can't wait for Christmas

literally, micah can't wait. the neighbors had their tree up last week and so he's been asking me every day to put ours up. so we put it up yesterday. i didn't mind considering this is most likely our last Christmas in this house.

there he is in his boxers putting on the ornaments. he did most of them. and even though it hurts me to look at some of them all bunched up, i didn't move them. ok maybe i moved 5, but i left the rest. it makes me smile at the same time it hurts. malia was busy watching her shows so she was back and forth.

we wrapped some presents tonight to put under the tree. they wrapped a couple, wrote labels, then wrapped each other. loving Christmas already.

Santa lists

time to write out the lists for Santa.

malia's list: a bell from Santa's sleigh, panda necklace, panda toy, american girl doll bed and accessories, citrine geode.

micah's list: toy sword, a real shield, fake poop, and a big surprise.

goodness, my son is such a boy, a gross boy. and I had to ask malia what a geode was.

pumpkin station

pumpkin station with the adventos and olegarios. kids rode the train, boats, and went down the slide.

they also played games and got inflatable toys. m&m got some big guitars which they have been wanting for a while.

group picture attempts:

 

tough day for the boy

just last week, i told micah's allergist that he was possibly growing out of his asthma and his primary doctor wanted him to stop all his meds.

well, yesterday his coughing got worse and his breathing became faster. at 4 this morning, i decided it was time to go to the ER.

it was his first visit to the ER for asthma, we usually make it to urgent care. when the lady at the registration desk asked micah how he was doing, he said,"i'm good." too funny, made me look like a paranoid mom bringing her kid in for no apparent reason.

but when they took his vitals and his oxygen level was a little low at 93%, they took him back right away and gave him 3 breathing treatments and steroids. he's always a good patient. he watched tv during treatment.

we got home almost 3 hours later and slept.

then it was time for his allergy appt, for testing. he got poked 40 times in his back to test for food and airborne allergies. he did great for the first 30. it was the last 10 that were really tough because she really scraped it in his skin.

he wanted me to take a picture so he could see what was going on. poor thing, you can see his tear going down his cheek.

he had to sit like that for 20 minutes for any reactions. he was biting his shirt because he wanted to scratch. go figure, i couldn't get good reception on my phone to pull up some videos.

this was after 20 minutes.

i hate food allergies. he is allergic to tree nuts, the biggest is cashews. he's also allergic to fish and shellfish.

my poor babe. it's kind of a blessing in disguise that he's such a picky eater.

the boss

micah: daddy, are you the boss?

roel: no, mama is the boss.

micah: i think you should be the boss.

roel: why?

micah: because you get madder at me.

roel was laughing when he told me about that conversation with micah. the label of 'the boss' in our family came up when malia was being bossy with some of her friends. we were trying to teach her that it wasn't polite to be bossy. we were trying to explain to her that she was not in charge, therefore not the boss of everyone, hence the word 'bossy.' somehow the conversation turned, and the idea of who is in charge of our family became the question. who is the boss? we told the kids that the parents are always in charge of their kids. of course, they always have their own opinions.

sometimes when malia is telling micah what to do, micah will turn to her and say, "your not the boss!"

get yer pirate booty (donuts)

got an email that krispy kreme was giving out free donuts to those dressed like pirates. since we had some pirate gear and the kids love krispy kreme, thought it would be fun to have them participate.

they each received a half dozen glazed donuts for free. we love the word free.

happy kids loading up with sugar

honor roll

i don't expect malia to get on the honor roll all the time. roel does because he knows she's capable of it. i know she's capable of anything, but school is so different now. too much homework, too much testing.

but she likes it. she loves school, loves her teacher, loves to read. she just finished a 500+ page book and really enjoyed it.

so yes, she got honor roll this morning for this quarter. just like she's been doing every quarter since the 2nd grade. so proud of her, especially because she is proud of her own accomplishment.

let the holidays begin

went to vons after CCD and all the pumpkins were out. m&m love the little ones. so right when they saw it both of them kept asking,"can we buy a pumpkin, please mom?"

it took micah 5 seconds to choose his. and it took malia, what seemed like 5 minutes, to choose hers.

and suddenly it hit me. that overwhelming feeling that the holidays are pretty much here. i have to focus and plan ahead, to avoid being the usual panicked procrastinator. love the pumpkin pics though :).

pho

i don't know if i've blogged about pho before. we love pho!

went to eat at our favorite pho place by southwestern college after picking up roel from the charger game. good pho and great smoothies at this place.

malia likes to get her pho with fish balls & fish cakes. she's the only one who will eat that.

micah gets tofu. and look at him using chopsticks for the first time! he ate the whole bowl with chopsticks.



 

i usually share with micah. and roel gets some kind of meat of course. this time we tried a blueberry shake. yummy!

labor day

doesn't matter what holiday it is, it equals a celebration of some sort to malia. i told her labor meant work, and since they gave us the day off, it meant that we were supposed to work at home, which was another way of saying to clean. i said it all with a smile on my face. she just had the biggest look of disappointment on her face.

roel laughed and then told her and micah to clean up their room and then we would go to seaport village for lunch. she rejoiced!

it was pretty crowded at seaport. luckily we have a small car and were able to fit in a small spot right when we got there.

took a stroll, then got some wetzel's pretzels, and sat on a bench in front of the ducks.

this is them "sharing" a lemonade. micah didn't want lia to drink at the same time. so if you look closer, you can tell he's giving her some angry eyes. of course here's me, laughing and taking a picture.

 

they are getting along in this one. micah is quacking at the ducks. i always love the pictures from behind.

 



after this they wanted to tumble in the grass area and watch the kites, then we headed home for more "labor."