the girl is 7

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

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

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

our little girl made it on the honor roll again!

santa is almost done

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

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

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?

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

disney in the rain

we had planned for a while to go to disneyland during halloween time on october 5&6, so we were a little bummed when it started raining, but that didn't stop us from going. luckily, the rain stopped shortly after we got into the park. we went as a star wars family. micah chose to be darth vader, but i had to put his raincoat on because his costume is so thin. and then he didn't want to wear his mask because he said it was scratchy. malia loves being padme. it was our second time to go to mickey's halloween party. the park gave out more candy this year, it wasn't crowded, we made it for the parade, and the fireworks were great! the kids had tons of fun, but micah fell asleep right before the fireworks.

it rained the following day, but only in the morning. we finally got to go on the nemo submarine ride because the line only took 15 minutes. the kids also rode pirates of the caribbean for the first time. malia got scared on both rides because of the dark. she's so funny, she was practically pushing us out of the way so she could get off the ride first. this was my favorite picture of the day, just relaxing with the kids on main street eating churros.

don't buy those shoes

we were at the mall this morning because i needed to buy some shoes to wear for a wedding tomorrow. malia was with me and watched me as i tried on some shoes. she said, "don't buy shoes that are too sexy because then the other boys will think that you're not married." so i had to buy shoes she approved of. wow, flashback to the days when i told my mom if i approved of her outfits.