My week off.

It is wonderful to have a whole week off to spend with the family. No school, no plans!

Monday Larissa and I went out for lunch. We decided to try a noodle place by my work. We ordered a noodle dish and a rice dish. They were both equally delish. It was also nice to spend a little 1:1 time.

On Tuesday boys insisted that it was "unfair" that Larissa and I had a lunch out, and we must all go do something together. We headed out to Uwajimaya store to get the "marble" soda and a bunch of other snacks. Shopping made us hungry and we "had to have" some food at my favorite sushi place, Hot Pot n' Sushi. No need to convince me.

While eating we noticed some snow flakes that started falling outside. By the time we were done, it was a full downpour of snow. Within an hour roads turned into a challenge I was not prepared to take on. The drive that usually takes 15 minutes to make was a nervous 45 minute drive. I was in lane behind a police car and next to a chemical carrying truck. I did NOT want to full around in the snow! Half way home patrol car in front of me had to resolve a traffic accident congestion. By the time I got home, I was ready for a tall drink and warm blanket.

Not so fast! Kids HAD to go play in the snow now! We all had great time, then settled in for the night. Our neighbors, however, decided to take the fun a little too far. They tied a sleigh behind a pickup truck and drove up and down our street. They drove us nuts, but we ignored them. Apparently, someone else was not as patient, and at 1:00 AM (yes, 1:00 AM!) we saw some flashing lights outside. It was two patrol cars pulling over the neighbors. We think someone finally called in. We can finally get some rest...

On Wednesday Gabe, Larissa and I took Dad out for lunch. Nothing fancy, just the KFC. On the way home we stopped by the recycling center to cash in on the empty bottles. Each kid had taken a guess the day before on how much money all that was worth. The winner (without going over) was to win the cash. Larissa was only 5 cents off, but she went over, so I took the winnings. A whole $4.45!

To get ready for the new year kids got their haircuts (all but Gabe). Jon didn't like that idea at all! He refused to look at the hairdresser, but got a decent haircut anyway.

Larissa went with layers,

and Miranda just got a trim.

With all the excitement, I completely forgot that Larissa had a piano lesson. Not until I got a call from her teacher! Off we go again... made it to half the class.

Later that night we went to the Skate World for a cheap skate night. Turns out it was a Christian night, so they limited the type of music that was played, but other than that, it was no different than any other night.

This is where I discovered what a champ Jon is. This was actually his first time skating, but we already had the roller skates for him. He put them on and declared that he DOES NOT need any one's help! A number of hard falls later and a busted lip, he was well on his way!!! At the end of the night he went around the rink, without holding a wall, THREE TIMES! I am so impressed.

Thursday started off with a heavy rain. I woke up to the loud noise of rain hitting the skylight. The rest of the day went by pretty slow. All of us just chilling, just the way it should be on the last day of 2009!

Merry Christmas! 2009

The Christmas of 2009 is now behind us!

On Thursday we got a chance to drive by my manager's house and see her Christmas lights. Kathy's husband creates a small village of lights. He starts right after the Halloween and I can see why he starts so early. There are so many lights, you can clearly see which house is theirs from way down the road. It is truly magical!

We knocked on their front door and were rewarded with some candy canes.

On Christmas eve we had a wonderful time cooking food, watching movies and playing board games. We finally built the gingerbread house (I managed to make the house base stick together, after I accidentally made it collapse at my first attempt. Too inpatient!)

As soon as it was dry enough, kids went on decorating it. Granted, I did most of the icing, kids were the final designer team of where the candies went on.

Even though there was an attempt to sabotage the house, while the rest of the team looked away, the project was a success!

I think it came out pretty nice!

Kids are very happy to be able to sleep in this whole week. Even on the Christmas morning we had to wait for them to get up longer than we had in the past years. Surprisingly, Tim was the first one to be up, then Gabe, myself, the the rest.

Santa left kids a note thanking them for the treats.

On the Christmas morning we all gathered in the living room and went on with opening our presents. I think everyone got what they wanted and everyone came out happy. My present (apparently) will arrive in a week or two. Shhh! it's a secret.

I know we tend to eat a lot of junk food when on vacations, so I tried to sneak some healthy food onto my kids' dessert plates...That night Larissa and I painted each other's faces with her new face markers.I have another week of fun ahead of me! Yahoo!

Denied!

This the weekend for getting denied!

On Friday night we went to a house party thrown by Tim's co-worker and his family. They live in an older Portland neighborhood, in a very cosy older house. Everyone brought in a dish to share and everything was very good. Tim and I made some salsa, in two strengths, Hot and Extra Hot.

Kids had great time playing at the detached playhouse, above the garage. After a little while Larissa returned wearing a Superman costume, which caused everyone a great laugh.

On Saturday I did the typical cleaning, cooking, shopping, but this time we got something "special" for Tim at the Trader Joe's. A Brussels sprouts "Christmas" tree (at least that's what we decided it looked like). It tastes the same as a typical cut ones in a bag, but a whole lot more fun to look at

Miranda had a school party to attend, so we went out and got a "white elephant gift" for the gift exchange. A recorder and a set of drum sticks to give away. She came home with a candle holder shaped like a snow covered Christmas house.

Saturday night we finally decided to go ahead and adopt a kitten. We went to a Bonnie Hays Animal Shelter by our house. That where we actually got denied!! Why you ask? Because we were open on our application and marked "yes" in "we plan on de-clawing the cat" box.

Now, everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone is free to talk about their religious believes, political opinions, etc. I won't stop them. But, seriously, without even having a good argument, a lady at the shelter said that she won't let us adopt a kitten! She even admitted that we could have lied and marked "no" and would have been free to take the kitten home and do as we pleased later, but in this case honesty was not the best policy.

SO, basically, they rather kill a cat (since they ARE a kill shelter, meaning they will put an animal down is not adopted), than give it to a loving family. I just don't get it! Kids were pretty bummed out too. This was their Christmas gift. We thought since we are all home for the next two weeks, that it would be a good time to introduce a new animal to the new environment...

Sunday was pretty much spent at IKEA. The place is too big to do a quick shopping. Between their delicious food, and a maze-like floor layout, you end up spending a whole day walking around... & trying fun hats on?..

We did get a few things for the girls' room, that tie into my original theme. Plus, it's nice to have matching sets for the beds.

Final week of school for 2009

As this year is coming to an end we have many school performances to attend, gifts to give and cards to send off.

I feel like this year I am on track! There is a whole week left before Christmas and I AM DONE! Granted, many gifts were handmade through the year, but I think it makes Christmas gift-giving ritual that much more special. I just have to hope that gift recipients are as happy to get them as I am to give.


On Monday Larissa had her theater performance. A funny Couch Potato Santa story. The play was pretty entertaining, but she only had a couple of speaking lines. I know she can do so much more. On the brighter side, she really wants to do this again!
On Wednesday Gabe had a Christmas Band performance at school. Unfortunately due to a minor miscommunication, I made it to school too late to see the whole show. I only caught the last couple of songs. Never the less, it was really nice to see kids perform!
We also decided to restore our used piano. Tim called a piano technician, and in the same fashion as a car repair shop, we were informed of all the extra things we should do to improve it's performance. All of them have an additional cost involved, of course.
Tim is excited to do some maintenance himself, and now out piano is torn in pieces, all over the living room...

While vacuuming inside we found many interesting coins. Some real, and some old play money...

We have also been watching a show called "Meerkat Manor" on Animal Planet channel. It is very interesting, and we already finished first three seasons.
Here is Larissa's and Tim's interpretation of their stance (while cleaning a piano):

I also found out that is is virtually impossible to take a close up picture of my cat with a digital camera, because it sends out a red (focus) light beforehand, which makes the cat look away. I must have tried ten times, and this is the best picture I could get:

A funny note. Last night we were driving home, listening to some Christmas music on the radio, when I caught Jonathan singing, but something didn't add up. I asked him to repeat the song, and this is what he sang:

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good "or get a snake..."

Key Lime

In reference to my latest post, here is a picture of a key lime. Now you know how challenging it was to get 1/2 cup of fresh key lime juice...

December 12th weekend

Right before the weekend we started getting notices of a winter storm coming in. Of course, kids were getting excited and hoping it would get to OR before Friday, so they could get a school cancellation, and I was hoping it would hold off till the weekend, so I wouldn't have to drive to work on ice. I won!

On Friday night we went to Tim's work to see Santa Clause movie. Looks like most people decided to stay home, in fear of a possible snow storm. The place was pretty empty. Oh, well, more candy for us!

On Saturday we all got up early and headed out to a Chess Competition at an elementary school nearby (Gabe and Larissa were signed up to participate). When we got the the parking lot, we got suspicious, because it was empty... I run up to the front door and found a hand written sign that it was cancelled... It would've been nice to know ahead of time.

Since we were already downtown Hillsboro we took advantage of it. First stop was to see a Christmas tree.

Nothing was open yet (not even the Saturday Winter market). Hillsboro comes to live at 10am and it was barely 9am at that point. We found a cozy coffee/candy/crafts shop and had some family time, drinking hot chocolate and browsing through their selection of "nostalgia" candy.

Jon didn't want any hot chocolate, but was very happy to discover a candy-kabob

Snow/ice storm never reached us, but it was too cold to do much outdoors anyway, so when I got home I tried a new recipe (thanks Mary!) for a Key Lime bunt cake. I even went as far as getting fresh key limes and squeezing some fresh juice out for the recipe!

I am telling you, THE best cake ever! Usually my cake is slowly consumed and stays around for a while (until it's gone or I throw it away), so I made sure to select a recipe that listed "can be left out at room temperature for up to a week"...

Well, before I knew it, it was pretty much gone. I wasn't even fast enough to take a "before" picture!!! WOW!

On Sunday we finished decorating out tree with lights and ornaments & got out our Christmas stockings. I spent most of the day addressing and sealing Christmas cards and gifts. I am so on schedule this year!

December 5th weekend

On Thursday, December 3rd, Jonathan's school had a Christmas Show. All the kids had a chance to perform for their parents onstage. Everyone had a wonderful time and we laughed quite a bit. All the kids were so darn cute!
We sat very close to the stage, so at the end we "claimed" Jon and bypassed the parent crowd:

Our very exciting weekend started early Saturday morning, when we decided to go to a (first annual) Breakfast with Santa event. It was only a few miles from our house at the Hillsboro Fairgrounds, there was no issues with parking , and admission price was just right ($19 for all six of us, that included a breakfast and a picture with Santa)!

Taking picture as a group turned out to be quite a challenge though For some reason Jon absolutely refused to get anywhere near Santa. We had to give up on the first attempt, eat some food, then try again. This time I told Jon that I would be willing to be in the picture and have him sit on my lap, far far away from Santa.

At first he seems to go along with it, but at the last second, he backed out
The best part was that all that negotiating was captured by a photographer from the Hillsboro Argus newspaper, and what do you know?.. It was published in a Tuesday's issue!

After the dramatic photo session, kids decorated sugar cookies and went around vendors' tables, looking for goodies.

We found a petting zoo and an inflatable maze. I gave kids a choice of one or the other.
Gabe and Miranda opted for feeding the animals:
Larissa and Jon went through the maze.

On the way out, we stopped by a Santa's letter writing station, and Jon composed a letter only he can read...
It doesn't take much $$ to have a good time, that's for sure!

As the temperature continued dropping, we finally decided that we all hate a candle burning setting in our fireplace. We removed the fake logs and the oil cans, brought in some old fire logs from the backyard, and started a REAL fire. Never we will go back!
We have done so much that day, that kids were totally worn out, and dropping like flies, falling asleep (literally) where ever:

We continued with a fun weekend on Sunday. As soon as Miranda came back from a sleepover Tim and I went out and surprised the kids with a real tree! (We have had enough of fake tree too). Of course, we also had to get the stand, but I guess it will last for a while.

We didn't want anything too small or too big, so we got a tree just under 7' tall.

For dinner we all headed out to meet Tim's old Intel friends, visiting from Arizona (Gail & Donna). Gail insisted kids take her $5 and try getting something from a claw machine. She didn't have to ask twice. All the kids gathered around the glass box, working out a best strategy. Talk about a team work!

It took (quite) a few attempts, and a few more $$, but kids were able to score three toys to take home!

I think everyone picked the right crown for this picture...

Thanksgiving's Day 2009

Happy Thanksgiving's Day!

We lived through another one, without burning down the house or passing out from overeating!

There wasn't much planning, as far as a menu. Since it's only our immediate family, we just make the "staple foods" and whatever extra we feel like that day.

I always manage to forget to make something too. This year it was the sweet potatoes. No need to fear though, I quickly whipped some sweet potato fries. Can't say that anyone actually liked it though... Oh, well, no one really likes sweet potatoes at my house anyway.

We started off with our tradition of taking a family photo to be later used on a Christmas card. As always, kids were only able to tolerate about 30 seconds of it, and then went into their "silly" mode.

No worries, I am sure I can "photoshop" something decent for a final product!

We then had a great feast, with another traditional photo of our funny faces.

I then made a mistake of leaving my camera unattended and now have about 50 extra pictures to prove it...

Since this was every one's long weekend, we all got to catch up on all the projects. Kids got caught up on their gaming. I got to make a few "I have been meaning to do that" projects, then Tim and I painted our new beautiful garage door. It is worth every penny! ...and now it has a functioning door lock too...