Christmas 2009

What a relaxing Christmas. It was the 1st Christmas in 6 years!? that Halmoni and Haraboji spent with us. There is absolutely no snow right now. All the snow has melted and it feels more like fall than winter right now.

We went to Christmas Eve evening mass. Got the girls dressed up. Took some pictures before we headed off.

James was the photographer so he is missed in all the pictures. I'll have to make a mental note to grab the camera and take more shots for the rest of the holidays.

We got back home from church and the girls got to open 1 present each. Alex and Rachel wanted to open the gift that they had bought for one another. Alex got Rachel a 'best friends' necklace where each of them get 1/2 a heart. Rachel got Alex a High School Musical activity book. Needless to say that they LOVED the gift that they received. So darn cute. Sophia was happy just to be included in the excitement.

This morning the girls woke up at 6:05 am and ran downstairs and exclaimed that the stockings were full and Santa had visited during the night. They didn't wait for us to start looking in their stockings so I had to run down and tell them to wait for their sleeping sister, Sophia. So they ran upstairs, flicked on the light and woke up Sophia.

This is in the midst of opening presents chaos.

Halmoni got a new pink hoodie. Papa made sure she was all snug in it before taking the picture. I'm wearing a beautiful necklace that Romy made me. I love it. So so special.

Papa made us all our special Christmas lunch. We didn't do a turkey this year. We did a Hedorite Chicken. It's a large bird that we got a couple of weeks ago that we saved for the occasion. So delish. Papa did a great job. He did however boss Halmoni around the kitchen since she was helping him with the prep work...but we will give him all the credit anyways. :)

Afterwards Halmoni and Haraboji went for a walk with Sophia. Besides stepping out of the house for about an hour today we didn't do much except stay in and relax on this green Christmas. Was definitely thinking about the rest of the family back east though. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Glimpse of the past weekend

We went up to the local hill with Halmoni and Haraboji. Kaili and her family came to join us for lunch. Sophia was happy because she wasn't the smallest person around for once.

After lunch we decided to go for a short walk around.

While we were walking the dude who runs the ice climbing thingy asked us if we wanted to try it for FREE. Papa said YES.

So we all stopped and cheered Papa on. Well, by cheering, I mean that the twins made funny comments and laughed themselves silly while perched up on a mound of snow to get the best vantage view. Like....Papa is bad....Papa is double bad....Papa must be scared of heights! Comments made us all laugh too.

But I must say, Papa did great. He said that it was a lot harder than it looked. His hands started to go numb from all the body weight it was carrying. He is determined to try it again and next time reach the top.

Totally wiped afterwards.

But made it on the cover of Gripped magazine. Not bad Papa for the first ice climb ever. haha

Halmoni and Haraboji and the girls are having a great time together. But the days are going by too quickly!

Christmas Spirit

With a dumping of snow, Christmas lights up and on outside, and 3 very excited little girls, it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas. Not to mention 2 more sleeps until Halmoni and Haraboji arrive!

Sister Cuddles

Letters To Santa 2009

Sweetest letters to Santa. Makes Papa and me crack up.

I guess I'm ruining the fun of Christmas for the kids man.

I keep reminding the kids that they have too many toys

and that Christmas is about much more than presents.

Just for us to be together is special. Well, I guess I've guilted

them too much. I'm going to lay back on this lecture.

Rachel wrote, I 'know' that I like toys, but my mom says I can't.

Oh the guilt. Of course, you can have Lulu the cat. But of

course since writing this letter she has changed her mind.

She wants a scooter.

Alex wanting a paperoni is easy and done. Check. The things

that they watch on commercials and want. Marketing is sure working.

Goofy Sophia tonight.

And a picture of Soph Soph and me. I like it. It shows how we are.

Me admiring my little baby.

This is us last night on our way to dinner in a LIMO! Alex and Rachel have friends who are twins as well who were turning 7 yesterday. They rented a limo and had a spa day with their girls and then came and picked us up to join them for dinner. Pretty fancy ride to the restaurant, I'd say. (Sophia was so squirmy/wiggly at the restaurant. Reminded us why we never go out to eat anymore - especially on a Saturday night when the place was packed!)

We got to see Kaili and her boys finally! Thought they moved and left to Alaska! haha just joking we seem to never see each other anymore. It was Kaili's birthday and we got to have a meal together (Tacos again!) and chat. Baby Amish is almost the same size as Sophia. Seriously. So cute and a splitting image of Jaia.

You know my girls fascination with Scooby Doo? Well, it has progressed to them liking this program called, Casper's Scare School. Remember Casper the friendly ghost? Well, it's a new TV series with Casper and his ghoulish friends. Rachel brought home this picture from school that she drew for me. Instead of drawing the usual butterflies and rainbows, I was surprised to see this picture. The alien is saying, Oh No, BTW. So no more PVRing Casper. I wonder what the teacher thinks.

I bought this hat for myself this week. I'm always trying to keep the girls warm. Making sure they have on their gloves, hats, etc... Yet, I'm freezing. I find myself with cold feet (since I never wear socks - they make me feel clausterphobic!) and a cold head. Anyhow Sophia loves the hat and wears it around the house.
Busy two weeks ahead. 2 more weeks of school for the girls. And then we can just relax and not run around to all their activities. Halmoni and Haraboji will be arriving soon! Can't wait!

Pics of My Three Girls Today

What a day. A great day. Monday always comes too soon and it starts off with a flurry of activity to get the girls ready for school, have lunches packed and getting them off on the schoolbus.

Waiting for the school bus.

Then after school it was music class. Finally I've learned to just relax about music and not stress out if the girls didn't practice enough, etc... and just enjoy being with my girls at the class.

But the reason why today was a great day was because we had family Taco night for the first time and it was super fun. Everyone loved dinner. I haven't had hard tacos in years. But the girls ate it at their friends' house and have been bugging me for months to make it. So I finally did and it was so delicious and fun.

Then to top off the excitement Sophia peed on the potty for the first time ever! In front of all of us. We were so excited. I pulled out the potty from storage after dinner and took off Sophia's diaper and pants. She kept on sitting on the potty and getting off to see what she had done. It was dry and empty. Then all of a sudden she got all excited and pointed in the potty and so we all peered in and there was pee!! Success!!! She was so proud of herself. Then Rachel got her some kleenex and she wiped her own bum for a couple of minutes. All with the most proud expression on her face.

Hard at play.

On our way...

to pick up the girls at school. Happiest time of the day!

Some pics from the past weekend

All bundled up.

No snow in town but lots up at the ski hill.

What does love look like?

The girls have hot lunches at their school on Fridays. This week was special since the kids got either sushi or beef teriyaki from a local restaurant brought in. Rachel picked sushi since she loves California rolls. She carefully packaged her wasabi and ginger back up in her backpack for Papa. She loves him so much and is always thinking about him. She was so proud of this and wants me to feed him this for dinner since Papa loves everything spicy. He is going to be one happy Papa at dinner tonight.

I have to post more pics of Halloween because my adoring fans (aka Halomoni and Haraboji) are wondering why there aren't more pics of their grandkids. But it feels like I've been hit by the cold/flu truck. All of a sudden in the last 24 hours. So I'm resorting to what is on my photos that are already downloaded.

This is Sophia with one of her little friends. Bumblebee with a little bed head :)

So totally off topic from Halloween pics. It's 3:30 in the morning, I'm feeling like crap and I have no one to whine to so I'm whining on the internet. We decided to get ourselves vaccinated for the H1N1. Last Monday Alex, and Sophia got their first shots. Alex had no adverse reactions aside from a sore arm at the injection site for the first day. Sophia on the other hand got a fever and was super cranky for 24 hours and then was back to her old self. Today, Papa and I got the shot. Papa was fine, no reactions except a little bit of a sore arm. Myself on the other hand feel terrible. Yesterday morning, before the shot I had a sore throat and my nose was starting to run but I got the shot anyway. So I don't know if I was already coming down with something and this shot made it worse or what. But I can barely lift my arm that got the shot and my head is throbbing on the same side. Whine, whine, whine. The reason I'm writing this is what has been your effects if you did decide to get the shot.

And if you are wondering...Rachel did not get the shot because no one will give it to her because she is not on the 1st priority. Sheesh. Over 5 years old and no history of asthma. So we are waiting for the 2nd priority list which we are told should be in 2 weeks time.

Happy Halloween 2009

Halloween party at their school. Musical chairs with 20 kids is a little crazy. This was near the end of the game.

Pumpkin carving this afternoon. Rachel carved a cat, Alex carved an intricate ghost design and I chose the dino one for Sophia. Both the girls used their tiny carving knife and did a great job with their own pumpkins. I only had to help Alex out a little bit at the end.

Pumpkins all lit up at night.. Oooohhhh, Aaahhhhh.

My 3 Chung Chungs. Velma, Bumblebee and Scooby Doo.

My cute bumblebee checking out her Halloween loot.

She only went to a few houses but she scored big. Her favorite thing was this dog from our neighbor. She also loved giving out the treats when the kids came to the door.

And the whole Scooby gang minus Shaggy. Fun!

There were 166 photos that I just downloaded. Most taken by the girls. These are shots taken by Alex of Sophia the other morning.

A photo of Alex and Sophia. We were on our way for an afternoon walk. Rachel was missing because she was the only one who went to school that day.

Just a few photos because Harabogi is waiting....

Today was insane at the girls' school. All the kids wore their costumes and were bouncing around with excitement in anticipation for Halloween. I was lucky enough to help the teacher with the Halloween party and got to hang out with all the kids. Whoa, they are NOISY! Will post those tomorrow! :)