't tell what happened since she was half leaning on me, but then i saw something on her arm. at first i thought she had snagged her skin on something. then i thought it was a bug so i kinda pushed her arm away from me and told roel to look at it (because i'm scared of bugs). roel pulled out the stinger, which was still pulsating, so gross. after all that, i was able step in and do my mother thing, check it and clean it. i know, mother of the year.

while micah and roel were finally inside pizza hut to get the pizza, i was consoling malia. then she says,"i hear a buzzing noise." i looked back and the bee was walking around on the floor of the car. so we got out of the car. i know that bees die after they lose their stinger, but of course i wasn't going to be the one to kill it. we waited for roel to come back and get it. malia was still crying the entire time.

roel scooped up the bee on some paper and looked at it. and then asks me out loud,"it doesn't look like a killer bee right?" so malia started crying harder. omg!

she felt a little better after roel told her the story of when he was young, he caught 10 bees in a bag, dropped the bag, and all the bees stung him. thank God she didn't have an allergic reaction to the sting. he knows i wouldn't have done well with it. and goodness, what would i have done if it were just the 2 of us?!

but now i know more about bee stings. i dabbed some toothpaste on it and it took away her pain almost instantly. now she really fears bees, and i don't blame her. it's a good thing she still likes me.

morning dress up

2012-01-29T15:04:00.001-08:00

malia plays dress up everyday. her ultimate dress up experience was at disney world, of course. but it's rare to get moments of micah playing dress up when it's not around halloween time. i was on my computer and he appeared in the hallway to shoot me. a little pirate (still in his star wars jammies.)

it cracks me up because he puts this face on when he's in pretend mode. so different from the pretty princess mode i'm used to from lia. 2 extremes when you have one of each. i love it.

moments to treasure

2012-01-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

walking down the hill to church holding hands

art class

2012-01-13T19:15:00.000-08:00

malia is all about art. she loves to draw, paint, create, etc. i'm still trying to find a good art class for her (that i can afford) outside of school. so for now, i enrolled her in a painting class through the chula vista recreation department. it's taught by ms. ofelia, an actual artist that has done murals and sells her artwork. first class, some drawing with shadowing, since painting involves both.

so behind

2012-01-10T20:24:00.001-08:00

i am so behind in my blogging! ever since i got my new camera and my mac ran out of memory, i haven't blogged. but it's not my camera or my mac's fault, it's mine. just because it's not as easy to upload my photos, it's not impossible.

there are also some other stressors involved, but that too shouldn't stop me from blogging. so i will have to backtrack. so behind!

homework

2012-01-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

m&m are back in school after a 3 week break. that means back to homework time, which hasn't been so bad with lia. but because micah will be starting kinder in july (which makes me cry inside every time i think about it), we started homework time for him. he hates it. and so do i because it's taking me back to when lia started and we would argue. there's lots of whining, and stalling, and getting distracted. so roel and i have to tag team because patience is nowhere near my name. (and believe me, i pray for patience every day.) but we'll get there.

snow days at legoland

2011-12-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

we were lucky enough to get free tickets to legoland again. and they were hopper tickets!

it was a cool visit because we went in a big group with the adventos, olegarios, ninang hannah, and ninong arnold. of course we don't have any kind of group picture though.

first we went to sealife aquarium. it was still decked out with christmas decor, with trees and ornaments in the aquariums.

always love miniland usa, now with star wars.

micah found a garbage truck!

it was the kids' first "snow" experience. it was pretty cool. they both did the sleds once, but micah wanted to throw snowballs and malia was determined to make a snowman.

we split up for a while. malia went to ride the big roller coaster with some of the adults. micah and i went to the playground and rode the train. he made it a point to sit on this green motorcycle, which he really loved the last time we went.

we all met up to ride one last ride together before we left.

so much fun! roel wants to get an annual pass there since we aren't renewing our disneyland pass for a while. i'll have to think about it.

malia is 8

2011-11-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

the little girl turned 8 today! she thinks she is SO old. i sent cupcakes for her class at school, then i picked her up. it was her half day. we went to one of her favorite places - the mall. i told her she could pick out her birthday present since micah got to pick out his birthday present at disney world. the first thing she picked was a small toy in target. then she picked out some dresses at H&M. we also picked out her christmas dress. and then, she enjoyed a free ice cream from baskin robbins, her favorite place for ice cream.

after that, we went to buy her cake at hans&harry's. the flourless chocolate cake is still her favorite. our friend, charlotte, was sweet enough to give us the cake for free. i had also found a deal online for a small cake and cookies, and that was delivered today.

(not bad for $4, right? and it was good.)

after homework, she received a phone call from princess jasmine. it must have made her day because she immediately went to write a letter to jasmine to thank her for the phone call. i will send the letter to the fanmail address, and she should receive a picture of jasmine in a couple of weeks.

disney store halloween dress rehearsal

2011-10-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

took the kids to the disney store at plaza bonita this morning for a costume parade. they played a 'snow white says' game, a 'guess who' game, and watched a short video on rapunzel being coronated the newest princess before actually parading around the store and in part of the mall.

afterwards, they got some prizes. malia got some fairies cards and a tink magnet. micah got a cars memory game and cars stickers. and they both got a mickey flashing safety light to use on halloween.

after we were done with that, i asked them if they wanted to go to the disney store at fashion valley mall to do it again, and they said yes.

micah was the only spidey at both events. it's funny and cool at the same time how spidey is now disney.

i wanted them to see how cool the disney store at fashion valley mall is. malia loved the castle. i personally thought the cast members at fashion valley did a better job with the kids, but malia liked the event at plaza bonita better because the actual costume parade was longer and they went out of the store and in part of the mall.

lego building at toys r us

2011-10-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

i often read about free events at toys r us and want to bring the kids, but i always forget. guess i need to write down more notes to myself.

we actually made it to this one by coincidence. this one was for building the cars 2 spy car, torque.

they were happy to get a new toy and i was happy because it was free.

WDW: the plane ride

2011-09-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

we took a red eye flight to get more time at WDW. i thought it would be great that the kids would be asleep most of the time.

it was a "coincidence" that we ran into the aquino family at the airport. the kids thought it was cool that they were flying together.

it was micah's first time on a plane, malia's second. they liked it. they asked me if we were in outer space. malia knew i was a little scared of the take off and landing, she held my hand each time.

the kids did fine sleeping on the plane, i didn't. i forgot how loud it is on an airplane. but i was thankful we got to orlando safely. next time we probably won't take a red eye flight.

getting ready for "the trip"

2011-09-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

last december, we decided to book a trip to disney world. seemed like only a dream back then, but now that it's almost here, i cannot contain myself. we are vacationing with the aquino family. we decided to surprise the kids, so we've just been telling m&m that we have a conference to go to in another state. malia was asking so many questions, i thought she was catching on to the surprise. so the story changed, and now "the trip" means we are going to boston for the conference and visit our cousins while we are there.

cookie in church

2011-09-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

went to church early this morning. m&m had a hard time behaving. on the way back to the car, this was their conversation:

malia: i'm so hungry, can we eat?

micah: but you already ate, you had a cookie in church.

malia: micah, that wasn't a cookie, that was the Body of Christ!!!

i didn't hear the rest of the conversation. i was too busy cracking up.

i love you

2011-09-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

i started an experiment a couple months ago. we were all in one room, doing our own things. i decided to say out loud, "i love you," to see if anyone would say it back. without hesitation, malia responded right away, "i love you!" i knew she would. i kept saying it and she would say it back. by the 4th time, micah caught on, then roel.

of course i frequently tell them all that i love them. but i like to do it randomly, without addressing anyone in particular. and now they say it back without hesitation. even better, they start the "i love you" gesture first.

i want them to know that it's okay to say "i love you" any time, any place. we'll see if they will still be comfortable saying "i love you" through the teen years.

on the way home from micah's school

2011-09-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

micah: do you know who died for us?

me: who?

micah: jesus.

me: how come he died for us?

micah: because he love us. hey, the clouds in the sky look like jesus footprints!

me: are you going to follow them and be good?

micah: yes.

me: so that means you'll be nice to your sister?

micah: (nods slowly) but how come she's mean to me sometimes!?

dear adrian, part 2

2011-08-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Adrian,

I’m glad you are okay, but it made me sad to hear that when Malia gave you her apology letter, you crumpled it up and threw it at her. I also heard that you aren’t very nice to other kids and often don’t behave in class. I’ll pray for you.

Sincerely,
Malia’s Mom

(I didn't give him a letter, but it's what I would've said if I did. )

dear adrian

2011-08-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Adrian,

I am so so so so so so sooo sorry for what I have done on Friday. I hope you feel better when you get this note. Now I know to never chase you again in my whole life and I will now chase other people like you. Because my mom tahgt me a lesson about that so do you forgive me? Write back soon! I hope you do!

Sirensly,
Malia

my daughter's apology letter verbatim. she was playing tag at school (which is not allowed), and somehow managed to push a boy and make him fall. even worse, he hit his head on something. luckily he was fine. i hope his parents are also forgiving. malia is on restriction from sweets and computer games. she also has to read more and do chores. i put some fear in her by asking her to put herself in adrian's shoes and thank God that the worst didn't happen. ugh, parenting!

big kids class

2011-08-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

my boy recently transitioned into the big kids class. the one where it's officially considered preschool. they call it the rainforest class. so now he's doing worksheets in class. sometimes he does it, sometimes he just wants to play. he'll get there.

our fish died

2011-08-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

malia: micah check the fish, is it dead?

micah: no...it's just upside down.

we've had our goldfish for a little over a year. micah named it mr. moosie. of course, they blame me for killing the fish. i blame the all the changes in the house that have been going on lately. rest in peace mr. moosie.

i love her

2011-08-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

last week, malia was sick. this week, micah is sick. so i dropped malia off at school this morning. not the usual routine. malia is big enough now for me to just go in the drop off line and let her out. (i guess that could've been last year, but i like to hold on.)

she must have told me at least 5 times that she loved me before she got out of the car. she is the sweetest girl. don't get me wrong, she is a typical girl - attitude, roller coaster of emotions and manipulative ways, but she really has a big heart.

so as i saw her in my rear view mirror walking into school, with her big backpack, i realized that my baby girl is really a big girl.

i think parents know these things, but just have these moments when it really just hits you in the head. that was my moment this morning.

me being the leaky faucet that i am, just started crying, for a good 10 minutes on the way to work. i know i'm hard on her sometimes, but i want her to learn how to be tough. i'm also scared for her to get too dependent on me, just in case i'm not around one day. i see a lot of my mom and my sister in her, and that makes me happy.

i love her.

i think i'll just stick to picking up the kids from school.

trolley to the comic con

2011-07-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

i've been in san diego for 21 years and today was the first time i rode the trolley. it was the kids' first time too, so they were pretty excited.

(can't you just hear me saying, "don't touch that, it's dirty.")

right when we got off the trolley, it was busy. a lego optimus prime was out on the street passing out free toys. i'm all about the free stuff at comic con, but it was super crowded.

everything had a line. we saw a lot of costumes, took pictures, watched fencing upstairs on the balcony, ate overpriced food, saw lots of cooly toys, and tried to get as much free stuff as we could.

can't pass up the star wars photo ops.

lots of walking involved. we were beat, especially after carrying micah when he fell asleep! at least they got free backpacks to carry their stuff in.

(why do kids like playing around pigeons? so gross.)

it was micah's first time at the comic con, malia's second time. costumes next year for sure!

first day of 3rd grade

2011-07-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

malia started 3rd grade today. she was excited, but was a little sad she wouldn't have her same teacher as last year (whom she adored).

her new teacher's name is ms. campise. when i picked lia up, ms. campise said malia did well on her assessments for the first day, but was a little chatty. i'm not surprised. she's my little chatterbox.

is it bad that malia is wearing the same jumper that i bought when she started school there in 1st grade? it still fits but gets shorter as she grows taller =). hmm, cheap or frugal?

party faces

2011-07-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

we went to a birthday party in coronado today. it was such a nice day for flying kites, blowing bubbles, riding bikes, and...face painting.

malia loves getting her face painted. the last few times, she's had a butterfly mask. so naturally, that's what she asked for this time.

as for the boy, he wanted spiderman. i thought he was just going to get a small one on his cheek. but daddy came by and suggested he get his whole face done. he loved it. and was happy to do his spidey pose.

monkey toes

2011-07-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

this is what happens when the two monkeys go around taking pictures for fun. it's a weird, silly picture. i love it. (i chose this over the pictures of the mess they made in their room.)

fireworks on the 4th, youtube style

2011-07-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

malia was sick all weekend so we didn't go out for independence day. we watched movies and played with toys. when 9pm came around, we could hear some fireworks close to us. but the big hill by our house was in the way. from upstairs, the kids saw one or two fireworks in the distance. then they complained that we weren't out watching fireworks. so i turned on the tv and we watched the fireworks show in DC. then micah said he wanted disneyland fireworks instead. (disneyland started showing their 4th of july fireworks on the 1st and someone had already uploaded it to youtube.) so there we were, the 4 of us, watching the disneyland fireworks on youtube. the kids were happy.

sd fair

2011-07-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to my sister and happy heaven birthday to my mom! as always, it's hard to get a good kids photo.

after visiting my mom, we all headed to the sd county fair. theme this year: race to the fair. the kids wanted to go see the livestock first. then we watched baby pigs race. it smelled great.

after that, it was off to eating fried food and sweets.

then we enjoyed watching our good friends' daughters' performance. (picture taken by micah.)

in the kiddie area, the kids got to choose 2 rides each. malia chose an obstacle course for her first ride. then they both rode a roller coaster with jonah. micah chose the bumper cars for his second ride.

then it was off to the skyride with daddy. they loved it.

micah took a nap while we went through bing crosby hall. malia searched and searched for something to buy. she ended up buying an angry birds lanyard. we bought one for micah too.

we were hot, tired, and sunburned, but it was fun. the kids saw a monster truck in action before we left. and micah ate most of our mini donuts. we love the fair.

barona buffet

2011-06-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

it's been ages since i've been to barona casino. we went to the buffet there to celebrate roel's uncle's birthday yesterday. they are VIPs, so 9 of us got in for free. how cool is that! micah ate tofu with noodles. malia ate shrimp, which she peeled herself. wow, i won't even do that. but the highlight was the desserts. the kids had 2 ice cream cones each. well, micah licked his ice cream a couple times then had me take it off the cone because he just wanted the cone. i had creme brulee and lots of cookies (my weakness).

in the casino area, micah thought he could play video games. but after i explained to him that they were only for adults, he said," you're an adult, you go play mom, you like those." and then he tried to push me to the games. he stuck with his angry birds.

angry birds water party

2011-06-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

m&m's friend, ben, had a birthday party this past weekend. he chose angry birds as his party theme. of course, the kids were super excited for his party. it was held at a park with a water playscape. they got so soaked.

here are some cool details of the party:

ben and his family made a pig pinata that turned out so good. my sister, jos, created centerpieces w/ jenga. my other sister, jen, made cool angry bird cake pops. and i made some decorated sugar cookies.

as always, the kids "helped" make the cookies with me. i let them decorate some themselves to keep at home. malia did a really good job all on her own.

m&m loved getting soaked and boy did they get tanned. as we left and drove away, malia said, "goodbye glorious water park with pine cones." (she found some pine cones by the playground.) they are already begging to go back to that park.

homemade angry birds game

2011-06-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

we saw an angry birds game on amazon and the kids wanted one. i told them it was too expensive and they could just make one themselves. i figured it was a good way to pass the time since malia is on vacation. plus she loves arts and crafts. so i bought clay for $5, and she made some birds and a pig. micah got in on the fun too. but his way of making it was by telling me, "make a pig," while he just rolled clay around.

i baked the clay and they were ready to play. we even made a slingshot, which i regretted later when micah just kept playing with it and pretending to shoot us. some of the beaks broke off after several launches. so next time i'll make sure it's attached better before baking.

it was great to see how excited they were about it, especially because they made it. we'll make more another day.

father's day

2011-06-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

we went to dinner at chili's on the day before father's day. couldn't really do anything but that since micah was sick the whole week. we gave daddy some lotto scratchers and won a whopping $2! father's day was spent with family, eating and eating. it was a pretty relaxing day.

micah's baptism birthday

2011-06-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

happy baptism birthday to micah and happy birthday to my dad!

micah begged me for an angry birds cake for his baptism birthday. i knew he would be happy with something simple. so while he was taking a nap, i quickly made 2 figures out of fondant and threw it on a little cake from hans & harry's. he loved it.

it's hard to tell by the picture that this little boy has been sick with an ear infection since friday. and this morning i picked him up from school because he had a fever. but he's still smiling.

obsessions

2011-06-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

just like everyone else, m&m are obsessed with angry birds. mostly malia though. she makes drawings and cut outs. above is her latest painting and their plush toys. malia counted out all her coins so she could buy the red plush toy. they make sounds and i swear that in one of the sounds the birds are saying 'hallelujah.' i have to admit that the game is very addicting. but the main reason i like the game is because it's the only game m&m don't fight over when they are at the computer. they will nicely take turns and support each other in getting those darn pigs!

words of wisdom from micah

2011-06-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

you don't think bad thoughts, only good thoughts. bad thoughts are fighting and not being good. good thoughts are being good and going to disneyland.

my boy in beverly hills

2011-06-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

took a last minute day trip to beverly hills to see some family friends from the philippines. i think the last time i was in beverly hills was with my parents when i was in high school. of course micah had no idea where he was. but it was a fun trip with jos, arnold, and joelle. we stopped by some shops. i saw an $58 pair of mickey mouse flip flops. that was the sale price! malia would have loved beverly hills since she likes fancy things, but she had to go to school. i'll take her there one day.

bedtime excuses

2011-05-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

in our house, bedtime is usually at 8pm. this gives the kids some time to settle down, and hopefully they are fast asleep by 9pm. sometimes micah gets some leeway since he's still in preschool, plus he's my shadow. so if i have a lot of things to do around the house, he gets up from the bed and looks for me.

getting them to get ready for bed and in the bed is not always so easy. especially when we're having fun playing or watching a movie, no one wants to go to sleep. so the excuses start.

here's a list of the most common excuses:

but i'm really really hungry (micah's favorite excuse)
i'm not tired (this one is usually followed by a yawn)
i have a lot of energy still (malia's #1 excuse)
but i'm still playing
the movie's not done yet (and they've watched it before, so they know the outcome)
but micah's not going to bed yet
i need to find a toy to bring to bed first (micah's 2nd favorite excuse)
but i didn't get to read a book

so when i remember, i announce when it's the last chance to eat again. and i announce that it's 10 minutes until it's time to get ready for bed. it doesn't always eliminate the excuses, but it cuts down the whining. and no whining makes a parent happy.

my birthday at disneyland

2011-05-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

i've never been to disneyland on my actual birthday. i got one of those birthday buttons and it was surprising how many cast members greeted me. it was really nice. micah's ninong arn was able to join us for the day.

micah's first ride choice was "the ghost ride", but since pirates was on the way we went to that first. we waited maybe 5 minutes for each ride. we were lucky because it got crowded right after we rode. they added some new things to haunted mansion, i was actually freaked out. malia just wanted to go to the tarzan treehouse.

the kids spent some of their money on sugar. then we headed to fantasy land. they rode the circus train for the first time. of course in the monkey car.

one of the highlights of this trip was seeing baby ducks walk across the way. micah is usually pretty good about just looking, but i turned around and there he was running after the ducks and trying to touch them. i don't know what got into him. i had to carry him away because he wasn't listening to me to stop.

malia also wanted to go see mickey in his house. i love that mickey's greeting place changes themes. last time he was in his sorcerer outfit. this time he was steamboat willie with his boat in the background.

the kids each chose 1 thing to buy. out of everything there is to choose at disneyland, malia picked a little tiara. she had me checking it the entire time to see if it was straight. micah picked a storm trooper figure. loved my thirty-something birthday.

words of wisdom from micah

2011-05-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

if you eat a bug you explode...because bugs have bombs inside them.

happy mom's day

2011-05-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

malia made this banner for me this morning. it's made out of 2 pieces of tissue paper and sticky notes. i loved it. the kids behaved in church. ate some pho. we watched Rio. it was a great mom's day.

my early mother's day

2011-05-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

today felt more like mother's day to me.

i brought micah to school this morning because his preschool was having a breakfast for mother's day. not all together, it was optional, and you could take the goodies to go. i didn't go last year so i really wanted to go this time. they had all sorts of bagels, breakfast pastries, pound cake, juice, and coffee. it was really nice. i really don't know why i didn't take a picture of it.

i stayed for a little bit to have breakfast with my boy. and since he doesn't eat bread (except for breadsticks), he just ate the cereal we brought and had some juice.

when we were done, he gave me the things he made in class for mother's day. i gave him a big hug and had to go. i didn't really read the card and sign until i got to the car. then i started crying because it was so sweet. and then i started crying more because i started missing my mom. so there i was, crying while driving to work.

when malia came home, she brought me tulips and several cards she made. she wanted to get me blue tulips since i like blue, but since they didn't have blue, purple was the closest to it.

she made some cute cards, and then i noticed one was a book, about me. i was almost scared to read it because she can say some random things sometimes. but i loved it, and i was cracking up.

yes, i like to nap but it's rare that i get to. i normally joke around with her that napping is a fun game. nice reminder of how old i am.

that's the best one: my mom is african! hilarious. she has been saying this since she was learning the continents in preschool and i told her i was born in africa. she thinks daddy is hawaiian because he was born in hawaii.

i love mother's day! it's so emotional, but so much fun. and i love all these presents from my silly kids.

lia's half birthday

2011-05-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

happy 7 and a half birthday malia!

i came home and she was already in her bathing suit. she loves that thing. she will look for it and try to wear it in the winter time too. if she had her way, she would probably go everywhere in it. i think she has cheetos in her mouth in the picture. she's been working hard at school, they are doing the CA standards testing all week. so it's great that her half birthday came to help lift her spirits.

micah's legoland field trip

2011-04-29T22:54:00.001-07:00

i love how micah's preschool goes on field trips. malia's preschool didn't have any field trips. field trips allow me to have some quality one-on-one time with one of them without the other getting jealous.

i was really excited for micah to go to legoland because of the new star wars models in miniland. and of course, he loved it.

we mostly hung out with two moms and their sons. micah got to drive a lego car all by himself for the first time since he meets the age requirement now. and he was able to do more things, like the slide and the lost kingdom, since he is taller.

we were able to do a lot of rides because we chose to stay longer after most of the preschool group left. i hope they do legoland again next year. $30 for the 2 of us for 7 hours isn't bad at all. bringing lunch saved us a lot of money too. can't pass up on those apple fries though. those are a must! but of course, he wouldn't leave until he bought something from the store.

swc concert choir performance

2011-04-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

malia's school choir had a field trip to southwestern college to perform for their concert choir. her choir director sings in the swc concert choir. apparently, the southwestern college concert choir has quite a background. they've been to carnegie hall several times. they've also performed at the sydney opera house. malia's school choir sang some songs for them during their weekly practice. it was a medley of 50s songs, which explains the poodle skirts. it was cute. and of course, my daughter is the smallest one so she's right in the front. the swc concert choir sang a couple of songs with them. then the swc concert choir performed for us. they were pretty awesome. it made me miss being in choir when i was in college. i hope malia got something out of the whole experience.

easter 2011

2011-04-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

the easter countdown started on thursday when we went to watch the movie HOP. it was pretty cute.

on good friday after church, m&m colored eggs with the 3 jo's. it probably only took them 10 minutes and they were back off to play again.

on saturday, we went to an egg hunt sponsored by the chula vista fire department. the kids had fun exploring the different types of fire trucks, saw the easter bunny, got free sandwiches from chick-fil-a, and the egg hunting was organized into different age groups. it was the best egg hunt we've been to and we will certainly go next year if they have it.

easter sunday was also roel's birthday. after mass we headed to grandma & grandpa's house for lunch. the kids did their egg hunt there and we celebrated roel's birthday.

dinner was spent with papa vic and the adventos. (kids were loaded with sugar, no photos)

calling the kids

2011-04-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

malia is on spring break and roel only has to work in the morning. so the kids are home by lunch time. i love calling them. it's so nice to hear their little voices over the phone. they are sweet on the phone. they miss me, i miss them. some of the reasons i love calling them: i can't see if they're dirty, i can't see what they're wearing, i can't see what they did to the house, and they can't ask me to do something for them. we end the call with i love you's and they know when i'm done with work that i'll be home. and then i get home. my visions of perfect, clean kids are gone. back to reality, but at least i can kiss and hug my stinky, crazy kids.

ballroom dance club

2011-04-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

malia has been participating in her school's ballroom dance club. they meet after school twice a week, but she only goes once a week since it overlaps with school choir. she's tried to teach me a couple of dances at home. i did take a ballroom dance class in college, but remember nothing. so it's nice learning from her and watching her and having that 'oh yeah' moment.

anyways, they had a performance this afternoon since the club is finished for the school year. there are only 2 boys in the club, so the girls pair up. in one of the dances, malia and her partner were both trying to lead, it was funny. in another dance, her partner was almost twice her size. but she did great. my favorite was the tango.

after they were finished with all of their dances, they took partners from the audience. she picked me for one and grandpa vic for another. it was cute.

i'm sure she'll join this club next year. one of the best parts about it is that it's free!

a rainbow

2011-04-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

we saw a rainbow today! kids love rainbows.

micah said, "God made that."

malia said, "let's go to the end and find the leprechaun."

a.m.p. night

2011-04-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

it was art, music, and PE night for 1st & 2nd graders at lia's school. first, the 1st graders sang a couple of songs. then it was the 2nd graders turn. malia told us she would be playing the xylophone. it was funny and cute at the same time.

then it was off to the hall to view a video of their PE class and there were displays of artwork. each class had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner for their art. malia received 2nd place in her class. i really do enjoy all the artwork she brings home. she can be pretty creative.

ever since she was in preschool, her teachers have been telling me to put her in an art class. but i can't seem to find one i like or one that isn't really expensive. bad mother! no excuses, i should really find one.

happy 3 and a half birthday micah

2011-03-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

he kept asking me if he was turning 6. and of course, he only ate the cream that was on top of the cake. malia and i ate the rest of it. roel bought him a small toy nerf gun. great.

a nice surprise

2011-03-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

we usually get a note from the teacher if we need to attend an assembly at malia's school. i don't know if her teacher forgot or if malia lost the note. but i found out that malia received an award today for getting on the honor roll again! it's a good thing roel works there, so at least he was able to be there for her. i knew she would be disappointed that i wasn't there. i was too. so when she got home, i had her favorites waiting for her. mac & cheese and a flour-less chocolate cake.

first visit to the ER

2011-03-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

we normally go to urgent care if it's after office hours, but since it was really late last night, we went to the ER. micah had an allergic reaction to something he ate. he was throwing up, broke out in hives, and wasn't responding to the benadryl. poor thing, even his scalp had hives. and when i asked him to try not to scratch because it was making it worse, he said,"but i like to scratch."

they took us back right away because it was an allergic reaction, but of course we were still there for a total of 3 and a half hours. probably because he was still throwing up there too and we couldn't leave until he kept the meds down. he was such a good patient. i was surprised considering all the stories malia had told him about the ER. she's so afraid to go there because of her experiences she had when she had pneumonia. but micah never cried. all he kept asking was, "are we done yet?" and when he would throw up he would just say,"i throw up mama, can you clean it up?" and after we were settled back at home at 4am, he woke up an hour later with hives again. at least benadryl helped that time.

when we talked about it this morning, he said in a disappointed tone, "i wanted to ride in the ambulance." hopefully it will be his first and last visit to the ER.

fits are funny

2011-03-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

every parent dreads tantrums or fits because it requires more patience on our part. and when kids throw fits in public, it's even worse. my kids occasionally cry in the store if we can't buy them something they want. malia will beg, become a broken record, and then whine. micah will cry, get mad, and raise his voice. but for the most part, they have learned to look and put the toys back.

at home, micah usually has fits because he can't do something or because i won't give him candy. he usually says,"but i want to" or "but i want it!" then he either crosses his arms or stands there and does this thing where it looks like he's hammering his leg. and he has his mad face on. and when he does it, i can't help but bust out laughing. it's so cute to me. so then he gets more mad, says, "don't laugh at me mama," and then storms off to another room. and i'm still laughing. roel's good at keeping stern and will only laugh when micah's not looking.

malia really only throws big fits when she's tired. all of a sudden she becomes extremely whiny and everything she says is just in a whiny tone and starts crying. it's funny because she just keeps talking in the same tone and is still trying to do stuff. but then it starts to hurt my ears. so i make her lay down or go to sleep. her little fits aren't so bad because she just starts drawing broken hearts and makes notes.

i'm always repeating the phrase we learned from micah's school:
you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit!

malia's family booklet

2011-03-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

malia came home with a little booklet she made at school on her free time.

the dedication read, "for micah, shirl, and ro." but my favorite page said i love my family just the way i love them. at first i thought it didn't really make sense but it was cute. and then i thought it made all the sense in the world! she loves us in her own special way. and no one could ever love us in the exactly the way she does.

i love her just the way i love her.

m-i-c-a-h

2011-03-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

micah was able to write his name yesterday. of course, i told him what letters to write, but he was able to do it on his own! yay! look how happy he is, so proud of himself.

ash boy

2011-03-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

my poor malia has had tummy issues since monday. and she is the last person that needs to lose any weight. so she and roel stayed home while me and micah went to mass for ash wednesday. he liked getting the ashes and didn't even want me to lift him into the car because he thought i would mess up his ashes. then the whole ride home he kept telling me he needed some of my ashes because his were falling off. goodness.

micah's mommy & me drawing

2011-03-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

"mommy, i drew a picture of me and you!"

first dentist visit

2011-03-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

the kids' pediatrician thinks it's unheard of that our insurance only allows 3yrs and older for dental visits. so since he's 3 now, micah can go to our dentist. i was nervous that he would try to hide behind me as usual, but he did awesome! did the xrays, exam, and teeth cleaning without a fuss or a wiggle. i think he was just concentrating on the fact that the dentist gives a toy at the end of the visit.

lowe's build and grow clinic

2011-02-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

it was raining pretty hard this morning, but we still took the kids to a lowe's build and grow clinic that i had signed them up for. they each built a racecar with our help. they felt like handy manny. it's a such good feeling for them when they can say they made their new toy. and it's even better when it's completely free!

happy baptism birthday lia

2011-02-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

lia's only request for her baptism birthday was a flourless chocolate cake from hans and harry's bakery. she loves that cake. the kids devoured it. we had a nice baptism birthday and anniversary dinner at home since it was a school night. after homework, we watched some movies, then she did her girly things. she's growing up so fast.

allied waste drivers wanted

2011-02-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

thanks to auntie claris, we were able to visit allied waste in chula vista to see a garbage truck in action up close. i was so excited for micah, i made him a shirt with a garbage truck on it. micah was already thrilled as we pulled up the driveway and saw so many garbage trucks.

we met with vanessa (who works in PR) and david (a sanitation engineer). it was cool hearing so many facts about the trucks. they have new trucks that run on clean natural gas. we were able to have a close up look at a commercial garbage truck. it was very cool. we will never look at garbage trucks the same way.

the kids loved sitting in the driver's seat, honking the horn, and pulling the cord for the really loud horn. then they were given goody bags with recycled pencils, coloring books, and a little garbage truck squeeze toy.

micah doesn't show too much excitement around new people he doesn't know. he needs a while to warm up. but only we know that the look on his face in this picture means he was loving every minute of it.

even malia, who usually just laughs at micah's garbage truck obsession, was having a great time. she asked david if they burn trash there like in the toy story 3 movie. he explained to her that they only burn off methane gas and not actual trash.

micah didn't put his new garbage truck toy down the rest of the day and of course, he slept with it.

what a lucky little guy. i wonder if he'll still want to be a sanitation worker in 10 years.

field trip to the fleet

2011-02-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

malia had a field trip today at reuben h fleet science center. i thought i would be in charge of a group of kids, but i was only in charge of malia and one other girl, katelyn. katelyn was almost like malia's clone. she was tiny, sweet, and full of energy. and shortly after meeting her, she asked me to hold her things in my bag. that's something malia always does. and as i walked in with them, each of them holding my hand, for a moment i thought how nice it would be to have 2 girls. but then when they started running in different directions, that nice thought was completely gone. they had a lot of fun. and i ended up buying both of them something from the gift shop. we also did some pressed pennies.

valentine's day

2011-02-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

valentine's day fell on a monday, which is a busy day for us. so we had to start celebrating over the weekend. it's malia's 2nd favorite holiday. she must have made me about 20 valentines. of course, micah had daddy draw a garbage truck on his valentine to me. after they came home all sugared up from school and ccd, we made some pizzas from a kit i bought from sammy's woodfired pizza.

here's some valentine art from home and school:

malia's first reconciliation

2011-02-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

we called it confession or penance, but the director of ccd said that they are teaching the kids to only call it reconciliation so they don't become afraid of it. who doesn't think it's scary admitting your sins to a complete stranger?! i was horrified, i can remember exactly what the room looked like. and this was when then priest was behind a partition, not face to face like they do it now. anyways, my social butterfly malia looked a little nervous, but still had no problems talking to the priest. we were in the back half of the church. i was smiling and watching, micah was waving at her (i don't know why), and roel was taking her picture with his phone. the priest even said beforehand that we're not supposed to take pictures with flash and close up, so i guess roel figured he was okay because we were far and there wasn't a flash. she said she felt good afterwards and that she liked it. so if she wants to go again, do i have to go?

are you okay malia?

2011-02-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

when i tell people that i'm hesitant to let malia do certain things because she's prone to injury, they give me a weird look and don't believe me. but it's true. she ends up crying at almost every party or event we go to because she got hurt. she's a regular in the nurse's office at school. it's never really her fault though (most of the time). somehow she gets hit by a ball or an object, or people run into her because they don't see her, or somehow she just falls. and then there's the obvious reasons, she either didn't listen or her brother hurt her. thank goodness it's always a minor injury. and i'm always asking, "are you okay malia? do we have to go to the emergency room?"

so......we were eating dinner and she was sitting at the kids table. it's perfect size for the kids, she's maybe even outgrowing it a bit. i was getting micah a drink and she started asking me for more juice. she then proceeded to tell me some facts about juice. she's very animated when she talks, so one of her hands was on the table and the other hand was in the air. and next thing i know, she fell off her chair and was on the floor. she hit her head on another chair. so of course i rushed over to her and asked, "are you okay malia? do we have to go to the emergency room?" i gave her an ice pack and she was fine. wow, we weren't even doing any physical activity and she was injured. didn't even have to leave home. my poor girl. she needs more meat on her to cushion these injuries!

another cousin!

2011-02-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

m&m met their new cousin yesterday. lily jo olegario was born on 2/5/11. we were surprised that the hospital let the kids go into the maternity ward. they were both so happy to be able to see and hold lily. she'll be running around with them before we know it.

my random preacher

2011-02-01T07:54:00.001-08:00

last night before micah was about to start his homework (coloring), he started stomping his foot on the mat in our room and said,"step step step on the debil (devil), we don't listen to him." it was so random, i just started laughing. but then of course i had to agree with what he just preached to me. i guess that's what he learned at school yesterday. that's what happens when you send kids to a christian preschool.

let's go fly a kite

2011-01-29T15:07:00.001-08:00

went to seaport village today because micah said it was a good day to fly a kite. it actually wasn't too windy, but it was windy enough for our kite from the dollar store to stay up for quite a while.

malia ended up flying the kite while micah played with a toy gun that shot planes into the air, also from the dollar store. micah flew the kite for maybe two minutes.

honor roll & gelato

2011-01-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

i left work early to make it to malia's award assembly at school yesterday. they didn't tell us what award she would be getting. it turned out that she got on the honor roll again. very proud of her and hope she keeps it up because she looked very proud of herself as well.

afterwards, she wanted to eat gelato at the mall. only she and i share this love for gelato, roel and micah would pick something else. so it was ~~our~~ her reward for getting on the honor roll. she looks old in this picture, must be the angle on my phone. i saw it and told her not to grow up.

2011-01-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

sometimes kids just have the best solutions for little things.

me: i'll be right back, i have to take my medicine.

micah: why, are you sick?

me: no, it's for my blood pressure.

micah: where is your blood?

me: it's inside my body. everyone has blood in their body. it gets pumped by your heart and keeps you alive.

micah: do i have to take medicine?

me: no, you have good blood pressure. mama's blood pressure is not so good.

micah: (smiles) you can use mine.

oh how i wish it were that easy.

this is my boy

2011-01-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

this is my boy sleeping in his bed, with his eyes a little open (like i do), in his favorite snowflake jammies, with his baby mickey sheets, his star wars pillow, cars blanket (on the side), and of course his garbage truck. nice.

biking at the park

2011-01-17T19:36:00.000-08:00

went to the park today so the kids could ride their bikes. it was micah's first time outside on his new bike from santa. it was 80 degrees today, the little boy's cheeks were pink all day.

when we got home, malia insisted we make cupcakes in honor or martin luther king jr's birthday. no argument from me, i was happy to do it. and eat some too.

credible-in john's

2011-01-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

that's what micah called john's incredible pizza at first. we went because malia earned a voucher for a free child's buffet. she earned it in class for good behavior. lol, was there a sub that day? anyways, i kinda like that they show cartoons while we are eating so it allows parents to actually eat. at least malia eats a lot now. micah ate half a breadstick, two bites of his pizza and frozen yogurt with sprinkles. we went early so it wasn't crowded at all in the arcade.

you can tell by her hair that she just got off the bumper cars

we'll be going back to credible-in john's when she earns another free buffet.

our disneycation

2011-01-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

on malia's last week of vacation, we had originally planned to go to vegas, but we decided to go to disneyland instead (jan 3-5). we stayed for 3 days, and we've never done that before. so it was nice to take our time. we got lucky that they had extended the holiday festivities for one more day.

we got to watch the christmas fantasy parade twice and up close, we saw small world light up, and micah was able to stay awake for the fireworks. of course i was crying during the fireworks. watching the fireworks with the family at disneyland and hearing our wedding song (remember the magic), what more could i ask for? disney is so magical!

on our second day, we went to krispy kreme for breakfast so the kids could see how the donuts are made (since they don't make them fresh in eastlake).

when we got to the park, we spent a lot of time in toontown. but our mission for the day was to be early for the jedi training academy. every time we usually go, we're always late for it. i even dressed them in their star wars shirts. so it turned out to be the highlight of our trip because both m&m were picked to be padawans. it was awesome!!! and both of them were picked to duel darth vader. it was micah's dream come true! malia was chosen to do the force push on the stormtroopers.

on our last day, we spent the morning in california adventure before we headed home. it was not crowded at all. we walked in to playhouse disney live and the monsters inc ride. we also saw a bunch of characters.

i could have stayed the whole week. but the kids were missing their beds and their toys, it was nice to go home.

christmas 2010

2010-12-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

santa came early christmas morning, bringing presents to celebrate jesus' birthday. malia woke up first and was trying to wake micah up because we have a rule in our house that the kids have to go down together to see what santa brought. malia liked her unicorn pillow pet the best. and of course, micah liked his recycle truck the most. we exchanged gifts with each other after that. the kids gave me some cute mickey earrings that they wrapped all by themselves. micah gave malia crocs and malia gave micah a snuggie. daddy got coke pj pants. we gave the kids some wii games we could play as a family.

then it was off to grandma & grandpa's house. micah got a huge blue garbage truck from his ninong ray and tossed all his other gifts aside. the kids did karaoke (jingle bell rock & feliz navidad) and grandpa gave them money.

the following day, m&m exchanged gifts with their cousins. micah got the toy story garbage truck. so he is just on cloud nine with all of his garbage/recycle trucks. i think he has 10 total now.

i was really proud of malia this year. she didn't keep asking for more presents. and it was a lot of fun with all of her new questions about santa. my favorite one was, "how come santa only eats junk food when he visits people's houses?" maybe next year we'll give santa an apple.

christmas eve will find me...at urgent care

2010-12-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

the kids were filled with joy when they woke up and i wished them a merry christmas eve and told them that santa was coming very soon. we had a pretty relaxing day. then we went to 4pm mass at st. rose. after that jos and i, with all the kids in my car, headed out to our cousin's house in rancho bernardo. but first we stopped to look at the christmas lights at 'christmas circle' in chula vista. it's so cool when an entire neighborhood gets all decked out in christmas lights. toward the end of the street, malia said to me, "my ear hurts." i asked her if she thought it hurt bad enough to go to the doctor and she said no. for the past week she had a cold/allergies, so i thought that maybe her ear was just plugged. during the 40 minute drive, she said a couple more times that it hurt, but she fell asleep. when we arrived at my cousin's house at 6pm and she woke up, she started crying because it hurt so much. poor thing, that's when i knew we had to go because she had an ear infection. thank God i found a rady's urgent care that was in escondido. she and i got back to the party at 9pm. she felt a little bit better after all the meds, but still wasn't her usual cheery self even when she was opening presents.

at least micah still had a ton of fun on christmas eve. he was singing christmas songs and dancing and playing with his cousins. he only had a 30 minute nap that day and still managed to stay up until midnight.

micah's 1st performance

2010-12-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

last friday, micah's school put on a christmas show. it started off with a video of linus (from charlie brown) explaining the meaning of christmas. then each class performed a couple of songs. we didn't really know what to expect from micah. i was laughing and crying at the same time. little kids are hilarious. we could really pick out his voice. i especially love his posing. his performance was such a great gift. just don't ask me the words to the first song.

a relaxing sunday

2010-12-13T22:35:00.001-08:00

we've been so busy lately, but we finally had some time to relax on sunday. after church, the kids spent some time riding their bikes and playing golf outside since it was nice and sunny. then they came in to paint some ornaments that roel picked up for free at a choir performance. we spent the rest of the day watching christmas shows on tv and trying to organize christmas presents.

wow, they are really concentrating on their work

joel's baptism

2010-12-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

m&m's cousin joel was baptized last saturday. he's so cute and chubby. he didn't cry when the water was poured on his head, just looked around with his usual surprised, wide-eyed look.

it's obvious i'm not a photographer.

so sweet, mother and son

i caught joelle trying to eat the rest of the cake

malia's blog

2010-12-05T18:14:00.001-08:00

after malia and i went to church this morning, we came up with an idea that she would have her own blog. a prayer blog for her daily prayers. this generation is so different. everything is high tech, they are taught things at a younger age, they can't play outside without close supervision, etc. they just have so much more than we did as kids, it's easy for them to take the little things for granted. so this is a great way for her to remember to pray every day and to keep God close. everything is in her own words. either i will type what she says or she will type it. here's her link. she typed her first post today, it took her quite a while. she was so happy to do it, it was cute.

the mountain of life

2010-12-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

since i've been uploading pictures, i came across this one. i stare at this poster in the hallway on mondays when i'm waiting to pick up malia from her ccd class. it looks like something that was probably made in a class as a group project. i like it because it states 'you come from God' and then 'you return to God'. but then as i read up and down the mountain, i realized how far i am on the down side of the mountain. how could the time have gone by so fast? and why does this poster make me feel as though i'm running out of time? they could have made the other side longer. they forgot to put in grandchildren and traveling when you retire. i'm just saying. so now, i wait on the other side of the hallway so it's not staring at me. yes, i'm crazy.

malia will be done with ccd in may.

m&m update

2010-12-02T00:11:00.000-08:00

the last update i did was in april. i know i said i wanted to do updates every 2 to 3 months, so this is really behind.

micah is still into garbage trucks, but i'm noticing he is liking dump trucks as well. he's not on youtube as much. maybe it's because we've been moving so much stuff around between the 2 rooms.

lately, micah has been reluctant to go to school. he still likes it there, he only has a problem when it's time for roel to leave when dropping him off. we think it's because he hasn't really grasped the concept of vacation/weekends and thinks it's easy to stay home with one of us. so we just have to remember to tell him the night before if he's going to school or if school is closed the next day.

malia just joined the piano club at school. they teach her how to play piano. it's free! she still wants to join the running club but roel won't let her since they run in the morning and it's cold.

she loves this makeup kit that she got for her birthday. i only let her do it at home and she doesn't wear it out. but she can spend a good hour in the mirror. so vain. but it is nice and quiet when she's playing with her makeup kit.

daddy took the kids to get their flu shot last month. only malia cried, which wasn't surprising. micah was so proud of himself that he didn't cry. and malia denied it when micah was telling me about her crying.

we watched tangled the day before thanksgiving. we loved it. well, it's still a little tough for micah to sit in the theater the entire time especially because it's dark. he kept asking me to point to the way out.

we are enjoying all the christmas songs on the radio. our christmas shopping is almost done. hopefully we can go to disneyland sometime soon!

turkey day art

2010-12-01T22:02:00.001-08:00

okay, so it's a week late, but my mac is finally back in the room now. we are slowly trying to get our room back together now that the flooring is in. the kids room is really packed with our stuff.

thanksgiving came so fast. this year we tried deep fried turkey for the first time. it was good!

here's some thanksgiving art from school:

not too sure why there's an owl, but i thought he was cute enough to include. it's funny how malia puts she is thankful for her fish when she looks at it like once a month.

people in the north pole

2010-11-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

last weekend, malia and i snuck out to the mall while micah was taking a nap. malia only likes shopping with me if she can get something out of it. this time her mission was to get me to buy her some frozen yogurt. of course she talks the whole time we are shopping. and i wanted to post something she said that was totally random. it's amazing how kids come up with such random stuff. this was our conversation as we were going out of macy's.

me: oh lia, santa's here in the mall. do you wanna go
say hi?

malia: YES!!! can i take a picture with him? please?

me: sorry, not today. your brother's not here. besides, it's kinda
expensive.

malia: aww, but i want to. and you have to pay, because you have to help the poor people in the north pole.

me: what?! what makes you think there are poor people in the north
pole?

malia: because it's cold.

me: okay, santa sees you, wave and say hi.

my sister wondered why i had to tell her it was expensive to take a picture with santa. well, the word expensive has been in both my kids vocabulary since they were 2 years old. they need to know we can't afford to do everything. i don't have a lot of money. apparently the people in the north pole don't either.

i'll just have to wait to tell her that people don't live in the north pole.

the small tree is up

2010-11-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

my mom always put up 2 trees during christmas time, a real one and an artificial one. my sister and i carry on this tradition, but since we have small kids, we both put up 2 artificial trees. the second tree that we use in our house was given to us by roel's mom when malia was 3. it has fiber optic lights that change colors. the kids love watching it. they wanted to put it in their room this year. the picture above is micah just sitting in the dark and watching it.

our big tree will go up tomorrow. the kids and i will have fun while they "help" me decorate it. and then when they leave to play, i will rearrange some things around, just like my mom used to do. i miss her.

olegario convalidation

2010-11-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

roel's sister, lori, and her husband, jojeann, convalidated their marriage in the church on 11/13/10. malia was their flower girl. she wore the same dress she wore when they got married in vegas last year. micah was their bible/coin bearer. and roel was her "patron of honor". it was cute because since lori has only brothers and jojeann has only sisters, they had best maids and men of honor. it was a very touching ceremony and the reception was filled with a lot of good food and company.

of course i'm speaking as her mom when i say that

i think she's absolutely stunning in this picture.

he's sitting on the bride and groom's kneeler.

i think this was taken after he leaned back and

fell through to the other side. he's so funny.

some details from the reception. i love details. the bride and groom made their own 2 tier cake. jos and i made the blue velvet cupcakes and the groom's sisters made the white cupcakes. there was a candy bar with themed white, blue, and silver candy. my cousin, who catered, made so many delicious appetizers and decorated so beautifully.

now we wait for the baby to arrive in february!

motherhood

2010-11-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

no one ever said motherhood would be easy. then again, no one ever warned me what a whirlwind it would be either.

when i was single, i associated motherhood with bonding, cuddling, laughter, family vacations, etc. you know, the fun stuff. the picture perfect moments.

little did i know there was so much more involved. the worry and stress of leaving your child when you go to work and knowing that they are okay. the heartache you feel when they are sick or hurt. the sleepless nights that last way beyond their infancy. all of the things you have to pack just for an outing. choosing schools. all the things you have to remember to return to school by the deadlines. the homework. the fundraisers. doctor visits and shots. potty training. planning birthdays. losing my memory (and my mind). the list just goes on and on.

and i haven't even reached the teen years yet!

but i wouldn't trade motherhood for anything. i have learned so much about life and love from my kids. they make me want to be a better person.

the picture perfect moments definitely outweigh the tough stuff, and those are the moments that are embedded in my mind forever.

so what brought on this post? i forgot that it was sharing day for micah. and i found out that micah remembered and told roel before they left the house, so he was able to bring something. how cute is that? what do dads do again? just kidding. maybe.

cv nature center

2010-11-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

it's been a crazy busy week, getting micah better, preparing for roel's sister's wedding (post coming soon), the house getting fixed (raised again), and the carpet upstairs being changed to flooring.

when micah was feeling better (on 11/6), we managed to get ourselves over to the chula vista nature center before my groupon expired. it was our first time there. it's so close, who knows why we haven't gone before. we stayed for a couple of hours and micah had a fit when it was time to go. the kids got to touch the stingrays, a desert tortoise, and a snake (gross).

my heart is broken

2010-11-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

thanks to the really crazy weather lately, micah is currently asthma boy. he had a barking cough the other night which had me in tears. today he went to the doctor since he is very congested and has a fever on and off. he is breathing so rapidly, and his heart is beating so fast from all the albuterol.

this is our second day together, home from work and school. micah and i adore each other, but now that he has to take a lot of meds plus do treatment, we've gotten a little frustrated with each other. i know he doesn't feel well and it's not fun when someone is forcing icky tasting medicine in your mouth. even if i'm explaining why he needs to take it, that doesn't stop him from hiding from me. he doesn't understand how it hurts me to see him like this. or why i get upset when he makes himself throw up the medicine. i just want him to get better already.

but even when he's crying because he feels yucky or he's cranky, he still manages to be polite and sweet. he says thank you when i give him something to eat or drink. he also said sorry for throwing up the medicine. before he went to sleep tonight he told me, "i think my heart is broken, maybe i can find something to fix it." i told him that he had a big heart and it was just fine. he smiled and hugged me. it's my heart that's broken right now. please get better little boy.

the girl is 7

2010-11-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

malia turned 7 today! she made herself a birthday crown to wear to school. micah (asthma boy at the moment) came with me to her school to bring her class some cupcakes during snack time.

then we just celebrated at home with our families. her ninang lori and ninong jojeann made her cake. it turned out great. they are going to make their own wedding cake next week, so it was a perfect opportunity for them to practice.

malia said her favorite part of the day was when she got the snuggie (from the adventos). she has been wanting one since last year.

this is halloween

2010-11-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

trick or treat day started off with 'tickle treats' in the morning, we had a good breakfast, and planned out our day. and then we almost didn't go out because i had to keep telling them to stop fighting or we weren't going anywhere. (goodness, they can be the best of friends and the worst enemies.) so when they stopped, we headed to eastlake village walk to celebrate ninong joey's birthday and to trick or treat at the stores there.

we only went trick or treating for a little while with the adventos and the castillos in the evening since it was a school night and it was pretty chilly. micah looked more like a race car driver with a lightsaber. after the first house, micah said, "i'm scared of halloween, it's dark." but after the 3rd house and seeing the candy, he changed his mind. and it's no surprise that my daughter actually asked someone for an extra piece of candy at their door. and asked another person why their decorations looked like christmas decorations. wow, instead of me giving her the rules to stay with her buddy, watch her step and all that, i should be giving her a list of what not to say. but that's malia. we ended the day with more 'tickle treats'. and now we can move on to christmas!

pumpkin station

2010-10-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

i don't know why we always say pumpkin patch when it's called the pumpkin station. is it a fob thing? micah calls it the "pumpkin padge."

this is the only place where i remember to take malia's picture in the exact same pose to see how much she's grown. this is from 2005, 2008 & now. she's such a little lady now, especially with her coach purse from grandma.

since micah didn't really cooperate with taking pictures with the pumpkins in 2008, he now takes pictures with the ghosts. i hope they keep this prop forever. i wonder what year he'll be taller than the ghosts. he probably won't want to go by then, but i'll make him so that i can take his picture there.

this place is all about the dinky rides. the kids love it.

honor roll assembly

2010-10-28T23:45:00.000-07:00

our little girl made it on the honor roll again!

santa is almost done

2010-10-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

so now that the kids have already done some halloween activities, they are more than ready to move on to christmas. so am i, but i told them we need to at least wait until halloween is over.

the kids have already written their christmas lists. roel wrote micah's out, but micah knew exactly what he wanted. it's amazing how little kids come up with these lists.

malia's list for santa:

1. a purple gown (maybe the giselle dress can finally retire!)

2. purple unicorn pillow pet

3. pink crown

4. pink ballet shoes (she's not even in ballet, nor has asked to take a class)

5. tutu

she's so girly! purple and pink.

micah's list for santa!

1. toy story garbage truck

2. lady bug pillow pet

3. remote control garbage truck (really, how many does he need?!)

4. blue football (i think we have one already)

5. star wars space ship or gun

6. trumpet (random)

i told them that santa could probably only get them 1 or 2 things from their lists because these things are expensive. at least micah understands the word expensive, i don't think he would understand me if i said santa was on a budget. but the good news is that santa only needs to buy one more item from each list. unless of course there are really huge deals on black friday.

m&m's toy story party

2010-10-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

we had the kids' birthday party on 10/17 at way beyond in la jolla (yes, i'm very behind in posting). the kids had been waiting so long, they couldn't believe their party was finally going to happen. we chose toy story as the theme since we love all 3 movies.

i had my mind set on keeping it simple, but all of my simple projects added up and i found myself running out of time. thanks to my family (roel, m&m, jos, hannah, lori & jojeann) for helping with all the details of the party. i couldn't have done it (or slept) if they didn't step in and insist on helping.

my main goal was to make all the kids woody vests. they were all sheriffs. malia had the only jesse vest. we made the cake, cupcakes, and cookies. that really saved us some money. the kids drank out of construction cone cups. we also made buzz goody bags to put the vests and a few goodies in. jos made the alien cake pops.

m&m loved their party. when we were at home eating dinner micah said,"i had such a great day."

grandpa's work party

2010-10-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

roel's dad's work had a company party on october 9 (i'm just now uploading the pictures). the kids had fun jumping in the pumkin bounce house, playing games, making bubbles and sand art, getting balloon art, and getting their faces painted.

malia chose a princess mask. micah wanted a blue ladybug.

grandpa rollie did some magic tricks.

why do they have to grow up?

2010-10-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

still can't believe my baby is 3. every day i realize more and more what a big boy he is becoming.

me: micah, don't grow up

micah: but i want to grow up

me: why?

micah: because i want to

roel: tell mama you're already growing up

micah: i'm already growing up mama

me: (sigh) okay, i'll let you grow up

micah: yay