After the Academy Awards last weekend, Aric and I watched the Jimmy Kimmel Live show and this was soooooo funny I just had to share:

OMG! I LOVE Jimmy Kimmel. Sarah Silverman is pretty funny, too. You can watch her clip here:

Today, the First Grade Room-moms hosted an Appreciation luncheon for our teachers and staff. I stayed up late last night making floral centerpieces, (pictured above) so the flowers would look as fresh as possible, and putting together 2 giveaway “Swag Bags” for our Oscars themed lunch. We served up yummy Italian food and desserts. It was a huge success and I’m proud to say we did an awesome job.

Ashlyn and Summer in February

showing off their V-Day gift from Daddy

at Ana’s birthday party

I have to apologize…I’ve fallen into a bad habit of blogging for the first half of the month then nothingnadazilch for the last half.
February turned out to be much busier than I anticipated. Between activities at school (Valentines party, MTM art class, and the ever-so-hectic Noon duty), colds being passed between hubby and kiddies, two long weekends in a row (Lincoln & Washington’s birthdays), several birthday parties, reorganization of Aric’s home office, lots of errands, and the usual day-to-day stuff…I’ve been swamped.

But now….with the beautiful weather, the completion of the Appreciation luncheon, and the anticipation of this weekend, it kinda feels like Friday!

This weekend is REALLY exciting for me. I’m heading to Las Vegas….with Wil and Bett….to celebrate my nieces’ - Amanda & Christel’s birthday….their 21st birthday!!!

Damn, that makes me kinda old, huh? Luckily (or unluckily) for them, I don’t feel that old….AND THEY’RE GOIN’ DOWN!!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
Wishing you all much peace, love, health, success, and prosperity!

The girls are wearing qi-paos and matching shoes I bought off Orientbox. Super cute, but Ashlyn’s dress ripped at the hem after a couple hours. What do you expect?!…Made in China…enough said.

As time goes on, taking the kiddies to these occasions are less stressful. Ashlyn has always been well behaved and easy to take out, but Summer is another story. Though she is improving, sitting still for long periods of time proves to be difficult for my wild monkey. hehehe So I was very happy and proud of her excellent behavior on Saturday night.

Saturday - at Jason & Sandy’s wedding

On Sunday, we spent the day with Aric’s dad, grandma, aunt, and cousin. We had lunch and watched the Superbowl at home. I didn’t follow the game much…hung out with relatives, played with the kids, did a couple of loads of laundry, and occasionally peek at the commercials.

In other exciting news: Wing and Em welcomed their beautiful baby boy into the world over the weekend! Congratulations to my dear dear friends! *jumping up and down*

baby Enzo

We (along with Grace, Lauren, and Taylor) went to The District early. We were so glad we did, because not only did we get great seats, but we got a chance to meet Emily Osment (”Lily” of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana fame), for photo-ops and autograph pictures at the Radio Disney booth! I don’t know who was more excited…me or Ashlyn. HAHAHA!

meeting Emily Osment

The concert movie was way awsome! With our ultra stylish 3-D glasses, I felt like we were actually at the concert. It was probably even better than going to the concert, because we would never have gotten THAT close to the stage. It was also great seeing rehersal/candid footage and the backstage action. AND of course, the Jonas Brothers! *squeal*

our rockstar pose

Ashlyn and Lauren’s rockstar pose

my cutie - Summer

It was cute seeing all the little girls in the theater out of their seats dancing and singing along (including my little Summer jumping up and down in the aisle)! We all had a great time (even Aric, but *shhhhhhh*….don’t tell anyone).

It’s showing for one-week only, so click here if you’re interested in finding a theater near you.

Have a great weekend!

I caught the “walking pneumonia” virus that I heard has been running rampant lately. Though there was nothing I could take for it, I’ve been popping fever reducers, mucous relief tablets, sinus tablets, vitamins, and squirting nasal spray up my nose all day long for days. In the last 12 days, I’ve gone through 4 boxes of tissue!!!

It’s been nearly two weeks, and I’m just beginning to feel better….much better actually…although you couldn’t tell by talking to me. I still sound horrible. On the bright side, I’ve lost some weight and my skin looks better with the amount of sleep I’ve been getting and the extra water intake.

Just thought I’d share…in case you were wondering. Sadly, I think after my hiatus last year, I’ve lost all my readers. *sigh*

Last week, when checking on Ashlyn playing outside, I saw her on a neighbor’s bike….riding….without training wheels…ALL ON HER OWN! OMG!

I know, it’s not a big deal for a 6 year old to be riding a bike. But Ashlyn had not touched her bike in almost a year (after a bad tumble that included damage to her helmet and bike, bloody knuckles, elbows, and knees, and a massive asphalt burn to her face and forehead). And up until then, she’s always rode with training wheels. So imagine how shocked I was to see that she taught herself how to ride a two-wheeler in the span of 10 minutes! I couldn’t believe it. I had to run in and grab my camera.

I’m kinda bummed that I didn’t get to teach her…you know, help her balance and run alongside. At the same time, I’m a bit relieved to not have to go through seeing her struggle or fall. I was traumatized by her last accident.
Aric was also surprised seeing the clip on my camera that night. He removed the training wheels off her bike over the weekend, and you can see the utter joy and pride all over her face as she pedalled her little heart out.

I know she has been envying the neighbor kids as they zip around on their bikes (as she kept up on her scooter). She would often times say, “[so-and-so] can ride a bike, and he’s three! I don’t know how to ride a bike.” In which Aric and I would reassure her that everyone learns at different paces, and not to feel discouraged by the age thing. I even told her that I didn’t learn until I was like 9 or 10.
Ashlyn impresses me. She has shown me that when she’s really determined, she can accomplish anything…and in a quickness. It’s sooooo different from the norm (walks slow, talks slow, eats slow, gets ready slow, cleans up slow, does her homework super slow…slow, slow, slow). hehehe I’ve been praising her a lot in hopes that this will empower and encourage her to accomplish more, and at a faster pace.

Friday night we had dinner with Kimi, Aaron, and the boys at Go Roma (my new favorite eatery - kid friendly, fast and delicious food at great prices) at The District. Our friends lived over on the next street in our community, but moved to NorCal over the summer for Aaron’s work. They kept the house here and come back often, but we have not had the chance to meet up with them in almost a years time. It was great catching up. Kimi misses SoCal as much as I miss NorCal….how wonderful it would be if we could switch places. After dinner, we walked around and grabbed some sweet treats at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

After leaving Zov’s, and unable to find a place to go for coffee/tea (aside from Denny’s or IHOP), we found ourselves at Honda-Ya for Round Two. HAHAHAHA! We were not quite ready to call it a night and just wanted a place to sit and have some hot tea….but we ended up ordering seafood salad, spicy tuna rolls, and yakitori skewers (shitake, beef, spicy wing, bacon wrapped okra, and meatball).
We finally went home around midnight. Yeah, it was pretty awesome!

The holidays are over and we’re back to school. Our winter-break, surprisingly, felt longer than it was. We had spent the first four days of our break with my family in NorCal (driving back on Christmas night)….four gloriously fun, relaxing, and gluttonous days that went by much too quickly. Had we stayed longer, I’m sure the remainder of our winter-break would have flown by.

The last two weeks have been filled with time with my family, my in-laws, relatives, friends, lots of food, and tons of gifts!!! Needless to say, my kiddies were spoiled with an over-abundance of clothing and toys this Christmas. Ashlyn must have told everyone in the world that she wanted a guitar, because she got 4! hahaha Summer, who rarely asks for anything, got so much stuff that she’ll never have to ask for anything ever again.

I wonder if I’m the only one who does this, but I only let my kids open up and play with some of the toys they got. The rest, I’ll store away to open up at a later date. They lack excitement, desire, and appreciation when they get to open up everything. I remember after Ashlyn opened up ALL her gifts at her 2nd birthday, she had that look of: “that’s it?…what else can I open?” So now after they unwrap all their gifts, I let them select some and put the rest away. With the amount they both get at Christmases and birthdays, my storage space is turning into one huge toy store and I’m quickly running out of room. I’m not even kidding.
I’m trying my hardest not to raise spoiled children, but the truth is…they are spoiled. Aric and I give them what we never had as children, and our parents give them what they couldn’t give us as children. *sigh*

Anyhow, Ashlyn is lovin’ her guitars, Hannah Montana Concert Stage, her MP3 player, and Jonas Brothers CD. Summer’s having a blast with her Fisher Price digital camera, Gymnastics Divas Barbies, Disney Princess Dollhouse, and Crayola Color Explosion Board. Spoiled, I tell ya!

Click here for more holiday pictures.

As much as I love the holidays, I’m relieved it’s over. We rang in the New Year with our usual group at James and Grace’s. My poor hubby was sick (possible food poisoning from Taco Hell from lunch) that night and spent the whole evening sleeping it off on the couch. New Years Day was spent taking down our tree and decorations, cleaning up, and hanging out with my niece and her bf.

Aric and I have been watching movies lately - “I am Legend” and “No country for old men”, and “The Water Horse” with the kiddies. I love it!

The kiddies are getting back into the swing of things at school…as am I.